Zuowan Wanqu was ferocious and ambitious, befitting his role as the leader of Nanjiang’s eighteen gangs. Nonetheless…
“Gr-Grand Commander…”
“I thought Shaman Monarch is supposed only be a legend… What the hell is he…?”
Even though I couldn’t understand the words coming out of their mouths, their ghastly faces translated the gist for me.
“He has a long way to go before he can touch me.” My declaration in Mandarin drew everyone’s attention.
While Zuowan Wanqu was the grand commander of the eighteen gangs, there were factions between them. They only chose to share because they shared common goals, so working as a single body under one leader made it more convenient to achieve the goal. In that sense, they were similar to bandit branches in the Central Plain. The difference was that Gu Wuzhu genuinely had the qualifications to gather everyone if he called for them, while Zuowan Wanqu was overestimated. While Gu Wuzhu worked for his status, Zuowan Wanqu was conferred his status. That was the reason Zuowan Wanqu was also a compliant lackey.
I took two steps forward, prompting everyone to take four steps back. “There are adepts among Nanjiang’s gangs who deserved to be compared to me, but none of them are here.”
One bandit knelt down to yell in Mandarin, “This one must have useless eyes to not recognise your prowess, Your Majesty! Zuowan Wanqu misled this one. Please forgive this one for giving in to his greed!”
One after another, bandits knelt down. At this point, even the leaders who didn’t speak Mandarin joined them on the ground.
“You’re saying it’s all Zuowan Wanqu’s fault? You’re all innocent?”
The first bandit to kneel quickly sifted through some ideas and then wore on a mellow expression. “Although he was the one who tempted this one, it was this one’s weak will that is to blame. Please discipline this one, Your Majesty.” He pulled his shirt down as though he was ready to be skinned. However, when my unemotional gaze met his gaze, he began to tremble, aware that his act was cutting it.
“Shut up! Don’t you know the rules? Move aside!” He was between sixty to seventy, yet they all let the elder with the white moustache kick them over. “You think you whippersnappers are qualified to blaspheme His Majesty? Move the hell over!”
The elder gave me a cupped-fist salute: “This old one is Tufu, general of the eighteen forces.”
Indeed, they referred themselves to forces, as in military forces, instead of gangs. They even assigned ranks according to the military system. By their standards, Tufu would be under only Zuowan Wanqu. In other words, he now held the highest rank.
“You don’t seem afraid of me.”
Instead of fearing me, Tufu sauntered forward. “There is nothing to fear.” Tufu brushed his moustache with a centre split. “Everyone pursues benefits. This one wishes to discuss a business transaction with you.”
“Yeah? Let’s hear it.”
“This is an irresistible offer, hohoho. Our eighteen armies shall offer you our strength!” As soon as the other leaders started clamouring, he blustered, “Shut up! Whoever still thinks he’s better than His Majesty, step forward! I’ll kill him before His Majesty does!”
Once the commotion ceased, I rhetorically asked, “So generous? Aren’t you worried I’ll take advantage of you?”
“Of course not. You have the competence to lead us. Zuowan Wanqu was able to lead everyone because he had money, influence and martial prowess. Your wealth and influence far surpass his. Moreover, you are unequalled in battle; this is the principal reason we ought to follow your lead. Besides, if you wanted to finish us here, would we have any chance of survival?”
The other leaders finally fathomed that resistance was futile.
“Why do you feel so?”
“You have allied with Tengji, no?”
“Correct.” I reciprocated the smile. “But I won’t ally with you because you’re a bunch of cold-blooded, lawless scum.”
Tufu squinted. “What… do you mean by that?”
“You need me to repeat?”
“Hahaha, Your Majesty, it is understandable for a man of benevolence as yourself to feel upset at our village raids, but it is inevitable for our brothers to be a little loose when they are struggling. Do you not feel your teachings can change them? If the villagers are your citizens, are we not your citizens? Plus…” A hint of hubris came to Tufu’s tongue. “We have six thousand men stationed outside, all of whom are ruthless and brutal. Without any shackles, nobody knows what they are capable of. Are you going to kill them? On your own? You certainly embody magnificent skills of a calibre this old one has never seen. In saying that, can you defeat an army of six thousand?”
“Those fellows outside, you say?” I started fiddling with my hair. “Not that difficult.”
A ruckus suddenly started outside the camp, and a messenger soon came sprinting in, caked in dust from head to toe. “A… A cavalry unit! A cavalry unit suddenly ambushed us from the forest! We are surrounded by around ten thousand fully-geared elite cavalry! Our vanguard is already crumbling.”
Tufu instantly instructed, “Surrender! Tell everyone to surrender immediately! Do not resist!”
I started clapping: “Good call. As long as you’re alive, there’s always tomorrow. They say a wise man knows how to understand the times. You can call yourself a wise man from now, Elder.”
Tufu bowed his head: “Excellent, Your Majesty. Your wisdom exceeds this old one’s imagination. This old one admits defeat.”
“You’ve been backstabbing whoever you surrender to in order to reach your current place, haven’t you?”
“You must trust this old one, Your Maj-”
A bandit covered in blood of who-knows-how-many people came hobbling in and flopped to the ground, barely breathing. “Pl-please return to your garrisons, Chiefs, or it will be too late…”
“What do you mean? Didn’t I tell you to surrender?”
“D-do not surrender! They will not accept surrender! They… They are here to exterminate us!” And then, he passed out.
Despite being sent into panic, none of the chiefs had the audacity to run away due to my presence. Another bandit soon came back to report, “We told them we surrender, but they have ignored our pleas! They are cutting down everyone they come across! We cannot hold the line any longer!”
Tufu curbed his horror and anger to question, “Who do the forces belong to?! How are they overrunning us?! Who is their leader?!”
“Their leader… Their leader is… Wanyu’s King.”
Tufu pivoted back to me. “Y-you colluded with Wanyu’s military?! You are the leader of Shaman Faith! How can you ally with Beussent’s descendant?! Do you not know Beussent sabotaged your faith?! You traitorous cur!”
“You’re human, so why do you kill other humans? Rape, robbery, murder, what crime have you not committed? You should’ve expected this ending when you chose to commit those crimes. Struggle? How does raping women help you with your struggles? How does murdering families help with your struggles? Did someone hold a blade up to your neck?” I finished Tufu with a single palm strike. “I have nothing to say to any of you. I’m not an embodiment of justice, and I have no desire to be a messiah. I doubt you’ll change your ways. Besides, you don’t deserve a second chance after what you’ve done.”
Even though the chiefs were on the cusp of crapping bricks, someone cried, “H-he is just counting on Wanyu’s military! Call our men back! We have thousands of men. We’ll kill him one way or another.”
“You only got one thing right.” Even if I didn’t know I could sound so cold-blooded. “The number of corpses and volume of blood to my name exceeds the total here. The only reason I joined hands with the military is because it’s more efficient.”
I recoiled my right arm and then flicked it back out, killing twenty bandits with a single string. “If you are reincarnated, try living honest lives. At the very least, your deaths won’t be so horrible.”
***
I had to clutch my black blade to abate its craving for blood as we witnessed Wanyu’s military.
“Ever since that night, I have been brainstorming ways to meet you, but there was no means to due to Great Spirit Shaman’s restrictions. I never imagined you would be the one to create the opportunity.” Wanyu’s King dismounted and came up to me from behind in the chaos.
“It has been a long time. Are you well, Your Majesty?” I responded.
The King dressed in unadorned cloth attire smiled. “I never would have foreseen you letting me eradicate these bandits. You gave me a tough decision to make.”
“Everything comes with a degree of risk, and the risk is greater when the matter is bigger. You performed decently, did you not?”
“Indeed. You have done Wanyu a big favour. These bandits have caused trouble everywhere, thus becoming a major concern for Xiacang Anxi. What is the purpose of this collaboration? I am very curious.”
“It is not time to tell you yet. Nevertheless, the prerequisites for collaboration have been fulfilled as you came here.”
While denizens would sing praise of Wanyu’s King for the purge of the eighteen gangs, it also meant he was making an enemy out of Gegewu. I had no doubt Wanyu’s King would choose to publicly turn against Gegewu for a King could not accept being beneath someone else. The fact that Wanyu’s King kept a low profile these years was evidence that he wasn’t going to let someone shackle him forever.
“I have a question I have always wanted to ask: are you really Shaman Monarch?”
I pulled up the corners of my lips and vanished out of sight, leaving behind my trailing answer in the night: “That will be up to your imagination.”
