Editor: Xu Xian
Chapter 081 Killing the Master
Half a month later, Tie Hanfeng finally took his disciple down the mountain to visit a doctor. During that period of time, he went to the city several times by himself, returning the same day. His face became darker and darker.
Gu Shenwei, however, calmed down. In the past half month, he put in all his effort to do one thing: Assassinating his Master.
He had used 28 methods in total, assassinating almost twice a day. Some of them were well planned, others were whimsical ideas.
The way Tie Hanfeng dealt with it was simple: prevent himself from being killed, then beat his disciple up. He would even make a comment when he was in the mood.
“Use knockout drugs on me? You use knockout drugs on a killer? Huh, when I was making a meal out of it, your mum was still being breast fed.”
When Tie Hanfeng said this, Gu Shenwei was lying softly on the floor, motionless. He had breathed in the ricocheted knockout drugs.
“Idiot, glance before killing, why don't you just tell me a dagger is hiding under the pan? I can even see the shit in your intestines clearly, you still want to play tricks with me?”
Now, the dishes scattered over the floor, the pan flew to the wall and Gu Shenwei fell onto the floor. He had new injuries on his face before old ones had recovered, Tie Hanfeng’s fist was as hard as stone.
Gu Shenwei used all means he had within his power. Disciples who still cherished Bi Nu gang all offered advice to him; provided rare poisons, specially made short weapons and all kinds of hidden weapons; and monitored Tie Hanfeng and his activities at east castle.
Gu Shenwei set a rule that he would assassinate his Master by himself. Lame Tie wouldn't kill his only disciple, but he wouldn't be merciful to others.
Once, Gu Shenwei almost succeeded.
At the time, he'd already unsuccessfully tried to injure his Master over twenty times. Considering that his Master never took the initiative, Gu Shenwei thought of a trick.
Tie Hanfeng had been lying on the chair, drinking and cursing about how his disciple had implicated him. Gu Shenwei stood about 6 or 7 steps away, his right hand resting a couple inches away from his sabre's hilt, and his left hand behind his back. He paced back and forth, as if he had something on his mind.
Tie Hanfeng finally couldn’t bear it anymore. “Little bastard, what are you waiting for? The dishes have gone cold now, why aren't you making a move? I told you before, don’t use those tricks you learnt at the castle, which one don't I already know? Why don’t you commit suicide and go rot in the yard, maybe the smell can suffocate me.”
“Lame, your rotten leg hasn’t suffocated you yet. Even if I were dead, I wouldn't be stinkier than it,” Gu Shenwei answered back bluntly.
Etiquette had long been gone between the Master and disciple, but Gu Shenwei still didn’t make a move, he just verbally fought his Master by cursing back and forth with him.
Tie Hanfeng was like a chess player who lived a secluded life in the mountains that had finally found a worthy opponent. It immediately aroused his former ambitions, spittle flew from his mouth along with witty curses. He first cursed his opponent’s ancestors, then scolded his relatives and friends. He ‘pointed’ at his disciple’s limbs and face and ‘dug’ his internal organs. His words were full of shit, urine, pigs and dogs. Even for his disciple’s birth, he had imagined more than a dozen different versions. In short, he cursed so much his disciple didn't have a chance to speak. Meanwhile, he didn’t stop drinking. Even if his mouth was busy, he still found a chance to accurately pour wine into his mouth.
Gu Shenwei seemed clumsy in speech at first, before he could finish one sentence, his Master had already cursed two more sentences. But he gradually found a solution: he totally ignored his Master’s scolding and switched from defense to offense. He kept cursing something to do with ‘crippled’, ‘bootlicker’ and finally broke his own bottom line when he brought out and described all the relatives his Master definitely had, and possibly had. He made long speeches to prove Lame Tie was the immediate descendant of a rotten man and filthy animals.
Cursing wasn't any easier than killing, one would be ridiculed if one said the same words twice. One had to adapt according to the changing circumstances and make ten thousand moves based on one move. When Gu Shenwei cursed to his fullest, he finally understood the truth of dirty words: killing was like carrying stones, for each person killed, another stone would be accumulated in one’s heart. It gradually built up into a seemingly glorious pile, but it made one breathless. Cursing was like dredging something through the dirt and destroying, the more one cursed, the lighter one felt in their heart. One would even feel like they were beholding the sun blazing forth from a cloudy sky.
This unprecedented abuse between Master and disciple lasted for almost 4 hours and was still a draw. It finally ended with Tie Hanfeng falling to the ground.
Gu Shenwei didn’t hide any weapons or poisons in his sleeves. He found out long ago that his Master took delight in curing people. Foul words were like delicious dishes which went best with wine to him. Gu Shenwei didn’t put any knockout drugs in the wine, he just bought more of it than usual. Lame Tie got himself dead drunk, completely vulnerable now.
Gu Shenwei drew his sabre. The feeling of being entirely free from worry brought by cursing was just an illusion. Once he shut his mouth, a fog of hatred, murderous intent, and death immediately permeated every pore of his body.
The sabre tip pressed against Lame Tie's heart. With just the strength of a quivering blade of grass, the sabre could end a killer’s life and witness the birth of another killer.
The clothes were cut open, the first drop of blood oozed out. Suddenly, Tie Hanfeng’s eyes opened wide and a weapon, which had been hidden under the deck chair, appeared in his hands.
The narrow sabre Gu Shenwei held was suddenly blocked, as if something caught it. He had to use more strength to succeed. But in a moment of hesitation, Tie Hanfeng’s narrow sabre had arrived at it's target: the heart.
Either let it go and retreat, or die with his enemy. Gu Shenwei had no choice, he would rather die for his revenge, but his target was not this cripple.
Gu Shenwei jumped back one step and avoided his Master’s counter attack. He gripped his sabre and kept on his guard quietly, waiting for the inevitable, ferocious beating.
Tie Hanfeng didn’t stand up, he didn’t even open his mouth to curse. His hand was still gripping the sabre, his eyes were still open, but at the same time he was snoring as usual. As it turned out, Tie Hanfeng wasn't even awake.
Gu Shenwei felt both surprised and ashamed, he couldn't even defeat an asleep Lame Tie.
Tie Hanfeng’s eyes closed slowly, but the sabre seemed to grow longer in his hand, his five fingers had no signs of releasing it.
Gu Shenwei hesitated for a long time and finally gave up a second attempt. From that drunk, he felt faint killing aura. When he was sleeping, Tie Hanfeng would completely follow his killer instinct and attack ruthlessly without hesitation. Gu Shenwei didn’t want to die like this for no reason.
As a killer, Tie Hanfeng’s kung fu was 10 times stronger than that Han Shiqi. Gu Shenwei was a bit curious about what Golden Roc Castle's standards were for choosing killers. Was it possible that someone could really obtain the killer title through social connections?
This demanding assassination only had one outcome. Gu Shenwei didn’t regret not killing his Master when he was drunk before. It turned out that he couldn’t do it anyway.
If he didn’t have the threat of Qi deviation and he had life left to squander, Gu Shenwei really wanted to stay with his Master. That cripple still had something he could learn from.
The next morning, Tie Hanfeng woke up and frowned when he saw the sabre in his hand. He smiled after seeing the small wound above his heart. Finally, he became so furious he grabbed many wine pots, but found no wine left. He wanted to alleviate his anger by beating his disciple, so looked everywhere for him.
Gu Shenwei hid for two days before he dared to go back. He didn’t give up and tried several more times, but what he received was more severe beatings. So, it was not weird at all that on that snowy day when Tie Hanfeng finally led him to see a doctor, his face was so black and blue that he looked like a stupid, disobedient teenager.
Tie Hanfeng nagged the whole way about how difficult it was, how much money he had spent, and how many people he had contacted to ask this Godly Doctor to check him. Godly Doctor was the epitome of a seasoned physician and one had to speak and act cautiously, and so on and so forth.
Gu Shenwei was shattered, he didn’t want to see the so-called Godly Doctor, or let the Godly Doctor see him. It would be another disaster if the Godly Doctor found out that the internal energy he practised was the Gu family’s balanced power.
The fact that Tie Hanfeng had found his disciple’s hidden danger of Qi deviation had already alarmed Gu Shenwei. This was one of the main reasons why he tried his best to assassinate his Master.
The Godly Doctor was surnamed Sun. He had travelled all around the world when he was young, from the Western Regions to the Central Plains, and found Masters to study all kinds of medical skills. After combining all the good points of more than 10 experts, he finally became a famous doctor.
The medical pavilion was located in the north of Jade City, it was a mansion with spacious halls and extensive gardens. Patients must make an appointment a few to a dozen days in advance. Godly Doctor claimed that there were several illnesses he couldn't cure, one of them were all kinds of emergencies and external wounds. His reason was simple and clear: "I haven't learnt how."
As soon as the Master and disciple arrived, a steward let them into the outer hall where Godly Doctor saw his patients.
Tie Hanfeng only had connections with the steward, it was his first time meeting Godly Doctor in person. He immediately beamed, revealing a flattering smile he reserved for yellow-belted overseers, and bowed deeply like a old bumpkin. He then pushed down his disciple’s head to force him into a bow and said in a low voice, “Godly Doctor, we've arrived.”
Godly Doctor was a tall, dignified old man with little hair. But his waist-long, black and white beard was very thick. He wore a blue gown and he held a book in his hand. He was so immersed in reading that he didn’t look up after hearing Tie Hanfeng speak. He merely said Mmm and turned two more pages before stopping. “Drinking so much, your liver and intestines are greatly damaged. Combined with heavy killing aura, you have too much yin Qi which forces the your yang Qi to rise up. Your face looks like it's glowing, it's actually because your disease is incurable. There's no need to check further, if you cut out wine, you can save 5 years of your life, if not, you’ll lose 10 years.”
Tie Hanfeng was slightly stunned, but he wouldn't stop drinking even if he died naturally tomorrow, “Godly Doctor, not me, it’s him.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier, people like you always waste my time.”
Godly Doctor shook his head impatiently, he glanced at Gu Shenwei. “What's there to check, use less strength when beating and it won't be so ugly.”
Gu Shenwei’s heart rested. This Godly Doctor didn’t seem to be competent or well-trained, he probably couldn’t recognize the origins of his internal energy.
Tie Hanfeng pushed his disciple in the front of the Godly Doctor. “Godly Doctor, it's not the external injuries, it’s an internal one.”
Godly Doctor shook his head, perhaps thinking, why didn’t you say so earlier. Then, he stuck out three fingers with long nails and started checking the pulses of Gu Shenwei’s wrists. The more he pressed, the tighter his eyebrows furrowed, his two eyes almost hit each other in the end.
He had finished checking the pulses, but the Godly Doctor’s brows didn’t smoothen. He flicked his finger several times and shot out hair-thin strands of Qi, accurately hitting a series of acupoints on the Du meridian.
Gu Shenwei said, not good, inwardly. This old bookworm not only knew internal energy, but also had powerful internal energy. He had just thought of this right before a strand of Qi hit the xuanji acupoint. The finger energy instilled by Xue Niang was like a runaway, wild horse that broke through its fence, it rushed towards his dantian.
Gu Shenwei fell back with an Ahh. Godly Doctor grabbed his arm and sternly said, “Red-faced cripple, you’ve been tricked, why did you bring a spy here?”