by RWX
Grandmaster Zhong had already walked over to him. He respectfully stood in front of him, then bowed to the ground.
But this man was looking at his hand. He didn’t even lift his head.
Grandmaster Zhong’s expression became even more solemn and respectful. He actually referred to himself as a ‘student’. “This student is named Zhong Li.”
The man in white dully said, “Can it be the god of zither music, Grandmaster Zhong?”
Cold sweat suddenly emanated from Grandmaster Zhong’s face. He haltingly said, “Noble sir, when you touched the strings of your zither, you shocked and overawed the world. Why have you stopped playing?”
The man in white said, “I am afraid.”
Grandmaster Zhong was astonished. “Afraid? Afraid of what?”
The man in white said, “I am afraid that you will commit suicide by ramming your head against that ‘Scorched String’ zither of yours.”
Grandmaster Zhong’s head sunk. Sweat fell down like rain, but he couldn’t help but ask, “Noble sir, do you come from afar?”
The man in white said, “I come from afar, but know not where I go.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Dare I ask for your honorable name?”
The man in white said, “No need to ask me. I’m just a zither-playing servant.”
A zither-playing servant? A man like this would be a zither-playing servant to someone else? Who was worthy of having an apprentice such as this?
Grandmaster Zhong couldn’t believe it. This truly was unbelievable for him. He couldn’t help but ask, “Based on your great talent, noble sir, how could you place yourself beneath another?”
The man in white dully said, “Because I’ve always been inferior to him.”
Fu Hongxue suddenly said, “Who is he?”
The man in white chuckled. “Since I know who you are, you should know who he is.”
Fu Hongxue gripped his sabre tightly again. “Gongzi Yu.”
The man in white laughed. “You really do know.”
Fu Hongxue suddenly struck out like lightning, seizing his hand. Who would have imagined that Grandmaster Zhong would rush forward and tightly grasp Fu Hongxue’s arm. He loudly shouted, “No matter what, don’t hurt his hands! This is an incomparable national treasure, the hands of a true grandmaster!”
The man in white laughed loudly. The butcher chopping the meat suddenly chopped his knife at the crown of Fu Hongxue’s head.
A vegetable peddler by the side of the butcher also used a weightbeam as an acupoint sealing device to attack, striking at Fu Hongxue’s ‘Qimen’, ‘Jiangtai’, and ‘Xuanyang’ acupoints.
The housewife carrying a vegetable basket also attacked, using the vegetable basket to cover Fu Hongxue’s head.
From behind, a peddler carrying two chickens on a carrying pole walked over as well. He actually pulled off his pole and used it to strike at Fu Hongxue’s waist.
Suddenly, a flash of sabre light. With a swishing sound, the pole was shattered, the vegetable basket disintegrated, the weightbeam was cut in half, and a butcher’s knife suddenly flew out, with a bloody hand attached to it.
The chickens and the ducks in the cage flew out. The marketplace became as chaotic as a pot of freshly made gruel.
The man in white beneath the chopping board had already disappeared.
A crowd of people gathered. The butcher, the vegetable peddler, the housewife, and the chicken seller had all disappeared into the crowd. But the zither melody could still be heard from far away.
Fu Hongxue parted the crowd and walked out. Outside of the crowd, there was still more people, but none of the ones he was looking for. However, he had already heard the zither melody.
Where the zither melody was coming from was where he was going. He didn’t walk very quickly. This seemingly entirely imaginary zither melody couldn’t be caught by anyone. What’s the point of walking quickly?
But he didn’t give up. So long as the zither melody was ahead of him, he would keep walking forward. Grandmaster Zhong actually followed from behind. His snow-white stockings were ruined now. Even his two feet seemed to be ruined. No one knew how long they had been walking.
The sun began to rise. They had long since left the market, left the city. The gentle spring wind blew across the lush seedlings in the fields. From far away, the mountains rose and undulated, and the earth was as gentle and warm as a virgin’s chest. They had entered ‘her’ embrace.
There were green hills in all directions and water everywhere. The zither melody seemed to come from the deep mountains and the watery depths.
The mountains were now deep, and the flowing water had stilled. There was a small log cabin next to a small lake.
There was a zither and a table in the cabin, but nobody there.
The zither strings still seemed to be quivering, and beneath the zither there was a short letter:
The sabre reveals openings, the zither strings snap,
The moon has fallen, the flowers have withered.
The young master [Gongzi] is like a dragon,
Hovering above the nine heavens.”
The empty hills were silent.
Grandmaster Zhong faced the faraway mountains. He was silent for a long, long time, before slowly saying, “This really is a good place. Those who don’t want to leave can stay. Those who cannot leave, why leave?”
Fu Hongxue looked at him from far away, waiting for him to continue.
Grandmaster Zhong was silent for another long period of time. “I no longer intend to leave.”
Fu Hongxue said, “Do you not wish to go, or are you unable to go?”
Grandmaster Zhong didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to look at him. Facing him, he asked, “How old do you think I am?”
His head was filled with white hair, and his face was filled with the marks and scars of having lived an exhausting life. He looked weary and old, older than when Fu Hongxue had first seen him.
He answered his own question. “I was famous when I was young. This year, I’m only thirty-five years old.”
Fu Hongxue looked at his tired face and his white hair. Although he did not speak, he couldn’t help but appear shocked.
Grandmaster Zhong chuckled. “I know I look very old. I’ve had white hair for many years now.”
His chuckle was filled with agony. “Because I have already exhausted all of my life’s energy. Although I have gained an amount of comfort and fame from the zither which others cannot even imagine, the zither has also swallowed up all of my marrow and my blood.”
Fu Hongxue understood his meaning. If a person became totally involved in one thing, it was as though he had made a pact with demons.
Everything you want, I will give you. But you must give me everything you have as well, including your life and your soul.
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Originally, this was a fair trade. I didn’t have any cause for complaint. But now…”
He stared at Fu Hongxue. “You study the sabre. If you were like me, and had given up everything for your sabre, but then suddenly discovered that someone could defeat you using a single flick of the finger, how would you feel?”
Fu Hongxue didn’t answer.
Grandmaster Zhong let out a sigh, then slowly said, “Naturally, you won’t understand this. To you, a sabre is only a sabre. It doesn’t have any other meanings.”
Fu Hongxue wanted to laugh, laugh loudly. But he naturally couldn’t laugh.
A sabre is only a sabre? Who could imagine the meaning which this sabre held for him? Hadn’t he also made a pact with demons, hadn’t he also given up everything? What did he get in return?
Aside from him, perhaps there was nobody else in the world who understood this better. But he didn’t speak. His suffering had entered his very bones. He couldn’t even vomit it out.
Grandmaster Zhong chuckled again. “But no matter what, since we can meet each other, it must be destiny. I want to play another song for you.”
Fu Hongxue said
, “And then?”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “And then, if you want to leave, you can leave.”
Fu Hongxue said, “Won’t you leave?”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Leave? Where can I leave to?”
Fu Hongxue finally fully understood his meaning. This was a good place. He had already intended to be buried here. To him, life was no longer a glorious thing. It was shame. He already had no purpose in life.
With a strumming sound, the zither music started again.
It was already dark outside. The darkness was like a fine gauze covering the mountain valley.
The zither melody was mournful, as though an ancient, beautiful white palace was telling a story of the misery of mankind.
Although in life, there would always be joy, it was always just momentary and fleeting. Only tragedy was eternal.
A person’s life was a very short thing to begin with. Regardless of who you are, you wouldn’t be able to avoid death eventually.
For what purpose did people live?
Why must they struggle and fight? Why must they be miserable and unhappy? Why is death the only eternal, peaceful answer to unanswerable questions?
And then, the zither began to speak of the beauty and peace of death, a beauty and peace which no one could ever describe using words. Only his zither music could express it.
Because he himself had sunk into a beautiful dream of death.
The death god’s hand seemed to be guiding his in playing the zither, coaxing men to give up everything and be forever peaceful in the dreamlands of death.
There, there was neither pain nor struggles against other men.
There, not only was there no killing, there was also no men forcing other men to kill.
This definitely was something which no one could resist.
Fu Hongxue’s hand was already starting to tremble. His clothes had already been soaked with sweat as well. Since life was so tragic, why must a man continue to live?
The hand with which he gripped his sabre became even tighter. Was he preparing to draw his sabre? Who was he going to kill with the sabre?
The only person who can kill him is Fu Hongxue, and only Fu Hongxue can kill himself.
The zither music became even more tragic. The mountain valley became even darker.
There was no light. There was no hope.
The zither music seemed to be calling out to him. And he seemed to see Yan Nanfei and Mingyue Xin, their faces filled with smiles and laughter.
Were they already at peace? Were they advising him to accept that peace and beauty? Fu Hongxue finally drew his sabre!
Chapter 21 - Emerging From the Cage
A flash of sabre light. But what it chopped wasn’t a human head. It was the zither strings!
Why did he chop the zither strings in half?
Grandmaster Zhong lifted his head up, staring at him in shock. Not just shock. Anger.
The sabre had been sheathed again. Fu Hongxue had already sat down. In the darkness, his pallid face appeared as though it had been cut out of marble. Firm. Callous. Noble.
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Even if my zither music is not pleasing to your ear, the zither is blameless. Sir, why don’t you directly chop my head off?”
Fu Hongxue said, “The zither is blameless, but the man is blameless as well. It is better for the zither to snap than for the man to perish.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “I don’t understand.”
Fu Hongxue said, “You should understand. But there really are many things which you don’t understand.”
He coldly continued, “You make others realize how short life is, how death is unavoidable. But you don’t know that there are many ways of dying.”
Death could be both lighter than a feather as well as heavier than Mt. Taishan. How could Grandmaster Zhong not understand this?
Fu Hongxue said, “Since a person is alive, even if he must die, he must die with glory and honor, before he can die at ease.”
If a person cannot do well that which he likes to do in life, how can he die at ease?
The meaning of life always lay in struggling and fighting to endure. Only when you understand this point will your life no longer be meaningless. The sufferings of mankind await mankind to solve for itself.
“But my life is now nothing but shame.”
“Then you should think of a way to do something meaningful, something to wash away your shame. Otherwise, even if you die, you will still die shamefully!”
Death cannot solve any problems. Only cowards who can’t handle setbacks will use death to escape.
“I definitely have not given up any less of myself to this sabre than you have to your zither. However, I haven’t gained the comfort and the glory which you have gained. All I have gained is hatred and scorn. In the eyes of others, you are a god of the zither, but all I am is an executioner.”
“But you are still going to continue living?”
“So long as I can keep on living, I will definitely keep on living. The more others want me to die, the more I want to keep on living.” Fu Hongxue said, “Life isn’t necessarily shame. Death is!”
Light shone from his pale white face, making him seem all the more dignified and noble. An almost godlike nobility.
He was no longer that poverty-striken, blood-splattered, frustrated executioner. He had already found the true meaning of life. He had found it from another person being unable to endure the travails of life! Because the more powerful the attacks another launched on him, the more powerful his counterstrike was. The power from this counterstrike of his finally enabled him to release himself from the cage he had put himself into! Gongzi Yu definitely had never imagined this happening!
Grandmaster Zhong had never imagined it either. But as he watched Fu Hongxue, the shock and anger in his eyes disappeared. There was only esteem left.
A lofty, unique character was as worthy of respect as a lofty, unique skill with the fine arts.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you also want to do a meaningful thing which will wash away your shame?”
Fu Hongxue said, “I am trying my hardest as we speak.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Aside from killing people, what else have you done?”
Fu Hongxue said, “I have at least proved to him that I have not surrendered, nor have I been defeated by him.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Who is he?”
Fu Hongxue said, “Gongzi Yu.”
Grandmaster Zhong let out a long sigh. “For a person to have a zither-playing servant such as that man, he must be an extraordinary character!”
Fu Hongxue said, “He is.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “But you want to kill him?”
Fu Hongxue said, “Yes.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Killing is also a meaningful act?”
Fu Hongxue said, “If this man remains alive, others shall be miserable and be coerced and bullied. In a case such as this, my killing him is a meaningful act.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Why haven’t you done this yet?”
Fu Hongxue said, “Because I can’t find him.”
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Since he is an extraordinary character, he must be very famous. Why can’t you find him?”
Fu Hongxue said, “Because although his name is famous all the world over, very few people have a chance to see his real face.”
This was also very strange. The more famous a person was, the fewer the people who could actually meet him.
This point, at least, Grandmaster Zhong should understand. He, too, was famous all the world over, but there were very few people who could meet him.
But he didn’t say anything. Fu Hongxue didn’t want to continue speaking either. All the words that should have been spoken, were spoken.
Fu Hongxue rose to his feet. “I only want to let you know that although this is a good place, this isn’t the place where we should stay.”
Thus, the outside was totally dark, he didn’t want to st
ay. As long as his heart was bright and guileless, why fear the darkness? He slowly walked out. Although his walking gait was still as clumsy and ugly as ever, his spine was as stiff and straight as a ramrod.
Grandmaster Zhong looked at his departing back. He suddenly said, “Wait.”
Fu Hongxue halted.
Grandmaster Zhong said, “Do you truly want to seek out Gongzi Yu?”
Fu Hongxue nodded.
Grandmaster Zhong said, “In that case, you should stay here. I’ll leave.”
Fu Hongxue’s features changed. “Why? You know that he will come here?”
Grandmaster Zhong did not respond. Instead, he hurried out in front of Fu Hongxue.
Fu Hongxue said, “How do you know? Who, exactly, are you?”
Grandmaster Zhong suddenly turned and looked back at him, chuckling. “Who do you think I am?”
His smile was strange and mysterious. His body suddenly disappeared into the darkness, becoming one with the night.
Only his voice could be heard coming from afar. “As long as you wait here patiently, you will definitely find him.”
“Who do you think I am?”
Can it be that he wasn’t the real Grandmaster Zhong? Was he actually Yu Qin? Otherwise, how would he know about Gongzi Yu’s travel information?
Fu Hongxue couldn’t be sure. He had never seen the real Grandmaster Zhong, nor had he seen Yu Qin.
Was Gongzi Yu truly going to come here? He couldn’t be sure of this either, but he had already decided to stay. This was his only lead. No matter what, he couldn’t let it slip.
The night became even darker. No sound could be heard in the empty mountains. No sound at all is actually a very terrifying sound. It would actually become difficult for a person to sleep under these circumstances.
Fu Hongxue had already lain down, but lying down wasn’t the same as falling asleep. There were no lights in the small cabin. Aside from a zither, a table, and a couch, there was nothing in the room at all. He was hungry and tired. He very much wanted to sleep. Over the years, the pain of insomnia had tormented him greatly. A peaceful night’s sleep was already a luxurious extravagance for him. Why was it so quiet? Why wasn’t there even the sound of the wind? There was only the sound of him coughing a few times. He even wanted to begin talking to himself, saying a few things to himself. Just at this moment, he suddenly heard a clanging sound in his dreams.
