Chapter 22: Gongzi Yu

Fu Hongxue did not turn around. He did not move.

He couldn’t move. He already felt a sort of all-conquering, all-pervasive killing aura. If he moved, regardless of the movement, he might give the opponent an opening. Even a single twitch of a muscle might be a fatal mistake. Although he knew that a person like Gongzi Yu was definitely not the type of person to attack from behind, he couldn’t not take precaution.

Gongzi Yu suddenly laughed. His laughter was graceful and courteous. “You truly are worthy of being called an incomparable, elite master.”

Fu Hongxue was still silent.

But Madame Zhuo blinked her eyes a few times. “He didn’t even move, but you can tell he is a master?”

Gongzi Yu said, “Precisely because he did not move, he is an incomparable, elite master.”

Madame Zhuo said, “Can it be that not moving is harder than moving?”

Gongzi Yu said, “Much harder.”

Madame Zhuo said, “I don’t understand.”

Gongzi Yu said, “You should understand. If you were Fu Hongxue, and knew that I had suddenly arrived at your back, what would you do?”

Madame Zhuo said, “I would definitely be very surprised!”

Gongzi Yu said, “When surprised, you can’t help but put up your guard. You can’t help but move.”

Madame Zhuo said, “Right!”

Gongzi Yu said, “But so long as you moved, you would die!”

Madame Zhuo said, “Why?”

Gongzi Yu said, “Because you simply do not know from where I might attack. Thus, no matter how you move, you will have made a fatal mistake.”

Madame Zhuo said, “If an opponent like you suddenly appeared behind somebody, no matter who they are, they would be tense. Even if they didn’t move, the muscles on their back would tighten.”

Gongzi Yu said, “But his did not. Although I have been standing behind him for very long, not a single part of his body has changed!”

Madame Zhuo finally let out a sigh. “Now I finally understand. Not moving truly is much harder than moving.”

If you knew a man like Gongzi Yu was standing behind you, but could keep all the muscles in your body loose and slack, then you must be a man with nerves colder than ice.

Madame Zhuo suddenly asked again, “Can it be that if he doesn’t move, you won’t have an opportunity to attack?”

Gongzi Yu said, “Not moving is moving. The final destination of all movements is not moving.”

Madame Zhuo said, “If you have too many openings, you actually have no openings, because your entire body will have become open. Open and clear, as empty as a vast mist. So you actually won’t know where to make your move?”

Gongzi Yu chuckled. “I knew you would understand this reasoning.”

Madame Zhuo said, “I also know that you definitely won’t attack. If you wanted to kill him from behind, you had many better opportunities than this one.”

Smiling, she said, “Because your goal isn’t to kill him. It’s to beat him.”

Gongzi Yu suddenly let out a sigh. “Killing him is easy. Beating him is really very difficult.”

He finally walked out from behind Fu Hongxue. His steps were serene and stable. Just at this moment, Fu Hongxue suddenly felt as though he were about to collapse. Cold sweat soaked his clothes.

He definitely could not let Gongzi Yu see this. He suddenly said, “Why must you give up the easy path and take the hard one?”

Gongzi Yu said in a heavy voice, “Because you are Fu Hongxue, and I am Gongzi Yu.”

Gongzi Yu was finally facing Fu Hongxue now. But Fu Hongxue still could not see his true appearance.

From the back, his elegant bearing seemed perfect and unassailable. However, on his face he wore a ferocious, hideous bronze mask!

Fu Hongxue coldly said, “I didn’t imagine that Gongzi Yu doesn’t dare to use his own face to meet people.”

Madame Zhuo said, “You are wrong.”

Fu Hongxue sneered.

Madame Zhuo said, “What you are seeing right now is Gongzi Yu’s true face.”

Fu Hongxue said, “What I am seeing right now is but a mask.”

Madame Zhuo said, “Isn’t there a mask on my face right now? Have you always had this cold, frozen, bloodless pale look to your face? And yet, isn’t this still your true face?”

Fu Hongxue shut his mouth again.

Madame Zhuo said, “Actually, you should understand that how he looks isn’t important, so long as you know that he is Gongzi Yu. This is the important point.”

This was the truth. Not even Fu Hongxue could deny it, because he couldn’t help but ask himself: “Am I currently showing my true features right now? What do my true features look like?”

Gongzi Yu lightly said, “I don’t necessarily want to see your true features. I just want to know that you are Fu Hongxue. That’s enough.”

Fu Hongxue stared at him. Only after a long time, did he say in a deep voice, “Now, you already know that I am Fu Hongxue. I also already know that you are Gongzi Yu.”

Gongzi Yu said, “Therefore, there is something I wish to resolve.”

Fu Hongxue said, “What?”

Gongzi Yu said, “Between the two of us, only one of us can stay alive.”

His voice was still callous but polite. He was clearly very confident in himself. “Whoever is stronger is whoever shall survive.”

Fu Hongxue said, “There seems to be only one way to resolve this issue.”

Gongzi Yu said, “Correct. There’s only one way. Since ancient times, there’s only been one way.”

He stared at the sabre in Fu Hongxue’s hand. “So I must personally defeat you.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Otherwise, you’d rather die?”

An unspeakable look of sorrow was suddenly revealed in Gongzi Yu’s eyes. “Otherwise, I must die.”

Fu Hongxue said, “I don’t understand.”

Gongzi Yu said, “You should understand. I don’t want others to kill you, in order to prove that I am stronger than you. I am definitely going to be the strongest in the world. Otherwise, I would rather die.”

His voice was suddenly filled with cynicism. “The martial world is like an independent country of its own. Only one ruler may be allowed to exist at any one time. If it isn’t me, it’d be you!”

Fu Hongxue said, “This time, I’m afraid you’re wrong!”

Gongzi Yu said, “I’m not wrong. There are many things which indicate that aside from me, you are the person with the highest level of martial arts in the martial world!”

He suddenly turned around, facing the painting on the wall. He slowly continued, “You were able to survive long enough to get here. That wasn’t an easy task. It wasn’t due to luck.”

Madame Zhuo let out a light sigh. “It definitely wasn’t.”

There were many people on the painting, almost lifelike in their perfection. The painting revealed a series of stories. There was a common person in every story. That person was Fu Hongxue. Facing the painting, the first thing he saw was himself.

Gloomy weather, a little town on the borderlands. There were two people locked in a vicious battle in the long street. One wore clothes as white as snow, but in his hand he wielded a scarlet red sword. The other wielded a pitch-black sabre.

Gongzi Yu said, “You should remember this. This is the Phoenix Market.”

Fu Hongxue naturally remembered. At that time, the Phoenix Market hadn’t become a dead settlement. That was also the first time he had met Yan Nanfei.

Gongzi Yu said, “In this battle, you defeated Yan Nanfei.”

In the second segment of the painting, the Phoenix Market had already become a ghost town. In the middle of the mist, two people knelt before Fu Hongxue.

Gongzi Yu said, “In this battle, you defeated the Twin Killers of the Five Elements.

And then it was the vipers in the horse saddle, Ghostly Granny’s poisonous cakes, and the poisoned wine in the bright moon’s building.

In the middle of the desolate Ni Family Garden, a young barefoot man was slowly falling down before his sabre.

Gongzi Yu said, “Du Lei originally was an expert of a rarely seen calibre in the martial world. His sabre was forged through bitterness and misery. Although it was a bit arrogant and artificial, I really did not imagine that you would kill him in one chop!”

Fu Hongxue said, “A sabre art designed to kill only has one chop!”

Gongzi Yu sighed. “Not to think of it, and yet when you think of it, the gods know. Striking later, but arriving first. Not changing despite thousands of transformations in front of you. One sabre chop really is enough!”

Not only did this single sabre chop shatter all of the various transformations of all sabre arts, it also overcame the boundaries of form and speed.

Madame Zhuo said, “What I really could not imagine was that you were actually able to escape from that secret room in the Peacock Manor!”

The Peacock Manor had turned into a heap of rubble, and Zhuo Yuzhen appeared on the painting. The Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch angrily chopped the horse in half, chef Hao chopped flesh in front of the cart, Mingyue Xin and Zhuo Yuzhen being sent into the secret room in the Peacock Manor, Gongsun Tu appearing, Zhuo Yuzhen giving birth in the secret room...

By this time, Fu Hongxue’s hand had already turned ice cold.

Madame Zhuo said, “She was a string. Originally, we wanted to use her to bind your hands. If your heart always pined after her and her two children, your hands will effectively have been fastened.”

A person whose hands had been fastened, naturally was not worth Gongzi Yu personally dealing with.

Madame Zhuo sighed again. “But we truly did not imagine that even in that situation, you were capable of killing the Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch!”

Fu Hongxue’s hands tightened. “At that time, you were already preparing to allow her to reveal her true identity. Why did you have her kill Du Shiqi?”

Madame Zhuo said, “Because we needed her to do one last thing.”

Fu Hongxue said, “You wanted her to use those two children to force me to hand over the Sorrowful Book of Yin and Yang and of Heaven and Hell Mingling?”

Madame Zhuo nodded. “Only then did we believe that the Sorrowful Book of Yin and Yang did not fall into your hands, because we knew that for those two children, you would be willing to give up everything.”

She sighed again, then said, “A pity that you actually were able to master the Great Acupoint Changing Technique. You actually didn’t die in her hands. The even greater pity is that you couldn’t steel your heart enough to kill her!”

The girl wearing the jasmine flowers appeared on the painting. She was feeding chicken soup to Fu Hongxue. The old lady next door was killing a chicken. Xiao Ting, wearing her jasmine flowers, was buying alcohol in the small store at the other side of the street. The obese store owner was staring at her chest, an obscene smile on his face. But he lay drunken in that small room, as though he had slowly become used to that lowly way of living.

Madame Zhuo said, “At that time, we originally thought that you were finished. Even if you could still kill, you would be nothing more than an insane executioner. You were already not worth Gongzi Yu personally dealing with you.”

The only person Gongzi Yu would personally deal with was the strongest person in the martial world.

Madame Zhuo said, “Even if you were already no longer the strongest person in the martial world, we wouldn’t have been happy if you died in a sewer. So at that time, we were planning to find someone else to kill you.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Unfortunately, there aren’t many people who can kill me.”

Madame Zhuo said, “We at least have one person who can.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Who?”

Madame Zhuo said, “Yourself.”

Fu Hongxue suddenly once again thought of that bitter, cold, despairing melody. It was more than enough to make a person totally lose all his will to live. No one could have imagined that when he reached that point, he would still have the courage to keep living. Perhaps it was because he had that sort of courage, that he was able to live until today. If even he himself could defeat himself, why would Gongzi Yu need to personally deal with him?

Gongzi Yu said, “Thus, you should now finally understand that you were able to live until today, not because of luck.”

Fu Hongxue asked again. “Have you done this solely because you must prove you are stronger than me?”

Gongzi Yu said, “Right?”

Once more, that unspeakable sorrow and cynicism was in his eyes. “Because all of this can only be enjoyed by the strongest person. If you can defeat me, all of this is yours.”

Fu Hongxue said, “All of this?”

Madame Zhuo said, “What all of this refers to is everything. It not only includes all of his riches, his honor, and his glory, it also includes me.”

She laughed. Her laughter was very gentle, very warm, very sweet. “So long as you can beat him, even I am yours.”

Open the door and outside you would see a long hallway, so long that it seemed one could never reach the end. Gongzi Yu had already opened the door, walked out, then turned around.

“Please, come with me.”

Madame Zhuo didn’t follow Fu Hongxue out. Now, they had reached the end of this hallway.

At the end of the hallways was another flower-carved wooden door. It was exquisite but solemn. Within was a spacious grand hall. There was an enormous stone platform, with four enormous torches lit in each of the four corners.

Gongzi Yu slowly went onto the platform. Standing in the middle of the platform, he said, “This is where we shall fight.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Excellent.”

A perfectly smooth stone platform. Brilliant torchlight. No matter where you stood, no matter where you faced, everything was the same. There wasn’t even a hint of wind in the room. The preparations you made while striking, or the speed of your strike, definitely wouldn’t be interfered with by any outside factors.

Gongzi Yu clearly didn’t want to gain any unfair advantages from the weather or the terrain. For a person to do this much was already a very rare thing.

There were three large and comfortable chairs on each of the two sides of the stone platform. Every chair was precisely seven feet away from the stone platform.

Gongzi Yu said, “When we fight, only six people can be allowed to watch. They will also be the witnesses to our duel. You may choose any three people you please.”

Fu Hongxue said, “No need.”

Gongzi Yu said, “When experts fight, victory and defeat are often determined in a very brief period of time. With your own friends watching on the side, you would feel a bit more at ease. Why would you give up this right?”

Fu Hongxue said, “Because I have no friends.”

Gongzi Yu stared at him, then said, “It’s best if you keep this right. If the people whom I bring make you feel uncomfortable, you have the right to reject them.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Very good.”

Gongzi Yu said, “You’ve been exhausted, day after day. You can’t help but not be as vigorous, as alert as you normally would be. It’s better if you rest here for some time. Thus, I will allow you to choose the day of our battle as well!”