Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Dog Butcher took a deep breath and seriously said, “I’m ready.”
Old Man Mu looked at him contemptuously. “Ready for what?”
“To find those kung fu practitioners from the Central Plains and figure out why they came to Jade City.”
Old Man Mu yawned and said, “Go ahead. Come back and fill me in if you’re still alive by then. I’m going to go catch up on some sleep.”
Dog Butcher wasn’t that stupid. He pointed at Old Man Mu and let out a few short laughs.
Old Man Mu was confused. “Old Dog, to be honest, you’ve become much weaker compared to when you were younger. How did you turn into a woman after a dozen years of closed-door cultivation? Meanwhile, your sister is just as violent as always.”
Dog Butcher thought for a while and seriously replied, “You’re right. Maybe it’s because I have a lot more self-control now… No… Oh, I get it — after I learned that you became shorter and that your kung fu was not as good as mine, I became sympathetic…”
“Sympathetic my ass!” Old Man Mu jumped off of his chair and a murderous look appeared on his face. “My kung fu is not as good as yours? You’ve got some big balls saying that. Let me tell you something. Although I only have sixty or seventy percent of my former strength left, it’s still more than enough to handle a guy like you. Kung fu competitions and killing is not just about power; they’re also about experience and techniques, which I have in spades compared to you.”
Dog Butcher was indeed modest with his response. “Sure you might have a point — the Dragon King’s power is not as great as mine, but I can’t defeat him. But you — ” Dog Butcher shook his head as he continued, “The gap between us is too wide to be filled by experience and techniques.”
Weaker people were more easily provoked — Old Man Mu’s reaction confirmed it. Despite the fact that he clearly knew that Dog Butcher was never careful with his words and that he had meant no offence, Old Man Mu still became furious. He leapt out and his body rocketed towards his target, his first move the deadly Five Hole Punch.
With the crutch in his right hand not moving from the ground, Dog Butcher guarded against his opponent with only his left hand, and in a brief moment, both of them had made seven or eight moves.
Old Man Mu blushed an even deeper red. He suddenly and abruptly jumped back into his chair and waved his hand dismissively in anger. “I’m done with this fight. So boring. A rotten wood can never become a great sculpture, and Dog Butcher will never be a good student. You’ll never understand.”
“Understand what?”Dog Butcher was confused — they had clearly been engaging in a kung fu competition and he had gotten the upper hand. Just a few more moves and the victory would have been his.
“Look at the kung fu you are using — it’s not suitable for spreading your wings in the martial arts world. From now on, you should just stay at home at night, and try to avoid dark spots. Then maybe you’ll still be able to stay alive.”
“What’s wrong with my kung fu?” Dog Butcher was even more confused, and he involuntarily became even more humble.
Old Man Mu had successfully shifted the topic away from the embarrassing fact that he had been no match for Dog Butcher, and he started gravely explaining. “The palm technique you just used is not steady enough, yet not aggressive enough either. It’s clearly only suitable for paired practice. What’s paired practice? That’s a sparring format adopted by disciples of the same sect or relatives, or friends to practice kung fu. It means that both sides, the two partners, clearly know what kind of moves the other side is capable of, and that both sides will always reminds the other side to take advantage of it when they discover a flaw of their opponent. For the Dragon King’s sake, I’ve been taking it easy on you, which is something you should never expect your adversary to do in the real martial arts world.”
“Are you saying that I was being too kind to you?” Dog Butcher seemed to have faintly grasped the essence of Mu’s words.
“Uhh, anyway, if you want to survive the martial arts world, you’ll have to be ruthless, and you’ll have to strike with deadly intent right from the beginning. If you do it slowly and step by step, I’m afraid you won’t ever have the chance to perform your deadly blow and will die regretfully halfway there.”
Dog Butcher found it very inspirational. He clenched his right hand excitedly and the tile underneath his crutch was crushed to powder. Then he said excitedly, “Let’s have a second round.”
Old Man Mu closed his eyes and calmly replied, “I want to sleep. I don’t have time for this.”
“Then when will we go find those kung fu practitioners from the Central Plains?”
“After night falls.”
“Where?”
“Just follow me.”
“Do we need to disguise ourselves or something?”
“We don’t.”
“Should I get some sleep then?”
“Do it in another room.”
“Hmm, I’ll come and call you when it’s dark — nearly dark or completely dark?”
Old Man Mu’s response was a string of weird snores.
It was not long after that Dog Butcher got up again. As he watched the sun set, he calculated the time silently. When the last ray of sunlight finally disappeared, he started counting, and when he reached 100, he opened the door and walked out of his room to next door. He was just about to knock when Old Man Mu opened the door.
Old Man Mu seemed quite refreshed and he must have had a sound sleep. After glancing a few times at Dog Butcher, Old Man Mu stretched his hand to snatch at his crutch. Dog Butcher applied what Old Man Mu taught him earlier this afternoon and instantly replied back with a ferocious full strength palm attack.
Old Man Mu was startled. He somersaulted backwards, did a backwards roll, and then cautiously walked back into the room. “What’re you doing? Are you out of your mind?”
“Weren’t you testing my reflexes?”
“Testing my ass. I was telling you to leave the crutch.”
The crutch had been Dog Butcher’s weapon in recent years and he always brought it with him, so he instinctively refused. “Maybe we will need it.”
“And I’m telling you that we won’t,” Old Man Mu berated as he walked out of the room angrily.
Smiling, Dog Butcher said no more and left the crutch in his room.
The two left the courtyard and started languidly walking east. Old Man Mu seemed pretty relaxed, which made Dog Butcher feel suspicious. He was just about to ask him about it when he suddenly heard a series of ‘tings’ come from off in the distance. “Is that a blacksmith?”
Old Man Mu ignored him. They didn’t walk for far when a blacksmith village appeared.
Looking at the weapons hanging at the front of the shops, Dog Butcher suddenly understood something. “Good idea. Kung fu practitioners of the Central Plains also need to buy sabers and swords.”
“I don’t know about them, but we need to buy some.”
“Why?”
“You see, more than half of the men in Southern Jade City carry weapons with them. When in Jade City, do as the residents do. We need to act like them.”
“Hmm, so this is another form of camouflage.”
“Yep.”
Old Man Mu walked into a seemingly large smithy.
There were not many ready-made weapons available and Dog Butcher made a quick choice and choose a straight narrow saber. On the other hand, Old Man Mu was very picky. Sometimes he felt that the weapon didn’t fit in his hand, and sometimes he believed that the weapon was defective. After quite a while, he picked up a sword and said, “This is the one. I’ll make do with it.”
The blacksmith gave two laughs, took their money, and saw them off. As he watched their receding figures fade into the horizon, he remarked to his apprentice, “That’s the first time I’ve seen someone be shorter than his sword.”
Old Man Mu sped up and this time he definitely had a destination in mind. Before long, they arrived at the front gate of a large mansion.
Unlike a common mansion, this one was brilliantly illuminated. There were plenty of hospitable servants standing at the door, and people were going in and out in a continuous stream.
“Is this a… brothel?” Dog Butcher asked.
“The Flower-Plucking Garden. Although the women here are not as beautiful as those in the Retention Alley, they are superior in terms of number and variety. I’ve always meant to see them with my own eyes, but I’ve never had the chance.”
“Uh… This is…” Dog Butcher blushed. “What’re we doing here? If Senior Sister finds out…”
“She would say ‘Wow, finally, my younger brother has become a man.’ Ha-ha.” Old Man Mu mocked Dog Butcher in Tu Pianpian’s signature high voice, and he actually somewhat resembled her to some extent.
“I don’t think this is a good idea. We have a job to do.”
“Exactly. We’re here for the job. Think about it — if even I am interested in the Flower-Plucking Garden, there must be many kung fu practitioners from the Central Plains here, right?”
Before Dog Butcher could think of anything to rebut him, Old Man Mu had already strode inside.
There were barely any kinds of guests that the servants of the brothel hadn’t seen, so they didn’t feel strange when they saw two old men walk in — one of them white-haired, the other as short as a kid. The servants immediately walked forward and showed great hospitality, asking about their preferences.
Dog Butcher enjoyed a nice dinner, the price of which impressed him the most, startled him, actually — it was several hundred taels of silver. Fortunately, Old Man Mu had prepared ample money for this night of lavishness and paid the bill with gold; what impressed him the second most was the women. Flower-Plucking Garden indeed did have a “superior variety,” as there were many Barbarian prostitutes, who looked unique yet seductive in Dog Butcher’s eyes, and whose impressive hospitality was something that he had never encountered before.
With regards to the food and wine, Dog Butcher didn’t pay attention to them and couldn’t remember anything about them at all afterwards.
But Old Man Mu had guessed wrong. Kung fu practitioners from the Central Plains were obviously not interested in the Flower-Plucking Garden. None of them had shown up here, and the staff members of the brothel also claimed that they hadn’t seen many guests from the Central Plains recently.
At around midnight, the two left, drunk, and Dog Butcher couldn’t help but glance back. Old Man Mu patted his waist and consoled, “Relax. We’ll have plenty of chances ahead. I can guarantee that you’ll get what you want.”
Dog Butcher shook his head, depressed. “No, I won’t come here again. That was enough for me.”
Old Man Mu laughed out loud and obviously didn’t agree with him.
After they left the brothel, the two went into a nearby casino, and it was very busy at this time with many people yelling and cheering. Dozens of bare=chested gamblers were gambling.
Old Man Mu had to raise his voice to talk to Dog Butcher. “If the people from the Central Plains don’t have any interest in prostitutes, then they must be gambling. Let’s just stay here and wait for them to show up.”
“You have extra money?” Dog Butcher asked worriedly.
“Come on,” Old Man Mu replied with a sneer. He took out some gold and asked the waiter to convert it into silver, which was several hundred taels in total. He gave half of them to Dog Butcher and said, “Go have some fun.”
“You’re loaded,” Dog Butcher commented in shock. Although he was an elder of the Kongtong Sect, he would never give people money like Old Man Mu had just done. “You must’ve saved up for quite a long time, right?”
“Moron. Back then when I was in the Norland, nobody dared to mess with me, and yet you think that I’m the type of person to save money? This money is all from the Dragon King. We’re working for him, and so of course the expenses are on him. We’re just following his command to go whoring and gambling, and the Dragon King will be disappointed if we don’t spend enough money.”
Dog Butcher’s values were being broken down tonight. Though he felt uneasy, he had to admit that he kind of enjoyed what they had been doing tonight.
He was not much of gambler and he first stood amid the crowds and watched for a while until he understood the rules. By this moment, Old Man Mu had already gambled away all of his money and grabbed half of Dog Butcher’s.
Dog Butcher then made his entrance. He chose to play in dice-throwing.
Old Man Mu lost his last two ingots of silver and was almost ready to bet the sword he had just bought, but he managed to control himself at the last moment and walked up to Dog Butcher in disappointment.
The silver before Dog Butcher was piled up like a small hill, and the banker on the opposite side was sweating buckets.
Old Man Mu converted the silver to gold and got his money back, and there was even some extra.
“I never expected you to be so skilled at this.” Outside of the casino, Old Man Mu showed admiration to Dog Butcher for the first time ever. “Who taught you?”
Dog Butcher was very modest as he replied, “Nobody taught me, but I found that dice-throwing is a pretty simple game. I can get whatever number I want as long as I exert the appropriate amount of energy.”
“You used your internal energy?”
“Yeah.”
Old Man Mu pushed Dog Butcher into a quick run immediately. After quite a distance, he finally stopped and explained, “Listen to me. This is the only time you’re ever going to do that. Don’t do that ever again. Gambling is all about the thrill. It would be boring if you couldn’t lose. Besides, you have internal energy while the other gamblers don’t. It’s so unfair…”
Dog Butcher was listening to Old Man Mu’s lecturing when the latter suddenly stopped talking and leaped sideways onto a wall. Dog Butcher followed along and leaped beside him and looked in the same direction he was staring into.
In the yard, a man had opened the gate and respectfully welcomed in a blake-caped female. Then he led her into the main chamber.
Old Man Mu’s gaze was intent. Dog Butcher suddenly understood that the black-caped female was clearly Han Wuxian, and that Old Man Mu hadn’t been strolling around with him but had rather been stalking her.
However, this was not the task that the Dragon King had assigned them.
