by RWX
It was zither music! The zither was on the table in front of him. Aside from him, there was no one else in the room.
No one was playing the zither. How could it make music?
Fu Hongxue only felt a cold feeling rise up his back. He couldn’t resist turning around and staring at the zither on the table. Cold starlight was shining on that zither.
The zither sounded again. A ‘gong’ note, followed by a ‘shang’ note, a ‘gong’ note, a ‘chi’ note, a ‘gong’ note, and a ‘yu’ note.
Who was strumming the zither strings? Was it the spirit of the zither? Or was there a ghost in the room?
Fu Hongxue suddenly jumped up and saw a faint black shadow outside the window. Was it a human shadow, or a spectre? If a man was outside the window, how could he strum the zither on the table? Fu Hongxue laughed coldly. “Excellent finger strength.”
The shadow outside the window seemed to be startled. It quickly retreated.
Fu Hongxue was even quicker. He didn’t seem to prepare to move at all, but his body had already shot out.
The person outside the window somersaulted into the air, disappearing into the darkness.
The blank mountains were lonesome. The dark night was cold and silent. Fu Hongxue went forward for a bit longer, but couldn’t see anybody. But when he turned around, he saw a light.
The light flickered like a will’o’wisp. The light was in the window. Who lit a light in the room?
Fu Hongxue stopped using his lightness kungfu. He slowly walked back. The candle light didn’t disappear. It was right on the table. But the zither on the table had been broken, broken perfectly and evenly in half, as though it had been severed by a sharp blade.
There was no one in the room, but there was a short note pressed underneath the zither.
“If you do not leave by this evening, you shall become broken like this zither.”
The words were written very well, very elegantly. It was clearly authored by the same person who left the first note beneath the zither earlier.
Where did he go?
Fu Hongxue sat down. He faced the severed strings and the lonely light. His eyes suddenly shone with light as well. Only ghosts could come and go so easily and quickly. He never believed in ghosts. If there were no ghosts in the world, then this room must have hidden tunnels and false walls. Quite possibly, they were right in front of them. He couldn’t be considered an expert in this field, but he understood it. He knew a little about all of the various tricks and schemes which existed in the martial world. Although the study of secret mechanisms is a very complicated one, it wouldn’t be too difficult to discover a false wall or an underground tunnel in such a small cabin.
Had Gongzi Yu already arrived? Did he come from the tunnel?
Fu Hongxue closed his eyes and held his breath. First, he let his heart calm down. Only then could his senses become truly keen. And then, he started to search.
He couldn’t find anything.
If you do not leave by this evening, you shall become broken like this zither.
If I can’t find you, you will find me. Why shouldn’t I just wait for you here, and see how you intend to break me like the zither?
Fu Hongxue slowly sat down, making the lantern slightly brighter. Light could always stir a man to wakefulness and vigor. Sleep and him simply were not destined to be.
Sometimes, he couldn’t fall asleep when he wanted to. Sometimes, he wanted to sleep but must not sleep.
The man who broke the zither could once more enter from via the secret tunnel at any time and break him like a zither!
Was this person Gongzi Yu or not? What type of person was Gongzi Yu?
Fu Hongxue tightly gripped his sabre in his hand, that pitch-black sabre. He lowered his head, staring at his sabre. He felt as though he himself were slowly sinking down, sinking down into that pitch-black sheath. He suddenly fell asleep.
The night was deep and dark. A single light. Heaven and earth seemed at peace, without calamity, without blood, without sound.
When Fu Hongxue woke up, he was still perfectly seated on the chair. He didn’t know for how long he had been asleep. The first thing he did when he awoke was look at his sabre. The sabre was still in his hand. The pitch-black sheath glimmered with light underneath the lantern. Perhaps he had simply closed his eyes and dozed off for a moment. He was simply too tired. He wasn’t a man made from iron, after all. This sort of thing was hard to avoid. So long as his sabre was still in his hand, he feared nothing. But by the time he lifted up his head, he sunk down again, sunk down into an icy lake. He was still on the chair, his sabre was still in his hand, but he was no longer in that crude cabin in the mountains.
The first thing he saw was a painting, a four-foot, seven inch long painting, suspended from the wall in front of him.
This room naturally wasn’t only four-feet, seven inches wide. Aside from this painting, the snow-white walls also had all sorts of weapons hanging down from it. Amongst them were giant stone weapons which men had used to hunt with, in the times before copper and iron were discovered. There were weapons which soldiers had used during the Warring States period, such as pikes and lances. There was the ‘Green Crescent Blade’ which the legendary war god, Guan Yu, had used. There were also extremely rarely seen weapons of the martial world, such as curved scimitars and tiger-straddling baskets.
But the most common weapon was still the sabre.
Broadswords, double sabres, goose-plume sabres, demon-headed sabres, golden-spined mountain cleavers, Buddhist monk’s sabres, nine-ringed sabres, violet fish-scale sabres…it seemed as though there was even an extremely long Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch.
But what shocked Fu Hongxue the most was that there was also a pitch-black sabre! It looked just the same as the one he wielded. The hundreds and thousands of weapons actually hadn’t yet filled the wall. From this, one can imagine how large the room was. But the floor was covered with a very complete velvet carpet, making the room seem undescribably warm and comfortable. Everything in the room had been selected with the greatest care. In his entire life, Fu Hongxue had never been in such a magnificent, luxurious place.
Right now, he wasn’t sure how he had arrived here. This wasn’t a dream, but it was much more bizarre and absurd than the bizarrest, absurdist of dreams. His sabre-gripping hand was ice cold. The hilt had been soaked by the cold sweat from his palm.
But he didn’t cry out in alarm, nor did he run away. He still quietly sat in this chair, not even moving. Someone was able to quietly, stealthily bring him to this place. Naturally, it would have been easy to kill him. Since he was still living, why flee? Why move?
From outside the door, someone loudly laughed, “Young master Fu, what good self-control you have!”
The door opened. The one who laughed loudly was actually Grandmaster Zhong.
Only, this Grandmaster Zhong’s appearance had changed a bit. The cloth robes he had worn were now replaced by a golden mantle, his white hair had darkened somewhat, and his wrinkles had lessened somewhat as well. He looked at least ten or twenty years younger.
Fu Hongxue only coldly glanced at him, not showing the slightest bit of surprise, as though he had long since calculated that this person would be here.
Grandmaster Zhong bowed to the floor. “This humble one is Yu Qin. I pay my respects to young master Fu.”
So he was Yu Qin. So he was Gongzi Yu’s Yu Qin. The zither-playing servant in the marketplace was nothing more than an actor playing a minor role. That play had been put on for Fu Hongxue’s benefit. Fu Hongxue had never seen the real Yu Qin. Naturally, that play had seemed extremely real. Could it be that the entire purpose of that play was to get Fu Hongxue to listen to that heartrending music, to make him feel downcast and to pull out his sabre and chop his own head off? Right now, if he were to draw his blade, he naturally wouldn’t be cutting his own neck.
Seeing the sabre in his hand, Yu Qin stopped far away. He suddenly said, “What is this place?
How did I get here?”
He chuckled, then continued, “These two questions should have been asked by young master Fu. But since you do not intend to ask, then it falls upon me to ask.”
He asked the questions. Naturally, he would answer them as well.
Unexpectedly, Fu Hongxue coldly said, “This is a good place. Since I am already here, why would I need to ask too many questions?”
Yu Qin was startled, then said, “Young master Fu, you really do not wish to ask?”
Fu Hongxue said, “No.”
Yu Qin looked at him. Hesitatingly, he said, “Young master Fu, do you want to kill me with a chop of your sabre, then leave through this door?”
Fu Hongxue said, “No.”
Yu Qin said, “Can it be that you don’t wish to leave, young master Fu?”
Fu Hongxue said, “It wasn’t easy for me to get here. Why would I leave?”
Yu Qin was startled yet again. When he entered, he originally thought that it would be difficult for Fu Hongxue to resist being startled or frightened. Unexpectedly, the one who ended up consternated was himself.
Fu Hongxue said, “Sit down.”
Yu Qin actually sat down. There was a white jade table next to the carved wooden chair. There was a zither on top of the table. It was the legendary, incomparable zither left behind from antiquity, the ‘Scorched Strings’ zither.
Fu Hongxue said, “Please play a melody for me to listen to.”
Yu Qin said, “Alright.”
With a clanging sound, the zither music arose. Naturally, he was no longer playing that sort of music which would make the listener feel cold and filled with grief. The zither music was filled with joy and happiness, riches and honor. Even people who simply could no longer keep on living would no longer want to die after hearing this melody. He himself, naturally, didn’t want to die either.
Fu Hongxue suddenly asked, “Gongzi Yu is here?”
Although Yu Qin did not respond, the sound of his music seemed to whisper, “Yes.”
Fu Hongxue asked, “Does he also wish to meet me?”
The zither music once more carried an answer with it. “Yes.”
Fu Hongxue was originally a friend who appreciated his music. He wanted to continue to inquire, but a very strange noise suddenly came in from outside. Monotous, abrupt, shrill, and terrifying. One sound after the other, it rang out without stopping.
Yu Qin’s hand trembled. Two strings on the zither suddenly snapped. This abrupt, shrill sound carried within it an indescribable, fear-inducing sensation. No matter who heard this sound, they would feel their throat becoming dry, their heart rates elevate, and their stomachs contract. Not even Fu Hongxue was an exception.
Yu Qin’s face changed. He suddenly stood up and quickly strode out.
Fu Hongxue did not stop him. He never did things that were unnecessary. He had to conserve his energy, using all of his strength to keep himself calm and collected.
The weapons on the wall sparkled with cold light. That four-foot, seven-inch long painting on the wall was definitely a masterpiece as well. But he didn’t even spare it another glance. He definitely could not spare any attention to anything else. But he wasn’t able to fully concentrate all of his strength. That abrupt, shrill noise continued to cry out without stopping, as though it were an iron hammer repeatedly clanging against his mind. It wasn’t until the sound of a door opening was heard that he noticed there was a door behind him. A beautiful woman, dressed in white, was staring at him from outside the door. She actually seemed to be Zhuo Yuzhen. And yet, she was not Zhuo Yuzhen.
She was far more beautiful than Zhuo Yuzhen, so beautiful, pure, and noble. Her smile was warm and refined, and her graceful bearing was even more stirring. Even Fu Hongxue couldn’t resist tossing a few extra glances her way.
She already walked inside. She gently closed the door, then walked past Fu Hongxue’s form. She walked to the center of the great hall before turning to face him. Smiling, she said, “I know you are Fu Hongxue, but you definitely don’t know who I am.”
Her voice was just like her person; noble and graceful. But her words were very frank and candid. Clearly, she wasn’t one of those affectedly bashful women.
Fu Hongxue did not know who she was.
But she had already told him. “My surname is Zhuo. I can be considered the mistress of this place. Thus, you can call me Madame Zhuo. If you feel this manner of address is too vulgar, you can call me Zhuo Zi.” [There is a pun here; her surname, ‘Zhuo’, sounds just like the word for ‘table’. Zhuo Zi literally means ‘Table’.]
Smiling, she continued, “My nickname is ‘Table.’ My friends all like to address me by this name.”
Fu Hongxue coldly said, “Madame Zhuo.”
He wasn’t her friend. He had no friends.
Madame Zhuo naturally understood his meaning. And yet, she was still smiling cheerfully. “No wonder everyone says you are a weirdo. You really are.”
Fu Hongxue himself admitted to it.
Madame Zhuo’s eyes roamed about. “Don’t you want to ask me what relationship I have with Zhuo Yuzhen?”
Fu Hongxue said, “I do not.”
Madame Zhuo said, “Can it be that there really is nothing in the world which can move your heart?”
Fu Hongxue shut his mouth. If he didn’t want to say a single word in response, he would immediately shut his mouth, very tightly.
Madame Fu sighed. “Originally, I thought that you would at least glance at these weapons. Everyone who has ever visited here have all been very interested in these weapons.”
These weapons truly were masterpieces. It definitely wasn’t easy to collect all of these weapons. It wasn’t easy to have a chance to see them either. Very few people who practiced martial arts would be willing to pass up such an opportunity.
She suddenly turned around and walked towards the wall. She removed a simple, unsophisticated metal sword which was heavy and black. “Do you recognize whose sword this was?”
Fu Hongxue took one glance, then immediately said, “This is the sword Guo Songyang used.”
Originally, he didn’t want to speak, but he couldn’t resist speaking. He couldn’t allow her to consider him an ignorant person.
Madame Zhuo smiled. “You truly do have good eyesight.”
There wasn’t too much praise hidden within these words. In past years, the Solar Apex Sword travelled the martial world with ease, and was ranked number four in the Book of Weapons. There truly were only a few people who did not recognize this sword.
Madame Zhuo said, “Although this is just a replica of the original, its shape, weight, length, and even the metal used to smelt it are definitely the exact same as that of the Solar Apex Sword of years past.”
She couldn’t help but reveal a sense of self-satisfaction in her laughter. “Even the tassel on the sword was personally made by the grand-aunt of the Guo family. Aside from the metal sword which they pass down from generation to generation, I’m afraid that in all the world, there’s no other sword like this one!”
She hung the sword back on the wall, then took off a long whip. Dark light gleamed from it, making it look just like a nimble serpent.
Fu Hongxue said, “This was used by Ximen Rou. The Serpent Whip of the God of Whips, ranked seventh on the Book of Weapons!”
Madame Zhuo laughed. “Since you recognized the whip, I am sure you recognize Zhuge Gang’s Diamond Crutch as well.”
She hung up the long whip, then removed a pair of meteor hammers which were next to the Diamond Crutch.
Fu Hongxue said, “The Twin Comets of Wind and Rain. Ranked thirty fourth on the Book of Weapons.”
Madame Zhuo said, “Good eyesight.”
This time, there was somewhat more praise in her tone. She suddenly walked to the corner of the room and removed two metal hoops. “In the past, the Golden Coin clan dominated the martial world. Their chief, Shangguan Jinhong, shook the world with his strength. These are his Dragon and Phoenix Double Rings.”<
br />
Fu Hongxue said, “They are not.”
Madame Zhuo said, “No?”
Fu Hongxue said, “These are the Rings of Great Affection. This is the unique weapon of the northwestern Iron Ring school.”
Madame Zhuo said, “Why would a weapon designed for killing be named ‘Great Affection’?”
Fu Hongxue said, “Because once these rings settle around the opponent’s weapons, they will become entangled and never let go, just like people of great love and affection!”
A strange expression suddenly appeared on his pallid face. He continued, “When affection is concentrated, one is entangled to the marrow, even if the seas run dry and stones crumble, until death shall we part. Why is it that people of great affection are also people who kill as well!”
Madame Zhuo let out a soft sigh. “When affection is concentrated, to the point where it won’t stop until death, it can sometimes harm not only others, but also one’s self.”
Fu Hongxue said, “I’m afraid the one which is harmed is usually one’s self.”
Madame Zhuo slowly nodded. “Right. The one which is harmed is usually one’s self.”
The two of them faced each other silently. Only after a long time did madame Zhuo’s beautiful smile reappear. “There isn’t a weapon here which you do not recognize!”
Fu Hongxue said, “None.”
Madame Zhuo lightly said, “Every single weapon here has a history behind it. Back when they caused a stir in the martial world, it wouldn’t have been too hard to recognize them.”
Fu Hongxue said, “There isn’t anything which is truly hard in the world.”
Madame Zhuo said, “Unfortunately, although some weapons have become famous long ago and killed people without number, there has never been anybody who has seen its true features. For example…”
Fu Hongxue said, “Little Li’s Flying Dagger?”
Madame Zhuo said, “Right. Little Li’s Flying Dagger, Never Misses Its Mark! Even Shangguan Jinhong, said to be invincible, died to that dagger. It can truly be considered the best knife in the world.”
