|
Post by Lone Crane on Jul 5, 2024 11:13:14 GMT
With spcnet about to shut down, this is the last wuxia forum around. In an effort to help get things a bit more active here, I'm going to do my next translation here: The Demon Staff《魔杖》 by Long Chengfeng 龍乘風, book #37 in his Snowblade Vagabond《雪刀浪子》series. Translating Long Chengfeng always boosts my spirit, which I'm in sore need of at the moment, so I decided to translate another one. I've translated two Snowblade Vagabond novels before: Snowblade Vagabond and The Tang Sect Crisis. You can read those novels at the links provided and also download ebook versions I made if you prefer. Though you do not need to read those to enjoy this one, as each story is standalone. They just have a recurring cast of characters, like Gu Long's Lu Xiaofeng or Chu Liuxiang series. Long Chengfeng was heavily inlfuenced and inspired by Gu Long. You can see that reflected in his writing style. I've also translated a non-Snowblade story of Long Chengfeng's called Roaming the Jianghu for Twenty Years. You can read or download that at the link as well.
for The Demon Staff, I'm going to post it here exclusively until it's finished. I will make an ebook when I'm finished like I did with the other ones.
The Demon Staff was first published in Wuxia World magazine《武俠世界》issue #1154 on August 10, 1981.
|
|
|
Post by Lone Crane on Jul 5, 2024 11:14:57 GMT
Chapter 1
One Sword Stroke Whistles Across the Nine Provinces
(1)
Among the snow a letter fluttered.
The letter was white, though it looked a bit pale yellow in compared to the snow on the ground.
Ke Yizui was seven-tenths drunk as he picked up the letter that had fluttered in from who knows where.
One glance and his tipsiness disappeared.
He gave the order immediately—
“Go back! Go back!”
He was Fourth Hallmaster of the Ten Great Attendants Hall of Datong prefecture—Drunken Attendant Ke the Fourth.
Ke the Fourth had always had a lot of guts, especially when he was a bit drunk. Then he a tough man afraid of nothing on heaven or earth.
But this time he looked shocked out of his wits.
None of his men knew why.
× × × The Ten Great Attendants Hall was the biggest gang in Shanxi’s Datong prefecture.
The Ten Great Attendants Hall consisted ten hall branches.
The First Hallmaster was the chief of the Ten Great Attendants Hall, Ironfaced Attendant Zhuge Wuwei.
Zhuge Wuwei was now 60 years old.
Like his name (Wuwei - fearless), he had been fearless since his youth. No matter what befell him, he had the ability to remain calmfaced even while Mount Tai collapsed in front of him.
But when he received the letter from Ke Yizui, his complexion couldn’t help but change.
He brought Ke Yizui at once into his secret chamber.
“Fourth Brother, did you see him?” Zhuge Wuwei asked.
“No.” Ke Yizui took a deep breath. “But that’s definitely his handwriting.”
“This one is cunning as anything. If not for Great Xia Guan Guanfei’s behind the scenes help back then, our Ten Great Attendants Hall would likely have been destroyed by him.” Zhuge Wuwei sighed. “I never imagined that, though he managed to flee while gravely wounded, that he would in survive in the end.”
Ke Yizui said, “This time he’s clearly come back to Datong prefecture for us!”
Zhuge Wuwei said, “His aim is to kill Pu Touying!”
Ke Yizui looked visibly worried. “Pu Touying is Mr. Pu the Sixth’s only blood kin, he absolutely cannot fall into that demon’s hands.”
Zhuge Wuwei said, “That goes without saying, but this time I fear it’s beyond our Ten Great Attendants Hall’s ability.”
Ke Yizui’s face sank.
“Big Brother…”
Zhuge Wuwei shook his head and waved him off. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not shirking responsibility, and I’m not cravenly afraid of death, it’s just that our strength at present really cannot guarantee the safety of Mr. Pu the Sixth’s successor.”
Ke Yizui’s eyes narrowed. “Big Brother, you mean hand Pu Touying over to someone else?”
Zhuge Wuwei nodded.
“I plan to put him in Wonder Xia of Shenzhou Guan Guanfei’s hands.”
“Is that alright?”
“It’s much safer than staying in Datong prefecture.”
“Great Xia Guan is always traveling, will we be able to find him”?
“Yes.”
“Big Brother, you know where he is?”
“That’s right,” Zhuge Wuwei said deliberately. “He’s already in Datong.”
(2)
Huo Liang stood by the counter at Golden Rarities, sizing up the yellow-gowned middle-aged man.
Golden Rarities was a sumptuous, impressively extravagant place. Though everything was excessively expensive, the vast majority of customers felt it was no waste to spend money here.
Huo Liang had been running this restaurant for sixteen years, but this was the first time he had seen this yellow-gowned middle-aged man.
There was nothing particularly special about the man’s appearance.
What was special was his actions.
He had braved the wind and snow, entered Golden Rarities, and found a table in a corner and sat down.
That wasn’t special.
But what happened next left Huo Liang staring blankly.
The middle-aged man was shouldering a pale yellow bundle.
he set the bundle on the table and slowly unwrapped it.
It was full of little wooden plaques.
Some words were written on each wooden plaque.
The man embedded the plaques into the wooden table one by one.
Huo Liang was really pained.
Every table here was crafted from the best peachwood by a famed Shanxi artisan.
And this person was ruining the table.
He couldn’t resist going over there.
Ten wooden plaques were embedded into the wooden table.
Upon closer inspection, Huo Liang was struck dumb once again.
On every plaque was carved a person’s name and nickname.
Huo Liang recognized the names of all ten of these people. They were—
Ironfaced Attendant Zhuge Wuwei.
Crouching Tiger Attendant Leng Aotian.
Fire Attendant Tang Shuxing.
Drunken Attendant Ke Yizui.
Below the Clouds Attendant Geng Shihao.
Poison Attendant Du Bei.
Gold Hand Attendant Chu Baiqi.
Divine Bow Attendant Hong Bali.
Jadefaced Attendant Fang Fenlang.
Divine Axe Attendant Bao Ji.
× × × These were the names of ten hallmasters of the Ten Great Attendants Hall!
What was this middle-aged man playing at?
Huo Liang really didn’t get it, but he could see that the man’s whole person was suffused with an evil aura.
Huo Liang’s heart went cold, and not daring to make much trouble, quietly withdrew.
But just then a steely hand clapped onto his shoulder.
“Shopkeep Huo, not so fast!”
Huo Liang groaned inwardly!
Fancy that this evil guy surprisingly knew even himself.
In his mind he felt trouble coming, but he kept a smile on his face as he turned and asked, “What can I so for you, sir?”
The middle-aged man’s face was blank as wood, but his eyes were nailed to the wooden plaques.
“Mm! I hear that Shopkeep Huo is somewhat friendly with Du Bei.”
Huo Liang shivered, smiled. “Hallmaster Du is a fellow townsman of mine.”
The man said, “Is he in Pearls & Jade Reception Hall?”
“Er…”
“Yes or no?” The man’s tone was harsh.
Huo Liang, startled, said, “Yes! Yes!”
The man said coldly, “Give this wooden command token to him, tell him to make funeral arrangements at once!”
Saying that, he he handed the wooden plaque engraved with the name Poison Attendant Du Bei to Huo Liang.
Huo Liang’s mind was shook.
“Er…”
“If you don’t give it to him, you’ll be laid low sooner than him!”
Huo Liang dared not say anything further but took the plaque and hurried into Pearls & Jade Reception Hall.
(3)
Inside Pearls& Jade Reception Hall, Du Bei picked up a roasted lamb tenderloin hot out of the charcoal stove.
The meat was tender, tender and fragrant.
Everyone who knew Du Bei knew that he liked to enjoy himself, and that he knew how to enjoy the finer things in life.
But that wasn’t a factor in his fame.
A person didn’t become well-known just because they knew how to enjoy things.
Especially not a person like Du Bei. If he only knew how to enjoy himself, he would have died long ago.
That he wasn’t dead and could still enjoy the finest delectables in the world was because he had spent over a decade arduously training his sabreplay.
Not a few people wanted him dead.
But it was instead they who died one by one under Du Bei’s sabre.
Still, Du Bei’s renown was not because of his sabreplay.
Though his sabreplay was unique, its moves swift and relentless and unsurpassingly powerful, there was at least three of four of his enemies whose sabreplay was better than his, certainly not worse.
But they died too.
They weren’t killed by Du Bei’s sabre, but by his poison.
Du Bei was a master at using poisons!
It wasn’t an honorable skill, but it was beyond doubt one of the most feared killing methods in the jianghu.
No matter how good a person’s martial arts was, once one fell victim to Du Bei, all they could do was wait for death.
But five years ago Du Bei swore never to use poison again.
He had sworn an oath in front of the Ten Great Attendants Hall’s headquarters and had not used poison to kill anyone since then.
The Ten Great Attendants Hall was an honorable gang. No matter who it was, you could not use dishonorable methods to kill them.
Du Bei was no exception.
And so one could say that Poison Attendant was an empty title.
Because he didn’t use poison anymore.
(4)
Though he had used poison repeatedly to viciously kill others, Du Bei’s heart was not in fact not evil.
The people he dealt with had it coming, all of them flouters of the law and vicious miscreants.
If you looked at it as using violence against violence, then there was little cause for criticism.
But such a method was still not tolerated in the Ten Great Attendants Hall.
Du Bei accepted this as right and didn’t use poison anymore.
But he didn’t change his penchant for enjoying the finer things.
He’d always appreciated Golden Rarities’ delectable dishes and excellent spirits.
Though the food and drink was more expensive than at other places, he didn’t mind.
He had money.
He was from a rich family.
He was the wealthiest hallmaster in the Ten Great Attendants Hall.
But he didn’t put on airs.
He just liked enjoying life, not putting on airs.
So it was not difficult for anyone to arrange a meeting with Hallmaster Du.
Huo Liang was the proprietor of Golden Rarities, if he wanted to find Du Bei it was as easy turning over his palm.
But when he went over and stood outside the doors of Pearls & Jade Reception Hall, he was rebuffed.
“Hallmaster Du doesn’t want to see anyone and really doesn’t want to be disturbed.”
The rebuffer was a man in white.
He was about fifty, upward slanting phoenix eyes, a long five-skein beard, a mighty, imposing appearance.
A sabre hung by his side.
It was a silver-shining treasured sabre.
The hilt was silver and so was the scabbard.
And the man’s eyes were as keen as a knife edge.
Huo Liang sighed to himself.
What kind of day was this? Why was it that everyone he ran into was a murderous-looking man of the martial world?
For a time he didn’t know what to do.
But just then the man in white suddenly snatched the wooden plaque with a lightning hand.
The man in white’s eyes narrowed and he regarded Huo Liang coldly. “It’s best if you didn’t get involved with this matter.!”
Huo Liang hastened, “I’m not, I’m not getting involved…”
The man in white’s hand suddenly clenched lightly.
The hard wooden plaque was crushed into sawdust and sifted down through his fingers.
Huo Liang’s face drained and he dared not stand there but hurried away.
The man in white’s face was indifferent.
Just then, someone emerged from Pearls & Jade Reception Hall.
It was Du Bei.
Du Bei stared at the man in white. “Are you going to deal with him?”
The man in white turned and smiled, a strange and mysterious smile. “You think I can deal with him?”
Du Bei shook his head.
“No, probably not even all the masterhands of the Ten Great Attendants Hall would be enough.”
The man in white said slowly, “You all can’t, but I at least have a chance.”
“How much of a chance?”
“Three-tenths.”
“Only three-tenths of a chance?”
“Yes.” The man in white’s voice was cold and indifferent. “In all of Datong prefecture, I’m perhaps the only one who has this three-tenths of a chance to kill him. As for you all, you don’t have even one-tenth of a chance!”
His words were like hammer, smashing over and over into Du Bei’s heart.
Du Bei didn’t argue.
Because he knew that the man in white was speaking facts.
A well-known man of the martial world of the Central Plains once said: “You can doubt whether an egg contains a white and a yolk, but you cannot doubt anything that the Wonder Xia of Shenzhou, Guan Guanfei, says.”
The man in white was none other than Wonder Xia of Shenzhou, Guan Guanfei, revered throughout the jianghu.
|
|
|
Post by Lone Crane on Jul 5, 2024 15:50:49 GMT
Chapter 2
Demon Wood Kill Command
(1)
Guan Guanfei had a look on his face that would make one tremble in fear as he went up the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man smiled coldly.
“Great Xia Guan, it’s been a long time.”
Guan Guanfei’s face sank. “The Ten Great Attendants Hall didn’t do anything to deserve death, yet you gave them the Demon Wood Kill Command. Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
The middle-aged man’s voice suddenly turned sharp and callous. “Who I want to put the Demon Wood Kill Command on is none of your concern!”
Guan Guanfei said, “But I can’t watch them die innocently at your hands!”
The middle-aged man sneered, “The Ten Great Attendants Hall is harboring Pu Touying. That’s a capital offense, how can you say they are innocent?”
Guan Guanfei said, “Pu the Sixth was murdered and Seventh Great Attendant Hall took Pu Touying in, that’s can’t be considered an offense.”
“Who says it can’t?” The middle-aged man look was severe and sharp, a murderous aura pressed forth. “I say they deserve death! Then they deserve death!”
Guan Guanfei’s expression also turned sharp as a knife blade. “In the past you murdered Pu the Sixth, swallowed up his estate, yet you’re still so overbearing. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”
The middle-aged man said coldly, “You don’t even know anything about my dispute with Pu the Sixth, what right do you have to say that?”
Guan Guanfei said gravely, “You’ve always believed that Pu the Sixth took your woman away from you!”
The middle-aged man said, “That’s a fact!”
Guan Guanfei shook his head.
“No! The one Third Lady Yao loved was never you, it was Pu the Sixth!”
“Nonsense! If not for Pu the Sixth, Third Lady Yao would be my wife now!”
“You’re too conceited!” Guan Guanfei laughed coldly. “Third Lady Yao could see that you harbored evil intentions, so in the end the one she chose wasn’t you but Mr. Pu the Sixth.”
The middle-aged man said coldly, “Guan Guanfei, ten years ago you gave me a slash of your sabre. Too bad it didn’t kill me.”
Guan Guanfei said, “Back then if you had not suffered qi deviation when cultivating, that slash might not have even wounded you.”
“So then you do know.”
“Sir, it seems that wound isn’t bothering you anymore?”
“No need for you to worry about it, Great Xia, this time I’m afraid Great Xia Guan will find it hard to take advantage.”
Guan Guanfei said, “So you’re for sure going to force me to fight?”
The middle-aged man said, “Since you’re already here, a fight is unavoidable.”
Guan Guanfei’s expression was solemn. “Sir, since you’re mind is already made up, there’s no point discussing it further. I’ll have to throw my lot in with the gentleman at the risk of my own life.”
The middle-aged man said, “I’m no gentleman.”
Guan Guanfei said, “The one who dies in this fight will not necessarily be me.”
The middle-aged man sneered.
He didn’t say anything but put a single palm up in front of his chest.
Guan Guanfei took a breath of chilly air and suddenly chopped at a slant with his palm.
(2)
Guan Guanfei’s skill and power was no trifling matter.
His palm struck swiftly, the force of his palm overwhelming, its momentum frightening.
The middle-aged man’s face clouded.
Guan Guanfei’s palm strength had the power of a gust of gale-force wind.
But when it neared the middle-aged man, it was met with invisible resistance.
The though force of the strike was fierce and forceful, but it couldn’t get through.
It was like it had hit a sturdy stone wall.
The middle-aged man sneered.
He suddenly leapt up and unleashed a chain of midair kicks with both feet at Guan Guanfei.
He was aiming at Guan Guanfei’s throat.
It was a vital point, so naturally Guan Guanfei didn’t dare be lax.
He struck his palm at his opponent’s legs!
But the situation suddenly changed.
The middle-aged man was in the air, but he was still nimble and versatile.
*Pow!*
He suddenly braced his back and spun and went careening backward toward a snow-white wall.
It was borrowing power to counterattack.
*Whoosh!*
He swiftly rebounded, but this time he used two fingers instead of his legs.
A ferocious move, “Two Dragons Fight for the Pearl”.
Guan Guanfei had no time to block it. He bent over backwards to avoid this killing move.
The middle-aged man use his momentum to come at him, striking mercilessly.
As Guan Guanfei bent backward, his left hand struck like a hawk’s talons at his opponent’s belly!
Guan Guanfei abruptly sprang up.
To be able to dodge two of the middle-aged man’s ruthless killer moves in the blink of an eye showed that Wonder Xia of Shenzhou lived up to his reputation.
Suddenly, Guan Guanfei turned and countered.
He switched to using his Zen Sect Five Buddhas Fist.
Five Buddha’s Fist contained twenty-five moves, each one a firs-class Buddhist martial art.
It’s power especially could not be slighted when in Guan Guanfei’s hands.
Once the Five Buddhas Fist was put to use, the situation took an abrupt turn.
The middle-aged man had backed up and was in a defensive posture.
In the blink of an eye there was a shocking flurry of fists.
After all twenty-five of the Five Buddhas Fist were used, the middle-aged man’s had paled.
Guan Guanfei loosed an enormous bellow and started over again with his Five Buddhas Fist.
But just then the middle-aged man said, “I can break this fist technique within ten moves!”
Guan Guanfei didn’t believe it.
Even if he had, he would still need proof.
He was a naturally headstrong person.
× × × Twenty-five moves of the Five Buddhas Fist had brought a new outlook to the situation.
If the fight continued, he ought to have the upper hand!
At first that was correct.
But seemed to have found a weak point in the Five Buddhas Fist!
Guan Guanfei again used the Five Buddhas Fist and still had the upper hand with the first five moves, but at the sixth one it was suddenly blocked by a burst of the middle-aged man’s palm forcewind.
By the time Guan Guanfei got to the fifteenth move, the middle-aged man’s left palm stamped onto his face.
The palm was burning hot, like a glowing red iron plate.
Guan Guanfei’s face was nearly toasted.
× × × Guan Guanfei died.
The middle-aged man dispatched him with one palm strike.
Du Bei couldn’t escape his time of death either.
He had not even made it out of the street when he was met with the same tragic fate.
A frightening murderous aura shrouded the entire city.
(3)
At dusk the ancient path was barren and bleak.
A languid man lay in a fairly food carriage with a bottle of wine in his hand.
The carriage driver was a girl.
An unusually mature, sophisticated girl of only fifteen.
Her hair was braided in two little pigtails.
Her skin was snow-white and she had a pair of big lively, clear eyes. Though she was young, her body had already begun to mature.
The driver should have been the man.
He was a man after all, and she was just a girl.
But she was driving, and she didn’t feel the effort a bit strenuous.
The man leisurely drank his wine and enjoyed the sights of snow along the way.
× × × It wasn’t very cold today.
But the face of the girl driving was already blown bright red by the facing north wind.
The man suddenly said, “Quick, stop! Stop!”
The girl stopped the carriage. “You want to drink wine again?”
The man smiled.
“Since we’ve arrived at a wine hut, it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity.”
Turns out the horse carriage had stopped outside the doors of a little wine shop.
The girl gave a cold smile.
“This time you go buy it yourself, I’m not bothering with it.”
“That’s for the best, otherwise you’ll pick a fight again!”
(4)
Inside the wine shop there was an old gray-haired man and two men already in a drunken stupor.
The old gray looked to be the owner.
“Buying wine? Or here to eat?”
The man smiled. “Wine! Your best wine!”
“How much?”
“Ten catties.”
“Sorry, I don’t have ten catties.”
“How much do you have?”
“Three or so…”
“Three or so catties is fine!”
“Not three or so catties, three or so taels.” The old gray sighed. “The wine here has already been drank up by them.”
Saying that, he pointed at the two drunkards.
The man smiled bitterly.
“That’s really bad luck. Oh well, I’ll do without.”
The old gray smiled. “Sir, if you really want to drink, this old man has a way.”
The man perked up. “Well out with it!”
The old gray said, “Half a mile from here there’s a manor house. The master is a boozer. The good liquor at his place is a hundred times better than what I have here.”
The man was delighted. “Excellent, I’ll go there now!”
× × × “Don’t go! Don’t go!” The girl protested, “If not tavern wine, we can’t go begging.”
The man shook his head. “it’s not begging, it’s buying, we can pay for it.”
“Can’t you just not drink?”
“No wine, no energy!” The man sighed. “No energy, then how can I deal with—“
“Don’t start with that again!” the girl cut him off. “I’m scared of you, just go then!”
The horse carriage once again started off on ahead.
× × × Half a mile was by no means a long way.
They quickly reached the manor.
Outside the manor gate were two people.
The two of them looked to be over fifty.
They were about the same age, but they looked very different.
The one standing to the east was tall and thin with a neat and tidy appearance, lavishly dressed.
He wore a tall cap on his head inlaid with white jade and sewn with gold thread.
On his feet were light short calfskin boots, and his socks were white as snow.
He had a long, five-skein beard, and he glowed with health.
This kind of person seemed to always be brimming with confidence. Not just confidence, arrogance.
In his hand was a sword.
It was a good sword.
Suffused with sword qi, light and shadow rippling. The sword didn’t move, yet it put forth a perceptible, pressing murderous aura.
The lavishly-dressed middle-aged man had a sword in hand but still a calm, peaceful expression on his face, not a bit on edge.
A person like that, with that kind of energy, already showed that his swordsmanship was not lacking in any area.
The girl couldn’t help but ask the man, “Who’s he? Do you recognize him?”
The man nodded, said plainly, “I recognize him, he’s Leng Wubai.”
The girl’s expression changed.
“What? He’s ‘One Sword Stroke Whistles Across the Nine Provinces’ Leng Wubai, who kills with a single sword stroke, never a second?”
The man said, “Yes.”
The girl asked, “Then who’s that standing opposite him?”
The man shook his head. “Don’t know.”
But he said, “He might be the lord of the manor.”
The girl was stunned. “How do you figure?”
The man said plainly, “Because I can see that he’s also a boozer.”
|
|
|
Post by Lone Crane on Jul 6, 2024 16:35:20 GMT
Chapter 3
The Female Chief of the Five Lakes Gang
(1)
What kind of person was Leng Wubai?
Very few people in the jianghu knew him, because he rarely roamed the martial world of the Central Plains.
Was he a recluse?
No!
He was like drifting clouds or a wild crane, going here or there, now in the bitter cold of the extreme north, now in the western regions, or even on a voyage to the eastern island of Fusang.
He’d only appeared in the martial world of the Central Plains three times.
Every time he appeared, he killed someone.
Those he killed were all masterhands, unanimously recognized throughout the jianghu as first-rate masterhands.
But Leng Wubai only used one sword stroke to kill them.
Every time he used only one sword stroke, never two.
—One stroke was already fatal, what need was there for a second?
Now he had appeared again.
Now just the same he was preparing to kill someone.
He was going to kill a boozer.
× × × The man in the carriage was a boozer.
He was a boozer, and he perhaps knew boozers better than he knew himself.
He could see that the person opposite Leng Wubai was just like himself a person who didn’t like being without alcohol.
He could smell liquor wafting off the person.
The person’s hair was grizzled, and he wore a teal upper garment and had an iron bottle gourd tied on his hip.
He was bleary-eyed with drink, as if the sky were falling and it had nothing to do with him.
But what he held now was not an iron bottle gourd filled with wine, but a judge’s brush.
The girl suddenly said, “He’s the lord of the manor for sure.”
The man said, “That’s what I think too.”
The girl said, “But where are the others? Is he the only one in the manor?”
The teal-clothed one suddenly screwed up his face and giggled. “Little girl, you’re right, I’m the only one in the manor now.”
The girl said, “Where did the others go?”
The teal-clothed man laughed again.
Only this time his laugh was more like a cry.
He said, “They’re all dead, not a one left, only me, the drunkard!”
The girl was shocked. “How come they’re dead?”
The teal-clothed man put his arm out and pointed at Leng Wubai. “It was his doing. He waited till I wasn’t here and suddenly killed his way inside and killed all eighty-five people inside!”
The girl blanched. “Re… Re… Really?”
Leng Wubai answered coldly, “That’s right, because I wanted to force him to fight, had to force him to fight, fight with me a battle to the death!”
The girl’s eyes lit up. “So to get him to fight you, you destroyed eighty-five lives all in one go?”
Leng Wubai said, “Even if I killed 85,000 I would never get softhearted about it.”
The teal-clothed man gave a bitter smile.
“He certainly wouldn’t get softhearted, but he would get weakhanded.”
Leng Wubai said, “My hand isn’t weak right now, because I only killed eighty-five.”
The teal-clothed man said, “So if I attack now, no one will say I was taking advantage of you by waiting till you’d worn your hand out killing before I struck you down.”
Leng Wubai said coldly, “Right.”
The teal-clothed man sighed. “But you know, I didn’t want to kill you, didn’t want to kill anyone.”
Leng Wubai said, “At first you didn’t.”
The teal-clothed man said, “And now?”
Leng Wubai said, “The situation now is completely different.”
The teal-clothed man was silent.
Leng Wubai said, “Now, all those dear to you have died by my sword, so, you definitely want to attack and kill me!”
The teal-clothed man smiled sadly. “What’s the use of killing you? Can it bring them all back to life?”
Leng Wubai sneered, “You mean to say you don’t want to get revenge for them?”
“Revenge! Revenge! Haha…” The teal-clothed man laughed suddenly. “Jianghu people are so full of shit, always wanting revenge. A dog dies and they want revenge, pluck a leaf off a tree and they want revenge! If it keeps on like that, one wrong begetting another, when does it all end?”
Leng Wubai said, “But it wasn't’ a dog I killed now, but those dear to you!”
The teal-clothed man gave a frustrated laugh. “What’s the difference between people dying or a dog or leaf?”
He suddenly threw his judge’s brush, threw it far away.
“Leng Wubai, I admit I’m a coward, i dare not accept your challenge to fight, and I don’t want to avenge them. Just go on, go on!”
The teal-clothed man seemed very tired as he dejectedly sat on the ground.
Leng Wubai chuckled coldly. “Xue, even if you don’t fight today, I’m still going to kill you!”
The girl suddenly said to the man, “His surname is Xue!”
The man’s face sank. “Could he be… Drunken Judge Xue Lei?”
“Yes, he must be Xue Lei!” the girl said, clapping her hands.
The man said, “What do you want to do?”
“Save him!” The girl said, “Xue Lei is a good person, we can’t just see him in danger and not help!”
The man sighed. “Never thought that the Judge Xue who dominated in former years would today have no fighting spirit at all.”
As he spoke he went over and stood between Leng Wubai and Xue Lei.
Leng Wubai at once said gravely, “Qin Gai, this has nothing to do with you!”
The man laughed.
“I didn‘t expect Great Xia Leng to remember a nameless nobody like me.”
Leng Wubai said, “Though the Five Lakes Gang once held sway over Jiangnan, it’s no longer as powerful as it once was!”
Qin Gai laughed again.
“Seems you know the Five Lakes Gang well.”
“Qin Gai, I’ll warn you again, don’t be the mantis that tries to ward off the carriage!”
“Ah, it’s too bad I’m just so bullheaded like that, once I set my mind to do something I won’t change my mind even if Mount Tai were to collapse on my head.”
“You’re an interesting one.” Leng Wubai stared at him coldly. “Such a pity that interesting people so often meet with uninteresting trouble.”
Qin Gai said, “Meeting with you certainly is uninteresting, because you’re just an uninteresting person.”
The teal-clothed man suddenly went up to Qin Gai. “Your name is Qin Gai?”
Qin Gai nodded. “Yes.”
The teal-clothed man said, “I’m Xue, Xue Lei.”
Qin Gai said, “I know.”
Xue Lei said, “Is your honored father the old hero Qin Jianfang, the Heavenly King of Five Lakes?”
Qin Gai said, “My late father was indeed Heavenly King Qin.”
“What? Your honored father is…”
“Yes, five years ago the old man died of illness in Jiangnan.”
Xue Lei sighed. “Heavenly King Qin was a hero, an exceptionally outstanding hero.”
Qin Gai said, “And you?”
“Me?” Xue Lei shrugged with a smile. “I’m not anybody. I’m just a drunkard! Useless trash.”
Leng Wubai said, “You certainly are trash. All your people were killed by me, yet you can’t even muster the courage to fight me to the death!”
Qin Gai regarded him coldly. “Why do you insist on forcing him to fight you?”
Leng Wubai suddenly got a nasty look on his face.
“You think I’m a lunatic? Do you know what he did?”
Qin Gai said, “I’m not a divine immortal, how would I know what he did?”
Xue Lei suddenly sighed. “I stole a man’s old woman.”
Qin Gai was taken aback. “Who’s wife?”
Leng Wubai said coldly, “Mine!”
Qin Gai was once again struck dumb.
Xue Lei heaved a long sigh. “You definitely want to ask why I would do such a thing.”
Qin Gai forced a smile. “I don’t want to ask, in fact I have no interest at all in that kind of thing, nor any experience.”
Xue Lei said, “Then you might as well listen. I stole his wife because I was jealous.”
“Jealous? Jealous of who?”
“Of course I was jealous of Great Xia Leng.” Xue Lei took a deep breath. “I was jealous that he married a beautiful wife, so I decided to have an affair with the woman.”
“She was willing?”
“No, she wasn’t willing, but afterward I used a little trick and she was willing to go away with me.
Qin Gai said, “Can you tell me what sort of trick?”
Xue Lei smiled faintly. “Simple, it was a bottle of wine.”
“Oh? A bottle of burning blade? Daqu? Bamboo Leaf Green?”
“It was Daughter Red.” Xue Lei’s voice seemed far away and was tinged with a sort of longing. “I put a few drops of a very potent knockout drug in the wine.”
Qin Gai was dumbstruck.
“That sort of trick is very despicable.”
“Despicable indeed.” Xue Lei’s voice suddenly turned sharp. “So it’s natural that Great Xia Leng would want to deal with me!”
Qin Gai’s heart suddenly froze.
He looked at Xue Lei blankly, his impression of the man now completely changed.
“You’re a shameless scoundrel!”
Xue Lei nodded. “Yes, you are right to curse me. And later on did something even more unforgivable…”
Qin Gai’s voice was cold as ice. “Go on then! Out with it!”
Xue Lei said, “I lived with her in a beautiful mountain valley for half a year. One day, when we were being intimate, I suddenly strangled her to death with my own hands!”
Qin Gai’s expression changed. “Oh? Why did you kill her?”
“I don’t know.” Xue Lei threw his head back and laughed, laughed a long time. “At the time I just felt she was disgusting, repugnant, I was sick of her and didn’t want to look at this woman anymore.”
“So just like that, you destroyed her?”
“Yes.”
“And you never felt any regret?”
“Regret? What good is regret?” Leng Wubai’s voice was like a violent thunderclap. “He’s a beast in human clothing. He wronged my wife, and now he must suffer the consequences!”
Qin Gai frowned and regarded Leng Wubai coldly.
“Mr. Leng, though I sympathize with your honored wife’s plight, but if you want revenge you ought to go after Xue Lei, not slaughter the innocent.”
Leng Wubai said, “If the weeds are not burned completely, the spring wind will blow and they will sprout up again. If I don’t kill them, I can’t guarantee that I won’t incur a fatal disaster in the days to come myself.”
Qin Gai suddenly took a deep breath, said angrily, “None of you are people, you’re all dogs!”
Xue Lei said, “You can call us dogs all you want, dogs scuffle, dogs fight to the death, but you won’t go over and meddle with them lest you get bitten, then you are the one to suffer!”
Qin Gai turned and said to the girl, “You heard all that?”
The girl said, “I’m not deaf, why wouldn’t I have heard it?”
Qin Gai said, “I’m not getting involved now, is that right or not?”
The girl shook her head. “Not.”
Qin Gai was stunned. “Who do you want me to help?”
The girl said, “I still want you to help Great Xia Xue.”
Qin Gai humped. “Nonsense, he doesn’t deserve to be called ‘Great Xia’, he’s just a lecherous, ungrateful, shameless scoundrel.”
The girl said, “You’re wrong.”
Qin Gai said, “How am I wrong?”
The girl winked. “I don’t want to explain it to you now. In a word, Great Xia Xue is a good person.”
Qin Gai said, “How do you know he’s a good person?”
The girl said angrily, “If I say he’s a good person he’s a good person. Now I want you to help him, kill Leng Wubai!”
Qin Gai was taken aback.
The girl smiled coldly, “You dare disobey my order?”
Qin Gai immediately had an awkward look on his face.
Xue Lei was amazed and couldn’t help but ask, “Who is she, what’s her status that she dares to order around Mr. Qin?”
The girl sneered, “Oh nothing, just the position of gang chief, that’s more than enough to order him around!”
Gang chief?”
“That’s right.”
“Miss, what gang are you the chief of?”
“The Five Lakes Gang!”
Xue Lei was stunned. He asked Qin Gai, “Is what she said true?”
Qin Gai’s expression was wooden as he said coldly, “What do you think?”
Xue Lei shook his head. “It’s very hard to believe.”
Qin Gai said, “There are many things in this world that are hard to believe, even impossible to believe, yet are ironclad fact.”
Leng Wubai’s face sank and he interjected, “This miss is really the newly-appointed chieftain of the Five Lakes Gang?”
The girl sneered, “Ever since Heavenly King Qin died I’ve been Five Lakes Gang chief. All in all you can’t call me ‘newly appointed.’”
Leng Wubai said, “Miss, what is your esteemed name?”
The girl said, “I’m Pu, Pu Keyan.”
“Pu Keyan? Your surname is Pu?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of anyone surnamed ‘Pu?’”
“No, I’ve heard it too many times.” The look in Leng Wubai’s eyes suddenly hardened. “For example: Eighty years ago there was Castellan Pu who awed Hesu, Pu Jinsheng; fifty years ago there was Pu Dingzhi, who killed Iron Wolf Stronghold number-one masterhand, Shao Kun, with one palm strike. Also in recent years there was the all-powerful Mr. Pu the Sixth…”
The girl said coldly, “The last one you mentioned was my dad!”
Mr. Pu the Sixth was your father?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then Pu Touying…”
“He’s my big brother from another mother!”
Leng Wubai seemed greatly surprised.
“So Mr. Pu the Sixth not only had a son, he also had a daughter!” He stared at Pu Keyan with grave eyes. “But to tell the truth, your lies really are hard to believe.”
Pu Keyan said, “you might know that the Pu family has a jade command badge that is passed down through the family. Only a member of the Pu family can have it.”
Leng Wubai nodded. “Yes, in the past, Mr. Pu the Sixth once showed it to a man of the martial world. I just happened to be there that time and saw it clearly and closely.”
Pu Keyan laughed coldly and suddenly flashed a greed jade badge.
“Was it like this?”
Leng Wubai took a good look at it and his expression changed.
He gasped. “You really are a descendant of Mr. Pu the Sixth?”
Pu Keyan nodded. “Absolutely.”
Leng Wubai said, “Heavenly King Qin and Mr. Pu the Sixth were close friends. Rumor has it among the jianghu that the Five Lakes Gang’s true chief was actually not Heavenly King Qin, but Pu the Sixth.”
Pu Keyan said, “You’re right, so after Heavenly King Qin died, the duty of chieftain fell to me and not his only son, Qin Gai.”
Leng Wubai said coldly, “You worthy of it?”
Pu Keyan said proudly, “I’m the daughter of Mr. Pu the Sixth, why wouldn’t I be worthy of being the chief?”
Leng Wubai laughed coldly. “Though it’s said that a tiger father doesn’t have a dog son, you’re quite young, plus you’re a girl, how can you assume such a great position?”
Pu Keyan looked at him and suddenly sighed. “I never imagined the words out of a grandmaster swordsman’s mouth could be even more childish that a little kid’s.”
Qin Gai nodded. “Yes, he’s really dumber than a pig.”
Pu Keyan said, “Since ancient times there have been who knows how many heroines who were by no means inferior to manly men. What’s this about being too young, not qualified to assume such a great position, what a load of nonsense. You mean you’ve never heard of Old Blizzard who awed the jianghu in former years, and who at fifteen became the alliance head of the prestigious and powerful North Pole Alliance?”
Leng Wubai looked at her. After a long time he finally said, “Miss, aren’t you afraid of being laughed at for comparing yourself to Old Blizzard?”
Pu Keyan laughed coldly. “Even if everyone in the world laughs their head off, this chief won’t mind at all.”
Qin Gai nodded, and in dead earnest said, “The gang’s chief is an outstanding woman, even if she’s not as good as Old Blizzard right now, in the future—“
“Future? Is she still going to have a future?” Leng Wubai laughed coldly. “Now I’m going to kill you three bastards!”
Pu Keyan said plainly, “I know you’re a renowned swordsman, but I also believe that Qin Gai can restrain you.”
Leng Wubai dropped his gaze on Qin Gai. “You think you can really kill me?”
Qin Gai thought a moment, then suddenly gave a bitter smile. “I don’t know.”
Leng Wubai laughed loudly.
“Haha! What an arrogant know-it-all Five Lakes Gang chief!”
Pu Keyan shouted coldly, “Qin Gai, this chief now orders you to kill him at once!”
Qin Gai took a deep breath and said loudly, “As you command!”
He drew his sabre.
Whoosh!
Blade light flashed and Leng Wubai fell at once.
Qin Gai was dumbstruck.
His sabre was in his hand, but he had not used yet launched a single move at all.
The blade just now was not wielded by him.
(2)
Leng Wubai, who used one sword stroke to kill, never a second, suddenly fell.
Qin Gai saw the blade.
It was a silvery gleaming snow-white blade.
He also saw a person.
A distinguished, outstanding, yet also a long-world-weary blue-clothed person.
Qin Gai recognized him.
The blue-clothed person was one of the drunkards in the wine shop back there.
Back there he still looked terribly drunk.
But now, his eyes were clear and bright, more sober than a fox in the snow.
Seeing the blade, then seeing the person, Qin Gai blurted out, “It’s the Vagabond, Snowblade Vagabond!”
× × × The Vagabond was here.
He was standing before Qin Gai, and Leng Wubai lay below the point of his sabre.
Long Chengbi!
Now that was a name that could jostle the heartstrings of the people of the martial world.
Long Chengbi’s gaze was still on Pu Keyan’s face.
“Chief Pu, you’re too adventurous,” he said slowly with a sigh.
Pu Keyan smiled charmingly. “Big Brother Long, your blade is so swift!”
Qin Gai’s face was surprisingly flushed.
“At least, I’m certainly not as good as him.”
Long Chengbi said, “Leng Wubai is a masterhand, his martial arts is just stronger than the both of you.”
Qin Gai said, “If you hadn’t struck then, wouldn’t I be a dead man right now?”
Long Chengbi nodded. “Yes.”
Qin Gai said, “So, why did you want to save us?”
Long Chengbi said, “No reason, just because you’re both Five Lakes Gang members.”
Qin Gai said, “What relationship do you have with the Five Lakes Gang?”
Long Chengbi shook his head. “None, no relationship at all.”
Qin Gai said, “In that case, why must you strike? Is this a case of ‘seeing an injustice and coming to aid with a drawn blade?’”
Long Chengbi said, “I only know one thing.”
He took a deep breath and said slowly, “If I let them continue on like that, the entire martial world of the Central Plains would be too horrible to contemplate.”
“Them?”
“Yes, an extremely frightening evil organization.”
“You know all about it?”
“Probably not more than you do.”
“You’re talking about the ‘Wood Demon Alliance?’”
“Yes, the Wood Demon Alliance!”
Qin Gai suddenly sighed. “You want to deal with the ‘Demon Gown’ same as us?”
Long Chengbi’s eyes flashed. “The alliance head of the Wood Demon Alliance is Demon Gown, the most frightening, most dangerous fiend in the jianghu.”
Qin Gai said, “The Five Lakes Gang has never bothered anyone, never asked anyone else to lend a hand.”
Long Chengbi said, “That’s precisely the most unwise thing.”
Qin Gai said, “We don’t want to implicate anyone else!”
Long Chengbi said, “You think this only concerns the Five Lakes Gang? And do you think Demon Gown only wants to take out the Pu and Qin families?”
Qin Gai was taken aback and said nothing for a time.
Pu Keyan smiled.
But her smile seemed to be suffused with infinite sadness. “Mother long ago said that Big Brother Long would for sure come to help me. Now sure enough you’ve come, it’s just too bad she’s already dead and can no longer deal with Demon Gown with us together.”
Long Chengbi said, “Your mother was a very strong woman, just like your father.”
Pu Keyan’s eyes twinkled. “And me?”
Long Chengbi said, “half of you is just like Senior Pu.”
“And the other half?”
“Like your mom.”
“Really?”
“Mm.” Long Chengbi smiled. “So you’re not only smart and brave, you’re also very strong.”
“But don’t be too pleased,” a cold voice suddenly said. “Smarts, bravery, strength, are all good things, but if you think you can rely on these three points alone to deal with the Wood Demon Alliance, then you’re daydreaming!”
Qin Gai’s expression changed and he shouted, “Who’s that spouting nonsense?”
The person’s grave voice replied, “It’s your old man, your old man Tang Zhuquan!”
|
|
|
Post by Lone Crane on Jul 10, 2024 6:57:50 GMT
Chapter 4
Top Honors in the Black Path Martial World
(1)
The number one greatest boozer in the world, Tang Zhuquan, was here.
× × × The Big Boozer didn’t seem drunk today.
Though he smelled of alcohol, he wasn’t carrying his frighteningly large wine jar.
His eyes were bright and clear, his voice steady and resonant.
The only thing that wasn’t different was his stature, still astonishingly fat as before, just like a standing hippopotamus.
Not a small hippo, but a large hippo.
A hippo could not be considered an extremely vicious giant animal.
Tang Zhuquan too was not vicious.
But every word he said now was like a knife.
“The Five Lakes Gang is not like it used to be. If no one helps them out, they will lose this fight!” He added, “And lose badly, lose badly without a chance of winning!”
Qin Gai’s face paled.
He looked at Tang Zhuquan.
Xue Lei also looked at Tang Zhuquan.
He suddenly asked, “Young Master Tang, have you given up drinking?”
Tang Zhuquan sneered, “That’s right, starting now, your old man’s quit drinking for thirty days.”
Xue Lei was stunned. “For what reason?”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Your old man has to deal with the Wood Demon Alliance. As long as that damned group is still around, your old man will not drink!”
Xue Lei said, “You really think you can crush the Wood Demon Alliance in within thirty days?”
Tang Zhuquan shook his head.
“Thirty days without drinking is just tentative, if the Wood Demon Alliance is crushed in three days then your old man won’t be satisfied to wait till day four to get blackout drunk.”
Xue Lei said, “I’m also a drinker.”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Your old man knows.”
Xue Lei said, “But starting now, I also will give up drinking.”
Tang Zhuquan stared at him, smiling. “You want to go with your old man and deal with the Wood Demon Alliance together?”
Xue Lei said, “Precisely. You all wouldn’t give the cold shoulder to old trash like me, would you?”
“Old trash? Where did that come from?” Tang Zhuquan laughed loudly. “If you’re willing to go with us, your old man will call you big brother right now!”
“You flatter me!”
“What flatter? Your old man wouldn’t mind to call you godfather!”
Long Chengbi smiled leisurely. “That’s perfect, he’s godfather, you’re the old man, godfather and old man, no one’s taking advantage, no one’s losing out!”
Tang Zhuquan laughed loudly again.
“no, your old man will just call him Big Brother. He’s not old, let’s not make it sound unpleasant.”
Pu Keyan suddenly asked Long Chengbi, “So what do we do now?”
The corners of Long Chengbi’s eyes suddenly pulsed. “Aren’t you all right now looking for the Ten Great Attendants?”
Pu Keyan was taken aback. “How did you know?”
Long Chengbi said, “It was a guess.”
Pu Keyan said, “You guessed right.”
Long Chengbi said, “You want me to find your big brother?”
Pu Keyan nodded.
“He’s at the Ten Great Attendants Hall.”
Long Chengbi suddenly drew in a long gasp.
“no need.”
“Big Brother Long, what do you mean?”
“There’ no one alive now in the Ten Great Attendants Hall.”
“What?” Qin Gai jumped. “Can you say that again?”
Long Chengbi said it again, then added, “It was the Wood Demon Alliance’s doing.”
Pu Keyan’s face blanched. “Why would they do that? It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s so barbaric!”
Long Chengbi said, “They wanted to kill your big brother, Pu Touying.”
Pu Keyan’s expression changed again. “And my big brother? How is he?”
Long Chengbi sighed. “No one knows where he is, not even Great Xia Guan Guanfei.”
Pu Keyan said, “I want to see Great Xia Guan. He will definitely protect my big brother.”
Long Chengbi gave a wry smile.
“Where is Great Xia Guan?” Pu Keyan asked.
“Dead.”
“What? You’re saying… You’re saying… Great Xia Guan is already dead?”
“Yes.”
“Was that also the Wood Demon Alliance’s doing?”
Long Chengbi said, “Yes.”
Qin Gai seemed stunned.
“No! Great Xia Guan’s martial arts is unmatched, how could he die? How could he die?” He was mumbling to himself.
Long Chengbi sighed. “Everyone is defeated some time or another. Everyone dies.”
Qin Gai glared. “Have you been defeated? Have you died? Who did he lose to? Whose hand did he die to?”
Long Chengbi said slowly, “He died by Leng Wubai’s senior brother’s hand.”
“Leng Wubai has a senior brother?”
“Yes.”
“How come no one in the jianghu has ever mentioned him?”
Long Chengbi said, “Few in the jianghu have ever known Leng Wubai’s background or the origin of his martial arts.”
Qin Gai said, “Who is is senior brother?”
Long Chengbi said gravely, “His surname is Yu, give name Dagong.”
Qin Gai and Pu Keyan blurted out in unison, “Top Honors in the Black Path Martial World, Yu Dagong?”
Long Chengbi said, “yes, Black Top Honors.”
“Yu Dagong!” Tang Zhuquan suddenly gave a cold chuckle. “Your old man really wants to see if you have three heads and six arms!”
Pu Keyan clenched her teeth. “Hmph! We will certainly remember this grudge against the Ten Great Attendants Hall and Great Xia Guan.”
Qin Gai said, “But what’s most important now is finding your big brother.”
Long Chengbi said, “There’s another important matter, Keyan’s identity cannot be revealed for the time being.”
Qin Gai was taken aback. “She’s always prided herself as a man amongst women, a manly woman who stands by her actions and is proud of her name. If she takes on an assumed identity, wouldn’t that be really inappropriate?”
Long Chengbi shook his head. “Your thinking is wrong. When in dire straits there’s no shame in assuming another name, and when taking the overall situation into account, it wouldn’t be preposterous to temporarily acknowledge one’s foe as one’s father.”
Tang Zhuquan nodded in approval. “To accomplish important things one must not worry over trifles. If Chief Pu’s identity is found out by the Wood Demon Alliance she might become a big target. It’s just not worth it.”
Pu Keyan’s gaze darted about. Finally she said calmly, “Little Sis understands. Then for now I won’t go by the name Pu Keyan.”
Qin Gai frowned. “If not Pu Keyan, then what?”
Tang Zhuquan smiled faintly. “How about if your old man gives you a name?”
Pu Keyan smiled. “That’s just what i was hoping.”
Tang Zhuquan thought a moment. “How about just swapping the three words around?”
Qin Gai said, “Yan Kepu?”
Tang Zhuquan glared at him. “How can you be so stupid?”
“not Yan Kepu?”
“Of course not, Yan Hebao, Yan Zhenqing’s Yan, the He from lotus blossom, and the Bao from treasure!”[efn_note]These sound much more similar in Cantonese. Long Chengfeng is from Hong Kong so naturally he was writing with Cantonese pronunciation in mind. But I only know Mandarin, so that’s what I transcribe in. Sorry.[/efn_note]
Qin Gai repeated it to himself. “Yan Hebao… Haha, that’s pretty good!”
Pu Keyan said, “Calling me Yan Hebao is perfectly fine, but what about you?”
Qin Gai was taken aback. “I have to change my name too?”
“Of course, you can’t let people know who you are either, you’re the son of Heavenly King Qin.”
“That makes sense. What should I change the name to?”
“You don’t need to have a surname,” Pu Keyan said.
“Great, anyway I don’t want any surname other than Qin.”
“Then, from now on you are Ah Gen, not the tree root Gen but the follow Gen.”
“Follow?” Qin Gai looked like a duck that just swallowed a fish bone. “Who am I following?”
“You’re following Miss Yan, of course!” Pu Keyan pointed at her own nose in a cocky manner.
She really was cocky.
Her cockiness was cute.
But her cockiness was short-lived.
Because she was worried about someone.
Her big brother, Pu Touying.
× × × Where was Pu Touying?
Was he still alive?
(2)
Snow danced about, fluttered into an abandoned well.
It was a deserted village.
The little village had always been sparsely inhabited, but after being looted two months ago by a band of roving bandits, it was even more bereft of inhabitants.
You could say that of the fifty to sixty households that used to live in the village, nine-tenths were now gone.
Only two households had not left yet.
Of these two households, one was surnamed Liu, the other Guo.
The Liu household had only three people, an old husband and wife couple, and an idiot.
The idiot was their nephew.
The other household was headed by the village head, Fourth Daddy Guo.
He had no sons or daughters, but he had three old ladies.
Now it was just the two households, Liu and Guo, living in the village, totally seven men and women.
× × × Liu Tianlao was very old, so old he only had five or six teeth left.
He had been a pot-mending tinker, but now he was old and had stopped working two years ago.
His wife was called Fifth Granny, and though she was of an advanced age, her embroidery work was widely-known.
Their nephew had moved in with them two years ago from elsewhere. He never said a word.
He was not only mute, he was also an idiot.
By and by, the villagers came to realize he really was a simpleton.
He had no friends and never had contact with anyone.
Maybe he just didn’t know how to deal with people, how to make friends.
This sort of person was naturally discarded by others.
He was alone and pitiful.
Now, he was still not yet thirty.
How would he make it through the years ahead?
No one knew, and no one would go care for him.
Of course, Liu Tianlao and his wife were an exception.
Because they had no children, only this nephew, who they never disliked because he was an idiot.
That time the roving bandits lotted the little village, they just happened to have gone off to a mountain god temple to pray for blessings, so they avoided disaster!
Now, they still stayed in the village.
× × × Liu Tianlao’s nephew was called Dabai.
But others didn’t call him Dabai, they called him Idiot.
But no matter what they called him, he didn’t care.
He seemed not just simple and mute, but also deaf.
Right now it was snowing hard outside, but he sat by the mouth of the dried-up well and looked blankly at his feet.
He was actually barefoot, but seemed not to feel the cold at all.
Liu Tianlao and his wife paid no attention to him.
They were in their rundown stone house munching on mudcakes.
Though the cakes weren’t made from mud, they tasted pretty much like they were.
This was poor people food.
Liu Tianlao was very poor.
He was already doing well just to have that as food.
But as they were munching on mudcakes, a whiff of something fragrant wafted outside.
(3)
Smelled good.
Wine smelled good, meat smelled good too.
Outside, surprisingly someone arrived carrying a plate of steaming hot foot, and the redolent scent of two bottles of kaoliang liquor assailed the nostrils.
Liu Tianlao and Fifth Granny turned a blind eye to it.
Then, someone’s resounding laugh entered the house.
“Daddy Liu, Fifth Granny, today let’s have a cup and drink to our heart’s content.”
× × × The man who entered from outside was a an old man in a cotton-lined gown with grizzled hair and a goatee.
He had a gaunt face, but his hands seemed larger than average.
He was Fourth Daddy Guo.
He carried a wooden tray, on top of which sat two bottles of liquor.
Behind him were three middle-aged women.
They were his wife and concubines.
These three women each carried a plate, piled with chicken, goose, duck, and dog meat.
Liu Tianlao though, kept on eating his mudcakes, as if such fare didn’t interest him at all.
Fifth Granny did the same.
Fourth Daddy Guo looked around, then said slowly, “You mean to tell me you two won’t give this old fellow some face?”
Liu Tianlao said, “I’m old, I have few teeth left, I can’t eat chicken or duck.
Fifth Granny said, “Same for this old woman.”
Fourth Daddy Guo said plainly, “Aren’t those cakes you’re eating even harder? Those will more easily hurt your teeth.”
Liu Tianlao said, “Actually it doesn’t matter if your teeth are bad, it’s eating unclean food that’s dreadful.”
Fourth Daddy Guo said, “You think this food is unclean?”
Liu Tianlao shook his head. “I don’t think it, I know it.”
Fourth Daddy Guo forced a smile.
“You like eating crane-crest red? Or heartbreak grass? If not, the chicken is laced with white arsenic, and the goose is laced with bewitching powder.”
Fifth Granny sneered, “Leave it all here, including the lives of you four!”
Fourth Daddy Guo sighed. “Lady Five Hands always did have a ferocious temper, I didn’t expect it would still be this way now.”
Liu Tianlao coughed twice. “This old fellow knew all along you all would come here, but I didn’t expect that you would wait till today to attack.”
Fourth Daddy Guo glared at him, but said unhurriedly, “I didn’t attack because I was waiting to see what game you two were up to.”
Liu Tianlao said, “We’re not up to anything, we’ve always been a poor husband and wife willing to live a meager, law-abiding existence.”
Fourth Daddy Guo sneered, “On the outside you two really do seem to have minds as still as water.”
Liu Tianlao said, “You mean we don’t?”
Fourth Daddy Guo laughed coldly. “We’re all perceptive people here. What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Liu Tianlao fixed his eyes on him. “That’s what I want to ask you.”
Fourth Daddy Guo said, “You two are in your last days, like a guttering candle in the wind. This old fellow doesn’t really want to kill you, as long as you’re willing to hand over someone.”
“Hand over someone?”
“That’s right.”
“Hand over who?”
“Pu Touying!” Fourth Daddy Guo said pointedly.
“Pu… Touying?” Liu Tianlao coughed twice. “Who is that? Why does he have such a strange name?”
Fourth Daddy Guo’s look cut like a knife. “Don’t play dumb, hand him over, it will be to your great benefit.”
Fifth Granny spat and said coldly, “There’s no Pu Touying here, you’ve come to the wrong place!”
Fourth Daddy Guo ‘s look changed. “Lady Five Hands, don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit.”
Fifth Granny said heatedly, “Guo Shi, I thought I settled that blood debt with you twenty years ago!”
Fourth Daddy Guo’s eyes narrowed. “Now that you mention that blood debt from twenty years ago in Huainan, this time I don’t see Sixth Apprentice.”
Fifth Granny sneered, “Six against one, yet not a one of them survived, that really is disgraceful.”
Fourth Daddy Guo said, “Your darling junior sister didn’t make it either.”
Fifth Granny said, “Guo Shi, you turned a blind eye to your disciple’s outrageous behavior and Fourth Sister fought against the injustice, Though she paid for it with her life, she did a good thing for the Huainan region.”
Fourth Daddy Guo laughed coldly. “I was going to give you all a way out, but now that you bring up that old score, you two old bones are out of luck.”
A green-clothed woman behind him suddenly said, “This roast goose has gotten cold.”
Fourth Daddy Guo said, “Give Lady Five Hands a goose leg.”
The green-clothed woman smiled faintly and ripped off a goose leg and with lightning-quick hands shoved it at Fifth Granny’s mouth.
The goose leg was poisoned, inedible.
Fifth Granny of course didn’t open her mouth and take a bite.
She dodged it and raised both hands.
In the blink of an eye the room was filled with a flurry of hands.
In her younger days she was a female cat burglar known as Lady Five Hands.
Though she didn’t have five hands, in the blink of an eye she could unleash five different hand techniques to wound or kill.
When her hands first went up it was like a cloud.
This cloud transformed unpredictably, in one fell swoop surging toward the green-clothed woman.
The cloud transformed.
It seemed to transform into a waterfall, no longer soft and gentle and illusory, but fierce and forceful, coming on swiftly and relentlessly.
The green-clothed woman was no slouch herself, using her elbows to ward off the danger, then sweeping her leg at her opponent’s legs.
Fifth Granny howled freakishly.
Her cascade of palm strikes disappeared in an instant.
She was off like a bird in flight.
She flew up and actually smashed a hole through the ceiling.
The green-clothed woman relentless gave chase.
The two disappeared outside at the same time.
*Pow!*
The sound of a palm slapping, followed by a muffled grunt.
White snow fluttered in through the hole in the roof.
Before long, a person with a face as white as snow fell down headfirst.
× × × The person who fell was wearing green.
But unexpectedly it was Fifth Granny.
Fifth Granny hadn't been wearing green, she was had just been wrapped in a green robe.
Wasn’t this the robe the green-clothed woman had been wearing?
No!
The green-clothed woman finally returned.
She still wore her green clothes.
Her face was wooden, expressionless.
Fourth Daddy Guo suddenly burst out laughing. “What an amazing ‘Seamless Heavenly Garb Covers Life’ technique. Wifey, even I am can’t reach the pinnacle of perfection of that skill!”
Fifth Granny was dead.
No one knew if she had used all five of her martial arts or not. But regardless, when she fell down, she was already dead.
Liu Tianlao was shaking.
He stared at the green-clothed woman.
After a long while, he said in a dry, hoarse voice, “Are you that Li Changchang, who in recent years people of the martial world blanch at the mention of?”
The green-clothed woman said, “Your servant is none other than Li Changchang.”
Liu Tianlao sighed and said unhurriedly, “My eyes are bad, I really never imagined and could not see that you were the ‘Heavenly Garb Assassin.’”
Li Changchang said, “Now you know.”
Liu Tianlao said, “Too bad Fifth Granny didn’t know.”
He paused, then said, “But given her temper, even if she had known you were Li Changchang, it wouldn’t have given in to you, she still would have fought you to the death.”
Li Changchang said, “Bad-tempered people might not be stupid, but they often do stupid things when they are angry.”
“She wasn’t stupid.”
“You mean to say you think it was right for her to speed to her death?”
“Death is as light as a goose down, or heavy as Mount Tai.” Liu Tianlao’s voice and expression suddenly turned solemn. “To know that death awaits yet still bravely forge ahead, that is heroic courage, the action of a real man.”
“Then, she certainly was a heroine, a real man among women.”
“Yes.”
“But you?”
“Me?” Liu Tianlao laughed, a laugh more bitter than goldthread rootstalks.” I’m just a coward.”
“So, you’re not prepared to fight us.”
“Right.”
“In that case, hand Pu Touying over!”
“Pu Touying isn’t here, and this old fellow doesn’t know who he is.”
“Liar!”
“Consider this old fellow a liar then.” Liu Tianlao took a deep breath. “Can I drink a bit of wine?”
Fourth Daddy Guo said coldly, “The wine is poisoned.”
Liu Tianlao said, “As long as it’s wine, no matter if it contains poison or shit, might as well bring it out!”
Fourth Daddy Guo thought a moment, then finally handed a bottle over.
Liu Tianlao tossed it back and drained it, leaving not a drop left.
he drank quickly.
He collapsed quickly as well.
Fourth Daddy Guo’s eyes narrowed, regarding his body and murmuring, “You weren’t a coward, but we still have a way to find Pu Touying!”
Outside it was snowing harder.
Fourth Daddy Guo led his three woman outside into the cold.
× × × Behind the house was a deserted yard.
In the deserted yard was a well, and next to the well sat a person. The person wore a sluggish expression, as if an idiot.
In this little village everyone really did call him Idiot.
Idiot Liu Dabai.
Though it was bitterly cold out, he still sat by the dried-up well, completely oblivious to everything else.
Fourth Daddy Guo fixed his attention on Liu Dabai. He looked at him for a long, long time.
Liu Dabai still didn’t move.
He didn’t even cast him a single glance.
Fourth Daddy Guo finally opened his mouth. “Beat it, if you don’t go you will die at once.”
|
|
|
Post by Lone Crane on Jul 10, 2024 9:44:07 GMT
Chapter 5
Pu Touying Appears
(1)
Fourth Daddy Guo stared coldly at Liu Dabai.
A red-clothed woman behind Fourth Daddy Guo suddenly charged forward. She pulled a sharp knife and slashed lightning quick at Liu Dabai’s shoulder.
It was a sharp knife and the red-clothed woman was a top-notch master.
The knife slashed, cold awns of light flashing, an a murderous aura could be felt by those standing some distance away.
Liu Dabai seemed not to feel it at all.
He seemed completely numb.
But as the red-clothed woman’s knife slashed down, Liu Dabai’s pale hand shot up.
Before the red-clothed woman could see it happen, the hand was already around her throat.
The knife stopped.
She could not put forth the slightest bit of force.
Fourth Daddy Guo shouted angrily, “Let go now!”
Liu Dabai smiled stupidly and really did let go.
The red-clothed woman’s eyes bulged in anger, the knife already dropped and fallen to the ground.
Fourth Daddy Guo ran over to help her. “Fengxiang, Fengxiang!”
Liu Dabai said woodenly, “So it’s ‘Hacked to Pieces’ Zhu Fengxiang. Your knife really is fast as lightning.”
Fourth Daddy Guo’s expression abruptly changed. Zhu Fengxiang was already dead.
“You’re not deaf, and you’re not mute!” he roared.
Liu Dabai slowly stood up, his sluggish eyes suddenly shooting out a lightning gleam. “I’m even more so not an idiot.”
Fourth Daddy Guo gnashed his teeth. “Liu Tianlao and his wife are dead.”
Liu Dabai said, “Who did it?”
Li Changchang sneered, “It was me.”
Liu Dabai glanced at her, then said suddenly, “You’re Li Changchang?”
“You know who I am?”
“I don’t know much about this village’s affairs, but I knew long ago of your first-rate existence.”
Li Changchang laughed coldly. “Others take you for an idiot, but they are the idiots.”
Liu Dabai said, “These past two years, my responsibility has been heavy.
Li Changchang said, “What kind of responsibility?”
Liu Dabai said, “To protect someone.”
“Pu Touying?”
“Yes.”
Fourth Daddy Guo’s eyes lit up. “Is he really hiding out in that well?”
Liu Dabai said, “Why not jump down and see for yourself?”
Fourth Daddy Guo sneered, “I will, but first I have to kick aside an stumbling block.”
Liu Dabai said, “No need, I can set this stumbling block aside.”
Fourth Daddy Guo gave him a suspicious look.
He went over to the well and looked down it.
There was no one in the well.
Fourth Daddy Guo suddenly jumped down.
After a long while he climbed up out of the well.
Liu Dabai said coldly, “What did you find?”
Fourth Daddy Guo laughed coldly. “I found Pu Touying.”
“Where?”
“You are Pu Touying!”
Liu Dabai laughed loudly.
“Guo Shi truly is an old hand of the jianghu, finally finding the person the Wood Demon Alliance most wants found.” Liu Dabai looked at him. “That’s right, I’m not Liu Dabai’s nephew, but Mr. Pu the Sixth’s son!”
× × × Liu Dabai was Pu Touying, the person the Ten Great Attendants Hall had been secretly protecting.
Liu Tianlao and his wife were members of the Ten Great Attendants Hall.
They were dead.
But when they died, Pu Touying paid no attention.
Still, why would a masterhand like Pu Touying need someone else’s protection?
But Fourth Daddy Guo didn’t think of that point.
He just thought to kill him and take him back to the Wood Demon Alliance headquarters.
Fourth Daddy Guo was a member of the Wood Demon Alliance.
He’d always wanted to perform a great service to elevate his status within the organization.
That’s how people are.
Especially Fourth Daddy Guo, he’d always put heavy stock in the words fame and fortune.
So, he decided to kill Pu Touying, who had spent the last two years pretending to be an idiot.
But before he could attack, Li Changchang launched an attack one step ahead of him.
(2)
Li Changchang was calm and unhurried, and when she attacked it was like picking flowers or playing with butterflies, putting forth almost no effort at all.
But once she attacked, even Fourth Daddy Guo’s expression changed.
He knew she was formidable when he married her, but he still did not fully know the depths of her martial arts.
He never in a million years expected that his old lady could make use of such frightening martial arts.
It was the “Fluttering Petals and a Thousand Butterflies up the Sleeve”, a lost art for the past thirty years.
This martial art had been a secret art of House Murong that was not passed down, but a hundred years ago it had been lost. Not even the top masterhands of House Murong knew this consummate art.
And then thirty years ago a mysterious female assassin appeared in the jianghu. She was surprisingly expert in this art.
And so even House Murong was greatly shocked by this, and they searched everywhere to find this mysterious assassin.
Even so, it cost them dearly.
They did find the female assassin, but there was a clash resulting in House Murong losing six of its ten great masterhands, and two of them became crippled.
The female assassin was also wounded.
From then on, this frightening female assassin kept silent and lay low, never showing her face again in the jianghu.
Unexpectedly, this martial art was seen again through Li Changchang’s hands.
This really astonished Fourth Daddy Guo.
Did that mean that Li Changchang was the female assassin?
But taking stock, it didn’t seem so.
Thirty-five years ago, the female assassin had been over thirty already. If she were still alive she would be over sixty now.
Li Changchang was not that old.
Fourth Daddy Guo had a lot of suspicions.
Could it be that the female assassin passed the martial art down to Li Changchang?
Fourth Daddy Guo suddenly had a feeling.
Li Changchang surely was a tigress.
Luckily, since they married he had never quarreled with her, or else the consequences would be unbearable to imagine.
× × × Once “Fluttering Petals and a Thousand Butterflies up the Sleeve” was unleashed, Fourth Daddy Guo believed Pu Touying would be dead for sure.
He had married three people, and Li Changchang’s martial arts was the most frightening.
(3)
Li Changchang’s nickname was the “Heavenly Garb Assassin”.
People of the jianghu always thought that her most formidable martial art was her freakish “Seamless Heavenly Garb Covers Life” technique that used a robe to wrap up the enemy and could kill with ever-varying moves.
But only she knew that her “Heavenly Garb Covers Life” technique, though formidable, would actually be defeated without a doubt if used against a genuine top masterhand.
Because among those myriad variations, there were at least three flaws.
So, she was most confident in her “Fluttering Petals and a Thousand Butterflies up the Sleeve” martial art.
It looked ordinary, the moves looked soft and gentle, but within them were concealed countless dangerous, relentless killing blows.
Once the opponent misjudged it just slightly, these killing blows could send them to their death at once without them even being aware of it.
Li Changchang very rarely used this martial art.
Because over the years she had rarely encountered a for worthy of her using her “Fluttering Petals and a Thousand Butterflies up the Sleeve”.
But now, she didn’t hesitate but used the consummate martial art that astonished even her own husband.
Even if Pu Touying’s martial arts was better he would be hard pressed to fend it off.
Pu Touying must die.
And he certainly would die, no doubt.
× × × Just then, in the whirling snow, a silver ray of light cut across.
Whoosh!
No one could see what it was.
It shot out from within Pu Touying’s sleeve, flashed and was gone, returning to his sleeve swift as a spark.
Li Changchang’s expression changed, changed to resemble the snow in the sky, or the ice on the ground.
|
|
|
Post by Lone Crane on Jul 11, 2024 4:05:21 GMT
Chapter 6
The Heavenly Plum Twenty-Five Swordplay
(1)
Pu Touying’s gaze was like a falcon’s.
It was a gaze brimming with a murderous aura. It seemed able to kill anyone in the world.
Li Changchang was also brimming with a murderous aura, with aggressiveness.
But after that split second, her entire self collapsed.
She clutched her chest, clutched at it desperately.
She gasped for breath and asked, “Wha… What… kind of weapon was that?”
Pu Touying said coldly, “You’ve no need to ask, nor are you qualified to ask.”
Li Changchang’s throat loosed a sharp cry, “Amazing martial arts! An incredible weapon. Li Changchang accepts defeat wholeheartedly…”
Before she finished speaking, a large gout of blood seeped through her fingers and she fell to the ground.
Fourth Daddy Guo’s face was as pale white as snow.
“What… What martial arts have you perfected?”
Pu Touying said plainly, “A martial art for killing.”
“Great, great martial arts. We will meet again.” Fourth Daddy Guo was already beating a retreat.
“Alright, we will meet again.” Pu Touying laughed coldly. “You go on ahead and bide your time in the underworld and wait for me!”
Fourth Daddy Guo swiftly bellowed, “Pu, don’t you push me too far!”
As he bellowed, he unleashed twelve hidden weapons.
These weapons weren’t aimed at wounding his enemy, but were intended to manufacture an opportunity for him to get away cleanly.
This hidden weapon technique was aimed at a person’s fatal acupoints, and they were all dipped in a potent poison.
But Pu Touying was much more fast and agile than those hidden weapons.
Fourth Daddy Guo’s hidden weapons missed.
Another ray of silver light struck out from Pu Touying’s sleeve.
An amazingly fast ray of silver light!
Fourth Daddy Guo didn’t even see where it had come from, so of course he didn’t know how to block it.
He was unable to block it.
He just suddenly felt his whole body go turn ice-cold.
He finally fell as well, dying exactly the same as Li Changchang.
By that time, there was no one by the dried-up well.
Of the wives that Fourth Daddy Guo had brought with him, those who had died were dead, and the others had run off to who knows where.
Pu Touying’s face was like frost.
At that moment, no one could have been able to tell what he was thinking.
But if you had seen this person just then, you would definitely not take him to be an idiot.
(2)
Ice and snow as far as the eye can see, only the *ume* plums were in full bloom.
This was Heavenly Plum Valley.
The Heavenly Plum Valleylord, Divine Granny Zou Shuangbai, had always been an outstanding heroine among the martial world of the north.
Zou Shuangbai at twenty had inherited her father’s position to become the third generation valleylord of Heavenly Plum Valley.
She was the only daughter of Heavenly Plum Divine Lord Zou Hongwu, and she had already mastered all of her father’s martial arts teachings.
Now, she was over sixty.
For the past forty plus years, her fame in the martial world one could say had grown day by day.
Zou Shuangbai’s martial arts was of course beyond comprehension, and her five disciples and the Three Valley Guards, were also thorny characters of no small ability.
For over forty years, only the two forces of the Fire Flag Gang and the Chain of Rings Stronghold had ever barged into Heavenly Plum Valley.
But after the members of these gangs barged into Heavenly Plum Valley, they never came back out again.
× × × Zou Shuangbai loved plum blossoms.
The sword she used was the Plum Blossom Sword.
Right now, she was in the valley practicing her sword.
Sword training was her hobby. For decades now she had not missed a single day of practice.
She practiced the sword out in the open.
Anyone in Heavenly Plum Valley could watch her practice her sword.
She was not at all one to put on airs and feign a stately dignity.
Her disciples often “asked for advice” for a few moves with her when she practiced.
Of course, she was always the victor.
But she very much hoped that one day one of her students would be able to defeat her.
Of her five students, her favorite was only sixteen, but she had already grown into a slim and graceful figure, and she was remarkably bright.
She was Fourth Disciple, Fang Qiongxin.
Though Fang Qiongxin was young, her comprehension was strong, and she was an assiduous, easy learner, so on the martial arts side she was in no way inferior to her sectmates.
Now, the First Disciple Yu Yushan, Second Disciple Zhao Deng, Third Disciple Ta Peipei, and Fifth Disciple Tian Yunyu were all in the valley, watching their sectfather practice the sword.
The only one not present was Fang Qiongxin.
(3)
After her sword dance was complete, Zou Shuangbai suddenly asked Yu Yushan, “Where did Qiongxin go?”
Yu Yushan was the first disciple, now almost forty.
Originally he had been a scholar, but at nineteen he fell seriously ill. If not for Divine Granny’s saving his life, who knows where he would be now.
After he got better, Yu Yushan became Zou Shuangbai’s student.
Though he was pushing forty, he still had no thoughts of getting married and starting a family.
He told his sectfather that he didn’t want to get married or have children, he only wanted to become an outstanding swordsman.
Now, he was already a famous swordsman among the jianghu.
People of the jianghu called him the “Plum Valley Swordsman”.
× × × “Where did Qiongxin go?”
No one could answer, because no one knew where she had gone.
Zou Shuangbai was a bit worried.
“That silly girl doesn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth, if she’s left the valley, I fear she might cause trouble.”
Yu Yushan consoled his sectfather, “Fourth Sister won’t go out and cause trouble. Your disciple will go now and look for her and bring her back.”
“Do you want Ah Deng to go with you?”
Zhao Deng, off to the side, heard this and immediately said, “Of course he does, I want to go too and look for Fourth Sister.”
Zhao Deng was an honest person, five years younger than Yu Yushan. Though he wasn’t bad-looking, he was short and small, incongruous with his good-looking face.
Zou Shuangbai smiled. “That’s fine. Two people together will make it easier to find Fourth Sister.”
Yu Yushan said, “Then your disciple will go now to look for Fourth Sister!”
(4)
Fang Qiongxin was a vivacious girl.
She was not only vivacious, she also had a good heart.
When she wanted to be ruthless, her courage was enough to eat a tiger.
But normally, she would be loath to even step on an ant.
And so, two months ago she made a friend.
This friend was three times as old as her.
He was an old beggar.
× × × When Fang Qiongxin came across the old beggar, he was nearly starved to death.
Fang Qiongxin at once when and brought back a cooked goose.
After the old beggar ate the goose, he was in a bit better spirits.
But he still in a half-dead state.
Turns out he was ill.
It was a special illness that required him to eat a large amount of ginger every day in order to suppress it.
Fang Qiongxin went to get ginger for him.
Every day she would give him a lot of ginger.
During these two months, the old beggar lived in a little cave outside Heavenly Plum Valley.
One day, the old beggar couldn’t help but ask her, “Young miss, why are you treating this old beggar so well?”
Fang Qiongxin was taken aback.
“You feel I treat you well?”
“At the very least you don’t treat me badly.”
“Mm! I treat you well because you’re not a bad person.”
“How do you know I’m not a bad person?”
“A year ago I saw you in Datong prefecture.”
“is that so?”
“Of course you wouldn’t remember me, because that day I was just standing on the street corner, furtively watching you display your imposing might.”
The old beggar was stumped. “What imposing might?”
Fang Qiongxin said, “You really forgot?”
The old beggar laughed. “Were you watching me beat someone up?”
“Yes, you were beating up three local bullies. They ate without paying and were about to fight someone.”
“Those three bastards are known as the ‘Three Invincible Taisui.’”
“Invincible nothing! What a joke.” Fang Qiongxin pursed her lips in a smile. “At Senior’s hands they one by one became little puppies and kittens.”
The old beggar guffawed.
“I can’t remember that stuff, but you remembered it clearly.”
Fang Qiongxin smiled. “I’ve always believed the saying that ‘a good person will certainly be rewarded for it.’”
The old beggar nodded. “You’re right. What’s your name?”
“Fang Qiongxin.”
“That’s a good name.”
“And you?”
“You Sihai.”
“Senior You!”
“Don’t call me Senior, that doesn’t sound good.” You Sihai laughed. “This beggar is old but his mind isn’t.”
“If not Senior You, then what should I call you?”
“Big Brother You!” You Sihai said, “You don’t mind calling this beggar Big Brother, do you?”
“What kind of talk is that? Big Brother You.”
You Sihai was happy.
And so the old one and the young one became bosom buddies.
But You Sihai said to her, “Aside from you, don’t let anyone else know my name. You have to keep this a secret.”
Fang Qiongxin nodded. “I promise.”
You Sihai said, “You can’t even let your sectfather know.”
Fang Qiongxin said curiously, “Do you know who my sectfather is?”
You Sihai sighed. “Aside from Divine Granny, who else would have such an outstanding disciple?”
Fang Qiongxin smiled. “Big Brother You is exaggerating, but I promise.”
× × × And just like that, the old one and young one often met up, and every time, Fang Qiongxin gave him a large amount of ginger.
Up to today, when Fang Qiongxin went to the little cave to suddenly find You Sihai with a deathly pale face and his breathing weak as gossamer strands.
“Big Brother You, what’s wrong?” She was shocked. “Ah? Do you need ginger? Today I brought you ten catties…”
“It’s no use…” You Sihai was dejected. “I can’t hold out any longer…”
Fang Qiongxin shook her head emphatically.
“No! Big Brother You, just hang in there, no matter what, you absolutely cannot die.”
“What person doesn’t die? Big Brother You’s age is not slight, even if I die now it won’t have been a short life. It’s just that… ah…”
“Big Brother You, whatever it is, just say it, don’t hold it in your heart…”
“I won’t to you, I did something wrong once, something very very wrong.”
“Say it! No matter what you did wrong, I will forgive you.”
“Have you ever heard of the jianghu organization called the ‘Wood Demon Alliance?’”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who the Wood Demon Alliance Head is?”
“I heard his surname is Yu, Yu Dagong.”
“No! Yu Dagong is not the alliance head, he’s just the vice-alliance head.
“Then who is the alliance head?”
“His surname—“ You Sihai suddenly couldn’t continue.
Inside the little cave a brilliant awn of light suddenly flashed.
The awn of light was silver, just like the boundless, endless Silver River in the sky.
Silver light flashed and You Sihai could only widen his eyes, within them a look of despair, anger, and shock.
Fang Qiongxin’s expression was the same.
Because Big Brother You, who had just been talking to her, was suddenly dead.
She spun around and glared at a person with a look of grief and indignation and brimming with a murderous aura.
It was a man.
A woodenly expressionless man dressed in black.
“Who are you? Why did you kill him?” Her voice was shrill and hurried, her right hand on the soft-silk wrapped hilt of her sword.
The man looked at her. His voice was cold, calm, unfeeling. “I’m his killer star hastening him to his death. From his birth he was doomed to die at my hands, so you needn’t feel sad and needn’t be angry, because this is Heaven’s plan, a fate that no person could change.”
Everything he said seemed to make a lot of sense, but also seemed a load of nonsense.
He didn’t answer Fang Qiongxin’s question at all.
Who was he?
Why did he want to kill You Sihai?
“You’re eliminating a witness! You’re definitely a member of the Wood Demon Alliance!” Fang Qiongxin was by no means stupid.
At least, she had thought of a very good reason.
The man in black said coldly, “You’re still young and don’t understand much yet, so today I won’t kill you, but don’t get smug. If you so much as act even a little bit recklessly, one raise of my hand can finish you.”
Fang Qiongxin didn’t shrink back.
She wasn’t afraid to die.
Sching, and three-span of blue blade was out of the scabbard.
The sword edge’s cold aura was pressing. She had always had faith in her sword.
The corners of the man in black’s eyes twitched.
Whoosh!
Her shoulders moved slightly, left foot stepped forward, and the tip of her sword in the blink of an eye was at the man in black’s throat.
This was no ordinary sword stroke, its name was “Plum Branch Touches Water”.
It was the twelfth stroke of the twelfth move of the “Heavenly Plum Twenty-Five Swordplay”.
It was a killing move, a very amazing killing move.
|
|