Light Novel: Volume 21 Episode 22
Manhwa: N/A
Um Soso was like a venomous snake.
Her eyes were full of malice, and her movements were vicious.
Swoosh!
Her sword closed the distance of five zhang in an instant, arriving in front of Pyo-wol.
“Tch!”
Caught off guard, Hong Ye-seol clicked her tongue, but her expression wasn’t one of worry for Pyo-wol.
Ting!
Just as Hong Ye-seol anticipated, Um Soso’s sword was repelled before it could even touch Pyo-wol’s body.
Pyo-wol had used the Soul-Reaping Thread to deflect her attack.
“Ha!”
With a shout, Um Soso unleashed a killing move.
Swish, swish, swish!
Her sword multiplied into dozens of pieces, raining down on Pyo-wol.
It was a technique called Heavenly Sword Rain.1
It was as if a rain of swords was literally descending from the sky.
“Aaargh!”
“Ugh!”
Even the Martial Sword Alliance martial artists who were attacking Pyo-wol got swept away by Um Soso’s fiendish attack.
Flesh was torn, and muscles burst open.
In the blink of an eye, about a dozen men were dismembered, rolling on the ground. Yet, Um Soso’s intended target, Pyo-wol, remained unscathed.
Tssss!
A faint defensive barrier seemed to form around Pyo-wol.
The Heavenly Sword Rain that Um Soso had unleashed was repelled upon hitting this barrier.
‘Sword barrier? Qi barrier? No!’
Um Soso realized that the barrier around Pyo-wol was different from any technique she knew.
Whiiing!
As she listened closely, she could hear a continuous, faint sound echoing around Pyo-wol’s body.
The noise was similar to the sound of a mechanism working.
Um Soso’s eyes widened in realization, as she saw the object that was whirling endlessly around Pyo-wol.
The object rotating around Pyo-wol was none other than the Soul-Reaping Thread.
The Soul-Reaping Thread was spinning at a terrifying speed, forming a protective barrier.
Faced with this beyond-imagination technique, Um Soso gritted her teeth in frustration.
‘I should have killed him back then.’
When she had first met Pyo-wol, he had already been a monster, but he didn’t defy common sense as he did now.
If only Dok Gohyang hadn’t been so greedy to have Pyo-wol as his subordinate back then, she would have already killed him.
With how things were right now, Um Soso deeply regretted her decision at that time. But she had no time to dwell on regrets.
Wham!
Um Soso leaped off the deck, unleashing a rapid series of slashes.
Her body hovered in the air as she swung her sword a dozen times in quick succession, each time unleashing a terrifying wave of sword energy that surged like a tidal wave towards Pyo-wol.
Boom, boom, boom!
But before her attacks could reach Pyo-wol, her attacks were blocked and deflected by the fiercely spinning Soul-Reaping Thread.
It was as powerful as any protective qi.
“Argh!”
Um Soso’s face contorted in frustration.
Now she realized for sure.
That ordinary attacks would never work on killing Pyo-wol.
She would have to draw out everything in herself to kill the seemingly inhuman entity in front of her.
“Haah! Storm Annihilation!”2
Um Soso concentrated her energy into her sword, and a sword energy one zhang long burst forth.
The blue light of the sword energy plunged straight towards Pyo-wol.
No matter how strong the barrier formed by the Soul-Reaping Thread was, it couldn’t block such a sword energy.
‘I’ll cut you down in one fell swoop!’
Um Soso swung her sword with all her might.
At that moment, Pyo-wol withdrew the barrier formed by the Soul-Reaping Thread.
He too realized that ordinary methods couldn’t block Um Soso’s attack.
Crackle!
Lightning flickered at the tips of his fingers.
It was the Black Lightning–Snake Qi Thread, infused with the power of lightning.
The Black Lightning–Snake Qi Thread extended like a venomous snake before colliding with Um Soso’s sword energy.
“This trivial thing…!”
Um Soso was determined to strike down the Black Lightning–Snake Qi Thread in one swift move. However, contrary to her expectation, the Black Lightning–Snake Qi Thread pierced through the sword energy and shot towards her.
“A, Ah! No—!”
Whoosh!
At that moment, she felt a searing pain in her forehead.
The Black Lightning–Snake Qi Thread had pierced through her forehead.
‘M, My lord…!’
At that moment, the image of the Dok Gohyang flashed through her mind. But soon, the image of Dok Gohyang faded away, and everything turned pitch black.
The power of the lightning qi in the Black Lightning–Snake Qi Thread had incinerated everything inside her head.
Thud!
Um Soso fell to her knees. White steam rose from her entire body.
She stared blankly at Pyo-wol and then collapsed.
She was dead.
“No!”
“Miss!”
Witnessing Um Soso’s death, the eyes of the Martial Sword Alliance martial artists turned upside down.
They abandoned their ongoing fight against Doyeonsan and Eunyo, and rushed towards the location of Um Soso’s body.
In the face of their desperate charge, disregarding even their own lives, Do Yeonsan and the others were momentarily at a loss on how to respond.
Eventually, a few of them reached the spot where Um Soso’s body lay.
They hastily embraced Um Soso’s body and transferred it to the Martial Sword Alliance’s ship.
The remaining warriors attacked Pyo-wol.
In the meantime, the ship carrying Um Soso’s body drifted away from the horse-ferry boat.
The Martial Sword Alliance warriors remaining on the horse-ferry boat fought desperately.
“Die!”
“Haah!”
They had no intention of returning home alive after losing Um Soso.
Just as Dok Gohyang was a leader whom Um Soso had to protect at all costs, Um Soso was the one whom the Martial Sword Alliance warriors were bound to guard.
A warrior who fails to protect their charge has no right to live.
Thus, they attacked, without regard for their own lives.
Their appearance looked like demons.
If Pyo-wol and the others were ordinary warriors, they would have already been intimidated by such ferocity. However, not a single one was ordinary among them— not Do Yeonsan, not Eunyo, not Nam Shin-woo, and especially not Pyo-wol.
Although they were young, they had experienced all sorts of dangers from the depths of Jianghu, and their resolve and tenacity were second to none.
He fought and fought and fought.
After half a shichen of fighting, only Pyo-wol and his group were left standing on the boat.
Every member of the Martial Sword Alliance fought desperately to the last man.
To an outsider, it might have seemed like Pyo-wol’s party had mercilessly slaughtered innocent warriors.
The vast deck of the horse-ferry boat was stained red with blood.
“Eek!”
“Blood, so much blood!”
Screams erupted from the passengers in the cabins below the deck.
Apparently, the blood from the deck had flowed into the cabin.
The passengers inside the cabin didn’t dare to come out.
The Elder Assassin approached Pyo-wol.
His entire body was now drenched in blood.
This was due to his own minor injuries and blood splattering from those he had killed.
Wiping the blood from his face, the Elder Assassin suggested,
“I think we’d better get off the boat.”
“I think so too.”
Pyo-wol agreed with this suggestion.
Um Soso was Dok Gohyang’s most cherished and trusted aide.
They had a bond that went beyond mere master and subordinate. It was clear that killing someone as precious as Um Soso would undoubtedly drive Dok Gohyang mad.
Pyo-wol wasn’t afraid of Dok Gohyang, but he knew that clashing with him now would create problems for their future.
Pyo-wol looked at Do Yeonsan and the others.
“Is everyone okay?”
“A few wounds, but we’re fine.”
“Don’t worry about us, big brother.”
“I’m fine too.”
Do Yeonsan, Eunyo, and Nam Shin-woo all reassured that they were okay.
Pyo-wol examined their faces one by one.
Luckily, they didn’t have any physical injuries, but they all looked like they were under a lot of mental pressure.
Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to kill so many people and remain unharmed unless they had the same unwavering determination and spirit as Pyo-wol.
Rather, someone who could have so much blood on their hands and remain mentally unfazed was actually the unusual one.
Someone like him, for example.
Pyo-wol knew that fact, too.
He knew that he had a different mindset and perspective than most people.
Knowing that others were different from him, he had to be considerate of them.
Pyo-wol asked Hong Ye-seol,
“Do you know of a place to hide for a while?”
“There’s a place called Sol Family Courtyard.”
“Sol Family Courtyard?”
“It’s one of the assassin sects. Their residence is quite suitable for hiding.”
The Sol Family Courtyard was one of the names listed in the document given by the Elder Assassin.
They originally operated in the distant province of Shaanxi, but had moved their base closer to take advantage of the Jianghu great war.
Although they tried to operate discreetly, they couldn’t escape the eyes and attention of the Hundred Wraith Union.
Unbeknownst to them, everything had been discovered through the Hundred Wraith Union’s information network.
“Then we’ll stay at Sol Family Courtyard for the time being.”
“I’ll send the Black Assassination Squad to clear things up in advance.”
“Very well.”
Pyo-wol nodded.
Since the Elder Assassin said it like that, it meant that there was no need for him to personally act.
Whistle!
The Elder Assassin blew a whistle.
The whistle, sounding long twice and short three times, spread along the Yangtze River and was relayed to the Black Assassination Squad, who were moving along the river.
Upon receiving the order, the Black Assassination Squad immediately started moving.
Swish!
In the blink of an eye, they disappeared in the direction of the Sol Family Courtyard.
Pyo-wol approached a man who was crouching on one side of the deck.
He was the captain of the horse-ferry boat.
He had been knocked unconscious when the warriors of the Martial Sword Alliance kicked him in the stomach.
As Pyo-wol infused his internal energy to the man, the man quickly regained his senses.
“Hiik!”
Seeing the dead bodies all around him, he became horrified.
Pyo-wol spoke to the captain,
“From now on, we’ll be disembarking from the ship.”
“What? Alright!”
“If, by any chance, the Martial Sword Alliance’s men come looking for us again, tell them honestly that we disembarked midway.”
“I, I understand.”
“I apologize for causing a disturbance on the ship. We’ll compensate for it with the carriage and horses on board.”
“N-No need for that.”
“There’s nowhere to dock the ship midway anyway. So, you can have the horses and carriage.”
“Thank you.”
The captain slumped down.
With the horses and carriage Pyo-wol had given, they could at least sell it for several dozen gold coins.
The risk was well worth it.
“Bring the ship closer to the riverbank.”
“Understood.”
The captain replied as he took the helm himself.
The massive ship slowly approached the riverbank.
When they got close enough, Pyo-wol and his group all leaped towards the riverbank.
In an instant, their figures disappeared.
The captain’s legs finally gave out and he slumped to the ground.
“Phew!”
He unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
He suddenly looked back at the deck.
There were still numerous corpses strewn across the deck.
In his heart, he wished he could toss all the bodies into the Yangtze River, but he couldn’t.
All of the corpses were members of the Martial Sword Alliance.
The Martial Sword Alliance would surely come to retrieve each and every one of them.
Until then, the bodies had to be preserved intact.
“You cowardly bastards! Come out and help me arrange the bodies!”
The captain shouted at the crew members who had been hiding.
Only then did the crew members come out and begin stacking the bodies on one side of the ship.
“Move every last one of them. Don’t leave a single one behind. Damn it! If we make a mistake, the Martial Sword Alliance might kill us all, so handle and treat their bodies as respectfully as possible.”
“Y, Yes!”
“We understand.”
The crew members moved and handled the bodies with even greater care.
“Damn it! The Martial Sword Alliance would not take this out on us, would they?”
The captain muttered as he looked at the piled bodies on one side of the deck.
Blood was still oozing from the bodies.
The foul odor emanating from the blood made the captain and the crew members uneasy.
Clutching his fist tightly, the captain muttered,
“I don’t know! Dammit! I hope the Martial Sword Alliance won’t harm innocent people.”
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