Horizon, Bright Moon, Sabre

by RWX

  Fu Hongxue was very good at tamping down his curiosity. He didn’t ask what the letter contained.

  Evidently, it was a very amusing letter, as Yan Nanfei’s eyes were filled with a hint of laughter.

  Filled with a sort of cynical laughter.

  He suddenly said, “It seems Gongzi Yu really is a good person. He really cares very much about me.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “Oh?”

  Yan Nanfei laughed. “He advises me to leave your company immediately, because you have become an almost pestilential creature. Anyone in your company will suffer misfortune.”

  He laughed loudly, then said, “He even wrote out a list for me.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “A list?”

  Yan Nanfei said, “The list includes the names of all the people who wants to kill us. The people who want to kill you numbers one more than the people who want to kill me.”

  Fu Hongxue coldly said, “One person isn’t very much.”

  Yan Nanfei said, “Sometimes it isn’t very much, sometimes it isn’t very little. It depends on who this person is.”

  His laughter was very unhappy. “Strictly speaking, the person who wants to kill you can’t even be considered a person.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “What is he, then?”

  Yan Nanfei said, “He should at least be counted as ten people.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “Is it Wu Qingzi, of the Xingxiuhai plateau?”

  Yan Nanfei said, “Compared to this person, Wu Qingzi can at most be considered a kid who just learned how to kill people.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “Who is this person?”

  Yan Nanfei went into the carriage and closed the door, as though afraid that he himself might jump out. “It is a man who uses a sabre, a very special sabre.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “What sabre?”

  Yan Nanfei pulled the carriage door a little tighter shut. Only then did he say, one word at a time, “The ‘Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch’!”

  The carriage was very spacious. Zhuo Yuzhen put the girl on her knee while holding the boy in her hands. Her eyes were focused on Yan Nanfei. Finally, she couldn’t help but ask, “What type of sabre is the ‘Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch’?”

  Yan Nanfei forced out a laugh. “Strictly speaking, it cannot be considered a sabre.”

  Zhuo Yuzhen said, “It should be considered ten?”

  Yan Nanfei didn’t directly respond. Instead, he asked her, “Did you see Xiao Siwu’s dagger?”

  Zhuo Yuzhen thought for a moment, then nodded. “I saw him before. He always uses a dagger to trim his nails.”

  Yan Nanfei said, “It would take at least five hundred daggers like that to forge a single ‘Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch’!”

  Zhuo Yuzhen sucked in a breath. “Five hundred daggers?”

  Yan Nanfei asked again, “Do you know how many people he’s killed with that sabre in a single blow?”

  Zhuo Yuzhen said, “Two people? Three? Five?”

  Yan Nanfei let out a sigh. “With one chop, he killed twenty seven people. Every single one of their heads was split in two.”

  Zhuo Yuzhen’s countenance changed. She tightened her grip around the child in her bosom. Staring out the window, she forced a laugh. “Are you trying to scare me?”

  Yan Nanfei smiled bitterly. “If you see that sabre, you’ll know whether or not I’m trying to scare you.”

  He suddenly shook his head. “But naturally, you won’t see it. Heaven, bless and protect us. Don’t let her see that sabre.”

  Zhuo Yuzhen asked no more questions, because she saw something very strange. “Look, there’s a wheel there.”

  It wasn’t at all strange for a carriage to have a wheel, but why would a wheel be rolling down the road by itself?

  Yan Nanfei couldn’t help but stick out his head to take a look. The expression on his face changed as well. “This wheel is from our carriage.”

  Before he finished speaking, the carriage began to tilt, slowly beginning to tilt towards one side of the road.

  Zhuo Yuzhen cried out loud, “Look! Why is there half a horse there?”

  Half a horse? How could there be such a thing as half a horse?

  What was even more frightening was that this horse was still galloping forwards on two legs.

  Suddenly, a storm of blood rain sprayed forth from it.

  That half-horse ran for another seven or eight steps before falling down. Its liver, intestines, and internal organs fell onto the floor.

  Yan Nanfei shouted loudly, “Careful!”

  Before the sound of his voice dissipated, the carriage suddenly flipped around in mid-air, as though it had somersaulted.

  Yan Nanfei rushed over, gathered Zhuo Yuzhen and the children to himself, then kicked the door open.

  A hand stretched out from outside the door. Fu Hongxue’s voice could be heard. “Grab hold.”

  Their two hands joined. Fu Hongxue gripped Yan Nanfei’s hand, while Yan Nanfei held Zhuo Yuzhen and the children. With an exploding sound, both the adults and the children flew out from the door.

  Next, with a thundering sound, the carriage crashed into a large tree by the side of the road.

  It disintegrated.

  High noon.

  The weather was sunny and cheerful. The sunlight was gorgeous.

  The fresh sunlight was shining on the road. But suddenly, a dark cloud covered it, blocking off the sunrays. It was as though even the sun couldn’t bear to watch what had just happened.

  The carriage had been shattered into many pieces.

  The horse pulling the carriage had been chopped in twain. The back half was still attached to the carriage. The front half lay fallen by the road.

  What had happened just then?

  Zhuo Yuzhen tightly held her children, not letting her children cry. Although she herself didn’t know what had just happened either, she was simply too frightened, so frightened that she forgot all of her pain.

  Although she felt as though all the bones in her body had been ground to dust, fear had rendered her totally numb. And then, she couldn’t help but vomit.

  A young woodcutter was standing by the side of the road. He couldn’t help but vomit as well.

  He was just about to go on this road earlier, but he took a step back, because he saw this carriage charging this way.

  The carriage-driver had a pallid face and appeared as though he wished he could make this carriage immediately travel eight hundred li.

  “Can it be that this person is rushing to a funeral?”

  The young, vigorous woodcutter was just about to curse at him, but before he even started, he saw a gleam of sabre light.

  As a matter of fact, he couldn’t tell if it was sabre light, or lightning.

  All he saw was a gleam of light fly out from within the forest, and then…it suddenly split apart. The front half and the back half actually split apart.

  The front half of the horse was actually still running with its two front legs.

  What happened afterwards, the woodcutter didn’t notice at all. He couldn’t believe this was real.

  He hoped this was a dream, nothing more than a bad dream.

  But he was already vomiting.

  Chapter 13 - Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch

  What type of sabre would be able to chop a horse in half at a blow?

  No one saw it. The sabre light flew out from within the woods to the side of the road. The carriage was over a hundred meters away from it. From here, neither man nor sabre could be seen. Fu Hongxue stood guard in front of Zhuo Yuzhen and the children. His eyes were still focused on that dense, forested area. His ashen pale face was so white, it was nearly translucent.

  Yan Nanfei let out a breath. He immediately asked, “Did you see that sabre?”

  Fu Hongxue shook his head.

  Yan Nanfei said, “But you must know what sabre that was.”

  Fu Hongxue nodded.

  Yan Nanfei sighed
. “It seems Gongzi Yu’s information is extremely accurate. Miao Tianwang really has come.” [Tianwang means ‘Heaven’s Monarch’].

  Miao Tianwang’s sabre would naturally be the ’Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch’!

  Fu Hongxue tightened his hands. He coldly said, “I’m afraid that plenty of people have come.”

  Just at this moment, two large wagons rolled up on each side of the road, sealing off both sides.

  On top of one wagon was placed several wooden planks, upon one of which two people were playing chess. The second wagon had two people on top as well. One was trimming his nails, and the other was drinking. Each seemed to be very intent on what they were doing, and nobody so much as glanced aside.

  It seemed as though Fu Hongxue and Yan Nanfei didn’t see them either.

  On top of the wagon to the right, there were several women seated. Some were old, some were young. Some were embroidering, others were peeling melon seeds. Some were even combing their hair. The oldest one was the Ghostly Granny. On top of the second wagon was an open wooden coffin, as well as a large copper pot which hung off a steel peg.

  It was said that the largest pot in the world was Shaolin’s rice-cooking pot. Shaolin had many monks who never tasted grease or oil, but worked hard all day. Naturally, the amount of rice they could eat was prodigious. If we estimate each monk as eating five bowls of rice per meal, how much rice would five hundred monks eat? How large must the cooking pot be, in order to allow all those monks to be full?

  Yan Nanfei had gone to Shaolin once, just to see that pot. He was a curious man by nature.

  It seemed as though the red copper pot on the car was no smaller than that of Shaolin’s cooking pot. What was even stranger was that there actually was someone in the pot. With a large face, a plump head and big ears. Many scars criss crossed his forehead, dropping down from it like venomous snakes. They stretched down, all the way from his forehead to his mouth. They made his face, which looked as though it originally would seem very gentle, appear unspeakably foul and evil.

  The wagons were not moving very quickly. The copper pot gently waved, almost as though the man inside were resting in a hammock.

  The dark clouds went far away. The sun once more rose up, but Yan Nanfei’s heart was sinking.

  But he absolutely had to force himself to maintain a smile. He muttered to himself, “Unexpectedly, Duo Qingzi didn’t come after all.”

  Fu Hongxue coldly said, “If the first strike does not land true, fully withdraw. This is the long-established rule of their Xingxiuhai sect.”

  Yan Nanfei’s laughter seemed to become more cheerful. “Aside from him, it seems as though everyone who should come has come. Everyone who shouldn’t have come, came as well.”

  He stared at the fatty with the scarred face in the copper pot. Smiling, he continued, “Chef Hao, why did you come as well?”

  The ‘vipers’ on the fatty’s face were wriggling. He was smiling, but his smile made his face look all the more vicious and cunning. “I came to receive the remains.”

  Yan Nanfei said, “What remains?”

  Chef Hao said, “Any remains. I’ll receive a dead horse’s remains into my belly, and receive a dead man’s remains into a coffin.”

  The wagons came to a full stop. The chess players continued to play chess, the drinker was still holding his cup, and the ladies brushing their hair continued to brush their hair.

  Chef Hao laughed, “Looks like all of you will be lucky diners today. Chef Hao’s ‘Five Spices Horseflesh’ isn’t something that just anybody can taste.”

  Yan Nanfei said, “Your specialty dish doesn’t seem to be the ‘Five Spices Horseflesh’.”

  Chef Hao said, “It’s hard to find the materials needed for my specialty dish. It’s best if we just make do with the ‘Five Spices Horseflesh’.”

  After he finished speaking those words, he hopped out of his pot and got off the wagon. If the people present hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes, they would never have imagined that a fatty who weighed several hundred jin could move so quickly and agilely.

  He also had a large knife on him. A vegetable knife.

  Zhuo Yuzhen couldn’t help but ask, “Is Chef Hao really a good chef?”

  Yan Nanfei said, “He’s a sham.”

  Zhuo Yuzhen said, “Then why do they call him ‘chef’?”

  Yan Nanfei said, “Because he likes to cook, and because he uses a vegetable knife.”

  Zhuo Yuzhen said, “What is his specialty dish?”

  Yan Nanfei said, “Flame-roasted human hearts, lightly fried human waists.”

  The young woodcutter had just finished vomiting. As soon as he lifted up his head, he froze. Even in his wildest dreams, he never would have imagined that this place would have suddenly become so crowded.

  Today, all he had eaten was two steamed buns and a few salted vegetables. He had already thrown up everything, leaving nothing behind in his stomach. But after he took a few more glances, he began vomiting again, even more than last time.

  Chef Hao brandished his knife. With a single chop, he cut off a large piece of horseflesh and horse skin, then threw it into that copper pot. He chopped downwards with his right hand, and tossed meat upwards with his right. His hands moved up and down in tandem, his movements skillful and practiced. In the twinkling of an eye, the horse was chopped into over a hundred and thirty pieces, as easily as others chop tofu.

  The horseflesh was in the pot. What about the five spices?

  Chef Hao wiped the blood from his sabre off on the sole of his shoes, then walked back and opened up the coffin. The coffin was filled with all sorts of ingredients, oils, salts, sauces, vinegar, fennel, aniseeds…any ingredients you could think of were in that coffin.

  Chef Hao mumbled to himself, “We can use the broken, splintered carriage as kindling. By the time all the wood is burnt down, the flesh should be fully cooked.”

  The man who was playing chess, Yang Wuji, suddenly said, “No need to make my share too sodden and mashed. My teeth are strong.”

  Chef Hao said, “Daoist priests eat horse meat as well?”

  Yang Wuji said, “Sometimes, I even eat human flesh, much less horseflesh.”

  Chef Hao laughed. “Priest, if you really want to eat human flesh, if you’ll just wait a bit longer, there will be some ingredients here soon.”

  Yang Wuji said, “I have been waiting this entire time. I’m not impatient at all.”

  Chef Hao laughed loudly, then glanced at Fu Hongxue out of the corner of his eyes. “Human flesh enriches the blood. If you ate more human flesh, your face wouldn’t be so pale.”

  While laughing, he lifted the more than three hundred jin heavy copper pot off the peg, then used the splintered wood from the crashed carriage to form a pile of firewood underneath the pot. The fire burned merrily, crackling and popping as the flames danced about.

  The children began to cry again. Zhuo Yuzhen could only quietly open up her garments and feed them milk again.

  Gongsun Tu, who was holding a wine cup in his hand, suddenly let out a breath. “What fair white skin.”

  Chef Hao laughed. “What tender flesh.”

  Ghostly Granny, who was cracking melon seeds, also let out a sigh. “What adorable children.”

  Fu Hongxue only felt his stomach contract. The blue veins began to bulge out on the hand he was holding his sabre with, as though he had already pulled the sabre out.

  But Yan Nanfei pressed his hand down. In a low voice, he said, “You can’t make your move now.”

  Of course, Fu Hongxue could also tell that now wasn’t the time to move. Although these people were pretending to be leisurely, they were like a hornet’s nest. As soon as they moved, the consequences would be unthinkable. But so what if they didn’t move? If they continued to just waste time like this, would they really wait for them to eat horse flesh, then human flesh?

  Yan Nanfei’s voice dropped even lower. He suddenly asked, “Do you know Du Shiqi, ‘Eight
Lives and Eightfold Courage’?”

  Fu Hongxue shook his head.

  Yan Nanfei said, “Although this man isn’t a great hero, in my opinion, he has a more heroic air than any ‘real’ hero. I already arranged for him to meet with me in the ‘Heavenly Fragrance Teahouse’ of the town up ahead. So long as we can find him, anything can be accomplished. I am very good friends with him.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “That is your business.”

  Yan Nanfei said, “My business is your business.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “I don’t know him.”

  Yan Nanfei said, “But he knows you.”

  The chess players were still playing chess. Everyone was still absorbed in their own activities, and paid them no mind at all, as though they were already dead men walking.

  Yan Nanfei asked again, “Are you a very reasonable person?”

  Fu Hongxue said, “Sometimes I am. Other times, I’m not.”

  Yan Nanfei said, “Right now, are you at the point where you can’t help but be reasonable?”

  Fu Hongxue said, “Seems so.”

  Yan Nanfei asked again, “Can Zhuo Yuzhen and her child be allowed to die?”

  Fu Hongxue said, “No.”

  Yan Nanfei let out a sigh. “As long as you can remember this, everything will be fine. Let’s go.”

  Fu Hongxue said, “Go? Go where?”

  Yan Nanfei said, “As soon as you hear me say the words, ‘little doggy’, take Zhuo Yuzhen and her children onto that wagon and hide them in the coffin. I’ll handle everything else!”

  He chuckled. “Don’t forget, my skill in running for my life is the best in the world.”

  Fu Hongxue shut his mouth. Naturally, he understood Yan Nanfei’s meaning. Right now, he had no leeway whatsoever. No matter what, he could not allow Zhuo Yuzhen and the children to fall into these people’s clutches.

  On the wagon where Ghostly Granny was seated, there were four other women. Aside from her, all of them were young, and all of them weren’t the slightest bit unattractive.

  That is to say, they were attractive. The most attractive one was combing her hair. Her long hair was both black and gleaming.

  Yan Nanfei suddenly said, “I hear that all in all, Miao Tianwang has over seventy or eighty wives.”