Death Scripture

A South City noodle vendor had broken his leg. As a result, a master and his disciple were paid to hunt down a macheteman.

Neither the master or the disciple knew the vendor. They did not know who he was, or what kind of person he was. Neither did the vendor know them; he requested simply the machetemen’s one finger. In the end, he received a head.

Only the broker, a major Protector knew how the accident happened. In fact, the prostitute he frequented was having an affair with a handsome machetemen. She had been wasting his money on another man. This irritated the major Protector a lot. However, the handsome machetemen had powerful connections. So the Protector transferred his anger on another machetemen that had no connection to this incident whatsoever.

The unlucky machetemen lived in a village on the fringe of town. It was full of tramp machetemen from different places. They were either hunted, or were as poor as Job. They only had their own lives and chipped machetes, in search of opportunities in this “Land of Sword and Saber”.

The machetemen Nie Qing was new here for less than two months. He occasionally acted as temporary bodyguards for wealthy merchants. Therefore, he did not have powerful connections yet. In Tie Hanfeng’s eyes, he was an easy target.

On the day, it was raining for the last time this autumn. It poured in the morning, and drizzled in the evening. The temperature dropped at dusk, and few pedestrians were on the street.

A dirty kid ran to Southwall Tavern in the rain. He whispered to Tie Hanfeng, and ran away with some taels of silver.

Tie Hanfeng sipped a drink. “He’d be home all day. Don’t worry, wait till the rain stops.”

But it did not stop even at noon. Tie Hanfeng sighed. “God just won’t let you go forth smoothly. Come on, we’ll finish the bastard today anyway.”

They borrowed rain capes from the tavern, and picked up two sabers stored in a small room.

The sabers were impeccable products from Golden Roc Fort, left by some unknown killers.

On the way, Tie Hanfeng first started to complain about the weather. Then, he described his wonderful retirement life: To live in big North City residences, to sleep with Pleasure Alley prostitutes, to drink Southwall liquor, and never touch a saber again. He would probably have a son or whatever.

Tie Hanfeng had grown interested in washing his hands lately. He cited several successful and failed examples. Not all Golden Roc Fort killers died by the sword, many of them died a natural death. But he had to prepare early. Most of them were penniless when they were deprived of the killer title. In the end, they could only live in small houses on a hillside, and depended on Stone Castle’s little salaries. They could barely make ends meet, even couldn’t drink in town.

Some killers had to resume their work as killers, but never as a “Golden Roc Fort killer”. Hence they had to join the tramp machetemen. That way, they could never tell if someday they would die by the sword of the new generation of killers.

“I will never live such a life.” Tie Hanfeng vowed. The rain fell on his face. He did not take notice of that.

Some successful killers had saved enough money before retirement. Some went out of the town. Some bought houses in North City and enjoyed the safety that was given living under Golden Roc Fort. That way, they would live their remaining years in peace.

Hearing this, Gu Shenwei became restless. “If the killer is such an ordinary profession, am I driven away from my revenge now?”

He had been worried these days. He feared that he would listen to Master Shifu’s teaching, that he would die as a killer in North City. What top killers, what revenge? He feared that he might leave it all behind.

When they were two blocks away from Nie Qing’s home, Tie Hanfeng kept his mouth shut. He looked around, holding on his saber handle. In an instant, he turned from a weary old man to a ruthless killer.

They didn’t need to converse too much. Tie Hanfeng led the way, and Gu Shenwei followed him 10 steps away. On the cold cement road, after two turns, they finally arrived in front of a small yard.

It was a simple yard. Its walls were low. Thus, Tie Hanfeng jumped over. Gu Shenwei looked around, and also jumped into the yard.

Due to the pouring rain, the yard had turned into a pond. Listening in front of the door for a while, Tie Hanfeng walked in.

The two people looked at the strangers in amazement.

“Who are you? How did you get in?” A woman in her 30s coldly asked. She put down the dough. Then, she seemed to realize something, and added, “He’s gone out to drink.” She resumed with the dough.

Gu Shenwei stood at the door, watching for the outside. He only glanced at the boy in the room.

The boy was skinny and dark, and looked like he had practiced kung fu. He was in front of his mother protecting her, wordless.

Tie Hanfeng looked into the back room and grunted. “The bastard gave me wrong intelligence again.”

The woman dropped the dough and pushed her son away. “You guys work out on your own. Don’t drag me and my son into this. We can’t help, and we don’t want to.”

Tie Hanfeng nodded but didn’t answer. Instead, he asked the boy behind, “How old are you?”

“14.” The boy coldly replied.

“14, it’s time for you to take on the sense of revenge due to your father.”

The woman’s countenance changed. The boy still didn’t know what would happen. He took a stand and proudly said, “You can’t beat my dad. If you kill him, I’ll revenge…”

“Shut up!” The woman snapped. “Your dad is a macheteman, he risks his life. He’ll die someday. What revenge?”

The boy blushed. “I am also a macheteman. I will protect him.”

“Fetch your machete.” Tie Hanfeng ordered.

As the boy turned to the back room, Tie Hanfeng rushed to him and hit the boy in the neck. The boy fell to the ground, lying motionless.

The woman grabbed her kitchen knife, rushing to the killer screaming.

Tie Hanfeng casually dropped her knife. Then held her neck and covered her mouth. “Finish the kid, I have other things to do.”

Gu Shenwei was familiar with Tie Hanfeng’s countenance now. However, he was uglier than ever. “Is it necessary?” asked Gu Shenwei.

The disciple’s challenge surprised him. “Of course it is. It saves me dozens of taels. You know how expensive they are. Besides, this woman is dying, wouldn’t it be a waste?”

“I think we’re killers.” Gu Shenwei accepted battered bodies, but found it hard to accept his Master Shifu’s action now.

“Damn you, don’t play the good guy. Save it. If someone interrupts me, or the boy is still alive afterward, you can call it a day. I’ll show you how a good guy ends up.”

Tie Hanfeng took the woman into the back room. Quickly, there came struggling, crying and panting.

The boy on the ground gained consciousness. Then, he wiped off the blood on his forehead. He shouted “Mom” and dashed toward the back room. However, as soon as he took one step, he was knocked down again. Gu Shenwei was pointing the saber towards the teens heart.

Gu Shenwei tried to focus on his saber. He told himself. “I can’t help him. Even if I were to free him, Cripple Tie will hunt him down. The only thing I can do now is spare him the torture.”

The boy got up and was knocked down again. The kung fu he learned from his dad was defenseless in front of a killer.

Hearing the sound from the back room, the boy on the ground raised his head. He placed his neck against the saber and said, “Kill me, my aunt will avenge.”

Gu Shenwei looked at him and stabbed the saber in.

Tie Hanfeng walked out of the back room, his cape missing. He wiped his hands with the dishcloth on the shelf. Sitting on the kitchen range, he looked at the boy’s body and said, “Wait for a moment, he’ll come home.”

Gu Shenwei stood beside the door. He murmured a “yes” and looked at the dough.

It was pouring outside, yet it was eerily silent inside.

“People are flesh and bones.” Tie Hanfeng spoke up, lecturing like he used to. “People are no different than stocks. The saber goes in, the person dies. Every man, every woman and child, you, and me, we all die someday. People are born to kill each other.”

Gu Shenwei didn’t say a word. Before he could defeat his Master Shifu, he would never argue. In his eyes, people led a different life, a life he used to live but was ruined by Golden Roc Fort overnight. He would never see his dead loved ones as flesh and bones. Without the love for the family, the endeavors now would be meaningless, the hardships and disgrace he used to bear would crush him in a second.

Tie Hanfeng stared at his disciple, his cheeks slightly working. He had finally cheered up from the drizzle, now it was ruined by this boy. He said, “I have ways to fix you.”

Gu Shenwei had learned Master Shifu’s sticks and stones, thus he did not care too much.

It got dark early, and the rain slowly stopped. Silence fell both inside and outside of the room. The two killers waited patiently for their target.

Someone pushed the courtyard door open and stumbled in. The water splashed like it was being walked on by a bear. The “bear” shouted. “Where’s my lady? I’m back, don’t play dumb. Little brat, where are you? I may as well raise a dog. Dogs welcome me every day…”

Nie Qing was drunk as he pushed the door open. He staggered at the door, adapting to the dark. He became furious when he first saw an unfamiliar old man on the kitchen range. Then, he saw the body on the ground. Immediately he knew what had happened. He yelled and drew out his machete.

Before he could draw the machete, a saber from behind pierced him in the waist. He was pierced through, and he could even see the blade itself in front of him.

Nie Qing opened his mouth and couldn’t think straight. He started to stagger backwards, and his hands scrambled to grab the blade that pierced through him, but in vain.

Gu Shenwei pulled out the saber, and the body fell forward. At the same time, Tie Hanfeng darted to grab at the hair and cut his head. He didn’t even interrupt the body’s falling.

He put the saber away and drew a black cloth to wrap up the head. He handed it over to his disciple.

The two people looked around in front of the yard. Then, they left after confirming no one was watching.

On the road, a sneaky young man fetched the head. The task was finished.

They returned to Xu Yanwei’s loft. Xu Xiaoyi opened the door. Seeing their long faces, he did not greet them cheekily like he used to.

“Where’s your sister?” asked Tie Hanfeng.

“She’s upstairs.”

“Any customer?”

“Not yet, they’ll come soon.”

“Well, send my disciple up. Let her teach him how to be a man.”

This was Tie Hanfeng’s idea of “fixing” his disciple.