Death Scripture

Gu Shenwei was pretty sure that youths his age would most likely consider death a remote possibility and some of them would even be able to compose beautiful poems about it. Unfortunately, he could not see the poetic side of it at all, as his death was just around the corner. Every time he thought about it, he would tremble with fear as if he was going to fall off the cliff and into the dark abyss of death any minute.

In Gu Shenwei's eyes, the core concept of Death Scripture was self-deconstruction. In the past, he had constantly applied this concept when practicing his kung fu and believed that he could possibly be throwing his life away at any time. However, the two recent qigong deviation attacks reminded him how dreadfully frightened he was of dying. Mama Xue's dull and sallow face kept sneaking back into his mind, making him restless.

He did not want to die, especially when all his enemies were still alive and well. He considered assassinating them now, but he quickly realized that he could at most manage to only kill the twins at this moment. Shangguan Nu, the man who had slaughtered his entire family, was far away and surrounded by numerous killers and bandits. Shangguan Fa, the Supreme King and a superb kung fu master, now lived inside the Inner Residence and was protected by black-masked assassins.

Deep inside his heart, Gu Shenwei did not want to perish together with his enemies. He wished that he would live in peace after killing all of them. Although it was just a dim and distant dream, he still enjoyed imagining it coming true, since it would make him feel better.

After a long period of indecision, Gu Shenwei finally made up his mind to visit Immortal Peng again. Although the immortal seemed really weird, he was still willing to give the immortal Death Scripture in exchange for saving his life.

Before leaving, he needed to give each of the twins a proper explanation for his visit to South City. He went to meet Shangguan Ru first. In front of Master Ru, he exaggerated Guan Houlin's importance and described the young man as cunning and sinister. He asked her to allow him to investigate the man carefully in South City. "We can deliver a knockout blow to Master Fei by defeating Guan Houlin," he said to Master Ru.

After that, he went to visit Shangguan Fei privately. Upon seeing the killer, Master Fei gave him a good tongue lashing. When he finally calmed down, Gu Shenwei told him that Shangguan Ru was secretly planning some conspiracy against him. Gu Shenwei asked Master Fei to give him some time to figure the whole thing out.

After both of the twins agreed to his requests, he went to discuss with Maid Lotus and finalized all the details in his plan: Slave Huan would go to deal with Immortal Peng, and Maid Lotus would cover him from the shadows. He promised her that once he discovered that Immortal Peng was really capable of removing the Peripheral Force from him, he would let Maid Lotus receive the same treatment.

Gu Shenwei went to Joy Pavilion at night. The last time he had visited this place was one month ago.

He threw a stone at the window on the third floor of the pavilion while standing on the top of a wall nearby.

Soon, the window was opened, and the old man who was always dressed in a white robe stuck his head out of it. He stared at the young killer for a while and then cast down a long chain. Gu Shenwei grabbed it and easily jumped up into the room through the window, as the old man was helping him by pulling on the chain at the other end.

Tonight, this place did not look as crowded as before, since there were only several people inside the room.

"Have you decided?"

Gu Shenwei deliberately ignored the speaker and walked directly to the screen inside the room. He stopped a few steps away from the screen, put his saber and sword on the ground and said, "Yes, I've made up my mind, but I must speak to you in person. Otherwise, I won't give you anything."

Upon hearing his request, everybody inside the room fell silent, which made Gu Shenwei feel uneasy. "Should I take my words back? Immortal Peng is not an ordinary person. He'll probably refuse to talk personally to a mortal man like me." He hesitated for a while, but then he still decided to remain persistent in his demand.

"Well, I'll talk to you in person."

In the next moment, Immortal Peng's disciples went downstairs one after another, and the screen slid to one side, revealing the immortal.

Gu Shenwei was speechless. Immortal Peng turned out to be a dwarf, who was less than one meter tall. His chubby legs and arms made him look like a baby, but the wrinkles on his forehead indicated that he was indeed an old man. The immortal was almost bald and had no facial hair, but his eyes were bright. This made his visage look exceptionally weird. He held a crutch in his left hand, which was about three times higher than himself. Beside him stood the child who looked like Chu Yangjun.

"No wonder Immortal Peng refuses to meet anyone. He looks like a cheaply made, ugly doll," Gu Shenwei thought to himself.

Despite that, he still bowed deeply to the immortal.

"If you want to talk with me, you must let this boy stay here," Immortal Peng put his right hand on his throat and talked through the child beside him.

"Can you cure my qigong deviation?"

"Yes, I can."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want your swordcraft."

Gu Shenwei felt much relieved after knowing that Immortal Peng did want Death Scripture, as his scripture was his only bargaining chip during this negotiation. "Have you heard of my swordcraft?"

"Maha Bodhi, Dajue Book of Swordcraft. I heard about it a long time ago," Immortal Peng replied assertedly.

Gu Shenwei could tell that Immortal Peng told him the truth. He guessed that Maha Bodhi, Dajue Book of Swordcraft might be the original name of Death Scripture. "I'll give you the scripture after you cure my qigong deviation," Gu Shenwei said.

Immortal Peng lifted up his crutch and turned one of its ends toward the killer. Upon seeing that, Gu Shenwei automatically walked forward until he suddenly felt the end of the crutch against his chest. He was startled and thought, "Why did I act so credulously."

"Your problem will be solved once you master my secret skills." With these words, Immortal Peng took back his crutch and closed his eyes.

Gu Shenwei was confused. "What does that mean? Did he agree to my terms?"

The child who stood beside Immortal Peng stretched out his hand, inviting the killer to go downstairs. "Let's go to the second floor. The immortal needs to get some rest now."

This time, the child spoke for himself. This was the first time Gu Shenwei had heard the boy's own voice. It took him a moment to react. He stared at Immortal Peng for a while, then picked up his sword and saber and went downstairs.

The child pushed the screen back to its original place and followed the killer to the second floor.

As usual, nobody was there on the second floor despite that the many empty chairs.

The child went to open the window to allow the moonlight in. He then turned to face the killer and said, "You killed my brother."

"Is Chu Yangjun your brother?" Gu Shenwei asked.

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

"Chu Nanping."

"Well, Chu Nanping, if you want to avenge your brother's death..."

"Why should I avenge his death?" asked Chu Nanping, surprisedly.

Gu Shenwei was stunned, as it was evident that Chu Nanping was not kidding. "Are you saying that you don't want to kill me to avenge your brother's death?' he asked in surprise.

"He left Joy Pavilion before he mastered the swordcraft. It's not surprising that he got killed by you or someone else," Chu Nanping explained.

"What a cold, unfeeling child. I bet the Golden Roc Fort will like him very much," Gu Shenwei thought to himself. "Alright. Do you come to negotiate with me on behalf of Immortal Peng?" he asked the boy.

"Yes, the immortal wants your Dajue Book of Swordcraft. He'll teach you Secrets of Love in exchange for you giving him the book," replied Chu Nanping.

"Wait, wait. I come here to remove the Peripheral Force from my body, not to learn some secrets."

"The immortal had already mentioned that your problem will be solved once you master the Secrets of Love."

"Secrets of Love... What's it?" Gu Shenwei asked while feeling really worried about himself. He noticed that nearly everybody inside Joy Pavilion had no facial hair, except for the white-robed old man and a few other guys."Secrets of Love sounds like a term referring to some weird tricks of the castrated in Hope Alley. I don't want to learn such a kind of skill."

"Secrets of Love is a set of advanced kung fu skills."

Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei was much relieved.

"Love doesn't only refer to the affection between lovers, friends or relatives. It's a broad concept. From a Buddhist perspective, human beings and all the other sentient beings in the world are full of love. Secrets of Love can also be seen as secrets of the mysterious energy that follows through all the sentient beings," Chu Nanping explained.

Gu Shenwei was not interested in the doctrines of Buddha, but he was intrigued when Chu Naning came to the part about how to learn Secrets of Love. The boy told him that as Secrets of Love could be interpreted in many different ways, there were 64 different ways to master Secrets of Love and all the ways lead to mastery of a similar level of kung fu upon completion.

This reminded Gu Shenwei how he and Maid Lotus practiced the swordcraft in Death Scripture. They had very different opinions on the text of the book and had no idea who was right and who was wrong. However, that did not prevent them from improving their sword skills.

Gu Shenwei began to understand why Immortal Peng was interested in Death Scripture.

What made Secrets of Love different as compared to Death Scripture, which focused on swordcraft, was that it included various types of kung fu such as swordcraft, machete skills, unarmed combat techniques, Internal Strength skills, Lightness Skills and even hidden weapon techniques.

Chu Nanping went on to explain that no matter which kind of kung fu skill one chose to learn to master Secrets of Love, he had to practice it with a partner.

Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei immediately realized that Ye Silang and Chu Yangjun were practice partners and they had been practicing the Heartful Swords skill to master Secrets of Love.

Thinking of those two young men, Gu Shenwei began to worry again. He felt really uncomfortable picturing himself practicing "Heartful Swords" with another man.

When Chu Nanping told him that Immortal Peng did not plan to ask him to practice "Heartful Swords" since his brother and Ye Silang had already tried it out, he felt greatly relieved.

According to the boy, Immortal Peng intended to try out all the 64 ways and had found suitable ones to practice nearly all the kung ku skills depicted in Secrets of Love except for "Emotionless Swords". "The reason that Immortal Peng hasn't tried out 'Emotionless Swords' is that he couldn't find two qualified people to practice this sword skill in the past. He got his eyes on you because of your cold-heartedness," said Chu Nanping.

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"If I promise to learn 'Emotionless Swords", whom I'm going to practice this technique with?" Gu Shenwei asked when he had already guessed the answer.

"Me," replied Chu Nanping.

"How long will it take?"

"That depends. Some people can master it in a few months while others just can't get it in their whole lives."

"How many years have you practised sword skills?" Gu Shenwei asked Chu Nanping with an incredulous look on his face. He looked at the boy and said in his heart, "When I was your age, I only mastered a few workout-type kung fu routines, which weren't practical in real fights. I don't think that you're eligible to become my practice partner."

"Three years. You have to learn the basics before practicing 'Emotionless Swords' with me."

Gu Shenwei snorted in contempt. He was sure that he could defeat any of the disciples of Immortal Peng during one-on-one combat. He was even confident to kill the white-robed old man, who had once successfully snatched his sword from his hand, not to mention this little boy who looked like a girl.

"You have to enhance your Internal Strength and Lightness Skills first," Chu Nanping added.

Gu Shenwei was struck speechless by what the boy had just said. He could not deny that Internal Strength and Lightness Skills were his weaknesses.

After introducing Secrets of Love to the killer, Chu Nanping told the killer that Immortal Peng wanted him to write down a part of Dajue Book of Swordcraft every day and to finish the whole book within 30 days.

Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei shook his head and said, "I need one year to write down all the content of the book. Besides, who knows how long it'll take to master 'Emotionless Swords'."

After bargaining with each other for a long time, the boy and the killer finally reached an agreement. According to it, Gu Shenwei had to finish writing the book within 100 days. He was dissatisfied with the outcome of the negotiation, since deep inside his heart, he did not want to share Death Scripture with anyone. The longer he practiced the sword technique in the book, the more he wished to keep it to himself. Sometimes, he even regretted that he had shown Maid Lotus this book.

Nevertheless, he had no choice but to give Immortal Peng Death Scripture, since his top priority now was to save his own life.

That night, Gu Shenwei wrote down about several hundred characters for Immortal Peng, which were the last part of Death Scripture. This part did not make sense at all, so he decided to give the immortal this part first.

After writing down those characters, he followed Chu Nanping to the room on the third floor. When they entered the room, Immortal Peng was gone. Gu Shenwei went over to push the screen closer to the oil lamp so that he and Chu Nanping could read the characters written on it. They contained the text of Secrets of Love and a series of explanatory notes.

Compared to Death Scripture, the text of Secrets of Love was much shorter but much more archaic and abstruse. The notes were the 64 ways to master Secrets of Love. Gu Shenwei did not have time to read all of them carefully, so he decided to focus on the part about Emotionless Swords. He asked many questions about Secrets of Love and Emotionless Swords, and Chu Nanping answered each of them patiently.

Hearful Swords was entirely opposite to Emotionless Swords. The practice partners who mastered the former would be able to closely cooperate with each other during a fight and become an invincible team. However, to master the latter, the practice partners had to fight each other until one of them was killed.

"Immortal Peng is right to choose Emotionless Swords technique for Chu Nanping. To master this swordcraft, he'll have to kill me someday. By doing so, he'll also avenge his brother's death." With that thought in mind, Gu Shenwei somehow felt much better being around Chu Nanping.