Chapter 16 – Funeral Bell (2/2)

The titan said, “I am only his puppet, a puppet for the attention of others to be drawn to. Just like this sabre.”

He drew the sabre.

From within the magnificent, pearl-embroidered sheath, he drew out a wooden sabre with a layer of silver paint on top of it. This really was totally preposterous. Only a madman would do something like this.

Fu Hongxue couldn’t help but ask, “What type of person is he, exactly? Why did he do something like this?”

The giant bowed his head.

The woman holding the golden cup was pouring alcohol into it nonstop. She poured for herself and drank it herself.

The song of the woman underneath the window suddenly stopped. In a loud voice, she said, “They don’t dare tell you. I’ll tell you.”

Her song was gentle and beautiful. However, her voice was now grief and hoarse with pain. “He isn’t a man at all, but he is desperate to believe in the illusion that he is a husband who can satisfy four women at once. He is only three feet, eight inches tall, but is desperate to believe in the illusion that he is a godlike giant. He does all of these things, simply because he is a madman.”

The woman holding the golden cup suddenly clapped her hands and laughed loudly. “Great! Great cursing! Such wonderful cursing!”

She was laughing, but her face had already become contorted with pain. “Why don’t you straight-forwardly show this man surnamed Fu, how our mighty husband ‘satisfies’ us?”

The woman who was taking off his shoes suddenly tore her clothes apart. Her snow-white chest was filled with traces of lash marks.

“This is how he ‘satisfies’ us!” Her laughter was even more miserable than sobs. “I’ve always been an easily satisfied woman. I am simply so satisfied that I could die.”

Fu Hongxue silently turned around. He silently walked away. He couldn’t bear to look, and couldn’t bear to listen.

He suddenly thought of that girl who wore the jasmine flowers once more. They were all the same. They had been wreaked, had been devastated.

In the eyes of men, they were all women without face.

Were they shameless because they were enduring the depredations of men?

No matter how frenzied the depredations, they couldn’t help but endure it. Because they simply couldn’t resist, and had no place to run to. Is this what being ‘without face’ really meant? Is this ‘shamelessness’?

The women were shouting, “Why don’t you rescue us? Why won’t you take us away?”

Fu Hongxue didn’t look back.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to rescue them. But he didn’t have the ability to whatsoever. There simply was nobody who could solve their problem.

So long as men who ‘really wanted face’ existed in the world, there would definitely be ‘shameless’ women such as them in the world.

This is the real problem. This problem could never, ever be solved.

Fu Hongxue didn’t look back, because he almost wasn’t able to resist from vomiting. He knew that the only way he could save them, wasn’t by taking them away. Only by killing Miao Tianwang could he truly free them.

Freshly broken twigs were on the ground. They had been shattered by a sabre. It was the sabre of the Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch.

He chased down the path of these tracks.

Perhaps Miao Tianwang had long since fled far away. He wasn’t really chasing Miao Tianwang, but an objective. He knew that so long as breath remained in his body, he would never give up this objective!

By now he realized why Yan Nanfei absolutely had to kill Gongzi Yu.

What they were killing wasn’t actually the person, but the evil and tyranny which that person represented. He passed by the mulberry forest and entered the inner courtyard. A person was standing in the middle of the rubble of the courtyard, laughing stupidly at him.

“Even a millennia-old monastery has collapsed. Why haven’t you died? What are you waiting for?”

On his moon-white monastic robes, ink dribbled here and there. But in his hands, he held a freshly blooming flower.

A fresh, new, pure flower.

A tiny yellow flower.

At the foot of a mountain, there was a cabin which not only had bamboo growing outside of it, but also a few yellow flowers.

It was planted by a young girl. A girl with big eyes and long hair.

Fu Hongxue’s heart sunk. His pupils suddenly contracted, and the hand with which he gripped the sabre clenched even tighter.

“Where did this flower come from?”

“People come from their origins. Flowers naturally come from their origins as well!”

The crazy monk was still laughing stupidly. He suddenly tossed the flower in his hand to Fu Hongxue.

“First look and see what type of flower this is.”

“I cannot tell.”

“This is a flower of grief and farewell.”

“There’s no such flower in the world.” Fu Hongxue’s flower-holding hand was ice cold.

“There is. Since there is grief in the world and farewells in the world, why wouldn’t there be a flower of grief and farewell?”

The crazy monk was no longer laughing. In his eyes, there was a look of indescribable pain. “Since there is such a thing as a flower of grief and farewell, the person who picked it would naturally be grieved and about to bid farewell.”

Fu Hongxue held the flower with his two hands. His hands did not move, and there was no wind here.

But the petals of the flower suddenly began to fall, and the stem of the flower began to wither.

These two hands were originally used to draw his sabre. The force in these two hands was more than enough to destroy all life.

The crazy monk’s sadness became even greater. “The flower came from its origins, and has gone to its departure point. What about the person? Why hasn’t the person gone back yet?”

Fu Hongxue said, “Go back where?”

The crazy monk said, “From whence one came, is where one should return. If you go back now, perhaps you’ll make it in time.”

Fu Hongxue said, “In time to do what?”

The crazy monk said, “How should I know what you are going to do?”

Fu Hongxue said, “Who, exactly, are you?”

The crazy monk said, “I am only a crazy monk. I only happened to pick up a little flower, is all!”

He suddenly waved his hands and shouted loudly, “Go, hurry up and leave and do what you need to do! Don’t come here and bother this monk! Monks want tranquility!”

The monk had already sat down, in the midst of the rubble. In the blink of an eye, he became still.

Although the main hall of the monastery had been wrecked, the main hall in his heart was still perfect and untarnished. That was like the shell of a snail. When the wind and the rain arrived, he could immediately hide inside it.

Was he able to tell that the wind and the rain had arrived now?

The setting sun shone across the sky. There was no rain or wind. Wind and rain are in the hearts of man. In the heart of Fu Hongxue.

Did this flower come from near the bamboo patch? Why was it called the flower of grief and farewell?

Who was grieved? Who was departing?

Fu Hongxue didn’t ask. He didn’t dare ask. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t get it out.

If he wanted to know the answer, he had only one method.

He used all of his energy to rush back.

If you go back now, perhaps you’ll make it in time.

But by the time he got back, it was already too late.

The yellow flowers beneath the bamboo patch had totally disappeared. Not a single petal remained. The people had disappeared as well.

On the table, there was still three vegetable dishes, a pot of porridge, and two sets of chopsticks. The porridge was still warm!

The children’s urine on the bed hadn’t dried yet either.

Where were they?

“Zhuo Yuzhen! Du Shiqi!”

Fu Hongxue howled loudly, but there was no reply.

Did Zhuo Yuzhen desert him? Or did Du Shiqi betray them?

Fu Hongxue raised his head to the heavens. He asked the sky, but the sky did not respond. He asked the stars, but they were silent. He asked the bright moon, but the bright moon had long since sunk down. Where would he have to go in order to find them? Where could he go, to hide from this wind and rain?

The night was gloomy and dark. From within the darkness, there were suddenly three popping sounds, and then a lightning bolt appeared!

It wasn’t a lightning bolt. It was sabre light. From within the sabre light, the shadow of a person taller than a tree could be seen.

The shadow flew out at the same time as the sabre light. It was a deformed dwarf. He walked on a three foot long bamboo pole, and in his hands, he wielded a nine foot long sabre.

The Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch.

A flash of sabre light. It chopped apart the bamboo patch, then rushed towards Fu Hongxue.

Fu Hongxue retreated eight feet.

The sabre light chopped again. The eaves of the house split apart. The power of the Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch was like that of a thunderbolt or a thunderclap. The vertical sabre once more chopped at Fu Hongxue. In the blink of an eye, over seven chops had been launched.

Fu Hongxue continued to retreat. He could only retreat, because he could neither block nor counterattack. He had to leap three feet into the air before his sabre could hit Miao Tianwang, who was standing on those bamboo poles. But his entire body had been surrounded by the power of the Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch.

Miao Tianwang was gripping the sabre with both hands. One chop followed after another, not even giving him the chance to pant!

But even true thunderbolts and thunderclaps had an interval time. Even a real god of war would eventually exhaust his strength.

Fu Hongxue dodged over forty nine sabre chops in a row. His body suddenly shot out from within the sabre light.

His sabre had shot out as well.

The Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch was too long. A foot longer, a foot stronger, as the saying goes…but the blade could only strike from afar. When the enemy rushed into close combat, there was no one way to save oneself.

He saw this fatal flaw of Miao Tianwang’s. His sabre had already pierced towards Miao Tianwang’s heart.

Who would have imagined that just at this moment, Miao Tianwang’s stilts suddenly shattered into many pieces!

He suddenly fell down from the sky, and released the Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch as well. With a backhand, he drew out a different sabre.

A short sabre, radiating cold light in all directions. Carrying his body’s downward force, it pierced towards Fu Hongxue’s chest.

Fu Hongxue’s sure-fire attack had instead become his own fatal weakness.

When a brave panther charged towards a person, an experienced hunter would often dodge from beneath them and use a knife to split them open.

Right now, Fu Hongxue’s mid-air body was like that of a leaping panther. The hunter’s knife had already reached his chest.

He could even sense that the ice-cold sabre had split apart his clothes.

Miao Tianwang had already calculated that he definitely could not dodge this slash. This wasn’t the Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch, but it was still a sabre for killing people.

He had already concentrated all of his strength into that sabre, but his strength suddenly disappeared. All strength suddenly disappeared. It was as though all of the air in a balloon had suddenly escaped through a hole. His sabre clearly could have pierced Fu Hongxue’s chest, but he had no power left to stab with.

What had happened? He didn’t understand. Even in death, he didn’t understand!

He saw blood, but it wasn’t Fu Hongxue’s blood. Where did the blood come from? He didn’t understand this either!

Only now did he suddenly feel an indescribably cold feeling in his throat, as though it had already been cut open.

But he couldn’t believe it.

He definitely could not believe that when the sabre light had flashed earlier, it had already cut open his throat. Even in death, he wouldn’t believe that there could be such a fast sabre in the world.

He didn’t even see that sabre.

Fu Hongxue fell down as well. He fell into the middle of the bamboo patch. Heaven and earth reverted to its earlier peacefulness and silence.

He suddenly felt very tired. Although the earlier events had passed in the blink of an eye, in that blink of an eye, he had exhausted all of his strength.

The distance between life and death is such a very fine line.

Only now did he truly understand the meaning of this phrase. Just then, he really was too close to dying. This battle really was a vicious battle the likes of which he had never fought before.

Stars filled the sky. The blood had already dried. Miao Tianwang’s blood. Not his!

But he too had a type of feeling, as though all of his blood had dried up as well. Right now, if Miao Tianwang could brandish his sabre, he definitely would not be able to resist.

He even felt as though if a child with a rusty knife came here, he would still die.

Fortunately, dead men couldn’t wield sabres. And so late at night, nobody would come to this mountain village.

He closed his eyes, hoping to be able to take a nap. Only with a clear mind could one think about moving.

Who would have imagined that somebody would come, right at this moment.

Suddenly, an patter of footsteps could suddenly be heard in the darkness. Within the slow, unhurried footsteps, there seemed to be a strange rhythym.

Only a person who was totally confident in what he was doing had such a rhythm while walking.

Who was this person? Why did he come here? What did he come here for?

Fu Hongxue listened silently. In his heart, he suddenly felt a strange feeling as well.

The rhythym of these footsteps seemed to be exactly the same as the rhythym of that bell within the ancient monastery.

That was a funeral bell.

The rhythym of these footsteps seemed to be filled with a murderous air as well.