The melon-hilted scimitar was three feet and one inch long, and the end of its hilt was shaped exquisitely like a melon, hence its name.
One could clearly observe that its blade was curved, making it similar in style to the scimitars favored by the barbarians in the Western Region. It was heavy, such that one's hand would droop when carrying it, and it was so keen that it gave the wielder confidence to slice through metal or stone without using much strength.
The eldest machete man was known as Liu. He was scrawny and skeletal-like. In fact, he looked so frail that it seemed he might collapse and die at any moment. However, life works in mysterious ways, and this old man - who had difficulty even with grasping a saber - was the most senior of all the machete men and highly respected, so much so that everyone called him "Liu Zu".
Liu Zu drew the melon-hilted scimitar and presented it with both hands (while trembling slightly) to the Dragon King. It was the ultimate prize for winning the Machete God Contest.
Gu Shenwei received the scimitar from the old man and silently marveled at its quality. He examined it for a while before sheathing it again. Liu Zu personally placed it in a wooden box and applied a seal over the container. They were in North City, and everyone was forbidden to carry weapons openly in these parts without permission.
A few of the older machete men were looking eagerly at the Dragon King, their gaze carrying a mixture of adulation, anticipation, and awe in equal parts. However, there was also a tinge of craftiness in the way they were looking at him.
Gu Shenwei could sense that they wanted something from him. There had to be a reason why these old machete men, who had already made a name for themselves and were already living a life of luxury in North City, would organize the Machete God Contest. He placed the wooden box on the table and waited for them to speak first.
In the end, it was Liu Zu who spoke up on behalf of the machete men. He chose not to go straight to the point but started off with a story instead.
"The melon-hilted scimitar has an extraordinary history. I don't know whether you have heard about it before, Dragon King?"
Gu Shenwei shook his head.
Liu Zu laughed softly, causing his throat to give out heavy breathing sounds. It seemed as if the laugh was too much for him to take. "To be honest with you, Dragon King, this scimitar is known to bring bad luck to its owner. All of its previous 22 owners died in a terrible manner, and none of them had possessed it for more than a year."
In fact, seven of its previous owners died under the sword, six died from drowning, four from burns, another three fell to their deaths and the remaining two died from poisoning. Out of all the weapons forged by Daga, the scimitar could only be considered as of a normal standard and it was of good but not uncomparable quality. It was infamous because of the terrible fate suffered by its owners.
Liu Zu did not intend to use the scimitar's history with its owners to scare Dragon King, as he came quickly to explain. Its previous owners were all bandits and he had no reason to believe that Dragon King would end up like them too. It was rare for someone in their line of work to leave this world peacefully.
"Your predecessor was called Chihe, and he was commonly known as the 'Butcher of Tianshan'. After every robbery he committed, he would kill off all witnesses, regardless of age or gender. Sigh, it took so much effort from us to get rid of him."
Gu Shenwei had heard of the Butcher of Tianshan before, and knew about his ruthlessness. There were huge bounties on him in many countries, and it was known that he had a younger brother, Chipo, who was even more ruthless. Chipo had a scary nickname - the Hearteater - and it was said that he would rip out the heart of his victims and eat it on the spot. It was reported that he claimed this would increase his skills.
Gu Shenwei knew where this was going, but he wanted the machete men to broach the subject.
Liu Zu sighed, then smiled as he continued. "Even though us old men have already left the jianghu, we still wish to grow our retirement funds. With this in mind, we pooled together to start a modest business, and we do not know why but this drew Chihe's attention and he started looking for trouble with us. We took it in stride for a long time and had to hire someone to get rid of him only when it started getting out of hand. To us, it's all part of the game, but his brother, the Hearteater Chipo, publicly announced that he would avenge his brother's death."
"You can always look for the person who got rid of Chihe to take care of his brother too," replied Gu Shenwei unenthusiastically. He did not want to show any interest in this matter.
The machete men laughed bitterly. Liu Zu replied, "He's already been killed, and Chipo said that we would be next. Unless... unless we cough up one million taels of silver to appease him."
"Where can we find such an amount of money," interrupted another old machete man indignantly.
"So, your intention is..."
The other machete men followed Liu Zu's lead and their smiles became even more adulatory in nature as they replied, "We wanted to select the person with the best machete techniques and get this Machete God to take care of Chipo. Beyond our wildest dreams, you came to join the contest, and not only did this make us unbelievably happy, but we also secretly think that we no longer have to worry about the Hearteater anymore."
"I have not agreed to anything yet," Gu Shenwei reminded the old moneybags. He was sure that they would be able to fork out one million taels of silver to pay for his services.
"That's right, that's right. We should consider the Machete God Contest and the offer to kill Chipo as two separate cases."
Gu Shenwei had more pressing matters to attend to and did not wish to be involved in the vendetta between the machete men and Chipo. He stood up, took the melon-hilted scimitar and prepared to leave. "I've never seen Chipo before, and I bear no grudges against him. The Great Snow Mountain is also not involved in jianghu matters. You should look elsewhere for a killer."
The old men were flustered, upon seeing that the Dragon King was leaving. They quickly surrounded him, and each began trying to convince Gu Shenwei to take up the job.
"Please stay, Dragon King."
"Now that the melon-hilted scimitar is in your possession, Dragon King, Chipo will definitely be looking for you. Why don't we join forces?"
"Dragon King, we will pay you, one million... two million... no, no, four million taels of silver."
In the end, it was Liu Zu who understood the Dragon King the most. He waved his hand at the others, signaling for them to be quiet, before speaking, "Dragon King, you should know that the Hearteater, Chipo, has joined the Golden Roc Fort."
Gu Shenwei stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at the trembling Liu Zu and paused for a moment before replying, "That is even more reason for me to not get involved in the affairs of Chipo. The Great Snow Mountain and the Golden Roc Fort are in a ceasefire deal now, and I will not break it."
Gu Shenwei left after speaking, leaving the other machete men complaining to Liu Zu that he had spoken too soon. The old man sniggered and straightened his body, replying, "Wait and see, I dare to guarantee that the Dragon King will take an interest in our offer."
He was right, and Gu Shenwei's interest was indeed sparked by the old man's words. He was not interested in the well-being of the machete men, but rather why the Golden Roc Fort had roped in a bandit such as Chipo, who was a lone wolf and had no prior connection to it.
He knew that the Fort would not bring its operations to a complete standstill during the temporary ceasefire, and that the reason he could remain in relative safety in Jade City was because of the Central Plain and Norland's guarantee, and more importantly because the Supreme King had his hands full with other issues at the moment.
The Great Snow Mountain's sole objective was to destroy the Golden Roc Fort, but to the Supreme King, the Dragon King and his swordsmen were only one of his many problems.
It was already in the afternoon when Gu Shenwei arrived back at his residence, and he had invited the blacksmith Mr. Hong over. After the Battle of the Rouge Forest, Tianshan Sect's reputation had grown far and wide, but its core group of leaders continued to keep their identities secret, with the exception of Mr. Hong.
He was adept at forging weapons but did not know how to use them. However, he had secured connections with many machete men from his job as a blacksmith and managed to rope in many of them into the sect.
There were only three participants in the meeting at Dragon King's Residence - Mr. Hong, the Dragon King himself and the monk Lianye.
Lianye had decided to turn against Wildhorse, even at the expense of the fact that the Peripheral Force in his body would forever remain within him. He spoke up first, "Wildhorse is hiding in the Seventh Machete Village, and from what I know, there are members of his gang in nearly every village."
The blacksmith was surprised to hear this. There were about 10 villages made up of machete men in the outskirts of South City, and they were each appointed a number based on their geographical location from east to west. "Our sect has many eyes in that area, how could we not notice this?" he asked.
"Wildhorse has a group of loyal followers who took great pains to hide him."
Mr. Hong was skeptical of the monk's claims and turned his head to the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei nodded and replied, "I've sent men to check on the Seventh Machete Village, and it does seem that there is something not quite right about it."
The blacksmith pounded his own knee, saying, "The deaths of our sect members will not be vain, and as long as there are still survivors of the Wildhorse gang, we will fight till the end. Speak, Dragon King, and let me know how many men do you need from us this time?"
"I don't need as many men as the last battle, 50 will do this time. What's more important is that we have to keep our movements secret, as Wildhorse is no easy target. I'm a little worried that he has already moved to another location as we speak."
"No matter where he shifts, he is bound to be in one of the villages of the machete men," suggested Lianye. He was coerced into engaging in fraud and had also roped in inexperienced machete men for Wildhorse, and bore no small hatred towards the killer. "As long as we cast our net wide enough, we will eventually manage to capture him."
Mr. Hong took his leave after the three of them decided on a detailed plan of action, returning to his base of operations to gather his machete men and prepare them for what was to come.
Gu Shenwei still could not determine who Wildhorse was working for - between the Golden Roc Fort, Norland, and the Meng family, but he had a good feeling that there was someone behind the scenes directing the actions of the regal-looking mute killer.
No matter what, the Wildhorse Gang was not part of the ceasefire agreement, and both Gu Shenwei and his military counselor Fang Wenshi agreed, after discussing in detail, that they had to quickly get rid of this faction.
Xu Xiaoyi came looking for the Dragon King just after Mr. Hong had left. As always, he was concerned about monetary issues. "We have some trouble, Dragon King. The camp at the western border has sent a request for 2000 crossbows and 40,000 arrows, along with other miscellaneous items. We will be spending all of our money soon."
Gu Shenwei had not come up with a solution for their lack of funds. The Great Snowmountain was still at an obvious disadvantage and most of the rich people in Jade City were not willing to openly support the Dragon King. At the moment, only Liu Zu and his group of old machetemen were willing to pay tens of thousands of taels of silver to hire his services.
"Supply them with as many bows and arrows as you can first. As for the other supplies, hold them off for 2 days, and I will get the money for them."
Xu Xiaoyi knew it was pointless to convince him otherwise, and took his leave to prepare, his heart still feeling heavy.
Gu Shenwei began making preparations for the battle that would be taking place that night. As there could be many disciples of the late Immortal Peng with Wildhorse, he did not allow Chu Nanping to take part, to prevent any conflict of interest. It was just as well, as his staying behind would create a false image that the Dragon King was still in his residence. For the same reason, Tie Linglong was also made to stay behind.
Xu Yanwei sneaked in, just as he was issuing orders to the machete men and swordsmen that would be going with him to the village. She gave a slight cough to announce her presence after the Dragon King was left alone.
"What do you want to say now?", asked Gu Shenwei nonchalantly.
"Nothing much. I'm thinking that since I've nothing to do, why don't you rent a room in Pleasure Alley for me again, and we'll split my earnings 50-50?"
Even though Gu Shenwei was in dire need of money, he had decided long ago that he would never engage in the prostitution business again. "Go ask your brother. I can loan you 5000 taels of silver, and I'm fine as long as you repay me within half a year. There's no need to split your earnings with me."
"5000 taels? What a stingy person. You are the Dragon King, yet you are not even as generous a wealthy landlord from North City."
"Feel free to look for any of them for help."
"Hehe, even if they want to help me, I won't fancy it. However, 5000 taels are too small a sum, it's alright if you have financial constraints. I'll go find... Meng Mingshi, there's only a month left till his wedding with Miss Ru. If I offer my congratulations to him and based on our relationship..."
Gu Shenwei vowed to never show his temper to Xu Yanwei ever again, but he could not control his anger this time. He felt a wave of anger rising in him, and before he came to his senses, he had already drawn the Five Peaks Saber and had very nearly struck at her.
Xu Yanwei ran off quickly, saying as she ran, "One month, there's only one month left."
Gu Shenwei had the urge to vent his anger by killing a few more people tonight.