Light Novel: Volume 24 Episode 1
Manhwa: N/A

Ki Han-seong glared fiercely at the small boat fleeing.

It was a boat with only three people aboard.

A young man, a young boy, and finally, an old man holding the oars.

Just three people had overcome and killed about a dozen martial artists.

All of them were promising warriors from the Golden Heaven Society. Among them was a trusted subordinate cherished by Ki Han-seong.

His death caused Ki Han-seong’s eyes to turn upside down in anger, so he left Eum Jung-han and the Silver Lotus Society martial artists alone on the stranded horse-ferry boat to pursue them.

Since the horse-ferry boat was already wrecked and isolated, there was nowhere for them to escape. Ki Han-seong figured he just needed to deal with those who killed his men and then return.

He ordered his men to drive the boat at full speed.

Swoosh!

The massive boat sliced through the water at breakneck speed.

Elder Assassin rowed the boat as hard as he could, but he could not match the speed of the huge ship with wind in its sails.

In an instant, the distance closed, and the large ship was close enough to touch their boat’s stern.

Kwah!

Waves churned out by the massive boat rocked Pyo-wol and the others’ boat so much it seemed it might turn over at any moment.

Elder Assassin said to Pyo-wol,

“I apologize. It seems like we can’t continue at this rate.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Pyo-wol turned his head to look at the massive ship that was closely following behind them.

He had wanted to visit Oh Jin-ui quietly if possible. But now that things had come to this, they couldn’t just let it pass.

Pyo-wol pressed the hood on his blood-red robe even deeper.

Soma and Elder Assassin knew best what that meant.

Thump!

With a small thud, the three of them simultaneously kicked off from the boat and leapt through the air.

Crash!

In an instant, the boat they had been on was crushed under the massive boat and disappeared into the water. If they had been any slower to escape, they would have been sucked down into the water as well.

Thud!

Soma landed lightly on the bow.

The appearance of the boy, who looked to be about eighteen years old, drew a puzzled look from the men on board.

“What are you?”

“Huh?”

It took the warriors a moment to realize that Soma had been one of the people aboard the broken small boat.

In the meantime, Soma had moved.

“Hehe! I won’t kill you. The old man told me not to kill people recklessly.”

Soma chuckled as he rushed toward the warrior at the lead.

In his hands was the sword, Gongbu. 

Shhiiing!

The sword drew a sharp trajectory.

“Keuk!”

“Ack!”

The warriors screamed as they fell.

Deep wounds were on their thighs and ankles.

Soma had deliberately avoided their upper bodies and only attacked their lower bodies.

No one expected such a young child as Soma to execute such sharp and ruthless attacks. This caused them to be slow to react.

In the meantime, three or four martial artists had fallen to the ground due to Soma’s attack.

Soma’s sword technique was extremely powerful.

It had evolved further after receiving teachings from Sage Il-gum of the Wudang Sect, on top of his existing skills from Xiaoleiyin Temple.

Sage Il-gum did not teach Soma the sword techniques of the Wudang Sect. Instead, he passed on his own insights.

This alone increased Soma’s achievements by leaps and bounds.

Moreover, it eliminated much of the side effects of the techniques he had learned at Xiaoleiyin Temple.

Sage Il-gum told Soma,

“You might even grow taller from now on.”

If that were to happen, there would be no need to live as a child as he currently was.

Now that he thought about it, he might have grown a little bit taller since he met Sage Il-gum. Although, he couldn’t say for sure yet.

Still, Soma considered Sage Il-gum his benefactor.

Apart from Pyo-wol, no one else had taken care of and thought about him as much as Sage Il-gum had. So when the taoists of the Wudang Sect asked him to go to Poyang Lake, he readily accepted.

Second-generation disciple Tae-won, and third-generation disciples Yun-kwang and Han-kwang died at Poyang Lake.

The taoists of the Wudang Sect asked Soma to avenge them by finding and punishing the culprit responsible for killing them. 

Originally, he had planned to take some time in investigating the truth behind their deaths. However, that proved unnecessary.

Because Pyo-wol already knew the truth.

The man who killed the three was none other than Go Il-won of the Phantom Fleet.

Throughout the winter, Pyo-wol had been trying to track down the Phantom Fleet, and he had finally found a clue to their whereabouts. But now, the Golden Heaven Society was holding him back.

Soma could not forgive them.

Even though he said he wouldn’t kill them, he planned to inflict enough pain to make them wish they had died instead.

Swish!

“Kuek!”

“Ah!”

Soma’s sword repeatedly wounded the bodies of the Golden Heaven Society warriors.

“What? What’s with this little brat?”

Ki Han-seong glared at Soma, his eyes wide with fury.

It was unbelievable that Soma, just a young boy, was demonstrating such incredible martial prowess.

Many warriors on the deck were being swept this way and that, all because of Soma.

It was like watching a flock of sheep cornered by a wolf.

Ki Han-seong couldn’t believe that the elites of the Golden Heaven Society were being shaken so mercilessly by a young boy.

Ki Han-seong yelled at his subordinates who were right beside him.

“What are you doing?! Why aren’t you capturing him?”

“……”

Normally, a response would have come right away,  but for some reason, no one answered.

Feeling something was amiss, Ki Han-seong looked around.

All of his subordinates were lying on the ground, and an old man was standing next to them.

Ki Han-seong realized that the old man was the same elderly man who had been rowing the small boat they had smashed.

“You are— Kuek!”

Ki Han-seong was about to burst out in anger when he suddenly grabbed his throat.

Something was constricting his throat.

Something invisible was digging into his neck. 

“Keugh!”

Ki Han-seong realized that it was some sort of wire or thread tightening around his neck.

He tried to remove or at least loosen the thread with both of his hands, but to no avail.

Even when he infused all of his energy to it, the threads refused to break.

Ki Han-seong finally gave up trying to break the thread with his hands and drew the sword from his waist, swinging it into the air.

Ting!

But the sword he swung with all his might did not cut through the thread, instead, it just bounced off.

‘What, what?’

Ki Han-seong’s complexion turned pale.

He had not expected that even his sword could not cut the thread.

Even at that moment, the thread was still digging deeper and deeper into his neck.

Along with the excruciating pain, fear washed over him like a tidal wave.

‘Who exactly?’

Even if he was to die, he wanted to know who was killing him. However, the one who held his breath did not seem to want to reveal themselves.

In the end, his killer didn’t show himself at all, and Ki Han-seong’s body was lifted into the air.

After a moment, Ki Han-seong’s struggling ceased.

He had stopped breathing.

Thud!

Ki Han-seong’s body fell to the ground.

Elder Assassin looked at Ki Han-seong’s body for a moment, then looked up at the mast.

There stood Pyo-wol.

With his blood-red robe fluttering in the wind, his appearance was reminiscent of a Reaper.

Pyo-wol’s figure then disappeared from view.

Even with Elder Assassin’s keen vision, he could not catch the moment Pyo-wol disappeared.

“Huh!”

Elder Assassin could only let out a disbelieving laugh.

Thud!

Just then, the sound of something hitting the water came from the back of the boat.

When Elder Assassin went to the stern, he saw a small boat being lowered onto the water. Pyo-wol had lowered the small boat he had been carrying as a life raft.

Pyo-wol was already on the boat.

“Really…”

Elder Assassin jumped onto the small boat with a fed up expression.

Until then, the warriors on the boat were unaware of the deaths of Ki Han-seong and his confidants.

It was only a moment later that they realized their leader was dead.

“What! What’s going on?”

“Young Master Ki is dead!”

“How could the leader be—!”

The warriors on the boat were at a loss for words.

The time they were swept away and distracted by Soma was only a short time. At most, it was only the time it took for an incense stick to burn.

During that brief interval, Ki Han-seong and his subordinates had all been killed.

Yet no one had noticed his death. It was an unbelievable situation, even if all eyes had been entirely on Soma.

Moreover, there were no signs of struggle on Ki Han-seong.

It was clear he had been killed without even realizing it.

“My God! For one of the Four Great Martial Artists to be killed without even being able to unleash a single sword strike.”

“Who on earth killed the Wind Spirit Swordsman?”

“It was the Reaper. The Reaper has been here!”

“Ugh!”

The moment someone mentioned Pyo-wol, the atmosphere on the boat rapidly chilled.

Such was the weight of the title “Reaper.”

Shortly after everyone regained their composure, Soma had also disappeared.

He had also jumped onto the boat that Elder Assassin was steering. But having lost their leader so quickly, the Golden Heaven Society martial artists did not dare to pursue. 

In the meantime, the boat steered by Elder Assassin had disappeared from their sight.

* * *

Elder Assassin steered the boat into a reed bed.

Thanks to the reeds being taller than a person, no one knew they had arrived at Poyang Lake.

The three hid the boat among the reeds and headed towards the bustling center of town.

The downtown area was sparsely populated, reflecting the atmosphere of Poyang Lake these days.

And for the few people who did show up on the streets, they walked hurriedly with their necks shrunked in from the cold.

Although it was transitioning from winter to spring, the air was still chilly. Whenever an occasional gust of wind blew in, it made one shiver involuntarily.

This might have also been why the streets were even more deserted.

Thanks to this, Pyo-wol and his companions could head to their destination without worrying about the gazes of others.

Their destination was a small brothel in the downtown area.

The small brothel was established recently and had quickly become popular due to the presence of beautiful courtesans.

Despite the ongoing turmoil in the martial world, warriors consistently visited the brothel.

They were at an age where they were brimming with vigor, and they had also mastered martial arts. Their desires were inevitably several times stronger than those of ordinary people.

Because of this, brothels were actually thriving.

The place where Pyo-wol and others were headed to was one of those enjoying prosperity.

Thump, thump!

Elder Assassin knocked on the door, and after a moment, the door opened slightly and someone cautiously poked his head out.

It was the brothel steward. He asked cautiously,

“Who is it?”

“From the Black Realm.”

At that moment, the steward’s complexion turned ashen.

With a trembling voice, he said, 

“Ah, p-please, come in.”

He opened the door and welcomed the three inside.

Pyo-wol turned to Elder Assassin and asked,

“Black Realm?”

“That’s what they’ve been calling us lately.”

“……”

As Pyo-wol frowned, Elder Assassin continued with a smile,

“Many now know that the Supreme Leader has united the world of assassins. Since our lord did not give us a name, people started calling it the Black Realm.”

“It doesn’t sound very pleasant.”

“But it’s still enough to strike fear.”

The Black Realm.

That was what people were calling the world of assassins that Pyo-wol united. 

It was unclear who started it, but now anyone with even a slight knowledge of the world of assassins called it that.

It was no wonder the steward of the brothel was trembling. 

To ordinary people, the Black Realm was synonymous with death and fear.

This was despite the fact that Pyo-wol had forbidden all of the assassins from accepting private commissions after having taking over and uniting the world of assassins.

The steward didn’t dare raise his head to look at Pyo-wol.

He instinctively knew that he was someone he shouldn’t see.

The steward led the three to the living quarters of the madam. 

“Madam, a guest from the Black Realm has arrived.”

“Black Realm?”

A woman’s voice sounded from inside, and the door immediately opened. A beautifully dressed maiden stepped out.

The maiden immediately rushed out upon seeing Pyo-wol. 

“Master!”

The woman bowing before Pyo-wol was none other than Oh Jin-ui.

She was someone had been kidnapped by Deung Chol-ung and forced to live a humiliating life, before being rescued by Pyo-wol and Elder Assassin.

Now, she had become the madam of a brothel.

Oh Jin-ui prostrated herself fully before Pyo-wol.

Seeing this, the steward’s face turned white.

‘So that’s the Reaper? My God!’


LUNACAVE

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