by Jeremy Bai
Lord Shu leapt to his feet, eyes blazing with fury. “Bitch!” he yelled. Fumbling at his waist, he managed to draw his dagger, which he pointed directly at Bao. “I dare you to say another word!”
Bao looked him directly in the eye. She tucked a hand into her sleeve and felt the knife there, sending the strange energy swirling in the same direction. Then, her voice cold, a slight smile on her face, she said, “You have a tiny dick, you bastard.”
With an enraged roar, Lord Shu leapt over the table in her direction. However, as he jumped, his robe caught on the table leg, twisting him to the side. His foot landed on the ground at a strange angle, and with a squawk, he tumbled toward the ground.
As he fell, his hands instinctively flew out in front of him to break his fall. And that was when a sound rang out like a grape being squashed beneath a boot, as Lord Shu’s dagger stabbed him in the eye. He lay there, the dagger poking out of the back of his skull.
***
The Bone General reined his horse to a halt and looked at the trees off in the distance. “So she’s in that forest?”
Off to the side was his most trusted lieutenant, who wore armor similar to the Bone General. “Yes, General Gu. The scouts say she’s holed up in a primitive fort roughly a day’s journey into the forest.”
“I see.” The Bone General frowned. “Unfortunately, the orders that came in were very clear. Insurrection in Hai’an requires my immediate attention.”
“Your orders, sir?”
After a moment of thought, the Bone General sighed. “We ride south immediately. We’ll return for this girl once things are settled in Hai’an.”
Chapter 21: I REFUSE!
Iron Awl Hu’s eyes went wide as his head was violently ripped off of his shoulder’s by Sunan’s Slash of the Dragon’s Tail.
As soldiers poured into the courtyard, his head spiraled through the air, trailing droplets of blood like tiny red flower petals. It almost seemed to move in slow motion as it arced up, then slowly descended, smacking onto the paving stones with a splurching sound, after which it rolled across the ground briefly before plopping into a small fishpond.
Iron Awl Hu’s body teetered for a moment and then toppled over.
Sunan landed on his feet in a defensive stance, immediately glancing around to determine what he was up against.
There were roughly twenty soldiers in the courtyard, wearing leather armor and carrying long spears.
I hate spears, he thought.
Almost to a man, the soldiers’ mouths were wide open in shock. One poor fellow even stumbled off to the side and started retching.
A long moment passed that seemed to stretch on for hours and hours, but in reality, it lasted for only a few breaths of time.
Then the soldiers seemed to recover, and one by one they began to point their spears at Sunan and Sun Mai. However, their eyes flickered with fear, and some of them were even trembling visibly.
Sunan was just about to say something when Sun Mai strode forward, hands clasped behind his back.
“Who’s in charge here?” he asked in a commanding voice.
The soldiers looked around nervously, their eyes soon coming to rest on one of their number in particular, a stocky man with a wide nose and a coarse beard.
“Er, I’m… I’m the leader here.” The man’s eyes flickered down to the decapitated corpse of Iron Awl Hu and then over at the nearby pond where the severed head was.
“Very well,” Sun Mai said. “Who is the most powerful person in this compound?” He took a menacing step forward. “You?”
The bearded man subconsciously stepped back. “No! No, of course not!” His eyes once again flickered down to Iron Awl Hu’s corpse.
Sun Mai chuckled. “I see. And what is your honored surname and respectable name?”
“Tie Gangwen.”
“A very manly name. Tie Gangwen, let me rephrase my question. Who is in charge now that Mr. Hu has met a most unfortunate and untimely demise?”
“Ritual Master Zhen.”
“Take us to him. Now. You lead the way.”
Tie Gangwen gulped and nodded, issuing orders to the other soldiers to fall into formation.
Sunan glanced around to look for the pregnant woman, but she was nowhere to be seen. Presumably she had slipped away during the commotion.
The soldiers quickly led Sunan and Sun Mai out of the courtyard and into the corridors of the compound.
As they walked along, Sunan leaned over and whispered, “What are you planning to do?”
“First, save our hides. Second, take over.”
“Take over?”
“That is the natural state of affairs. When the leader of the pack is eliminated, a new leader emerges. It is the way of nature, and only by following the way of nature can we achieve true harmony.” He gasped. “Dammit, where are writing materials when you need them? Remember that thought! I need to put it in my classic scripture.”
“Fine, we take over. But what about this Ritual Master Zhen? And what about the Golden Immortal?”
“I don’t know about the Golden Immortal. My bet is that he was not any greater a fighter than Iron Awl Hu. If we can truly seize control of Hu’s power structure, we can deal with him when the time comes. Right now, this Ritual Master Zhen is the rightful successor. Considering his title, he must be a Yen-Li priest.”
“What’s that?”
Sun Mai gave Sunan a sidelong glance. “You don’t know about the Yen-Li priests? Where did you grow up, a—” Sun Mai bit his tongue. He had learned long ago that Sunan tended to be sensitive when it came to his home and family. Sun Mai quickly began a new sentence. “They’re sorcerers. Although, the more I think about it, the more I suspect that what they are doing is not magic at all. It’s most likely manipulation of qi. Just in a different way than we have come to use it.”
“So what, we recruit him?”
“No.” Sun Mai lowered his voice even beyond what it had been, to a nearly inaudible whisper. “We kill him.”
“What?”
“Listen to me, Sunan. We have to kill him immediately. Any person who worked directly for Iron Awl Hu is clearly a vile person, allied with the Demon Emperor, a person who kills the husbands of pregnant mothers, who forces young girls into brothels, a monster, someone who has plotted and murdered and slandered and—”
“All right! Even still, I won’t just murder someone. We talk first!”
Sun Mai grimaced. “Fine. He’ll have one very limited chance to submit. If not…”
Sunan took a deep breath, then nodded grimly.
Before long, they were below ground level in the complex. As they walked along, both Sunan and Sun Mai remained vigilant. Soon they reached a wide corridor that ended at a red wooden door. The soldiers quickly fell into place along the walls of the corridor.
Tie Gangwen nervously cleared his throat. “This is Ritual Master Zhen’s workshop. He… spends most of his time in here.”
Sunan studied the door briefly but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. “Well, open it up!” he said after a moment.
“Open it up?” Tie Gangwen asked, making a slight choking sound. “Sir, no one just opens up the door of Ritual Master Zhen’s workshop. Not even His Excellency Lord Hu. To do such a thing would be… dangerous.”
Sunan looked over at Sun Mai.
“Fine, then,” Sun Mai said. “Knock or do whatever it is you would normally do.”
Tie Gangwen swallowed hard. “No one knocks either…”
Sun Mai started, and Sunan frowned.
“Then how does one go about seeing him?”
Tie Gangwen shrugged. “Wait?”
There was little more discussion. Sunan and Sun Mai stood in front of the red door, arms crossed, waiting. The soldiers appeared to be completely terrified, and virtually all of them were sweating profusely despite the fact that the corridor was relatively drafty and cold.
After a few minutes passed, Sunan realized that there was indeed a draft, a
nd strangely, it was a wind that was blowing against his back. However, he was only standing a meter or two in front of the door. He turned to look behind him and saw nothing unusual, but he was able to confirm that there was indeed wind blowing down the corridor toward the door. Even the flames of the torches lighting the corridor seemed to be bending in the same direction—toward the door.
Sunan leaned toward Sun Mai. “Do you feel that?”
Sun Mai nodded. “What do you say we just let ourselves in?”
Sunan grinned.
“Rebuke of the Dragon!”
“Sword of the Scholar!”
As Sunan and Sun Mai unleashed their most powerful techniques, the soldiers began to run in the opposite direction, clearly terrified. As for the red door, it didn’t stand up long. A few moments later, red splinters of wood showered about as the door virtually exploded.
As the dust and wood chips settled, the chamber beyond the door slowly became visible.
It was large, but thanks to the vast accumulation of books, artifacts, and other objects, it seemed much smaller than it actually was. At the far end was a raised platform and a table, and there sat an extremely skinny, short man wearing what appeared to be a roughly sewn cloth robe, tied around his waist with a thick rope.
He lounged there lazily, a slight smile on his face. His eyes were sunken into his face, making him look almost skeletal, and his fingernails were long and jagged.
“Well, it took you long enough,” the man said, chuckling. “I’ve been watching you.” He held up a simple copper mirror and tapped it with the long fingernail of his left index finger. “Magic mirror. You certainly dispatched Iron Awl Hu with gusto. I also saw you whispering in the halls. I suppose you’re here to… recruit me? Kill me?”
If Sun Mai was taken aback by the man’s words, he didn’t show it. Clasping his hands behind his back, he said, “Recruit isn’t quite the right word, good sir. We would like to extend an invitation for you to join us.”
“I see,” Ritual Master Zhen said, stroking his chin with his long fingernails. “And who exactly is ‘us,’ if I might ask?”
“Oh,” Sun Mai said. “Well, I will allow our esteemed sect leader to tell you.” He looked over at Sunan.
Sunan blinked as he scrambled to think of a name. The first adjective that popped to mind was Golden, probably because he and Sun Mai had just discussed the Golden Immortal. Clearing his throat, Sunan said, “We are the Golden… Dragon Sect!”
Ritual Master Zhen nodded slightly. “The Golden Dragon Sect. Interesting. Well, I think your offer is worth discussing. Please, come have a seat and we can talk.”
Sunan took a step forward, already formulating the questions he wished to ask the man.
Sun Mai followed close behind. However, before either of them had taken more than five steps, they experienced a strange sensation in their arms and legs. It was almost as if they were wading through water. The feeling grew more intense, until it was like they were trying to walk through thick mud. After only a few breaths of time had passed, they couldn’t even move.
Sunan’s eyes went wide, and Sun Mai gritted his teeth.
Chuckling could be heard as Ritual Master Zhen set the copper mirror down. “As expected, you two are complete and utter fools. Do you think someone like me, Ritual Master Zhen, master of the arcane, summoner of demons, would even consider ‘joining’ two buffoons like you?”
Sunan couldn’t see what Sun Mai was doing, but he could feel the blood pounding in his own veins, and he could sense the killing intent rising up in his heart. He realized that he really had been a fool. How could someone who worked so closely with someone like Iron Awl Hu possibly be an honorable and righteous person? How could a person like that possibly be trusted to discuss things in a rational manner?
How could I even have thought that this man would sit down and talk?
Ritual Master Zhen continued to speak, unleashing a variety of scathing insults upon Sunan and Sun Mai. He picked up a wooden box from off to the side, which was filled with knives and daggers. Some were long and straight, others wickedly curved. Some shone brightly, others were rusty and old.
While Ritual Master Zhen began to rifle through the daggers, Sunan closed his eyes.
Sun Mai said that this guy’s magic is probably just qi. If that’s the case, then there’s nothing supernatural at all about what he’s done to us. I must be able to break free.
Tuning out the droning of Ritual Master Zhen, Sunan entered a state of complete and utter focus.
Qi is just energy. Energy is force. Force pushes and pulls and can also be resisted. Whatever force it is that is pushing against me… I can push back! I refuse to give in to this. I REFUSE!
It took so much effort that Sunan began to tremble, but by sheer force of willpower, he managed to clench his hand into a fist.
I REFUSE!
Focusing his mind and his will, he filled himself with the desire to reject whatever force it was that Ritual Master Zhen was using to lock him down. He lifted his leg in the air and took a step forward. Opening his eyes, he realized that Ritual Master Zhen was still completely focused on the daggers. But then the man suddenly stopped talking and pulled a bronze dagger out of the box.
“Ah, this is the one!” he exclaimed.
By that point, Sunan was walking toward him, slowly but surely. As Ritual Master Zhen began to look up at him, Sunan formed dragon’s claws with his hands and circulated his qi in preparation for an attack. He was now roughly three meters away from Ritual Master Zhen.
When Ritual Master Zhen caught sight of Sunan walking toward him, his eyes went wide. But then he smiled.
And the unimaginable happened.
Chapter 22: Wu-Sunan
Ritual Master Zhen calmly placed the blade of the bronze dagger across his left palm, then closed his hand around it and pulled the dagger out. Blood immediately oozed out, which he poured onto the ground in front of him. Then he began to speak in what Sunan now recognized to be Classical Fei.
“Ren xue wei di, shu shi wei yu, shu yu zhan di, shu li tao tian!”
Then, he slammed his hand down on the table next to him.
Sunan was picking up speed, and considering he had no idea what the words meant, they didn’t distract him at all. However, before he could get even a meter closer to Ritual Master Zhen, he heard a clicking sound, and something fell from the ceiling.
More clicking sounds followed, and more objects fell from the ceiling to land on the ground with muffled thuds.
Before Sunan could take another step, a clicking sound could be heard from directly above his head, and then something dropped down onto him. It tumbled down across his face and fell to the ground at his feet.
He looked down and was surprised to see the corpse of a rat!
Then there were more clicking and thumping sounds. Panels in the ceiling opened up, and rat corpses fell like rain. Some of the corpses were fresh, others were little more than skeletons.
The grisly sight left Sunan completely astonished.
Ritual Master Zhen began to laugh maniacally. “And now I shall draw upon the power of the rats to cut you down!”
Slicing himself again with the bronze knife, he waved his hand violently, sending droplets of blood flying out in all directions. In response, black mist began to rise up from the corpses of the rats, forming tendrils that shot through the air toward Ritual Master Zhen.
Now was not the time for shock. Sunan steeled himself, suppressing the urge to vomit as he took another step forward.
I REFUSE! I REFUSE! I REFUSE!
The more he rejected whatever force it was that Ritual Master Zhen had used to lock him in place, the easier it became to move. As his foot touched down on the ground after taking another step, the black tendrils of mist began to pour into Ritual Master Zhen’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Then Ritual Master Zhen began to transform. Hair popped out all over his skin, and his fingernails grew long and sharp. His face began to stretch
out, and his ears grew larger. He seemed to be in the process of transforming into an enormous rat.
Lips twisting with disgust, Sunan planted his foot and unleashed Rebuke of the Dragon, which slammed into the ratlike Ritual Master Zhen, sending him tumbling backward.
Moments later, Sun Mai’s Sword of the Scholar sliced through the air. Apparently Sun Mai had also managed to free himself from the initial trap. The illusory blade slashed Ritual Master Zhen across the throat, sending blood spraying out in a fountain.
Sunan unleashed one more Rebuke of the Dragon, ensuring that Ritual Master Zhen was well and truly dead. There was no force at all trying to lock him in place.
Before the man could complete his grisly transformation, he was cut down.
Rats were still dropping down from the ceiling.
The bizarreness of the scene was such that Sunan almost wondered if it was all real.
He slowly turned to find Sun Mai approaching.
“You were right,” Sunan said. “We should have just killed him. A few more seconds, and who knows what would have happened.”
Sun Mai stepped past Sunan and squatted down over the corpse of Ritual Master Zhen. Taking an iron knife out of the nearby box, he prodded the corpse a few times before turning to look up at Sunan.
“This is problematic,” he said.
“What do you mean? Getting rid of all the corpses?”
“No.” Sun Mai rose to his feet, a grave expression on his face. “It appears my entire theory about the Heavenly Meat Palace is invalid.”
***
Other than Iron Awl Hu and Ritual Master Zhen, there was no one else in the criminal organization who could use qi, which made it very easy for Sunan and Sun Mai to take control.
Originally, Sunan had no wish to be in a leadership position, but Sun Mai somehow convinced him. They renamed the organization the Golden Dragon Sect, with Sunan as the sect leader and Sun Mai as the chief minister.
They quickly found that, exactly as the rumors stated, Iron Awl Hu controlled virtually the entire city. Sunan was also relieved to find that, although many of their activities were less than legal, for the most part their income came from legitimate business. As such, few changes needed to be made to the general operations.
