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| Reaper of The Drifting Moon Chapter 277 |
Zoom! Zoom!
As the small knife passed by, the rough wood gradually became smoother.
A man sat at a wooden table, diligently carving the wood.
His hand movements were very sophisticated.
In no time, he had sculpted all the wood on the table into the desired shape.
The man put down his knife and began assembling the carved pieces of wood.
Click! Click!
A short while later, the man created a small doll.
It was a doll in the shape of a person with arms and legs.
With its eyes, nose, and mouth all bunched together, the crudely fashioned doll evoked a strange sense of fear.
The man began to carve a strange pattern on the back of the doll, which was no bigger than a child.
Scratch! Scratch!
What he carved on the back of the doll was a charm.
The intricate pattern of the charm itself exuded an eerie feeling.
Carving the charm wasn't the end of it.
The man poured a pre-prepared red liquid onto the charm. The red liquid filled the grooves of the charm's engraved characters and quickly hardened.
"Hehe!"
Finally, the man let out a satisfied smile.
His smile was extremely sullen.
The man with a skeletal and thin appearance was none other than Heuk-Ho.
Heuk-Ho looked satisfied with his skill as he turned the doll around.
Thud!
Heuk-Ho threw the doll he had just made to one side of the room.
In addition to the newly made doll, quite a few other dolls were in the room.
All of them were made by Heuk-Ho himself.
There were also talismans carved on the backs of the other dolls.
These were not ordinary talismans.
Thanks to these talismans, Heuk-Ho could control the dolls from far away.
When he was young, he learned talismans from a Taoist.
The Taoist claimed to be from the Mosan Sect.
Nowadays, when people think of Taoism, they imagine those who belong to the Wudang or Mount Hua sect.
However, in the past, many Taoists focused on the art of talismans, like the Mosan school.
However, as Taoism became more prominent in the form of religious orders, Taoists who focused on talismanic arts, like those of the Mosan school, naturally declined.
Some Taoists even sympathized with the forces that caused chaos in Kangho, like the newly created factions, to overcome the irrational reality.
This caused them to fall more disastrously, and people's perception of talismanic arts became even colder.
The Taoist from the Mosan school who taught Heuk-Ho the art of doll manipulation was no exception.
Heuk-Ho hid from the eyes of the world and was extremely afraid to show himself openly.
He had no talent in other forms of magic, but he boasted a talent in just one kind of doll magic.
Although he did not understand any other magic, he absorbed the teachings of doll magic as his own.
There were occasional cases of talents specialized in only one area.
Heuk-Ho was precisely that case.
He had fiercely absorbed the doll magic taught by the Mosan school's master.
The master instructed Heuk-Ho to refrain from using doll magic because it could lead to consequences of being labelled as a heretic if done improperly.
Because it was such a secretive technique, he could be accused of being a follower of the Dark One if he made a mistake.
Afterwards, the master suddenly disappeared, and Heuk-Ho met another mentor and became an assassin.
He was then recognized for his abilities and was recruited into the Hundred-Wraith Union.
The combination of doll magic and killing techniques placed him at the top of the Ten Blood Assassins in the Hundred Wraith Union.
He had never failed once until now.
No matter what target he had, they never survived if they became his goal.
He had a strong sense of pride and affection for himself.
No employer dared to treat him disrespectfully, and he never once disappointed his clients.
But that pride was shattered this time.
Lee-Yul treated him like a failure and a problem child.
"You underestimated me too much," Heuk-Ho said, revealing his feelings.
He was never a person who could be controlled by anyone else, not someone other than the hundred wraith union's lord.
He couldn't stand his life being controlled by anyone else.
"Hehe!"
He stood up with a chuckle.
One side of the room was full of dolls, but more was needed.
He needed more dolls.
Making dolls was fine. All he needed was wood.
The problem was the red liquid that filled the engraved characters on the talisman.
The core of the talisman was the red liquid.
He needed to get more of the red liquid.
Squeak!
Heuk-Ho opened the door and went outside.
A fairly spacious warehouse greeted him.
"Ugh!"
Something was hanging upside down in the warehouse.
The object writhing with a bit in its mouth was a person suspended upside down with a rope tied around its ankles.
Heuk-Ho approached the man hanging from the rope with his trademark eerie smile.
As Heuk-Ho approached, the man hanging from the rope made a fearful expression.
"Ugh! Ugh!"
The man tried to say something, but he could not because of the bit in his mouth.
Heuk-Ho murmured as he looked at the man's terrified face.
"Nicely aged. It should work well."
He pulled out the knife he used to carve wood from his pocket.
The man's fear was at its peak.
His eyes were bloodshot, foam dripping from his mouth with the bit gag in it.
At that moment, Heuk-Ho slit the man's throat with his knife.
Schuack!
A gruesome sound of severing flesh accompanied the blood that spilt out of the man's neck.
Huk-Ho caught the blood in a bucket.
The blood, containing strong resentment, was an essential medium for his puppetry.
While waiting for the bucket to fill, Heuk-Ho surveyed the warehouse.
It was filled with people hung upside down from the ceiling, like fruit on a tree.
Heuk-Ho leisurely enjoyed the sight of his masterpiece, the human still life he created.
"Hehe!"
***
Pyo Wol looked around the house for a moment.
It was more like a hut than a house.
The rotten pillars barely supported the roof, and the thatched roof and walls could scarcely withstand the wind.
The environment of the hut was so poor that one would wonder if people could live there.
But Pyo Wol didn't care about the appearance of the hut.
What was important was that the hut blocked the view of others and that its location was on the outskirts of the Yeonam.
There was a reasonably large swamp on the outskirts of the Yeonam.
Initially, it was a clean pond, but it turned into a swamp that emitted a foul odour as various pollutants flowed in as the slums formed.
The pollutants continued to flow in, and the swamp rotted away since there was no outlet.
Only those who were not in their right mind would approach this area because of the stench of the swamp.
This was the last place where people pushed out of the slums would settle
Pyo Wol threw a silver coin to the hut owner and bought it.
As soon as he sold the hut, the owner ran away without looking back. He was scared that Pyo Wol might ask for the silver coin back.
The poor surrounding environment might be daunting for others, but it was actually the optimal environment for Pyo Wol.
After coming to Yeonnam, Pyo Wol needed to arrange a separate dwelling for himself
He didn't think to prepare a hiding place because he didn't know how long he would stay. But now the situation has changed.
Pyo Wol believed in the saying, "The crafty rabbit has three burrows", and knew that he needed to become a crafty rabbit.
He had to prepare his hiding place that no one else knew about.
He needed his own space that no one could access, and this place was a perfect fit for what he wanted.
An uncomfortable environment for others was like a paradise for a criminal.
He didn't need to install traps or build high walls to make it a fortress.
Even the most minor discomfort that made the other person hesitate was an excellent weapon for a criminal.
Furthermore, the swamp that was connected directly behind the location was fantastic.
Pyo Wol had already surveyed the area around the swamp in the morning and knew exactly what he needed to prepare.
If he had Tang Sochu, it would have been much easier, but unfortunately, he was far away in another castle. It is impossible to call for him now.
From now on, he had to move independently and prepare himself.
Pyo Wol stepped out of the hut. Then, a foul odour stung his nose. However, Pyo Wold didn't flinch and continued walking.
The slum was like a maze.
It wasn't planned initially but formed haphazardly as people pushed out of the city and took up residence wherever they could find space.
Even those who lived in the slum often found themselves lost and wandering, and ordinary people didn't dare to come here.
Recently, the slum has expanded rapidly.
Many people who lost their homes in the fight between Snow Sword Manor and Jing Manor had flooded in.
Even the Hao Clan, who had come here recently, didn't know the situation in the slum.
He couldn't even grasp its structure.
The fight between the two factions was causing widespread devastation.
Although many homeless people had come in, there was no outbreak of disease. Ordinary people were still pouring into the slum, losing everything they had.
The eyes of those who had lost everything were empty.
Pupils that had lost focus without any will.
That's how the people of the slum were right now.
They were breathing to stay alive, without any desire for life.
Other slums would be wary or even attack strangers like Pyo Wolor and try to steal their clothes like beggars, but there was no such indication here.
Perhaps the slum dwellers didn't even know instinctively that Pyo Wol was different from themselves.
Pyo Wol left the slum and headed for Workshop District.
As warriors poured in, the Workshop District of Yeonnam was experiencing an unprecedented boom.
People looking for new weapons to replace broken ones and warriors trying to repair damaged ones visited the Workshop District daily.
Thanks to this, each craft shop was full of customers.
Pyo Wol visited each craft shop and bought the necessary items gradually.
However, since he had visited so many craft shops, the amount he collected was not small at all.
Thanks to this, Pyo Wol had to make two round trips between the Workshop District and the slums.
Pyo Wol had no time to rest, even after returning with the last item.
He started to set up various traps around the Moak and swamp area.
Each trap seemed like it could have been more powerful, but they were designed to have a combined effect.
Pyo Wol spent almost a full day constructing the traps he wanted.
Among them, the swamp itself was his favourite.
The swamp, formed by various sludge, emitted toxic fumes.
The toxicity was so severe that warriors exposed to it immediately became dizzy and nauseous. However, this level of toxicity did not affect Pyo Wol.
This was because Pyo Wol's blood was as toxic as the most poisonous snake in the world.
Pyo Wol looked around the swamp momentarily, admiring the traps he had created.
As far as outward appearance was concerned, there was no sign of a trap.
For a hastily-made trap, it was more than enough.
It was different from when he made the Inescapable net in Chengdu.
Back then, annihilation was the goal, and now it was about securing a safe den.
This was enough to keep the average person and most outlaws from approaching.
That was when it happened.
As Pyo Wol looked around the swamp, his eyes caught a strange sight.
The surface of the swamp was slightly rippling.
It was incomprehensible that there were waves even though the wind wasn't blowing.
It was a swamp filled with poison.
The environment was too harsh for any living creature to survive.
Unless one adapted perfectly to the poison like Pyo Wol, it seemed impossible to survive in the swamp.
Swish!
At that moment, something suddenly emerged through the mud covering the swamp.
It was a small snake.
A slender body with a length of just over one finger of a young child.
At first glance, it was no different from any other ordinary snake.
What made it special was its eye and body colour.
Red eyes like rubies and a transparent, silver body that shimmered.
Occasionally, the sight of it flicking its red tongue seemed almost elegant.
The silver snake slithered gracefully through the bushes, leaving the swamp behind.
Then, a weasel was seen approaching the snake.
It cautiously approached the snake, hiding its body in the grass.
Like a silent assassin, it perfectly concealed its presence.
If it continued like this, the snake seemed like it would become the weasel's prey without any resistance.
Weasels like this were natural predators of snakes.
Some people strongly resisted the venom that they wouldn't even flinch if bitten by a venomous snake.
The weasel struck the serpent-like lightning.
Its movements were impossible to catch with ordinary strength.
The weasel's fangs were aimed precisely at the snake's neck. Once bitten there, no snake could resist
The weasel was just about to sink its fangs into the snake's neck.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, the snake deftly lowered its head, dodging the weasel's attack and biting its neck instead.
The weasel, bitten on the neck by the snake, immediately rolled its eyes, turned over its belly, and collapsed.
Foam appeared at the corner of its mouth before it stopped breathing.
The venom was so potent that it couldn't be considered the poison of a small snake.
Pyo Wol reached out his finger to the snake.
"You're an interesting one."
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