Chapter 333 Reaper of the Drifting Moon novel

Chapter 333 Reaper of the Drifting Moon novel

The news that Sword Flower Pavilion, who had tried to falsely accuse Pyo Wol of raping a woman, had been exposed and faced repercussions quickly spread throughout the Taeho region.

Those who had witnessed the incident at the inn boasted about it, and the Sword Flower Pavilion could not silence their mouths.

In just one day, the Sword Flower Pavilion was forced into seclusion.

After closing down the  Sword Flower Pavilion, Go Yeon-soo expelled Eum Yujeong.

Eum Yujeong, who had already suffered at the hands of Pyo Wol, had no choice but to flee Taeho.

After expelling her disciple, Go Yeon-soo locked herself in her residence and did not come out.

Some said she cried all day, while others said she went mad.

No one could be sure what was true, but one thing was certain.

Sword Flower Pavilion’s life had ended as a member of the Kangho faction.

While Sword Flower Pavilion’s downfall was shocking, what was more frightening was Pyo Wol, the one who had caused it.

If any man had fallen into the trap set by Go Yeon-soo, their reputation would have been ruined.

There was nothing scarier to the honor-seeking Kangho warriors than being labeled as a “sexual predator.”

However, Pyo Wol broke through the conspiracy between Go Yeon-soo and Sword Flower Pavilion and proved his innocence.

And on top of that, he brought about the Sword Flower Pavilion’s complete downfall.

Pyo Wol’s audacity and cruelty made people even more afraid. The realization that one could ruin their life by messing with Pyo Wol took root in people’s minds.

The person most shocked by this incident was Tang Ig-ki, the young master of the Iron Mountain Manor

“Was Eum Yujeong really chased away like a dirty dog?” Tang Ik-gi looked incredulous.

To him, Eum Yujeong was like a flower blooming in a high place that he could not touch.

Hearing that Eum Yujeong had been chased away by Pyo Wol made his heart ache.

“Damn it!”

Tang Ik-gi paced around his room all day.

He couldn’t calm down no matter how much time passed, and his anxiety only grew.

“I guess it’s not going to work.”

Unable to bear the pressure, Tang Ik-gi went outside.

He didn’t like being in the manor because it was stuffy, and he couldn’t go to Taeho, where he usually went, for fear of running into Pyo Wol.

So he decided to go to the Cheolsan workshop instead.

He was familiar with the place, having grown up there, and most importantly, he had someone to vent to, Do Yeonsan.

He didn’t even tell his father Tang Cheolsan that he had locked up Do Yeonsan, because he was afraid of being punished.

“Maybe it would be better to kill him and silence him this time…”

He thought it would be better to destroy the evidence before his father Tang Cheolsan found out that Do Yeonsan’s parents had died and that he had set fire to the house where they lived.

“Yes, that’s right! That’s what I should do.”

He didn’t want to suffer anymore from this troublesome situation.

With a malicious mind, Tang Ik-gi headed to the workshop.

As soon as he arrived at the workshop, the clerk greeted him.

“Oh, welcome, master Tang!”

But the clerk’s attitude towards him was strange.

He seemed a bit flustered.

“Something’s wrong.”

“What?”

Tang Ik-gi’s face twisted in anger at the clerk’s startled expression.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

“Well, that’s….”

Snap!

In an instant, Tang-Ik-gi’s anger boiled over and he slapped the clerk’s cheek.

“Speak up properly! What happened?”

“Well, Do Yeonsan escaped.”

“What?”

Startled by the unexpected answer, Tang-Ik-gi blinked for a moment.

“We found out this morning that the guy had escaped.”

“How? Wasn’t he locked up?”

“We put him in the warehouse, but he disappeared like magic.”

Thud!

Tang-Ik-gi kicked the clerk.

The clerk was hit in the stomach and rolled on the floor.

“You’re telling me that? You bastard! He disappeared like magic? Why didn’t you report it?

Huh!”

“Well….”

“Fuck!”

Tang-Ik-gi repeatedly hit the clerk, who couldn’t make a proper excuse.

The clerk couldn’t muster the courage to defend himself and took the beating. But Tang-Ik-gi still couldn’t figure out what had happened.

“What the hell happened? Tell me the truth.”

“Well, actually….”

The clerk began to reveal what had happened yesterday.

Tang-Ik-gi’s expression turned stunned as he listened to the clerk’s story.

“So, Pyo Wol came looking for him and found out that Do Yeonsan was being held captive?”

“Yes!”

“What did they talk about?”

“They spoke in such a low voice that I couldn’t hear….”

“You stupid son of a bitch! That’s your excuse?”

“I’m sorry.”

“So, Pyo Wol didn’t help him escape?”

“No, he didn’t. Do Yeonsan escaped much later.”

“Sh*t!”

Tang Ik-gi slammed the table with his fist.

The table split into two pieces and the clerk swallowed nervously as he watched it crash to the ground.

He had a feeling that his fate would be the same as the table’s in a moment, but fortunately Tang Ik-gi no longer had the desire to be violent towards him.

“So you’re tracking him now?”

“Yes!”

“We must find him no matter what. If we don’t, I’ll cut your neck first.”

“Ha, even if I have to hire the Hao Clan, I will definitely find him.”

“Sh*t! Of all people, why did that bastard get involved…?”

Tang Ik-gi ground his teeth.

Above all, what bothered him the most was Pyo Wol.

The fact that Pyo Wol was involved in this incident made him very uneasy.

The sudden downfall of Sword Flower Pavilion, which had boasted great power in Taeho, did not seem like someone else’s business.

The clerk gritted his teeth as he watched Tang Ik-gi shiver. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

Several items were missing from the warehouse where Do Yeonsan was being held captive.

Among them was the ore imported from overseas.

‘Let’s not say anything.’

He felt that if he said something now, he wouldn’t even be able to pick out the bones. So he kept his mouth shut.

***

Do Yeonsan cautiously lifted the cloth.

As soon as he saw the object covered by the cloth, his eyes turned bloodshot.

“Ugh!”

He clamped his mouth shut.

The corpse, whose face was unrecognizable due to being bloated by water, was undoubtedly his younger sister.

Tears flowed down Do Yeonsan’s cheeks.

He had thought he had shed all his tears, but there were still tears left to fall.

Do Yeonsan cradled his sister’s face.

He couldn’t believe that his sister, who was more beautiful than a flower and shone brighter than the moon, lay here as a cold corpse.

He wanted to wake up from this nightmare quickly. But he knew better than anyone else that this wasn’t a dream.

“Who did this?”

Do Yeonsan examined his sister’s body closely.

As Pyo Wol said, there were clear traces of torture on his younger sister’s body.

Although he didn’t know who it was, it was clear that they had brutally tortured his younger sister after violating her.

The distorted face seemed to convey the extent of his sister’s suffering.

For a while, Do Yeonsan examined the corpse, and he discovered a strange scar on his sister’s arm.

At first glance, it seemed like a meaningless scratch, but upon closer inspection, the scratch formed a character.

“Jo (曹)?”

It was clear that someone had etched the character into her arm using a sharp object like a knife or a piece of metal.

While she was alive, it may have appeared to be a simple wound, but after death, the body became stiff, and the character became more visible.

It had been done by tearing at the flesh while her life was in danger. It couldn’t be meaningless.

Someone’s face came to mind.

“Jo Ik-gwang!”

Do Yeonsan gritted his teeth.

Tang Ik-gi was someone with a very loose tongue who often spoke ill of the members of the Golden Heavenly Hall, despite his desire to join their ranks.

Among them, he talked the most about Jo Ik-gwang.

He would say that he looked noble on the outside, but his sexuality was messy and he always targeted young girls.

He would talk about how many girls had been ruined or lost their lives because of him.

At the time, he thought it was nonsense.

Logically, there was no reason for a person like Jo Ik-gwang, who came from a prestigious family, to do something so dirty.

So, he simply thought that Tang ik-gi was just mocking Jo Ik-gwang.

However, now that he saw the character “Jo,” he regretted why he had not paid more attention at the time.

If he had been a little more careful, his younger sister would not have been kidnapped by Jo Ik-gwang, and his parents would not have lost their lives at his hands.

Do Yeonsan had already concluded that Jo Ik-gwang was responsible.

He carefully embraced his sister’s corpse.

Although he could not retrieve his parents’ bodies due to his carelessness, he wanted to make sure that his sister was buried in a proper place.

“Rest in peace.”

When Do Yeonsan came out holding his sister’s body, the guard looked at him with a pitiful expression.

Although he often retrieved bodies from the water, he had never seen a body as brutalized as Do Yeonsan’s sister.

He couldn’t even begin to guess how desolate Do Yeonsan must be feeling right now.

Usually, when bodies are salvaged like this, they receive a small amount of money in return and are returned to their families.

But Do Yeonsan couldn’t bring himself to make such a request.

The guard watched as Do Yeonsan, carrying his sister’s body, walked away.

There was a small boat at the edge of the reeds near the lake. It was something Do Yeonsan had prepared in advance before salvaging his sister’s body.

The boat was filled with things that had been stolen from the Cheolsan workshop.

Do Yeonsan laid his sister’s body on one side of the boat and began rowing.

There were forty-eight islands of various sizes in Taeho. Some of them had people living on them, but most did not.

The place where Do Yeonsan was taking the boat was one of those uninhabited islands that was both the smallest and the deepest in Taeho.

Do Yeonsan unloaded his sister’s body and the stolen items on the island.

The first thing he did was gather wood from the island.

He made an altar out of dry branches and placed his sister’s body on top. Then he lit a fire.

The bright red flames quickly engulfed his sister’s body.

“Sobbing! Sobbing!”

Do Yeonsan fell to the ground, wailing.

He thought he had shed all his tears, but he was wrong.

Tears continued to flow even after his sister’s body was reduced to ashes.

It wasn’t until long after the fire had gone out that Do Yeonsan lifted his head.

He no longer cried.

He had truly run out of tears.

He collected his sister’s remains and personally ground them into ashes. He scattered the finely ground bone powder over Taeho.

“Please be born into a good home again. A place with a family that can protect you, not a family with an incompetent father like ours.”

Do Yeonsan turned around.

After cremating up his younger sister, the first thing he did was to make a furnace.

He stacked the stones he had collected himself and filled the gaps with mud from the riverbank to make the furnace.

Although his fingernails were broken and bleeding from stacking the stones and carrying the mud, Do Yeonsan did not let out a single groan.

As the sun began to set, the furnace was finally completed.

Do Yeonsan immediately put wood into the furnace and lit it. When the fire was burning well, he threw in the anthracite coal he had brought from the ironworks in Cheolsan.

The anthracite coal, made with Cheolsan ironworks’ unique vision, had the effect of maximizing firepower.

As the anthracite coal went in, a white flame shot up.

Do Yeonsan secretly put in the minerals he had brought in the flame.

“I will never forgive.”

The flames in Do Yeonsan’s eyes were as hot as the flames in the furnace.