Chapter 4 – An Extraordinary Person, an Extraordinary Place, Extraordinary Things (1/2)
Part 1
The 18th day of the first month of the lunar calendar.
A place no one knew about.
How could a bunch of randomly shaped metal parts be the most fearsome weapon in the world?
**
Little Gao hadn’t completely regained consciousness yet, but this question was still wrapped around his heart like a poisonous snake.
When he finally completely regained his senses, he was frightened into silence by the sight in front of his eyes.
He suddenly found that he was in a place that could only exist in the most bizarre dreamscape.
It seemed like a mountainside cave, but Little Gao couldn’t be sure. Whoever arrived here would have the same reaction as he, and be entranced.
He had never seen a place with so many amazing and fascinating things.
Light emanated from multi-colored, Persian crystal lamps, illuminating enormous, bizarrely-shaped stalactites. Gand-made, finely decorated rugs, strange and beautiful, covered the floor. Strange weapons hung on four sets of wooden racks. Sevearl of them, Little Gao had never seen before, or even heard of.
There was also a piece of coral nearly nine feet tall, several elephant tusks about three feet long each, a horse carved from flawless white jade, a collection of various plants, fruits and vegetables made from jadeite and agate, and a huge golden Buddha from Siam, draped with strings of jewels, sparkling and shining, as large as lychees.(1)
Furthermore, on a large table were laid out jade and gold drinking vessels as well as crystal bottles, filled with fine alcohols from every corner of the earth.
Standing next to the soft bed where Little Gao lay, were four exceedingly beautiful women wearing gauze gowns as diaphanous as cicada wings. They looked at Little Gao, giggling. One of the girls had blonde hair and blue eyes, skin whiter than snow, and a pure, innocent smile; another had skin as dark as puce, as supple-looking as satin, lithe and glossy, almost sparkling. Little Gao was completely entranced.
The weapons, the treasures, the beautiful women, all were things that normal people would never be able to see.
Could it be that this place did not lay within the mortal realm?
If it really was hell, who knows how many people in the world would be willing to go to hell?
Part 2
—Who are you? What is this place?
The girls only laughed, they didn’t speak.
Little Gao wanted to get up, but his shoulders a girl who appeared to be as delicate as a pendant on a fan held him down by the shoulders.
He didn’t dare touch her.
He knew that he wasn’t the type of person who could easily resist temptation.
Wat drove him crazier was the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, who grasped his face with both hands and blew gently into his ear.
Little Gao could feel himself changing, and he was changing in a very awkward and embarrassing way. (2)
Suddenly his body twisted, warping in an unimaginable way and bending in a completely unexpected direction. (3)
The girl holding his shoulders and the girl grasping his face felt something slide past their hands, and suddenly realized the person they had been holding was no longer there. Upon turning their heads, the found him hiding there behind the golden Buddha statue.
“You’d better not come over here,” he said loudly. “I’m not a good person, if you dare make a move in my direction, I won’t be polite.”
He was actually somewhat afraid of these girls, but if they really approached him, he wouldn’t be too sorry, and he wouldn’t be too scared.
Unfortunately, they didn’t go over, because the master of this place had already appeared.
Dashing and thin, of very tall stature, he had a glossy black silk gown casually draped over his body. His long, pitch-black hair hung down loosely over his shoulders.
Though dressed casually, he had the bearing of an emperor.
Especially his face.
His profile was distinct and well-defined.
His face, pale white, completely devoid of color, looked as if it had been carved from white marble; it carried an indescribable, cold grandeur.
As soon as they saw him, the girls dropped gracefully to the ground and prostrated themselves. Little Gao suddenly said, “You’re definitely the master of this place.”
“Yes, I am.”
“I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. How come you brought me here?”
“I don’t know either.”
“You don’t know either?” cried Little Gao. “How could you not know?”
“Because I didn’t make you come with me, you came along with me on your own.”
Little Gao was shocked. So shocked that he couldn’t even open his mouth for while.
“I came along with you? Don’t tell me you’re the person with the box?”
“Yes, I am.”
Little Gao held his head with his hands. It seemed like he was about to pass out.
An ordinary person wearing coarse clothes, miraculously turning into someone like an emperor.
This kind of thing only happened in myths, and yet Little Gao had just seen it happen.
**
“Exactly what kind of person are you?” Little Gao stepped out from behind the Buddha statue. “Are you a top-notch assassin who wanders from one corner of the earth to the other with your box? Or are you some kind of incredibly rich recluse who’s abandoned the world of mortals? These two types of people are complete opposites. Which one are you?”
“What about you?” the man retorted. “What kind of person are you? A hot-blooded kid who’s curious about everything in the world? Or a cold-blooded swordsman who views human life as trash?”
“I’m a student of the sword. If someone studies the sword, they should devote their life to it, and not fear death. What about you? Why do you kill people? For money? Or because killing people makes you happy?” Little Gao stared at him. “Does it make you happy to know you can decide whether people live or die?”
The black robed man turned and walked to the large table. He poured himself some wine from one of the crystal drinking vessels, then slowly drank it down.
Afterwards, he continued in an indifferent voice: “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a happy thing. But sadly, I am like most people in the world; I sometimes have to do things that I don’t really want to do.”
“Why did you kill Yang Jian?”
“For Zhu Meng. Because I owe him a life.”
“Whose life?”
“Mine.”
“Zhu Meng saved your life?”
“Most people find it hard to avoid dangerous and challenging circumstances. I’m no different. You’ll also face circumstances like that one day, and you can never predict who will be there to save you, just as you can never know what kind of people will die by your hand.”
“Not die by my hand, but by my sword,” said Little Gao. “The people who’ve died by my sword are all people who’ve devoted themselves to the sword. I’m like them, so if I died by their sword, then I would die without complaint.”
The black-clothed man suddenly took a long, strangely shaped sword down from the shelf. He looked coolly at Little Gao. “And what if I used this sword to kill you right now?”
“I think it would a great pity,” said Little Gao. “Because I still don’t know who you are.”
“You already know enough, enough for me to kill you.”
“Oh?”
“You already know that I killed Yang Jian, and you already sneaked a look at my solitary box.”
“But I didn’t see anything,” said Little Gao. “I still want to know how that could be the most fearsome weapon under heaven.”
“You really want to know?”
“I do. I really do!”
The man suddenly drew the sword, and its cold aura blasted against their faces. Its flickering light was dark green in color.
“This sword is called Green Willow, a relic left behind by Taoist Gu from Mount Ba.(4)” He gently caressed the blade. “Years ago, Taosit Gu swept China with his Cyclone Dancing Willows 49 sword forms. It’s hard to say how many famous swordsmen died under this sword.”
He put down the long sword, and from the rack picked up a flower-shaped broadaxe.
“This is the axe that Hidden Hero Wu Lingqiao from Mount Huangshan used long ago. (5) It weighs eighty pounds. Even though he only used 11 different stances, each stance was extremely lethal. It’s said that at the time, no one in Jianghu could hold up against seven of them.”
Next to the broadaxe hung a weapon that looked like somewhat like a spear, and yet wasn’t. Instead of a spear head, it had a sickle-shaped blade, attached to shaft with a metal chain.
“The Iron Chain Flying Sickle can mow people down like grass,” said the black-clothed man. “It’s said that this weapon comes from Japan. Its weapon forms are secretive, never before seen in China.”
He pointed at some of the other weapons on the rack; a pair of Judge’s Brushes, a set of Emei spikes, a Tiger Cross blade, a hooked Wu sword, a polearm, a Persian cutlass and large white bamboo pole. “In the past, these weapons were used by the greatest masters of the time. Each one has its own unique weapons forms, and it is impossible to say how many souls of martial arts masters are collected in them.” (6)
“But I’m asking about your solitary box,” blurted Little Gao, “not these weapons.”
“My solitary box,” said the black-clothed man, “is the essence of these weapons.”
“I don’t understand. How could a solitary box contain the essence of thirteen different weapons? I looked inside, and all I saw was a bunch of random pieces of metal tubes and parts.”
“There’s a mystery to it, of course you wouldn’t be able to see. But you surely understand that all weapons in the world are made up of random pieces of metal. If you put the pieces of metal together, then they become a weapon.” He finally gave a more detailed explanation: “To have a sword, you need the body, the blade, the hilt, the cross-guard, the grip. If you put these five different things together, then you can make a sword.”
Little Gao finally seemed to understand, at least a little. “Are you saying that you can use the metal parts in the solitary box to make a kind of weapon?”
“Not a kind of weapon, thirteen kinds of weapons. Thirteen completely different types of weapons.”
Little Gao was shocked into silence.
“Thirteen different methods can be used to make thirteen weapons of completely different shape and style. And yet each of these weapons is different from commonly seen weapons, because each one contains the abilities of at least two or three other weapons. The essence of all the weapons forms of all these weapons, are contained in my solitary box.” He looked at Little Gao. “Now do you understand?”
Little Gao was now completely speechless.
He finally understood how exactly Yang Jian, Cloudy Sky and the seven others appeared to have been simultaneously killed by three different types of weapons and yet were killed by a single person.
Of course he’d realized this before, but he hadn’t been able to completely believe it.
Without being able to see with your own eyes, who could believe that such an ingenious, complicated weapon existed in the world? (7)
But Little Gao had no choice but to believe.
So he let out a long sigh. “Whoever forged this weapon definitely is a genius.”
“Yes.”
The black-clothed man’s white, noble-looking, cold face was suddenly filled with a strange expression. It was an expression you might see on the face of a pious believer upon sudden mention of their venerated deity.
“No one can compare to him,” said the black-clothed man. “His swordsmanship, his wisdom, his way of thinking, his patience, his blacksmithing skill. No one compares to him.”
“Who is he?”