Chapter 323: Turn around
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
This place was even more shabby than that chaotic machetemen village; there were houses of mud and straw that followed one after another with their interconnecting doors. Strangers entered and left, but nobody seemed to care.
There was nothing of value worth to be stolen or robbed in those houses.
Gu Shenwei passed through one mud hut after another, also passing by a thin and weak boy; an old shivering woman; two men in a deep sleep; a flock of chickens; some cows and sheep leisurely chewing lay. Finally he found his target.
A skinny man was laying on his heated brick bed, and his skin was sallow and flabby as if he had not eaten for a long time. Only his eyes, still bright and shiny, gave him the expression of a sick lion ready to jump off to hunt at any moment.
In his hand, there was a saber with the scabbard, which was as battered as this room, and could barely cover the knife.
As this person was not very famous in Jade City and recently almost vanished without a trace, Xu Xiaoyi had to spend a lot of energy to locate his whereabouts.
Gu Shenwei sized him up for a while, but still could not recognize him, so he asked, “Are you Hu Shining?”
The skinny man seemed already dead; he did not have any reaction. Only after a while did he roll his eyes and look suspiciously at his visitor, sighing slightly.
“Are you the training tutor of the East Castle’s Carvewood Academy?” Gu Shenwei could not refrain from asking another question. He really could not associate this skeleton man with the strong master Hu.
A few years ago, Hu Shining was a training tutor of Golden Roc Fort, specialized in training a dozen teenagers who wanted to become killers. It was him who regretted that Salve Huan once refused a complete initial training and recommended this unusual disciple to Tie Hanfeng.
A year later, however, he lost the position as training tutor.
As usual, the castle of the killers was full of complicated personal fights. Hu Shining was thought to be part of Young Master’s faction, thus once Shangguan Chui died, he would be purged too.
He could choose to retain the name of Golden Roc’s killer, live in a small house on the side of the mountain, receive a basic monthly salary, and spend his last years in this way. At that time though he was not yet even forty, and as many killers don’t accept their age, he voluntarily refused to have any connection with Stone Castle, becoming a wandering macheteman.
The first two years passed by without any problems and Stone Castle’s killers were part of the same circle and helped him a lot; however, they had an unwritten rule: Never take part in a fight with Golden Roc Fort. Therefore, at the time of the kunqiu war, these middle age killers chose to stay aloof.
During the following years, however, Hu Shining began to experience bad luck and misfortune one after another. First, he had a serious disease and had spent almost all his savings, then the two missions he took part in did not go very well and thus he lost his client. He began to be marginalized even in the circle since everybody believed that as training tutor, he lacked real fight experience, and he did not deserve to stay with the other killers.
The second time he lost a personal battle, he became a completely vagrant macheteman. Common machetemen though also had many kinds of circles related to sects, families, acquaintances, and money. There was no one like him and after accidentally having offended some small Protectors, he became an unwelcomed macheteman.
In this way, he gradually ended up in the poorest corner of South City where even bandits could not find the way, eating dull and waiting for his end.
During all this time, Hu Shining did not receive any information and thus did not know anything about the outside world. He didn’t even know that the man standing there was the legendary Dragon King. Furthermore, he could not recognize that this was that Slave Huan who was so determined in becoming a killer.
This was probably someone who came to kill me for revenge, he thought, hoping that he would attack soon.
Gu Shenwei thought that the kindest way to treat this middle-age macheteman, who had lost his fighting spirit and his vitality, was to give him a saber, but he said, “I’ve got a job for you.”
Hu Shining twisted his neck and looked at this pale young man with astonishment. Then, recognizing some characteristics that only Golden Roc’s killers had, he asked, “Who are you?”
“My name is Yang Huan.”
“Yang Huan?” Hu Shining repeated his name, but it did not ring any bells in his mind. “I don’t even have a saber, so I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
That young man was clearly related to Golden Roc Fort. He was definitely starving to death and to avoid any trouble he did not want to be involved in any fight with Golden Roc Fort.
“Think about it. Whenever you want you can find me at my residence.” Gu Shenwei was a bit disappointed and felt that he found the wrong person.
Gu Shenwei turned around and took two steps when, Hu Shining, still lying on the brick heated bed, suddenly uttered a sentence, “You always turn right, this is not good.”
Gu Shenwei stared blankly for a while; he had never noticed this detail of always turning right. Since he entered the room he had only turned around once, so how could that man say “always turn right”? Gu Shenwei suddenly regained interest in the half-dead Gu Shining.
“If you want, this is your job.” Gu Shenwei added before going away, “Correct young people’s mistakes.”
Gu Shenwei was standing at the entrance of the courtyard, after having passed again through the poor and indifferent residents. He was thinking about his habit of turning right when he suddenly took his hand out and grabbed a teenager from a bundle of straw mats leaning against the wall.
Just as the other poor people who lived there, the young man was dressed like a beggar, and on his dirty face there were frostbites, yet his hand was holding a short sword.
The short sword was shiny and sharp, even spotless – in deep contrast with its owner.
It had been a while since Gu Shenwei had discovered he had a little stalker, for whom he almost felt a kind of admiration, but his eyes were as cold as ever. Most people would panic and beg for forgiveness under the gaze of these kinds of eyes.
The young man instead looked bravely into Dragon King’s eyes, without drawing back even a step. “I’m not afraid of you,” he said with a slightly trembling voice.
Gu Shenwei threw the young man in the corner. “If you really weren’t afraid of me, you wouldn’t say it out loud. Often the words coming from people’s mouths are the opposite of those in their heart.”
“I, I…” the young man was confused by Dragon King’s words and did not know what to say.
The young man was called Nie Zeng and was only thirteen years old. He arrived at Jade City to avenge his uncle’s family – the three of them died, killed by Tie Hanfeng and Slave Huan.
He had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to avenge himself at the Residence of Dragon King, but he missed the opportunity because he was too timid. Even though Dragon King did not kill him, he felt so ashamed that he wanted to throw himself into a river.
Nie Zeng had been wandering about the Residence of Dragon King for a long time, hoping to have another opportunity, and this time he would not hesitate.
Dragon King seldom went out through the main gate. Nie Zeng kept on walking around the Residence of Dragon King with an incredible perseverance and only one thought in mind, “Meeting by chance with Dragon King.”
That day, finally happened this “by chance”.
But Dragon King was no more in the situation of the qigong deviation and almost did not have a chance to make a move.
“Do you want revenge?”
“I want revenge.”
“Do you know how difficult it is to take revenge on someone?”
“I know, but I don’t care how hard it will be. Nothing will stop me from seeking revenge. Unless you don’t kill me now.”
“I’ve been preparing for revenge since I was 14 years old. It’s been more than six years now and I haven’t done anything yet. For how long can you bear it?”
Nie Zeng leaned against the wall and stared at Dragon King’s pale face, speechless. He had heard that Dragon King wanted to seek revenge against Golden Roc Fort but had never thought about what this revenge had in common with his. He suddenly felt ashamed by Dragon King’s words and, in a low voice, said, “I’m not like you. You have Master Shifu. From whom do I learn kung fu?”
“Over there, there’s a man called Hu Shining. You can learn from him.”
Nie Zeng watched Dragon King disappear at the corner of the street without moving. This was not like Dragon King. Wasn’t he the one who killed in a wink? How come that his own head was still on his neck?”
Gu Shenwei went back to the Residence of Dragon King, where Maid Lotus said, “That child has got a savage character. He is indeed a good young successor. I’m just afraid that one day he will seek revenge on you.”
Maid Lotus was following him everywhere, but most of the time she would not show up.
“It doesn’t matter. On my back, I’ve got a needle which can keep me on alert.”
Hatred is such a powerful force. This was one of the most important lessons Gu Shenwei had learned from Golden Roc Fort. As long as well trained, one could control this force and direct it outside but not inside.
After that, Lotus Maid did not say a word. In silence, she was pondering about what role she had next to Dragon King. It was like a needle in her heart, sad yet proud.
Fang Wenshi was already waiting for Dragon King. During those two days, he had lost his mind and had been analyzing Golden Roc Fort’s intention to marry the Princess. What’s more, from the Special Emissary from the Central Plains, he received some big news which suddenly cleared up his mind.
“The Supreme King really is a wily old fox. He’s faking this peace negotiation only to get his son married to the Princess.” Fang Wenshi began to say, “Do you know how perfect the Princess is?”
Gu Shenwei did not know it, but Fang Wenshi was not looking for an answer and kept on talking by himself, “She’s the King’s younger sister. The King hasn’t got any children and has been sick for many years. People say he will live only for a few years and after his death, the royal family will cease to exist. According to the Western Region’s tradition, only the Princess’ son is the eligible one to the throne, do you understand?”
Fang Wenshi kept beating his left hand with his right fist, “All the countries in the Western Region are going crazy. This is clear: whoever marries the Princess will acquire the country. The only thing left then is giving birth to a child. Who would not be jealous? I heard there are 70-80 kings who want to propose.”
Fang Wenshi beat faster and faster, and his mind became clearer and clearer, “The Supreme King wants his nephew to become the king, then…then leave the throne to him! Jade City is long and narrow on the western-eastern side but is quite wide on the north-south line. Once someone has captured Stone Kingdom, then nobody can stop them from becoming the king.”
In the Stone Kingdom, in Gu Shenwei’s mind appeared the image of a weak thin young man. When he was younger, Slave Huan had been involved in the conspiracy against the royal family, during which the king had been killed and the final winner resulted in the second born Prince, the current king of Stone Kingdom.
Gu Shenwei had a premonition that the Supreme King wanted to be connected with the Stone Kingdom by marriage. This was not an improvised plan since it had probably already been several years since Golden Roc Fort was secretly involved with the Stone Kingdom, and at that time he even unintentionally helped the Supreme King a lot.
Fang Wenshi stopped beating his hand and stretched his arms. There was something he had been waiting to tell Dragon King for a long time. “You can’t let the Supreme King achieve his goals, but the only way to stop Golden Roc Fort, Dragon King, is marrying the Princess.”
