The woman smiled. “Look at how much you’re boasting. If they didn’t teach you this, you wouldn’t even know how to say it right now. Just drink your alcohol!”
“Something others taught you? Isn’t that a lie then?” Wu Huan could not help but say.
The old man was furious. “What lie? You’re the liar. I’m speaking from the bottom of my heart. I just don’t know how to put it into words!”
“I’ve misspoken.” Wu Huan apologised.
The old man instead became rather embarrassed by that. He rubbed his head. “I’m just strutting around with borrowed feathers. In the past, I wouldn’t even have the courage to look at you properly!”
“How come?”
“You’re a martial arts master. It’s only the matter of a single swing of your blade to kill common people like me. Now, we have the hero king watching over us, so even if you become an innate master, you’ll have to pay for your actions if you kill anybody.”
“Dad, he is an innate master.”
“Ah, forgive my declining vision. I’ll give you a toast!”
Tiedan also raised his head from his bowl, staring straight at him.
Only now did Wu Huan realise why the atmosphere in the northern region was so different. Normally, when he roamed through the jianghu, common people would completely avoid provoking anyone from the jianghu. Even regular martial arts practitioners would keep a wide berHow bizarre was that?
The caution between people vanished, so even with so many martial arts practitioners in the north, the sense of danger of being in the jianghu was gone.
If it were not for his great hatred, perhaps he would admire this hero king as well!
However, despite his mixed feelings, his bone-deep hatred would never change at all.
Li Qingshan, either you die or I perish!
“It’s quite nice like this. I’ll punish myself to a cup first!”
Wu Huan tilted his head backwards and drank an entire cup. The dishes were delicious, and the alcohol was high quality spirits. Apparently, the almighty society leader Gu had changed the method of brewing alcohol. Wu Huan felt slightly tipsy after only a few cups.
Wu Huan wanted to accept the child as his disciple, so he asked to feel him out, “Ma’am, it must be quite difficult to take care of your child and your father alone!”
“The hero king has said that the potential of women is just as great as men. Women can become supreme masters too. My martial arts is alright. There aren’t a lot of men in the village that can match me. If anyone talks behind my back, I’ll go and teach them a lesson. Tiedan is not a useless boy either. In the future, he’ll join the Youth hall and return with supreme martial arts. By then, who won’t be envious of me?”
“The Youth hall?”
Wu Huan only found out after some investigation that it was one of the halls of the World’s society, managed by the son of the Demon Lord of Seven Slaughters, Lei Lie. They specially recruited talented children from across the land. Not only was it absolutely free to learn martial arts in the Youth hall, but if they could pass the final exam, they could even join the World’s society directly. It was what every single child in the north dreamt of.
The woman rubbed the boy’s head. “Everyone who knows martial arts in the village has said that Tiedan’s talent is outstanding and that he’ll definitely be chosen to join the Youth hall!”
“Mum, I’ll definitely be able to do it!”
Wu Huan said nothing. In the past, if an innate master proactively tried to take on a disciple, that was something that common people could only dream of. Many stories of legends began like that.
But under these circumstances, an unknown person like him clearly was not as enticing as the Youth hall of the World’s society.
Before he had even realised it, it was late at night.
The woman invited him to stay, making him sleep with the old man. He was rather unwilling to leave like this, so he agreed to it.
In the middle of the night, a dark figure arrived before the child’s bed. The white moonlight illuminated his face, which made him seem extremely twisted. He whispered, “It’s someone from the World’s society who raped your mother. It’s the World’s society who killed your father! You’re exactly what they call you, a vile spawn! This is all Li Qingshan’s fault!”
The child was completely unaware as he slept away soundly.
Wu Huan was about to extend his hand and wake him. He planned to awaken the hatred within his heart, but it only made him feel his missing ribs, which left him at a loss again.
No one understood how painful the feeling of hatred was better than him.
And what did all of this have to do with this child? And that woman, had she not gone through enough pain already? She had already experienced such humiliation. The child was all that she had left.
If I had married her back then and had a child, he’d probably be grown up by now as well. He would definitely have the same kind of talent, and I could have taught him martial arts…
At that moment, a blank smile appeared on his face before he snapped back to his senses.
No, I want revenge!
A while later, he staggered out of the door, flipped over the wall, and shot off.
“Guest!?” The woman heard the disturbance. She draped some clothes on her and rose out of her bed, rushing over to the child and shaking him. “Tiedan! Tiedan! Wake up!”
The child rubbed his eyes. “Mum, what’s wrong?”
The woman let out a sigh of relief before discovering a bag of silver pieces by the bed. She thought, What a strange man, but he is much more pleasing to the eye than the old charlatans and young thugs in the village.
Wu Huan ran through the wilderness and let out a furious howl like an injured beast.
The moonlight was like frost, while the autumn wind was like blades. He paid no attention to his path, only travelling northwards blindly.
“Li Qingshan, come! Come! Let’s settle this once and for all!”
When the sky began to light up, he arrived before Beiping city, the legendary demon’s lair. He entered the city with the flow of the people, only to see everyone weeping and dressed in white. It made him feel even more dreary inside. Is there a plague in the city? The demon has defied the will of the heavens, yet you foolish people have actually stayed here to follow him. This is retribution!
However, the streets were bustling, so it did not seem like a plague. They all gathered in one direction.
He stopped a pedestrian. “Where are so many people heading? Who’s holding a funeral?”
“Sigh, the Suffering Subduing master is about to pass away. We’re all going to see him off!”
Don’t tell me it’s the Suffering Subduing abbot of the Salvation temple?
Wu Huan was surprised. That was someone whose name already rang through the world when he was young. Afterwards, he suddenly pledged his loyalty to the World’s society, which threw the entire martial arts community into an uproar of disbelief. Some believed he decided to bear the humiliation in an attempt to assassinate Li Qingshan, while others believed he had no other choice in order to protect all of the monks in the temple.
There were all kinds of speculation, but no one said he was afraid of dying. Afterwards, when the World’s society never ventured any further south, it was said that his words played a very great role in this, so he still possessed an extremely great reputation in the martial arts community.
Sigh, I didn’t think he’d end up dying in the demon’s lair!
He could not spend too much time lamenting about this. He could sense that he was getting closer and closer to his revenge!
……
The buddha hall was empty. An old monk sat alone before a single lamp.
Formation, existence, disintegration, and emptiness. Fate had both life and death in store. If he could not ascend, then there would be a time when the end of his life arrived.
He never had a particularly large chance at shattering through space, not to mention the fact that he almost had no time to practice martial arts in recent years.
If the Youth hall was the future hope of the World’s society, then the Salvation hall was their final safeguard. They specially handled emergency relief, taking in orphans and the disabled. Over the past sixteen years, natural disasters basically happened every year. Even with their successes at handling the disasters, it still resulted in a large number of orphans, which were all taken in and taken care of by the Salvation hall. As the leader of the Salvation hall, he provided these children with food and clothing.
The wealth of the World’s society was limited, and they had to build bridges, roads, and dams, so the most that they could do was ensure these people did not starve or freeze to death. In order for these children to eat a little better and be clothed a little better, all he could do was roam the land to seek alms.
He who had been an eminent monk detached from society in the past could no longer remain within the hall on the mountain. All he could do was move among the common folk, sometimes even relying on holding dharma ceremonies to make money. During his busiest times, he would hold over a dozen of them consecutively, completely relying on his true qi to hold on.
With these sixteen years, his reputation in the northern region was only second to Li Qingshan’s. It was even greater than Gu Yanying’s. He was basically a benefactor to all.
At this very moment, the entire city of crying was evidence.
Throughout the night, he finally issued all of his instructions for after he passed away, such that his death would not be mishandled at the very least. Finally, he had a moment of peace to himself, where he could contemplate his life.
Suddenly, he discovered that it had already been a very long time since he reflected like this. He was so busy that let alone any bad thoughts, even all of his good thoughts had been cast to the back of his mind. It made him recall the great drought in the central region where people starved to death left and right two decades ago. He had led the monks to chant and pray before the buddha, which lasted for three days and three nights without catching a wink of sleep.
Compared to the past few years, that was basically leisurely fun.
By now, he had almost even forgotten the scriptures he chanted back then, which made him smile wryly. Am I even a monk anymore?
The true qi in his dantian began to disperse as his complexion declined, but his eyes suddenly shone with clear light, like someone that had woken up from a dream. Suddenly, he realised he had probably been bewitched back then.
However, when he recalled everything he had done over the years, he actually could not find any regret at all. Instead, a sense of warmth filled him, like a lamp that was lit inside his chest, giving him an explanation.
“Hero king, what are you exactly? Good or evil?”
Sunlight poured in as the morning bells rang out. The lone lamp was extinguished.
“Master has passed away!”
