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| Reaper of the Drifting Moon Chapter 402 |
Type- Light Novel, Web Novel
Manhwa- N/A
Translation-MTL
There was a cart moving along the grassy path.
A man and a woman were riding in the carriage pulled by a horse.
The man was driving the horse, and the woman leaned against the wall of the carriage with her eyes closed.
They were none other than Pyo Wol and Hong Ye-seol.
The two were traveling through an unnamed mountain range after leaving the Poyang Lake.
They didn't know the name of the mountain, but Yeom Hee-soo had mentioned that a person presumed to be the divine physician was spotted nearby.
They had been searching the area for several days.
Pyo Wol glanced back suddenly.
Hong Ye-seol was enduring the pain with her eyes slightly closed.
During this time, she had experienced two precarious situations.
Had she not taken the poison of the Black Flower Spider poison to trigger her innate energy, she would have died. Fortunately, she survived, but the after effects were severe.
It was an immense pain.
Pain was something she was very familiar with, and her pride wouldn't allow her to succumb to this level of pain and moan.
Pyo Wol didn't say anything to Hong Ye-seol.
He understood her feelings.
He would have acted the same if he were in her position.
Although they were two different people in many ways, they had one thing in common that would never change.
It was their assassin origins.
The identity of an assassin engraved in their instincts from childhood never wavered, no matter the circumstances.
Comforting Hong Ye-seol wouldn't help at all.
The best thing to do was to find the divine physician.
Pyo Wol focused on searching for traces of the divine physician, away from Hong Ye-seol.
However, finding traces left by the divine physician was not easy.
It had been more than ten days since Yeom Hee-soo had seen the divine physician.
The divine physician could have left during that time.
'Did he find the divine physician?'
Pyo Wol thought of Yoo Soo-hwan.
Hong Ye-seol's situation was urgent, but Yoo Soo-hwan was equally anxious.
The chances of fully recovering his martial arts decreased with each passing day.
Pyo Wol continued to drive the carriage through the grass, searching for traces of the divine physician.
"Hmm!"
Suddenly, a glint appeared in Pyo Wol's eyes.
An unexpected clue appeared before him.
A deep and wide furrow stretched across, as if a massive boulder had rolled through.
Pyo Wol got off the carriage and examined the furrow.
The soil was damp.
It was evidence that the furrow hadn't been created long ago. The trees and grass along the path where the furrow was created were all crushed.
Swish!
At that moment, Gwia, which had been coiling around Pyo Wol's arm, came down.
Gwia flicked its tiny tongue and sniffed the smell of the soil. Then it looked at Pyo Wol.
As if understanding Gwia's words, Pyo Wol responded.
"Yes, I know."
At that time, Hong Ye-seol opened her eyes and looked at Pyo Wol.
"What's going on?"
"It seems like someone I know is nearby."
"Are you talking about the divine physician?"
"No! It's someone else."
"Who, if it's not the divine physician?"
Hong Ye-seol looked puzzled.
It was because Pyo Wol's expression was tense.
She knew Pyo Wol as someone who never revealed his emotions through his facial expressions, no matter the situation.
He knew this fact very well since he was an assassin himself.
Pyo Wol answered.
"Gyeongmusaeng."
"Gyeongmusaeng?"
"The master of life and death."
"Are you talking about the eighth of the Eight Constellations?"
"That's right! This furrow was undoubtedly left by the Imoogi he rides."
"My goodness!"
Hong Ye-seol was genuinely surprised.
To her and other assassins like her, the Eight constellations seemed as distant as a divine dragon playing in the clouds. The master of life and death was one of the higher-ranking ones among them.
The thought of such a being being in the same space suddenly made it difficult to breathe.
"An Imoogi...?"
She had heard of it before - the creature that failed to become a dragon.
But there was a big difference between vaguely hearing about it and seeing its traces directly.
The traces left by the Imoogi were truly enormous.
She never imagined that a monster with such a huge body could actually exist.
Just looking at the traces left by the Imoogi made them feel goosebumps all over their body.
Pyo Wol muttered, "The fact that the master of life and death appeared here means that the Ghost King is nearby."
The ghost king was known as the greatest mystery in Kangho.
His near-immortality had been the goal of many power-seekers.
Pyo Wol knew some of the secrets of the ghost king.
He was now in the form of Do Yeonsan because he had abandoned his original body and switched to Do Yeonsan's body.
In this way, the ghost king had maintained his life by switching to similar bodies.
Pyo Wol would not have cared about the ghost king under normal circumstances.
There was no reason for him, a third party, to interfere between the ghost king and the master of life and death’s relationship. But the situation had changed.
Pyo Wol thought that perhaps the ghost king's ability could save Hong Ye-Seol.
If he could find the divine physician, he wouldn't need to be obsessed with the ghost king, but for now, there was no other way.
Hong Ye-Seol had already been to the brink of hell twice. If she had another seizure, it might be impossible to save her even with the Black Flower Spider's venom.
Pyo Wol decided to take a risk at this point. He detached the cart from the horse.
It was impossible to track the Imoogi's traces with a cart attached to the horse.
Pyo Wol put Hong Ye-Seol on the horse's back.
She silently got on the horse without asking any questions. She believed that if Pyo Wol acted this way, there must be a valid reason.
He led the horse with Hong Ye-Seol on it, tracking the Imoogi's traces.
Finding the traces wasn't difficult, as there were deep and wide grooves connected in a line.
Pyo Wol followed the traces left by the Imoogi. And they led to a nearby lake.
The nameless lake was quite large.
It wasn't as endless as Lake Poyang, but it was still quite large, and it would take at least half a day to circle it all the way around.
From the looks of it, the Imoogi had entered the lake.
He would have to search everywhere to find out where it had gone after crossing the lake, but Pyo Wol was not disappointed.
He had anticipated this level of difficulty.
He led the horse around the lake.
When they had walked almost halfway around the lake, Pyo Wol finally discovered huge traces of destruction.
The lush reed field had turned into a field of wormwood, and nearby, shattered rocks were scattered about.
There, a palm-sized scale lay on the ground. There was clear evidence that the Imoogi had gone on a rampage.
It was here that the ghost king and the master of life and death had a fierce battle.
Pyo Wol spread his senses widely and looked around, but he couldn't feel their energies anywhere.
"Have they already left?"
Pyo Wol thought to himself.
He'd wasted a lot of time looking for the Ghost King.
The sky was already getting dark. And, it was too much to keep moving.
With no other choice, Pyo Wol set up camp near the lake with Hong Ye-Seol.
He flattened the ground and gathered dry wood to make a campfire.
"Phew!" As soon as she sat down by the fire, Hong Ye-Seol unwittingly let out a sigh.
Her complexion was pale. In the short time it took Pyo Wol to prepare for the night, her condition had noticeably worsened.
Pyo Wol sat behind her and said, "Practice your inner energy! I'll help you."
"Yes!" Hong Ye-Seol nodded immediately and started her inner energy practice.
Pyo Wol placed his palm on her back, at the spot where her meridian was located, and assisted her in her practice.
Once the practice was over, Hong Ye-seol's condition improved slightly. However, her pale face still looked precarious.
"I'm fine now. Thank you."
At Hong Ye-seol's words, Pyo Wol took his palm away.
Pyo Wol took out a piece of dried meat and asked.
"Do you want to eat?"
"Yes!"
Hong Ye-seol didn't refuse.
In fact, she was not in a situation to eat anything. Her mouth felt numb, unable to taste anything or even feel hunger. Nevertheless, she forced herself to chew the dried meat.
She knew very well that to survive, she had to fill her stomach even if it meant chewing on a stone.
Pyo Wol also chewed on the dried meat beside Hong Ye-seol.
The speed at which the two of them chewed the jerky was very slow.
Pyo Wol had a habit of chewing slowly, and Hong Ye-seol was too weak to eat quickly. So their speed of eating dried meat was similar.
"Phew!"
Finally, after eating the last piece of dried meat, Hong Ye-seol sighed.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head on Pyo Wol's shoulder.
Pyo Wol looked down at her for a moment before speaking.
"Was the assassination of the seven sage scholar ordered by the Hundred Wraith Union?"
"Yes, it was a mission given by the leader himself."
"Is that common?"
"Absolutely not."
"Extremely rare, then."
"Yes. Moreover, he didn't even tell us who the client was. Even though he usually shares information with the ten blood assassins."
Hong Ye-seol answered with her eyes closed.
Her eyebrows were trembling, a sign of her complicated feelings.
She thought that the chaos might begin because of what she had done.
She had taken on countless requests to kill people, but never had the consequences escalated into a nationwide disaster.
She couldn't even imagine how she would handle the karma if the assassination of the seven sage scholar truly led to such chaos.
Pyo Wol didn't ask any more questions and stared at the bonfire.
The fierce bonfire made Pyo Wol lost in his thoughts.
As he was staring blankly at the bonfire, he suddenly felt someone's presence.
Pyo Wol looked beyond the bonfire without panicking.
In an instant, a figure appeared without a sound.
It was someone who appeared out of nowhere, as if tearing through the darkness.
If Pyo Wol was not an expert in martial arts, he might have mistaken the person's sudden appearance for a ghost.
Pyo Wol silently stared at the Person.
His emotionless face, reddened by the bonfire.
His black eyes showed no trace of any emotion, like a person who had lost all feelings.
Pyo Wol thought that his gaze was very similar to his own, but there was a fundamental difference.
While Pyo Wol intentionally blocked his emotions from showing, the person seemed to have genuinely lost all emotions.
It seemed as if no joy or sorrow could affect him.
The person stared intently at Pyo Wol.
Pyo Wol stared back at him.
The stifling silence around the bonfire continued.
Feeling strange, Hong Ye-seol cautiously opened her eyes.
She was surprised to see the person sitting across the bonfire but did not show any sign of being startled, like an experienced assassin.
He appeared to be a boy in his late teens.
Faint burn marks remained on his arm, which had its sleeve rolled up.
'Who is he?'
At that moment, Pyo Wol opened his mouth.
"Ghost King or Do Yeonsan. Which one are you?"
The boy who appeared before him was none other than Do Yeonsan, the apprentice from Cheolsan Workshop.
The boy who had sold the cow hair needles to Pyo Wol and he liked it.
He lost his only younger sister, Do Sooin, to Jo Ikwang of Namgyeong Clan, and was stained with Taeho's blood.
Although he eventually took revenge, the unfortunate boy who had his body taken by the Ghost King appeared in front of Pyo Wol again.
Even now, the cow hair needles that Do Yeonsan had made were in Pyo Wol's arms.
The Ghost King, wearing Do Yeonsan's face, opened his mouth.
"I remember... I saw you in Taeho, right?"
"Are you the Ghost King?"
"Everyone calls me that."
"What happened to Do Yeonsan?"
"Well..."
The Ghost King trailed off with a blank expression on his face.
He was clearly wearing Do Yeonsan's face. But the feeling was different. The warm energy that Do Yeonsan had before was nowhere to be seen. It was obvious that the Ghost King had completely taken over his body.
Pyo Wol didn't know how it was possible, but it happened right in front of his eyes, so there was no reason not to believe it.
Then, the Ghost King's gaze turned to Hong Ye-seol.
"The woman, she's in pain."
"What about it?"
"There's a way to heal her."
"Really?"
Hong Ye-seol couldn't help but change her expression.
"But there's a condition."
The Ghost King's last words were directed at Pyo Wol.
Pyo Wol asked.
"What is it?"
"Help me."
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