Chapter 69: Master Shifu
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Tie Hanfeng's face had become redder and redder when he was less than 20 years old. Originally, it made him look easygoing. However, as his face developed an increasingly darker shade of red and when the wrinkles on his face became clearly visible, the middle-aged Tie Hanfeng's normal face had a seemingly irritated look, as if he would suddenly draw his saber and fight to the death at any time. From then on, he intentionally wore a pleasing smile to cover his real look.
How could a man become a killer if he made others raise their guard on the first sight? This was the reason why Tie Hanfeng had "changed his look".
The smile was already fixed on his face after 20 years, as if it was a mask that merged with his skin.
Everyone was already accustomed to his look. If one observed closely, one would find that the killing intent behind the "smiling mask" became denser and denser. A cunning gleam in his eyes leaked out his killing desire with an uncontrollable sign.
Gu Shenwei observed carefully. He could not see the uncontrollable sign, but just a crippled old man with his eager killing desire which was similar to Marshal Yang who died in front of the Golden Roc Fort gate. Gu Shenwei thought he would not disrespect or easily offend this man if he were an supervisor with the yellow-belt.
"I'd like to be his apprentice."
When Gu Shenwei spoke, Tie Hanfeng laughed in a more flattering manner. After glancing at his apprentice, he approached the yellow-belted supervisor. "Look, someone chose me. I think he's good."
The supervisor frowned. He did not mind giving Cripple Tie an apprentice, but he did not want to release his right-hand man who dared to carry corpses alone. He thought it would be a waste if this apprentice followed an unqualified Master Shifu.
Tie Hanfeng faced the supervisor with a wide smile, trying to appeal the supervisor in this way. Gu Shenwei saw through the supervisor's intention. Since he had his own purpose, he said, "I'll come back to carry corpses after following him."
"Right, right. My apprentice looks like a good helper for carrying corpses."
Tie Hanfeng patted on the back of Slave Huan's head. The strength he used almost knocked Slave Huan down.
"You don't have to come every day, just every three days. You don't have to come once we have enough helpers." The supervisor finally agreed to let Slave Huan go.
After he officially introduced them to each other, the supervisor called a scribe to keep a record of everything. Then the ceremony of accepting the apprentice was over. Golden Roc Fort stuck to practical rules, so there were no complicated rituals for those matters.
Tie Hanfeng took his new disciple back to his residence. It was a shabby small yard that was located in the south of East Castle, not far from Woodensaber Alley where Mama Xue died.
There were lots of small and dilapidated houses in this area, where the various Master Shifu of Pyrowork Academy would teach their apprentices. Each yard had six or seven rooms, with different sizes of courtyards; the bigger courtyards were about a dozen steps wide while the small ones were only several steps wide. The yard wall was so tall that, when he looked up, Gu Shenwei felt as if he was living in a deep well .
The yard was in a mess, as if a group of people had fought here and thrown up all over the place while they were drunk.
A small table and a deck chair were placed near the door of the room. There were leftover dishes and dumped liquor which had been set on the table. A broken weapon rack stood by the yard wall, without any weapon in it. Six or seven sabers without sheaths all laid on the ground.
It was not like a residence for killers. Gu Shenwei could not help but doubt whether he made a wrong judgment. "Tie Hanfeng isn't a real killer. The overseers' attitude shows that they don't believe the crippled man was qualified to teach an apprentice."
He soon got an answer.
As soon as he walked into the yard, Tie Hanfeng rushed to the deck chair and fell onto it as if he a traveler who had finally returned home and just wanted to sleep after travelling for a long time.
Tie Hanfeng did not sleep. He grabbed a wine pot to pour it, but found that it was empty. With a bang, he put it down, smacked his lips, and then swallowed his saliva to satisfy his craving for liquor. Suddenly, he looked at his apprentice with a cold face as if it was his first time seeing him. "Little bastard, you want to be a killer?"
When Tie Hanfeng had a foul temper, he did not look like a bloody killer at all.
"Yes, Master Shifu."
"Your throat has been bunged up with shit? Holding back like this? Talk to me in a full sentence."
Tie Hanfeng liked speaking with foul words. When he was faced with people who did not deserve his flattering, his mouth would be filled with profanities, as if he could not express himself without them.
"Yes, I want to be a killer, Master Shifu."
"Hmm, come to kill me. There is a saber over there."
Gu Shenwei had seen indifferent people, flagitious people, and viperous people. However, he had never previously seen someone like the red-faced man who could change his facial expression in an instant.
Tie Hanfeng grabbed a wine cup and threw it at his apprentice after seeing that his apprentice did not know how to react. He was not like Luo Ningcha. The wine cup precisely hit Gu Shenwei's forehead, immediately causing blood to flow out.
"I want you to kill me, understand? Were your ears on your butt or were they eaten by a dog?"
Gu Shenwei was so furious that he could not think of a word to respond. He silently walked to the wall, picked up a saber which looked the sharpest, and turned toward his Master Shifu. When he was five steps away from him, Gu Shenwei suddenly struck a blow with his full strength.
in a scary speed Tie Hanfeng laid on the chair comfortably. He suddenly drew a similar saber from under the deck chair at a scary speed, and waited until Gu Shenwei's saber almost reached his head.
The shining blade light suddenly reached out and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The red face behind the light looked like that of Death who came to hunt spirits in the mortal world.
Gu Shenwei fell down like a bunch of rags, motionless. After a while, the scarlet blood flowed out from his lower body.
"Idiot."
Tie Hanfeng spat out a word and then placed his saber across his knees. He took the empty wine pot again and angrily threw it away. The wine pot rebounded to the ground after hitting the stone wall. Another piece of trash was added to the yard.
It was unknown how much time had passed. Gu Shenwei woke up in the dark, and felt a lot of pain in his chest with a numbness in his mind. "He wanted to kill me." This was the first thought that popped up in his mind. Then he was curious about why he did not die.
He let out a groan and then suddenly stood up, as if he was a dummy with mechanical buttons.
The clothes on his chest was dyed red. The rough, ugly wound went across from his left shoulder to his right rib, and was more than one foot long.
Tie Hanfeng was still lying on the chair with a cup of mellow liquor in his hand.
"Are you dead?"
"No."
Gu Shenwei ground out.
"Bandage your wound. You have too much f**king blood."
Courtesy was useless in this yard. Gu Shenwei did not answer him. He went straight into the room to find the styptic powder and bandages. He even did not try to cover his wound tightly and let his blood drip. He did not feel much pain, because he was focused on concocting a plan to kill his Master Shifu.
The room inside was tidier than the outside, as it had been uninhabited for a long time. The quilt was folded up neatly but it was covered with dust. Tie Hanfeng slept on the deck chair day and night.
The medicine kit and bandages were placed in a conspicuous place, which indicated that their owner lived on the edge of a knife indeed.
At that time, he was not skilled at dealing with the wound, so he spent a lot of time cleaning, applying medicine, and bandaging the wound. His first permanent scar was left because of it.
Soon, he would become accustomed to various wounds and could bandage them at full speed.
Gu Shenwei walked out of the room. Looking at the nape of Tie Hanfeng's neck, he wanted to sneakily attack him from his back.
"It's not a good time for assassination,"
Tie Hanfeng said, without turning his head. He lifted the wine cup and drank all of it. His voice was gentle and confused, as if he was a sage who was lost in thought.
Gu Shenwei got to know another side of his Master Shifu's personalities. The more the others drank, the worse their temper became. In contrast, his Master Shifu was foul-mouthed when he was sober, as if everyone was his deadly enemy. After several drinks, he would become reasonable and talk in a gentle voice, like an innocent child.
Gu Shenwei finally knew why the supervisors of Pyrowork Academy had not thought that Tie Hanfeng could teach apprentices well. Tie Hanfeng was a heavy drinker. Every drop of liquor would extinguish a little bit of his killing intent. And lastly, he was a drunken slob with a powerless body. He was not capable of protecting himself, let alone killing people.
It was difficult for a Master Shifu like that to teach his disciple about how to be a good killer.
"Old Hu said you're a good candidate. It's a pity no one appreciates you."
It was the second time that someone said Slave Huan was good candidate over the half a month. Gu Shenwei realized that Hu Shining, the training tutor in Carvewood Academy, turned to be the person that saved Maid Lotus's and his lives. But he had treated Hu Shining coldly.
"I didn't clearly see how you made your move."
Gu Shenwei said in a grave voice. He thought he had the ability to compete with a killer after reaching the third level of Yin and Yang Strength. But the result was that he still could not withstand a strike.
"You'll know how to kill people if you keep attacking. Come, do it again."
This was the way of Tie Hanfeng would teach his apprentice, without any oral guidance or display of skills. In his opinion, it was enough for his apprentice to master two or three sets of sabermanship; the only remaining thing for him was to enrich his experience and enlighten himself.
His first requirement for Slave Huan was simple. "Force me out of the chair in 10 days. If you can do it, I'm your Master Shifu. If you fail, I'll kill you."
Tie Hanfeng was half drunk while speaking, so his tone was not hard enough. However, Gu Shenwei believed his threat was real. He immediately picked up the saber and tried to "kill" his Master Shifu with his full strength, no matter how painful his chest was.
The reason why Tie Hanfeng set the 10-day deadline was that Slave Huan would took part in the first monthly test in 10 days.
"I don't want you to lose or win. I want you to kill your opponent. It doesn't matter how many moves you made. Just kill your opponent with one strike. What is this pitiful killing intent of yours? Don't hide it. Show all of it. Use all your strength like your mother when she was giving birth to you."
Tie Hanfeng taught his disciple like that when he was sober. Gu Shenwei knew his Master Shifu was trying to stimulate his will to fight, but he still simmered with anger. All the people he had met was courteous before he was 14 years old. Since the Gu family was slaughtered, he had never seen a person like this foul-mouthed cripple.
Gu Shenwei imagined his Master Shifu as Han Shiqi, Shangguan Yushi, and Shangguan Nu, and madly evoked the killing intent hidden deep inside his heart. On the ninth day after following his Master Shifu, he successfully forced Tie Hanfeng to jump out of the chair, and split in half the deck chair which his Master Shifu had cherished.