Chapter 2 – Mutual Deception Part 2
Zlack, Yan, Anh, Jaya, Janger, you are welcome. Gerald, the fight is too short ... Jiu Long, oh no ... the reason I rebooted has NOTHING to do with the quality of existing translation. In fact, I still feel that Grundle's sentences flow better than mine. I can go on and on on this, but I have already explained my 'philosophy' in translating in other threads. I am fully aware that I am in the minority here, but I believe in my reason of taking this approach.
Anyway, here is the last part of Book 2 Chapter 2. I am trying to catch up as much as possible during this Christmas break, I am going back to work Monday.
This incident caught both sides by surprise. The elderly man yelled, “Wushuang!”
In all his life, Du Fuwei was used to tyrannize other people. He did not come to provoke you, just consider your family and your mountain as blessed. And now someone dared to disgrace the people under his protection in front of his face. Immediately he turned around, his eyes gleaming with murderous aura.
Being stared by him, the girl called Wushuang was a bit afraid, but apparently she was accustomed to being arrogant and willful, hence she still spoke defiantly, “Who told them to stare at people with shifty gaze?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling crawled up awkwardly. Horrified, they both pulled Du Fuwei’s right and left arm toward the door. Who would have thought that Du Fuwei did not budge at all? He simply stared coldly at the girl.
Kou Zhong knew Du Fuwei was about to make his move. “Die!” he pleaded, “Let’s go! Your sons were wrong.”
The elderly man also stood up and cupped his fist, “In this matter my humble niece is wrong, we beg for two Xiao Xiongdi’s forgiveness. If you are injured from the fall, we are willing to compensate for the medical bill.”
Du Fuwei coldly said, “State your school and background, let’s see if I will provoke you or not.”
The three young men immediately stood up with their hands on their weapons’ hilt, scaring the other patrons that they all left their table in a flurry and huddled in the corner.
The tall and handsome young man proudly said, “My humble father is Liang Shidu of Shuofang, Junior [orig. Wanbei – younger generation, referring to self] is Liang Shunming. Whether you want to provoke us or not, Sire may decide it for yourself.”
The other two young men and the girl also showed a proud, mixed with condescending expression; apparently they were quite proud of Liang Shidu’s name.
Du Fuwei’s countenance did not change at all; as if nothing had happened, he said, “Turns out Yingyang [soaring hawk] Lang Jiang’s [lit. youth general] beloved son. Yingyang Pai [soaring hawk sect] has always been willing to be the imperial court’s running dogs [i.e. lackeys]; only recently they saw the wind and set the helm and thus allied themselves with the Tujue [Turkic ethnic group, see Book 1 Chapter 2]. Two female soaring hawks Liang Shifu and Liu Wuzhou have become Tujue’s two dogs. Why can’t I afford to provoke you?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling have also heard the name Yingyang Pai, they knew it was a well-known big northern sect with impressive reputation. They believed this Liang Shunming must have a real skill; perhaps they could take this opportunity to escape. Hence they no longer said anything but quietly scooted over toward the door.
The elderly man stepped in front of Liang Shunming and the other two young men who had already pulled their weapons out; he said in heavy voice, “Friend, you are experienced and knowledgeable, obviously you are not an ordinary person. May I ask your honorable surname and great given name? And how should I address you?”
Du Fuwei replied indifferently, “Since this kid is Liang Shidu’s son, Sire must be related to Liang Shidu’s sworn brother, Shen Tianqun of Luling. Based on your age, you ought to be Shen Tianqun’s elder brother Shen Naitang, unless my eyes have failed me.”
The elderly man suddenly stood up straight, his beard spread out, his appearance became bold and powerful without equal. Laughing loudly, he replied, “Looks like Friend understood Jianghu matters like the back of your hand, you must not be a nameless character. Why not announce your name? Perhaps we have a little bit of relation.”
“Having a bit of relation’ was a Jianghu terminology, including relation such as enmity.
Du Fuwei threw his head back and let out a long laughter. Yet as soon as he stopped laughing, the cold murderous look returned to his eyes, as he coldly said, “I hope he is not Liang Shidu’s only son; otherwise, his family line will be cutoff.”
Shen Naitang’s countenance changed immediately; it seemed like this person was not intimidated by Liang Shidu and Shen Tianqun, two powerful masters whose names shook Wulin; he must have a very strong background.
Taking a step back, he pulled his broadsword and sternly said, “Very well! Let me, Shen Naitang, increase my knowledge by experiencing Friend’s real skill.”
Relying on his family skill, Liang Shunming has always been thinking too highly of himself, plus he had his lover standing right next to him, naturally he could not stand it anymore. Moving along with Shen Naitang, he launched the Yingyang Pai’s famous Soaring Hawk Sword Technique, thrusting his sword toward Du Fuwei’s chest with half-real, half-fake stance. It was definitely not an ordinary move.
Shen Naitang also had confidence in him, he moved aside and stood ready to give him assistance.
Unexpectedly Du Fuwei still had time to look back toward Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling and said with a laugh, “Yingyang Pai is located in the north; therefore, they are heavily influenced by Tujue martial techniques. They rely mainly on ruthless attack, strong offense but not strong defense; therefore, if in one attack they fail to down the opponent, they could only take the beating.”
In the meantime, Liang Shunming’s sword was already less than three cun from his chest; suddenly it changed form, the fake became real, and went straight up toward Du Fuwei’s throat. It was indeed a ruthless attack.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling stared with eyes wide open. On one hand they wanted Liang Shunming’s sword to kill Du Fuwei, on the other hand they did not wish to see him fallen from power like this. It was a very conflicting thought.
It was only this time that Du Fuwei finally reacted; tossing his head backward, his sleeve flicked forward.
‘Ding!’ Surprisingly, it was the clear ringing of metal clashing against metal.
While everybody was still puzzled, Liang Shunming’s body was severely shaken. As his sword was struck by an unknown object and was swept away, his defense was widely open. Du Fuwei bent his body on the waist, and fast as lightning his leg flew toward Liang Shunming’s crotch. Apparently his objective was to cut his family line.
Seeing this, Shen Naitang’s countenance underwent huge changes. It was only then did he realize the opponent was the dark road overlord Du Fuwei, whose nickname was ‘universe in his sleeve’ [orig. ‘qiankun’, also means heaven and earth/yin and yang].
Du Fuwei had a pair of arm guards about a chi [Chinese foot, approx. 1ft or 1/3m] long hidden inside his sleeve, with which he could injure his opponent by using it in a surprise attack. The reason he was using it in the very first move was because he had determined to kill these people to shut their mouth.
Since Shen Naitang knew it was him, how could he dare to be confident? With a roar he brandished his broadsword while charging forward, his target was the left side of Du Fuwei’s neck.
Du Fuwei let out a cold snort, the other arm guard in his left sleeve flashed, it collided with Shen Naitang’s blade, but his kick was not affected at all.
Liang Shunming knew the situation was far from good, unleashing everything he had, his left palm pressed downward, while taking a step back simultaneously.
‘Bang!’ Liang Shunming let out a muffled grunt. Although he managed to block Du Fuwei’s kick, he was unable to block the shocking qi surging into his body from Du Fuwei’s foot. His mouth spurted fresh blood, while his body was thrown backward.
After exchanging one strike with him, Shen Naitang was also forced to take half a step back. “Get Liang Gongzi [young master] out of here!” he bellowed.
Who would have thought that as Wushuang and her martial brothers Meng Chang and Meng Ran, three people saw Liang Shunming was falling toward them, they automatically reached out to hold him, but felt as if Liang Shunming weighed a thousand catties [approx. 1/2kg or 1lb]? Although they were able to receive him head on, they were unable to withstand the impulse; four people fell back together, crashing onto the tables and chairs behind them that everything was shattered in pieces, the people and the cups, plates, and the food and drink inside them fell into a mess. It was a really sorry sight.
Du Fuwei let out a cold laugh. His sleeves shot out, with either the sleeve or the arm guard, he attacked Shen Naitang relentlessly that the latter was powerless to retaliate.
Fortunately, Shen Naitang’s foundation was quite solid; his martial art skill was also quite strong that for the time being he was still able to hold his ground.
By this time Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had already reached the door. After giving each other eye signals, they dashed out madly from the restaurant.
Du Fuwei had never expected that these two obedient sons, who kept calling him Dad left and right, would seize the opportunity to slip away. Anger and anxiety attacked his mind, his offensive suddenly lost quite a bit of momentum, so that Shen Naitang was able to reclaim a little bit of advantage.
Seeing Shen Naitang was able to prolong the channeling of his qi, Du Fuwei knew that he would not be able to kill the opponent within ten moves. After considering the pros and cons, he decided he’d better capture the two boys first and come back later to kill these people to shut their mouth.
With a loud roar he forced Shen Naitang to withdraw two steps back, while he himself floated out of the door.
Meanwhile Shen Wushuang and the others were helping Liang Shunming, who had received internal injury, to stand up. They thought that once again Shen Naitang had displayed his divine power to repel the enemy. To their shock, however, as soon as Shen Naitang was able to stabilize himself, he was forced to withdraw three more steps while ‘wah!’ he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood.
Shen Wushuang abandoned Liang Shunming, leaving him with her two martial brothers, while she herself rushed toward Shen Naitang and grabbed his arms. “Dabo! [paternal uncle, older than one’s father] What happened?”
Shen Naitang took a deep breath, while wiping the blood on the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. “This man is ‘universe in his sleeve’ Du Fuwei,” he said in heavy tone, “Even if your Die came here personally, I am afraid he is still not his match. We must leave immediately.”