Chapter 15: The Ancient Monastery of the Celestial Dragon

High noon. Sunlight filled the sky.

When Fu Hongxue left the inn, he felt as though his spirit was reinvigorated, and that he was capable of dealing with any problems or dangers.

He had slept for an entire day, then rested in a warm bath for an hour. His exhaustion, accumulated over many days, had been washed clean like the dirt and grime.

Over the past few years, he had very rarely pulled out his sabre. He felt that using the sabre to solve problems wasn’t necessarily the best way to handle things.

But now his thinking had changed, and so he had to stir himself to vigor.

Because not only was killing very extravagant and wasteful, it was also something which required sufficient energy and vitality.

Right now, although he didn’t know where those people were, he was confident that he would definitely find clues to their whereabouts.

Zheng Jin was a woodcutter, twenty one years of age, unmarried, and lived in a small wooden cabin in the mountains. Every day, he only left the mountain once, to exchange dry firewood for salt, rice, fatty meat, and alcohol. Once in a while, he would also go to one of the dark alleyways of the city to find a cheap, low-cost girl.

The firewood he cut was always sold to the teahouses by the major avenues. His firewood was both dry and cheap, and so the teahouse managers would always keep him for some tea before letting him leave. Sometimes he himself would buy a kettle of wine as well.

Even when he drank, though, he rarely opened his mouth. He wasn’t a very talkative person.

But on this rainy day, he was very fond of telling a story, the same story each time. He had told it at least twenty or thirty times.

Every time he told the story, he would always emphasis this at the beginning: “This is an absolutely true story. I witnessed it myself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t believe it either.”

The story happened three days ago, at noon. It started from the flash of sabre light which he saw within the forest.

“Even in your dreams, you could never have imagined that there was such a sabre. With just a flash of sabre light, a vigorous and flourishing horse was suddenly chopped into two halves.”

“I saw a young man who looked like he was a playboy from a rich family, with a sword as bright red as fresh blood. No matter who he touched with his sword, that person would immediately fall down.”

“He also had a friend, with a pale face and black hair. His face was so white, it looked translucent.”

“This man was even more fearsome...”

Although he had told the same story over twenty or thirty times, he still told the story with gusto, and the listeners still heard the story with relish.

But this time, he actually shut his mouth before he finished the story, because he suddenly realized that the ashen-faced man was standing right in front of him. A pair of eyes, as sharp as a knife blade, were staring at him.

A pitch-black sabre. A pair of lightning-like eyes. A rain of blood which shot out like arrows...

Zheng Jin only felt his stomach began to contract and twitch again, as though he was almost about to begin vomiting anew.

He wanted to flee, but his two legs just so happened to go soft.

Fu Hongxue watched him coldly. He suddenly said, “Continue.”

Zheng Jin forced a smile to his face. “Continue ... continue what?”

Fu Hongxue said, “That day, what did you see happen after I left?”

Zheng Jin wiped away his sweat. “I saw many things, but I didn’t see anything clearly.”

He wasn’t totally lying. At the time, he really was so frightened that he almost fainted.

Fu Hongxue only wanted to know one thing. “What happened to that man who wielded the red sword?”

Zheng Jin replied very quickly this time. “He died.”

Fu Hongxue’s hands tightened, and his heart sank. His entire body was already ice cold. Only after a long time did he open his mouth again. “How did he die? Who killed him?”

Zheng Jin said, “Originally, he wasn’t going to die. After he sent the carriage off, he warded off three people for you. It seemed as though nobody else dared to face his sword, so he also found an opportunity to flee. He moved really quickly, as though he were a gust of wind.”

As he retold the story, in his heart he was reliving that memory. His features went through many transformations as well.

But he spoke very quickly, because he was very familiar with telling this story. “But just as he fled into the forest, that horse-butchering sabre light suddenly flew out again. Although he dodged the first chop, the man followed with a second chop, and each chop was faster than the previous.

He didn’t continue, nor did he need to continue, because everyone already knew the end to this story!

In front was the Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch. Behind him was Gongsun Tu and Xiao Siwu. No matter who was caught in this situation, the result would be the same.

Fu Hongxue was silent. Although he looked very tranquil, in his heart, he felt as though a thousand soldiers and ten thousand cavalry troops were stampeding about.

The bright moon had sunk down. The swallow had flown away, never to be seen again as well.

He was silent for a long time, before asking, “What type of person was he?”

Zheng Jin said, “He really looked as though he were a divinity, like he was the prince of hell. He was at least a head taller than everybody present. He wore a golden hoop in his ears, and wore clothes made from animal skins. The sabre he wielded in his hands was at least seven or eight feet long.

Fu Hongxue said, “Afterwards?”

Zheng Jin said, “That ‘chef’ fellow originally wanted to chop your friend apart and boil him in the pot, but the man who was originally playing chess was totally opposed to this. Afterwards...”

He let out a breath, then continued. “Afterwards, they gave your friend’s corpse to a monk from the Ancient Monastery of the Celestial Dragon.”

Fu Hongxue immediately asked, “Where is the Ancient Monastery of the Celestial Dragon?”

Zheng Jin said, “I hear it’s at the northern gate, but I’ve never gone before. Very few people go there!”

Fu Hongxue said, “They gave him to which monk?”

Zheng Jin said, “It seems that monastery only has one monk. He’s a crazy monk. I hear that he...”

Fu Hongxue said, “What about him?”

A pained look was on Zheng Jin’s face, as though he were about to vomit again. “I hear that not only is he crazy, he also likes to eat flesh. Human flesh.”

The sunlight was as scorching as fire, making the road as hot as a furnace.

Fu Hongxue silently strode upon the furnace. He didn’t sweat a single drop of sweat. He didn’t shed a single tear.

The only thing he had left was blood.

“When I can ride a carriage, I will never walk. I hate walking!”

He was just the opposite of Yan Nanfei. When he could walk, he would never ride a carriage!

He seemed to want to intentionally torment his two legs, because these two legs brought him too much trouble and misery.

“Sometimes I can even fall asleep while I’m walking.”

Right now, he naturally wouldn’t fall asleep. There was a very strange look in his eyes. It wasn’t a look of grief, or of rage. It was a look of uncertainty and pondering.

And then he suddenly turned around, heading back to where he came from!

What did he suddenly think of?

Could it be that there were things he still hadn’t thought through, and so he must go back and speak to that woodcutter again?

But Zheng Jin was already no longer at the teahouse.

“He just left.” The teahouse manager said, “Over the past two days, he was always here telling that story. He always stayed here until it was dark. But today, he left particularly early.”

He clearly felt some dread towards this pale-faced stranger, and so he spoke very carefully and very precisely. “And he left in a big hurry, as though he had pressing business to attend to.”

“What road did he take?”

The manager pointed to a road up ahead. There was a flattering yet obscene smile on his face. “His old mistress seems to live on that street. I think her name is Peach. He must have gone to look for her.”

A dark, dirty, and narrow alleyway. A foul stench emanated from the gutter. Trash was stacked everywhere.

Fu Hongxue didn’t seem to notice at all.

Light shone in his eyes. The blue veins on the hand with which he gripped his sabre were bulging out, as though he was very excited, very agitated.

What, exactly, did he think of?

From behind a tattered wooden door, a woman wearing a string of jasmine flowers suddenly walked out.

The perfume and makeup were all cheap. They mixed together with the vile stench of the alleyway to form an evil, degrading lure.

She intentionally brought her heavily made up face close to Fu Hongxue. Her hands had already quietly reached out, intentionally stroking a certain place on Fu Hongxue’s upper thigh.

“There’s a bed inside. It’s both soft and comfortable. There’s also me and a basin of warm water. It only costs two silvers.”

She narrowed her eyes, revealing lascivious laughter in them. “I’m only seventeen, but I am very skilled. I’m even better than Peach.”

Her laughter was very cheerful. She felt that this transaction was already successful.

Because a certain part of this man’s anatomy had already changed.

Fu Hongxue’s pallid face suddenly turned red. Not only did he want to vomit, he was also furious. Even in front of such a base, cheap woman, he still wasn’t able to control his physiological reactions.

Was this because it had been too long since he had been intimate with a woman, or because he was already very excited?

No matter what type of excitement one might have, it easily leads to arousal.

The body of the woman wearing a jasmine flower moved even closer to him. Her two hands were moving more quickly as well.

Fu Hongxue’s hand suddenly struck out, heavily striking her across the face. She collapsed, hitting the wooden door, falling face-up to the ground.

The surprising thing was, there wasn’t a look of anger or surprise on her face. There was a look of exhaustion, sorrow, and despair.

She had long since become accustomed to this sort of humiliation. Her anger had long since turned into numbness. What made her sorrowful was that once more, the transaction was not successful.

Where would her dinner come from tonight? A strand of jasmine flowers wouldn’t fill her stomach.

Fu Hongxue turned his head away, not bearing to look at her. He brought out all the silver on his body, forcefully casting them to her.

“Tell me, where is Peach?”

“She’s at the very last right-handed house.”

The jasmine flowers had already fallen. She crawled about on the floor, picking up those silver pieces. She didn’t give Fu Hongxue another look.

Fu Hongxue began to walk away. He only took a few steps before he bent his waist and vomited.

In the entire alleyway, only this door appeared attractive and dignified. Not even the lacquer had peeled off.

It seemed that not only was Peach very skilled, her business was very good as well.

It was very quiet inside. There was no sound.

A young, vigorous man and a woman with very brisk business who were together in a room shouldn’t be so quiet.

Although the door was locked, it wasn’t latched too firmly. A woman in this line of work didn’t necessarily need to latch her door too tightly, just like how they definitely didn’t need a tight belt.

He pushed open the door. The living room was in front of them. It was also their bedroom. The walls looked as though they had just been whitewashed as well. It was filled with all sorts of unimaginable pictures.

A large bouquet of withered camellias were held within a teapot on the table. Next to the teapot was a bowl of half-eaten pork noodles.

Aside from a large, embroidered bed, the most lavish thing in the room was an ancestral tablet placed at the head of the bed. The engravings were exquisite, and the yellow curtains were noble. It formed an extremely strong contrast with the lewd, lascivious paintings on the walls.

Why would she put an ancestral tablet at the head of the bed.

Did she want these spirits to personally witness how lowly and despicable humans were? Witness her sell herself? Witness her die?

Peach was already dead. She lay dead on the bed, along with Zheng Jin. Their fresh blood dyed the embroidered red blankets even more crimson.

The blood was flowing from the major arteries in the back of their necks. One chop took their lives.

Not only did the killer have a quick sabre, he also had plentiful experiences.