Twenty-seventh day of the third month, very auspicious.
Suitable for all activities.
Zhao Wuji fell onto the bed.
After three-hundred miles galloping on his fast horse, he dismounted and barged in and plopped down on the bed.
A soft and fragrant bed.
This was Xiangxiang’s bed. Xiangxiang was a woman, a soft and fragrant woman. Every time she saw Zhao Wuji she smiled at him sweet as sugar.
Outside the window the sun shone brightly, the sky sunny and cloudless, a breeze carrying the fragrant scent of flowers.
Zhao Wuji watched the blue sky through the window. Finally, he sighed slowly, “Today really is a fine day.”
Today Xiangxiang wasn’t smiling. She said indifferently, “Today is certainly a fine day, a fine day to kill someone.”
Zhao Wuji lifted her chin with his finger and looked at her. “You want to kill someone?”
Xiangxiang said, “Just one person.”
“Who?”
“You!”
Zhao Wuji wasn’t surprised in the least, rather he laughed, laughed as if he were delighted.
Xiangxiang bit her lip. “At first I wanted to kill you, but then I thought about it. You really thought to come see me today. You’re already making it hard on me.”
Zhao Wuji said, “You know?”
“Of course I know, today is your big day.”
Her beautiful eyes suddenly glistened with tears. “I also know that you only came here today to tell me that from this day on you and I will be making a clean break. In the future when you see me you will regard me as a stranger.”
Zhao Wuji couldn’t deny it, but also couldn’t help feeling pained. “I brought something for you.”
He brought out a string of pearls. “This is what I promised you, I didn’t forget.”
The natural pearls glittered, transparent, round and smooth, like the pure, innocent teardrops of a girl.
Xiangxiang took them and fingered them lightly. “I knew you would give them to me, you’ve always been a trustworthy man.”
She wasn’t crying.
But her hand was trembling. She jumped up and forcefully threw the string of pearls at Zhao Wuji’s face. “But who wants your ugly pearls, who wants you, you little bastard!”
The necklace didn’t hit Zhao Wuji, but sailed past him out the window.
Zhao Wuji laughed again. “Little bastards at least have a few redeeming qualitites.”
Xiangxiang jumped up. “What redeeming qualities, tell me?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Little bastards at least are better than old bastards, and are certainly better than dead bastards.”
He was trying to make Xiangxiang laugh.
There weren’t any terms or pledges between them, but parting after all was sure to be sorrowful.
He had hoped that when they parted they could still laugh.
Xiangxiang hadn’t yet laughed when the pearl necklace she had thrown out the window came flying back in.
Followed by a “thunk” sound as a three-foot six-inch arrow nailed the necklace to the pillar.
The silver feathers at the tail of the arrow flickered as they shook. From outside the window a shorter arrow shot in and struck the arrow.
The long arrow was strong, but the short arrow was even more on the mark.
Xiangxiang stared blankly.
That kind of archery skill was a rare sight for sure.
Zhao Wuji’s laugh quickly changed to a forced smile. He sighed, “My creditors have arrived.”
Xiangxiang’s face dropped. “What are they here for?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Of course they’re here to demand payment. Don’t tell me you forgot that today is a fine day for collecting debts?”
It was a small multi-storey building. It was Spring.
It was bright and sunny outside, hundreds of flowers blooming, some scarlet, others light green, some light yellow.
Two black-clothed people stood among clumps of fresh flowers, one man, one woman, one young, the other old.
The young one was an eight-foot tall sturdy man, the old woman’s back was hunched, but her eyes still twinkled.
Two people, two bows, goldbacked, black on the other side, one long, one short.
Xiangxiang stood by the window. She asked, “Who are those two?”
Zhao Wuji said, “It’s Old Lady Black and her son.”
Xiangxiang said, “Who is Old Lady Black?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Someone who can shoot the eye out of a fly from thirty paces.”
Xiangxiang’s face dropped. “That hunchbacked old woman is that good——”
Zhao Wuji said, “Although her son is not as accurate as her, his arms are superhumanly powerful. If he wanted, he could easily send an arrow through two people standing side by side.” He sighed. “Gold Bow Silver Arrow, mother and son a pair. Whoever sees that mother and son pair has run out of luck.”
Xiangxiang said, “But, you only owe them a debt.”
Zhao Wuji forced a smile. “I’ve been out of luck lately.”
“What do you owe them?”
“Two people.”
“How can you owe them two people?”
“One time late at night I was coming from Bright Lake Spring after drinking and saw two young girls fleeing before me. The son was chasing after them. One of the girls had been hit with an arrow and was shouting for help over and over.”
He sighed again. “Seeing a big guy chasing after a young girl, of course I wanted to help, so I blocked the way and allowed the two girls to escape.”
Xiangxiang said, “And then?”
Zhao Wuji said, “And then I understood the two young girls weren’t young girls.”
Xiangxiang still didn’t understand. “If they weren’t young girls then what were they?”
“Men.”
Xiangxiang was taken aback.
Zhao Wuji said, “There’s a gang of flower thieves1 among the jianghu called ‘Swarm of Bees’ that likes to dress up as young girls.”
“So those two girls were flower thieves?”
Zhao Wuji nodded and smiled wryly. “Fortunately, mother and son, in the end, could tell I wasn’t one of the flower thieves.”
Xiangxiang said, “Of course they wouldn’t just let you off like that.”
“They gave me three months to capture those two flower thieves and bring them back.”
Xiangxiang said, “And now your time is up.”
“Just about.”
“Have you captured them?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Not yet.”
Xiangxiang looked at him, shook her head and sighed. “Some people love to catch bugs and put them in their own hair. Why do you insist on being that kind of person?”
Zhao Wuji said, “One or two bugs aren’t a big deal.”
Xiangxiang said, “What else is in your hair?”
Zhao Wuji sighed. “Seems about five or six scorpions and seven or eight venomous snakes.”
Xiangxiang didn’t ask any more.
She was already scared mute.
She was seeing several venomous snakes!
The snakes were sticking their heads out of the holes in the hemp sack, red tongues licking out.
The hemp sack was slung over a person’s shoulder.
A bizarre-shaped person, not only was half his nose missing, his ears had been bitten to the point they no longer looked like ears, and his eyes were shot with traces of blood, like the tongues of snakes.
But he wore a gaudy multicolored robe which made him look even more mysterious and horrible.
A snake had already crawled up onto his shoulder, coiled around his neck and licked his face with its red tongue.
He seemed not to feel it.
Xiangxiang felt it. She was about ready to throw up.
“Is this person also your creditor?”
“Yes.”
“What do you owe him?”
“Five snakes!” Zhao Wuji sounded bitter. “Five of the most venomous snakes.”
Xiangxiang was a bit defiant. “Rescuing those two flower thieves was your own fault, but venomous snakes like those, you ought to kill a few more of them. Why do you owe him more?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Because he is the Bodhisattva of Venom.”
“The Bodhisattva of Venom?”
“He’s venomous all over his body, but his heart is like a bodhisattva.”
“Bodhisattvas raise snakes too?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Others raise snakes to harm people, but he raises snakes to help people.”
He knew that Xiangxiang didn’t understand, so he explained, “Only medicine prepared from snake saliva and blood can be used as snake antivenom.”
Xiangxiang said, “And the five snakes you owe him?”
“The five snakes are all different kinds. He spent three years catching those five species in the treacherous mountains and waters of the Yunnan border.”
“What use is it to catch them?”
Zhao Wuji said, “The saliva from the five species are combined to concoct a medicine that can counter all kinds of toxins, but it’s crucial that the venom is collected from the snakes when they are still alive and they have to secrete it themselves in order for it to be effective.”
Xiangxiang said, “I heard thet venomous snakes only release their venom when biting someone.”
“Yep.”
“So you mean he let those five snakes bite someone in order to collect the venom?”
“That’s the only way,” Zhao Wuji said.
“Who did he let them bite?” Xiangxiang said.
“Himself.”
Xiangxiang was struck dumb.
“When I saw him, the five snakes were biting him,” Zhao Wuji said.
“What did you do?”
Zhao Wuji gave a wry smile. “What do you think, what else could I do. Without thinking I drew my sword and hacked those snakes apart, cut each one into seven or eight pieces.”
Xiangxiang couldn’t help but smile wryly herself. “Seems your swordsmanship is really not bad.”
“Yet it was still a mistake.”
It was quiet in the flower garden. Old Lady Black and the Bodhisattva of Venom were both clearly capable of maintaining their poise.
Just then there came two sounds. They seemed far away, yet at the same time they sounded like they were right next to your ear.
When they heard the sounds, the faces of Old Lady Black and the Bodhisattva of Venom clouded somewhat.
“Is that the night watch gong?” Xiangxiang said.
“Yes,” Zhao Wuji said.
“Then I really wasn’t mistaken.”
“You were not.”
Xiangxiang said, “It’s still daylight, isn’t it out of place for that person to be beating the gong now?”
Zhao Wuji said, “He’s not out of place, he beats the gong whenever he wants.”
“Why?”
“Because his beats are different from others. They don’t report the time.”
“What do they report?” Xiangxiang said.
“They are soul departing beats.”
“Soul departing beats?”
“When he announces the third watch, then someone’s soul will depart for sure.”
There was an odd look on his face. “Life-Wrest Watchman Third Watch Liu. When he strikes three, a man’s soul will flee.”
Another sound, this time much closer.
It was just an ordinary watchman’s gong strike, but so close to one’s ear it became indescribably strange.
Xiangxiang couldn’t help but ask, “What time is he reporting now?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Second watch, first stroke.”
Xiangxiang couldn’t help but shiver all over. “Once the second watch is over, the third watch will be right after.”
Zhao Wuji said, “Yes, once the second watch is over, the third watch will be right after.”
Xiangxiang said, “Is he another of your creditors?”
“A major creditor,” Zhao Wuji said.
“What do you owe him?”
“A sabre!”
“How many more creditors do you have?”
“Major creditors, just those three.”
Xiangxiang said, “They all knew you would be here today?”
“They didn’t know.”
“But they all came.”
“I asked them to come,” Zhao Wuji said.
Xiangxiang almost shouted, “Yu asked them to come? Why would you invite those dreadful creditors?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Because when you owe someone a debt, it must be paid sooner or later.”
He suddenly laughed. “Don’t you see how today is also a fine day to pay one’s debts?”
Another soul departing beat sounded.
GONG GONG KLONK
It was still the second watch, first stroke. When would it be the third watch? No one knew except the Life-Wrest Watchman.
Third Watch Liu slowly emerged from the flowers. Teal robe, white socks, hemp sandals, pale face.
There hadn’t been anyone like that among the flowers, yet now someone like that emerged.
He had a light gong and a small bamboo rod in his hand, a short white staff in the other.
Could these be the Life-Wrest Watchman’s soul snatching, life wresting weapons?
For a person who never saw the sun, a pale face such as his was nothing strange.
What was strange was his eyes.
His eyes were also white, a mysterious, deathly pale white. You coudn’t see his eyeball, nor his pupils.
——Could it be that the Life-Wrest Watchman, who made men’s souls depart, was blind?
There was a small path by the flower patch.
A winding little path, paved with cobblestone that glittered and shone like jade.
Old Lady Black and her son stood by the path in a patch of common garden peony.
The blind man naturally could not see them.
But when Third Watch Liu walked by them, he stopped suddenly and turned and said, “Old Lady Black, I trust you have been well since we last met?”
Old Lady Black eyes him coldly. After a while she said flatly, “Thanks to Mr. Liu’s lucky blessing, us widow and orphan haven’t been angered to death by anyone.”
Third Watch Liu looked up to the sky as if pondering something. After another while he let out a long sigh. “It’s been thirteen years already, how time does fly.”
Old Lady Black said, “Every day there’s a third watch. Third watch to the left, third watch to the right, how can time not fly?”
Third Watch Liu nodded slowly, his pale face completely without expression.
“All the more so when some days there will be more than one third watch. Third watch to the left, third watch to the right, some get old, some die. How could time not fly?”
He was mumbling to himself, tapping the ground with his short white staff as he ambled along.
He stopped again before the Bodhisattva of Venom.
He hadn’t opened his mouth, and the Bodhisattva of Venom did not open his either as two snakes slithered out from the hemp sack without a sound.
The blind man could not see, and since they made no sound, he naturally couldn’t hear them.
Yet as soon as the snakes slithered out, his white staff whipped out and struck them both right on their seven-inch spot.
The snakes bounced up in the air and lay on the ground, still.
Third Watch Liu sighed. “Did I kill two snakes?”
The Bodhisattva of Venom said, “Hmph!”
Third Watch Liu said, “Do you want me to compensate you?”
“Can you compensate me?” the Bodhisattva of Venom said.
Third Watch Liu gave a wan smile. “It’s just a bamboo viper and a rice paddle head.2 If you want me to repay you, I can get you seventy or eighty any time you want.”
The Bodhisattva of Venom looked at him in amazement. Even so, his voice remained flat. “No need to trouble yourself, I can catch them myself.”
Third Watch Liu said, “Since you don’t want me to repay you, then I have a word of advice for you.”
“Go ahead,” the Bodhisattva of Venom said.
“You risk your life to feed snakes, exchanging your own flesh and blood for their venom. Even though every time you have been able to extract the venom in time, there’s still always a little bit of venom left in your blood.”
He sighed. “Your senior’s secret venom extraction technique is not absolutely perfect.”
The Bodhisattva of Venom didn’t admit it, but he couldn’t deny it either.
Third Watch Liu said, “There are now 103 kinds of trace venoms in your blood.”
“You can see that?” the Bodhisattva of Venom couldn’t help but ask.
“I am blind, how could I see it?”
He continued evenly, “But I know that if the toxicity of your blood raises by five, the bodhisattva will transform into a corpse.”
Zhao Wuji had come downstairs and was standing out in the magnificent sun, looking at the Life-Wrest Watchman.
Was he questioning himself?
Was this man really blind, or was he faking?
He didn’t know.
No one knew except for Third Watch Liu.
The short staff tapping on the round cobble stones along the little path made a peculiar sound.
It was not at all the sound of bamboo striking stone, nor was it the sound of metal striking stone.
What was that short staff made out of?
Zhao Wuji couldn’t guess.
He looked up and saw Third Watch Liu standing in front of him.
Twenty-seventh day of the third month, very auspicious.
Suitable for all activities.
Zhao Wuji fell onto the bed.
After three-hundred miles galloping on his fast horse, he dismounted and barged in and plopped down on the bed.
A soft and fragrant bed.
This was Xiangxiang’s bed. Xiangxiang was a woman, a soft and fragrant woman. Every time she saw Zhao Wuji she smiled at him sweet as sugar.
Outside the window the sun shone brightly, the sky sunny and cloudless, a breeze carrying the fragrant scent of flowers.
Zhao Wuji watched the blue sky through the window. Finally, he sighed slowly, “Today really is a fine day.”
Today Xiangxiang wasn’t smiling. She said indifferently, “Today is certainly a fine day, a fine day to kill someone.”
Zhao Wuji lifted her chin with his finger and looked at her. “You want to kill someone?”
Xiangxiang said, “Just one person.”
“Who?”
“You!”
Zhao Wuji wasn’t surprised in the least, rather he laughed, laughed as if he were delighted.
Xiangxiang bit her lip. “At first I wanted to kill you, but then I thought about it. You really thought to come see me today. You’re already making it hard on me.”
Zhao Wuji said, “You know?”
“Of course I know, today is your big day.”
Her beautiful eyes suddenly glistened with tears. “I also know that you only came here today to tell me that from this day on you and I will be making a clean break. In the future when you see me you will regard me as a stranger.”
Zhao Wuji couldn’t deny it, but also couldn’t help feeling pained. “I brought something for you.”
He brought out a string of pearls. “This is what I promised you, I didn’t forget.”
The natural pearls glittered, transparent, round and smooth, like the pure, innocent teardrops of a girl.
Xiangxiang took them and fingered them lightly. “I knew you would give them to me, you’ve always been a trustworthy man.”
She wasn’t crying.
But her hand was trembling. She jumped up and forcefully threw the string of pearls at Zhao Wuji’s face. “But who wants your ugly pearls, who wants you, you little bastard!”
The necklace didn’t hit Zhao Wuji, but sailed past him out the window.
Zhao Wuji laughed again. “Little bastards at least have a few redeeming qualitites.”
Xiangxiang jumped up. “What redeeming qualities, tell me?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Little bastards at least are better than old bastards, and are certainly better than dead bastards.”
He was trying to make Xiangxiang laugh.
There weren’t any terms or pledges between them, but parting after all was sure to be sorrowful.
He had hoped that when they parted they could still laugh.
Xiangxiang hadn’t yet laughed when the pearl necklace she had thrown out the window came flying back in.
Followed by a “thunk” sound as a three-foot six-inch arrow nailed the necklace to the pillar.
The silver feathers at the tail of the arrow flickered as they shook. From outside the window a shorter arrow shot in and struck the arrow.
The long arrow was strong, but the short arrow was even more on the mark.
Xiangxiang stared blankly.
That kind of archery skill was a rare sight for sure.
Zhao Wuji’s laugh quickly changed to a forced smile. He sighed, “My creditors have arrived.”
Xiangxiang’s face dropped. “What are they here for?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Of course they’re here to demand payment. Don’t tell me you forgot that today is a fine day for collecting debts?”
It was a small multi-storey building. It was Spring.
It was bright and sunny outside, hundreds of flowers blooming, some scarlet, others light green, some light yellow.
Two black-clothed people stood among clumps of fresh flowers, one man, one woman, one young, the other old.
The young one was an eight-foot tall sturdy man, the old woman’s back was hunched, but her eyes still twinkled.
Two people, two bows, goldbacked, black on the other side, one long, one short.
Xiangxiang stood by the window. She asked, “Who are those two?”
Zhao Wuji said, “It’s Old Lady Black and her son.”
Xiangxiang said, “Who is Old Lady Black?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Someone who can shoot the eye out of a fly from thirty paces.”
Xiangxiang’s face dropped. “That hunchbacked old woman is that good——”
Zhao Wuji said, “Although her son is not as accurate as her, his arms are superhumanly powerful. If he wanted, he could easily send an arrow through two people standing side by side.” He sighed. “Gold Bow Silver Arrow, mother and son a pair. Whoever sees that mother and son pair has run out of luck.”
Xiangxiang said, “But, you only owe them a debt.”
Zhao Wuji forced a smile. “I’ve been out of luck lately.”
“What do you owe them?”
“Two people.”
“How can you owe them two people?”
“One time late at night I was coming from Bright Lake Spring after drinking and saw two young girls fleeing before me. The son was chasing after them. One of the girls had been hit with an arrow and was shouting for help over and over.”
He sighed again. “Seeing a big guy chasing after a young girl, of course I wanted to help, so I blocked the way and allowed the two girls to escape.”
Xiangxiang said, “And then?”
Zhao Wuji said, “And then I understood the two young girls weren’t young girls.”
Xiangxiang still didn’t understand. “If they weren’t young girls then what were they?”
“Men.”
Xiangxiang was taken aback.
Zhao Wuji said, “There’s a gang of flower thieves1 among the jianghu called ‘Swarm of Bees’ that likes to dress up as young girls.”
“So those two girls were flower thieves?”
Zhao Wuji nodded and smiled wryly. “Fortunately, mother and son, in the end, could tell I wasn’t one of the flower thieves.”
Xiangxiang said, “Of course they wouldn’t just let you off like that.”
“They gave me three months to capture those two flower thieves and bring them back.”
Xiangxiang said, “And now your time is up.”
“Just about.”
“Have you captured them?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Not yet.”
Xiangxiang looked at him, shook her head and sighed. “Some people love to catch bugs and put them in their own hair. Why do you insist on being that kind of person?”
Zhao Wuji said, “One or two bugs aren’t a big deal.”
Xiangxiang said, “What else is in your hair?”
Zhao Wuji sighed. “Seems about five or six scorpions and seven or eight venomous snakes.”
Xiangxiang didn’t ask any more.
She was already scared mute.
She was seeing several venomous snakes!
The snakes were sticking their heads out of the holes in the hemp sack, red tongues licking out.
The hemp sack was slung over a person’s shoulder.
A bizarre-shaped person, not only was half his nose missing, his ears had been bitten to the point they no longer looked like ears, and his eyes were shot with traces of blood, like the tongues of snakes.
But he wore a gaudy multicolored robe which made him look even more mysterious and horrible.
A snake had already crawled up onto his shoulder, coiled around his neck and licked his face with its red tongue.
He seemed not to feel it.
Xiangxiang felt it. She was about ready to throw up.
“Is this person also your creditor?”
“Yes.”
“What do you owe him?”
“Five snakes!” Zhao Wuji sounded bitter. “Five of the most venomous snakes.”
Xiangxiang was a bit defiant. “Rescuing those two flower thieves was your own fault, but venomous snakes like those, you ought to kill a few more of them. Why do you owe him more?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Because he is the Bodhisattva of Venom.”
“The Bodhisattva of Venom?”
“He’s venomous all over his body, but his heart is like a bodhisattva.”
“Bodhisattvas raise snakes too?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Others raise snakes to harm people, but he raises snakes to help people.”
He knew that Xiangxiang didn’t understand, so he explained, “Only medicine prepared from snake saliva and blood can be used as snake antivenom.”
Xiangxiang said, “And the five snakes you owe him?”
“The five snakes are all different kinds. He spent three years catching those five species in the treacherous mountains and waters of the Yunnan border.”
“What use is it to catch them?”
Zhao Wuji said, “The saliva from the five species are combined to concoct a medicine that can counter all kinds of toxins, but it’s crucial that the venom is collected from the snakes when they are still alive and they have to secrete it themselves in order for it to be effective.”
Xiangxiang said, “I heard thet venomous snakes only release their venom when biting someone.”
“Yep.”
“So you mean he let those five snakes bite someone in order to collect the venom?”
“That’s the only way,” Zhao Wuji said.
“Who did he let them bite?” Xiangxiang said.
“Himself.”
Xiangxiang was struck dumb.
“When I saw him, the five snakes were biting him,” Zhao Wuji said.
“What did you do?”
Zhao Wuji gave a wry smile. “What do you think, what else could I do. Without thinking I drew my sword and hacked those snakes apart, cut each one into seven or eight pieces.”
Xiangxiang couldn’t help but smile wryly herself. “Seems your swordsmanship is really not bad.”
“Yet it was still a mistake.”
It was quiet in the flower garden. Old Lady Black and the Bodhisattva of Venom were both clearly capable of maintaining their poise.
Just then there came two sounds. They seemed far away, yet at the same time they sounded like they were right next to your ear.
When they heard the sounds, the faces of Old Lady Black and the Bodhisattva of Venom clouded somewhat.
“Is that the night watch gong?” Xiangxiang said.
“Yes,” Zhao Wuji said.
“Then I really wasn’t mistaken.”
“You were not.”
Xiangxiang said, “It’s still daylight, isn’t it out of place for that person to be beating the gong now?”
Zhao Wuji said, “He’s not out of place, he beats the gong whenever he wants.”
“Why?”
“Because his beats are different from others. They don’t report the time.”
“What do they report?” Xiangxiang said.
“They are soul departing beats.”
“Soul departing beats?”
“When he announces the third watch, then someone’s soul will depart for sure.”
There was an odd look on his face. “Life-Wrest Watchman Third Watch Liu. When he strikes three, a man’s soul will flee.”
Another sound, this time much closer.
It was just an ordinary watchman’s gong strike, but so close to one’s ear it became indescribably strange.
Xiangxiang couldn’t help but ask, “What time is he reporting now?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Second watch, first stroke.”
Xiangxiang couldn’t help but shiver all over. “Once the second watch is over, the third watch will be right after.”
Zhao Wuji said, “Yes, once the second watch is over, the third watch will be right after.”
Xiangxiang said, “Is he another of your creditors?”
“A major creditor,” Zhao Wuji said.
“What do you owe him?”
“A sabre!”
“How many more creditors do you have?”
“Major creditors, just those three.”
Xiangxiang said, “They all knew you would be here today?”
“They didn’t know.”
“But they all came.”
“I asked them to come,” Zhao Wuji said.
Xiangxiang almost shouted, “Yu asked them to come? Why would you invite those dreadful creditors?”
Zhao Wuji said, “Because when you owe someone a debt, it must be paid sooner or later.”
He suddenly laughed. “Don’t you see how today is also a fine day to pay one’s debts?”
Another soul departing beat sounded.
GONG GONG KLONK
It was still the second watch, first stroke. When would it be the third watch? No one knew except the Life-Wrest Watchman.
Third Watch Liu slowly emerged from the flowers. Teal robe, white socks, hemp sandals, pale face.
There hadn’t been anyone like that among the flowers, yet now someone like that emerged.
He had a light gong and a small bamboo rod in his hand, a short white staff in the other.
Could these be the Life-Wrest Watchman’s soul snatching, life wresting weapons?
For a person who never saw the sun, a pale face such as his was nothing strange.
What was strange was his eyes.
His eyes were also white, a mysterious, deathly pale white. You coudn’t see his eyeball, nor his pupils.
——Could it be that the Life-Wrest Watchman, who made men’s souls depart, was blind?
There was a small path by the flower patch.
A winding little path, paved with cobblestone that glittered and shone like jade.
Old Lady Black and her son stood by the path in a patch of common garden peony.
The blind man naturally could not see them.
But when Third Watch Liu walked by them, he stopped suddenly and turned and said, “Old Lady Black, I trust you have been well since we last met?”
Old Lady Black eyes him coldly. After a while she said flatly, “Thanks to Mr. Liu’s lucky blessing, us widow and orphan haven’t been angered to death by anyone.”
Third Watch Liu looked up to the sky as if pondering something. After another while he let out a long sigh. “It’s been thirteen years already, how time does fly.”
Old Lady Black said, “Every day there’s a third watch. Third watch to the left, third watch to the right, how can time not fly?”
Third Watch Liu nodded slowly, his pale face completely without expression.
“All the more so when some days there will be more than one third watch. Third watch to the left, third watch to the right, some get old, some die. How could time not fly?”
He was mumbling to himself, tapping the ground with his short white staff as he ambled along.
He stopped again before the Bodhisattva of Venom.
He hadn’t opened his mouth, and the Bodhisattva of Venom did not open his either as two snakes slithered out from the hemp sack without a sound.
The blind man could not see, and since they made no sound, he naturally couldn’t hear them.
Yet as soon as the snakes slithered out, his white staff whipped out and struck them both right on their seven-inch spot.
The snakes bounced up in the air and lay on the ground, still.
Third Watch Liu sighed. “Did I kill two snakes?”
The Bodhisattva of Venom said, “Hmph!”
Third Watch Liu said, “Do you want me to compensate you?”
“Can you compensate me?” the Bodhisattva of Venom said.
Third Watch Liu gave a wan smile. “It’s just a bamboo viper and a rice paddle head.2 If you want me to repay you, I can get you seventy or eighty any time you want.”
The Bodhisattva of Venom looked at him in amazement. Even so, his voice remained flat. “No need to trouble yourself, I can catch them myself.”
Third Watch Liu said, “Since you don’t want me to repay you, then I have a word of advice for you.”
“Go ahead,” the Bodhisattva of Venom said.
“You risk your life to feed snakes, exchanging your own flesh and blood for their venom. Even though every time you have been able to extract the venom in time, there’s still always a little bit of venom left in your blood.”
He sighed. “Your senior’s secret venom extraction technique is not absolutely perfect.”
The Bodhisattva of Venom didn’t admit it, but he couldn’t deny it either.
Third Watch Liu said, “There are now 103 kinds of trace venoms in your blood.”
“You can see that?” the Bodhisattva of Venom couldn’t help but ask.
“I am blind, how could I see it?”
He continued evenly, “But I know that if the toxicity of your blood raises by five, the bodhisattva will transform into a corpse.”
Zhao Wuji had come downstairs and was standing out in the magnificent sun, looking at the Life-Wrest Watchman.
Was he questioning himself?
Was this man really blind, or was he faking?
He didn’t know.
No one knew except for Third Watch Liu.
The short staff tapping on the round cobble stones along the little path made a peculiar sound.
It was not at all the sound of bamboo striking stone, nor was it the sound of metal striking stone.
What was that short staff made out of?
Zhao Wuji couldn’t guess.
He looked up and saw Third Watch Liu standing in front of him.
