Light Novel: Volume 22 Episode 4
Manhwa: N/A
The sun had set, and darkness had descended on the place where the Nine Yin Sect was staying.
Ye Taiyang had retired to bed early.
Despite its shabby exterior, the inside of the tent was quite luxurious.
There was a large bed covered in sheep’s wool, and the walls were lined with large white tiger skins.
Ye Taiyang lay naked on the sheep’s wool bed. However, he was not alone.
In each of his arms, he held a naked woman.
The heat of their lovemaking still lingered inside the tent.
Ye Taiyang raised his upper body and sat up.
The women he had just made love with were fast sleep.
They were exhausted by his relentless desire.
His virility was so exceptional that one woman was not enough to satisfy him. Therefore, he always had two or three women in his company at the same time.
Suddenly, his gaze fell on a chest in one corner of the tent.
“Hmm!”
Though the contents were enough to operate the Nine Yin Sect for a while, it still didn’t satisfy him completely.
“Well, I guess I have to be content with this for now.”
Having received the advance payment, he was obliged to fulfill the request faithfully.
After all, he had never disappointed a client in his life.
It was then.
Krrr!
Suddenly, the leopards outside the tent let out a cry.
Ye Taiyang immediately reached under the bed and grabbed a large axe.
Kek! Keang!
At that moment, muffled cries erupted from the leopards.
They were the beasts he had raised himself.
He had never heard such sounds from them before.
It was clear that something unusual had happened.
“What’s going on?”
As he was about to rush outside—
Someone entered the tent.
The intruder moved so naturally that for a moment, Ye Taiyang mistook him for one of his own men. However, the man who had entered the tent was not his subordinate.
None of his men had such pure white skin and a sinister aura.
To him, who emphasized masculinity, such a dandified man was nothing more than an object of revulsion. He would never have recruited such a man, and even if he had, he would not have forgotten him.
“Who are you?”
“Nine Yin Sect Leader, Ye Taiyang. Is that correct?”
“I asked you, who are you?”
“Pyo-wol.”
“Pyo-wol?”
Ye Taiyang furrowed his brows.
He was sure he had heard the name somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where immediately.
Just then, someone resolved Ye Taiyang’s confusion.
Following Pyo-wol naturally into the tent was none other than the Elder Assassin. He addressed Ye Taiyang, saying,
“People in Jianghu call him the Reaper.”
“Reaper?”
Ye Taiyang’s eyes widened in shock.
Such was the impact of the title “Reaper.”
“Why is the Reaper here?”
“You should take it as an honor. It is not often that the Supreme Leader himself comes to visit.”
“Answer me first. Why has the Reaper come here? We have formed no grudges with him.”
Ye Taiyang’s grip on his axe tightened.
Pyo-wol’s gaze shifted to a chest on one side of the tent.
Its lid was open, revealing the silver ingots inside.
Pyo-wol spoke,
“Did you accept an assignment from the Golden Heaven Society?”
“What are you talking about?”
“If I asked you to cancel the request, would you listen?”
“What kind of bullshit—”
Ye Taiyang gave him an incredulous look.
Once an assignment was accepted, it was an unspoken rule in his line of work that it could not be cancelled, even at the cost of death.
Even if the other party was the Reaper, he couldn’t command the Nine Yin Sect to cancel an assignment they have already decided to take.
Moreover, Ye Taiyang was not afraid of Pyo-wol.
Even if Pyo-wol was known as the Reaper, in the end, he wouldn’t be able to escape the category of an assassin.
“A mere assassin dares to speak such words. I don’t know how you got in here, but I’ll be the one to slit your throat with my own hands. That should be a fine gift to the Celestial Martial Sect.”
“So it was the Celestial Martial Sect and not the Golden Heaven Society who commissioned you the task.”
“That is—”
“Are you laying the groundwork to make Jang Mugeuk a hero?”
At Pyo-wol’s words, Ye Taiyang felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
He was stunned by Pyo-wol ability to deduce and see through the truth from just a few pieces of silver and his few words.
“Damn it!”
Ye Taiyang finally let out a shout and swung his axe.
Whoosh!
A powerful light surrounded his axe.
He had unleashed axe qi.
The huge axe qi shot towards Pyo-wol.
Boom!
With an explosive sound, the tent shook as if hit by an earthquake.
Where Pyo-wol had been standing, a huge pit formed, but there was no sign of Pyo-wol anywhere.
“What the…!”
Swoosh!
At that moment, something descended from above.
It was Pyo-wol, descending as silently as a weightless leaf and landing on top of Ye Taiyang’s axe.
“You?”
Ye Taiyang clenched his teeth.
Even though Pyo-wol was standing on the axe, Ye Taiyang felt no weight at all.
It felt like a ghost was standing there, not a human being.
This was Ye Taiyang’s first time ever feeling this way, which made it all the more puzzling and frightening.
‘Is he really a human? Are we really of the same species?’
Ye Taiyang gritted his teeth.
He could feel an indescribable pressure coming from Pyo-wol’s eyes as he looked down on him from atop the axe.
His heart pounded frantically as if it was malfunctioning.
“Hraaa!”
In an attempt to shake off his fear, Ye Taiyang swung his axe again, but Pyo-wol effortlessly stepped back.
Ye Taiyang charged like an enraged bull towards Pyo-wol.
Pyo-wol’s eyes were deeply solemn as he looked at Ye Taiyang.
He had realized that no amount of words could persuade Ye Taiyang.
The Nine Yin Sect wasn’t purely an assassin sect. That’s why he initially wanted to give them a chance. However, knowing they had already accepted a task from the Celestial Martial Sect, he couldn’t just leave them be.
More importantly, if the Celestial Martial Sect found out that he had been here, they would surely be on guard.
Therefore, it was better to get rid of them now.
From Pyo-wol’s fingertips, silver threads secretly unraveled, spreading throughout the area.
Unaware of this, Ye Taiyang continued to attack with all his might.
He was desperate.
He knew that if he didn’t kill Pyo-wol now, he would be the one dying. But amidst the chaos, something puzzled him.
How come no one was coming to help him despite him causing such a commotion?
And the women on his bed still hadn’t gotten up.
‘Could they have been subdued already?’
Even though he had been preoccupied with the women, it was unbelievable that his subordinates would be overpowered without him noticing.
He couldn’t believe he was going to lose his life like this.
But then again, he didn’t really want to die.
“Damn it!”
He transformed his fear into rage and gathered his strength.
Just as he was about to swing his axe with all his might—
Thud!
Suddenly, his body jerked to a halt mid-swing.
It felt as if something had snagged his body. Yet, Ye Taiyang didn’t care and continued to swing his axe.
Swoosh!
“Argh!”
Though Ye Taiyang was the one swinging, he was also the one who screamed.
His arm, which had been wielding the axe, was severed from the elbow down. From the freshly cut end, a tremendous amount of blood gushed forth.
The hand that had been gripping the axe lay a distance away.
Ye Taiyang stood there, mouth agape, unable to comprehend what had just happened to him.
He couldn’t understand how his perfectly fine arm had been cut off.
Meanwhile, Pyo-wol remained standing in his place, seemingly unmoved.
He appeared not to have even twitched a finger.
“W, What kind of sorcery did you do? Damn you!”
Ye Taiyang, paralyzed with fear, charged forward.
At that moment, he felt an intense pain in his waist and chest.
Swoosh!
A chilling slice followed, and his waist and chest were severed.
He fell to the ground with the same momentum as he had been running. By then, his body had already been divided into three parts.
“Wow!”
The Elder Assassin couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.
His eyes caught a glimpse of faint silver threads spread around Pyo-wol like a spiderweb.
Just as a spider lays its web and waits for its prey, Pyo-wol had stealthily laid these silver threads around him.
Unaware of this, Ye Taiyang recklessly charged at Pyo-wol, only to have his body severed by the silver threads.
It was the secret technique of Starving Demon Secret Arts, the Spider Silver Net.
This was the first time the Elder Assassin had ever seen Pyo-wol deploy the Spider Silver Net.
Even the Elder Assassin, who had spent a long time in the assassin’s world, had never seen such a technique before.
Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he could never have imagined that such a technique existed.
What was even more astonishing was that Pyo-wol had developed this technique entirely on his own, without anyone else’s help.
‘Indeed, my judgment was not wrong. He is the only one who can truly unify the assassin sects.’
The Elder Assassin tried to hide his agitation.
Now was not the time for him to show emotional reactions.
This was a time to escape quietly from the Nine Yin Sect.
No matter how many nearby warriors he had subdued, by now the warriors from the other tents would have noticed the commotion and would be rushing over.
The Elder Assassin spoke cautiously.
“It’s time for us to leave, Supreme Leader!”
“Mm!”
Pyo-wol nodded and started walking out of the tent.
Not long after they left the Nine Yin Sect, urgent bell sounds echoed.
“T, The leader has been ambushed!”
“Find the culprit!”
“Block all the exits so they can’t escape!”
But by the time they started causing a commotion, Pyo-wol and the Elder Assassin had already escaped.
* * *
“What do you mean?”
A beautiful woman reminiscent of an ice flower looked at the man standing in front of her with a questioning expression on her face.
The man with the nicely trimmed mustache repeated his words again, this time with more caution,
“All the assassin sects we were in contact with have cut off communication with us.”
“All of them? Every single one of them?”
“Yes.”
“How come?”
“I apologize. We are still trying to figure it out.”
At the man’s response, the woman furrowed her delicate brows.
This made the man appear even more apologetic.
The woman’s name was Namgung Seol.
Namgung Seol was the second daughter of Namgung Yugum, the leader of the Heavenly Guardian Association, and was known by the nickname Thousand-Year-Old Fox.
Even after the outbreak of the Jianghu War, she chose not to return to the Heavenly Guardian Association but stayed in Poyang Lake.
The reason for her stay was simple.
It was for her lover, Lee Geumhan.
The war between the Golden Heaven Society and the Silver Lotus Society, which triggered the Jianghu War, presented her with a significant opportunity.
Heroes often emerge in times of chaos.
In such turbulent times as these.
Just hearing news from afar wasn’t enough to grasp the accurate situation.
Despite the risks, she needed to stay in Poyang Lake to see how events unfolded.
That was why Namgung Seol was here.
She had attempted to contact several assassin sects and use their services.
After all, there was no better place than assassin sects for use and disposal. Thus, she had ordered her confidants to recruit assassin sects. However, for some unknown reason, all the assassin sects she had contacted had cut off communication.
“What’s going on?”
Namgung Seol truly believed that there were no coincidences in the world.
If something occurred, there must be a corresponding reason.
The current situation was no different.
The fact that all the assassin sects she was in contact with suddenly ceased communication was no coincidence.
There was clearly a force at play that she was unaware of.
“What is it? What’s going on? Could it be that man’s doing?”
The image of Pyo-wol flashed in her mind.
LUNACAVE
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