Death Scripture

Dog Butcher sat on the side of the road, contemplating the best place to find kung fu practitioners from the Central Plains. Old Man Mu’s acupoint had been restored awhile ago. Out of boredom, he was mindlessly kicking gravel around and waving the sword he had bought not long ago. Out of annoyance, he refused to talk.

Dog Butcher was facing a major issue. Since he knew nothing about Jade City, he felt like he was a blind man with no idea where he should begin searching. Yesterday, he had aimlessly wandered around the city with Old Man Mu pinned to his waist for more than half the night, and eventually he had inexplicably exited the city. Dawn had just broke, and there was nobody on the road except for themselves.

“The brothel, casino, inn, pub, blacksmith village, saberman village…” Dog Butcher muttered the names of the places they had visited repeatedly, hoping to find some clues. But after mulling it all over for quite a while, he still had nothing, so he turned his head and asked Old Man Mu, “Is it really that tricky to have an adventure in the martial arts world of the Western Regions? I thought that it was all about making friends, fighting enemies, and cavorting around heroically anywhere, anytime I want! Yet it turns out that it’s pretty much the same as the Central Plains’. No, it’s much harder here. Back then in the Central Plains, at least people knew of the Kongtong Sect when I mentioned its name.”

Old Man Mu snorted contemptuously. He raised his head and pretended to not hear Dog Butcher’s complaints. Yet he was so eager to talk to someone that his pride only lasted for a short while; he quickly ran up to Dog Butcher in a single step, and said, “Making friends, fighting enemies, and cavorting around heroically anywhere and anytime you want – that was my previous life. You still have a long way to go. First of all, your kung fu has to be as good as mine was ten years ago. And second, you need to learn to let things go. I mean, you barely have any brains…”

Dog Butcher knew what Old Man Mu was trying to say and he shook his head repeatedly. “I don’t want your life. You were a devil – killing innocent people, doing all kinds of disgusting stuff, being chased by enemies everywhere… I don’t want any part of that.”

Old Man Mu widened his eyes, and then changed his mind instantly as he replied, “Ha-ha. Fair enough. But I’ve changed now. I’m wholeheartedly serving the Dragon King who’s decades younger than me and was kidnapped by a man who had once been defeated by me, and it’s hair-rippingly hard to find someone to kill. Good, it’s really good. Why didn’t I choose this path earlier? Why… why are you giving me that look?”

Dog Butcher was peering curiously at Old Man Mu from his head to his feet, as if this was the first time that he had seen someone this short. “You have a lot of enemies, don’t you?”

“Of course. They’re everywhere. They could even form an army if somebody organized them.”

“Is there any chance that many of them are from the Central Plains?”

“All of the Nine Grand Sects are my enemies. You tell me.”

Dog Butcher knew that he was bragging, but he continued digging in. “The reason why the Kongtong Sect holds a grudge against you is because of me. But how did you make yourself an enemy of the other sects?”

“That’s none of your business. It’s been so many years since then. How am I supposed to remember all of that?” Old Man Mu thought on his feet quickly, squeezing his brain for the best way to make his lies foolproof. “The Jade Pure Sect is among the Nine Grand Sects, right? They wanted to snatch my Five Hole Punch technique, and I kicked several of their elders’ asses in response. That is the reason for the hatred between us.”

Dog Butcher nodded. On his arrival in Royal Court, he heard what happened to the five elders of the Jade Pure Sect. So he slapped his leg and stood up immediately. “Good. Then we’ll do it that way!”

“Which way? Don’t do anything stupid.” Old Man Mu had a faint feeling that he might have taken his bluff a bit too far.

“In the Western Regions I’m nobody, but you’re a celebrity.”

“I used to be, but not anymore. Find someone and ask him about me if you don’t believe it. There’re barely any people left who still know who I am. Now, the Dragon King is the star.”

“Not the Dragon King. Nominally, he’s still in closed-door cultivation. The Kongtong Sect and the Jade Pure Sect are all we need.”

“You want me to act as bait?”

“Yep, this is called ‘luring the snake out of its hole’.”

“Why aren’t you the bait? Just go whoring and then refuse to pay. Then I’ll show up and spread word that the elder of the Kongdong Sect is being a bully. If there’re any Kongdong disciples in Jade City, they will surely come and seek you out.”

Dog Butcher thought for a while, then he stretched his hand out to grab Old Man Mu. “That’s not a good idea. The Dragon King said that I’m the one who should call the shots, and I think that it’s better to use you as the bait.”

The decision had been made. Old Man Mu opposed intensely – acting tough, talking soft, making unbelievable suggestions, and of course swearing. Tu Pianpian, who had nothing to do with this at all, suffered from a lot of off-color words. Dog Butcher carefully defended himself against every accusation, and rather than change his mind, he keep adjusting his tactic of ‘luring the snake out of its hole’ to perfection.

Two hours later, Old Man Mu gave in. And not only did he give in, but he also enthusiastically started offering to help make preparations.

By dusk, this originally simple tactic had evolved into a sensational citywide kung fu competition.

There were two reasons why it had caused a sensation. The first one was its wildly arrogant slogan: the Number One Devil under the sun challenges all heroes – come and get your revenge if you bear resentment against him, and come and get some gold if you don’t.

Gold was the second reason why people had become interested. But the amount of the gold was uncertain – it ranged from dozens to ten thousand taels, and everyone spouted off a different number.

Suddenly, Lü Qiying discovered that he had become a busy man. Everybody said that he was the guarantor of the kung fu competition’s bounty. Both people he knew and people he didn’t were coming up to ask him for more information.

Lü Qiying day became grueling and long. He wanted to figure out what was happening but was unable to find either Old Man Mu or the Dragon King, so he had to close his door and refuse all visitors, secretly praying that he would still be able to leave Jade City alive after this.

Gu Shenwei heard the news that afternoon and he was fairly startled. He made a quick decision to stand by and wait to see the results of those two old men. At the same time, he knew that he could no longer return to Lü Qiying’s mansion.

Rumors of the kung fu competition only grew wilder as time passed. There was even a rumor circulating that the supposed ‘Old Man Mu’ had accumulated a hoard of treasure, including countless gold and silver, jewelry, and kung fu manuals, and that anyone who managed to survive more than ten moves of his would be qualified to pick out a treasure of their desire.

There hadn’t been any titillating news in Jade City for quite a long time, so the residents kept talking about this “Number One Devil” for an entire day.

The place for the kung fu competition was set to be an inn which was also a brothel. They reserved the whole backyard for the competition and it held a hundred people or so, and the time was also that night.

Night hadn’t fallen yet, but Dog Butcher was already looking around at the door. Old Man Mu appeared relaxed as he laid in a chair and enjoyed the grapes being fed to him by a fat prostitute. “Even if the Kongtong Sect doesn’t come, the Jade Pure Sect will come. Rest assured. Trust my charisma.”

But it turned out that Old Man Mu’s charisma was not as magnetic as he had imagined. He had gained his reputation a dozen years ago and it mostly spread within the areas to the north of Heavenly Mountain. Few people in the Western Regions had known about him during his peak, and after so many years the number of people who still knew of him was even fewer. When the residents realized that the so-called ten thousand taels of gold was probably nothing more than rumors, the “Number One Devil” lost most of his appeal and became nothing more than a joke people talked about as they drank.

When it was completely dark, there were only several dozen people still at the venue. Judging by their outfits, they were all poor sabermen who had just spent all their money and who refused to let go of any chance to make money. They would be tempted to wield their saber with just a promise of a hundred silver taels.

Dog Butcher became anxious. Old Man Mu tried to console him with another theory. “As far as I know, true kung fu experts always come secretly. They will only show themselves after I display my true strength. I used to do this a lot – make a scene and then shock them all. Ha-ha, really interesting.”

This was exactly what Dog Butcher was worried about the most – that Old Man Mu didn’t have much true strength left.

It was getting darker and darker, and the total number of people present finally exceeded a hundred. They were standing in the courtyard and yelling, demanding that the “Number One Devil” show himself.

Old Man Mu told the waiter to light the torches and finally made his dramatic entrance.

There was a chair on a table, and he leapt onto the chair.

The laughs grew louder. People were pointing and talking. Those who had come for fun felt that they hadn’t come in vain and that it was totally worth the trip to see the old dwarf.

A grave look appeared on Old Man Mu’s face. He took four ingots of gold, each hand holding two of them. Then he raised his hands and moved them slightly. The raucous of the crowd immediately lowered.

They had expended most of the gold which Old Man Mu had borrowed from Lü Qiying. Thus, Dog Butcher had gong to the casino in the daytime and won back some more money, more than half of which was used to pay for renting out the inn. After that, they had only four ingots of gold that could be used as bounty.

The gold was not as much as the ten thousand taels in the rumor, but it still worth five or six hundred taels of silver, which was more than enough to tempt those poor sabermen.

“Besides gold, there’s something else-” Old Man Mu teased before loudly declaring, “the opportunity to be an apprentice of mine. I’ll teach him incomparable kung fu skills.”

A black saberman stated the confusion all the others shared. “Why would I apprentice myself to you if I can defeat you?”

Old Man Mu jumped onto the table and placed the gold on the chair, “You don’t understand, do you? As the saying goes, ‘an old horse knows the best road to take,’ ‘the older, the more powerful,’ and ‘the older, the stronger’ – all of these sayings talk about the benefits of being old. Even if you can defeat me, which is impossible of course, you still have a lot to learn from me…”

The sabermen didn’t care whether they could be an apprentice of him or not, and they only concerned themselves with the gold. One of the sabermen jumped out impatiently and yelled, “We can talk about the apprentice thing later. I can get the gold if I defeat you, right?”

“Yes. But this is just small potatoes. Becoming my apprentice is the real bounty.”

“Small potatoes, big potatoes, I don’t care. I just want the gold. They’re real, right?”

The owner of the inn was a thin old man, who had been standing by the table and eyeing the gold the whole time. And it was not until Old Man Mu signaled him several times consecutively that he realized that it was his turn to say something. “They’re real. I can guarantee that with my inn.”

The question was answered and the saberman whipped out his saber, planning to finish the fight quicker than anybody else. “Come on, little devil.”

“Hey, a kung fu competition is a kung fu competition, so don’t arbitrarily give people nicknames. I’m Old Man Mu, the ‘Number One Devil Under the Sun.’ State your name first if you want to have a competition with me.”

“Gao Futong.”

“Sect? Master?”

“No sect, and my father is my master.”

“Where are you from?”

“Second River Village.”

“Which Second River Village.”

“The Second River Village in the Loulan Kingdom. Why are you asking these questions? Your gold will be mine anyway.”

With a cape on, Dog Butcher blended into the crowd. He excluded the possibility that this saberman was from one of the famous sects of the Central Plains. Actually, even if the saberman hadn’t stated his identity, Dog Butcher was still able to tell that he was not a disciple of any of the famous sects.

Dog Butcher didn’t know the exact reason, but in his eyes, the disciples of the famous sects of the Central Plains had a kind of unique disposition, which he didn’t see in any of these men around him.

He was fairly disappointed.

But on the contrary, Old Man Mu was rather happy. He pulled out his sword and swung it around wildly. “I just bought this sword earlier and now I can try it out on you. Let me tell you something. I’m a martial arts genius – saber, spear, sword, halberd, I excel at them all. But relatively, the sword is my worst-”

Gao Futong had being impatient for quite a long while, and with a yell, he raised his saber and launched an attack.

Dog Butcher moved slowly through the crowd and started closely examining these men one by one. He raised the hoods of several sabermen who wore capes just as he was, and nearly started a fight in the process.

Old Man Mu obviously hadn’t fully adapted to the sword yet, and it was not until they each made twenty or thirty moves that Old Man Mu finally yelled “Gotcha” and stabbed Gao Futong in the shoulder. Gao Futong made an awkward exit to the laughter of the audience, giving a reluctant glance at the four gold ingots before leaving.

The sabermen made their entrance and fought with Old Man Mu one by one, with occasional disputes as well. Old Man Mu was getting more and more used to his sword, and his opponents were being defeated faster and faster. From the eighth opponent on, no one managed to last for more than ten moves of Old Man Mu.

“Where are the kung fu experts from the Central Plains?” Dog Butcher muttered quietly, unaware that several dozen extra spectators had shown up outside the walls of the inn. Some of them stayed hidden while the others didn’t, and there were even several of them in the crowds – they had already secretly surrounded the inn.