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Chapter 3
South Sea Apsara Tiger and Poison Tiger
(1)
Cat Shell.
Surprisingly, Long Chengbi also knew that there was someone who went by the name of Cat Shell.
Not just Long Chengbi, but Sima Xue and Tang Zhuquan knew as well.
But in the jianghu, no one had ever heard of Cat Shell. Or at least very few had, such as Water Cat, Miao Jiutian, etc.
Just what kind of person was Cat Shell?
Before Sha Bu’e’s nine killers had died, had they seen Cat Shell, and had they really died at Cat Shell’s hands?
× × ×
Tang Zhuquan gently set down his large wine jug and sighed. “Cat Shell comes and goes like a ghost. Aside from Water Cat, it would be difficult for anyone to find him.”
Long Chengbi gave a leisurely smile.
“Good thing I’m not trying to find him. Anyway, that’s their family matters.”
Tang Zhuquan frowned.
He suddenly heaved a long sigh. “Of the Tang Sect of Shu, the only one your old man admires is Cat Shell!”
Cat Shell was from the Tang Sect of Shu!1
Sima Xue suddenly smiled faintly. “Recently my business hasn’t been doing so well, People looking for a killer seem not to be much interested in me.”
Tang Zhuquan was taken aback.
“You’re the world’s number one killer, how can you have no business?”
Sima Xue didn’t answer, because Long Chengbi answered for him first, “Because he’s too expensive, a lot of people can’t afford him.”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Your old man remembers you once had it out with an old fiend for just ten taels of fine silver, why are you all of a sudden changing the price willy-nilly? Now every life is worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.”
Long Chengbi laughed. “You’re wrong to blame him.”
“Oh?”
“Besides raising the price a little, the main thing is there’s no worthy targets. Take two months ago, the Evil Gentleman of North Lu wanted to hire Sima Xue to kill an old hero who’d already retired from the jianghu. How could he accept that kind of job?”
Tang Zhuquan. The Evil Gentleman is not an easy customer to get along with. Are you afraid of trouble by refusing him?”
Long Chengbi said, “The one looking for trouble isn’t Sima Xue, but the Evil Gentleman.”
Sima Xue sneered, “The Evil Gentleman pressed me three times to go kill that old hero. My response was to offer him my sword into his throat.”
Tang Zhuquan clapped his hands and laughed. “That’s a good stab!”
His laugh suddenly cut off, then he asked seriously, “Are you here in Safe & Sound Valley on business?”
Sima Xue shook his head.
Tang Zhuquan said, “You didn’t accept a job?”
Sima Xue shook his head again and said plainly, “It’s not that I haven’t accepted a job, I shook my head to say that this is no longer Safe & Sound Valley. It’s now called Evil Valley.”
Tang Zhuquan was at a loss.
Long Chengbi smiled casually. “Evil Valley is where evil people assemble. There will be no lack of people who ought to be killed here.”
Tang Zhuquan said, “You mean he’s prepared to kill for free?”
Sima Xue shook his head a third time.
He said, “The one who wants me to kill for him is very wealthy.”
Tang Zhuquan put his head in his hands and nodded over and over.
Long Chengbi stared at Tang Zhuquan’s fleshy face. “What are you nodding like that for?”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Your old man understands something.”
“Understands what?”
“Sima Xue sometimes will kill for free or just lower the price in order to help someone deal with a particularly difficult devil, but the wealthy are definitely an exception.”
Sima Xue smiled indifferently. “When wealthy people hire killers they generally don’t haggle over the price. The most important thing is if you can do it cleanly and quickly and properly.”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Who’s the target you have to kill this time?”
Sima Xue said, “That’s a secret.”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Your old man doesn’t blame you. Those in your line of work naturally have rules to follow.”
Sima Xue said, “But I can tell you this secret.”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Why?”
Sima Xue said, “Because the power and influence of the person I have to deal with is really immense. I’m gonna need a few helpers.”
Tang Zhuquan said, “Even if you didn’t tell me, your old man knows who it is who hired you, and also who it is you have to deal with.”
Sima Xue’s were half-open as he said slowly, “He’s Tang Jian.”
(2)
In the jianghu, if someone were to mention the name Tang Jian, there are not very many people who would know who that is.
But if you change “Jian” (arrow) to “Sixth Lordson”, then you could easily scare the less courageous people to death.”
Tang Jian was Six Lordson Tang, one of the Three Great Poison Kings of the Tang Sect of Shu!
× × ×
The Tang Sect of Shu was an illustrious major school among the jianghu.
But this sect’s reputation was not at all good.
In the jianghu, people treated this major clan-style sect with “fear” and not “respect”.
There were quite a few sects and gangs in the world that were famous for their use of poisons. In the past 200 years especially there had been more and more masters adept at using poisonous hidden weapons and poisons.
This was not something worth congratulating.
The character of many in the jianghu was becoming more and more sinister, their methods for killing more and more diabolic.
Tang Jian did not have a very good reputation in the jianghu.
At least part of the reason for that was because he belonged to the Tang Sect of Shu, and was even one of the Three Great Poison Kings.
The Three Great Poison Kings of the Tang Sect of Shu were the three most capable users of poisons.
Tang Jian’s specialty was arrows.
These were sleeve arrows, the arrowheads dipped in a rare poison, extremely deadly.
But this wasn’t what Tang Jian was best at.
But he was best at was furtively, surreptitiously getting poison into other people’s bodies undetected.
When it came to poisoning ability, Tang Jian was without a doubt unrivaled in the martial world.
The better one was at poisoning, the more people kept a respectful distance.
Therefore, Tang Jian didn’t have many friends.
Even even the friends he did have he couldn’t fully trust.
Sima Xue could be considered his friend.
They had drank a few cups of wine together before.
Sima Xue wasn’t worried about Tang Jian slipping poison into his wine. He knew that even though Sixth Lordson Tang was a master poisoner, he would never just randomly poison his friends.
Sima Xue and Tang Jian weren’t very close, but it was true that Tang Jian took to Sima Xue at once.
Tang Jian wasn’t mistaken in choosing his friend.
Sima Xue also hadn’t misjudged Tang Jian.
Now, Sima Xue had taken a job, and his employer was Tang Jian!
× × ×
Who did Tang Jian want Sima Xue to kill?
Tang Zhuquan didn’t have to guess anymore.
He knew that this evening a lot of shocking things were going to happen.
Shocking things did indeed happen. Besides Flower Blossom Loft, something even more hair-raisingly terrifying happened at Biling’s place.
× × ×
Biling was “sick”.
Anyone who swallowed the “Departing Elixir” would surely fall ill.
Within ten days if an antidote was not administered, the person’s illness would never have any hope of a cure.
Boss Sha’s goal in forcing Biling to take the “Departing Elixir” was not to take her life.
If he wanted to kill her there were at least 30 or more ways he could do it.
Of these 30 or more ways, the most brutal and quickest method of killing could make the corpse turn into a puff of white smoke in an instant.
But Boss Sha didn’t adopt these methods.
He adopted an “irritatingly slow method of killing” and forcing her to take the “Departing Elixir” was the best method.
His chief aim wasn’t to kill Biling, but to use her as bait. He wanted to catch Water Cat alive.
And if he couldn’t catch him alive, he at least ought to be able to tear his body to pieces.
Boss Sha’s calculations were accurate.
He knew that once Water Cat knew that Biling had taken the Departing Elixir, he would for sure find her the antidote.
it seemed that Boss Sha had a very jealous heart. He liked Biling, but morning and night Biling yearned for another man, giving rise to Boss Sha’s murderous intentions…
That’s what it all looked like on the surface.
But in fact this was not quite so.
Because Boss Sha had long since ferreted out Water Cat’s true identity.
× × ×
Who was Water Cat?
And who was Cat Shell?
Actually, neither Water Cat nor Cat Shell were “cats”.
They were “tigers”.
The Tang Sect of Shu had two “ferocious tigers”.
One of these two “ferocious tigers” was younger, but his jianghu experience was well beyond his years.
He was Tang Jian, the Sixth Lordson of the Tang Sect of Shu.
Sixth Lordson Tang’s alias was South Sea Apsara Tiger.
Though he was born in Shu and grew up in Shu, from the ages of 21 to 25 he was among the islands of the South Sea, doing a number of eyebrow-raising things.
At least eight groups of roving bandits on the sea during these years were quietly eliminated by Tang Jian.
Sometimes Tang Jian didn’t use poison at all, relying only on his martial arts to smash open their bandit heads.
But sometimes he used all manner of rare, strange poisons to cleanly kill all the bandits in one night.
Why was Tang Jian taking out these bandits?
No one knew.
But Boss Sha was clear on the whole story.
Because these eight groups of bandits just so happened to all have thrown in under the banner of the same mysterious organization.
The power of this mysterious organization was immense, but very few people knew who its leader was.
Boss Sha of course knew, because he was a member of this mysterious organization, and in fact he held a high rank in the organization and had direct contact with the head chief.
This mysterious organization had the same name as Evil Valley.
The Evil Sect!
× × ×
Evil!
With the two words Evil Sect you could well imagine what kind of perverse organization it was.
Those with a slight sense of justice would never like the word Evil.
But for the chief of this organization to disregard universal condemnation in selecting “Evil” for his sect’s name, you can well imagine what kind of wicked person he must be.
Who was the head of the Evil Sect?
Why was Tang Jian set against this organization, the Evil Sect?
× × ×
Tang Jian was Water Cat.
But who was Cat Shell?
Was Cat Shell in Evil Valley?
Yes.
Cat Shell was already in Evil Valley, and he was right outside Biling’s chamber door.
(3)
Water Cat wasn’t a cat but a tiger.
And Cat Shell?
He of course was also a ferocious tiger, and had enjoyed tremendous fame among the jianghu long before South Sea Apsara Tiger Sixth Lordson Tang was even born.
He was also a member of the Tang Sect of Shu, and has status was even greater than Sixth Lordson Tang’s.
In his youth he was called Lil Poison Tiger. When he was all grown up, Lil Poison Tiger had become Big Poison Tiger.
And now?
Now he was 72 and had of course become Old Poison Tiger.
But Old Poison Tiger didn’t like the sound of the three words Old Poison Tiger, so he gave himself a different nickname.
He called himself the Tiger Stripe Heavenly King. He had a Tiger Stripe Sabre which he had sent someone to the capital with a huge sum of money to hire the master sword forger Zhang Zhifeng to make. It had taken 15 years to forge and refine it into a sharp weapon.
Though he was a “poison tiger”, his Tiger Stripe Sabre was not dipped in poison.
The Tiger Stripe Heavenly King was currently one of the Three Great Elders of the Tang Sect of Shu. His seniority surpassed that of even the sovereign of the present-day Tang Sect, Tang Baixiao.
Tang Baixiao was the 31st head of the Tang Sect, and the youngest leader of the Tang Sect in its history.
The Tang Sect was a huge clan with mostly brothers and uncles, so naturally there would be some jostling for position.
After Tang Baixiao became the 31st head of the Tang Sect, the biggest difficulty he faced wasn’t from the outside world, but from within the Tang Sect clan. He was caught up in a number of disputes and quarrels.
The Tiger Stripe Heavenly King was Tang Baixiao’s paternal junior cousin, named Tang Yu.
When Tang Yu was a boy someone mockingly called him “Tang Yu” (pond fish).
Tang Yu was only eight years old then.
But at eight years old, Tang Yu committed the first killing of his life.
The one who mocked him was an armed escort of the Green Grove Escort Agency of Hebei. Though he was an armed escort, in fact he was a scoundrel.
It was his habit to mock others.
He knew that the Tang Sect of Shu was not to be trifled with, but he saw how young Tang Yu was and didn’t worry about him.
But this armed escort was mistaken.
Tang Yu was pale and pudgy back then, beloved by all, but he didn’t like this armed escort at all. Tang Yu had traveled with his father Tang Zheng to Hubei to attend a banquet.
After the banquet was over, Tang Yu suddenly went up to the armed escort and whispered, “Big Sis wants you to go to the woodshed in the rear garden and wait for her.”
The armed escort beamed in delight when he heard that.
Turns out that besides Tang Yu and his father, Tang Juese also went with them to the banquet.
Tang Juese was Tang Yu’s only elder sister. She was a natural beauty.
This armed escort was sex-crazed and had surprisingly been making eyes at Tang Juese all night. You could call that extremely reckless.
Tang Yu’s father noticed it, but because it was his old friend’s wedding reception, he pretended not to notice.
But Tang Yu saw it clearer than anyone.
The armed escort went to the woodshed in the rear garden in high spirits. He thought Tang Juese really had arranged to meet him here.
He was wrong.
Tang Juese had no idea about any of this.
As soon as the armed escort entered the woodshed, his back suddenly felt numb. His acupoint had been struck.
He never dreamed that the one who struck his acupoint was none other than they eight-year-old “Pond Fish”.
Even though Tang Yu was young, his acupoint striking skill was quite good. Now he gave a small demonstration of his skill and it worked like a charm, delighting him to no end.
When the armed escort saw that the one who had struck his acupoint was actually young little boy whose breath still smelled of breast milk, he was exploding with rage.
He still didn’t know that he was facing imminent catastrophe but still violently threatened Tang Yu.
He said, “If you don’t unseal my acupoint, I’ll wring your neck!”
Tang Yu calmly stated flatly, “Instead of getting strangled by you, I’d rather poison you to death. That’d be much safer.”
He slowly took out a poisoned needle and waved it in front of the armed escort’s face a few times.
The armed escort was scared stiff.
This poisoned needle wasn’t one of the Tang Sect of Shu’s hidden weapons, but was the armed escort’s own personally concocted Five Poisons Needle.
After Tang Yu had struck his acupoint, he had used his quick hands to snatch a few poisoned needles off the armed escort.
Tang Yu was young, but his acupoint striking and pilfering skills were brilliant, and this was far outside the armed escort’s expectations.
Tang Yu waved the Five Poisons Needle in front of the armed escort a few times, then lightly pricked the back of his the armed escort’s hand.
The armed escort’s face paled.
Tang Yu smiled faintly, and pointedly opened the woodshed’s wooden door, then closed it behind him and went to join Tang Zheng and his big sister in the horse carriage that that took back to Shu.
The armed escort was an inveterate wrongdoer, but he never imagined his death would come at the hand of a little eight-year-old child.
× × ×
That was Tang Yu’s first kill.
Even though that was decades ago, Tang Yu still remembered it clearly.
During the subsequent decades he killed countless people, especially during his prime adult years.
But he comforted himself with the knowledge that he never killed innocents, even though his killing methods were extremely diabolic.
In the Tang Sect, he was a person with a strong sense of righteousness and justice.
But not everyone in the Tang Sect was this way.
Tang Yu’s chivalrous acts were not supported by all within the Tang Sect.
In the Tang Sect, Tang Yu had quite a few supporters, but he also had quite a few detractors.
Among those especially was Tang Zhi. He disliked Tang Yu the most.
He believed that Tang Yu was plotting to seize power, wanting to create a new force within the Tang Sect.
Tang Zhi was younger than Tang Yu, but he was now already 70.
Tang Yu had always been opposed and looked down on by Tang Zhi because Tang Yu’s original surname was not Tang.
In the Tang Sect, he was Tang Zhi’s paternal cousin.
But Tang Yu was originally an orphan. He had been adopted by Tang Zheng and had become a member of the Tang Sect.
tang Zhi’s father, Tang Xi, did not get along with Tang Zheng.
When it came down to Tang Zhi and Tang Yu’s generation, the conflict was even more incisive.
Time and time again Tang Zhi provoked Tang Yu, but Tang Yu took it and didn’t react.
This was the Tang Sect of Shu’s crisis.
Tang Zhi accused Tang Yu of having a treasonous heart, and he started a rumor that Tang Yu had planted his own flag on the outside on the sly and was attempting to establish his own hegemony.
This was no small crime.
But the head of the Tang Sect, Tang Baixiao, was not stupid. He knew full well what was going on.
Even though Tang Zhi’s power and influence within the Tang Sect was immense, Tang Baixiao didn’t play up to him, but on the contrary, he did all he could to inhibit Tang Zhi’s misbehavior in and outside of the clan.
A heaven-and-earth shaking storm was forming in the Tang Sect of Shu. This would be the darkest period in the Tang Sects many centuries of history…
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Notes
- Shu 蜀中 refers to the region of Sichuan, technically the western part of modern-day Sichuan, the eastern part being Ba 巴. Originally these were the name of ancient kingdoms, subsequently conquered by the state of Qin in the Warring States period. Shu now is a general reference for the Sichuan region.