บท 5: The Intersection
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
Gu Shenwei stood up abruptly. Without really thinking, he wanted to go out and fight his enemies to the death, but his reasoning stopped him. No matter what the background of those killers was, even his father Gu Lun, Master Shifu Yang Zheng, and his two elder brothers were unable to hit back, so he could not withstand a single blow. Even his very survival to this point was a miracle.
New whistles came from all directions; some were long while others short, and some stopped only to find others start. They were like a flock of noisy predators, vying for food and they soon entered the ruins of the manor. With their noisy hoofbeats, it seemed like thousands of people were rushing in.
Just as Gu Shenwei lowered his body and hid behind a broken wall, a torch was thrown up into the air, flying over his head.
Before Gu Shenwei had any idea about what just happened, a big hand grabbed his neck from behind. Gu Shenwei's feet left the ground against his will after the person that grabbed him jumped on his horse.
Before the horse's hoof touched the ground, Gu Shenwei was suddenly released by the big hand and fell to the ground heavily. He cried out in pain and did not even get a chance to stand up before he rolled on the ground for a moment. He found himself surrounded by machetemen on horses. They looked like hungry wolves under the light of the torches, all of them greedily staring at their prey.
Life is like that. There is always rain after an earthquake, and strong winds follow the rain. Bad luck is like an attacked animal, whose dripping blood will always attract more predators, then scavengers, night walkers, flies, and tinier creatures, until their flesh and bones disappeared completely.
The destruction of the Gu family was like a deadly wound. The first batch of killers had finished their tasks and escaped unscathed. After that, a group of wolves and ravens followed.
They were dirty bandits and thieves, and their number was fewer than what Gu Shenwei had initially thought. In actuality, there were only five people, but the whistles, hooves, and torches seemingly magnified their numbers.
Gu Shenwei did not know the identities of these people, and he just took them as enemies. He was cornered like a young beast with a low roar in its throat, showing its claws which were not sharp.
A whip came in through the darkness, bringing Gu Shenwei to the ground again. All of these bandits laughed excitedly and one of them leaned over to grab the young man. He put the young man on the back of his horse and searched him without ceremony. Finding a small bag of silver in the young man's arms, the bandit raised it and shouted, "Hey, this kid is from the same trade. He took it before us!"
Understanding the identities of these people, Gu Shenwei suddenly flew into a rage. "Let me go!" he shouted, struggling to grab the parcel.
The bandit laughed louder. Not taking the young man seriously, he put the silver into his arms. He slapped the boy heavily on the back and pulled out the little oilskin packet.
Gu Shenwei's back hurt like hell. It felt as if it was broken. But what scared him more was the secret manuscript of Internal Strength that had been taken. It was the most precious relic of his family, even more important than his own life.
Blowing a whistle, the bandit tore off the oilskin from the packet. He was surprised to find that there was only a thin book inside. After turning a few pages, he did not know any of the words in the book.
"What the hell is this?" The bandit was furious.
"Give it back to me!" Gu Shenwei rose up angrily.
The bandit punched Gu Shenwei in the face, almost knocking him out. The bandit dropped the book and took out some rope to tie him up, and then jumped down and followed the others into the ruins to look for valuables.
Since Gu Shenwei's hands and feet were tied, he could only wriggle like a worm. After struggling desperately for a few seconds, he fell down from the horse to the ground, and then he tried to crawl toward the book.
As he was about to get to the book, a strong wind blew over the ground. The flame of a nearby torch that had been thrown away by a robber was blowing like a snake's tongue. When the flame touched the pages of the book, it instantly caught fire.
It was painful to see his book burning. What he regretted most was that he did not build a solid foundation of his family's Kung Fu. Now, he could not even fight an ordinary bandit.
He rolled over on top of the book to put out the fire, and then hurried to get off the torch beside him. Carrying the book in his mouth, he got further away from the fire. Finally, the family's secret manuscript was saved, but only parts of it because the first few pages were almost burned out.
He looked at the book with pity and was surprised at the words in the book. He knew every word in it, but it was an account book, nothing related to Internal Strength!
The book, which was so difficult to find and save from being lost, was not the shortcut manual of "Yin and Yang Strength". Gu Shenwei was very disappointed because the secret manuscript was extremely important to his simple plan of revenge. And due to his weak Kung Fu foundation, it would take him at least 30 years to be able to avenge his family without the secret manuscript.
The shortcut manual to mastering "Yin and Yang Strength" had a lot of side-effects, so former masters of the Gu family used to hide it carefully, and no descendants were allowed to read it. It was said that an ancestor had practiced "Yin and Yang Strength" according to the secret manuscript, which made his Internal Strength more powerful and his strength double. With Gu family's skills with the sword and spear, he became very famous at the time, but three years later, he suddenly died mysteriously in a very terrible way.
Gu Shenwei just wanted to avenge his family, so he did not care about the effects after three years. But now, he even had lost all hope in fighting his enemies to the death.
Those bandits thoroughly plundered the ruins. Within half an hour, they all went back to the courtyard, carrying several packets and blowing their whistles as they were preparing to leave.
Gu Shenwei's captor came back as well and put two packets on the horse's back. His plunder was not as good as the others, so he was not in a good mood. He went over to the boy and gave him a good kick.
Gu Shenwei curled up in pain. The bandit grabbed him by the ropes on his body and tried to carry him back onto his horse.
Suddenly, Gu Shenwei realized something. The oilskin-wrapped book was thrown into sight, revealing a corner of a white handkerchief. Before it was picked up, he bit at a corner of the white handkerchief. He had taken the entire white handkerchief in his mouth while he was lying on the horse's back.
After mounting their horses, the bandits left the manor and went downhill.
There was another bandit near the village at the foot of the hill, guarding a dozen captives and more than 30 cattle and sheep. The captives' arms were tightly tied together. Gu Shenwei was also thrown onto the ground and tied to the back of one of the other captives.
The six bandits drove the captives and the animals to the east. Gu Shenwei struggled to follow them, having no time to spit out the white handkerchief.
When the sun was rising, these bandits stopped at a T-junction. Gu Shenwei thought it was not too far from his home. He rarely left the manor, so he had no impression of how far this road was.
They went through a narrow dirt road running north to south through a mountain. They took a main road that went east to west after negotiating the winding road for a few miles, seeing hundreds of people gathering at the intersection.
Most people were dressed in scruffy leather coats. Shining in the morning sun, their coats were so oily that they seemed to have never been washed. Everyone was armed and had fierce eyes, they just looked like a herd of animals being forced to gather in a heap.
There were distinct factions among the bandits. They were divided into several groups, keeping a vigilant eye on each other. Their hands were always placed near their weapons, ready to fight each other at any moment.
What was really weird was that these fierce bandits all squeezed in the western part of the intersection, but none of them went over to the empty area on the opposite side, as if there was a ghost hidden there.
What was even weirder was that all the bandits were looking at the northern mountain pass, as if they were waiting for someone.
Four hours before, Gu Shenwei thought he had the "Will of the Divine". Unexpectedly, he became a captive of these bandits, mixed up with a bunch of dirty and panicked men and women.
Among all the captives, Gu Shenwei was the dirtiest. With sweat, dust, and bone-ashes covering his whole body, he just looked like a clay sculpture.
As these bandits were not paying attention to him, Gu Shenwei spat the white handkerchief out of his mouth. No daring to check it, he slipped it into his pocket secretly. Knowing that he had already been searched once, he hoped he would not be searched again.
The person the bandits were waiting for had not turned up, so they started to become restless and began to curse. They were not used to being so close to their peers. Two groups of them had fought with each other, and several of them were injured. But fortunately, none of them were killed.
Gu Shenwei still did not know why he was taken. There were so many bandits gathered near the Gu family's manor. It was said that such bandits had been wiped out a few years ago. He looked up at the bandit who caught him and tried to get some clue from him.
This bandit, like all the others, was dressed in a leather coat even on this hot summer day. He was strongly built, with a thick beard on his dirty face, and a scar on his left cheek.
The scarred bandit felt the glare from below. He looked down at the young captive with a relentless gaze and said, "What don't you run?"
Gu Shenwei was not that stupid. He stood in the midst of all these bandits, surrounded by the endless Gobi Desert. To escape meant certain death. In addition, his hands were tied to a group of captives.
"You've got the money, why not let me go?"
Gu Shenwei's tone was tough, but he knew that he was just money in the eyes of a bandit, the same as all the other men, women, and animals.
The scarred bandit spat on the ground, and his thick saliva just brushed across Gu Shenwei's scalp. He refused to answer the question.
An old bandit looked at the gang of thieves and their captives with a gloomy face. Suddenly, he said, "Not enough plunder, Eagle."
The scarred bandit called "Eagle" spat again and said, "The tiger has left no food behind."
Gu Shenwei was shocked, thinking that this "tiger" must be the people who killed off his entire family. These bandits obviously knew all the details of the killing. He had been thinking that it would be hard to find these killers, who might hide their whereabouts after taking out the Gu family.
The old bandit glanced at him once more and maybe saw something special in Gu Shenwei's eyes. He said nothing more and turned his head to continue looking across the mountain pass to the north.
Gu Shenwei waited for a long time but no one mentioned the topic of "tiger" again, so he had to ask, "Is the tiger that you are following a big one?"
The bandit named Eagle closed his lips, as if he had not heard him. After a while, he said coldly, "Nonsense, is there any tiger bigger than Supreme King?"
Supreme King.
There was no one in the Western Region who did not know about Supreme King.
Suddenly, he became very depressed because the power of his enemy was way beyond his expectations.
บท 6: The Swordsman
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
Gu Shenwei had heard a lot about Golden Roc Fort and the Supreme King two years ago when they had just arrived at the frontier from the Central Plains. At that time, he yearned to meet this famous killer organization and see the Supreme King face to face, so much so that his longing became a target for mockery from his second elder brother.
In the Western Region, the Gu family never had any involvement with Golden Roc Fort, and Gu Shenwei soon forgot the gang and its king. However, Gu Shenwei never could have expected that the gang's reappearance would lead to the extermination of the entire Gu family.
As it turned out, the "butcher" his father had so frequently discussed with his brothers after the masked men broke in was actually the "Supreme" (for these two words sound alike in Chinese). Gu Lun had already known of the ill-intentions that Golden Roc Fort had against his manor, therefore, he purposely "chased away" his daughter and youngest son.
"Golden Roc Fort wanted to exterminate the Gu family, but why?"
Gu Shenwei thought it over and over, but he still could not understand. In the past two years, his family had barely made contact with any outsiders in the Western Region, so how could it offend the Western Region's "King of the Killers"?
With the clip-clop of hoofbeats approaching, a brown galloping horse came from the northern mountain pass. A knight in a gray cape sat on the back of the horse. The bandits were happy at first, but soon their happiness was replaced by disappointment. This was not the man they were waiting for. Someone would have surely gone forward and held up this knight for extortion if there was not a ban on crossing the boundaries.
Seeing a bunch of people with fierce countenances gathering at the roadside, the gray-caped knight was neither surprised nor alarmed. He merely hastened the horse to go keep its pace.
"Whoosh!" Someone hurled a throwing knife in the direction of the knight. People could not cross the boundary, but weapons could.
The knight's gray cape floated like a wisp of cloud skimming through the air. He lifted his right arm and caught the throwing knife with his hand. Then he put it inside his leather bag and said, "Received."
As the cape hovered in the air, a long sword was exposed, hanging on one side of the horse.
"A swordsman from the Great Snowmountain!"
Someone in the crowd shouted. Nearly 100 bandits backed up on their horses as if a spell had suddenly pushed them simultaneously. The hurler of the throwing knife did not dare to say a word. The captives on the ground, only some of whom understood the situation, were all infected by the same fear and moved back together.
Gu Shenwei was standing in the back and was almost knocked down by people backing up in front of him, but he still able to peer over on his tiptoes. He had never heard of the "swordsman from the Great Snowmountain", so he had no idea what they were afraid of.
In front of him, there were two teenagers about his age. They lowered their heads and hid behind the adults. Clearly, they knew the terror of the "the Great Snowmountain" as well as the bandits.
A faint smile appeared on the knight's face, which was glowing in the wind, snow, and sunshine. He squinted his eyes habitually, as if he was always looking for something.
"People of the Eagle Gang, step forward."
His voice was measured and he said no harsh words, but he had an irresistible force. Gu Shenwei saw that the face of the scarred bandit, "Eagle", was turning green.
The Eagle Gang was a very small gang with only six people; it was hard to even call them a "gang". Nevertheless, as their leader, Eagle could not back off or act cowardly.
"I'm Eagle. This is Gloden Roc Fort's territory, how dare you say that?"
The gray-caped knight looked back at the wilderness and said, "Still one step away. And did you ever see a man from the Great Snowmountain who was afraid of the 'Butcher'?"
Gu Shenwei was pleased to see that the "Supreme King" also had enemies. He had always thought that Golden Roc Fort had no rival in the Western Region. In this case, Gu Shenwei's hope for revenge seemed much greater. He felt that he should join the Great Snowmountain.
Eagle's face turned even greener and his men gripped their hilts nervously. The east side of the road was the territory of Golden Roc Fort. As bandits, none of them could stride over the boundary, otherwise, they would lose protection.
Eagle clenched his teeth and shouted, "Brothers, why are the 81 gangs of Tianshan so disunited? Shall we remain in silence even in the face of a bully? Will we allow him to humiliate us?"
The other bandits looked at each other without saying a word. As small gangs just scraping out a living, this was the first time they had heard of the "81 gangs of Tianshan". They did not share a bitter hatred of the enemy, nor did they find it necessary to play good Samaritan.
The knight from the Great Snowmountain sneered. "The '81 gangs of Tianshan', what a big name. I'm so scared, but I'm only looking for the 'Eagle Gang' and no one else."
This sentence reassured the other bandits. No one stepped forward. Instead, they all moved further back to distance themselves from the "Eagle Gang".
Eagle knew that he faced an impasse. However, he was a battle-scarred bandit who had experienced the "Golden Age" of thieves and bandits from 10 years ago. Therefore, stubborn ruthlessness was imprinted in his bones. He had to bite the bullet because begging was useless.
Eagle spat, and that was the last dirty thing to come out of his mouth.
He jumped off the horse and drew his sword, and his men did the same. The six of them were lined up, and their shining scimitars made a sharp contrast to their dirty clothes.
The knight from the Great Snowmountain smiled satisfactorily. He took off his cape and placed it on the saddle. Then he jumped off his horse as well and drew the long and mighty sword from the side of the horse.
The body of the sword was almost as wide as an adult's palm. The knight leaned the sword against the ground, and the hilt reached his chest. Obvious cracks and flaws could be seen on the edge as if its owner had used it to chop wood.
"My name is Long Feidu."
"Your name is none of our business, you are from the Great Snowmountain anyway. So either you kill us or we kill you." Eagle led his five men to step forward slowly to form an arc surrounding Long Feidu.
"I should let you know who is going to kill you."
Long Feidu held the sword with two hands, with the tip still against the ground.
The six members of the "Eagle Gang" slowly approached Long Feidu. They did not have a habit of telling the victim their names before killing. The bandits were more inclined to the principle of Golden Roc Fort: Kill the target, regardless of the means.
However, Gu Shenwei had a very good impression of Long Feidu. He tried to stand on his tiptoes to see further, but the two teenagers in front of him seemed to be cowering and always hid behind the adults. Being tied up with the same rope, Gu Shenwei could not stand up straight, therefore, he could not see what was going on.
Someone shouted, and nobody could tell who made the sound. Weapons collided, and soon all the sounds faded into silence. The scene had not sounded at all fierce or intense, but like a blacksmith idly knocking on ironware.
Still, the surrounding bandits and captives all cried out in panic.
Gu Shenwei summoned all his strength and jumped up to look over the heads of the bandits in front of him. He saw that Long Feidu was raising the long sword while five out of the six men from the "Eagle Gang" were falling to the ground. Only their "leader", Eagle, stood there blankly, with his scimitar thrown on the ground. He lifted his left arm in front of his face ridiculously, as if he was going to stop the sword with his flesh.
Although it was only a glimpse, this scene was deeply imprinted in Gu Shenwei's mind. He would not be able to forget it after many years. What impressed him the most was not Long Feidu, who held the sword like a god, but the trembling Eagle, who had lost all consciousness of defense.
At that moment, an idea formed in his mind. "It's so easy to kill someone." Those twists and turns or other skills had not appeared at all, and the fist techniques and bladesmanship he earnestly learned seemed so juvenile and unpractical now.
Gu Shenwei only caught a glimpse before he was dragged down by the two teenagers in front of him. The nearest teenager glared at him, signaling to him not to make any dumb moves.
The muffled sounds made by a sharp sword cutting a blunt object and a body falling down were pretty clear to Gu Shenwei this time.
"I'm Long Feidu from Tanduo Peak of the Great Snowmountain. If anyone wants revenge, they can come for it now or later."
No one wished to avenge the "Eagle Gang". The bandits only pondered that they would never, ever provoke this man. Eagle must have been crazy to become his enemy.
There was a turmoil among the captives in the front. Through the gaps, Gu Shenwei saw that Long Feidu was walking toward them, with the long sword dripping blood onto the ground.
"Will this man kill the captives too?" Gu Shenwei was not as scared as the other captives, instead, he was a little excited. He wanted to tell Long Feidu his story and deep hatred, and he even wanted Long Feidu as his master so that he could seek help from the Great Snowmountain.
He never expected that his wish would be so hard to achieve. He believed that the appearance of the knight from the Great Snowmountain to be part of the "Will of the Divine".
However, the two teenagers in front of him were stooping down so much that they almost dragged down the people behind and in front of them. Gu Shenwei looked at their shaking bodies with surprise. Suddenly, he understood that Long Feidu was coming for the two teenagers, which was clear because they were more panicked than the others.
In Gu Shenwei's eyes, Long Feidu was like a legendary hero who curbed the violent and assisted the weak, so he was quite confused why these two teenagers were acting so scared.
Long Feidu came slowly. Wherever he looked, the surrounding people would bend down immediately. He stopped at the end of the line.
Beyond Gu Shenwei's expectation, the two teenagers showed no fear at this moment and drew themselves up, making them even taller than the adults in front of them. They stared at the sword-bearing knight.
Long Feidu narrowed his eyes into slits, but his facial expression was unchanged. He raised the long sword with both hands.
From such a short distance, the long sword looked especially wide and heavy. It did not even need an edge because it could easily kill anyone with its weight alone.
If he wielded the sword, perhaps a dozen heads would touch the ground. The captives were frightened and stayed motionless, like the dead Eagle. They entrusted God with their lives.
However, Gu Shenwei was not scared at all. He stepped forward and looked at Long Feidu sincerely.
"You came from the Great Snowmountain, so you must be a real swordsman."
Gu Shenwei had never heard of the Great Snowmountain, but it did not affect his judgment of Long Feidu.
"No, I'm just a swordsman."
"Even a swordsman shouldn't kill innocent people willfully. Only... Golden Roc Fort does that."
Long Feidu's eyes suddenly lit up, he seemed to be moved by Gu Shenwei's words. However, that weather-beaten face soon turned as cold as a snow mountain once more. He held his breath and gripped his sword even tighter.
Gu Shenwei was terrified and his heart seemed to stop beating. He was going to die together with these two unknown teenagers just because of some extra words.
Long Feidu wielded his long sword at a slant. This movement would have chopped down more than one head. Nevertheless, he changed his mind midway through and lifted the blade so that it followed the same path back up.
An arrow was cut in half and fell near his feet.
"A hidden attack, eh? You must be a flunky of the Supreme King."
"So audacious. You must be a nobody from the Great Snowmountain."
A knight in black walked from the mountain pass in the north, and two knights followed him, each holding a large banner. The banners featured a black background and red edges, with a golden roc embroidered in the middle.
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
200+ การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
0 หินพลัง 
ความคิดเห็นย่อย