Volume 2 | After One Stepped Down, Another Would Step Up
By the time Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing had hurried back, Gu Xiang and the others were no longer there. All that was left was a mess of corpses across the floor, which people from the Gao Family Manor were cleaning up. Surrounding them was a big ring of curious onlookers. Wen Kexing was still very unused to having something covering his face, constantly expecting the mask as thin as a cicada’s wing to drop at any moment. Then he witnessed Zhou Zishu, who had people hunting him down just moments earlier, swagger over as if he was not involved in the situation at all…as if he was not Zhou Zishu.
For the first time, Wen Kexing realised that it was possible for a person to be this outrageously brazen while harbouring a guilty conscience; indeed, Zhou Zishu’s face had become thicker after sticking another layer over it. Wen Kexing followed after him, clicking his tongue in amazement. A few people were examining the corpses on the floor. Mo Huaikong from the Qingfeng Sword Sect was amongst them, his expression grim, having obviously recognised Cao Weining’s work. Wen Kexing sized him up for a moment, then went close to Zhou Zishu to murmur by his ear, “Look at the expression of that old fart surnamed Mo, Cao Weining can’t have eloped with Gu Xiang, can he?”
Zhou Zishu said, “You’re too dirty-minded.”
He gazed at the corpses on the floor, his brows knitting, and had a slight premonition of doom. What kind of people were the suicide warriors of the Poisonous Scorpions? Could those two unreliable ones handle the situation, while bringing a half-grown child along with them? Were they dead or alive now? And where had they run to?
Wen Kexing thought about it, and said, “Now that whatever it is about the Lapis Armour and Poisonous Scorpions has incited a storm to brew within the city, if it were Gu Xiang, that silly lass, she should be running to somewhere isolated.”
Zhou Zishu glanced at him and speedily retreated out of the crowd, saying. “What are you waiting for, then? Find her.”
The two of them vanished as quickly as they had come, unnoticed by most. Wen Kexing reassured him, “There’s no harm, that lass Gu Xiang isn’t as useless as you think. Additionally, there’s still Cao Weining.”
Zhou Zishu glanced at him, frowning, and asked suddenly, “Why is Valley Master Wen so concerned about whether that little tyke lives or dies?”
Wen Kexing smiled, but once his mouth curved, he felt the mask on his face wrinkle a little and threaten to fall off. By hastily reaching up to press it in place, he started to appear strange to the onlooker. In reply, he asked, “Why, then, is Lord Zhou so concerned about whether that little tyke lives or dies?”
Zhou Zishu said, “He is my disciple.”
Wen Kexing continued, “Your disciple is my disciple, between the two of us, who’s following who?”
Zhou Zishu said, “…Between the two of us, you’re following me—cut the nonsense out, are you aiming to gain some information from that little tyke?”
“Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you.” Wen Kexing leered at him. Unfortunately, the human skin mask on his face was too unseemly to be human; what he thought to be a flirtatious, charismatic gaze he was shooting at Zhou Zishu was truly bone-chilling.
Zhou Zishu snapped his head around silently, repulsed. Feeling that he brought this upon himself, he asked, “Are you not afraid that you’ll grow sores?”
Wen Kexing replied shamelessly, “I’ll be completely satisfied even if they become infected.”
Zhou Zishu ignored him once again, pondered for a moment, then said, direct, “Looking at the origins of Rong Xuan and the Ghost Valley, the place where the five major clans retrieved the Lapis Armour from should be within the Ghost Valley. With news of the Lapis Armour leaking this time round, no jianghu person would miss out on clamouring for this opportunity. Don’t tell me that some Ghost was mortally tempted, and left the Valley of his own accord? Don’t tell me that he coincidentally has something to do with the extermination of the Zhang family…don’t tell me that you feel the same way as the Delighted Mourning Ghost, that Zhang Chengling ‘coincidentally managed’ to see that audacious Ghost?”
Wen Kexing paused, then asked, “You tell me, then; if he doesn’t know, who else can I ask?”
Zhou Zishu turned back abruptly to look at him, asking, “Unless there are some other grave going-ons in the background that have even startled the Master of the Ghost Valley, who lives deep in obscurity and rarely ventures out?”
Wen Kexing did not say anything. He merely extended a finger, a cheeky smile on his face, and pointed at his own lips, looking at Zhou Zishu very expectantly.
Zhou Zishu pretended that he had not seen anything, contemplated for a while, and asked, “If you do find this person, what will you do?”
Lightly, with a hint of a smile, Wen Kexing said, “Flay him, strip his tendons from him, and subject him to a million cuts.” Seeing Zhou Zishu look at him with a complicated expression, Wen Kexing laughed again, and said in a manner that made one’s fists itch to punch him, “—I’m just saying it to scare you.”
Zhou Zishu chuckled drily. “Aiyo, I’m really terrified.”
This slippery old fox, Wen Kexing thought.
This bluffing bastard, Zhou Zishu thought.
The two of them shot each other a twisted smile that did not reflect their true feelings at all, and then continued to hurry on their way to collect those three while they were still breathing.
At first, Gu Xiang did not run towards anywhere isolated as Wen Kexing had predicted; after all, it was easier to murder someone where there were few people. The group of three haphazardly wiped at the blood on themselves and ran towards the bustling market, but, clustered together, they made too obvious a target. Before thirty minutes were even up, Gu Xiang regretted this decision.
They were stopped by a few people: the leader was Feng Xiaofeng and the Gaoshan slave, while following behind them was an old man and old lady. One leaned on a walking stick in their left hand, the other on one in their right; the old man was dressed in spring onion green, the old lady in peach red. The old man was draped in gold and silver, with about ten pounds of golden accessories on him. The old lady caked herself in makeup, her face shining like a monkey’s bottom.
Cao Weining’s palms started to sweat—this old couple was trickier to shake off than Feng Xiaofeng. They were none other than the legendary “Peach Red Grandma” and “Green Willow Grandpa”, an old but crooked couple—even though they were getting on in age, they could do the most unscrupulous things without shame.
Feng Xiaofeng screeched with laughter. “Zhang Chengling, you are, after all, still a descendant of an orthodox sect. All the heroes of the world are coming up with a plan to make sure justice is served to your Zhang family, but here you are, running away with unorthodox villains of unknown origins. Are you trying to revive your dead father by infuriating him?”
Zhang Chengling’s expression changed immediately. He was not adept at debating with people and had always been awkward with his words, so he simply shouted, “You…you’re talking nonsense, my shifu and Senior Wen are good people!”
The Poisonous Scorpion’s hook had opened a still-bleeding gash on the side of Gu Xiang’s waist. Even though she had taken the antidote, the pain made her gush buckets of cold sweat. She had run out of patience a long time ago, and spat, “Why are you still talking bullshit? Feng Xiaofeng, make way for this madam, don’t think I can’t cut you down just because you’re short!”
Feng Xiaofeng screeched, “Where did this damned insolent lass come from!”
Brandishing a machete from behind his back, he pounced towards Gu Xiang. Cao Weining scrambled to unsheathe his long sword to block his blade, still trying to talk reason into him, saying, “Senior, A-Xiang is of a younger generation. If word gets out that you take what she says to heart, won’t that be detrimental to your mighty reputation?”
Feng Xiaofeng had focused all his attention on Zhang Chengling at first, and only noticed Cao Weining now. Momentarily taken aback, he asked curiously, “How did you, a little kid from the Qingfeng Sword Sect get mixed up with them?”
Cao Weining smiled ruefully. “Senior, I think there’s been some misunderstanding…”
Feng Xiaofeng hmphed and lifted his machete in hand, only for Peach Red Grandma behind him to interrupt, “Since things are so, Lao Feng, you should hold your horses—little Qingfeng Sword Sect kid, you found this little tyke and brought him back, this is very good, and is considered a good deed. This old granny thinks that you have a bright future ahead of you.”
Cao Weining had to raise his guard without alerting them at the same time as he was preventing Gu Xiang from making the situation worse. The cold sweat on his forehead nearly dripped down. He could only say, “Yes, many thanks to Senior…”
Peach Red Grandma waved her hand haughtily, and ordered with an arrogant tone, “Zhang Chengling, come with us.”
Hearing this, Zhang Chengling immediately retreated two steps, staring at her with wide, wary eyes. Cao Weining shifted half a step to the side to hide Zhang Chengling from their view, and prodded at their intentions by asking, “Is Senior helping Hero Zhao or Hero Gao to find Chengling? It’s better if we clear this up.”
Peach Red Grandma chuckled coldly, and interrogated him, her gaze fierce, “Kid, what reason do you have that makes you qualified to ask us that?”
Cao Weining blocked Zhang Chengling from view, retreating two steps, but still said with caution, “May these seniors forgive me, this one of a younger generation is simply helping someone else to take care of him, and doesn’t dare to hand this little brother to others so carelessly. Even if I have to hand him over, Hero Gao or Hero Zhao must be there…”
Green Willow Grandpa thumped the ground once with his walking cane, and hmphed coldly. “Do you think of yourself as someone great? This person, today, you will have to leave him behind; even if you don’t want to, you still will!”
He had barely finished speaking before he and Peach Red Grandma attacked at the same time. Waving his huge walking stick, he swung it downwards towards Cao Weining.
Cao Weining did not dare to leave it to chance, retreating a step but defiantly maintained his defensive position. Whipping his head around, he shouted at Gu Xiang, “Take him away first, hurry!”
Gu Xiang’s mind whirled quickly. She knew that Cao Weining was still of the Qingfeng Sword Sect; regardless of the situation, these old freaks were still apprehensive of Mo Huaikong and Mo Huaiyang, and still had to show some mercy. Since they would not take his life, Gu Xiang did not hesitate, and said, “Take care.”
She picked Zhang Chengling up and ran in the other direction.
How would Feng Xiaofeng be willing to let them go? He chased after them. Gu Xiang’s gaze hardened. Her hands abruptly retracted back into her sleeves, and she shoved Zhang Chengling aside, dodged Feng Xiaofeng, and borrowed the momentum of the shove to leap at the Gaoshan slave. The meteor hammer of the Gaoshan Slave hurtled at her; Gu Xiang ducked away nimbly, jerked her hand up, and flung a handful of white powder. Unable to dodge in time, the Gaoshan slave was hit straight in the face. He started to howl in agony, unable to open his red and swollen eyes. He rubbed at them with his hands, but blood seeped out of them. Gu Xiang was vicious in her execution, incapacitating his eyes with a devious trick that no one had predicted.
Feng Xiaofeng spun around to face the Gaoshan slave, aghast as he asked, “A-Shan, what…what happened to you?”
Scratching vigorously at his own eyes, the Gaoshan slave only howled mournfully like a wild beast. Feng Xiaofeng sprung at him and hugged his arm, the two of them rolling around on the ground; only with immense effort, did he manage to seal the Gaoshan slave’s acupuncture points. Feng Xiaofeng took one look at his eyes, and felt greatly agonised at the sight of that frightening state. He roared, “Don’t you dare leave, you little slut!”
But where was there still trace of Gu Xiang and Zhang Chengling?
Gu Xiang had determined that crowded spaces were a no-go and ran towards the deserted outskirts with Zhang Chengling. She was burning with anxiety: one moment, her mind kept lingering on how her master and Zhou Xu were both unpredictable, could at least one out of the two find them? and another moment she was worrying that, since she was forced to use that move earlier, would Feng Xiaofeng take his fury out on Cao Weining? Had she doomed that silly boy to die?
But she did not have much time to worry about Cao Weining, because the third batch of Poisonous Scorpion suicide warriors were lying in wait in the woods they had to pass on the way to the outskirts.
Gu Xiang bemoaned the situation internally: she was injured and did not know how long she could hold out for, but there was not one person around whom she could turn to for help. She stuffed a dagger in Zhang Chengling’s hands, and shoved him outwards with all her might, shouting, “Run!” Then she rose as nimbly as a sparrow, and braced herself to meet the suicide warriors head-on.
In his panic, Zhang Chengling did not think of where to run, and simply scrambled towards the woods. While running, his tears started to fall as he started to dwell on how useless he was, and how he always burdened others. First it was his shifu, then it was Cao-dage and Gu Xiang-jiejie… But reality did not give him the time to reminisce and regret; a few sharp whistles sounded by his ear, and three to four men in black popped into existence from different directions, blocking his path. Zhang Chengling stood there with a short dagger Gu Xiang had given him in hand, holding it like a child holding a toy.
The hooks in the hands of those black-clothed men glinted with a cold light. In the instant they closed in, Zhang Chengling’s ferocity was suddenly provoked. He thought, why do you want me to die? What bad things have I done? Why can other people live, but not me?!
A man in black accelerated, and the hook swept towards his chest like a giant scorpion. Zhang Chengling put his left foot forward, and somehow, he thought of the words Wen Kexing had said to him that night—as a mighty eagle ensnares a rabbit, as a bow drawn without regrets, weaken at the peak, but surge when suppressed—he suddenly whirled and jumped up, stepping on a tree trunk to borrow momentum for a great leap, and pounced with his whole body towards that cold light. In that instant, his mind was completely empty, save for four words: Fight to the death.
The short sword clashed with the scorpion’s hook, the clang of metal jarring to the ear. Wen Kexing’s voice rang by his ear once more: When permutations are superficial, the aura of your blade should be breezy, floating unsteadily; when boundless metamorphosis occurs, all possible variations are embodied within one. His blade was halted by the hook; putting all his might on the hand restrained by the hook, Zhang Chengling twisted and sent his hand forwards, forcefully driving the short sword into the black-clothed chest.
That Poisonous Scorpion died even before he could make a noise of pain. Zhang Chengling found it a little hard to believe; in an instant, joy, fear, aimlessness, and many other emotions surged in his heart, but even before he could savour them, another Poisonous Scorpion had appeared in front of him. Zhang Chengling raised a hand to block the strike, but discovered in horror that black was starting to creep from where his palm had been nicked by the hook. Right after, his whole body weakened, and he wobbled. Unable to stand any longer, he collapsed to his knees.
Zhang Chengling closed his eyes in despair, thinking—was he going to die?
But that fatal blow did not land. Zhang Chengling waited for a long while, before he snuck a peek over, only to see an arrow planted in the centre of that Poisonous Scorpion’s chest. Wide eyes nearly bursting out of his skull, the person toppled with a crash, and a man’s voice rang from behind him, saying, “Murdering and committing arson in broad daylight, why do I not remember that the folk culture of Dongting has deteriorated thusly?”
The author has something to say:
Guess who’s arrived? Hehehe~
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Fragrant Incense 8 