Chapter 320 Reaper of the Drifting Moon novel

Pyo Wol and Yul Ayeon watched the sinking ship from the island.

The ship was engulfed in flames and was sinking into the sea, spewing flames.

It looked like a whale was screaming as it died.

Dead bodies floated around the sinking ship.

There were bodies that were killed by the sharks, but most of them died due to the cannons.

“How could this happen?”

Yul Ayeon covered her mouth with her hand and looked at the scene.

Surely the ship that fired the cannons was on the same side as them. But they fired the cannons without hesitation.

According to Yul Ayeon’s common sense, she couldn’t understand such behavior.

“Surely they must value the lives of their comrades more than anything else.”

“Perhaps keeping their secret is more important than the lives of their comrades.”

“But how could humans…?”

Yul Ayeon’s lips trembled.

She had many small and large wounds all over her body.

These were injuries she received while facing Jin Yugeon.

Their fight was fierce.

In terms of martial arts alone, Yul Ayeon was much stronger, but Jin Yugeon’s swordsmanship was also not to be underestimated.

In actual combat, his sword was deadly, and Yul Ayeon couldn’t easily suppress him.

Moreover, with Jin Yugeon’s subordinates joining the battle, she was the one who ended up cornered.

If the cannon hadn’t been fired at that moment, Yul Ayeon would have suffered a major injury.

At the moment when the cannon hit the ship, Jin Yugeon and his subordinates stopped fighting and they escaped the ship without any hesitation.

Yul Ayeon was unable to catch them as they quickly disappeared like receding water.

Jin Yugeon and his crew, who had escaped from the burning ship, returned to the ghost squad three hundred li away, riding on a small boat.

However, along the way, several boats capsized in the large waves, and many people lost their lives to the sea.

They did not stop to rescue those who fell into the water, and Yul Ayeon and Pyo Wol managed to escape to an island near the ship.

It was the same island they had used to invade.

“In the end, we gained nothing. Well, we did get back Mahondo, so it’s not like we came away with nothing. But still, it’s surprising to see such a group exist in the world,”

Yul Ayeon trembled with fear.

As the ghost squad was about to be exposed, they sank the ship by firing a cannon at it.

Yul Ayeon and Pyo Wol managed to save themselves, but not a single person who was imprisoned with them was rescued.

They didn’t even know their stories, where they were captured, or what their names were.

The despair in their eyes was unforgettable.

They eventually perished in the cold sea, without any hope of rescue.

Yul Ayeon could not forgive herself for not being able to save them.

“Huff!”

Yul Ayeon’s shallow sigh was buried under the sound of the waves.

Pyo Wol suddenly looked at his hand.

The blunt end of the spear was still stuck in it.

It was the same spear thrown by the ghost squad’s leader. Pyo Wol had cut off the cumbersome wooden part and kept only the sharp end.

It was the only clue to find the ghost squad’s captain, which is why Pyo Wol had brought his spear with him, as it was the only item related to him that he had.

That gaze and intimidation still shook Pyo Wol’s chest.

***

Pyo Wol and Yul Ayeon returned to Sea Gate on Tae Musang’s ship.

The first person to greet them was Tarha.

“Are you okay?”

Tarha patted her granddaughter.

“I’m okay.”

“Are you sure? You have so many wounds. What exactly happened?”

“Well, it’s probably hard to believe.”

“Still, tell me.”

At Tarha’s urging, Yul Ayeon told the story of their encounter with the ghost squad.

Tarha listened to the entire story in silence.

“It’s hard to believe that such a ridiculous group exists in the world.”

“Thanks to master Pyo, we were able to recover Mahondo.”

Yul Ayeon handed the Mahondo she received from Pyo Wol back to Tarha.

“Whew!”

Tarha breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the Mahondo in his hand.

They had traveled thousands of miles to find this item.

Although they had achieved their goal, Tarha’s mind was not at ease.

Tarha looked at Pyo Wol.

“Thank you for your help! We probably have a lot to talk about. How about we sit down and have an honest conversation now?”

“Sure!”

Pyo Wol nodded his head.

The four of them left the harbor and headed to the inn.

Tarha had already cleared the inn for them.

Thanks to him, the three of them could talk freely without worrying about external eyes.

Pyo Wol was the one who started the conversation.

“I first became aware of them when…”

And so began Pyo Wol’s story, which lasted for a long time.

Despite Pyo Wol’s calm and collected retelling of what he had experienced and learned so far, Tarha and Yul Ayeon’s expressions were gravely serious.

“I never knew there was such a terrifying group lurking behind Kangho.”

“‘Guryongsalmak?'”

“Where did such a group originate from?”

The two people’s expressions were very serious.

If it were in the past, they wouldn’t have cared much about such talk. It was because it had nothing to do with them anyway.

But this time was different.

They knew that the Ghost Squad’s activities included the Western Province, and they knew that the disturbance would never end.

The Ghost Squad was not just Kangho’s problem, it was also a big problem in the western regions.

As long as they remained intact, the western region’s conflicts would not end.

Tarha asked Pyo Wol, “Why are you chasing after such a group? Do you have a personal grudge against them?”

“I just got involved in it somehow…”

“Just for that reason?”

“Sometimes you have to fight for your life for lesser reasons.”

“That’s true. So what are you going to do now? Are you going to continue chasing after the Ghost Squad?”

“No!”

“Why not? You’ve been tracking them this whole time.”

“How would I know where they are in the vast sea and how to pursue them? The sea and the land are different. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t.”

Pyo Wol made a cool judgment.

The reason they were able to sneak into the Ghost Squad’s ship this time was simply

because they were lucky.

They happened to be anchored not far from Sea Gate, and they were able to start tracking them immediately. And if Taemu Sang hadn’t known how to steer the ship, they wouldn’t have been able to muster the courage to pursue them.

It was thanks to a combination of coincidence and various factors that they were able to reveal the truth about the Ghost Squad. If even one thing had been missed, they would never have found the Ghost Squad.

Those iron-willed people had obliterated all the evidence by firing at the ship their colleagues were on.

They were too meticulous to give any chance of being tracked.

Furthermore, it was impossible to track them when they were hiding in the sea, not on land.

It wasn’t Pyo Wol’s style to waste time on something that was impossible from the start.

Pyo Wol preferred to focus on things that were possible and had a good chance of success.

That’s why he decided to give up on tracking the Ghost Squad.

“They’ll come looking for me when the time comes anyway.”

Even now, he can’t forget the way the Ghost Squad’s master looked at him.

There were only a handful of martial artists who could show off their skills over a distance of three hundred meters.

He didn’t think that such a person would stay only on the sea forever. As he was also human, it was certain that he would eventually come ashore.

Pyo Wol felt that fate would bring them together even if he didn’t actively seek him out.

Tarha asked, “What about the Guryongsalmak? Will you keep pursuing them?”

“No!”

“Why did you stop pursuing them after all this time?”

“I think there are limits to pursuing them in this way. It would be much more efficient to make them come to me.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

Tarha nodded.

This time, Pyo Wol asked, “What will you do? Will you go back to the Western Province?”

“That was the original plan, but I changed my mind. The unrest at the Western Province will continue as long as we don’t eliminate the root cause, the Ghost Squad. It’s better to stay here and try to understand their movements.”

“Stay here?”

“I plan to establish a base here this time. Fortunately, the factions that dominate this area are weaker than I thought.”

Pyo Wol understood Tarha’s intentions immediately.

He intended to take control of Sea Gate harbor.

He had already partially taken control of the Red Guild Association, leaving only the Sea Dragon Pavilion.

Although Sea Dragon Pavilion was said to be the ruler of Sea Gate Port, there were no top-level experts to oppose Tarha’s martial arts.

Some people may have interpreted Tarha’s actions as an attack of the Western Province to take control of Kangho, but Pyo Wol didn’t care.

What was important was that Tarha and Yul Ayeon would take control of Sea Gate Harbor, and that would help his cause.

“This is the most active place for trade with the Western Outlands. If we take control of this area, we can definitely capture the movements of the Ghost Squad sooner or later.”

“Maybe I’ll never be able to return to the western capital again.”

“I don’t care, though. I’ll die as an outcast, but my only granddaughter will still have half the blood of our people, and she’ll fit in just fine.”

Tarha had a resigned yet strangely triumphant smile on his face.

It was a peculiar smile that seemed to have given up on everything, yet at the same time,fiery.

Tarha spoke to Yul Ayeon.

“Bring him here. He must have been tired waiting outside for so long.”

“Yes!”

Yul Ayeon immediately went outside.

When she returned a little while later, Tae Musang was with her.

Tae Musang noticed the serious atmosphere and his eyes darted nervously. Tarha found his behavior amusing and burst out laughing.

“Hehe! He looks like a cat that’s been caught in the rain, trying to be sneaky.”

It wasn’t an exaggeration. Tae Musang had only recently returned from the sea, and his entire body was soaked with saltwater.

Pyol Wol, Tarha, and Yul Ayeon used their inner energy to dispel the moisture, but Tae Musang couldn’t do the same.

Even so, Tae Musang remained undaunted and spoke boldly.

“I may be a small cat now, but I’ll become a great tiger later on, so don’t be surprised.”

“A tiger, you say?”

“Yes! Not just any tiger, but a great tiger that dominates the rivers and mountains.”

“He has great ambitions.”

“I’ll show you that I’m not just spouting nonsense.”

“If I teach you martial arts, do you have the confidence to learn them properly?”

“I will learn with all my might, Master!”

Tae Musang knelt down.

He had already made up his mind to learn martial arts from Tarha by any means necessary.

He had previously said that he would put off seeking revenge for the children until he learned martial arts, but he had come to realize that it was impossible to seek revenge without learning martial arts.

He watched Pyol Wol and Yul Ayeon board the Ghost Ship without having learned martial arts, he knew he had to watch quietly.

He no longer wanted to be at the mercy of others, and to avoid being dominated by others, he had to learn martial arts himself.

It was then.

“I also want to learn. Please accept me as your disciple.”

Another boy appeared from inside the inn.

It was Geom Yeong.

There were clear blood stains on Geom Yeong’s clothes. They were traces of the wounds he received last night.

Although it was still difficult for him to move his body, Geom Yeong managed to approach Tarha.

And like Taemu Sang, he kneeled down.

“Please teach me too, master!”

“How fitting, I have two disciples from this far away place.”

His words were like an acceptance of Geom Yeong as his disciple.

Geom Yeong said with his head bowed to the ground.

“I will never disappoint you.”

“Haha!”

Tarha nodded his head.

Not only Taemu Sang but also Geom Yeong had exceptional qualities.

Finding such disciples was not an easy task.

“Good! I will accept both of you as disciples of Mara Law Sect. However, learning the martial arts of Mara Law Sect is not an easy task. You may even lose your life during the training process. So if you’re afraid, you can withdraw your opinion right now.”

“If I can become as strong as you, master, I can risk my life.”

“I feel the same way.”

Taemu Sang and Geom Yeong’s resolute voices echoed inside the inn.