Chapter 5: The Intersection
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei stood up abruptly. Without really thinking, he wanted to go out and fight his enemies to the death, but his reasoning stopped him. No matter what the background of those killers was, even his father Gu Lun, Master Shifu Yang Zheng, and his two elder brothers were unable to hit back, so he could not withstand a single blow. Even his very survival to this point was a miracle.
New whistles came from all directions; some were long while others short, and some stopped only to find others start. They were like a flock of noisy predators, vying for food and they soon entered the ruins of the manor. With their noisy hoofbeats, it seemed like thousands of people were rushing in.
Just as Gu Shenwei lowered his body and hid behind a broken wall, a torch was thrown up into the air, flying over his head.
Before Gu Shenwei had any idea about what just happened, a big hand grabbed his neck from behind. Gu Shenwei's feet left the ground against his will after the person that grabbed him jumped on his horse.
Before the horse's hoof touched the ground, Gu Shenwei was suddenly released by the big hand and fell to the ground heavily. He cried out in pain and did not even get a chance to stand up before he rolled on the ground for a moment. He found himself surrounded by machetemen on horses. They looked like hungry wolves under the light of the torches, all of them greedily staring at their prey.
Life is like that. There is always rain after an earthquake, and strong winds follow the rain. Bad luck is like an attacked animal, whose dripping blood will always attract more predators, then scavengers, night walkers, flies, and tinier creatures, until their flesh and bones disappeared completely.
The destruction of the Gu family was like a deadly wound. The first batch of killers had finished their tasks and escaped unscathed. After that, a group of wolves and ravens followed.
They were dirty bandits and thieves, and their number was fewer than what Gu Shenwei had initially thought. In actuality, there were only five people, but the whistles, hooves, and torches seemingly magnified their numbers.
Gu Shenwei did not know the identities of these people, and he just took them as enemies. He was cornered like a young beast with a low roar in its throat, showing its claws which were not sharp.
A whip came in through the darkness, bringing Gu Shenwei to the ground again. All of these bandits laughed excitedly and one of them leaned over to grab the young man. He put the young man on the back of his horse and searched him without ceremony. Finding a small bag of silver in the young man's arms, the bandit raised it and shouted, "Hey, this kid is from the same trade. He took it before us!"
Understanding the identities of these people, Gu Shenwei suddenly flew into a rage. "Let me go!" he shouted, struggling to grab the parcel.
The bandit laughed louder. Not taking the young man seriously, he put the silver into his arms. He slapped the boy heavily on the back and pulled out the little oilskin packet.
Gu Shenwei's back hurt like hell. It felt as if it was broken. But what scared him more was the secret manuscript of Internal Strength that had been taken. It was the most precious relic of his family, even more important than his own life.
Blowing a whistle, the bandit tore off the oilskin from the packet. He was surprised to find that there was only a thin book inside. After turning a few pages, he did not know any of the words in the book.
"What the hell is this?" The bandit was furious.
"Give it back to me!" Gu Shenwei rose up angrily.
The bandit punched Gu Shenwei in the face, almost knocking him out. The bandit dropped the book and took out some rope to tie him up, and then jumped down and followed the others into the ruins to look for valuables.
Since Gu Shenwei's hands and feet were tied, he could only wriggle like a worm. After struggling desperately for a few seconds, he fell down from the horse to the ground, and then he tried to crawl toward the book.
As he was about to get to the book, a strong wind blew over the ground. The flame of a nearby torch that had been thrown away by a robber was blowing like a snake's tongue. When the flame touched the pages of the book, it instantly caught fire.
It was painful to see his book burning. What he regretted most was that he did not build a solid foundation of his family's Kung Fu. Now, he could not even fight an ordinary bandit.
He rolled over on top of the book to put out the fire, and then hurried to get off the torch beside him. Carrying the book in his mouth, he got further away from the fire. Finally, the family's secret manuscript was saved, but only parts of it because the first few pages were almost burned out.
He looked at the book with pity and was surprised at the words in the book. He knew every word in it, but it was an account book, nothing related to Internal Strength!
The book, which was so difficult to find and save from being lost, was not the shortcut manual of "Yin and Yang Strength". Gu Shenwei was very disappointed because the secret manuscript was extremely important to his simple plan of revenge. And due to his weak Kung Fu foundation, it would take him at least 30 years to be able to avenge his family without the secret manuscript.
The shortcut manual to mastering "Yin and Yang Strength" had a lot of side-effects, so former masters of the Gu family used to hide it carefully, and no descendants were allowed to read it. It was said that an ancestor had practiced "Yin and Yang Strength" according to the secret manuscript, which made his Internal Strength more powerful and his strength double. With Gu family's skills with the sword and spear, he became very famous at the time, but three years later, he suddenly died mysteriously in a very terrible way.
Gu Shenwei just wanted to avenge his family, so he did not care about the effects after three years. But now, he even had lost all hope in fighting his enemies to the death.
Those bandits thoroughly plundered the ruins. Within half an hour, they all went back to the courtyard, carrying several packets and blowing their whistles as they were preparing to leave.
Gu Shenwei's captor came back as well and put two packets on the horse's back. His plunder was not as good as the others, so he was not in a good mood. He went over to the boy and gave him a good kick.
Gu Shenwei curled up in pain. The bandit grabbed him by the ropes on his body and tried to carry him back onto his horse.
Suddenly, Gu Shenwei realized something. The oilskin-wrapped book was thrown into sight, revealing a corner of a white handkerchief. Before it was picked up, he bit at a corner of the white handkerchief. He had taken the entire white handkerchief in his mouth while he was lying on the horse's back.
After mounting their horses, the bandits left the manor and went downhill.
There was another bandit near the village at the foot of the hill, guarding a dozen captives and more than 30 cattle and sheep. The captives' arms were tightly tied together. Gu Shenwei was also thrown onto the ground and tied to the back of one of the other captives.
The six bandits drove the captives and the animals to the east. Gu Shenwei struggled to follow them, having no time to spit out the white handkerchief.
When the sun was rising, these bandits stopped at a T-junction. Gu Shenwei thought it was not too far from his home. He rarely left the manor, so he had no impression of how far this road was.
They went through a narrow dirt road running north to south through a mountain. They took a main road that went east to west after negotiating the winding road for a few miles, seeing hundreds of people gathering at the intersection.
Most people were dressed in scruffy leather coats. Shining in the morning sun, their coats were so oily that they seemed to have never been washed. Everyone was armed and had fierce eyes, they just looked like a herd of animals being forced to gather in a heap.
There were distinct factions among the bandits. They were divided into several groups, keeping a vigilant eye on each other. Their hands were always placed near their weapons, ready to fight each other at any moment.
What was really weird was that these fierce bandits all squeezed in the western part of the intersection, but none of them went over to the empty area on the opposite side, as if there was a ghost hidden there.
What was even weirder was that all the bandits were looking at the northern mountain pass, as if they were waiting for someone.
Four hours before, Gu Shenwei thought he had the "Will of the Divine". Unexpectedly, he became a captive of these bandits, mixed up with a bunch of dirty and panicked men and women.
Among all the captives, Gu Shenwei was the dirtiest. With sweat, dust, and bone-ashes covering his whole body, he just looked like a clay sculpture.
As these bandits were not paying attention to him, Gu Shenwei spat the white handkerchief out of his mouth. No daring to check it, he slipped it into his pocket secretly. Knowing that he had already been searched once, he hoped he would not be searched again.
The person the bandits were waiting for had not turned up, so they started to become restless and began to curse. They were not used to being so close to their peers. Two groups of them had fought with each other, and several of them were injured. But fortunately, none of them were killed.
Gu Shenwei still did not know why he was taken. There were so many bandits gathered near the Gu family's manor. It was said that such bandits had been wiped out a few years ago. He looked up at the bandit who caught him and tried to get some clue from him.
This bandit, like all the others, was dressed in a leather coat even on this hot summer day. He was strongly built, with a thick beard on his dirty face, and a scar on his left cheek.
The scarred bandit felt the glare from below. He looked down at the young captive with a relentless gaze and said, "What don't you run?"
Gu Shenwei was not that stupid. He stood in the midst of all these bandits, surrounded by the endless Gobi Desert. To escape meant certain death. In addition, his hands were tied to a group of captives.
"You've got the money, why not let me go?"
Gu Shenwei's tone was tough, but he knew that he was just money in the eyes of a bandit, the same as all the other men, women, and animals.
The scarred bandit spat on the ground, and his thick saliva just brushed across Gu Shenwei's scalp. He refused to answer the question.
An old bandit looked at the gang of thieves and their captives with a gloomy face. Suddenly, he said, "Not enough plunder, Eagle."
The scarred bandit called "Eagle" spat again and said, "The tiger has left no food behind."
Gu Shenwei was shocked, thinking that this "tiger" must be the people who killed off his entire family. These bandits obviously knew all the details of the killing. He had been thinking that it would be hard to find these killers, who might hide their whereabouts after taking out the Gu family.
The old bandit glanced at him once more and maybe saw something special in Gu Shenwei's eyes. He said nothing more and turned his head to continue looking across the mountain pass to the north.
Gu Shenwei waited for a long time but no one mentioned the topic of "tiger" again, so he had to ask, "Is the tiger that you are following a big one?"
The bandit named Eagle closed his lips, as if he had not heard him. After a while, he said coldly, "Nonsense, is there any tiger bigger than Supreme King?"
Supreme King.
There was no one in the Western Region who did not know about Supreme King.
Suddenly, he became very depressed because the power of his enemy was way beyond his expectations.