Chapter 2 Killing in Cold-Blood
Yuxiao smiled a bit awkwardly and said, "I've always liked to work out at home; haven't learned too much, just have a huge appetite."
When Da Niu heard this, he was elated. "Wow, I admire people who know martial arts. I heard they can climb walls and everything."
Yuxiao thought, People in this village are so innocent, with none of the backstabbing and plotting in my family. He figured he could teach the man a few skills—not that he knew anything too advanced. He thought of his "moron" nickname and grimaced. He told Da Niu,"I don't know about climbing walls, but I can teach you some ways to get stronger. Would you want to learn that?"
Da Niu was overjoyed at his offer. "Of course I would." He tried to bow to his new teacher.
Yuxiao stopped him. "Please don't. Just call me Fourth Brother if you want since I'm younger than you. You can see I'm hurt right now, so knowing martial arts don't make you invincible." The last sentence was a warning that what he knew was very basic.
Da Niu chuckled and called Yu Xiao Fourth Brother.
"Do you have an ink brush and paper? I can't show you the moves with my injury, but I can draw some things you can use to practice."
Da Niu smiled shyly. "I don't read many words. My mom and my wife don't either. We're farmers; we don't have fancy intellectual things here."
Yuxiao said, "How about this? I'll do the drawings on the wall in the yard, and you can look at them and learn."
Da Niu agreed. It was getting dark, so he didn't bother Yuxiao further. He just gave him a blanket for sleeping in the shed and went to bed himself.
Yuxiao lay on the blanket and thought of his uncertain future. After a tiring day, he passed out quickly. When he woke up, the rooster was crowing, and the moon and stars were gone.
Yuxiao took out the burn medicine from the pharmacy and changed his wound dressing. In spite of the pain, he tried to do a lotus pose and work on his breathing. He could feel a gust of warm qi in his belly, but when he tried to make it move upward, it disappeared. He tried again and again for half an hour to no avail. Then he realized it was already light out. He stood up, and feeling less pain, got a pebble from the yard to draw on the wall. He drew a man with a stick in different poses, for a total of eighty-one pictures. By then, the sky was half-red. Seeing no one had woken up yet, Yuxiao left a few silver coins for the family, and then left the house to go south.
After two hours of walking, Yuxiao reached the village Da Niu's mom had mentioned. He ate some food at an inn, then got more water and food for the road. Walking was too slow, so he gave the innkeeper a few gold coins for a horse carriage and continued heading south.
Yuxiao's journey south picked up in speed; he managed to travel twenty kilometers in just an hour. When he passed a hill full of locust trees, five burly men jumped out. He quickly reined in the horse, trying not to hurt them.
The first man among them brandished a big machete in front of him and snarled. "This road is mine, this tree is mine. If you wanna pass, you have to pay."
Yuxiao, having grown up in a rich family, had never seen anything like this. He asked in confusion, "Sir, what do you need? If you're not busy, please let me move. I need to go to the border and be a soldier. I'm in a hurry."
The five men chuckled. The first man looked at Yuxiao and said, "Hah, it's some stupid kid. Listen, don't blame me for not telling you that your weak ass will be killed the minute you get on the battlefield. You better leave us all your money and go home to mommy."
Yuxiao was not grown-up, but he had always gotten one gold coin a month as allowance ever since he was ten years old. He mostly worked on training for the qi, rarely went out, and didn't spend much of it, so most of the money was saved and with him now. He had a few dozen gold coins on him, and he knew two gold coins were enough to support an ordinary family for a year.
Seeing this group of men, he thought they must really need money, so he made an offer. "If you need money, I do have some. I could give you a gold coin."
Yuxiao was too naive. One gold coin was enough for months of spending, or even a year, and he was being generous to share one now.
The men were very happy to find a rich kid. The first man said, "Stop wasting our time. Give us all your money, and the carriage, too, or I'll cut off your head and today will be your death."
Yuxiao was shocked. "Why would you want to kill me if I am willing to help you guys out? Are you evil people?"
"Hha, what a moron. Have you ever seen a nice robber?" the first man said. He walked toward Yuxiao with his machete.
Yuxiao was angry too. He had just left his family and was now insulted and threatened. Only the Nie family and my own family would challenge me, or maybe the royal academy. I really doubt you country bumpkins know any martial arts, he thought. I'm not afraid to fight you. He made up his mind to teach them a lesson, and then limped off the carriage toward the group of men.
When the first man saw Yuxiao heading their way, he thought Yuxiao was terrified, and laid the machete against his neck. "A cripple wants to be a soldier? Give us all your money and get lost."
Hearing the man's repeated insults, Yuxiao's gaze grew cold. His hands gripped the first man's wrist and flung it away from his neck, then twisted hard. The man lost the machete and yelped in pain.
Yuxiao leaned forward and threw the man a few feet away and then picked up the machete. When the other four men saw Yuxiao had dared to retaliate, they ran over with their machetes and knives and began to fight in earnest.
The first man crawled to get up, embarrassed at having being shown up. He cussed and promised, "I'll cut you up to feed to the dogs."
Seeing their leader was mad, his entourage fought as hard as they could. Yuxiao already had an injury, and he didn't fight to kill, so he was forced to be on the defensive with four people against him. Very quickly, his back was slashed and his thigh wounded. He darted fast enough that the cuts weren't deep, but he still hurt. Looks like they really do want to kill me. He suffered even more cuts.
Yuxiao began panicking. His life was on the line. It wasn't just getting beaten up by the Nie family's bullies. A little mean streak came out, and he began fighting offensively. He attacked whoever tried to cut him and began to take the lead.
The four men swarmed Yuxiao together, aiming for his head, neck, chest, and shoulders, so he was forced to sit on the ground while fighting. One swipe cut off one man's legs; another sent one man rolling, and a third swipe cut into another man's groin, who passed out from the pain.
After Yuxiao managed to kill one and maim another quickly, the battle became easier. Two more moves cut off one man's head and the last one was scared enough to run. Yuxiao didn't let him. He felt full of energy as he threw the machete like an arrow. The blade pierced the man's back and toppled him headfirst to the ground.
The first man had run off to the locust trees the minute he saw Yuxiao cut down two of his friends, and he didn't try to save anyone else. Only the legless one was still screaming in pain on the ground. Seeing Yuxiao walk toward him, he pissed himself and kept shouting, "Please forgive me! Please forgive me!"
"I was nice enough to give you some money, but you are not grateful and want to kill me? What did I do wrong?" Yuxiao was angry.
The man was dazed. He shook his pale face. "You did nothing wrong . . . Nothing wrong. Please let me go."
"Why would you treat me this way? Does everyone think I'm a pushover?"
Yuxiao grew angrier as he spoke. He lowered the machete and sliced off the man's head, then stabbed him a few times to finish him off.