Reaper of The Drifting Moon Chapter 270

Reaper of The Drifting Moon  Chapter 270

Lee Yul looked at Heuk-Ho with a frown on his face.

"What did you just say?"

"I said I killed that thug named Bo-Kyung...."

"And you're telling me this now?"

"No, I had no choice. Bo-Kyung was after me. I couldn't just run away in that situation."

"Do you realize how big of a mistake you've made?"

"Are you blaming me now? When carrying out a mission, unexpected variables can always arise."

"You could have subdued him without killing him, couldn't you?"

"Hmph! It's easy to say. He's a highly regarded martial artist, even in Shaolin.

If it were an ambush like in the Seong-Un case, it would be easy to subdue him in a direct confrontation!! His martial arts skills are not to be taken lightly, and I had no other choice."

"So you killed him?"

Heuk-Ho was angry at Lee Yul's continued questioning.

Heuk-Ho had shown some degree of courtesy to Lee Yul until now, but he couldn't hold back his anger in the face of repeated questioning.

Even as a client, a line had to be respected. Lee Yul had crossed that line.

"Damn it! I'm doing what I was contracted to do. What more do you want?"

Heuk-Ho glared at Lee Yul, his eyes flashing with anger.

Heuk-Ho was usually someone who catered to the client's every need. However, with Lee Yul's repeated questioning, his anger boiled up to the surface.

Even in the Hundred Wraith Union, the ten blood assassins were in a very special position. Even the White Demon lord rarely forced the ten-blood assassins to do anything unless it was absolutely necessary.

But now, the client, who wasn't even the white demon lord, accused him of improvising. He couldn't help but feel furious.

The latter's eyes grew colder as Heuk-Ho's intense gaze met Lee Yul's.

"Don't think. Don't act on your own. Just kill the one I pointed out."

"Don't think? Am I just a doll?"

"Aren't assassins creatures without a conscience anyway?"

"Don't cross the line, noble client."

"Seems like you're the one crossing the line."

"Argh, for real...."

It was a moment where Heuk-Ho's anger was about to explode."

Swish!

Suddenly, someone appeared behind Heuk-Ho without a sound.

It was Baek Do-Gyeong, a retainer of Lee Yul.

His gaze was fixed on Heuk-Ho's back, his expression calm.

Heuk-Ho noticed Baek Do-Gyeong's presence and sensed the power of his martial arts, which was not to be underestimated.

Baek Do-Gyeong was emitting an intense aura that made Heuk-Ho's body tremble. If he drew his sword here, Baek Do-Gyeong would attack him immediately.

Heuk-Ho knew he might be able to take Lee Yul's life, but at that moment, he was at a high risk of losing his life to Baek Do-Gyeong.

Heuk-Ho raised both hands.

"Understood. I'll do as my client wishes."

“…….”

"I said I'd be a good listener. Trust me."

"You'd better keep that promise.

"Don't worry. If I said it, I'll definitely keep it. Unless I didn't say it in the first place."

"Trust me once more. Go out and wait for my orders quietly."

"I understand."

Heuk-Ho nodded his head and turned around.

He saw Baek Do-Gyeong, who was staring at him silently.

His face looked like a seasoned warrior, drenched in blood from countless battles.

While he might be able to catch him off guard, he was an opponent he couldn't defeat head-on. Compared to him, Bo-Kyung, who he faced yesterday, was nothing but a novice.

The opponents that Heuk-Ho detested the most were not the masters who had learned profound gate martial arts. 

It was the countless warriors who had been trained in real battles.

These warriors had a wildness and sharpness that the delicate and refined warriors raised like flowers in a greenhouse did not possess.(흑호가 가장 껄끄러워하는 상대는 현문 정종의 무공을 익힌 고수들이 아니었다. 이렇게 수많은 실전으로 단련된 무인들이었다)

For a moment, Baek Do-Gyeong and Heuk-Ho stared at each other. But Heuk-Ho was the first to avoid his gaze.

He quietly avoided Baek Do-Gyeong's gaze and went outside.

Thud!

As the door closed and Hukho's presence completely disappeared, Baek Do-Gyeong spoke up.

"Do you plan to entrust him with more missions?"

"Yes, we have to."

"He's not an easy person to control. He might cause a bigger problem."

"It's too late to hire another assassin now."

"If the Shaolin Temple finds out that we are behind this, it could expose us."

"We need to eliminate him before that happens."

"Eliminate him?"

"Yes!!"

"I see."

Baek Do-Gyeong nodded at Lee-Yul's response.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

Although it was a waste of Heuk-Ho's abilities, he was just a hired killer.

If it were said that Heuk-Ho died during the line of duty, no one would delve deeply into it.

So far, they have killed numerous people this way and thoroughly covered up any evidence.

Lee-Yul closed his eyes for a moment.

Things were getting complicated.

It was impossible even to guess how much impact Heuk-Ho's actions would have.

Even with Lee-Yul's exceptional brain, he couldn't easily predict how far this situation would escalate.

Ultimately, he gave up on his calculations and opened his eyes halfway.

"Where is the Black Cloud Corps now?"

"Um..."

Baek Do-Gyeong couldn't answer easily.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"We have lost contact with them at the moment."

"Lost contact? Why?"

"We have not yet determined the reason. We have been unable to reach them since yesterday."

"What?"

Lee-Yul clenched his fists.

Unlike Heuk-Ho, the Black Cloud Corps was a group that could be controlled.

Black Cloud Corps's commanderJang Muryang was very ambitious, and his goals were clear. It was easy to employ someone like him.

As long as the reward was guaranteed, he always kept his promises.

That's why even though he didn't believe in Heuk-Ho, he believed in Jang Muryang and the Black Cloud Corps.

Find them quickly. We must find out what happened," he said.

"Understood!"

Baek Do-Gyeong disappeared with his response.

Left alone, Lee-Yul muttered to himself, "Unexpected variables keep arising. Where did we go wrong?"

It was a job that had been calculated and executed flawlessly. They had accounted for every possible variable that could occur, recalculating dozens of times.

Yet, cracks were beginning to appear in what they thought was a perfect plan.

***

"shit!"

Jang Muryang faced him with an expression of disbelief.

Dozens of corpses were scattered before them, all Black Cloud Corps soldiers.

His subordinates had become cold corpses, rolling on the ground.

Jang Muryang approached them with a visible tremble.

If it's his command, his subordinates will jump in without hesitation. They were more like brothers than subordinates who had been together for a long time.

"Cheong-gwang, Im-ha, Joo-yeong… … ."

One by one, the names of his subordinates flowed out of Jang Muryang's mouth as he confirmed their faces.

As he was doing so, Jang Muryang's footsteps suddenly stopped at the sight of two bodies that caught his eye.

"Ran...ju, Go...Do-sa."

It was none other than Heo Ran-ju and Go Do-sa.

Their deaths gave Jang Muryang an enormous shock and sense of despair that could not be compared to the deaths of others.

"No!"

Jang Muryang's desperate voice echoed through the sky.

If Go Do-sa was like a father figure, then Heo Ranju was like a lover to Jang Muryang. He was able to navigate dangerous paths without hesitation because the two of them always had his back like solid support. 

He was willing to sacrifice his life for them without hesitation, and they were always ready to do the same for him. 

But he had never thought there would come a moment when he would have to make such a sacrifice.

Death was a distant thought for them. 

They trusted each other to always protect one another.

That's why Jang Muryang was able to send the two of them on a mission to track down Pyo Wol without hesitation.

Jang Muryang trembled as he held Heo Ranju's body.

Although her blood stained his clothes, he didn't care.

"Pyo Wol!"

Jang Muryang gritted his teeth.

The two of them were tracking Pyo Wol with their followers. So it was clear that Pyo Wol was responsible for the murders.

Then Vice Captain Yang Woo-Jeong approached him.

"Vice Captain!"

"Find Pyo Wol! I'll chew his bones to pieces."

"Yes! And..."

"What is it?"

"It seems that there is more than one person involved in the deaths of these two."

"Who else is involved?"

"A assassin named Hong Ye-Seol."

"An assassin?"

"Yes!"

Yang Woo-Jeong answered with a stern expression.

"How did you find out?"

"We received a tip."

"A tip?"

"Yes! The scars on Ranju's body match the technique used by the assassin."

Jang Muryang's face twisted in a grimace.

"Did you say Hong Ye-Seol?"

"Yes!"

"From now on, we track her down. Since they moved together, She must be close to Pyo Wol. He must have been deeply involved. We'll kill her brutally, and make Pyo Wol suffer the same despair as us."

Jang Muryang's greatest strength was always his cold rationality, but the deaths of Go Do-san and Heo Ranju robbed him of his reason and gifted him with rage.

His intense anger paralyzed his reason, and he couldn't make a proper judgment due to his desire for revenge.

He knew that the assassin who was hired by Lee Yul was now with Pyo Wol. 

She was a woman who had violated her contract with Lee Yul and went rogue. 

He didn't know why she was with Pyo Wol, but now he felt like he needed to kill her and bathe in her blood to ease his conscience.

"The next target is Pyo Wol. Track down his whereabouts," Jang Muryang ordered.

"Yes!" Yang Woo-Jeong replied with a heavy expression.

He was also enraged by the deaths of his colleagues like Jang Muryong, but unlike him, he still had some rationality left. 

Therefore, he could make a slightly more objective judgment in the current situation.

Originally, the Black Cloud Troop was a force of over 350 soldiers. But more than 70 of them had already lost their lives to Pyo Wol in the city of Chengdu, and even more members had died here in Yeonnam. Now, there were barely 200 soldiers left in the Black Cloud Troop."

It's as if the initial forces have been completely decimated.

Some might argue that their full strength is still intact, but Yang Woo-Jeong believed that the Black Cloud Corps had fallen completely.

The mainstay of the Black Cloud Troop was their cavalry.

The moment when cavalry could exert the greatest power was when they overwhelmed the enemy with sheer numbers. 

Cavalry units that lacked numbers found it difficult to fully utilize their power and were less intimidating.

Above all, it took a lot of money and time to train cavalry.

Peasant soldiers could be replenished quickly, but it took at least a decade to raise and train cavalry properly.

But it was uncertain whether the Black Cloud Corps would remain intact.

In his heart, he wanted to immediately sever all contracts with Lee Yul and rebuild the Black Cloud Corps, but it was impossible to do so.

Kangho was a place with a steady source of income.

Yang Woo-Jeong knew well how badly a faction or individual who was once underestimated or looked down upon could fall.

Regardless of the outcome, revenge was necessary.

"It looks like we have a real thorn in our side," Yang Woo-Jeong gnashed his teeth.

All of this happened because of ties to Pyo Wol.

The Black Cloud Corps wouldn't have deteriorated this badly if they hadn't met him.

"He is our enemy. In order for the Black Cloud Corps to survive, we must eliminate him."

This was when Yang Woo-Jeong made up his mind.

"I have found Hong Ye-Seol."

A member of the Black Cloud Corps approached them and reported this.

"Where is she?"

"She has been located staying at an inn in Yeonnam."

"From now on, we hunt her down."

Jang Muryang stood up.

Heo-Ranju's blood was smeared all over his body, making him look like a blood demon. The Black Cloud Brigade moved in pursuit of Hong Ye-Seol.

Their movements were destroying the perfectly planned scheme of Lee Yul.

INDEX