93 Blood for Blood (1/2)

Chapter 93: Blood for Blood

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Ning Que lifted his head, staring at his expressionless face and said, ”There's still some pros despite of all the hard work. Those who've learned Olympic Mathematics would have no problem with such examination questions, to the extent that they would feel that these are foolish questions. No matter what, they would be smarter than me, even if I've worked hard for my whole life.”

”For no reason, I've come to such an awful place and lived in the General's Mansion for several years. Just because of people like you, not only that my good days were gone, everyone that I knew was dead. My father and my mother were dead. I was only four that year, yet I've to start thinking on annoying questions about my life and death. How can I not be tired?”

It was the first time he held onto a chopper when he was four, and that year, he killed the first person in his life. When he saw the dark bloodwater flowing from the blades of the chopper to between his fingers as they gradually thickened and solidified, he realized that chocolate hotpot was actually a disgusting food. After the killing, he tried washing his hands several times, but the smell of the blood and the rusty smell of the chopper seemed to linger on his hands. These smells had been following him for the past twelve years.

He held his right hand under the rain and allowed the rainwater to wash his hand, yet he felt that he could never wash away the thickened blood between his fingers. With his pale-looking face, he said, ”Before that, I've never killed anyone, but now I find it easier to kill people than doing examination questions. I am not married, yet I need to drag along a kid to travel with me thousand miles across Min Mountain. Everytime I met up with someone, I kept worrying that he had the intention to kill me and snatch away the kid to marry as wife. Do you think I am not tired?”

”You are the one that caused me to feel so tired. Hence, I need to kill all of you in order to feel more relaxed. It's only when the blood in all of your bodies flow out can I feel my hands clean. You may take this as a cold-blooded revenge, but sometimes, I felt that it is necessary for me to clean my hands.”

Ning Que stared at the dying old man and said, ”I am going to use your blood, for the washing of the blood on my hands.”

After which, he squatted down and picked up the chopper that was beside the old man. He looked at the old man and added, ”As to whether you can die in peace, you can ask the people you've killed at the General's Mansion when you reached the Underworld. However, I believed a useless man like you, who wasted your whole life singing one's own praises about loyalty and thought that going through hardships is a way to pay for your evil deeds, will never be able to die in peace.”

He then whispered into the old man's ear, before he raised his chopper and slashed it across the old man's neck like an experienced wood cutter. The old man's neck was chopped off. He then stood up and picked up the bamboo rain hat from the courtyard, which was already filled with rainwater. He put on the hat, pushed open the door of the courtyard and walked out.

The rain in the courtyard was still falling, and the pounding sound from the steelwork was still heard. However, there was no one outside the woodshed chopping the pile of wood, and the chopper was stuck on the old man's neck.

The former Xuanwei Vice-General, Chen Zixian, was now the miserable blacksmith at the Eastern City of Chang'an. He stared into the sky and looked at the falling of rain from the sky. The cold expression in his eyes was suddenly darkened. Regardless, he could not shut his eyes as he allowed the rain droplets to fall into his eyes, and to wash away all the blood that remained.

…

…

Under the big black umbrella outside the Poor people lane, Sangsang silently stared into the lane. From the beginning till now, she did not change her posture. With a pair of tiny and torn shoes, she stood at the same spot waiting. The rain got heavier as it drenched her hair and her left shoulders, but she did not move an inch. Neither did she retreated herself to hide under shelter.

There was no one in the lane, but footsteps could be heard. She turned around and saw Ning Que walking out from the west side of a lane, wearing a bamboo rain hat on his head. Under the shade of the hat, his face was very pale. She hurriedly rushed over with the umbrella to shelter him and before anyone noticed, they rapidly left the area.

The second name on the oilpaper, Chen Zixian, was finally struck off today. He was one of the direct murderers for the massacre in the General's Mansion. However, Ning Que did not appear too good as they returned to their Old Brush Pen Shop on Lin 47th Street. After wiping off the rainwater on his face, he went to bed directly without washing his feet.

For the past few days, he had been going through a lot of hardships in the old library. Regardless of his mental or physical energy, both had already reached their limits. Moreover, he needed to kill the person under the rain today, which drained his mental energy even further. Thus, when he was finally able to relax and after catching a slight cold from the spring rain, he could not help but collapsed onto the bed like a sack.

He could feel no warmth from his slightly cold body even though Sangsang had already covered him with two layers of blankets. He stared blankly at the ceiling, which was glued with many papers, as he murmured, ”Do you know why I must enter the Academy? Do you know why I have risked my life just to stay in the old library? Do you know why I have tried so hard just to step into that world?”

Sangsang squatted at the door and was busily boiling ginger soup for him, hence she did not bother much about his murmurs, which occurred every one and a half year. Neither did she have the time to answer all his pointless questions.

Ning Que turned over with difficulty and watched the tiny figure that squatted at the door. He kept quiet for a long while before he smiled gently and said, ”These questions are indeed foolish. Of course, you know the reasons...but others do not know. To say that my reason for all these actions is because I like it would be the weakest reason ever. Killing a censor and an old blacksmith are already very exhausting for me. If I am who I am right now, the strong me equipped with three blades... how am I capable of killing Xia Hou and the Prince?”

”Xia Hou is too strong.” He turned his head back and stared at the yellow papers that were glued to the ceiling again. He murmured, ”How can I kill someone who is at the peak state of Martial Arts? If I never pursue cultivation, I can never kill him.”

”The princess had said before. If Young Master still insisted on going to the old library to torture yourself, your body will be unable to take it.” Sangsang took the bowl of boiled ginger soup and sat by the bed as she used all her might to lift Ning Que up, before she added in a soft voice, ”Before you can even pursue cultivation, I believe you will be dead before Xia Hou by then.”