928 Breakthrough (1/2)
Watching the familiar face of the body beneath his feet, Wild Horse was carried back to his memories of six years ago. Back then, he had had two arms and the rear half of his tongue, but he didn't mind the disfigurement at all. Words became redundant when he was able to express everything through a saber or a sword.
He believed that he was born to be a killer. Unlike the many other people who had been taken away from their family when they were still young, he retained some of his childhood memories. He remembered the boundless snowy ground, his grim-faced parents, and his joyous playmates. And even more vividly, he remembered the scenes of them being killed.
Back then, he had only been five or six years old, but even then he had felt nothing when he had seen his parents be killed. He had merely been surprised that it was so easy to kill people. It had taken those people in black just a single saber slash to kill someone. Their movements had been neat and clean, and it seemed like killing was even easier for them than collecting spring wild vegetables was for a villager.
A killer walked up to him, looking at him with expressionless eyes. ”Are you a fool?”
Because his eyes were unnaturally far apart, many people had similar suppositions about Wild Horse since his childhood. He remembered that he immediately shook his head at that time, but he didn't remember whether he had spoken or not. Speech had disappeared in his memories a long time ago.
He never found out the identity of that killer who had stared at him back then, and neither had he ever tried to find out.
He had then been sent to a place outside the mountainous area, where he lived with three other children of his age. The house was shabby, but the food there was far better than what he had had in his own home.
One day, the adult responsible for bringing them meals came to them. Besides food, he also brought out four strange sabers and said, ”I will only bring enough food for one from now on. You'll have to decide who shall have it.”
While the other three children had been looking at each other in confusion, Wild Horse was already rushing to the first narrow saber that he had seen and grabbed it. He tried to imitate the killers he had seen before. Clumsily but composedly, he soon killed his three companions. Nobody even touched the other three narrow sabers.
”Not bad. You'll make a good killer,” the adult said blandly. Clearly he was very used to this kind of scene.
Then, Wild Horse had been sent to another strange place. There were a lot more children, and their age varied from four to thirteen years old. Every day, they practiced sabersmanship from dawn until dark, and they also worshiped Golden Roc Castle and the Unique King, both of whom they only had a vague concept of.
On the seventh day after his arrival at the new place, Wild Horse followed the examples of the strongest children and cut off his own tongue, but he wasn't acknowledged right away. Two years later, he had become accepted by the strong after he proved that he was one of the best among his peers. He was also given the name ”Wild Horse.”
As a matter of fact, the so-called ”strong” was a title that was constantly given to different children. Before the elementary-level training was over, several seemingly invincible children had been defeated by obscure challengers, usually because of a momentary carelessness.
It was from that time on that Wild Horse realized that, a;though kung fu was important, it was not the only quality that a killer should have. A strong will, calmness, patience, a quick and accurate judgement, and a good sense of timing for counterattacks were all helpful at crucial moments.
On Wild Horse's first day in Golden Roc Castle, an experienced killer instructor had started to instill a similar killer philosophy the into young newcomers, which made Wild Horse very excited. He wholeheartedly believed that the stone castle was a holy shrine for killers, and that it was well worth his many years of worship.
The training in Carving Wood Yard was uneventful. Wild Horse was neither outstanding nor weak. He was now a senior member of the ”Snow Mountain Gang,” the members of which had all cut off their tongues, and he had also secured his status within it, so nobody dared to bully him.
And then he had gone to the Furnace Yard where Wild Horse had remained a mediocre trainee. It was also where he and his enemy, Servant Huan, had met but still been unaware of each other's existence.
After that, the apprentices started killing each other. Just like how a storm always blew down the tallest trees to allow the shorter ones, which had been overshadowed before, to enjoy more sunlight and rainwater, the relatively stronger apprentices were killed first, and Wild Horse was one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Unlike the Servant Huan who was at a loss for what to do, Wild Horse had long since prepared himself for this situation. He had a wide range of contacts. He knew how to make full use of his leadership. And he certainly knew how to survive during a chaotic battle.
As a result, he looked down upon Servant Huan and the Tattooed Arm Gang, believing that Lotus was the only true killer in that small group.
For a very long time, Wild Horse had regarded Lotus as his only opponent. He had tried to co-opt her, and he also tried to assassinate her. But all of his attempts had failed.
Eventually, it was Servant Huan, whom Wild Horse despised, who changed his destiny.
After Wild Horse left those killers behind and started socializing with his masters, his advantages instantly became disadvantages. He was unable to make friends with the Tenth Young Master Shangguan Ru. Shangguan Yushi appreciated him, but only regarded him as a tool that she could use to deal with Servant Huan.
Wild Horse still scorned Servant Huan, but was frequently outdone, and his contempt for him soon turned into hatred.
Servant Huan broke numerous killer rules, but instead of being punished, he had been promoted again and again. His very existence was a threat to all killers as well as a potential flaw of Golden Roc Castle.
The premonitions of Wild Horse had then been verified one after another, and it was through this very process that the lofty image of Golden Roc Castle in his mind had finally collapsed. Wild Horse started to seek his own path. Old Man Mu, the Essence Pavilion, the lords of the Norland, the Waning Moon Hall – like he had when he was a child, he yielded to many powerful forces. However, he always refused to take orders from that mortal enemy of his, no matter if he was called Servant Huan or the Dragon King.
Likewise, when the strong became weak, Wild Horse regarded his inevitable betrayal as a natural thing, and he didn't even bother trying to justify it. Just like the sheep and cattle, no matter how abundant the grass initially was, they always had to transfer to another place before they ate up all of the grass.
Wild Horse's kung fu became better and better, but surprisingly, the gap between him and the Dragon King was growing wider and wider, which greatly confused him. Eventually, he attributed it to the Death Sutra.
The Death Sutra was no longer a secret. There were more and more rumors about it circulating around. Wild Horse finally understood why Servant Huan, who didn't act like a killer at all, had stood out amongst all other competitors. Like the other servants who had achieved success and won recognition, it was neither hard work nor wisdom but rather luck that Servant Huan had relied on.