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| Reaper of The Drifting Moon |
Heo-Ranju and Hong Ye-Seol's bodies were soaked in blood.
Their duel was so intense that it was relentless.
Heo-Ranju, using a whip, tried to keep her distance, while Hong Ye-Seol attempted to get in close by any means necessary.
Boom! Boom!
Heo-Ranju's whip and Hong Ye-Seol's Taiyin hand collided in the air.
Each time, the air exploded, and a whirlwind blew in all directions.
Despite the clash with the whip, not a single scratch appeared on Hong Ye-Seol's hand. It simply became a little redder.
It was the power of the Taiyin Hand technique.
However, she still felt the shock each time the whip struck her. The force transmitted through the whip was enough to shake her body. Each collision made her internal organs vibrate, but Hong Ye-Seol gritted her teeth and endured the pain.
Heo-Ranju also seemed to have experienced her fair share of battles, but Hong Ye-Seol's path was no less treacherous.
For a woman to become, an assassin was like a challenge against the impossible. Despite this, Hong Ye-Seol had no choice but to walk the path of an assassin.
If she had a choice, she would never have become an assassin.
The path was so harsh that it forced her to relinquish her femininity.
Becoming an assassin meant being reborn as a weapon.
It inevitably brought about the loss of humanity, emotional numbness, and the like. Killing others to stay alive meant losing a lot in return.
Hong Ye-Seol was not afraid of death.
Sometimes, being alive felt more painful than dying.
Boom!
A loud explosion sounded from her shoulder.
Her flesh had been torn apart by the whip.
Ordinary people would have passed out from the pain, but Hong Ye-Seol furrowed her brow and kept moving forward.
Heo-Ranju opened her eyes wide.
This is because Hong Ye-Seol came close to her even though she became bloodied.
"Back off!"
Heo-Ranju shouted and loaded the whip with even stronger energy.
The whip, charged with internal energy, rose like a venomous snake and aimed for Hong Ye-Seol's head. Hong Ye-Seol slightly tilted her head to avoid the whip.
The whip skimmed past her forehead, causing the flesh to burst and blood to spurt. Nevertheless, Hong Ye-Seol did not blink.
It was because Heo Ran-Ju's chest was wide open.
For this moment, Hong Ye-Seol had endured all the pain and advanced like a beast. She couldn't just throw away this long-awaited opportunity because of this little pain.
She clenched her fingers like a harpoon.
In an instant, the energy she had gathered in her hand condensed.
Taiyin Absolute Soul Slash.
Kwaaa!
The ultimate strike of Taiyin Hand struck Heo-Ranju directly.
Heo-Ranju didn't just take it, though.
Just before the Taiyin Absolute Soul Slash hit her, she defended her chest with her left hand, where she had concentrated her inner energy.
Kwaang!
Hong Ye-Seol's Taiyin Absolute Soul Slash directly struck Heo Ran-ju's left hand.
Suddenly, Heo-Ranju's face of arrogance turned deathly pale without a trace of color.
Thud!
Her left finger, which had blocked Hong Ye-Seol's attack, broke like a dry twig.
Hong Ye-Seol's Taiyin Absolute Soul Slash, which neutralized Heo-Ranju's hand, struck her chest directly.
Boom!
With a sound like an explosion, Heo-Ranju's body was thrown back. She only stopped after colliding with a large rock.
Her appearance was pathetic beyond words. Her chest was sunken, and it felt like all her bones had shattered. The broken bones pierced her lungs, making it painful to breathe.
"Haa! Haa!"
Heo-Ranju leaned against the rock, gasping for breath.
At that moment, someone sat down next to her.
"You foolish girl! Why did you rush in recklessly?"
The one scolding Heo Ranju was none other than monk Go-Dosa.
Blood was slowly seeping out of his heart, penetrated by the soul-reaping thread.
The wound was so small that it couldn't be seen with the naked eye, but it had definitely punctured his heart.
With each beat of his heart, more and more blood was spilling out.
The shadow of death loomed over his face.
He knew that he didn't have much time left to live.
Heo-Ranju leaned her head on monk Go's shoulder and spoke.
"I'm sorry! I went crazy and rushed in alone..."
"Damn it! I knew something was wrong since this morning."
"As soon as I saw that bastard with another woman, my mind went blank."
"That's been a problem with you for a long time. You can't keep your head straight when you see a handsome man."
"He has to be good-looking, at least."
"Hehe! That's true."
Go Do-Sa chuckled, but every time he did, more blood gushed out.
He looked at the medicine bag hanging from his waist and muttered to himself.
"Damn, you're strong. Master Jang... will suffer."
"I should have killed him with my own hands. Without even giving a glance to another woman..."
"Control your temper and live."
"If that was the case, why did I become a wanderer? I've lived my whole life my way, so there's no... regret."
"You are bragging until the end..."
"..."
"Are you asleep?"
"..."
There was no answer from Heo-Ranju. The silent response was not unfamiliar to Go Dosa.
"Damn it!"
Even his breathing gradually slowed down and eventually stopped.
Pyo Wol silently looked at the bodies of Go Dosa and Heo-Ranju.
Hong Ye-Seol, who had become bloodied, approached him.
She asked, "What happened?"
"You knew each other. Do you regret killing them?"
"It's not the first time, so no."
"I see. But why do you look so sad?"
"Must be a mistake."
"Is that so?"
Hong Ye-Seol frowned for a moment and then rolled her eyes before collapsing and losing consciousness. The poison that had been suppressed within her body suddenly spread throughout her entire being.
***
It hadn't been many days since arriving here, but there were many people.
The biggest incident among them was the clash between Seongam and Namgung Wol.
Their fight caused significant injuries to each other and left a big impression on the reputation of the Shaolin Temple.
Due to the rampage of Seongam, the gaze of those who looked upon Shaolin was not good.
It was indeed unusual for Shaolin to receive such wary looks from people. At least, it had never happened since Bo-Kyung came to Shaolin.
Bo-Kyung felt uneasy and uncomfortable with the stares of these people, and so did the other monks who came with him.
Rather than bringing about reconciliation between Jin Manor and Snow Sword Manor, it seemed to have caused more discord, making it difficult to withstand people's stares.
"Amitabha! Amitabha!"
Bo-Kyung rolled his prayer beads to calm his mind, but his heart, which had been stained with doubt, was not easily soothed.
He wandered for a while. As he walked, he came to a place with few people.
Suddenly, Bo-Kyung's eyes narrowed.
He saw something moving in the darkness.
At first, he thought it was a cat, but it was too big to be a cat.
It was a person.
'What?'
It was a suspicious sight.
Most of the warriors were sleeping, while only the ones on guard duty stayed up all night.
Due to recent activities by assassins, the guards were on high alert, and people refrained from moving around at night.
During such times, there was only one group secretly moving around.
"assasins!"
Bo-Kyung's face stiffened.
He thought about informing the commander but was afraid of losing the assassins.
Bo-Kyung decided to capture the assassins himself.
He thought that if he could capture the assassins and restore the lost honor of the Shaolin Temple, it would be a blessing in disguise.
He also wanted revenge for Seong-un's death. As a disciple, it was a mindset he should never have, but he was also human.
Moreover, he felt a great responsibility for Seong-un's death.
Since Seong-un's death, he had not had a single comfortable day.
"Amitabha Buddha! Even the Buddha would forgive me for spilling blood with these hands."
Bo-Kyung chased after the assassins into the darkness.
He hid his presence as much as possible.
Although he had never learned the art of hiding, he was proficient in the martial arts of the Shaolin Temple, so hiding his presence was not difficult for him.
The assassin was moving along the rooftops.
Bo-Kyung fluttered his Taoist robe and climbed up onto the roof.
At times like this, his wide robe felt rather cumbersome.
Bo-Kyung tightly wrapped his robe around himself, so the hem wouldn't brush against the roof tiles.
"Hoo!"
Unknowingly, Bo-Kyung let out a sigh and then quickly shut his mouth in surprise.
Fortunately, the assassin didn't seem to hear his sigh.
The two were separated by a distance of about twenty or so rooftops, and unless one was an exceptional master, it was impossible to hear small sounds from that distance.
Bo-Kyung did not think the assassin he was chasing was a master who had reached that level. It was hard to understand why such a master would resort to assassination.
Suddenly, Bo-Kyung looked around.
"Why is he here?"
Bo-Kyung furrowed his brow and looked around.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out why the assassin had come to this place.
"Could it be?"
Suddenly, he had a thought.
He hurriedly searched for the assassin and looked around, but there was no sign of the assassin anywhere.
Sweat dripped down his spine.
"Did he lure me here knowing that I'm tracking him?"
The situation had completely flipped.
Bo-Kyung couldn't move rashly and raised his guard for the enemy's attack. However, no matter how much time passed, there was no sign of the enemy moving.
Being in a state of tension for a long time, Bo-Kyung felt his body stiffening.
Standing still, half an hour had already passed since he prepared himself for the assassin's attack.
It felt like barely half an hour had passed him.
By now, he began to doubt whether the assassin was hiding and targeting him.
Bokyeong furrowed his brow.
"Did I think wrong?"
Perhaps the enemy had escaped and gone elsewhere.
Bo-Kyung thought that was much more convincing.
After all, turning the Shaolin temple into an enemy would be a burden even for the assassin.
As he thought that, he felt much relieved.
It was at that moment that Bo-Kyung felt relieved.
Suddenly, something tapped on his calf.
He looked at his leg with a puzzled expression. Then a shabby doll made of patched cloth appeared.
"What?"
Crack!
At that moment, the doll exploded.
The explosion wasn't that great.
The problem was that sewing needles hidden inside the doll flew around in all directions like darts.
He covered his face and chest with his long sleeve in resignation. But the needles penetrated through the sleeve and stuck in various parts of his body.
"Ugh!"
It happened as he staggered back, groaning in pain.
Swoosh!
A beam of black light flew through the darkness.
His body instinctively unfolded a powerful palm technique to protect himself.
Bang!
A loud noise exploded.
A long wound had appeared on his side. However, the attacker seemed to have suffered a great shock from his powerful palm technique, too, as there was a faint trace of blood on his lips.
But compared to his sustained injuries, the attacker's wounds were relatively minor.
He looked at the assassin with his side gripped tightly.
The assassin with a skeleton-like face was none other than Heuk-Ho.
"I wondered who was following me like a rat, and it turns out to be a thief from the Shaolin Temple."
Heuk-Ho looked at him with a cold gaze.
If he hadn't heard his faint sigh, he wouldn't have noticed that he was being followed. Fortunately, his hearing was very sharp, so he could hear his weak sigh.
He asked, "Who are you?"
"As you can see, I'm an assassin."
"Did you commit the murders in Jin-Manor?"
"Hehe! That's right. And I killed your Sajuk too."
"You killed Seong-un Sajuk?"
"That's right! It wasn't that difficult."
In an instant, something snapped in his mind.
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