A Seductive Gentleman Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The False Gentleman – Part 1

Translated by: Kestrel

Edited by: Ritpoppy

The first thing he heard was the ringing of bells.

The ringing sounds gradually woke the boy from his sleep. This was an extremely beautiful sound, like a clear spring and running water, like waves of Sanskrit*, tranquil and harmonious, making him feel very cozy. The boy had a habit of waking at the same time every day, so he judged that it should be early morning by now; today was his turn to make breakfast, so he slowly opened his eyes.

(TN: The language of Buddhism. Think of it as the equivalent of hearing holy choirs! )

What entered his vision was pitch-black darkness. With a sudden start, he was now fully awake.

Inadvertently his hand seemed to touch something-a person? Was someone lying next to him? There was liquid? Blood? In short, it was absolutely clear: He wasn't in his own room.

"The last one has awoken, I see."

The boy abruptly lifted his head; for some reason, every hair on his body stood up at the sound of that unfamiliar man's voice. Above him, he saw a black shadowy figure.

The shadow seemed to lift a hand to make a simple movement, and with a flash, the oil lamp lit up.

What he saw before him was a sea of dead bodies. On both sides of the temple, they'd died in all kind of strange ways, their bodies twisted, faces sinister to look at, ten thousand needles puncturing their necks. Mouth, nose, chest, one thousand eight hundred silver needles bursting out of their bodies, blood spurting out like so much broth, flesh and blood indistinct beneath it. This sea of the dead had been alive not long ago-they were his fellow disciples. The scene he saw now was too sudden and incomparably terrifying; the boy's pulse abruptly stopped for half a beat, his mind a complete blank. He'd clearly woken up the same as always, so why would a scene like this appear when he opened his eyes?

The boy was entirely unable to understand any of what he was seeing, his legs seeming to have been filled with lead as he didn't dare move from his spot. He didn't even dare look too long at the face of that youth in the black clothes, only seeing that by the youth's feet were the only other living people: the sect head and his Da shi-xiong.

They had the same terrified expression on their faces as he did; the two of them had never been bound by any means before, and yet the aura of that youth in black – who couldn't be much older than himself – had suppressed them so that they didn't dare to move.

A shudder went through the sect head's body, and he suddenly made his advance.

"I have no grievance or quarrel with you, so why…why must you do this?"

The youth in black shot him a cold glance as he said, "I don't have the spare time to answer you." He paused, fiddling with the unique and elaborate bell in his hands, before continuing, "But I'm in a good mood today, so I don't plan to clean the place out entirely."

The youth's eyes were filled with haze, his entire body spiritless, completely lacking in any sort of vitality; he didn't at all look like he was in the good mood he said he was.

"Sect Leader Lin, I'm giving you the right to decide. Between these two," the boy watched as he pointed at him and Da shi-xiong, "which do you want to live?"

At that, the boy's eyes widened, not for any other reason but because: he was doomed.

He had average talent, without a single outstanding thing about him, whereas Da shi-xiong had an amazing foundation, was generally the one the sect head doted on the most, and was loved and respected by all the younger disciples. Regardless of whether it was talent or position, there was no way he could compete with Da shi-xiong. Besides, he should already have died ten years ago; if the sect head hadn't picked him up out of the snow back then, he probably wouldn't have lived to today. If the sect head wanted him to trade back this life, he had absolutely no reason to deny. But even so, the boy's desire to continue living didn't decrease even a bit. The sect head had always been renowned for being benevolent and kind, so the boy held onto a tiny strand of hope that this man who was both his teacher and his father could find a way to get around it, allowing both his shixiong and himself to survive.

"Shiu! Shifu save me! I don't want to die…I don't want to die!"

Suddenly, Da shi-xiong crawled on his knees before the sect head, reaching out to grab tightly to his sleeve as he said, "Shifu please save me, you'll choose me, won't you! I'm good at everything, everything about me is better than this worthless trash! He, he doesn't have any use at all, you brought him back just to eat our food and drink our water, we've already shown him the utmost benevolence, there's no need to save him! Shifu, I'm your blood-related disciple!"

The boy's face turned pale as he opened his mouth, "Da shi-xiong…"

Da shi-xiong cursed at him, "You shut up! I've always treated you so well, you aren't thinking of fighting with me over the chance to live, are you? One who conducts himself properly must recognize kindness and seek to repay it, Xiao shi-di, now is the time for you to repay my kindness – don't worry, after you've died I'll make sure to give you a grand funeral, alright? So go ahead and die, go on!"

The boy was so frightened he couldn't get out a single full sentence, his whole body trembling so hard he seemed to be twitching, his teeth chattering as he looked towards the sect head with both caution and dismay.

"Shifu…"

The sect head said, "I promise to bury you well."

The boy suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air; that breath broke halfway as his heart dropped violently down from where it had been lodged in his throat, tears promptly pouring down his face.

The sect leader didn't dare look at him, guiltily saying, "I…I truly have no choice. If I choose Da shi-xiong, there is a chance our sect might be able to make a comeback…otherwise we'll be finished for good! This teacher has always treated you well; you were originally meant to die all those years ago, but I saved you and allowed you to live another ten years, so you should be thankful! Consider this repaying your life to me. Besides…I only make this decision because I have no other choice, you understand, don't you?"

This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal our work, don't ever think about reading our chapters again.

Da shi-xiong, having gained a new lease on life, let out a sigh of relief before promptly kneeling before the sect head and giving him ten or more solid kowtows in thanks.

Meanwhile, the boy had already stopped listening, fear having enveloped his entire body.

Would he become like everyone else here? Swallow thousands upon thousands of needles, opening up his throat and splitting apart his belly? Thinking up to here, the desire to live made him want to pick up his feet and run, but his overwhelming terror made his legs too weak to stand. The boy crawled away as he cried out for help. Even now, he still didn't understand why something like this could have happened, was it even real? It wasn't a dream, was it? The entire sect was dead to the last man; there was no meaning to crying for help now.

But when a person reached the point of desperation, their belief in miracles often led them to do meaningless things. And the boy's miracle occurred.

Behind him came the sudden sound of Da shi-xiong's yells. At first it was just a tiny whimper, but immediately following, it changed into a miserable shriek of extreme pain. Loud enough to reverberate around the rafters for days, so terrifying it cut into one's very soul. The boy turned his head to look, and saw Da shi-xiong curled up on the ground like a worm, his body ripped open from within. The screams continued for a while as he thrashed around, jerkily trying to pull something from out of his mouth. With a hard pull and a rain of fresh blood, he fished out a b.l.o.o.d.y red string. Da shi-xiong grabbed onto the red string as if it were a life-saving thread, tugging it outwards like a madman; what came out was silver needles, one after another, each with b.l.o.o.d.y flesh still attached to it.

The boy turned his head to vomit violently, terrified to the breaking point, and yet slightly relieved.

The youth in black watched Da shi-xiong with slightly narrowed eyes, as if the way the other struggled as he died had dirtied his eyes.

The boy started suddenly, and stared straight at the youth.

He hadn't planned to let Da shi-xiong live from the start. Those thousands of needles had been buried in his body long before; the moment he performed any sort of substantial movement, such as kowtowing and crawling, the silver needles would pierce into his flesh, making him wish for life as he died and pray for death as he continued to live. Placing those needles without letting him feel the slightest thing off about his body was truly both evil and talented to an extreme. The boy realized that this man-was a terrifying madman with an innate gift for murder!

Once he'd thought up to this point, an unbearable itch crawled its way across his chest, as if he himself had been stuck full of needles just like his Da shi-xiong.

The sect leader staggered, his body almost falling backwards. After pulling himself together, he turned to give the boy a look full of vicious loathing, "Why are you the one to survive? You took away his chance to live!"

The boy let out a fl.u.s.tered shriek, "No…I didn't…I didn't!!"

Sect Leader Lin didn't dare to take his anger out on the youth in black, and so had chosen to take it out on him instead. It was only then that the boy noticed the joints of the sect leader's four limbs had all been stuck with needles; he could only cover him in verbal abuse, because he was unable to move his body.

Yet still the boy shuddered, chattering endlessly, "I'll take good care of Shifu, I'll, I'll take care of Shifu in Da shi-xiong's place, I'll work hard at martial arts, I'll work hard at eating, I'll work hard at growing tall, I'll do my best to become strong, I'll take care of Shifu, I'll take care of Shifu, whatever Shifu tells me to do I'll do it, from now on I'll take care-"

"You're not worth a rat's a.s.s!!!," Sect Leader Lin's eyes bulged out of his sockets as he shouted sorrowfully, "I'm going to kill you!!"

Clang.

A sword was thrown before the boy; the youth in black said in a slightly cold voice, "If you don't kill him now, he's going to kill you. Look at you, stealing away his most beloved elder disciple's life, what blame do you deserve? Do you think he'll let you go?"

The boy was beside himself with panic, babbling nonsense; he was kicked and fell flat onto the floor. He wriggled his limbs as he crawled forwards, but could feel nothing peculiar about his body. Were there no needles inside him?

His hands were shaking, dropping the sword three times before finally getting a good hold of it; he was bawling. Sect Leader Lin angrily rebuked him, "What!? You ingrate! Beastly creature! Do you truly want to kill me??"

"I, I don't…I don't, I don't, I don't I don't I don't…"

Sect Leader Lin was almost entirely mad, cursing him in a dark voice, "The one who most deserves to die is you, I won't let you get away with this."

The boy's breath hitched, his body stiffening like a stone statue; all that moved were tears pouring like rain.

"I…"

Sect Leader Lin was spouting obscenities, totally devoid of composure, seething in anger, "You disobedient beast, you thankless wretch, worthless dog, son of a b.i.t.c.h. You're a disgusting wretch who doesn't deserve a natural death, to think I actually thought of you as human…"

Hearing these words, the boy didn't consider them unpleasant; they only felt familiar. In the sect before, because he lacked talent and was of lowly birth, he'd countless times had others call him names and beat him, ridicule and snub him. At this moment, all of these memories floated up into his mind, almost as if reminding him: Sect Leader Lin and the others aren't good people. What's so wrong about killing him so you can live?

He deserves to die.

"You forced me…you pushed me to do this…"

One step at a time, the boy lifted the sword with shaking hands, body held perfectly straight as he walked towards Sect Leader Lin. At the same time, there was no doubt that inwardly he was saying: He's right, if I don't kill him now then I'll definitely be killed by him. I don't want to die…I don't want to die, I don't want to die!

Seeing this, Sect Leader Lin finally snapped. He sprayed saliva from his mouth, shouting in a strange voice, "Who are you!! Who in the world are you!!! Why must you harm me to such a degree, even as a ghost I'll never forgive you!!!"

The youth in black showed a smile, his eyes curving merrily.

"Then I welcome you to come get your revenge."

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Sect Leader Lin was finally stabbed to death by the boy's sword.

The boy stared blankly at the sect head's dead boy, one moment thinking he'd done nothing wrong, the next thinking it was too late for regrets. He seemed sorrowful and regretful, yet also like it was none of his concern, looking like a puppet on strings as he stabbed the sword in with an empty-eyed expression on his face. After a pause, he stabbed again. Schk schk, the lamenting sound made by blade and flesh entangled together.

"Pfft."

The youth in black, who'd been expressionless all this time, finally began to laugh out loud.

He laughed as he walked in front of the boy. The bells on his body made fragmented jingling sounds, amiable and soft – but hearing them once more at this moment, the boy could only feel that they were incomparably sinister, like the sounds of Avīci*.

(TN: One of the Buddhist h.e.l.ls )

The youth in black was satisfied, going so far as to even offer praise in his great mercy, "You did very well."

He then cast a glance over the sect head's thoroughly lifeless body, squatted down, and patted the boy's head. The boy's fear towards him stemmed from his instinct and innermost being; he was trembling from head to toe, like so much sifted chaff.

"What are you afraid of, do you hate me?"

The boy shook even more violently.

"Your fool of a shifu did things he shouldn't have done, so he deserved to die," said the youth in black. "If you hate me you can come find me for revenge."

The person currently facing him showed him an entirely genuine and cordial smile, without a sliver of remorse, as if everything that had happened here just now was absolutely none of his concern.

He told the boy one last thing.

This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal our work, don't ever think about reading our chapters again.

In case anyone is lost, this is the story that BaiLi is telling the children.

It's very dark.

If you see any grammatical/translation errors, please notify me or comment! Your comments brighten up my day~

Rest well and eat a fig sometime this week. They're good for digestion (there's no fig emoji so here's a peach instead) ?