บท 32: The Challenge
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
The New Year holiday was less than a month away and the ground was completely covered with a thick layer of snow, while the snowflakes were flying in the sky slowly and gently. It seemed as if it might never end.
Irregular sounds of reading out loud came from school. Slave Qing and others waited outside the doors, covered their ears, and stamped about to keep warm.
"The two masters won't come here today, it's too cold," Slave Qing said hopefully. Normally, if they missed the early class, they would not come, so they could go out and found a place to drink wine.
But today was not a normal day. A bunch of kids ran over rapidly, no doubt they had to be led by the twins, for there would be no one else so bold in Golden Roc Fort.
As expected, Shangguan Ru was in the lead, followed by Shangguan Yushi and Shangguan Fei, and then the young personal attendants.
"Follow me."
Shangguan Ru ordered loudly and did not stop. She did not want to be scolded by the teacher who was ruthless toward anyone.
More than half of the attendants belonged to the twins, who were bored and freezing, so they followed her immediately under her order. Only the steady-going Slave Qing hesitated, and asked, "Why?"
"There are people coming to challenge. You don't want to see?"
Shangguan Ru said and ran away. The listeners were all shocked and picked up their pace without hesitation. Golden Roc Fort was not an ordinary place and challenges did not come often. And they could run to the gate to see what happened if they were with the twins.
Slave Qing also followed even though he did not believe it. "It might be another trick by the two girls." He was born in the fort, yet he had not heard of a challenge from the outside in all his years.
The other slaves did not dare to leave without their masters' permission, so they decided to convince their masters after the class to watch the fun afterward.
Gu Shenwei was fast, and he followed them very closely. After several months of experience, he was now much more mature than his peers and much more thoughtful. "People challenging the fort is very unusual as it is extremely difficult for an outsider to even cross the entire Jade City and climb to the supreme peak, not to mention challenge Golden Roc Fort."
There were already several men outside the gate. The twins learned of the news from the Inner Residence, so they arrived on time, just before the fight.
Three challengers, a tall, robust old man and two young monks, stood on the opposite of the gate. They were less than a hundred strides from the crowd, with the stone bridge right behind them.
The old man must have been very commanding and majestic when he was young. He was a head taller than the monks, with broad shoulders and scraggly hair. He looked like a silent lion. But he was old now, leaving only a skeleton of the man he once was. No matter how giant the skeleton was, it could not offer endless strength as it once did.
The two monks were humble. They kept their fingers interlocked and lowered their eyebrows. They looked more like a couple of irresponsible practitioners coming here to meditate, instead of the old man's servants or friends.
The old man held a nearly-20-foot-high flag lengthwise, where a line was written: "The blade won't be laid down unless the hatred is paid off." In his right hand, there was a weapon rack, with a lance and a blade on it.
"What? An old man and two monks? How did the slaves let them get up here?"
Shangguan Fei and the attendants were disappointed upon seeing these challengers. They thought the challenger had to be coming with great momentum, yet they were only three common people, who would be beaten down if they rushed forward together.
Shangguan Ru observed them thoroughly. She sneered and said, "Are you a fool? Are you the real son of the Lord? Look at the flag."
Shangguan Fei flushed with shame for being mocked and satirized by his cousin. He mumbled and observed the flag, as well as others, and the laughter died away. "Whoa..."
The flagpole was made of common wood and could stand upright in the ground without anyone holding it. As the cold wind blew, it stood still as the pole's end was deeply inserted into the ground.
The empty ground was paved with giant stones. It was to the point that no dirt or earth existed. The flag holder had to be not only robust but also have a strong Internal Strength to insert it over a foot in the stone.
"So what? A common killer in our fort could finish them."
Shangguan Fei was still being stubborn. Shangguan Yushi ignored him as she held Shangguan Ru's hand and looked around the fort. As the challengers had already prepared, Golden Roc Fort should now send someone to clear the place.
Meanwhile, Gu Shenwei was standing behind them. He turned around at this moment, so no one could see the tears shed from his eyes.
The tears were both unrelated to the wind and the challengers. They were toward the lance and the blade as they were clearly the style of the Gu family. No doubt the old man was closely connected to the Gu family.
Almost every country's army was equipped with standardized blades and lances. However, things were different in Wulin. Every family or school had their own unique arms, so it was a way to identify the family or school. The Gu family's lance was 16 feet in length and this might be the longest lance. Its blade was three feet long, shorter than most of the blades.
Though Gu Shenwei gave only a glance at the weapons, he could still identify that the old man was using his family's arms. He had not learned the martial arts very well, but he was all too familiar with those two weapons to make any mistake.
It nearly destroyed his mind, which had struggled and suffered for several months. He used to think he was the only survivor of the Gu family, with all the burden of revenge on his shoulders. Now he saw a man coming to avenge his relatives, how could he calm down with such excitement happening before him? He almost lost control.
What was lucky was that no one noticed him. They were all looking around, watching either the challengers or the road that led to the fort. They wanted to know who would come out and kill these three.
Gloden Roc Fort had not been intruded upon for a hundred years, as the killers of the fort had not been challenged by anyone all over the world. Though the masters and the slaves were only teenagers, they never doubted that, mysterious or not, this old man was dead.
People walked out of the fort endlessly. But they were merely the audience, instead of the killers. It appeared that the Supreme King did not care about the challengers, and he neither treated them seriously nor did he close the entrances or exits.
"Who dares to challenge?" Everyone questioned that in the first place.
"Aren't those two monks the mages of the Four Truths Temple? We usually donated more than any other families. Why can't they be satisfied, and go on stealing?"
Gu Shenwei never heard of the "Four Truths Temple" so he could not care less. The only thing he wanted to know was the identity of the old man.
The fort did not send its killer until 15 minutes later. Even through the noise and excitement of the crowd, the identity of the old man was revealed.
"Marshal Yang. He's Marshal Yang."
"A marshal of what? An army of two monks? Then I must be the grand marshal."
The teenagers were laughing at the strange name while Gu Shenwei was once again shocked. "So there actually is a 'Marshal Yang'."
On the day his whole family was murdered, Gu Lun asked the loyal old servant, Yang Zheng, to take his son and daughter away. And after Yang Zheng defeated the chasing enemies on the road, he knew it would not end well, so he let the little master wear the young personal attendant's clothes, and told him to find "Marshal Yang" in Shu-lik City to ask for reinforcement.
Gu Shenwei thought "Marshal Yang" was someone Yang Zheng made up, so he returned when he was only halfway. However, a series of accidents happened that led him to Gloden Roc Fort.
If he had ridden his horse into Shu-lik City, maybe he would now be standing together with Marshal Yang facing Golden Roc Fort.
Gu Shenwei could not be more remorseful. He had suffered so much humiliation that he never thought he would have, and in the end, he had chosen the wrong path.
"What happened?"
Shangguan Ru asked curiously, as she noticed the strange expression on Slave Huan's face.
"It's nothing. It's just the wind." Gu Shenwei wiped his tears hastily. He could not reveal his identity now. Even if Marshal Yang could defeat the Supreme King, he should use another identity and find another opportunity to meet him, instead of a slave's.
"He's frightened," Shangguan Yushi glanced at Slave Huan and said. She did not like Slave Huan at all. It could be said that she did not like anyone except for Shangguan Ru.
A team of killers with black clothes and red belts finally came from Golden Roc Fort. They walked along the noisy teenagers, serious and cold, not bowing to the masters as usual.
"So many killers!" someone cried out. The killers were the elite and backbone of Golden Roc Fort. People could barely see a group of three to five killers, however, this group combined more than 20 killers. Even the toughest task could be finished by this amount of strength.
"The old man and the monks are dead."
"So it seems."
The crowd thought these killers would attack the challengers altogether, as they were accustomed to the fact that the majority was greater than the minority. After all, they lived in Golden Roc Fort.
Unfortunately, they were wrong this time. The killers stopped 20 strides away from Marshal Yang and half-circled around him. After that, a killer went forward, pulled out his narrow saber and asked for a solo fight.
This was surely not from the "rules" of Golden Roc Fort and yet it made the crowd even more excited. No matter what they learned when they were young, or what belief they would hold in the future, at this moment, they worshipped the strongest force.
"That's Ye Sheng. He belongs to the Fifth Young Master."
Someone recognized the first killer.
Gu Shenwei actually knew the killer. He was the one who finished the swordsman from the Great Snowmountain, Long Feidu, in the T-junction, but the killer had refused to reveal his name.
Gu Shenwei wanted to warn Martial Yang that Ye Sheng was good with hidden weapons. Long Feidu died because of his use of knockout powder or a similar weapon.
But he could not and did not dare to speak. He could only expect that Martial Yang was better and smarter than Long Feidu and knew such brazen methods and had already prepared for them.
บท 33: One move
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
Marshal Yang was so old that he had no need to further his comprehension of the mortal world and stood aloof. He had come to the Western Region from the Central Plains many years ago to live as a hermit. He was caught in a state of grievance that he could not rid himself of.
His younger brother, Yang Zheng, died under the narrow blade, and his close friends, the Gu family, were murdered brutally. He had to avenge them.
He had learned his skills from the Gu family and now it was the time to repay them.
He took a long time to look for aides. Unfortunately, no one in the Western Region wanted to rebel against the Supreme King. As a result, he had to challenge the Supreme King alone with a single blade and lance, otherwise, the last of his strength would be wasted while he just waited.
It was only because he threatened to wreak havoc in Jade City that the monks of the Four Truths Temple finally agreed to walk him to the peak, and only so far, for this saved them from the carnage, but they still would not enter Golden Roc Fort. He arrived at the gate of the fort and waited quite a while but still could not see the Supreme King. What awaited him was a team of assassins in black and some ignorant teenagers who stayed away.
"How many killers like you do I have to kill to meet the Supreme King?"
Marshal Yang asked. He sounded old and exhausted, which made this query not so arrogant or disparaging.
"You have no right to meet Lord King." The killer, Ye Sheng, answered with contempt on his face and a narrow knife in his hand. He treated all the so-called martial artists this way.
"Is that it? Or is it just that you don't have the right to answer my question?" Martial Yang was also aggressive. Despite the words he used, his voice was faint and weak. It sounded like a cowish old man reciting another's words.
Before he had finished speaking, they both moved. Martial Yang only wanted to shift Ye Sheng's attention, regardless of his reaction.
Contrary to his old voice, Martial Yang was quick. When they met in the air, the distant teenagers could not figure out who had made the first move. Some onlookers even saw nothing before the battle was over.
The superiors always fought rapidly, Gu Shenwei already knew. But it was so quick that before he started to worry about Martial Yang, the old man had retreated to his original position. He coughed for a while, seeming too weak to attack twice.
Ye Sheng held his narrow knife in his right hand, half-brandished it and stopped near the scalp of Martial Yang. The gesture of his left hand was strange as well. It did not look like a fist or a palm. He might have been wanting to eject something from it, but changed his idea and did not retreat in time.
The battle scene was not at all intense. The teenagers looked at each other speechlessly, hoping someone could answer. "Did they fight? Who was the winner?"
The answer was revealed momentarily—Ye Sheng fell down loudly, with the same gesture he had held when he first moved. Apparently, he was already dead.
An old man had defeated a Golden Roc killer bare-handed with one move. The pupils' confidence was broken and now they were no longer excited. Shangguan Fei whispered, "Idiot, why not fight with the others?"
Shangguan Ru frowned as she looked at Shangguan Yushi, who could usually answer her questions. This time, she was disappointed because her cousin also seemed confused.
The teenagers grew up with the legends of their killers. It was hard for them to accept that a killer would be killed at the first blow.
As the others were frustrated, Gu Shenwei was almost choked up with emotion. He was eager to stand out and to speak to everyone proudly: "Look, that was my family's unique skill—Yin and Yang Strength."
Though he did not see it clearly before, now he had figured it out. Martial Yang must have learned Yin and Yang Strength, and he was quite proficient at it.
Gu Lun once told his son about the traits of the family's inherited Internal Strength—Normally, an internal strength was either hard, which made the opponent incapable of bearing it and forced them to retreat; or soft, which injured the enemy invisibly such that the enemy would only sense it after a long time. However, Yin and Yang Strength was both hard and soft. One could not learn it quickly, but it embodied many traits of other schools, for the Yang Strength could kill the enemy at once, while the Yin Strength could defuse the rebounding strength, meaning that if the enemy stood, he would be hurt more seriously.
Gu Lun demonstrated its function by attacking a stump. When he attacked the stump with Yang Strength, the stump was crushed and the fragments flew off; and when he did that with Yang Strength, the stump did not move at all, yet after Gu Lun cut it open, all of its veins were broken. When he used both strengths, the stump was smashed but all of the fragments dropped to the ground instead of flying off.
Gu Shenwei thought it was just for fun at that time. He had applauded and exclaimed and took it for granted. When he thought of that now, he was both grieved and proud because this was the forceful Yin and Yang Strength of the Gu family!
If this had been a formal competition, the Golden Roc killer could not have beaten Martial Yang. Gu Shenwei had already memorized the entire strength manual. Sooner or later, he would become as powerful as Martial Yang.
The assassins in black at the front remained nonchalant. They were not pupils and had seen death countless times and would not be affected by Ye Sheng's death so easily. Another three killers stepped forward and pulled out their narrow knives, approaching their enemy from three directions.
Martial Yang did not even glance at them. He pivoted back and grabbed the single blade on the weapon rack. He would confront them with his back.
The killer on the left could not endure the "seduction", so he stepped a little faster, and a hint of disorder appeared in the orderly three-man formation.
The flaw was transient but fatal. Just before an assassin in black witnessing the battle spoke to warn him, Martial Yang seized the opportunity, drew out his blade, and jumped backward. With his backhand, he stabbed the lower abdomen of his enemy on the left.
The remaining two killers made the second mistake—they changed their attack route, wanting to seize the chance and attack.
However, once Martial Yang completed his attack, he jumped forward and returned to his original position so that he could not only avoid their bodies, but keep himself in the flank of the enemy on the right.
The three-on-one had now become a duel. During the short time that the teenagers blinked, Martial Yang had enough time to kill another one.
Mistakes were made one after another. When the third killer found that he was now the only one, he hesitated for a moment. What could he do while this killing machine was in front, and his companions were in back? What if...
The second that he hesitated in fear sent him to the hand of death.
In the blink of an eye, Martial Yang already killed three men. People now were looking up at him, even though he returned to his form as an old man who could barely hold his blade when the enemies fell down.
The teenagers were anxious. This was not the scene they had pictured. They thought the Golden Roc killers would win without the slightest effort.
However, Gu Shenwei was frightened and worried. Every move of Martial Yang was truly from the Gu Knife Form, though it was different from what he had learned in his childhood. It seemed like Martial Yang was not even using any skill. He attacked according to the flaws and weak points that his enemies had suddenly exposed; a forehand could turn into a backhand, a slashing could become a splitting. Even the most proficient user of the Gu Knife Form could not defend against it.
"Where did Marshal Yang learn that from? This man who I had never heard of is actually more powerful than my father."
Gu Shenwei carefully memorized the moments Martial Yang killed his enemies. He now understood not only his inherited Kung Fu much better, but also all the Kung Fu he had learned in these recent months.
Another five assassins in black came out. Behind Martial Yang were two monks and a stone bridge, the attackers could only half-enclose him, for any single killer could be the hindrance. The killers knew this well.
Five killers approached with the utmost caution, as they could sense the enemy was near at hand. Martial Yang turned back again, dropped the blade, and grabbed the lance, but no one advanced rashly. They had been learned their lesson.
Gu Shenwei's Master Shifu, Yang Zheng, used to hold his lance upright and wait for the enemy seriously. Contrary to his brother, Martial Yang held it casually, like a walking stick.
However, no one looked down on him and his weapon now.
The killers moved more and more slowly and stopped at about seven or eight strides away from Martial Yang. They were now close to the attacking range of his lance. They could either strike him at full speed with all their strength, or let him assault one killer while the rest waited for the best moment to kill him. Either way, they should not use a short knife against the long lance.
The snow had stopped without anyone noticing because they all held their breath, especially the pupils in front of the gate. Compared to the real superior, the strongest man among them was no one but a showy and impractical martial artist. But they all sensed the intense killing intent at this moment, even the slaves who knew nothing about Kung Fu.
It was just that they did not know where the killing intent came from. Was it from Martial Yang, or from the five killers whose muscles were tensed?
"As father said, a real superior could create a flaw within his enemy instead of waiting for the flaw to be exposed," Gu Shenwei thought. He did not care about such advice then, but it had all been seared into his consciousness.
What Martial Yang had learned was the inherited Kung Fu of the Gu family, different from Gu Lun's in details but similar in tactics. He was the real superior.
Martial Yang abruptly let out a roar without any warning. It was as loud as several lions roaring together, and every pupil's body shook, leaving the sound tingling in his ear.
The weakest one among the five killers flustered, stepped forward involuntarily, looking like he was being dragged by a giant force.
The flaw had arisen.
Hence, the lance jabbed forward.
The same jab by Martial Yang's hand was quite different from one from Yang Zheng's, who was the old servant of the Gu family and had used his lance like a strict craftsman—every jab was measured, people could see it, yet they could not avoid it. But Martial Yang made the lance appear to be a ghost or a dragon, moving too swift to predict its position and jabbing too fiercely to be defended.
One jab, two jabs...
Martial Yang made five jabs seem like one, and every jab ended a life. He returned to his original position at once, grunting. He seemed to have almost exhausted all his strength after these simple moves.
In others' eyes, the old man might be pretending to swindle the enemies. But Gu Shenwei knew it was real because he had been reminded repeatedly by Yang Zheng that if one did not use 80 percent of his strength on each jab, his jabbing was useless.
Yang Zheng practiced the jabbing skill and practiced it arduously for many years. Even still, he had to rest for a while every time after he finished four or five pokes. Martial Yang had battled for three rounds, and though he killed each enemy with a single move, he could not be as energetic as before.
But the others did not know that. The exhausted old man was already a high mountain that they could not climb. At least more than 10 killers were still alive now, but they had already lost their will to fight.
After Martial Yang recovered his breath, he raised up his head and acted like a stubborn teacher teaching slow-witted students. He said slowly,
"You need the killing desire first, before you can kill a man."
That was exactly the problem. As the killers lost their killing desire, Golden Roc Fort needed to send someone better if they wanted to win.
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