Chapter 221

As time went on, the rain fell even harder.

The already pitch-black darkness, combined with the fierce downpour, created an incredibly gloomy atmosphere.

Pyo Wol leaned his back against the wall, his eyes closed.

Just then, a foul scent pierced his nostrils. And he heard O Gugyeong’s voice.

“How is it?”

“Hmph! You don’t trust my skills?”

“That’s not it…”

“It’s the Dream Soul Incense, a Secret Transmission of my Martial Sect. Do you think he can withstand something that can put even a large cow to sleep in an instant?”

Han Buyong’s irritated voice echoed from under the rock.

“Stop it. Aren’t you sick of it? Fighting like that every day?”

“Hehe!”

“I knew it.”

When Yang Cheolhwan said a word, the two clamped their mouths shut, and the others burst into laughter.

This was not a new experience.

They bickered every day, and it only ever stopped when Yang Cheolhwan intervened.

Yang Cheolhwan got up from his seat and approached Pyo Wol. He nudged him lightly with the tip of his foot. When Pyo Wol didn’t move, he grinned.

“The bastard’s completely out cold.”

“Of course. You think a guy like that can withstand my Dream Soul Incense?”

“Well done.”

Yang Cheolhwan gave a thumbs-up to the pouting Han Buyong. Only then did Han Buyong’s face light up with a smile.

“Fearless bastard!”

“Sleeping outdoors alone in a place like this. He’s got some serious nerve.”

Yang Cheolhwan’s sworn siblings surrounded the unconscious Pyo Wol and sneered.

A deep smile also appeared on Yang Cheolhwan’s face.

He and his sworn siblings were all on their way after being invited by Daoist Master Seol.

Having returned to Runan, Snow Blade Sword Manor had been reborn as a Sect with truly immense wealth.

It was unknown where he had earned so much fortune, but he was scattering vast sums of money to indiscriminately invite renowned Experts from within Henan Province.

Yang Cheolhwan and his sworn siblings were also on their way to Snow Blade Sword Manor, having been promised a huge sum.

Originally, Yang Cheolhwan was not a man swayed by money. But the amount Snow Blade Sword Manor promised was so enormous that it shook even his usual principles.

His younger siblings naturally insisted they should side with Snow Blade Sword Manor, and in the end, he had to agree.

Neither Yang Cheolhwan nor his siblings were particularly righteous people. Someone sleeping alone outdoors was nothing more than good prey to them. Furthermore, Pyo Wol’s unusual aura suggested he might be carrying a lot of money.

So, taking advantage of the moment Pyo Wol fell lightly asleep, he had told Han Buyong to release the Dream Soul Incense.

Han Buyong approached Pyo Wol.

“Shall we see the face of this little brother with nerves of steel?”

Han Buyong used her finger to pull down the scarf covering Pyo Wol’s face. Pyo Wol’s face was revealed.

“Whew!”

“What kind of man…”

O Gugyeong and the men couldn’t help but marvel at Pyo Wol’s face. He was too beautiful, even for a fellow man to see.

Han Buyong’s reaction was even more dramatic.

“Oh my!”

Her face had already turned as red as a sunset.

She stared intently at Pyo Wol’s face with an ecstatic expression.

“How can a man’s face be this beautiful? Orabeoni! Can’t we not kill him?”

“Crazy bitch!”

“I’ll just take him with me.”

“Make some sense.”

“It’s a waste to kill him.”

“You’re being loud, just hurry up and kill him.”

“Haa!”

Han Buyong sighed at Yang Cheolhwan’s harsh words.

A look of regret was evident on Han Buyong’s face.

She reached out her hand, caressed Pyo Wol’s face, and muttered.

“Look at this skin. How can it be so smooth? Haa!”

She looked like she was about to cry as she pressed her own face against Pyo Wol’s cheek.

“Crazy bitch!”

“What a fucking spectacle.”

The men who saw this each made a comment.

Han Buyong glared at the men with a venomous expression.

“You ugly things are just jealous…”

“So you’re not going to kill him?”

“I’m going to kill him. A handsome man like this will have no regrets if he dies at the hands of a beauty like me.”

Screeng!

Han Buyong took out a small Flying Dagger from her robes.

It was a Flying Dagger heavily coated in poison.

The poison was so potent that a mere scratch meant death.

Han Buyong, her eyes welling with tears, brought the Flying Dagger to Pyo Wol’s neck.

Yang Cheolhwan and the men watched Han Buyong with intrigued expressions.

They were well aware of her perverted tendencies.

She was especially pathologically obsessed with handsome men and had a perverted nature that was only satisfied when she killed them with her own hands.

“Goodbye, my love.”

She whispered in Pyo Wol’s ear and pushed the Flying Dagger in. But no matter how much force she applied, the dagger wouldn’t move forward.

“What?”

Startled, Han Buyong’s eyes widened. In her eyes, she saw Pyo Wol’s face, who had opened his eyes and was staring right at her.

Han Buyong’s Flying Dagger was caught between Pyo Wol’s fingers.

“You, you weren’t unconscious?”

She was shocked that her Dream Soul Incense hadn’t worked. But that was only for a moment; her expression soon turned venomous again.

“It would have been so much better if you had just died quietly. Making things unnecessarily complicated.”

Han Buyong pushed her Internal Power into the hand holding the Flying Dagger. But the dagger, still held in Pyo Wol’s hand, remained motionless.

“Eek!”

Han Buyong’s face instantly turned bright red.

“That bastard!”

“He was awake.”

Yang Cheolhwan and the men, belatedly coming to their senses, let out shouts of alarm.

Pyo Wol scanned their faces one by one.

Those who met his gaze trembled involuntarily. It was a chilling sensation, as if they had fallen into a pit of snakes.

“You?”

Just as Yang Cheolhwan was about to say something to Pyo Wol.

Puk!

Pyo Wol snatched Han Buyong’s Flying Dagger and stabbed her in the neck.

“Kurgk!”

Han Buyong coughed up a bloody foam, her face a mask of disbelief. Pyo Wol pushed the dagger even deeper into her neck.

“Heo-eo-eok!”

A choking sound escaped her lips.

Her face instantly turned black. The poison on the Flying Dagger had infiltrated her body.

Han Buyong’s breath was cut short in an instant.

She had died by her own Flying Dagger and poison.

Pyo Wol tossed the dead Han Buyong aside and rose to his feet.

Yang Cheolhwan glared at Pyo Wol with terrifying eyes.

“How dare you kill Han Mae. Do you think you can get away with this?”

“You weren’t planning on letting me live in the first place, were you?”

“I’ll tear you to shreds.”

Yang Cheolhwan’s entire body swelled up.

His muscles turned like steel, and the veins all over his body bulged.

It was the phenomenon that occurred when he deployed the Golden Bell Shield, which had earned him the Alias Iron Blood Great Bear.

He raised his log-like, massive hands high and was about to bring them down on Pyo Wol. But his arms wouldn’t budge, as if caught in a spider’s web.

“Huh?”

Only then did Yang Cheolhwan sense something was wrong and tilt his head.

Swish!

At that moment, with a gruesome slicing sound, both his arms were severed from the forearms. Pyo Wol had, at some point, drawn out the Soul Restraining Thread and wrapped it around his arms.

“Uwaaack!”

Yang Cheolhwan let out a loud scream at the unbelievable sight and the excruciating pain.

At that moment, a Ghostly Rain pierced through his jaw and lodged in his brain.

Thud!

Yang Cheolhwan’s massive body fell backward like a rotten tree.

No matter how great an Outer arts the Golden Bell Shield was, it was not enough to withstand the Soul Restraining Thread and the Ghostly Rain infused with Pyo Wol’s Internal Energy.

“Crazy!”

“Get him now!”

The men, belatedly realizing Yang Cheolhwan’s death, charged. But before they could even reach Pyo Wol, their limbs were severed.

Pyo Wol had, at some point, spread the Soul Restraining Thread like a net. They had essentially run at full speed into the Soul Restraining Thread and gotten their bodies sliced apart.

“Keoheok!”

“Ah!”

“Aargh! My leg.”

Two of the men died instantly, while O Gugyeong screamed, clutching his severed right leg.

Pyo Wol approached O Gugyeong. O Gugyeong then pleaded with Pyo Wol, his eyes filled with terror.

“S-save me! I was against attacking you. Really! Believe me.”

Pyo Wol silently looked down at O Gugyeong. O Gugyeong’s expression became even more terrified.

The pain from his severed leg combined with his fear of Pyo Wol was driving him mad.

Pyo Wol’s face, looking down at him without a word, didn’t seem human at all.

If he had known such a vicious true nature was hidden behind that beautiful face, he would never have touched him.

‘Fucking bastards! Why did they have to mess with a guy like that…’

He cursed Yang Cheolhwan and Han Buyong, who had led the ambush, in his mind.

In truth, he himself had been a leader in the affair, but he had forgotten that fact and blamed only the two of them.

Pyo Wol knelt on one knee, meeting O Gugyeong’s gaze.

O Gugyeong couldn’t dare to meet Pyo Wol’s eyes and turned his head away.

Clack-clack!

His teeth chattered uncontrollably.

The man he had looked down on and belittled was, in fact, the Reaper.

O Gugyeong trembled with the urge to gouge out his own eyes.

Pyo Wol opened his mouth.

“Speak!”

“W-what?”

“Everything you know…”

“Will you let me live then?”

“You won’t die a painful death.”

“Fuck! Then why should I… Kraaack!”

O Gugyeong screamed.

His left ankle had been severed.

Pyo Wol had clearly not made any movement. Yet the fact that his ankle had been cut off was driving him insane.

“D-demon!”

Puk!

At that moment, a Ghostly Rain embedded itself in his left shoulder.

“I-I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

O Gugyeong pleaded, tears streaming down his face.

Pyo Wol said indifferently.

“I’m listening, so speak.”

“So…”

In his fading consciousness, O Gugyeong spoke of what he knew.

He didn’t know exactly what Pyo Wol wanted, so he just said anything. Fortunately, Pyo Wol didn’t inflict any more pain on him.

In fact, since Yang Cheolhwan had taken the lead in everything, there wasn’t much he knew.

At most, it was that Jin Clan’s power had been rapidly shrinking lately, but he didn’t know the detailed reasons.

Still, he had to babble on about something. The fact that he wouldn’t suffer any more pain as long as he did was seared into his brain.

O Gugyeong rambled incoherently.

His voice was gradually getting quieter. But O Gugyeong himself was unaware of this fact.

His fear was so great that he couldn’t even perceive his own condition.

His voice grew fainter and fainter, until finally, no sound could be heard.

He had died in the very act of babbling to Pyo Wol.

A pool of blood had formed at O Gugyeong’s feet.

It was all blood he had shed.

Pyo Wol stared indifferently at O Gugyeong’s corpse.

He had unexpectedly killed five people, but there was no trace of guilt on his face.

They were the ones who had aimed for his life first.

Pyo Wol had let them into his camp out of goodwill, but they had repaid him with Killing Intent.

They should have known that in the Jianghu, to take another’s life, one must also risk their own.

Pyo Wol searched their bodies.

Wallets containing a considerable amount of money and valuable items came out from each of their robes.

Among them were items that didn’t seem to belong to them.

There was a jewel from Yang Cheolhwan’s robes and an ornament found on O Gugyeong.

The source was obvious.

Just as they had tried to kill Pyo Wol, they had clearly killed someone else and taken their belongings.

Now, all of it belonged to Pyo Wol.

After Geum Usin, he had now plundered the Gold Taels of Yang Cheolhwan and his group as well.

Pyo Wol thought he seemed to have become a villain.

The rain was still pouring down hard.

The rainwater now overflowed into the place where Pyo Wol was camping.

The encroaching rainwater swallowed the corpses of Yang Cheolhwan and the others.