Chapter 21 – A small star, glittering (2/2)
“Of course they’re connected. Because you’re not blind, you should be able to see whose clothes I’m wearing.” An immensely proud expression covered his face. “I took these things from Gao Tianjue, and it definitely wasn’t easy.”
“You took all of that from her?”
“Every piece.”
“How did you do it?”
“I just showed her something, that’s all. As soon as she looked at it, I sealed her acupuncture points. Then I took all this stuff.”
General Li looked at him for a long moment, the look on his face the same as Xiao Jun’s when Ingot had told him the same thing.
Of course what Ingot said was completely unbelievable, so General Li couldn’t help but ask, “What did you show her?”
“A star,” said Ingot. “A very small star.”
Part 5
Ingot always carried a random assortment of things on his person. People might think them a valueless lot of broken copper and iron, but they were his treasures, treasures that he would not allow others to see. But this time, not only did he let General Li see his star, he didn’t even wait for him to ask. He just pulled it out and put it out in front of General Li’s face, as if afraid he couldn’t see it clearly.
“This star,” he said. “This star fell from heaven, and then was scooped up out of the sea.”
General Li’s expression was changing. Even before Ingot had finished speaking, his expression had begun to change. Just like Gao Tianjue, as soon as he laid eyes on the star, his expression changed, as if someone had stabbed a long, sharp, pointed needle directly into his heart.
This star was something a child might play with. If it fell onto the ground, not many people would even pick it up. If you gave it to someone, they would probably drop it into the gutter.
But in the eyes of the incredibly proud Laughing General, who had roamed Jianghu unhindered, this star seemed to carry all the blessings and curses of the heavens and the earth, of gods and demons. It seemed to him to be more valuable than all the treasures in the world.
He reached out his hand as if to take the star, his hand trembling, just like Gao Tianjue’s. It trembled uncontrollably.
This time, Ingot did not take advantage of the situation to seal his acupuncture points. Instead, he just stepped back.
“This is mine,” he chuckled. “Grownups can’t steal things from children.”
“That’s not yours,” said General Li, his voice hoarse with grief. “I know it’s not.”
“Maybe it didn’t used to be, but now it is. And no one can take it from me.”
“Where did you get it?”
“That’s my affair,” said Ingot with a wink. “Can’t I keep a few secrets for myself?”
General Li stared at him for a long time, then let out a long sigh. “So, you’re a member of the Dragon family,” he said. “What is your seniority among your brothers and sisters? Are you Dragon Eighth? Or the Ninth?”
Ingot responded with his own question, “How do you know I’m a member of the Dragon family?”
“Because I know that this star would not fall into anyone else’s hands.” He spoke with utmost confidence.
Ingot didn’t deny it, but instead asked, “If I wasn’t a member of the Dragon family, would you have already taken the star away from me?”
General Li looked at him for a while. “If you weren’t a member of the Dragon family, you would be dead already.”
“Why?”
“Because I wouldn’t want that star to be in anyone else’s hands,” he said. Then he asked, “Would you be willing to trade it to me?”
“Trade it for what?”
“Anything you want,” said General Li. “Gold, white jade, pearls, emeralds. Anything you want is fine.”
Ingot laughed. “You undoubtedly know that I won’t trade it. Those things you just mentioned can’t be worn as clothes, nor can they be eaten. I don’t need them.”
The things mentioned by General Li are things anyone in the world would love to have. Who knows how many people scheme and bleed and risk their lives for them? But to Ingot, not even a single coin was of any worth.
General Li sighed. “Good. I knew you wouldn’t trade it. How could the children of the House of the Dragon care about paltry treasures and money?”
“And so, seeing you alive and not dead, I’m extremely happy.” Ingot laughed. “Because were you dead, this star would already be in someone else’s hands.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I just made a bet with Chamber Lord Xiao, and this star was the stakes of the bet.”
“What did you bet?”
“He was sad just now because he thought that you had died under his sword.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“I told him there was no way you were dead.” He laughed even more happily. “I said, how could Three Fearsome Laughs General Li, who roamed unhindered across Jianghu, possibly die so easily at your hand?”
General Li’s expression changed again, his face filling with indescribable agony and grief.
And yet, his eyes still glittered, like the cold stars on an autumn night.
Ingot once again clapped Xiao Jun’s shoulder. “You’ve lost, so the star still belongs to me.” He chuckled. “Do you still remember what you owe now that you’ve lost?”
Xiao Jun didn’t say anything. But General Li did. He said something very strange.
“He didn’t forget,” he said. And then, one word at a time: “But he didn’t lose.”
“He didn’t lose?” Ingot seemed to be both shocked and amused. “Don’t tell me I lost?”
“Correct,” said General Li. “You lost.”
Ingot laughed, so hard that he bent over.
“I’m gonna laugh myself to death,” he said. “I haven’t heard something so funny in my entire life.”
“Oh?”
“If I told people that Three Frightening Laughs General Li was helping his son to act shamelessly, who knows how many people in Jianghu would die laughing. Then if I took all the bodies of the people who had died laughing and shipped them here, well even if you used 500 large eight-wheeled carts, I’d say it would take at least three days and three nights.”
He laughed until it seemed he was having trouble breathing, as if he really would die.
General Li didn’t have even the slightest hint of laughter on his face. In fact, he looked even more solemn than if he were facing an enemy.
He waited until Ingot finally started to think things weren’t so funny after all, then slowly said, “If people in Jianghu found out about this matter, there would be a lot of deaths. If one person found out, there would be one death. If ten thousand people found out, there would be ten thousand deaths. Except, I can guarantee they wouldn’t be laughing.” His voice grew very cold. “Because it’s not a laughing matter.”
Ingot couldn’t laugh at this point.
“What’s going on here?” he asked General Li. “Why do you say that I lost?”
“Because you are the loser.”
Ingot looked at Xiao Jun, then back at General Li. “Don’t tell me he isn’t your son?”
“He is,” said General Li dejectedly. “He is bone of my bone, blood of my blood.”
“Don’t tell me you’re dead?!” Ingot asked, a deliberate question.
“I’m not dead yet.”
“Then it’s strange. You’re obviously not dead, how could I have lost?”
“Because even though I’m not dead, General Li is. Dead for many years.”
Ingot was shocked.
“General Li is already dead? Don’t tell me you’re not General Li?”
“I’m not.”
***
Ingot stared blankly. He stared at this man who was being pursued by all the heroes under heaven, who everyone thought was General Li. Then he looked at Xiao Jun.
“Gao Tianjue told me with her own mouth that he is General Li’s son. I cannot believe that she would tell a lie.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“Then, he really is General Li’s son?
“Yes.”
“And didn’t you just tell me that he is your son, bone of your bones, blood of your blood?”
“Yes.”
“You do not seem like the type of person to tell lies, either,” said Ingot with a bitter laugh. “Can you just tell me what is really going on here?”
“It’s not really that complicated. You yourself are the one who has made it complicated, that’s all.”
“Oh.”
“Everyone has parents. And parents means more than one person.”
Ingot finally understood, but still found it hard to believe. “Don’t tell me General Li is his mother?”
“Yes.”
“Are you telling me General Li is a woman?”
“Yes.”
Ingot again stared blankly.
Three Fearsome Laughs General Li, whose name could shake the heavens, was a woman. This was a truly shocking matter.
Despite the fact that down to this day, no one had ever seen what General Li looks like, and no one truly knew whether he was a man or a woman, how could anyone put forth the idea that she was a woman?
In the popular mentality of the men of Jianghu, women are inherently weaker, and can never match up to men.
“General Li is his mother, and you are his father.” Ingot sighed. “Now I understand this part.”
“What else is there that you don’t understand?”
“The more I think about it the less sense it makes. Who exactly are you?”
There aren’t very many men who could claim to match up to General Li.
“Your martial arts, your heroic spirit, your complexion, your resourcefulness, I’ve never seen a second person who can compare to you.” Ingot’s words were spoken in complete sincerity. “If you were General Li, well that wouldn’t be anything strange. In my imagination, General Li should be just like you.” He sighed. “Sadly, you’re not him. So I just can’t figure it out.”
“What can’t you figure out?”
“If you’re not General Li, who are you? I’ve thought a lot about who in Jianghu would match your description. It just doesn’t seem that person exists.”
“You’re right, I really shouldn’t exist.” He gave a sad laugh. “Because I should already be dead.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Guo Mie,” he said. “I’m the Guo Mie who should have died seventeen years ago.”
Part 6
Guo Mie and Gao Tianjue, No couple in Jianghu had a higher level of martial arts.
They were the mortal enemies of General Li.
“End the heavens, destroy the earth” took it as their duty to pursue fugitive bandits and robbers. Who knew how many great criminals with excellent martial arts fell to them?
At the time when Three Fearsome Laughs General Li roamed Jianghu unhindered, their reputation was at its peak.
Everyone in Jianghu knew that “End the heavens, destroy the earth” would never let General Li go. If they did not execute such a great thief, they would regret it for the rest of their lives.
And so, everyone waited to see what would happen when the tiger and the dragon had their showdown.
No one was certain who would prevail.
But then “End the heavens, destroy the earth” suddenly disintegrated. Guo Mie disappeared from Jianghu, assumed dead, presumably at the hands of General Li.
Therefore, when Gao Tianjue reappeared, everyone assumed it was because of General Li. She must want revenge for the death of her husband. No one would think twice about it, no matter how vicious the methods she used.
Who could have imagined that she was not going up against General Li, but rather her own husband, Guo Mie?
Of course she knew he was Guo Mie and not General Li. Even though no one else in the world knew, Gao Tianjue definitely knew.
Why did she view her husband as an enemy who must die?
How could Guo Mie be alive?
How could he have a son with the arch-enemy of “End the heavens, destroy the earth,” General Li?
Why would the former Sect Leader of the Beggar Sect tell Xiao Jun that his mother had been killed by General Li?
When surrounded by the pursuing heroes, why would Guo Mie admit to being General Li?
Who had revealed his whereabouts?
In seventeen years, no one had been able to find him, why would everyone suddenly descend onto Jinan in only one night to come after him?
***
Who could explain these things?
**
[1] Everyone knows the most fearsome weapon in the world is a solitary box…