Entering the Spirit Void, Chapter 105: The Youth in the Blue Shirt
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He therefore said, “Our Castle Lord is on the closest of terms with Lord Zhu Ping, the celebrated master of the Zhu Family Hamlet. Lord Zhu Ping’s disciple, the Shadowless Divine Lord He Shaoen, obtained a portrait. That portrait was able to prevent the carnage caused by the posted proclamation. Our Castle Lord wished to have one made as well, but the Register of Eminent Figures feared that, if portraits became too numerous, those who saw the proclamation would recognize the deception and the portraits would lose their power to stop them. Lord Zhu Ping ordered our Castle Lord to send someone at once to invite Master Guo there. He said it would be even more effective than using a portrait to repel the enemy.”
Li Hao was secretly astonished. He thought, “The Register of Eminent Figures must possess some sinister methods. They have uncovered my connections so quickly. They truly deserve their reputation. Now that I have seen through their secret, they intend to use my father’s portrait and my relatives to restrain my movements. Their efforts will be in vain.”
Fury rose from the depths of his heart, and murderous intent followed. Sai Yanluo and the other four men could not see the expression beneath the stranger’s mask.
They had assumed that, having spoken frankly, the masked man would forgive them and spare their lives, allowing them to leave on their own. Little did they know that Death already stood before them, guiding them toward the gates of hell.
Even with five brothers bound together by life and death, how could they possibly stand against the masked man?
The masked man gave a harsh, voiceless rasp, then struck rapidly across the writing board:
“Stand up. I shall give you a fair chance to live. Use whatever skills you possess and attack me together. Let life and death be decided by the superiority of your abilities. If you die, you will have no cause for complaint.”
After reading the words he had written, the five brothers were inflamed with the determination to fight to the death. They exchanged glances, sprang upright, and drew their weapons.
Sai Yanluo glared at the masked man and demanded, “Do you want us to attack together, or face you one by one?”
The masked man bared his teeth in a smile and wrote swiftly:
“There is no time for single combat. If I cannot deal with five nameless errand boys, how could I ever claim that I intend to exterminate the martial world?”
When Sai Yanluo saw the words, he realized that the masked man had contemptuously called all five brothers mere errand boys. Although they were not among the martial world’s foremost experts, neither were they unknown nobodies.
The five brothers had once joined forces at Snake Mountain and killed the famed River Hero Hai Dafu, who had dominated the middle reaches of the Yangtze.
Hai Dafu’s skills on both land and water were renowned throughout the martial world. Relying solely on his ancestral blade technique, he had made a name for himself in the middle reaches of the Yangtze and swaggered about without fear. Many celebrated martial artists had fallen beneath his fierce saber strokes.
The head of the famous Yang Escort Agency in the south was the Sword God, Yang Jieren. Possessing a sword art entirely his own, he had traveled the martial world for more than twenty years, crossing the great riverlands from north to south and battling experts everywhere without ever suffering defeat. Thus he had earned the honored title of Sword God.
But on one private escort mission, he offended Hai Dafu. The two agreed to fight at Turtle Mountain. Yang Jieren was already advanced in years and weakened by age. After nearly two hundred exchanges, Hai Dafu finally used a stroke called “Southern Goose Turns Back” and sliced away most of Yang Jieren’s head, killing him on the spot. From that day forward, Hai Dafu’s fame soared.
While touring Wuhan’s scenic sights, the five brothers visited the Yellow Crane Tower and drank deeply of fine wine. Afterward, their loose tongues offended Hai Dafu, and they joined forces to fight him at Snake Mountain.
By then, Hai Dafu was not only old but also a dissipated libertine.
Money and power follow a person’s reputation. Once a man becomes famous, wealth rolls toward him; with wealth and power come what people call glory, riches, honor, and rank.
When a man reaches such a state, he can have whatever he desires and indulge his every whim. Few people, especially among the blackguard factions of the martial world, can resist wine and women. Hai Dafu was a perfect example.
The five brothers had joined forces and slain Hai Dafu not because their martial arts were truly formidable, but because Hai Dafu was old, his strength had declined, and he had been weakened by wine and lust.
The brothers failed to understand this and instead believed their own kung fu extraordinary.
Xiao Qiang gave a cold laugh. “Hah! Hah! Though our brothers may run errands for others, we are hardly unknown in the martial world. We once joined forces to kill the great Saber King Hai Dafu. No one in the martial world dares look down on us.”
The masked man wrote rapidly:
“Pride is the seed of disappointment. Killing others is an omen that one will soon be killed oneself. Time is precious. Unleash your finest arts and attack at once. The moment I strike, your lives will be over!”
The five brothers exchanged a glance. They immediately shifted position and surrounded the masked man. Each used everything he had learned, including his deadliest techniques, aiming at the masked man’s vital points.
The pressure points on the masked man’s body could not be subdued by ordinary methods of striking the acupoints, and ordinary blades and swords could scarcely injure him.
Moreover, his arts had been taught by a master of great renown. He possessed extraordinary talent, and, driven by the desire for vengeance, he had practiced day and night. Every unusual martial art celebrated throughout the realm, he had mastered to perfection.
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The instant the five brothers moved, the masked man saw through the depth of each man’s skill and knew who was the strongest.
Seeing that Xiao Qiang’s kung fu was more solid than that of the other four, the masked man decided to send him to the King of Hell first.
He tucked the writing board and pen into his belt. At that very moment, Xiao Qiang swung his saber down with all his strength. The masked man stretched out his long arm and seized the blade.
Xiao Qiang was startled that the masked man had not dodged his fierce stroke but had instead reached out to snatch the weapon barehanded. He tried to alter the attack, but it was already too late. The blade was locked in the masked man’s grasp, and he had no chance either to withdraw it or save his life.
The masked man’s hands and feet were astonishingly swift. The instant his right hand seized the great saber, he kicked as well. The power of the kick, together with its accuracy and speed, was rarely seen in the martial world.
With a heavy thud, Xiao Qiang’s tall body was sent flying through the air. He crashed backward into the trunk of an ancient pine so broad that two men could barely encircle it. His skull shattered, and he died on the spot.
The brothers had long practiced their coordinated attacks. When Sai Yanluo struck, the others immediately attacked from the masked man’s left, right, and rear.
The man on the left slashed at the masked man’s shoulder. The attacker on the right aimed at his thigh. The man behind him thrust his sword viciously toward the back of his heart.
All three attacks were launched almost simultaneously, and each was fierce and deadly. Another man stood ready with concealed darts, watching closely in case the masked man leaped upward to escape their encirclement.
How, then, did the masked man evade the three blades closing in from the left, right, and rear? In truth, what is difficult for the unskilled is effortless for the adept. A true expert can evade countless weapons amid a vast army and still turn the tables, sending his enemies to their deaths.
At the instant the masked man seized Xiao Qiang’s blade and swung his leg, he bent forward at the waist until his face nearly touched his knee. In doing so, he not only avoided the thrust from behind but also slipped past the attacks from both sides. It was perilous, yet exquisitely skillful; the blades missed him by no more than a hair’s breadth.
After kicking Xiao Qiang away, the masked man landed on the tip of one foot and spun with incredible speed. Turning around, he thrust both arms out like flashes of lightning and seized the brows of the two men on either side, drawing their heads together and then tearing them apart.
As he brought them together, he used their bodies to block the furious thrust from the man before him, while simultaneously smashing their heads against each other. With a resounding crack, both skulls split and blood poured freely.
Then he wrenched his hands apart, exerting hidden force, and tore the arms from the two men’s bodies.
The pair cried out once and collapsed onto their backs in pools of blood. The masked man gripped their severed arms as weapons and attacked the swordsman behind them.
With a move called “Thunder Crashing Upon the Crown,” he used the dead men’s arms to smash a gaping hole in the swordsman’s skull. Blood spurted several feet into the air. The swordsman staggered backward a few steps, then fell dead.
The man holding the concealed darts had remained nearby, watching and ready to support the others. Seeing the masked man kill all four of his brothers with scarcely more than a movement of his hands and feet, he was so terrified that he could not even throw the darts in his grasp. He spun around and fled.
The masked man gave a harsh rasp and pursued him.
Suddenly, a figure flashed out from beneath a tree and shouted at the masked man, “Stop! Do not wipe them all out. Leave one man alive to carry the news, so that people will know whose enemy the dead men were!”
The masked man abruptly checked his forward rush and looked up. The man who had appeared to block him was a handsome young man dressed in a blue scholar’s robe, white cloth socks, and black cloth shoes embroidered with the character for good fortune.
After looking him up and down, the masked man removed the strange writing board and golden pen from his belt and demanded in a severe tone, “May I know your distinguished name?”
The youth in blue saw that the masked man’s running script possessed the graceful charm of the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi. He had clearly practiced Wang Xizhi’s cursive hand. With a faint smile, he said, “You are plainly a man of both letters and martial skill. Why disguise yourself as a masked bandit?”
The masked man turned the board around and wrote rapidly:
“You have not answered my question and are deliberately evading it. In that case, let us each go our own way.”
He lowered his body, intending to spring past the young man and continue after the fleeing man.
The youth in blue raised a hand. “Wait! I am not evading your question. I came here specifically to find you.”
The masked man flipped the board over and wrote swiftly:
“If you came here expressly to find me, why are you unwilling to tell me your surname?”
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The youth in blue smiled. “If we exchange names, then we must exchange them with one another. Is that not so?”
The masked man nodded and wrote on the board:
“That is only proper.”
The youth in blue said, “You have covered your face with black cloth because you do not wish others to see your true appearance. Then surely you are even less willing to let them know your name?”
The masked man hesitated, then nodded without writing anything further.
The youth in blue said, “I have not offered you my humble name, not because I mean to evade you, but because I wish to spare you further embarrassment.”
The masked man nodded again, indicating that he accepted the explanation.
The youth in blue continued, “Your calligraphy is excellent. You must be one of those learned scholars who have studied the classics. We who read the books of the sages place great importance on the two words ‘honesty’ and ‘trustworthiness.’”
After listening, the masked man gave a crooked smile and nodded without writing.
The young man in blue went on, “As a learned scholar, you naturally understand poetry and propriety. You must have some unavoidable reason for masking your face. Otherwise, you would never violate the great principles of the sages by committing an act so shocking and outrageous.”
The masked man let out a long sigh, again signifying his agreement.
The young man in blue smiled and asked, “Was the proclamation calling for the extermination of the martial world your work?”
The masked man nodded in answer.
The young man in blue shook his head. “Your action was ill-considered. It is not the way of a true scholar. There is something improper in it—improper, contradictory, almost laughable. I wonder whether this was your own idea, or whether someone else suggested it to you.”
The masked man wrote rapidly:
“Please enlighten me as to its merits and faults.”
The young man in blue assumed a fighting stance and smiled. “As the saying goes, above every man stands another, and beyond every sky is another sky. It means that beyond every peak lies a higher peak, and that the world of human achievement has no limit.”
The masked man nodded, agreeing with him.
The young man in blue said, “I too am a member of the martial world. My training is far from accomplished, and the world is vast, with countless prodigies beyond reckoning. I am merely a young fellow with little experience. Let us exchange a few moves. If you can put me to death, you will prove that your proclamation is mistaken.”
The masked man opened his fierce eyes wide and stared at him, hesitating.
The young man in blue smiled. “As far as I know, my martial foundation comes partly from my family and partly from fortuitous encounters, along with diligent study and reflection. I have gained a few insights, but by the standards of the martial world, I am merely a mediocre young practitioner.”
After pondering for a moment, the masked man wrote on the board:
“Very well. I shall learn a few moves from you.”
The young man in blue smiled. “There is no need for courtesy. Please make your move.”
Seeing that the young man was unarmed, the masked man tucked the pen and writing board into his belt, assumed the customary stance of a martial contest, and immediately launched an attack.
The young man in blue saw that the masked man’s palm force was formidable. He was standing on the Thunder position of the Eight Trigrams, and with a slight movement of his left foot, he shifted to the Fire position, deftly avoiding the masked man’s palm strike.
The masked man launched three attacks in succession. Yet the young man in blue merely shifted his left leg or moved his right foot, his body always remaining within the positions of Lake, Fire, and Thunder. The masked man’s brows furrowed, and he abruptly withdrew his palm instead of continuing the attack.
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