Dragon King with Seven Stars by Gu Long

[9Dragons]

Actually, "who" or "whose" will depend on the original Chinese text.

For the seven dots, the first thing that came to mind was Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken. But more likely, it's gonna be the Dragon King with Seven Stars.

[deathblade]

Actually, "who" or "whose" will depend on the original Chinese text.

For the seven dots, the first thing that came to mind was Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken. But more likely, it's gonna be the Dragon King with Seven Stars.

Actually the original said "who is it" in Chinese if I remember, but I'm being a little more loose with this translation to make it flow better in English. In my opinion, a completely direct, word-for-word translation often ends up sounding awkward. So I changed it to "whose."

And about Old Tian getting pissed off and whatnot, I actually think it's pretty funny. This Gu Long story has a lot more humor elements than the others I've translated.

[deathblade]

Part 2

Jinan was an ancient and famous city, long since established as the seat of government, full of enriching places and sights.

Large and sprawling, the prefectural yamen looked much more dignified and imposing than the average yamen. [1]

The prison in Jinan was particularly sturdy, heavily guarded; for those locked away in this prison, escaping would be as impossible as climbing up to the heavens.

No one had ever researched how to escape it.

After all, who would want to be locked up in prison just to research that?

Actually, some people do. At least two.


Part 3

Every prison has a dark side, and Jinan’s was no exception.

The inmates of this prison, upon hearing the three characters, “Den of Immortals,” would be so frightened that their pants would be soaked with urine.

The Den of Immortals was of course not an actual den with actual immortals, nor a place immortals would ever visit.

The Den of Immortals was Jinan prison’s most horrific cell block; only the most wicked devils would be locked up there.

Currently, two prisoners were locked up in the Den of Immortals; two people who’s crimes piled up as high as a mountain, fiendish death row inmates who awaited execution in the fall.

Early on the morning of April 17th, during that time when it is most dark, the two prisoners were pulled out of their dreams to suddenly find that this most dark, ghastly part of the prison suddenly had two more people in it.

They couldn’t clearly see who the people were, only that one looked to be quite tall.

The convicts were extremely happy, thinking they were fellow evildoers come to rescue them.

The tall, shadowy figure politely said, “I’m here to send you off.”

“Send us off to where?” said one of the convicts, sounding even more happy.

“For people like you,” said the man even more politely, “where else could I possibly send you other than the eighteenth layer of hell?”

The convicts were suddenly both nervous and furious. They wanted to leap up, but their bodies were immobilized.

The shadowy figure had used a single finger to immobilize them.

These two men had killed countless people; they were clearly not weak. But compared to this demonically powerful man, they had become like bedbugs.

Sweating, they asked him, “Do you have some grudge against us?”

“No.”

“Did we offend you?”

“No.”

“If there’s no grudge and we didn’t offend you, why would you take the risk to come here?”

The answer to their question was an answer they could never have predicted. Upon hearing it, they couldn’t cry even if they wanted to, neither could they laugh. They could only die, with their eyes still open.

The man who had broken into the prison replied: “I want to sleep here for a little bit.”

***

This demonic figure was of course Wu Tao. Other than Ingot, who else could be standing next to him as he killed the two prisoners?

The only strange thing was that Ingot hadn’t been kidnapped and forced along.

He had come of his own free will.

In the dark little room at Big Zhao's, Wu Tao had used an incomprehensible technique to instantly slay the Huainan Eagle Claw Sect top expert Old Condor Wang. Then he grabbed Ingot and threw him out the window.

Before Ingot even had a chance to touch the ground, Wu Tao had already grabbed him again.

And then Ingot found himself seven or eight buildings away, on a rooftop.

“Holy crap!” cried Ingot. “Where did you learn your kung fu? Are you a man or a ghost?”

“Sometimes I’m a man, sometimes I’m a ghost,” said Wu Tao coolly. “Sometimes half man half ghost, and sometimes neither man nor ghost. Sometimes I don’t even know what I am.”

There seemed to be some unspeakable sorrow hidden in his voice, but apparently Ingot didn’t notice.

The young beggar was aware that he knew a lot more than he should, so he asked, “Are you going to kill me now to shut me up?”

“Kill you to shut you up?” he laughed lightly. “What do you know? What reason do I have to kill you?”

“Well, at the least, I know you killed someone.”

“So what if I killed someone?” His voice once again seemed to be traced with sorrow. “Am I the only person in the world who has ever killed someone?”

Ingot looked at him and then sighed. “Actually, I know that guy wasn’t killed by you.”

“Oh?”

“He was frightened into death. When you attacked, you broke his two Eagle Claws, and then you whispered something into his ear. Then I heard him fart. It was pretty stinky.” He continued, “I heard a long time ago that when people are frightened into death, that is what happens.”

“It seems you know a lot.”

“I know that man was fated to die.”

“Why?” asked Wu Tao.

“He didn’t actually know who you are, he just wanted to take you back to ask some questions. But, to do so, he planned to use a critical strike to break your four major joints. A person like that, willing to use such ferocious, ruthless and sinister methods… Well, he was fated to die eventually.”

Wu Tao looked at him for a while. At first his face was expressionless, but then after a while, a strange look appeared in his eye, a look impossible to describe with words.

“Get out of here,” he said. “Quickly.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I can’t.”

“Why.”

“If people can track you down, then they definitely know that I am with you. If you leave and I don’t know where you went off to, then when they catch me, they’ll probably end up beating me to death.”

He grabbed Wu Tao’s sleeve. “So I’m going with you. We’re stuck together.”

Wu Tao again stared at him for a while. “Do you know who I am?”

“Nope.”

“I’m not an ordinary businessman.”

“And I’m not an ordinary beggar.”

“Don’t you want to know who I am?”

“Of course. But I don’t want you to know who I am. So if you don’t ask me, I won’t ask you.”

“Nothing good will come out of you following me,” said Wu Tao. “If I’m a person, then I’m not a good person. And If I’m a ghost, I’m definitely an evil ghost.”

His voice suddenly became very grim. “Originally, I just wanted to use you to help me pass the time. But I could also see that you have some kind unique background. Maybe when the need arises, I could use your family’s social standing to threaten people.”

“I know. Of course I know.”

“If you come with me, you’ll have to share all the sufferings and miseries and unfair hardships. I might even have to sell you out,” he said coldly. “If someone attacks me, as long as I have a chance to escape, I might use you to block the attack.”

“I know.”

“You won’t regret it?”

“Going with you is my idea, why would I regret anything?” Ingot suddenly laughed. “Maybe I’ll use you too. If someone attacks us, who’s to say I won’t use you to block the attack? It’s hard to say.”

Wu Tao wasn’t laughing.

At first, it seemed like he wanted to, but in the end he didn’t.

“Where are you going to go?” asked Ingot.

“I need to sleep. Build up my energy. Whatever I end up doing, I need to build up some energy.” He laughed coldly. “People must think I’m as exhausted as a stray dog. I want to give them a little shock.”

“Sleeping is always good,” said Ingot. “But is there anywhere in Jinan where you can actually get a good rest?”

“There’s a place they definitely won’t look for me. They would never think that I would go there.” He seemed completely confident.

“A place no one would think of?”

“No one.”

“Actually, there is one.” Ingot winked. “At least one person could think of it.”

“Who’s that?”

“Me.”

Wu Tao stared at him. “You know the place I’m talking about?”

Ingot laughed, and his dimples appeared again. “Not only do I know which place you’re talking about, I also know that getting in is a lot easier than getting out.”

***

And so Ingot followed Wu Tao into the Den of Immortals


**

[1] A yamen was a type of local governmental complex in ancient China. http://tinyurl.com/q2ssvr8

[deathblade]

This is the end of chapter 6, and we are now about 1/4 of the way through the story.

[Drak17]

Oh man, this is interesting. Haha. Really nice! Thanks Deathblade.

I think foxs or someone mentioned way before that Jin Young novels were more of historical based, while Gu Long was more of character interactions. I love his novels, the dialogues are just back and forth. Really interesting read .

[HPC7595]

Thanks deathblade

[deathblade]

Oh man, this is interesting. Haha. Really nice! Thanks Deathblade.

I think foxs or someone mentioned way before that Jin Young novels were more of historical based, while Gu Long was more of character interactions. I love his novels, the dialogues are just back and forth. Really interesting read .

Yes, Gu Long's stories are a lot more character and dialogue driven, and much more cinematic. Glad you're enjoying it.

[deathblade]

Chapter 7 - Wisp of Smoke

Part 1

April 17th. High noon.

The huge search for Ingot and Wu Tao continued in Jinan. More and more people were interested in the matter, probably because the Flowered Flag Sect as well as the local authorities had both offered huge rewards for information, rewards big enough to live for years on.

The targets of the search were currently fast asleep in the Den of Immortals, just the two of them.

***

Outside of Sun Jicheng’s 79 businesses were pasted paper posters which read, “Closed, business on hold for five days.” By now, people had heard about Big Boss Sun’s deaths, so there was no need to try to keep it a secret any more.

—The true secret which needed to be kept was that Big Boss Sun actually wasn’t dead.

Great Three Yuan was obviously not open for business. And yet, Zheng Nanyuan hurried on his way to the restaurant. Three important customers awaited him, guests he could not afford to ignore.

The guests included Old Master Tian from the powerful Flowered Flag Sect, and Huang Jun, the man who wished to reform the Beggar Sect, who had single-handedly founded its new Torture Chamber, famous in Jianghu and holder of life-and-death power in his organization.

***

Zheng Nanyuan was just now walking up the stairs of the restaurant.

He was no cripple; he used a wheelchair because of the festering rheumatism which had plagued him for years.

By the time he arrived, a table of appetizers had already been laid out in one of the elegant private dining rooms. The guests had already been seated.

There were three types of alcohol on the table.

A freshly opened jar of Guizhou Maotai, clear and strong, as well as Nu’er Hong from the Jiangsu/Zhejiang region, sweet and gentle, but with a strong delayed aftereffect.

And in a golden pitcher was what remained of the Persian Red Wine that Sun Jicheng had not finished during his lunch the other day. The golden pitcher had just been pulled out frigid cooling water; condensation dripped down its sides.

Old Master Tian drank a cup of each of the different types of alcohol, and then said, “We didn’t come here to drink.”

He could say something like that.

Once a person’s status reaches a certain level, they can say anything, and others can only listen.

The things he said often weren't very nice; he usually left people unsure of whether to cry or laugh. Sometimes he shocked people, and sometimes left them in fear for their life.

“We are also not here to pay our respects,” he continued. “As well all know, Big Boss Sun isn’t dead.”

It was quite a harsh thing to say.

Zheng Nanyuan didn’t seem to have any reaction whatsoever. He merely poured some Persian wine into his crystal goblet. He poured just enough to fill the glass completely, and yet didn’t spill a single drop.

Such steady hands!

Old Master Tian narrowed his eyes, staring at Zheng Nanyuan. He continued, “Your big search last night was not an attempt to find your supposedly ‘dead’ boss. To search for him in such a fashion would be fruitless. That type of search will only turn up drunks and thieves and idiots. The purpose of your search was to inform Sun Jicheng that you know the corpse wasn’t him.”

Zheng Nanyuan sat listening, much the way a student will listen to his tutor lecture about the Four Books and Five Classics, even though he has no idea what the teacher is talking about. [2]

Old Master Tian drank three more cups of alcohol. His son joined him.

“The reason we are here,” said Old Master Tian, “is that we want to ask you a question.” Questions asked by Old Master Tian always hit the crux of matters. “How did you figure out the corpse did not belong to Sun Jicheng?”

Zheng Nanyuan laughed.

“Actually,” he said, “that is a question I should be asking you.”

“And yet, I asked the question first.”

“Can I refuse to answer?”

“No.”

“Then let me start from the beginning.”

He poured himself another glass of wine, took a sip, and then began his story: “The guards who protect Big Boss Sun’s residence are split up into six shifts, divided under the leadership of Lian Gen and Qiu Budao. Recently I noticed that Qiu Budao had in succession dismissed thirteen men from his squads.”

Old Master Tian knew he wouldn’t speak about things unrelated to the matter at hand, and would recount everything in great detail.

“Who were the people he dismissed?” he asked. “And who replaced them?”

“The ones he dismissed were capable men, and the new arrivals all had sketchy pasts, strangers who had never been seen before in Jianghu, all of them roughly thirty years of age.

“Did you ever bring this up to Sun Jicheng?”

“No. But when he died suddenly, I immediately suspected that his death had something to do with the thirteen men.”

“They hadn’t left yet?”

“No, not yet,” said Zheng Nanyuan. “So, I decided to call back the thirteen men who Qiu Budao had dismissed. Along with the men I sent to find them, I would have two men to deal with each one of thirteen with the sketchy pasts. I would capture them dead or alive.”

“That was the correct thing to do,” commended Old Man Tian. “What happened?”

“The people I sent to find the thirteen dismissed men came back quickly.” He drained the cup of wine in one drink. “They returned, twenty-six men.”

“Where are they now?”

“Downstairs, in the wine cellar.”

“All of them? And they haven’t left?”

“Twenty six men, none of them left,” said Zheng Nanyuan coolly. “I’m afraid they will never leave.”


**

[1] Guizhou Maotai is one of China’s most famous baijius. http://tinyurl.com/nbvvkhh
[2] These texts are the books about Confucianism. http://tinyurl.com/pl68w5l

[HPC7595]

Thanks deathblade

[deathblade]

Part 2

In the dark cellar, the corpses, covered with simple white cloths, had been lined up even more neatly than the jugs of wine.

Zheng Nanyuan followed Old Master Tian inside. He said, “I didn’t place them in coffins because I knew that eventually I would invite you down here to have a look at them.”

He lifted the white cloth off of one of the corpses. The muddled light of the cellar lamps shone dimly on the corpse, revealing a face contorted in terror, one arm dislocated, the elbow snapped, larynx smashed.

“Each one died in the same way,” said Zheng Nanyuan. “Twenty-six men, all exactly the same.”

Old Master Tian’s face suddenly grew very serious.

“The joints and larynxes were not smashed by the same person,” said Zheng Nanyuan. “The force exerted was different, although the technique was the same. This technique is strangely diabolical, and yet effective. There is no school or sect in Jianghu which uses anything remotely similar.”

“You’ve never seen anything like this before?” asked Old Master Tian.

“Never.”

One word at a time, Old Master Tian replied, “Well, I have.”

His expression grew even more serious. Before Zheng Nanyuan could say anything, he continued, “Now I understand why Sun Jicheng would throw away his enormous fortune, feign his own death and flee for his life.”

Of course, Zheng Nanyuan asked, “Why would he?”

“Because he surely noticed that his bodyguard squads had been infiltrated by the thirteen men, and he surely could guess where they came from.”

Frogboy couldn’t help but butt in: “Don’t tell me the thirteen men scared him off?”

“Humph,” said Old Master Tian.

“If he really was the Laughing General,” continued Frogboy, “how could he possibly be frightened of them? When was General Li ever frightened by anyone?”

With a furious glare, Old Man Tian said, “How do you know he was never frightened by anyone? Is he a tapeworm in your belly or something?”

Frogboy didn’t dare to respond.

Zheng Nanyuan did not ask about where the thirteen men came from, nor did he ask Old Master Tian why Sun Jicheng fled in fear.

He calmly continued his explanation.

“After my operation failed, I lost track of the thirteen infiltrators. When Lian Gen learned of the matter, he instigated a large-scale search to try to flush them out.”

Old Master Tian let out a cold laugh. “It’s a good thing you didn’t flush them out. Otherwise, even were your wine cellar three times as large, it wouldn’t be big enough to contain all the bodies.”

“In any case, I just want Old Master Tian to understand that the purpose of our search yesterday was not to because we had learned the body was not Big Boss Sun’s, nor was it to inform him of anything.” As calm as ever, he continued, “The purpose was to track down the thirteen infiltrators.”

He and Xiao Jun were quite different: He spoke in great detail, and in order to make things completely clear, he would even repeat himself multiple times if necessary.

Having explained things clearly, he now asked Old Master Tian a question. “So, how did the Old Master come to find out the corpse did not belong to Sun Jicheng, but was actually a body double?”

Old Master Tian, should he feel like being unreasonable, could refuse to answer the question.

If he refused, who could possibly force him to answer?

Fortunately, at this particular moment, he did not choose to be unreasonable. After someone answered his question in such great detail, he couldn’t possibly refuse to reciprocate.

“Shall I, too, start from the very beginning?” he asked Zheng Nanyuan.

“That would be the best.”

Old Master Tian poured himself a up of alcohol and then began his explanation: “I suspected from the very beginning that Sun Jicheng wouldn’t suddenly die like that, but I had no way to confirm the identity of the body. At first. Then I had a chance.”

“What chance?”

“Sun Jicheng left Great Three Yuan restaurant on the afternoon of April 15th, correct?”

“Yes.”

“On that day, he ate a bowl of chicken and abalone shark’s fin soup, did he not? For appetizers, he ate shelled walnuts, pine nuts, and dried fruits. For his beverage, the Persian wind you just served to us. Correct?”

“Correct.” Zheng Nanyuan laughed bitterly. “I had no idea the Old Master was so familiar with our operations here.”

Old Master Tian ignored the tone of ridicule in his comment, and continued with his explanation. “He died sometime after dusk, perhaps two hours after he parted with you.”

“How could the Old Master confirm that?”

“The chief coroner of Jinan, Ye Laoyan, happens to be my friend. As you know, he is one of the most skilled and experienced in his field. Who knows how many corpses he has examined in the past twenty years? His judgement is impeccable.”

“But we didn’t ask the government to examine the body,” said Zheng Nanyuan. “Old Mr. Ye never saw the corpse.”

“He did.”

“When?”

“Last night after nightfall, when you were mustering your men to begin your big search.”

“At that time, the Boss’s body still lay in the secret room.”

“Correct.”

“How did old Mr. Ye get into the Boss’s secret room?”

“Because I took him there.”

Zheng Nanyuan said nothing further. If Old Master Tian wished to take someone somewhere, it wouldn’t be a difficult thing.

Furthermore, upon mustering and dispatching the full forces of the Sun mansion, among those left behind to guard the estate, surely some were friends of members of the “Flowered Flag” Sect.

Old Master Tian continued on: “After Ye Laoyan determined Sun Jicheng’s exact time of death, a question occurred to me.”

“What question?”

“When a person eats food, how long does it take for it to become excrement?”

This was a superb question, a question which hit to the heart of the matter.

“In Ye Laoyan’s experience, food will remain in the digestive system for nearly two hours before becoming excrement. Walnuts, pine nuts and the like require even more time to digest.”

Without pausing, he spoke forth the conclusion of the matter: “That corpse’s stomach contained no chicken and abalone shark’s fin soup, nor any walnuts, pine nuts or dried fruit. On the contrary, it contained food that Sun Jicheng would never eat: dried fish strips.”

***

How exactly did they determine that?

Old Master Tian didn’t explain the details, but everyone could imagine how.

Even though everyone could imagine, no one seemed willing to actually question.

As of now, Zheng Nanyuan’s face was no longer as calm and mild as it had been before. “So,” he asked coldly, “the Old Master suspected from the very beginning that the person who died was not Sun Jicheng.”

“Correct.”

“How did that come to be?” asked Zheng Nanyuan, his eyes flashing sharply. “Our Boss and the Old Master were not close. Why were you so interested in the details of his death?”

Old Master Tian’s facial expression changed.

Frogboy noticed that this change was similar to the change he’d observed when he brought up the matter of Liu Jin’niang earlier. Old Master Tian looked angry.

And yet, he answered the question.

“Of course I was interested, and of course I had my suspicions. Because,” he said loudly, “I knew that Sun Jicheng was none other than Laughing Li. 10 Qiu Budaos couldn’t stand up against a single of the Laughing General’s finger. How could he possibly be killed by Qiu Budao?”

***

This was a very reasonable explanation. Who could refute it? Even should one know that it was merely an excuse, one still could not refute it.

But Zheng Nanyuan had yet another question to ask.

“I’ve heard that the local government and the Old Master are currently searching for someone named ‘Wu Tao.’ According to the secret reports, he might be the formerly infamous ‘Fear-inspiring Three Laughs’ General Li.”

“I assumed you would have heard.”

“So, the Old Master’s meaning is that Wu Tao is Sun Ji Cheng, Sun Ji Cheng is General Li, and General Li is Wu Tao?”

Zheng Nanyuan once again used his overly detailed method of communication, utilizing three methods to ask a single question.

Old Master Tian’s responce was incredibly simple: “Yes.”

“That is really hard to believe.” Zheng Nanyuan sighed. “Even though Sun Jicheng didn’t live an ordinary life, he did live a very regimented life, out in the open, never hiding his actions. No one leveled any suspicions against him in all these years. I really don’t understand how the Old Master would suddenly come to the conclusion that he is the Laughing General.”

Old Master Tian let out a cold laugh. “You think I’m the only person who knows this secret? Why do you think Chamber Lord Xiao is here?”

With this deft statement, he shifted the responsibility of answering the question to Xiao Jun.

And of course, Zheng Nanyuan instantly said, “Chamber Lord Xiao, how did you come to this conclusion?”

“Our Sect’s disciples are everywhere,” he said coolly. “Every matter in Jianghu, large or small, comes to our attention sooner or later.”

This answer didn’t really count as an answer, but didn’t count as a refusal to answer either.

Everyone in Jianghu knows that the Beggar Sect gets information quickly. As for the source of that information, who knew?

So even though his answer did not quite satisfy Zheng Nanyuan, he couldn’t really ask for more information.

But he could ask another question. “How can the two of you be certain that Wu Tao is Big Boss Sun?”

“Sun Jicheng killed his body double with one fatal palm strike that inflicted severe internal injuries. He perfectly imitated ‘As Stable as Mount Tai’ Qiu Budao’s technique, as if he had actually practiced it for thirty or forty years. The only difference is that the inner force contained in that palm strike contained some soft Yin elements.” With complete confidence, Master Tian continued, “Divine Shaolin Palm power is completely Yang based. There is no way that a disciple of Shaolin would produce such refined Yin force.”

Old Master Tian possessed deep knowledge and experience as well as profound understanding of martial arts. As far as martial abilities, weapons, fist and palm techniques, hidden weapons of the various schools and sects in Jianghu, he knew something about all of them.

Zheng Nanyuan could only listen.

“Condor King Wang, one of the Huainan Three Kings, was killed by Wu Tao,” continued Old Master Tian. “The attack he used to kill Wang was from none other than the Huainan Sect’s Eagle Claw kung fu, and his technique was just as good as Wang’s own. Except, his Eagle Claw technique also contained Yin force.”

Eagle Claw uses Yang force, and Huainan Sect disciples did not train in Yin force.

That point did not need to be stated out loud, everyone knew it.

“I examined both bodies personally. I may be an old man, but my eyesight has not grown dim. When I see something, no one can say I saw wrong.”

No one could say, nor would anyone dare to say.

Finally, Old Master Tian asked Zheng Nanyuan: “How many people in the world can defeat an opponent by using the opponent’s own kung fu, something they practiced for decades. And who can also mix Yin power with Yang power martial arts?”

“Not many, I would say.”

“Other than the Laughing General, who claims to be surnamed Li, can you name another?”

Zheng Nanyuan said nothing.

He couldn’t say a single name.

“You can’t think of a single one. So therefore, I must dare to say, Wu Tao is Sun Jicheng, Sun Jicheng is General Li, and General Li is Wu Tao.”

This was his conclusion.

Zheng Nanyuan had no more questions. However, Xiao Jun did.

This kind of question would normally be unanswerable.

“As of now, Wu Tao knows that we have uncovered his secret, and are looking for him,” he said. “So, what is his next step?”

Frogboy suddenly laughed. “You shouldn’t be asking us. Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Deathbladr

[deathblade]

Part 3

April 17th. Afternoon.

It was a clear day, and the sun illuminated everything. Even though it couldn’t directly shine onto the cramped, moldy and incredibly stinky cell block, some of its rays somehow found their way inside.

Ingot had awoken already and sat staring with his two large eyes.

No one could possibly imagine what he stared at.

He stared at something that he had never before seen in his entire life. Something he never would have wanted to see, and even now, upon seeing, could scarcely believe.

***

Ingot was currently looking at hundreds of spiders, rats, cockroaches, lizards, snakes, centipedes, mosquitos and bedbugs.

Dead spiders, dead rats, dead cockroaches, dead lizards, dead snakes, dead centipedes, dead mosquitos, dead bedbugs.

He had never imagined that a stone jail cell could possibly contain so many things like this.

Yet, there they were. And they had originally been jumping with life.

But as soon as they touched Wu Tao, who remained fast asleep, they would instantly die.

Regardless of spider, rat, cockroach, lizard, snake, centipede, mosquito or bedbug, as soon as they touched his body, they would stiffen and fall, never to move again.

***

Ingot not only stared, he counted.

Every one that died, he counted. He currently was up to one hundred eighty-nine.

That number itself was nothing frightening, but having counted so high, the hairs on his whole body stood on end.

Wu Tao was still fast asleep, sleeping like a corpse.

Who knew how many more vile pests would appear in the prison? From outside could be heard the sound of iron shackles clanking on the stone floor, piteous wails and weeping, and the cursing of jailers as they whipped and beat inmates.

If you heard those sounds and saw what Ingot saw, you too would be disgusted.

He couldn’t take it any more.

At what point would Wu Tao wake up?

Ingot decided to wake him up. He didn’t call out to him, he just went over and pushed him. But as soon as his hand touched Wu Tao’s body, he felt it pushed away. And then nearly half of his body went numb.

—This guy really was weird. He himself wasn’t too scary, but his martial arts were terrifying.

Ingot didn’t fear him in the least. He grabbed a dead rat and then threw it toward Wu Tao’s nose.

A slapping sound rang out as the rat hit the nose.

Not Wu Tao’s nose. Ingot’s nose.

The dead rat had rebounded, and struck Ingot directly in the nose.

Ingot, furious, was about to start yelling. But Wu Tao had already woken and started stretching. Glaring at him, Ingot said, “What the hell?”

“What the hell what?”

“What the hell are you hitting me in the nose with a dead rat for?”

“Was it me who hit you in the nose with a dead rat? Or the other way around?”

“I can hit you, but you can’t hit me,” said Ingot, bold and assured.

Wu Tao sat up. “Why can you hit me but I can’t hit you?”

“Because you’re an adult, but I’m just a kid.” The more he spoke, the more reasonable his arguments sounded. “Also, you were pretending to sleep, so of course I should try to make you get up. You weren’t sleeping, so why the hell did you hit me?”

Wu Tao looked like he wanted to laugh, but he didn’t.

“Why did you need to wake me up? Why not sleep a little bit more?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Why couldn’t you sleep? Is there something wrong with this place?”

“Everything.”

“Do you want to leave?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

“You want to leave and never come back?”

“Call me a bastard if I ever come back,” said Ingot, sounding more and more angry. “This is not a place for people. Even bastards shouldn’t stay here.”

Wu Tao suddenly stood up. “Okay!” he cried.

“Okay?” said Ingot. “What does that mean?”

As soon as he said it, he knew what Wu Tao meant. He saw Wu Tao stretch out his arms, and then heard a sound like fireworks coming from his body.

And then a bang sounded out.

The cramped, moldy cell block, constructed of thick slabs of stone, suddenly exploded out in every direction.

Dust flew out, and Ingot felt as if he were were flying in the air. Then the only thing he could hear was Wu Tao’s voice: “If this place isn’t fit for bastards, why leave it standing?”

[HPC7595]

Thanks deathblade

[deathblade]

Two translation mistakes:

1) When Old Master Tian and them were eating a few chapters ago, I said that they had a platter of cabbage. This was a mistake. The word for the final item on the table is one I'm not familiar with. When I looked it up in the dictionary, it said cabbage. I just realized right now that it is actually also a brand of baijiu.

2) I'm changing the name of the restaurant Wu Tao and Ingot ate at. It used to be "Zhao Has Everything," but I'm changing it to "Big Zhao's," which is a more correct translation. You will see why in the next update.

It will be a while before another update. Chapter 8 has no parts, it's just one long chapter. Once I finish the whole thing, I'll upload it.

[Laoren]

Thanks deathblade

[deathblade]

Chapter 8 - A Sword Which You Cannot Drop [1]

April 17th. Before dusk.

Jinan City’s supposedly impregnable “Number One” cell block suddenly turned into dust. It had been constructed from specially imported stone blocks, each one weighing hundreds of kilograms. And yet, some mysterious, inexplicable force shattered it into rubble. Some of the pieces flew as far as twenty meters away. A few even damaged the wood shed in the back of the yamen as well as an ancient, three-hundred year old scholar tree. [2]

Over two hundred death-row inmates in the prison all suddenly died. Upon investigation, the local chief coroner, Ye Laoyan, determined that two of them had actually died the day before, prior to the destruction of the cell block.

No one could determine their cause of death, nor how the cell block had been destroyed.

The local authorities wanted to cover up the matter, but in less than an hour, everyone in Jinan was talking about it.

***

The girl with the braids might not have been the first person to hear about the prison, but she heard about it sooner than most.

The news was passed on to Old Master Tian as he took his afternoon nap. He immediately called Beggar Clan Torture Chamber Lord Xiao Jun, and his eldest son Frogboy, into a sitting room. They knew the reason for his call.

They hadn’t slept the previous night, and had been drinking during lunch. But Old Master Tian was completely sober.

“You heard the news already?”

“Yes.”

Old Master Tian beckoned to a Sect disciple, who carried over a large chunk of stone and placed it into the table.

“The cell block was constructed from this type of stone. Originally, each piece weighed four or five hundred kilograms.”

The rough stone slab’s original size would have been roughly half a meter by half a meter.

Old Master Tian picked up a fragment of stone and crushed it between his fingers.

“This is not a common type of stone,” he said. “The quality is slightly lower than granite, but it is just as hard. If a blacksmith beat it with an iron hammer, it would probably take half a day to break.”

Frogboy started up with his questions. “Was this stone broken with a hammer?”

“No.”

“Old Zhao from the prison said that today, a prison block suddenly collapsed, and the stone slabs flew apart in every direction.” He looked at Frogboy. “Is there any hammer under heaven that can do that?”

“Nope.”

“There may not be one under heaven, but maybe in heaven there is.” Old Master Tian continued, “If I were a bastard, maybe I would think that the cell block was destroyed by a spirit.” He sighed. “But I’m not a bastard. Other than spirits, there is another power which could accomplish this.”

Of course, Frogboy had to ask: “What other power is that?”

“Manpower,” he said. “Manpower can exceed your imagination.”

“What person could have such power?” Frogboy always asked questions that aligned with his father’s topic of conversation.

“Not many people do. In fact, currently, there is only one.”

“Who is it?”

Old Master Tian flipped out again. Glaring at his son, he said, “Do you really not know who I’m talking about? Are you really such an idiot?”

***

Frogboy was no idiot. He knew exactly who Old Master Tian was talking about.

“People want to catch him and imprison him, so he goes to a prison.” Frogboy laughed wryly. “This guy really has a knack for things.”

“He’s not just a guy, he’s a general. The Laughing General,” said Old Master Tian, his face looking very serious. “And he doesn’t have a knack for things. At the very least he has seven or eight hundred knacks.” He pointed his finger at his son’s nose and angrily said, “You had best remember this, or else you’ll find yourself dead!”

“Ok.”

“Remember it. Anyone who underestimates the Laughing General won’t live very long.”

“Ok,” said Frogboy. “I never forget anything father says to me.”

Xiao Jun finally spoke up. “Can Old Master be certain this was the Laughing General?”

“I’m certain,” he said with complete confidence. “No one else could have done it.” His certainty was supported by evidence. “Currently, only he can mix together and use powerful Yang energy and gentle Yin energy. And only a kung fu which fuses the elements of Heaven and Earth, Sun and Moon, Yin and Yang, could produce such an incredible power.”

“He was so scared that he faked his own death and fled for his life, then ended up hiding in that prison’s forsaken death row cell block. Why would he suddenly use such a unique kung fu to reveal his position?”

Frogboy’s question was certainly apropos.

Old Master Tian thought for a while before responding: “Because his position had already been revealed, and he knows that others are aware he isn’t dead. Most likely he hid in the prison because he needed to rest and restore his energy and power.”

Upon hearing this, Frogboy and Xiao Jun’s faces both changed, and a strange light shone in their eyes.

They understood what Old Master Tian meant.

—The reason Laughing General needed to build up his energy was no doubt because he intended to face off with his enemies in battle.

One could only imagine what that desperate battle would be like.

Old Master Tian sighed, pulled a bottle of alcohol out from underneath the table, and took a drink. “Fortunately,” he said calmly, “I am not his enemy.”

“If it’s not father, then it’s not me either,” said Frogboy with what seemed to be a sigh of relief.

“Of course it’s not you,” laughed Old Master Tian. “You’re not worthy.”

“Who is worthy? The person who killed Zheng Nanyuan’s twenty-six subordinates?”

“It wasn’t a person who killed them. It was a group of people, an organization. Qiu Budao’s squads were infiltrated by this organization, and that is why the same technique was used in all the killings.”

“That technique is especially fearsome, right?”

“Do you want to find them and test it out?” Old Master Tian let out another cold laugh. “I’m afraid if you do you’ll be sitting in that precious wheelchair of yours for the rest of your life.”

Xiao Jun gazed off into the distance, as if he were thinking about something that no one else could even imagine. “Perhaps I am not worthy, either.”

“Worthy of what?”

“Worthy to be the enemy of the Laughing General,” he said coldly. “But regardless, I must be.”

—Did some unresolvable enmity exist between Xiao Jun and General Li? Some secret matter?

This time, inexplicably, Frogboy didn’t ask any questions. He hated prying into people’s personal affairs.

“Why don’t you ask me about it?” said Xiao Jun.

“Ask about what?”

“Why I must fight Laughing General.”

“I know the Laughing General is the reason you are here to begin with.”

“But why haven’t you asked me why?”

Frogboy laughed. He didn’t really want to laugh, but he did. “You’re saying I should ask you about it?”

Xiao Jun once again looked off into the distance. After some time passed, he spoke again. “I have my arm, and my life. If I can fight him, it will be worth it, regardless if I live or die. What does ‘should’ mean, and what does ‘shouldn’t’ mean?” He slowly stood up. “I just hope I can find him before anyone else does.”

“You can find him?”

“Perhaps,” he said. “Because I now understand a bit about Qiu Budao.”

“Oh?”

“His greatest weakness was his gambling. Everything started there. The people who infiltrated his squads met him at the gambling hall.”

Actually, his statement did not make clear his true intentions. But Old Man Tian sighed and looked at his son. “If you were half as smart as Chamber Lord Xiao, I would be really happy.”

***

Xiao Jun didn’t hear the comment.

In that exact moment, he was already atop the wall surrounding the courtyard outside.

“You really think he can find them?” asked Frogboy. “How will he do it?”

“The thirteen men who inflitrated Qiu Budao’s squads made contact with him through gambling,” said Old Master Tian. “Sun Jicheng is the Laughing General, their enemy. If the Laughing General wants to track them down, how will he do it?”

“By going to the gambling hall.”

“The Laughing General has decided to go to battle, so of course he’s looking for them. Therefore, if Xiao Jun wants to find the Laughing General, how will he do it?”

“By going to the gambling hall.”

Old Master Tian sighed. “Finally you display a bit of intelligence. You’re not that stupid after all.”

Frogboy sighed. “If I were half as smart as Chamber Lord Xiao, I don’t think father would be very happy.”

“Why?”

Frogboy took the small half-empty bottle of alcohol and drained it in one drink. “Because I remember something father once told me. Smart people don’t live for very long.”

***

“Big Zhao’s” was just a small restaurant, but it was very famous. More famous than even the big restaurants.

The boss of “Big Zhao’s” was neither big nor fat, nor was surnamed Zhao.

Actually, the big, fat, tall man surnamed Zhao was an assistant. But the name “Big Zhao’s” actually came from him, and a lot of people assumed he was the owner and the owner was the assistant.

—Not all big restaurants are better than small restaurants, and not all owners have bigger reputations than assistants. If you think about it, a lot of things in the world are like this.

April 17th, before dusk.

“Big Zhao’s” wasn’t open today, because Big Zhao had been up all night having fun and needed to rest.

If the assistant rested, the owner also rested. Because if the assistant quit, the restaurant would go out of business.

So when the assistant needed to sleep, even if the kitchen caught on fire, he would sleep. Nobody could wake him up.

But today, they woke him up, and he didn’t dare complain.

Because the people who woke him up were the two drunks from the night before, the two people being chased by the Flowered Flag Sect and the local government.

These type of people were not the type to offend. Otherwise one might end up like the Flower Flag Sect’s old Mr. Wang, dead in your own urine-soaked pants.

So, whatever they wanted, one dared not hold back.

Big Zhao might have a big gut, but he didn’t have real guts.

The two people ordered eight dishes, eight appetizers, twenty steamed buns, as well as a vat of Lianhua baijiu. And they scarfed it down in the blink of an eye.

***

Wu Tao ate ravenously, as did Ingot.

But Ingot was already getting full. He’d never seen someone who could eat even half as much as Wu Tao.

“If you sleep well you can have plenty of energy,” said Wu Tao. “And if you eat well, you can have plenty of strength. Even if you’re just a night soil collector [3], you still need to build up your energy and strength before you work. Regardless of what you do in life, it’s the same.”

“Are you full yet?” asked Ingot.

“It seems about seventy to eighty percent.”

“When you’re finished, are you going to go collect night soil?”

“No. There are only three things I never learned to do.”

“What three things?”

“Play chess, do embroidery, collect night soil.”

Ingot didn’t laugh. He just stared at him with his big eyes, then asked, “Other than eating and drinking, what can you do?”

“What does it look like to you?”

“It looks like you can kill people!” said Ingot. “I bet you’re building up your energy to do some killing.”

Wu Tao suddenly laughed heartily.

He didn’t laugh often, but when he did he laughed hard. He seemed extremely happy.

Tones of irony and sadness often floated within his laughter, and usually it would stop suddenly.

“Do you believe dead people can come back to life sometimes?” he asked Ingot

“Nope.”

“You’ll believe it in just a moment.”

“Why’s that?”

Wu Tao downed a bowl of Lianhua baijiu. “Because right now there’s a dead person about to be resurrected.”

Ingot stared at him for a while, then downed his own bowl of Lianhua and asked, “I suppose the dead person is you?”

“Correct,” admitted Wu Tao. “I’m the dead person.”

“But you’re not dead.”

“Wrong. What you should say is, Wu Tao is not dead.”

“You’re not Wu Tao?” blurted Ingot.

“Sometimes I am, sometimes I’m not.”

“When you’re not Wu Tao, who are you?”

“A dead man.” Wu Tao’s eyes suddenly twinkled. “A dead man who will be resurrected any moment.”

Ingot laughed. “I don’t understand,” he said. “You already died your horrible death in this life. Why come back to life?”

“Because there are people who won’t let me die.”

“What people?”

“Enemies.” Wu Tao drank another bowl of alcohol. “So many enemies that I can’t kill them all.”

“If they are your enemies, then why won’t they let you die?”

“Because I’m more useful alive than dead,” he said. “Also, they think my last death was too swift and easy. They want me to die again, slowly.” He continued on coolly: “Unfortunately, this time, I don’t care who wants me dead, they won’t find it very easy to pull off.”

Ingot slapped the table forcefully. “Great! I approve!”

“Approve what?”

“I approve of you not wanting to die so easily. If you’re gonna die, at least you can take out some of those endless enemies first.”

Wu Tao laughed heartily and slapped Ingot’s shoulder. “Great! I like it.”

“Like what?”

“You.” Wu Tao tipped a bowl of wine to Ingot, then drank it down. “In a few years, you’ll be a great man. I drink to you!”

Ingot didn’t drink. Instead, he asked, “You mean I’m not a great man right now?”

“You are.” Wu Tao downed another bowl. “You already are.”

He put the bowl down, then picked up a pair of chopsticks and started tapping out a tune onto the bowl. He sang, “A cup of alcohol you can’t finish drinking, a sad song you can’t finish singing. A treasured sword you can’t drop, a tall building you can’t climb. A hero’s blood which can never stop flowing, your enemy’s heads which can never all be lopped off.”

***

The bleak, solemn song suddenly stopped, and Wu Tao shouted: “Go!”

As he shouted, the chopsticks in his hands suddenly flew forward, and with a “ding” sound, shot into the door.

The restaurant hadn’t opened for the day, so the door wasn’t open. The chopsticks penetrated the door, then shot out the other side.

Two miserable cries rang out from outside, and then people started shouting: “It’s him, it’s him!”

“If you know it’s me, then why don’t you come in?”

Nobody came in. No one dared to.

Wu Tao stood, grabbing Ingot’s arm. “Since they won’t come in, why don’t we go out.”

The door was closed.

However, it seemed Wu Tao didn’t seem to notice that. He strode forward, and then a “crash” sound rang out. Pieces of the door flew out in every direction.

The street outside was quiet; passersby had already fled, seeing as the little restaurant was completely surrounded.

Two moaning men, each with a chopstick embedded in his shoulder, were being dragged away by their compatriots.

In Wu Tao’s hand, two ordinary chopsticks could shoot through a wooden door and stab all the way to the bone. Each chopstick had stabbed into exactly the same position on each man, and both were the same distance away from the heart.

They weren’t dead, but that had nothing to do with them.

They lived because Wu Tao had no interest in taking their lives.

Ingot could see that clearly.

What he didn’t understand was how a person could shoot two chopsticks from behind a three inch thick door, and hit exactly the same spot on both people.

—There was no way he could see through the door. That was completely impossible.

—Could it be that he could sense their position by listening to the sound of their breathing?

That wasn’t possible, and yet, it wasn’t impossible.

There are some things that are slightly possible, and if possible, perhaps only possible for one person.

***

As for that point, it might not be possible for most people to understand. And yet other than Ingot, there were others who could see it.

Amidst the crowd of people surrounding the restaurant, someone suddenly started clapping.

“Listening to the breathing to determine the position when you can’t see. Piercing a floating leaf with the power to penetrate walls. I never imagined such kung fu actually existed in the world. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would call myself a rotten son of a ***** before believing.”

The man spoke with a very conclusive tone.

The first half of his speech was quite elegant, extremely elegant. Only wizened sect leaders of the previous generation would speak like that.

But the last half was not elegant at all, especially the last line. That part sounded like something a ruffian would say.

This person was very unique.

He wore a voluminous cotton robe. Of the thirteen buttons on the front, only about five were clasped. Sticking out of the bottom were a pair of dilapidated flax shoes.

But clasped around his waist was a belt that only a young prince or a nouveau riche poppy would wear, a gold belt inlayed with a dozen or so pearls and gems.

He didn’t look handsome at all, but the more you looked at them, the less horrible he looked.

Tall and strong, he wasn’t young, but when he smiled, he looked like a child.

***

Ingot thought this person looked very interesting. It seemed Wu Tao did, too.

—Annoying people always make people feel annoyed, and interesting people always make people feel interested.

This truth is as simple as the the saying “chicken eggs are not duck eggs.” Some people enjoy doing things which annoy others.

As he strode out from the crowd, he laughed. With a smile, he looked at Wu Tao and said, “I’ve seen a lot of famous experts of the martial world. But to be able to see your excellency’s kung fu today, my eyes have truly been opened.” He deliberately let out a sigh. “But I feel a bit of regret.”

“Oh?”

“I regret that I still don’t know how to address your excellency,” he said. “Should I call you Mr. Wu? Or Big Boss Sun?” He laughed again. “Or perhaps the most correct is to call you General Li.”

“What should I call you?” retorted Wu Tao.

“I’m not important,” said the man with a laugh. “Even if you call me a rotten son of a *****, it wouldn’t matter.”

Ingot laughed, showing his two dimples. “If you’re a son of a *****, what does that make your father? A *****?”

People in the crowd began to cry out in anger, but the man held them back. Smiling, he said, “You calling me a son of a *****, doesn’t mean I actually am a son of a *****. And sometimes a person you don’t call a son of *****, is actually a super *****. These are two completely different situations.”

“That makes sense,” said Ingot. “So are you, or are you not a son of a *****?”

“Do I look like one?”

“Not really.” Ingot squinted. “At the most, you look like a scoundrel.”

The man laughed heartily. He seemed quite happy, not the least bit angry.

“You don’t look very much like an ingot,” he said. “Well, maybe a little. Sort of like the ones I used to make out of flour when I was a kid. Except they always ended up getting moldy.”

Ingot laughed. He didn’t seem to be the least bit angry either.

“A moldy flour ingot and a medium-sized, mid-level scoundrel. It seems we’re both the same: good-for-nothing.”

“You’re good for something, but I’m not a thing at all.” He winked. “Because I’m a person.”

Wu Tao, who had been staring at them this whole time, suddenly asked. “Are you surnamed Tian?”

“Yes,” admitted the man. He truly was surnamed Tian.

“Then that makes you Tian Yonghua’s son, Frogboy.”

“That’s me.”

“Why wouldn’t you just say so?”

“I still don’t know who you are,” said Wu Tao. “So why should I let you know who I am?”

“You know enough already. As do I.”

“What is it that I know?”

“That I am the person you’re looking for.”

“And what is it that you know?”

“That I am the person you’re looking for!” His eyes flashed. “I know that hidden in your belt is a flexible Burmese sword, capable of splitting hairs [4]. And hidden in your garment are thirteen deadly flying flags, the same concealed weapon used by Tian Yonghua in the past.”

Frogboy sighed. With a bitter laugh, he said, “Is there anything in the world you don’t know?”

“There’s one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m the person you were looking for, and you found me. You have blade in your belt and hidden weapons in your garment. You can attack at any time. Why don’t you?”

“Because I’m not worthy.”

Some people would die before speaking such words, but Frogboy said them with a chuckle. He continued, “Even my father said I’m not worthy to be your opponent. How could I dare to make a move?”

“Then why are you here?”

“I just wanted to see what kind of person you are,” he said. “Your true opponent went somewhere else. Otherwise he would be here.”

“Who is that?”

“Xiao Jun,” said Frogboy. “He has a heart of stone, and attacks like lightning. He’s the Chamber Lord of the Beggar Sect’s newly founded Torture Chamber.”

Wu Tao laughed coldly. “You think he’s worthy to be my opponent?”

“He himself said he’s not.” Frogboy sighed. “But he still wants to give it a try.”

“And why isn’t he here now?”

“He went looking for you, and has been at it for some time.”

“Where did he go to look for me?”

“He calculated that you would eventually go to the gambling hall to track down the people who paid off Qiu Budao. He’s most likely there right now, waiting for you.”

“And why didn’t you go there, too?”

Frogboy sighed again. “Because I’m kind of stupid. I can’t figure out things the way he does. So I just sat foolishly waiting, blissfully ignorant. In the end, he didn’t find you, but I did, by just waiting.”

Wu Tao laughed, and it sounded heartbreaking. Who could not feel dread upon hearing it?

“So are we going or not?” asked Ingot.

“Going where?”

“To the gambling hall. I’ve never seen what a real gambling hall looks like.”

Wu Tao’s eyes gleamed. “You will soon,” he said coolly.

Ingot looked really excited, as if he had no idea how many countless enemies with the intent to kill lie in wait there. It seemed he had already forgotten how frightening Xiao Jun was.

He just wanted to get there as quickly as possible, and do some ****ing gambling!

Frogboy seemed excited as well.

“Okay, I’ll take you there,” he said. “And if you don’t have anything to gamble with, I can lend you something.”

“You have money?”

“Of course,” he responded. “Tons.”

He pulled out a big bag, but unfortunately it only contained an assortment of copper coins and a few silvers.

“That’s your tons of money? It doesn’t seem like much.” Ingot seemed a bit disappointed.

“This is all the money I have in the world! And you’re saying it’s not much?”

Ingot shook his head with a bitter laugh. “It seems you, a rich person, and me, a beggar, aren’t too different in the end.”

Frogboy, his face solemn, his tone respectful, said, “A person should not have too much wealth. If you get money with your left hand, you should spend it with your right hand. Then you can be carefree, and extremely happy.”

“That makes sense,” said Ingot.

“If you have too much wealth, and don’t spend it all, then if you lose it, you will be upset. You will constantly be worried about it being robbed or stolen. You’ll fear being swindled or cheated. You’ll worry about people coming to borrow money from you all the time. Plus, you can’t take it with you when you die. That is true unhappiness.”

“Makes sense.”

“Being able to spend money happily, that is true wealth. And so, I am rich.”

“You definitely are.”

“Therefore, my riches are relatively few. I don’t worry about people robbing or cheating me, and I don’t worry about people coming to borrow from me. But, all you have to do is ask, and I’ll lend it to you.”

It is usually a joyful matter to have someone offer to lend you money. Who would have imagined that Ingot would suddenly become cautious. “Do you need collateral?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“What about interest?”

“No.”

Magnanimous offers like this are not common. Ingot asked another question: “Can I not return it?”

Frogboy laughed. His followup question was even more astounding than Ingot’s original question. “Can I ask you to not return it?”

“You can!” responded Ingot, ecstatic. He grabbed Frogboy’s bag.

People willing to borrow in this fashion are not common in the world, and people willing to lend money in this way are even rarer.

But both of them seemed quite happy.

“If I were Big Boss Sun, I definitely wouldn’t be as happy as this,” said Frogboy. “He definitely wouldn’t be willing to hand over all of his wealth to you, nor would you be willing to ask him to.”

Ingot let out a loud laugh. “Fortunately, you aren’t Big Boss Sun. You’re just a medium-sized, mid-level scoundrel.”

“Absolutely correct.”

***

But Ingot had made a mistake.

There was no need for him to borrow money for gambling, because after arriving at the gambling hall, they found that money was not being gambled.

The people there wanted to gamble with lives!

**

[1] I'm changing the name of the chapter from Undroppable Sword to this new translation.
[2] The scholar tree … is a type of tree … -___- http://tinyurl.com/nzrpekn
[3] Night soil is human excrement, which they would collect to use for fertilizer http://tinyurl.com/opf6bbq
[4] This is a type of sword that has no hilt, which would make it easy to conceal in a belt. http://tinyurl.com/o8x65a4

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks deathblade

[Drak17]

Niceee! New chapter. . Thanks!!

[Anh Nam]

Thanks deathblade

[HPC7595]

Thanks deathblade