Death Scripture

Unlike killers, machetemen were employed to perform tasks for their master, thus, they had to be loyal to their master. Because of this, while killers had to commit suicide when their master was killed, however, machetemen could be relieved of their obligations and look for another master.

Tuo Nengya was a barbarian. His machete skills were largely different from those who came from the Central Plains and he often fought with two scimitars. He came to Jade City when he was in his twenties and he was famous in his early years. It was rumored that Golden Roc Fort had wanted to accept him as an official killer, but he declined the offer because he wanted to enjoy more freedom as a macheteman.

In the last few years, he had been serving under Shangguan Chui as the leader of the group of machetemen. Many called him Boss Tuo.

After hearing this information from Bigmouth Liu, Gu Shenwei did not make a decision immediately. Instead, he went around to observe again and heard many rumors about the Horned Dragon Society.

As Horned Dragon Society was established by the children of many wealthy families in North City, Gu Shenwei immediately thought of Fifth Young Master Meng. Fifth Young Master Meng should have been involved in this matter, but there was little information about the founders of the society. Hence, no one knew who was part of this society. Even for the Machete God Contest, it was organized by several protectors from South City and Horned Dragon Society only offered monetary support.

Gu Shenwei did not heed Bigmouth Liu’s advice and went up to Tuo Nengya.

As soon as he was standing in front of Tuo Nengya, Gu Shenwei could feel many eyes were staring at him. Those machetemen were scattered everywhere and were leaning against trees, as though they were unfamiliar with one another. However, once someone entered their territories, they would immediately grab hold of the hilt of their weapons.

“I recognize you,” Tuo Nengya spoke. His voice was slow yet powerful as though his words had some magical power which could materialize into reality.

“Oh?”

“Killer Yang Huan. I heard that you were involved in the last stabbing of First Young Master.”

“You want to take revenge.”

Tuo Nengya shook his head. His movements were slow as well. “If I am able to find First Young Master, I hope he can give the salary for the last few months to me and these brothers.”, he said while raising his hand to point at the nearby machetemen.

“When the master dies, the debt will no longer exist. However, there is a new job. I wonder whether you’re interested in it.”

Tuo Nengya was obviously interested. Initially, he was leaning against the tree, but now, he stood up straight. He grabbed on to the hilts of his scimitars while judging the youth standing in front of him. He asked, “Do you fight with a sword?”

“The sword is a souvenir. I fight with a blade,” Gu Shenwei answered. As swordcraft was a secret shared only between him and Maid Lotus, both of them did not plan to let anyone else know.

Tuo Nengya lost his interest. He let go of his grip and crossed his arms. While using his chin to point at the nearby open space, he said, “Go there. There will be many people who will be interested in the job.”

“I want a genuine macheteman.”

“A genuine macheteman not only considers the rewards, but also considers the ability of their master. No one will want to risk their lives due to their master’s poor command.”

“The new master will also join in the fight.”

“That will have to depend on the machete skills of the new master.”

Gu Shenwei turned and looked at the sparring arena. The onlookers were cheering, which probably meaned that someone managed to pull off a stunning victory. Gu Shenwei asked, “Would you care for a match?”

Tuo Nengya raised his chest high, and then flattened his chest like a wind box. He said, “At night. Come after 9 pm. Young people play around during daytime. Old people will only fight at night.”

As Gu Shenwei left, the cheers around several sparring arenas became louder. In several days’ time, the victor would be announced and those who won today’s match stood a chance to win that lucrative job.

Gu Shenwei sent Bigmouth Liu back to the city. Gu Shenwei then ate at a stall, which was situated outside of the Rogue Forest, as he waited for nightfall.

Bigmouth Liu was slightly dissatisfied with his young superior as Yang Huan rarely asked for his opinion even though he was more familiar with the situation in South City. Luckily, in a few days’ time, Tenth Young Master would visit the city from the mountains. He would rather please Tenth Young Master rather than this so-called master.

In the evening, today’s Machete God Contest came to an end. Most of the machetemen left. Hundreds of machetemen stayed behind and were wandering around in the forest.

Around 9 pm, a bonfire was lit at the open space, which was situated at the deepest part of the forest. Everyone gathered around and formed a circle around it to keep warm.

An old man, who was in his fifties, went up empty-handed. There was a scattered round of applause. He asked, “Does anyone here wants to be the Machete God?”

The crowd laughed as they were not interested in the title of “Machete God”. Someone in crowd shouted, “I want to be Machete of Blood God!”. The laughter became louder.

Tuo Nengya came to the young man and said, “Machete of Blood Contest will occur every night as long as it is not raining. Participants will fight with real weapons and this contest has had a long history, which is similar to that of Jade City.”.

“I haven’t heard of it,” Gu Shenwei said. Gu Shenwei became interested. Even though Tie Hanfeng had mentioned Rouge Forest before his death, he did not talk about the Machete of Blood Contest. As he would pick machetemen from among his acquaintances, he did not come to such places.

“This is a game between the machetemen. Few masters will participate.”

Gu Shenwei understood what Boss Tuo meant. He held onto the handle of his blade and asked, “Why don’t you participate in the Machete God Contest?”

“As I said before, genuine machetemen will consider the ability of their master. Since we don’t know who is the head of Horned Dragon Society, we won’t want to risk our lives for that ten thousand silver taels.”

Gu Shenwei was accustomed to the thinking of a Golden Roc killer, so he could not understand the intention of this group of machetemen. In his opinion, he would rather work for the ten thousand silver taels than fight secretly at night.

Two machetemen went up.

“Each person pays a hundred silver taels. The loser loses all, the winner takes a hundred and eighty and the organiser takes ten percent of the pot.”, Tuo Nengya explained.

Gu Shenwei took out a small amount of gold. Tuo Nengya took the gold and passed it to a macheteman. The gold was passed around. As Gu Shenwei didn’t know who received his gold, he was unable to find out who was the organiser of this contest.

After three rounds, one died and two were injured. Gu Shenwei felt that one of the machetemen had decent skills, who was slightly better than those machetemen who were sparring during daytime. However, the macheteman was still considered to be mediocre, since he felt that sparring could not prove anything. He wanted a macheteman that can kill people, instead of a person who liked to show off.

“Next pair!” exclaimed the old man on the court. “It’s your turn,” Tuo Nengya spoke gently to the young man.

Gu Shenwei went forward. Since most machetemen at the gathering were middle-aged, Gu Shenwei was one of the only few young people around. Someone in the crowd laughed, “Who is the one that is so lucky?”

The “lucky” person was a tall, strong macheteman who had bushy beard. He resembled Bighead Kingpin, but was smaller in size. He was holding on a big special machete. As the machete was heavy, he dragged it on the ground and it created a deep mark.

Someone shouted the macheteman’s name and Gu Shenwei didn’t bother to listen. Gu Shenwei pulled out his blade, while waiting for the opponent to come closer.

The bearded man shouted, raised his machete and rushed towards his skinny opponent. It would be an easy victory for Gu Shenwei.

Gu Shenwei had learnt a few machete skills, but he complied with Golden Roc Fort killer’s motto, which was not to underestimate his opponent and to defeat the enemy in one blow.

The big machete slid past the young man’s shoulder. For a moment, it seemed like the young man was hit. The machete landed heavily on the ground. The bearded man lost his balance, took a few steps forward and landed directly on top of the bonfire. He almost extinguished the fire. In a short while, his beard was burning.

Several people went up and pulled the man out from the fire. Needless to say, the man was burnt. He was already dead before he fell.

Not many could clearly see how the young man attacked. He was like a monster that came out during nighttime, which killed people using evil secrets rather than machete skills.

The bonfire was reignited. Hundreds of spectators were speechless until the old man gave the young man a hundred and eighty silver taels. The old man then shouted, “Next pair”. Then, the spectators started to talk among themselves.

Gu Shenwei suddenly became the center of attention and everyone was asking about this mysterious young man.

In the next few rounds, the fight became a showcase of machete skills. Everyone was trying to their best so to leave the young employer a good impression. However, most of the machetemen who went up to fight had died.

The Machete of Blood Contest ended at 11 pm. Tuo Nengya asked the young man to stay behind. This time, Gu Shenwei requested, “I haven’t seen you fight.”

There were twenty odd people following Tuo Nengya and Tuo Nengya spoke on behalf of them all. “We can participate and kill people, but that is not our strength nor is that the reason why you should hire us.”

“We?”

“Yes. I’m not alone. There’re a total of 23 people. Either you employ all of us or not a single one.”

Gu Shenwei didn’t know whether other machetemen would behave in such a way, where they would make bold requests to their potential employers before the deal was concluded.

“What are your strengths?”

Tuo Nengya pulled out a machete and issued a command with a loud voice. His tone was not slow, as though he was an enthusiastic general. He commanded, “Gather. Charge forward. Turn left. Defend. Attack. … “.

Gu Shenwei’s father was a court guard, hence he knew little about battle formation. When he was young, he was curious so he entered the training grounds with his like-minded friends to watch the troops train. Hence, he could somewhat understand the various formations. Tuo Nengya and his group of machetemen were rather disciplined and possessed a certain aura. However, there were too few people, hence the effect was rather insignificant.

“I don’t understand…”

“We are not good at fighting solo, but we can beat twenty people with ten machetemen and fifty people with twenty machetemen. Allow me to pick a few more machetemen until we have fifty machetemen. We will be invincible in South City by then. Other than Golden Roc Fort, we are unrivaled.”

This style was completely different than that of a killer. As Gu Shenwei was skeptical, he asked, “Did First Young Master employ all of you because of your formations?”

There was a change in the Tuo Nengya’s expression as though the young man had just asked a very rude question. But in the next instant, his expression returned to normal as he replied, “No. He was uninterested in our battle formations. I owed him a favor.”

This was exactly what Gu Shenwei was worried about. However, he wanted to make use of this sentiment, because he wanted to employ machetemen who were dissatisfied with Golden Roc Fort. The most important part was how to control them without telling them the truth.

“How much are you willing to sacrifice for this favor?”

“He is dead, so the favor is gone. We are machetemen, not patriots nor chevaliers.”

“Good,” Gu Shenwei said while extending his hands as he planned to employ this group of machetemen. They had a lot of details to discuss about, such as the most important aspect, the salary.

“Hey, does anyone want to make a lot of money? Come over here. Take the money before you work!”

Many disruptors came over as though the arrangement was pre-planned. Fifth Young Master Meng led a group of followers and machetemen and came over. Some were carrying heavy boxes. They placed the boxes down and opened it. Under the light of the bonfire, boxes of silver glittered with a warm light as though it could bring comfort to people and soothe them from the harsh coldness of winter.