Reaper of the Drifting Moon - Chapter 69

“What the hell is this?”

Yong Seol-ran’s eyes trembled violently.

An unbelievable tragedy was happening right before her eyes.

The disciples of the Emei sect and the White Flower Room were lying on the floor and bleeding. 

Of course, the disciples of the Qingcheng sect and Golden Gates had fallen as much as they did, but they did not enter the eyes of Yong Seol-ran.

“Gonghwa!”

Yong Seol-ran’s eyes saw a female disciple of the same age as her. It was Gonghwa, a second generation disciple of the Emei sect.

Although they did not speak much to each other, they were still of the same age, so they used to talk comfortably when they met. So their relationship was a bit special.

Gonghwa was twitching and lying on her own blood. Yong Seol-ran rushed towards Gonghwa.

“Who did this to you?”

“Chaat!”

The warriors of the Golden Gate who saw her immediately attacked her. Yong Seol-ran held Gonghwa with one hand and spread out her other palm. 

Kwaaaa!

In an instant, a strong pressure emanated from her hand and struck the warriors of the Golden Gate.

“Kukhyuk!”

“Guergh!”

The warriors of Golden Gate collapsed to the floor and were unable to move. It was Pyoseol Cheonunjang, which proudly has its name on the top of the Emei sect’s martial arts.

Pyoseol Cheonunjang was a technique that was not usually used unless it was either urgent or a life-and-death situation, and the current situation was as such so Yong Seol-ran unleashed her technique.

Its power was truly astonishing, and even within the Golden Gate, the high rank warriors became unable to resist.

However, Yong Seol-ran did not even look at the opponent she had defeated and looked at Gonghwa in her arms.

“Are you okay, senior sister?”

“Junio… sister?”

“Yes! It’s me. Come on, get up, I’ll help you.”

“I…” 

Yong Seol-ran struggled to understand what Gonghwa was trying to say. But even that slight movement disappeared after a while. She stopped breathing.

“No!”

A look of disbelief appeared on Yong Seol-ran’s face.

She wanted this whole situation to be a lie.

The situation itself felt unrealistic. Until yesterday, the disciples were leisurely having a meal together and talking, but now they’re all falling down with their blood pouring everywhere. 

Yong Seol-ran was one of the few who knew the truth about why the Emei sect and the Qingcheng sect hate each other so much.

First of all, knowing that the Emei sect had made a mistake, they had no choice but to be passive in the fight against the Qingcheng sect.

It was the Emei sect who requested the Blood Shadow Group for an assassination, and it was also them who betrayed the said assassin group.

Knowing that the root cause of all these events was provided by the Emei sect, she was unable to go to the forefront of the war against the Qingcheng sect. 

Her conscience didn’t allow it.

But now she realized.

No matter what she felt, a war still broke out, and because of her hesitation, the Emei sect disciples were now dying.

“I don’t know how the situation came to be, but it is unacceptable for any of the Emei sect’s disciples to die in front of my eyes.”

Yong Seol-ran flew towards the disciples of the Cheongseongpa.

“Ha!”

In her hand, a snow-covered celestial cloud was spread out.

Kwaaa!

The intense pressure swept the Qingcheng sect disciples like a storm.

“Kukhyuk!”

“Kurgh!”

When Yong Seol-ran intervened, the situation escalated even more.

Not only the Qingcheng sect and the Emei sect, but also the disciples of the Golden Gate, White Flower Room, and Fire Dragon Room attacked each other.

Their reason flew away. Only madness remained, controlling their instincts.

Whenever a warrior saw their colleagues right next to them die, they would lose their sanity and rush towards the enemy without thinking. This happened frequently and because of that, deaths and damages multiplied like a snowball in an instant.

“What? Why isn’t the Black Cloud Mercenary Group coming?”

Zhang Mu-ryang looked around the battlefield with a puzzled expression.

The Black Cloud Mercenary Group should have arrived by now and participated in the battle. However, the Jo Jeoksan, who was sent to summon the Black Cloud Mercenary Group, hasn’t come back.

Zhang Mu-ryang felt something strange.

“Maybe the Qingcheng sect? No! They can’t afford to be distracted.”

He could tell just by looking at the facial expressions of the Qingcheng sect’s disciples fighting here. They had no leeway to slack off.

Zhang Mu-ryang thought that this whole situation was deliberately created. 

It was as if someone was in control of the whole situation.

“Seol-pyo!”

Zhang Mu-ryang called for an aide who was nearby.

“Yes, Captain!”

Seol-pyo came to him, covered in blood. Some of it was his own blood but most of it was the blood of others.

“The flow of the battle is strange. The cumulative total has not returned yet, and everything is arbitrary.”

“I think so too. Things are moving too quickly.”

“You get out quietly and look around.”

“Hm?”

“I feel like someone is manipulating this fight in the background. Find out if there’s really someone like that.”

“Alright.”

Seol-pyo stepped back without saying a word. Because he also felt the same way as Zhang Mu-ryang.

Seol-pyo quietly exited the battlefield.

In the meantime, he was attacked several times, but he did not counterattack and just evaded. In return, he suffered minor injuries. But he ignored the wounds. He had received wounds like this countless times.

He looked at the battlefield from the outside, there was no hell like this. 

It had been a long time since he had seen a battlefield dominated by this level of madness. It was by no means easy for the elite disciples of the Emei or Qingcheng sect to be eroded by madness.

‘It is clear that someone is controlling the situation just as the Captain suspected.’

Seol-pyo looked around.

Suddenly, his gaze turned to the highest place in the area.

It was a large tree nestled not far from the street where the fight was taking place. If someone is up there, they will be able to see the whole scene clearly.

He thought that if there was someone who really instigated this situation, they must be on that tree. Securing a line of sight would be the most important thing in controlling a battlefield.

Without hesitation, Seol-pyo flew towards the large tree. His body pierced the lush branches and landed lightly on a large trunk.

Pit!

At that moment, he felt a strong sense of danger. As he looked up, he saw a dagger falling down at the top of his head.

“So you were here, you bastard!”

He twisted his body to dodge the dagger and shouted.

He was shouting in hopes that Zhang Mu-ryang could hear him, but unfortunately his voice did not reach Zhang Mu-ryang’s ears.

Seol-pyo reluctantly decided to catch the mastermind himself.

Seol-pyo was proud of his martial arts skill. In fact, even within the Black Cloud Mercenary Group, he was ranked among the top 30.

Although he cannot be compared to old warriors with strong personalities like Go Dosa and Hyeol Seung, he was still among the strongest among the young warriors.

Seol-pyo believed in his own strength.

“wait.”

He flew in the direction the dagger was flying.

The leaves and branches were so thick that the figure of the attacker was not visible. That’s why he trusted his senses and threw himself away.

That was then.

Ciit!

A dagger came flying again. Seol-pyo tried to avoid this time as well. He avoided it a while ago, so he thought it would be easy to dodge this time as well.

“Huh?”

But he soon had a puzzled expression on his face. This was because the dagger’s trajectory had changed in the air. The dagger changed direction abruptly, like a living creature, and flew towards his side.

“Shit!”

Kang!

Seol-pyo swung his sword with all his might. Fortunately, the dagger was blocked by his sword.

Seol-pyo once again kicked off a branch and tried to fly away. But at that moment, the dagger that seemed to have lost its strength and fell to the floor, once again flew again at a terrifying speed.

“W, What?”

Seol-pyo freaked out. This was something that he could not grasp with his common sense.

‘Is that really a dagger?’’

A flash of fear flashed across his face. If his opponent is really good enough to use swordsmanship, he cannot dare to face him.

“Shit!”

Terrified, he tried to jump off the tree.

Kang!

But this time, his path was blocked by a dagger that flew and followed himt.

Sususu!

The dagger flew up and down like a living creature and attacked the Seol-pyo. Seol-pyo tried to shake off the dagger and run away, but to no avail. 

He thought of his situation as a moth caught in a spider’s web.

Indeed he was.

The dagger gradually tightened around him.

He ran out of breath

An extreme fear reigned in his mind.

He was already cornered like this, but the fact that he never once saw the face of his opponent made him even more afraid.

Puuc!

A dagger pierced his shoulder.  Seol-pyo opened his mouth in excruciating pain. At that moment, an invisible noose was placed over his head.

It was a thread made of qi. The Soul-Reaping Thread was tightened around Seol-pyo’s neck.

“Kuhk!”

Seol-pyo grabbed his neck and struggled. Then his body was suddenly raised on top of the tree.

Pyo-wol pulled the thread made out of qi. 

The thread dug into Seol-pyo’s throat. From a distance, Seol-pyo could finally see the face of the man killed him.

A man with a handsome face that would make a person dizzy if they would dare look at him. However, in Seol-pyo’s eyes, what was reflected as the god of death.

“You, you?”

Sueuk!

At that moment, the Soul-Reaping Thread pierced Seol-pyo’s neck and completely stopped his breathing.

Pyo-wol looked at Seol-pyo’s face for a moment, and then withdrew the qi thread. Then, Seol-pyo’s body fell down a tree, and crashed on a large branch. 

Such a terrible thing happened on top of the big tree, but the people nearby didn’t notice it at all. The large tree continued to sway carelessly in the wind as if nothing had happened.

Pyo-wol recovered the dagger that had fallen to the floor by wielding the Soul-Reaping Thread. The compatibility between the ghost knife and the qi thread was absolutely perfect.

In particular, it exerted its absolute power in trees or forests with such thick leaves.

Right now, he can only use one qi thread and one knife, but in the future, he will be able to freely handle ten knives and ten threads.

That was then.

Kwang!

A huge explosion suddenly erupted from the battlefield.

The entire street was destroyed as if a bomb had been dropped. A wind wave like storm hit the tree where Pyo-wol was hiding.

Kwarr!

The beautiful tree shook precariously as if it were about to break. As a result, the body of the Seol-pyo, which had been hanging from a large branch, fell to the floor.

Pyo-wol shook his head and looked at the source of the explosion.

There were two people there, a man and a woman. 

It was Cheongyeop and Jeonghwa.

There was a huge pit in between Cheongyeop and Jeonghwa. A huge pit was created as a result of the clash of the two people’s desperate efforts.

“Keuck!”

“Kuhruck!”

Both of their conditions were not very good. Cheongyeop’s complexion was pale and blood was dripping from his mouth and nose.

Jeonghwa’s condition was even worse. She was on one knee, vomiting blood. She had deep internal injuries.

Cheongyeop overpowered Jeonghwa by a small margin. However, the condition of Cheongyeop was also not very good, so it was close to the concept of Yangpae.

“Jeonghwa!”

Yong Seol-ran threw away the relentless pursuit of Cheongsan and ran to Jeonghwa.

“Are you okay?”

“Geurgh!”

Jeonghwa couldn’t give a proper answer for a minute, and only groaned. Her eyes lost their focus. Her consciousness was gradually slipping away.

Yong Seol-ran rushed around Jeonghwa and shouted.

“Everyone go back to the White Flower Room!”

At her command, the disciples of the Emei sect and White Flower Room picked up the wounded and the dead and retreated. 

“Senior Brother!”

Cheongsan ran to Cheongyeop.

Cheongyeop couldn’t open his mouth. If he forces himself to open his mouth now, his internal wounds will only worsen.

It seemed to him that, even at any moment, he spurred on the momentum and firmly subdued the Emei sectand loaded it. However, the damage to the Qingcheng sect and Golden Gate was so great that it was impossible to do so.

Cheongsan, who understood the meaning of Cheongyeop with only his eyes, gave the order instead.

“We are backing down too.”

The disciples of Qingcheng sect and Golden Gates also retreated, while carrying the casualties. 

Fosanhae and the rest of the Fire Dragon Room members were coincidentally on the side of the Qingcheng sect. Fosanhae could see the eyes of the Emei disciples staring at him. He wanted to make an excuse and say it was just a misunderstanding, but he knew best that it was useless.

No matter what anyone says, the Fire Dragon Room is now being treated as someone on the same side of the Qingcheng sect. He now had turned a huge sect called Emei as his enemy.

‘Oh Heavens…’

He resented the sky for his situation. 

But he didn’t know.

It wasn’t the heavens that made him suffer like this, but rather it was because of a man. 

And that man is still watching the entire situation from a tall tree.