Chapter 7 – The Duel (2/2)

She smiled, “In this world, there are so many matters that are just like that.”

Peacock, “What do you really trying to say?”

Mingyue Xin, “For example, the hidden weapon in your person clearly looks like the Peacock Plume, but isn’t the Peacock Plume.”

Peacock laughed loudly, a big laugh.

A person would only laughed this hard if he had heard the most ridiculous and impossible joke.

Mingyue Xin, “The truth is that in your heart, you had long suspected this. Because you had felt that its power isn’t as fearsome as it wa said to be. That’s why you did not dare to use it against Fu Hongxue.”

Peacock was still laughing, but his laughter was a little forced.

Mingyue Xin, “It is a pity that although you had your suspicions, you couldn’t verify them, and also did not dare to verify them.”

Peacock couldn’t help but to ask, “Can you prove it?”

Mingyue Xin, “I can prove it, and only I am the only one who can, because…”

Peacock, “Because what?”

Mingyue Xin softly, “The kind of Peacock Plume you have, I have a few of them remaining. I can give you a few any time you like.”

Peacock’s face changed colour. Outside the door, Thumb’s face also changed colour.

Mingyue Xin, “I can give you another one right now. Here, take it.”

Incredibly, she really did reached into her sleeve and took out a glittering golden cylinder. Casually, she threw it at Peacock, just like when one bestowed a single copper coin to a begger.

Peacock reached out his hand and caught it. After a quick look, he looked someone who had been kicked in the stomach.

Mingyue Xin, “Why don’t you check if this Peacock Plume is exactly the same as the one you have?”

Peacock did not answer. He didn’t need to answer.

Anyone who could see his expressions, could already guess the answer.

Thumb already started to move stealthily backwards.

Peacock suddenly turned back and stared at him, “Why didn’t you strike out and kill me?”

Thumb with a forced laugh, “We are partners, why should I kill you?”

Peacock, “Because I want to kill you. All along I wanted to kill you, and now I have to kill you no matter what!”

Thumb, “But I don’t want to kill you, because there is no need for me to strike with my own hands.”

He really laughed, laughed so hard that his eyes had turned into slits. “In the martial world, if there is just a single person who knows that you are not the real Peacock, within six hours, you would be a dead peacock.”

Peacock, “Unfortunately, you’ve forgotten one thing.”

Thumb, “Hrm?”

Peacock, “Although this Peacock Plume is a fake, to kill you, it is more than enough.”

Thumb’s smile hardened, and his body sprang up.

Although his reaction was slow at all, but he was still a step too late.

A ray of blinding light had already shot out of the golden cylinder in Peacock’s hands.

As magnificent as the setting sun, as beautiful as the rainbow.

Thumb ugly and fat body was instantly swallowed up by this ray of beautiful light, just like the ugly sand swallowed up by the beautiful tide.

When this ray of light faded, his life was also gone.

With a clap of thunder, raindrops started to fall from the dark clouds.

At last Mingyue Xin breathed out and said, “You are certainly right. Although this Peacock Plume is fake, it still has the power to kill.”

Peacock had already turned already and stared at her, “That’s why I could also use it to kill you.”

Mingyue Xin, “I know that. If you would kill even Thumb to ensure his silence, you certainly would not spare me.”

Peacock, “After you died, nobody would know if this Peacock Plume is real or fake.”

Mingyue Xin, “It is true that apart from me, nobody else knows this secret.”

Peacock, “Du Lei would wait till 4 PM before showing up, so if I rush there after I kill you, it would be just right. Regardless of who is the victor of that duel, he would also die under my hands.”

Mingyue Xin, “Your plan is very thorough. Unfortunately, you have neglected one thing.”

Peacock shut up and waited for her to continue.

Mingyue Xin, “You had neglected to ask me why I know that this Peacock Plume is fake.”

Peacock indeed asked immediately, “How do you know?”

Mingyue Xin softly said, “The reason why I am the only one that know this secret is because the one making these fake Peacock Plumes is me.”

Peacock was stunned again.

Mingyue Xin, “If I could make these kinds of Peacock Plume, and dared to give one to you so casually. Naturally, I am confident that I can defeat it!”

Peacock’s face had turned white. His hands were trembling.

His ability to kill was perhaps not because he had the Peacock Plume, but because he had a heart filled with self confidence and a steady pair of hands.

Now these two things had been destroyed.

Mingyue Xin, “The first Peacock Plume was also arranged by me for you to find. I had looked for a long time before I chose you to be my peacock. Because in the martial world there are not many people who are better suited then you, therefore I would not casually allow you to die. However…”

She stared at him, eyes that were as gentle as the bright moon had suddenly turned as sharp as a blade. “If you want to continue to be my peacock, you should learn to be as obedient as a peacock. If you have any doubt, you can strike now.”

Peacock clenched both his hands tightly but still couldn’t stop trembling.

He looked at both his hands and suddenly bended over and began to vomited!

…

A ring of thunder, raindrops fell from the dark clouds.

“I have not drawn my sabre because I am confident.”

Fu Hongxue’s voice seem very far away, far in the dark clouds. “When a person wants to kill, very often it is not unlike begging for a favour. He becomes very despicable. Because he does not have the utmost confidence, he would become very anxious in great fear of missing a good opportunity.”

He very seldom talked so much. He spoke very slowly, as if fearing that Du Lei could not bear it.

It was because he knew that every one of his words had pierced Du Lei’s heart like a blade.

Du Lei entire body had stiffened up. Even his voice had became coarse. “So you have the utmost confidence in yourself. That’s why you are not anxious?”

Fu Hongxue nodded.

Du Lei, “When are you going to draw your sabre?”

Fu Hongxue, “When you draw yours!”

Du Lei, “What if I don’t draw mine?”

Fu Hongxue, “You certainly will draw your sabre. In fact, you are very anxious to draw it!”

Because you want to kill me, but not me who want to kill you!

That’s why the true moment you really die is not when I draw my sabre, but when you draw yours.

Green veins had already protruded out of Du Lei’s sabre wielding hand.

He had not drawn, but he himself knew that he had to draw sooner or later!

The ice cold raindrops pelted on his body, on his face. He was facing Fu Hongxue, facing the most peerless sabre in the world. Suddenly his mind went back to his lowly childhood.

Heavy rain pounded the mud, the mud had soiled the whole street.

He ran barefooted in the mud, because someone was chasing behind.

He had escaped from the escort office, where he had stolen an escort officer’s new shoes. The shoes were too big for him and had fallen off before he made it halfway across the street.

But the officer still would not spare him. After the officer caught him, he stripped him naked, tied him to a tree and lashed him with a cane.

When he faced Fu Hongxue now, his heart suddenly had that feeling again, the pain of being lashed.

An agonizing pain that was beyond words, an agonizing pain that he could never forget.

The rain was getting heavier, and the soil on the ground had turned into mud.

Without warning, he took off the pair of soft soled shoes that cost him eighteen taels of silver, and stood barefooted in the mud.

Fu Hongxue seem to have turned into the escort officer who lashed him with the cane, turned into a symbol of his agonizing pain.

He roared madly and tore off his clothings.

He stood stark naked in the rain and mud, howling madly. All these years of self restraint and control had finally found a release.

So, he drew his sabre.

The moment he drew his sabre was the moment of his death.

So, he died!

Death was not only passion, but also pain. These two things were something that he had never able to attain at the same moment. But at the moment of “death”, he did.

……

The rain stopped as abruptly as it came.

The path was still caked with mud. Fu Hongxue walked slowly but steadily on the path, his hand clenched on his sabre.

The sabre was back in the sheath. The blood on the sabre was cleaned off. The sabre was still pitch black.

His pupils were also pitch black, deep and black, enough to conceal all the mercy and sorrow of his heart.

A ray of sunlight had broke through the cover of dark clouds, no doubt the last light of the day.

The sunlight shone on the high wall. Suddenly from behind the wall there was a peal of laughter. A laughter crisp and clear, and as lovely as silver bells, but carrying a strange ridicule.

Ni Hui appeared under the sunlight, “Not exciting, not exciting to watch at all.”

What was not exciting to watch?

Fu Hongxue did not ask. His footsteps didn’t even slow down.

But wherever he went, Ni Hui followed, “Your duel wasn’t exciting to watch at all. I had came to see your sabre-play, but who would have expected that what you used was a trick.”

She explained further, “You let Du Lei strike first. On the surface, it is letting him take the initiative. However, it was a trick.”

Why was it a trick?

Fu Hongxue did not ask, but his footsteps had stopped.

Ni Hui, “When a sabre in the sheath, it has hidden strength and power, and nobody knows its sharpness. When a sabre is drawn out of the sheath, its sharpness is revealed, and thus nobody would dare to take it lightly. Thus, a sabre is at its most priceless at the moment when it is about to strike but yet to strike.”

She continued, “You, of course understand this principle, that’s why you let Du Lei strike first…”

Fu Hongxue had been quietly listening but he suddenly cut her off, “That is also sabre-play, not a trick.”

Ni Hui, “No?”

Fu Hongxue, “Sabre-play has different techniques and variations, but all share one essence.”

Her expression was very solemn, “That is the highest level of the sabre-play?”

Fu Hongxue, “Not yet!”

Ni Hui, “Then at which stage can one achieve the highest peak of sabre-play?”

Fu Hongxue had yet again fallen silent and continued forward!

The sun was shining bright.

The last ray of sunlight is often the most the gloriously beautiful – sometimes life is also the same.

Ni Hui stood stumped at the wall for a long time, “Don’t tell me that highest peak of sabreplay is achieved only when there is no variations at all.”

The shinning bright sun had dimmed in a flash.

No variations at all, could that be to surpass the limits of variations? In that case, does that sabre still have any reason to exist?

Fu Hongxue sighed in this heart. Even he could not answer that question.

Why does the sabre need to exist? Why does man need to exist?

The sunlight had disappeared on the high walls, and Ni Hui had also disappeared with the sun.

But the sun still existed, and Ni Hui too still existed. What had disappeared momentarily was only their image – their image in Fu Hongxue’s vision.

Fu Hongxue pushed opened the door beneath the high walls and slowly walked in. As soon as he lifted his head, he saw Mingyue Xin at the high mansion.

……

Despite being on the tall mansion, Fu Hongxue’s head was hanging down.

Mingxue Xin asked, “You won?”

Fu Hongxue did not answer. By being alive, he had answered.

Mingxue Xin unexpectedly signed, “Why, why must it be like this?”

Fu Hongxue didn’t quite catch her, “Why?”

Mingyue Xin, “You went despite knowing that you would win for sure. He went despite knowing that he would die for sure.”

This is a deep and profound question but Fu Hongxue could explained it, “Because he is Du Lei and I am Fu Hongxue.”

His explanation was like his sabre. It cut into the heart of the question in one stroke. Mingyue Xin however was still not satisfied, “So, Du Lei had to die because there is a Fu Hongxue in the this world.”

Fu Hongxue, “No.”

Mingyue Xin, “Then, what did you really mean?”

Fu Hongxue, “Du Lei had to die because there was a Du Lei in this world.”

His answer on the surface seem more deep and profound than the question, but it was actually very simple, very reasonable.

Without life, there is no death.

With life, there is no escaping from death.

Mingyue could not help but to sign again, “It seems that with regards to life and death, you view them very lightly.”

Fu Hongxue did not deny it.

Mingyue Xin, “Regarding the life and death of other people, you definitely view it lightly. That is why you left Yan Nanfei back here.”

Fu Hongxue was silent. After a long while, he slowly asked, “Did Peacock come here?”

Mingyue Xin, “Yes.”

Fu Hongxue, “Yan Nanfei is still alive?”

Mingyue Xin, “Yes.”

Fu Hongxue softly said, “When I left him here, perhaps I already knew that he would not die.”

Mingyue Xin, “But, you…”

Fu Hongxue interrupted her, “As long as your decision has not changed, my promise to you also would not change.”

Mingyue Xin, “What is your promise?”

Fu Hongxue, “Bring you both to Peacock Manor.”

Mingyue Xin’s eyes lighted up, “Now?”

Fu Hongxue, “Now.”

Mingyue Xin jumped up and turned her back, “Do you want me to put on that mask?”

Fu Hongxue coldly said, “Don’t you already have a mask on your face?”