Chapter 8: The Blade Flashes Like a Snake Shadow From Behind
And now to continue with the story——
That sabre-wielding man was quick and graceful, his blade flashed brightly, lashing out like the wind, if the opponent’s retreat were sealed off by other weapons, it would really be difficult to avoid this strike.
But, for a sabre expert like Ding Yi, although this strike was uncommon, as a matter of fact it was full of flaws.
If Ding Yi had had a sabre in his hand at the time, he could have used at least seven different ways to knock his opponent’s blade away.
But Ding Yi didn’t have a sabre at this time.
He needed a sabre.
The man with the sabre stabbed with his blade, it was as if he were presenting him with just the present he needed.
Ding Yi leaned to the side and shot his wrist down, and the sabre was now in his hand.
As he took the sabre, his left palm shot out lightly, and the man stumbled as if drunk toward the axe-wielding man behind Ding Yi.
The axe man was not ready for this turn of events and tried to pull back, but it was too late.
Chop!
The axe fell and red and white burst out and the sabre-wielding man and his head parted company!
Blade in hand, Ding Yi like a butterfly fluttering in and out of flowers dashed and weaved, his blade flashing like a fleeing snake, and between flashes of his blade the corpses fell one by one, like a melon basket had been turned over in the hall, everywhere rolling around was these roundish “melons”.
These hairy “melons” that oozed juice!
Black Tyrant Sky was wide-eyed and tongue-tied, his face like berry jam, until Ding Yi stood in the middle of the hall smiling and holding his sabre. But he kept his mind and maintained his composure. “Brother Ding, are you from Chang’an?”
“Yes.”
“Quick Sabre Ding Yi?”
“That’s right.”
“Brother Ding, do you really have a mind to take over Myriad Flower Tower?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Can we talk terms?”
“Yes.”
“These terms, can you tell me what they are?”
“I want someone.”
“My concubine, Jin Ling?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Blind Zhang!”
Black Tyrant Sky was taken aback, as if he wasn’t sure if he’d heard correctly. He stared dumbly for a moment, then blinked and said, “Blind——Zhang?”
Ding Yi said, “Yes, Blind Zhang, the blacksmith from Huji Street!”
Black Tyrant Sky said, “You want to find him so he can make you a weapon?”
Ding Yi said, “Yes.”
Black Tyrant Sky said, “You came too late.”
Ding Yi said, “Why?”
Black Tyrant Sky said, “When you arrived, did you go through to Huji Street?”
Ding Yi said, “I did, I heard there was a big fire there several months ago; afterward no one ever saw Blind Zhang again.”
Black Tyrant Sky was a bit astonished. “Right! You know it all clearly, so why mention this person to me?”
Ding Yi said, “Because I know that fire was man-made, not a natural disaster.”
Black Tyrant Sky’s face changed slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll said every sentence clearly, you ought to know what I mean.” Ding Yi said, “Tong Pass is the strategic passage point through the Pass-Luoyang road, Huji Street then is the city’s golden area, and Blind Zhang is a stubborn thorn in your side. If someone took a fancy to his storefront and wanted to take it, they best method is clear.”
“Arson?”
“Exactly! Raze the old, erect the new. Blind Zhang was a loner, if he died he had no other family, so it’s a clean, easy method.”
“You think I’m that kind of person?”
“It’s simple to prove whether you are that kind of person or not.” Ding Yi said, “You just have to examine the storefronts erected after the fire. See what kinds of businesses they are and what relation they have to you, and everything comes to light.”
“And you’ve already investigated all this?”
“I feel there’s no need to waste energy on that.” Ding Yi said, “Because I’m not with the local authorities. We have our own way to settle the rights and wrongs among the rivers and lakes, you must be more clear on this point than I am.”
Black Tyrant Sky eyes darted back and forth, then his tone changed. “Even if you’re right in what you say, things have come to such a pass, aren’t you forcing me to do something I am unable to do in getting this person?”
“How are you unable to do it?”
“If I had forcibly seized Blind Zhang’s land, do you think I would leave him alive?”
“You would!”
“I would?!”
“Yes!”
“And run the risk of later misfortune?”
“That’s how people would generally look at it.”
“Oh?”
“Blind Zhang lacks strength and courage, he just has some metalworking ability; if you wanted to keep an eye on him, you’d need only to send two people to control him, how can something bad come up?”
“What reason would I have to retain this blind man?”
“To force him to forge weapons, to wring every last drop of blood from him!”
“Brother, you’ve really gone too far!” Black Tyrant Sky suddenly lowered his face. “Today you came to Myriad Flower Tower, injured two of my guards, killed four of my subordinates, yet I have remained soft-spoken and conciliatory, but you are insatiable, overbearing, don’t tell me you think I’m some pushover?”
“I never said anything like that.” Ding Yi said indifferently, “This is Black Tyrant Sky Peng Wei’s territory, if you don’t feel comfortable, no matter what you want to do, no one can stop you.”
Black Tyrant Sky almost exploded, “I admit that I, Black Tyrant Sky am no match for Quick Sabre Ding Yi, but I’ve already used up all my nice words. If you really want to get me, there’s no need to beat around the bush, let’s be frank and come at this forthrightly. Cutting off my head will just leave me with a scar no bigger than a bowl, I accept my fate!”
“One sentence, I want someone!”
“I don’t have him. I only have this life!”
“Don’t pretend to be a hero Boss Peng.” Ding Yi sneered, “If Quick Sabre Ding Yi wants your Black Tyrant Sky life, then I could have sent ten Black Tyrant Skys down to report to King Yama already.”
“I also have a word to say: If you want a debt I fear I really don’t have it. I don’t have this person here!”
“All right!” Ding Yi nodded. “You say you don’t, then you don’t. I admire your fortitude!”
He studied Black Tyrant Sky, slowly said, “Honest people don’t do shady things. Now, I have some final words I need to make clear. Once I’m finished, I’ll leave immediately.”
“I’m listening respectfully.”
“You have a lot of establishments in this area, that I’m clear on. If today I don’t find Blind Zhang, I guarantee you that within a month there will be a big fire here, just like the one a few months ago that flared up on Huji Street. If I don’t honor my promise, I’ll send you the memorial tablets of my ancestors for you to throw in the manure pit!”
Ding Yi then, with large strides, made toward the hall exit.
Black Tyrant Sky’s face changed in a flash, and he called after him in a loud voice, “Brother, wait!”
Ding Yi turned his head. “Want to talk it over?”
Black Tyrant Sky came close to him, and said in a low voice, “There’s just one thing, you’ll have to forgive me.”
Ding Yi said, “What?”
Black Tyrant Sky glanced around, and said even lower, “Although this matter was originally my doing, it was not at all my idea. That Blind Zhang also really is not here.”
Ding Yi said, “Where is Blind Zhang now?”
Black Tyrant Sky said, “At Flower Moon Mansion in Chang’an.”
Ding Yi was stunned. “Flower Moon Mansion?”
“Yes, Flower Moon Mansion in Jingren Ward, Perpetual Happiness Street.” Black Tyrant Sky didn’t notice Ding Yi’s expression, and said in a low voice, “Although I enjoy some notoriety around here, I’m actually just a puppet; have mercy on me, unless absolutely necessary, I strongly ask you not to mention you learned of this secret from me.”
“What position do you have in the Flower Moon Palace?”
“Upholder of the Dharma.”
“Have you seen the leader of the Flower Moon Palace?”
“No.”
“All right!” Ding Yi nodded. “If what you said is true, I promise I won’t let you get dragged into this.”
***
Ding Yi returned to Chang’an.
He believed what Peng Wei had said.
He believed that Black Tyrant Sky’s position in the Pass-Luoyang area really could be like he had said, that he was a puppet controlled by another.
Because the gambling house that was smashed up by the Seven Friends of Chang’an had also been under the control of the Flower Moon Palace, so why not let Black Tyrant Sky establish his own position there?
So, he believed, Blind Zhang really could be a prisoner within Flower Moon Mansion!
***
He went to to Tong Pass and just made a big circle, his plan coming to naught.
What’s worse, not only did his trip not bear any fruit, but he also came back with a burden to shoulder that was almost too much to bear.
Blind Zhang in the twilight of his years, had his home destroyed and was taken captive by the Flower Moon Palace, no matter that it had nothing to do with him, since he knew about it, he couldn’t see him in mortal danger without trying to help!
But the crux of the problem was this: he had gone looking for Blind Zhang because he had no way to get into Flower Moon Mansion, so he had wanted him to make a sister Seven Star Sabre, to make up the deficiency in his strength since he hadn’t fully recovered.
Now, he still lacked the weapon, his energy was still weak as before, so how could he break into Flower Moon Mansion to save someone?
***
The charcoal stove cracked and sparked without end, the heat at its extreme.
A man covered with sweat and red-faced, stripped to the waist, worked hard at the bellows.
Doing that kind of work, water was more important than anything. There was a vat of water in the room, they worked in four shifts, changing in turns, they used water to drink and douse their bodies, every day water must be added to the vat at least three times.
His chest heaved, panting continuously, his body itself was like a bellows.
These two “bellows”, one was for “raising the temperature”, the other was for “dissipating heat”, their uses just happened to be the opposite.
The weather during the Ninth Month had already cooled.
But the temperature inside the room was still really high.
It wasn’t the normal kind of forge normally used in a blacksmith shop, but was a special design, one day, twenty four hours, charcoal constantly had to be added to increase the temperature in order to maintain a constant intense heat.
The man who had just changed shifts, held the water gourd ladle and drank.
***
Blind Zhang was also drinking water, a tall money squatting on the stone block, drinking.
His body was shriveled and small, his back humped terribly, like a big shrimp, working hard for half a year, he now appeared drier, more withered, thinner, smaller, simply not like a shrimp at all.
If he still looked like a shrimp, it was an old rotten one.
Any shrimp cook who saw this kind of shrimp would certainly pick it up and toss it out far away!
That’s also why he needed the stone block, his health was not suitable for this kind of work.
Even so, he had no choice.
Even if a person had but one breath left, he still had to try to carry on.
Although he was stubborn by nature, he was no hero. Maybe he could give no thought to life or death, but an old bones like him could not endure these torments of the flesh!
So, he could only submit.
Until he used up his last drop of blood, and gasped out his last breath of air.
***
A sabre was now being smelted in the forge.
The last of seven sabres.
In the past he made sabres more than any other weapon.
Seven sabres, seven styles, that was his complete knowledge of the sabre.
He could only make sabres, he could not wield one.
So, he had no way to know which of these sabres, seven different styles, was the best and which was the worst. All he could do was make them according to the seven styles he knew and hand them over for the manager Master Feng to inspect.
***
The seventh sabre would be finished in three days.
AS per the agreement, once the seventh sabre was finished, his work would be done.
Blind Zhang knew what that meant: when the work was over, his life was over!
On this point, Blind Zhang was rather calm.
Because he was no ordinary blacksmith.
***
When he was still an apprentice he was like any other kid, he just knew it was a trade; when he finished his apprenticeship he would be able to open his own shop and support his family.
But as his skill gradually refined, and he had acquired a bit of renown, he regarded this kind of business as a kind of fantasy.
Like a painter who wanted to paint a masterpiece, or a poet who wanted to compose a great poem, he suddenly formed his own ambition: from that day forward, he would never do a slipshod job!
He wanted every person among the rivers and lakes who used a weapon to know one thing.
“Every weapon forged by Blind Zhang must be a treasure!”
(He naturally didn’t think that many years later some crafty businessmen would use alter the words a bit and use this slogan to advertise.)
***
Blind Zhang had this idea, and so refused to receive customers.
He didn’t stop his work, but was focused on refining his casting and forging, and wait for a connoisseur who knew how to evaluate!
Because of this, Blind Zhang’s income not only did not decrease, instead the money came pouring in, and he became a minor aristocrat. At the same time his fame spread, and he became a famed person among the rivers and laked who didn’t use martial arts.
Blind Zhang’s attainments had limits.
So, when he was so engrossed in his work that he forgot to eat and sleep making his weapons, he never thought of the consequences of what would happen when a sharp weapon used for killing people entered the rivers and lakes.
END CHAPTER 8