Death Scripture

Carrying a cinerary urn in his arms, Monk Lianye went unaccompanied into Rouge Forest. The crowd automatically parted a narrow walkway and bowed their heads in respect as he passed. Many machetemen held up their weapons, hoping that the holy monk could bless it.

The anger in Lianye did not diminish, but reproached himself for enjoying the this feeling of being held in high regard, even indulging in the fond memory of leaving home to become a monk.

He ha once been an infamous bandit in the Western Region. Lianye had killed, robbed and stopped at nothing until he was cornered by his enemies. He had sought refuge in Four Truths Temple and had converted to Buddhism under his senior, Lianhua’s, influence.

He was a tiger beside Master Lianhua. Although he possessed a heart of Buddhism, his claws still remained.

With Lianhua gone, the claws of the rash monk gradually lost their steel.

The thought of revenge tormented him to the point of insanity. It was like a tiger drawn to the scent of blood again, eager for the taste of fresh blood and the feeling of biting.

Dragon King had not arrived yet. Lianye walked up to the arena and placed his senior, Lianhua’s, cinerary urn respectfully at the side. He then sat cross-legged and began chanting quietly as if there was no one around.

It was as though a sacred halo was radiating from the fierce-looking and brusque monk. Everyone thought they heard a low chanting voice. Devout believers knelt down first. More and more people joined in the worshipping crowd, making the others who were still standing feel uneasy, as if they were committing some offense. They too, knelt down involuntarily.

This was the scene that Gu Shenwei and his entourage were greeted by when they arrived at Rouge Forest.

“Things don’t look so good.” Lin Xiaoshan, the macheteman, was slightly worried, “This is just a competition organized by several wealthy organizations. Dragon King … It’s alright if you don’t want to participate.”

” Go about your business.” Gu Shenwei would never run away at the last moment. The military counselor, Fang Wenshi, reminded him, in order to win the hearts of people and unite all forces to fight against Golden Roc Fort, he needed to be the exact opposite of what Supreme King was.

“Fair, honest and magnificent.” Gu Shenwei muttered these strange words while contemplating whether there were any loopholes in today’s plan.

Lin Xiaoshan bowed to accept the order and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

Dragon King’s arrival caused a stir among the crowd, like ripples in the ocean. The people who had knelt stood up once again and gave way to a much wider pathway. They stretched their necks and tiptoed so as to catch a glimpse of Dragon King’s real appearance.

“He’s really young.” Most of them shared the same first impression, before speculating about his sickly appearance. “Look how weak he is. I doubt he’ll be able to block a punch from the holy monk.”

Gu Shenwei went to the stage and handed his sword and saber to Chu Nanping before going up the arena.

Lianye stood up and clasped his palms together. He muttered a few more words to the cinerary urn before turning to face Dragon King. There was nothing left of the Buddhist halo. Now, he was just a ferocious tiger with ruffled hair.

An old renowned macheteman said a few words on stage. He emphasized the purpose of “meeting friends with martial arts, stopping when appropriate”. The spectators were tired of it. They had come to watch the duel between the holy monk and Dragon King. If there was no bloodshed or death, what was the point of watching?

This was the same group of people who had, after kneeling down to worship the ways of Buddhism, cheered at the sight of massacre.

Someone brought two sabers up to the stage and the old macheteman raised his voice to announce the start of the duel. Applause and cheers were heard from the spectators, as they surged forward.

Lianye took the wooden saber, broke it apart and threw it down the stage. He took off his sleeve and revealed his muscular right arm. This caused the spectators to cheer loudly again.

Gu Shenwei held the wooden saber in his hands. He could not muster that feeling of being true to life as he had during practice. Without the weight and chill of the steel, he felt his kung fu had deteriorated drastically.

Both of them stared at each other. No one wanted to make the first move. The spectators grew impatient and started to jeer.

“You shouldn’t have killed Senior. You were indebted to him.” The audience could not hear a word as Lianye spoke softly.

Gu Shenwei had already explained everything that night and did not intend to repeat himself. So he replied, “Do monks avenge by killing as well? It seemed like Master Lianhua’s Breaking Obsession did not have an effect on you.”

Breaking Obsession was a scripture, which was written by Lianhua and his brother, Lianxin. Frequent reciting of the scripture could weaken the killing desire. Gu Shenwei had once fell victim to it. Lianye spent years reciting it, but his competitiveness and desire to excel was not so easily removed. Gu Shenwei rubbing salt on Lianye’s wound only made him angrier. The monk let out a bellow before attacking.

The duel had begun. The excited yells of the spectators rustled the trees and caused the snow to fall.

However, they would be disappointed.

Many people still remembered the match between Killer Yang Huan and Sword Sacrificer Ye Silang a few years back. It had also happened in winter, with the entire Rouge Forest as the arena. The spectators suffered from the cold but saw nothing exciting. In the end, the killer carried the injured swordsman out of the forest.

This time, was an open duel. Everybody thought it would be a story worth spreading. The rash Monk Lianye had already proved his invincible body and Dragon King was known to kill without batting an eye. It should be an exciting fight.

But as they looked on, the monk had never made any more powerful moves apart from that roar. His pace was as slow as an old cow as though he was carrying a mountain. Even a child could easily avoid him.

However, Dragon King did not take this opportunity to attack. Instead, he squared his shoulders and merely brandished the wooden saber. He refused to approach the monk.

Both of them circled the arena a few times without making a single move. They did not even touch each other.

“What is this!” Finally, someone yelled discontentedly, “I can put up a better fight if you let me go up.”

“Quick, go for it!” More and more people egged on.

Gu Shenwei had pushed all the blame for the past month of killings to Wildhorse. Although he no longer bore the hatred of the residents of Jade City, it also had its side effects: the fear of the real Dragon King was gone.

“Dragon King. Don’t run!”

“Quickly block him, monk!”

“Coward.”

The spectators were more and more rude to Dragon King.

Dragon King heard the spectators’ jeers, and finally took the initiative to attack. He swung his weapon towards the steady monk.

Although this move was unremarkable, the way Dragon King moved was as fast as a bolt of black lightning. Not many spectators could achieve this, so they applauded and cheered.

Just like that, the emotions of the crowd were stirred up once again, before it was extinguished without fanfarey. Lianye grabbed the tip of the blade with his left hand but the wooden saber didn’t split in half. The duo stood motionlessly as they stopped circling the arena.

“What are they doing?” This question spread through the crowd.

“It seems like… they are competing with their Internal Strength.” The answer was quickly relayed back to everyone’s ears, and the crowd nodded in agreement.

The two of them had fought against each other before. Therefore, they knew their opponent’s limit well.

Even though Gu Shenwei was holding a wooden saber, Lianye was fearful of Dragon King’s machete skills. Hence, Lianye had to be careful and wanted to kill his enemy in as few moves as possible.

Gu Shenwei knew that he could never win the monk by using his bare fists, so he decided to fight using Internal Strength from the very beginning.

Gu Shenwei had a taste of Lianye’s deep-seated Internal Strength. However, things were no longer what they used to be. His Internal Strength had improved tremendously after diligently practicing Wayless Qigong. He was confident that he could compete against the monk.

Lianye’s Internal Breath was akin to a bowl of warm water, not domineering but flowing endlessly. It was guided through the wooden saber into Gu Shenwei’s body. Meanwhile, his right hand flicked blows of Internal Breath at Dragon King’s Dantian directly.

Gu Shenwei soon realized that he had underestimated Lianye.

Lianye was as horrified as Dragon King. His Internal Strength had already been quite profound before becoming a monk. It was further improved after he meeting a brilliant master at Four Truths Temple. He had practiced for decades. It was hard to comprehend how Dragon King had already achieved such strong Internal Strength when he was only in his twenties.

Dragon King’s Internal Breath was extremely unique. It was as though countless tiny ice cones were pouring into Lianye’s body like a crumbling iceberg. He could feel the chill in his body gradually intensify.

“Look, the monk is losing!” Someone among the listless crowd finally noticed what was happening.

“Rather, the monk is going to turn to ice soon.”

His bare arm trembled slightly and Lianye’s fluffy beard was covered with a layer of frost.

The spectators gestured wildly in excitement and surprise. They had never seen kungfu like this before. The crowd had finally gotten something worthy to talk about for the next few days. Dragon King certainly did have what it took.

Everyone thought that Dragon King was about to win; only Gu Shenwei knew that he was about to lose.

Although Lianye’s skin was frozen, his vital organs were still well protected. The Internal Breath that flowed through the wooden saber had drained most of Gu Shenwei’s strength. Furthermore, the blows of invisible Internal Breath that the monk was firing had intensified. Gu Shenwei could only use his Dantian to put up in resistance.

Like dripping water penetrating through stone, constant perseverance would yield success.

It was about time. “Monk hasn’t removed the Peripheral Force implanted by Barren Sect yet, have you?”, Gu Shenwei whispered.

A few years ago, Lianye had fought with a disciple from the Barren Sect using Internal Strength on Gu Shenwei’s body. A momentary oversight had resulted in him being implanted with the Peripheral Force. Even though the Force was negligible at that time, it had grown stronger in recent years. It had become a lingering evil that did not go away.

Lianye’s face changed abruptly as his Internal Breath became chaotic. Gu Shenwei intensified his attack, and continued saying, “Because of such a small injury, you managed to be controlled, even implicating your senior…”

“Shut up!” Lianye shouted. His voice was deafening thunder that swept through Rouge Forest, startling the unsuspecting spectators.

The roar had been to scare. Lianye’s Internal Breath became more erratic. Although it was extremely powerful, it was gradually being exhausted.

Gu Shenwei had been waiting for this opportunity all along. All of a sudden, he released the wooden saber and nimbly appeared behind the monk. He punched the monk’s neck and back.

Lianye spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed.

Only Dragon King was left standing on the arena, empty-handed.

The crowd was momentarily stunned by the duel ending so abruptly and stood in silence; no one spoke a single word.

The silence lasted for a short time before an arrow shot through the air towards Dragon King, who was still in the arena.

“Kill.” With this command, more arrows shot towards the arena.

Chaos erupted. Half of the spectators were idlers who had no knowledge of martial arts. The unexpected change of events had them fleeing the scene in fear. The machetemen grasped the handle of their sabers and observed the situation. They would rather stay neutral and act as if this had nothing to do with them.

At the same time the first arrow was shot, more than a hundred machetemen in long capes jumped out from all corners and pounced on different targets. They shouted, “Get Joy Pavilion! Get Joy Pavilion!”

Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong leapt onto the stage. The youth drew his sword out of the scabbard with one hand and handed Dragon King the Five Peaks Saber with the other.

The first public showdown between Dragon King of Great Snowmountain and Wildhorse of Joy Pavilion would begin.