Chapter 318 Reaper of the Drifting Moon novel

He was a handsome man who used to hear compliments that he looked better than a celebrity.

He had a delicate facial structure that didn’t look like a man’s, and it made girls feel at ease just by looking at him.

However, his face had changed so much that one couldn’t find any trace of his former self.

It was severely disfigured to the point that just looking at it made people feel disgusted, and it was unclear what had happened to him.

Nevertheless, Pyo Wol recognized him immediately.

“Gosinok.”

“As expected, you remember me.”

“Your face?”

“This? Should we say it’s the price I paid for escaping from the heaven and earth’s net that day?”

Gosinok nonchalantly touched his face. The texture of his skin felt rough and dry like sandpaper.

Still, he smiled.

Even though his face was disfigured, he was still alive and breathing.

“Thanks to you, Pyo Wol. Thanks to you shaking the heaven and earth’s net, I’ve been able to escape and stay alive until now.”

“What about Soyeowol and Song Cheonwoo?”

“I don’t know.”

“Weren’t you supposed to escape together?”

“The heaven and earth’s net wasn’t easy to break out of for all of us to escape together.”

The heaven and earth’s net had mobilized all the martial artists of the Sichuan province.

The children who had been raised as assassins died one by one on the heaven and earth’s net.

Gosinok was also destined to die that way.

When he was in danger, Soyeowol and Song Cheonwoo left him behind and escaped together.

Gosinok was left alone to fight a desperate battle.

The martial artists of the Sichuan considered him their prey.

He was hunted to death.

At the end, he was covered in poison thrown by someone, and his skin melted away.

He would have lost his life if Pyo Yol hadn’t killed his assassination target and shaken the Heaven and Earth’s net to its core.

Pyo Wol’s counterattack greatly shook the martial artists in the Heaven and Earth’s net, which gave Gosinok a chance to escape.

He fled desperately.

He didn’t dare to heal his wounds, which had been dissolved by the poison.

So he fled, barely making it out of Sichuan.

The after-effects of the poison were severe.

Whenever he was exposed to sunlight, he felt a burning pain on his skin.

“Well, thanks to this, I live with bandages all over my body, but it’s okay. I’m still alive.”

Gosinok laughed, revealing his thoughts.

Pyo Wol silently stared at Gosinok, his appearance disturbing him.

“What happened? Your face has become even more beautiful.”

“There were as many incidents as you had.”

“Haha! That’s probably true. That’s probably what happened.”

Gosinok nodded as if he understood everything.

There was a sense of madness about him.

“Pyo Wol! Have I ever asked you for a favor, even once?”

“Nothing.”

“Then let me ask you for the first time today.”

“Don’t bother.”

“What?”

“I have neither the desire to be asked nor the desire to listen to you, so don’t do it at all.”

“You unlucky bastard. You really haven’t changed at all.”

Gosinok glared at Pyo Wol with a crazed look in his eyes.

It was impossible to imagine his old self in his current state. Gosinok had changed too much.

Pyo Wol asked, “What happened?”

“What?”

“Why are you on this ship? Is it related to the Guryongsalmak?”

“Ha!”

Gosinok burst out laughing unintentionally.

It was because he was caught off guard by Pyo Wol.

His face immediately hardened.

“How much do you know?”

“As far as I know… … .”

Gosinok stared at Pyo Wol’s eyes.

Most people can read a person’s thoughts to some extent just by looking at their eyes, but Pyo Wol’s thoughts were impossible to discern.

Since the old days, Pyo Wol has been like this.

Even when everyone in the underground cave was stranded, Pyo Wol was always prepared and saw everything without any wavering.

Breathing the same air in the same space, but it felt like living alone in a different space.

Pyo Wol was such an alien existence.

It seemed impossible to keep any secret perfectly in front of those emotionless eyes.

“How did you find out? There can’t be many who know that name in Kangho.”

“I found out by coincidence.”

“Coincidence? Ha! Don’t joke around. Your information network is not so weak as to find out by coincidence.”

“It’s not weak, but it’s not perfect either.”

Pyo Wol shrugged.

All of his actions irritated Gosinok.

From the smallest actions to breathing.

Everything about Pyo Wol stimulated Gosinok.

It was also what Pyo Wol intended.

Pyo Wol didn’t even know if the Ghost Squad was really related to Guryongsalmak.

He just had a feeling, but Gosinok reacted more strongly than he expected.

“He had to stimulate Gosinok as much as possible to find out many truths.”

“I’ve always been curious. Where exactly does Guryongsalmak raise their warriors? To raise such well-trained warriors, practical experience is essential. However, as you know, the Kangho has been peaceful for decades, and as a result, most of the warriors in the current Kangho lack a sense of crisis. But the warriors of Guryongsalmak were different. They’re all sharpened to the bone.,”

“Go on.”

“Somewhere, they experienced real combat, and it was a fierce one. So, I thought, if there isn’t such a place in Kangho, it must be outside. The representative place is the west. It’s where many people died during the long-lasting internal conflict.”

“….”

Gosinok tightly shut his mouth.

He tried to act nonchalant, but Pyo Wol noticed that his eyes were slightly shaking.

“That’s where Guryongsalmak gained strength by training warriors through real combat. To enhance their skills, they had to deploy warriors in practical situations. To properly develop their power, the internal conflict had to continue for a long time. Therefore, they must have shaken the situation to prevent the end of the internal conflict. Perhaps even the Ghost Squad was created for that purpose. They would travel between Central Plains and the west, plunder, incite turmoil, transport warriors, and loot to build their power.”

Gosinok’s pupils shook uncontrollably.

Pyo Wol’s words were close to the truth.

It was a time when there was no evidence of Guryong Salmak’s existence.

Even Kangho’s masters did not know of their existence, yet Pyo Wol was making a close inference with only a few circumstantial evidence.

Watching him, Gosinok felt fearful.

Even then, Pyo Wol continued his words.

“Why did they have to keep the secret so thoroughly? Perhaps they haven’t reached the desired level of power yet. Maybe they learned a lesson from the downfall of Divine Sect and Demon Sect. They must have realized that if their power was exposed, they would be thoroughly defeated by Kangho’s counterattack. So, they gained power in secret. What I’m curious about is who made Guryongsalmak and for what purpose.”

It was not a message to Gosinok, although Pyo Wol was looking at him.

It was a message to himself.

After Jin Geom-woo’s death, he kept colliding with Guryong Salmak.

It was a question he had been holding onto since then. But the information was too scarce to solve his doubts.

In order to match countless fragmented pieces, a crucial part was needed.

It was the kind of part that may seem insignificant to others, but to those who have been pondering over it for a long time, it could bring enlightenment.

For Pyo Wol, Gosinok was such a presence.

Gosinok didn’t give Pyo Wol any clues. However, for Pyo Wol, Gosinok himself was the crucial part of the puzzle of the fragmented picture.

The moment Pyo Wol saw Gosinok, all the pieces he had put together so far fell into place.

“Considering that it learned its lesson from the fall of the Demon Sect and the Divine Sect, and that its power is not yet complete, it must have been founded only a few decades ago. In the meantime, it must have grown in size and talent by sowing chaos outside the realm, away from the gaze of the powerful, and Lee Yul must have been one of them.”

Now he understood why Lee Yul had smelled of the military.

That’s how he was made from the beginning.

An organization that emphasized rules and regulations.

Whoever created Guryongsalmak may have been obsessed with laws and regulations to the point of having an obsession.

He probably experienced a great sense of loss due to the failure to maintain laws and regulations.

Gosinok’s eyebrows twitched.

It was a belated realization of Pyo Wol’s own condition

He was using his own skill to gather all the fragmented information and piece together a story.

Even as he spoke, he was picturing and imagining, drawing the truth from his mind.

If left alone, Pyo Wol would completely uncover the secrets of Guryongsalmak that had been hidden for a long time.

He couldn’t let that happen.

Pyo Wol may not know what Guryongsalmak meant, but it was like a benefactor who had saved his life for him.

It was Guryongsalmak that had rescued him in a state of near-death, treated him, and sent him to the Ghost Squad, allowing him to slaughter to his heart’s content.

As he traveled in the western territories, his skills improved.

Gosinok was satisfied with such a life.

He couldn’t let Pyo Wol destroy that life.

“Pyo Wol!”

Shwiik!

Gosinok attacked Pyo Wol, shouting angrily.

In an instant, Pyo Wol’s concentration was shattered.

The door of truth, which seemed like it would open if he just touched it, was tightly shut again.

To open the door of truth in the future, Pyo Wol would need even greater immersion or solid evidence than he currently had.

Kaaang!

Gosinok’s sword was blocked by Pyo Wol’s ghost blade, but Gosinok was not disappointed.

His attack was just beginning.

For the past few years, he had shed blood that Pyo Wol could never have imagined.

Thrown onto the battlefield with no information and no weapons, he had to survive alone.

It was the test of the Guryongsalmak.

There was no room or mercy for those who could not survive.

At first, he despaired and wandered.

But after surviving numerous brushes with death, he realized that there was no one here to help him but himself.

Then, Gosinok became determined.

He honed his martial arts and succeeded in countless missions.

That’s how he progressed, and eventually he was recognized by the Guryongsalmak and was able to command one of their ships.

Until he reached his current position, the number of dead people in his hands was well over a hundred.

As he got more and more blood on his hands, his killing became more and more perfect.

He was no longer the same person he was when he chased after Soyeowol or So Geoksan in the underground cave.

Although he had lost his facial beauty, his hands had become even more ruthless.

He was confident that even if Soyewol or So Geoksan in the underground cave., they would no longer be his match.

Swish!

The sound of a sword cutting through air echoed throughout the cabin.

It was the sound of Gosinok’s sword cutting through the darkness.

Like a cat chasing a mouse, his attacks were relentless.

If an ordinary person had been hit by his attacks, they would have only lasted a few seconds before collapsing in disarray.

His attacks were both persistent and penetrating, seeking out any weaknesses.

However, his sword never managed to touch Pyo Wol’s body.

It was because Pyo Wol had used his Ghost blade.

Although it was only the size of a child’s hand, it was enough to protect Pyo Wol.

No matter how long the sword was, the area it could hit was only as big as a child’s hand.

The key was accuracy, speed, and courage, and Pyo Wol possessed all three.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Pyo Wol was able to deflect all of Gosinok’s attacks.

His face contorted slightly as his attacks didn’t work.

He didn’t want to see the impassive face that didn’t change in the face of his attacks.

No, it wasn’t for that reason.

He hated that face because it held the beauty he had lost.

No matter how nonchalant he pretended to be, the loss of his former beauty still haunted him at times.

Suddenly, greed blossomed in his heart.

It had blossomed, and it was eating away at his heart.

“Bring me the skin of your face, Pyo Wol!”