Chapter 1
The Killer Star Descends to Earth, Calamity Strikes the Martial World
The ancient city of Changsha, calm and peaceful up to now, was suddenly enveloped in gloomy clouds and sad mists, the people were on tenterhooks, anxious the whole day through, as if the sky were about to fall in.
Someone had discovered a body near Ten Mile Station outside the city. There were no signs of injuries or wounds on the body, only the eyes were wide open, a look of terror on his face, like he had seen something terrible right before he died.
Because one could tell at once that the deceased was a jianghu person, and due to the peculiar state of the body, the very same method of killing used by the rumored “Heavenly Killer Star” Shen Wuhai, some concluded that after killing the Hu Brothers of Yueyang, this “Killer Star” had come from Yueyang to Changsha.
This was frightening news indeed, more frightening than word of a spreading plague.
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In the last hundred years in the martial world there had been who knows how many demons, fiends, villains, but never any like the Killer Star.
People hated this person down to the marrow.
The Killer Star’s actions these past two years were described by the eminent members of the martial world in Yanzhou as:
“Doesn’t distinguish right from wrong, doesn’t respond to reason, not a trace of humanity in him!”
Maybe some would ask: In the martial world today there are famous schools and sects and outstanding masters, why do they tolerate such a major scourge to go on living in the world of men?
Yep, some did ask that, and some because of this adopted a course of action.
The first to adopt such a course were the Four Gentlemen of the Martial World.
Unfortunately, the Four Gentlemen had only decided on a plan to take the first step toward tracking down and arresting him, when in the short span of half a month they were done away with one after the other.
The Four Gentlemen all died the same way.
No sign of injuries or wounds on the body, just eyes wide open, a look of terror on their face, as if they had seen something terrible before they died…
Since then, no one dared to publicly discuss the rights and wrongs of this Killer Star. And Killer Star’s name henceforth grew by the day, gradually becoming a household name in the martial world of the Central Plains.
Not long after that, following the Four Gentlemen, the renowned Amazing Doctor of the Great Plains Gongsun Quan, Lordson of Jinling Zeng Shaowei, Lake Tai Fisherman Recluse Jiang Pingbo, and The Three Heroes of Nanyang and the Ge Brothers were all murdered. Finally, even “Sword King Palace” was on the alert.
Eight months before, King of Swords Xue Lizhong responded from an invitation from the major schools to send twelve Brocade-garbed Swordsmen from the palace, led personally by Head Steward Merciless Gold Sword Ai Yifei, to prepare to exhaust all their effort to capture this Killer Star and rid the martial world of an evil.
But for more than half a year Merciless Gold Sword and his twelve Brocade Swordsmen had searched nearly every corner of the Central Plains without seeing even as much as Killer Star’s shadow.
And during this time not only did the murder cases in each locale not decrease, they increased much more.
And those murdered were more famous and well-known than those who were murdered before.
Every time Merciless Gold Sword got word and led his men to the location, all this head steward could see was a body that had died the same way as the others.
Finally, this head steward of the Sword King Palace, renowned throughout the white and black paths, had no choice but to heed the advice of his swordsmen and issued a reward on behalf of Sword King Palace stating that anyone who could capture Killer Star alive would be rewarded 10,000 taels of gold.
10,000 taels of gold was not a small figure.
On the one hand this showed how determined the Sword King Palace was to wipe out the Killer Star, but on the other hand this led to the Killer Star’s status to increase.
Because now the Killer Star went from being a “great plague” to being a “living God of Wealth”.
In the past, anyone who ran into Killer Star was lucky to not die. Now, anyone who ran into Killer Star, if his ancestors’ tombs had good fengshui, might easily come into immense wealth.
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Now, this Killer Star, now a “plague” and a “God of Wealth”, appeared in Changsha.
Why had Killer Star come to Changsha?
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East Main Street’s Myriad Blessings Loft’s business was particularly good today.
Customers came one group after another in a constant stream that seemed to never end. Closing time seemed to never come, but finally several waiters cleaned up the bowls and plates and were about to go downstairs when two customers appeared at the top of the steps.
The waiters, holding bowls and plates, fell back to allow the customers in while at the same time not able to keep from frowning.
Because these two had come at such a bad time, they weren’t all that welcomed of customers: a neatly-dressed middle-aged merchant and a young man wearing blue.
Once up the stairs the two didn’t wait to be greeted but went straight to a table by the window, selected seats, and sat down across from each other.
A waiter just wiping down a table came over listlessly and perfunctorily wiped down the table twice, though it had already been wiped down, then languidly looked up and asked them what they wanted to eat.
The one who ordered was the middle-aged merchant.
Once the middle-aged merchant took his sweet time ordering, the waiter, who had had an unhappy look on his face this whole time, quickly changed his attitude.
Now he was all smiles, constantly bowing, say “Yes sir” over and over, being as servile as possible in deed and expression, as if he were a completely different person than before.
Turns out this middle-aged merchant had ordered more than twelve courses in one go.
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All the waiters who’d wormed their way into the restaurant knew that there were many types of people who came to drink there.
There were two types that were the most difficult to deal with.
One was those who were fond of nitpicking.
This type all had the same habit, which was finding fault with every dish that was brought to the table.
If it wasn’t too salty it was not not salty enough.
In a word, nothing was were “to their taste.”
In the end, however much they said they disliked it, they still ate it all, till the bottom of the plate saw daylight.
These big show-offs all did the same thing: they all called the manager over to criticize in loud tones, displaying how shrewd and particular they were with their food and drink.
An intelligent manager would just smile and agree with everything and apologize and guarantee that there would be no issues.
If the big show-off found you courteous and agreeable, he might just pull you aside an offer you a toast.
The other type was different.
This type of customer was also picky, but even more so, but they weren’t being picky to put on airs.
This type of customer was picky so they could gain some petty advantage.
This type was very easy to distinguish.
First of all, he would always say that he couldn’t eat a lot, just a bunch of small dishes would do.
But every time the food was brought, the first thing he was unhappy with was that the amount of food was too little.
For a customer like this you couldn’t just give him a grant total when it came time to pay the bill like any ordinary customer. That would never do.
You had to list each item with its price in detail, then add it up for him.
He would sit there casually with his legs crossed, slowly picking his teeth, listening and hmphing all the while, till you saw there was something amiss and he would eliminate the odd amount left over.
Since he wanted discounts on all the food and drink, no need to even mention a tip.
There was only one way to deal with such a customer: grin and bear it!
Besides these two types of customers, there were two other types which could be considered favorable customers.
The most common type was the one who left everything up to the waiters.
This type of customer was always smiling, and once he sat down he most likely would call the waiters over and ask for recommendations, what do you have today that’s good? Then, he would select a few of the dishes the waiter suggested, then when he ate he would only praise it, never criticize it. When he was done eating he would pay in ready silver and give a tip, never too much nor too little, always just the right amount.
There was another type of customer who, though you didn’t see him often, he was the type that waiters all loved the most.
This type didn’t come to drink wine or to eat food.
He just wanted to parade his wealth before his friends and let them know that this dear brother knew what he was doing and would wine and dine and hang the expense.
This type of customer had two things in his favor:
First, in the end, he tipped the most.
Second, whether it could all be eaten or not, he always filled the table with dishes, just like this middle-aged merchant did now.
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The food ordered, now it was just a matter of waiting for the two wealthy customers to tell them what wine they wanted to drink.
The waiter’s expression tensed up a bit.
The middle-aged merchant turned to the young man in blue and asked, “Little Brother, what would you like to drink?”
The young man in blue smiled. “This is my first time here, whatever you think is best, Brother. As long as it’s not watered down wine, I can drink anything.”
The waiter quickly put on a smile and said, “Sir, you can rest assured…”
The middle-aged merchant thought a moment and said, “I hear your Myriad Blessings Loft aged white liquor is famous, first send up four catties of white liquor!”
The waiter heard he wanted four catties of white liquor and suddenly got a bad feeling.
Though he said yes sir twice, his expression was not as natural as it was before,
This was what he was always afraid of: that they would want too much wine!
No one had ever drank a catty of Myriad Blessings Loft’s aged white liquor before. If these two wanted to drink four catties of white liquor, better get ready to be dead drunk!
If they fell over drunk, who would pay the bill later?
If no one paid the bill, how could they get a tip?
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The food was brought up quickly.
Maybe this was the smart waiter’s bright idea. Bring the food up quick and get them focused on eating so that they might drink less.
But unexpectedly, though the food was brought up quick, the two of them ate slow.
Several dishes were set out on the table, but neither of them touched their chopsticks.
They spent nearly all their time on those four catties of white liquor. In the end, the four catties were drank up to the last drop before even half of the twelve courses had been served.
Even more surprising was they the two did not end up dead drunk after drinking four catties of aged white liquor as the waiter had expected. Their faces didn’t even look a tiny bit tipsy.
Myriad Blessings Loft’s waiters saw how astonishing their capacity for liquor was and were left speechless.
This was the first time they had seen anyone drink so much without even getting tipsy.
At the same time, this was the first time they had seen anyone drink white liquor not sip by sip, but cup by cup.
When they raised their cups to each other, they drank like they were drinking water.
Sometimes they would sown five or six cups in a row without even touching their chopsticks. And most ridiculous of all, every time they drank a cup they had to first offer some spurious reason for the toast.
For example, if one of them said, “This fish was cooked well.”
The other would be ready with lifted cup: “To be sure it was, come, bottoms up. This fish was cooked so well, I’ve never eaten such good fish before!”
They both said the fish was cooked well, in fact they had only sampled a bit of its flesh, not enough between their chopsticks for a normal bite.
Once the toast was drank, if the latter then said, “Come, eat, eat, don’t just drink, you have to eat something with it. It won’t be good if it gets cold, this scalloped kidney is stir-fried nicely.”
Then the other would surely raise his cup, just filled to the brim, “Yeah! By the cut and heat of it you can tell it’s a good dish. Come on now, another cup!”
The fish they had just tasted a bit of, bur now the scalloped kidney they merely admired the look of to determine whether it was good or not.
These were perfectly justifiable reasons for drinking a toast.
Even more ridiculous, sometimes irrelevant conversation would go back and forth before finally ending up in excused for a few toasts.
When the fourth course, steamed met with glutinous rice, was set out on the table, a fly happened by the table. The blue-garbed young man whisked his sleeve and frowned. “Look! Flies in this weather!”
The middle-aged merchant said, “Yeah, that’s the problem with eating out, there’s pretty much nothing besides wine to make one feel comfortable eating.”
The blue-garbed young man said, “So I say, eating or not is whatever, but wine you have to drink several cups, especially this white liquor here…”
The middle-aged merchant immediately expressed his agreement. “Yeah, in Changsha there’s nowhere else you can drink white liquor like this. Come come, drink! These three cups are for you, my dear brother!”
It’s impolite not to reciprocate! If someone toasts you three cups, of course you have to toast them three cups in return. Two and three is six, two and six is twelve, these twelve cups of wine you could say were offered all due to a single fly.
In the end, twelve courses were finished, and the second round of four catties of white liquor was all drank up.
Because the two of them kept taking turns finding reasons to toast each other, the eight catties of white liquor they ordered was drunk evenly four catties a piece between them, neither drinking more nor less than the other.
The middle-aged merchant’s face still showed no sign of being tipsy.
But the blue-garbed young man’s face was slightly red, looking somewhat tipsy.
Once the waiter had set the final course, clay-pot fish heads, on the table, the middle-aged merchant looked up with a smile and said, “You want two catties more?”
The blue-garbed young man rubbed his flushed face and said with a laugh, “I think I can only handle two more catties.”
But in fact, after those two catties, they ordered two catties twice more.
The blue-garbed young man’s face got redder and redder, and the middle-aged merchant’s face gradually paled.
However, Myriad Blessings Loft’s waiters were no longer worried about the two of them getting drunk.
Because the third time they called for wine, the middle-aged merchant saw the dirty look on the waiter’s face and paid ten tales of fine silver in advance, enough to pay for their food and drink twice over with still some left over. So the waiters now were not only not worried about them getting drunk, they rather hoped they got drunk sooner, the drunker the better, so drunk that in the end they didn’t know how much they had already paid so that they would ultimately blearily pay again.
The blue-garbed young man looked at the newly brought two catties of white liquor and suddenly sighed gently. “Myriad Blessings Loft’s aged white liquor definitely lives up to its reputation. Your younger brother really doesn’t mind getting drunk on it, I want to drink it to my heart’s content…”
The middle-aged merchant said quickly, “Then drink! Why don’t you drink, hasn’t the wine been served?”
The blue-garbed young man frowned. “Drinking this kind of wine, you have to do it cup by cup. But your younger brother can’t think of any more reasons to offer a toast.”
The middle-aged merchant was stumped at first when he heard that, but he was soon nodding. “Yes, the mood is the most important thing when drinking. If you just keep tossing them back you will not only harm your body, it’s also not interesting that way…”
The blue-garbed young man raised his cup and said, “Now I leave it all up to you, Brother. Come, let’s down a cup to congratulate Brother for thinking up more and better reasons!”
The middle-aged merchant filled up two empty cups and raised them, “Come, another cup! They say that two heads are better than one. The both of us thinking is better that just one of us. I also congratulate you, my dear brother, for coming up with more, better reasons to let us brothers drink to our hearts’ content today!”
After downing two cups, the two of them each set to thinking, really serious looks on their faces.
A few waiters standing a ways off looked at each other and gave each other knowing smiles. When drinking reached this stage, drunkenness was not far off.
Not long after, the middle-aged merchant suddenly smacked the table. “I got it!”
The blue-garbed young man beamed at him with delight. “Brother, you’re a quick thinker, what reason do you have, hurry up let’s hear it!”
The middle-aged merchant had a satisfied smile. “My dear brother you probably won’t believe it when I say it. I can name off three reasons right now, each reason worthy of us going all out…”
The blue-garbed young man cut him off, “No rush, one by one!”
The middle-aged merchant held up a finger. “The first reason, and it’s also the best reason, and for this reason we ought to each of us drink three big cups!”
Not waiting for the blue-garbed young man’s reaction, he grabbed the pewter pitcher on the table, and like measuring rice in a basket, he topped off and down cup after cup, three full cups in all.
But, oddly enough, the blue-garbed young man, who had been drinking non stop, this time just sat there not moving.
The middle-aged merchant set his cup down and, somewhat surprised, said, “My dear brother, what aren’t you drinking?”
The blue-garbed young man smiled faintly. “I remembered what you said when we first came up and sat down today. Brother, you said that the biggest taboo in drinking is to go to war without just cause!”
The middle-aged merchant blinked. “My dear brother, you mean you want to first hear the reason before you drink your three cups?”
The blue-garbed young man nodded, laughing, “That’s right!”
The middle-aged merchant handed the wine pitcher over, waving his hand, “Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink these three cups my dear brother, I guarantee you won’t regret it. When I say the reason, if you think it was not worth drinking to, I’ll drink three cups as a forfeit!”
The blue-garbed young man shook his head, insisting, “It’s not a matter of drinking a forfeit or not, it’s a question of mood. If the reason is good enough, not to mention three cups, you can double it and your younger brother will drink them at once. This is how I always drink. If there’s something on my mind, until I’m thinking clear on it, I can’t take a single drink.”
The middle-aged merchant laughed. “This first reason others might think is ridiculous if they heard it. Check it out!
“We’re sitting here now drinking. Anyone who sees us will think we’ve been old friends for many years for sure. If you were to tell them that today is the first time we’ve ever met, even sitting here drinking all night not even knowing each other’s name, never even asking, I bet you no one would believe it…”
Myriad Blessings Loft’s waiters were all dumbfounded hearing that.
Huh? Two people drinking half the night and not even asking each other their name?
Was this just drunken rambling?
But by the looks of it, the middle-aged merchant was evidently telling the truth.
Because when the doubtful waiters turned their attention to the blue-garbed young man, he was nodding, waiting for the other to continue.
The middle-aged merchant laughed again. “My dear brother, think about it, isn’t that ridiculous? Two people drinking half the night, but not even knowing each other’s surname is!”
The blue-garbed young man didn’t seem to think it was all that ridiculous, still sitting there not indicating anything whatsoever.
The middle-aged merchant laughed and continued, “Ordinarily when two strangers meet, the first thing they ask is what to call each other, yet us two brothers happened to meet, but we completely neglected this bit of protocol. The saying is apt: any sort of person making any sort of friend is really a good thing. Like here, others might laugh at us as a pair of fools, but as I see it, this is really a kind of hard to come by predestined affinity.”
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