parentshiftbook Chapter 18 The Broken Sword Covers the Rear
Chapter 18 The Broken Sword Covers the Rear
Three incense sticks later, Mo Chenzi returned.
Shen Chi sat on the threshold waiting. Hearing footsteps, he stood up and was about to speak when he saw Mo Chenzi's iron crutch.
Several cracks appeared on the bend, extending from the top to the middle, gleaming with a chilling light.
Shen Chi opened his mouth, wanting to ask.
Mo Chenzi didn't give him a chance.
Don't just sit there like an idiot.
He cursed.
"Just do what you're supposed to do."
Then he turned and left. Heading out of town.
Shen Chi was stunned for a moment, then chased after him to the door.
"Old man—"
Mo Chenzi didn't turn around. His figure paused at the alley entrance, and he uttered only two words:
"go back."
Shen Chi stopped at the doorway. He watched the figure disappear into the alley. An old white robe, a cracked iron crutch, heavy steps.
He didn't chase after them.
He should have chased after him.
------
Shen Chi stayed in the shop for almost a day.
The fire in the furnace was burning. He picked up a piece of iron, placed it on the anvil, and tapped it with a hammer—the iron bent. He tapped it again, and it bent again.
He put down the blacksmith's hammer and picked up the hundred-refined hammer. The intertwined branches on his palm looked like a very thin vein throbbing gently.
But he couldn't calm down. He was thinking about the crack. What kind of force could have cracked the old man's iron crutch from the inside?
He remembered that when the old man left that morning, his steps were much heavier than usual. All of this was too abnormal.
He should have chased after him.
------
In the evening, A-Zhu came out from the backyard.
She stood at the doorway, gazing out of town for a moment. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, her pupils dilated.
A-Zhu looked away, her expression somewhat off.
"Grandpa Mo's light..."
"What's wrong?"
"It's going to be destroyed." She frowned.
Shen Chi gripped the hundred-refined hammer tightly. The hammerhead was still warm. But suddenly he felt it wasn't warm enough.
He realized something was wrong.
It's been a whole day. The old man still hasn't returned.
He glanced back into the shop.
"Stay inside. Lock the door."
A-Zhu nodded.
Shen Chi turned and left. He didn't know if he would ever return, but he knew he had to go.
------
There was no one on the mountain road.
Shen Chi wasn't walking fast, but each step was faster than the last. He didn't want to run—running would mess up his mind; he needed to see things clearly.
As darkness fell, the forest grew dark. The shadows of the trees on both sides of the mountain path stretched out in a continuous expanse, and the sound of the wind whistling through the treetops sounded like someone panting.
Then he saw the traces.
A deep ditch cut diagonally across the middle of the road, extending all the way to the base of an old locust tree beside it. As if plowed by something, the soil was turned upside down, and loose stones were scattered everywhere. The old locust tree—its trunk requiring three people to encircle—had been pierced through the middle.
Shen Chi had been forging iron for so many years. He knew what kind of force could leave what kind of mark on iron. But this wasn't iron. This was an ancient tree that had grown for countless years, its trunk harder than iron. What kind of force could have forged it like this?
He quickened his pace.
Then he saw Mo Chenzi.
------
The old man sat with his back against the old locust tree.
His eyes were closed, his head slightly lowered, and his chest rose and fell slowly. His old white robe had several tears, diagonally from his left shoulder to his waist, and the edges of the cloth were stained with something dark, not mud.
His iron crutch broke in two. The jagged edges revealed a broken sword hidden inside.
Shen Chi had always thought it was just an iron crutch. He never knew it was a sword sheath.
Two men in black were lying on the ground in front of Mo Chenzi.
Just like last night—close-fitting black clothes, the lock pin on their palms gleaming matte in the twilight. One lay face down, the other on their back, eyes open, motionless.
The third man in black stood about twenty paces away, leaning against a rock. His right hand hung limply, as if it had been dislocated by something.
He looked at the broken sword. Then he spoke. His voice was soft, carrying an indescribable emotion.
"Mo Chenzi. The wanted poster that Yansheng Pavilion has been hanging for ten years—'Traitor to the Way of Weapons, who murdered seven executioners and then abducted a wanted criminal from the pavilion and escaped.'"
"Ten years ago, he was the number one weapon master in Tian Shu City. Peak weapon king. Retired elder of the Mo Sect."
He glanced again at the dying Mo Chenzi.
"As expected of the Heart-Locking Nail, I didn't expect that you are only at the Weapon Master level now. If it weren't for this broken sword, I wouldn't have recognized you."
Shen Chi heard it. He heard every word clearly, but it would take him a little time to put them together.
The number one weapon master in Tian Shu City. Peak weapon king.
The Mo Sect? The Mo Sect that forged the Hundred-Refined Hammer? Mo Huaizhou's Mo Sect?
This is Mo Chenzi.
This is the old man who drinks and curses every day in the wooden house.
It's that old man who uses an iron crutch and has to rest even when he bends down to pick up a piece of scrap iron.
------
Shen Chi squatted down in front of Mo Chenzi.
Mo Chenzi's eyelids twitched. It took him a while to open them. His single eye, cloudy for a long time, finally focused, and he saw Shen Chi squatting in front of him.
"I told you... not to come... are you deaf?"
His voice was incredibly hoarse.
Mo Chenzi looked at him, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, not quite a smile, but more like an expression that said, "Oh well, I'm already here."
"I have broken three promises in my life."
"The first one, Noah, killed my brother. He took the blame for me."
Mo Chenzi didn't look at him when he said this; he was looking at the distant green mountains.
"The second one, No, killed my apprentice. I hadn't finished teaching him when the judges arrived."
His voice paused briefly.
"The third one..."
He didn't go on.
After a while, he spoke again, his voice lower than before:
"I still don't dare to keep my promise."
Shen Chi didn't press the matter. But he would remember it in his heart—he would get back what the old man owed him.
Mo Chenzi suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the hundred-refined hammer that Shen Chi was holding.
"Your father is right."
"What?"
"Some promises aren't meant to be kept forever," he said. "They're meant to be broken—at the right time."
He lowered his hand and placed it on his knee.
"Of those three executioners, I killed two and crippled one." He smirked. "That's enough."
Then he looked into Shen Chi's eyes.
"The mission of those who uphold their promises..."
His voice grew softer and softer, like the last embers of a furnace slowly fading into the ashes after most of the fire has died down.
"It's not about clinging to a promise for a lifetime."
He closed his eyes.
"It's about making this world—so that no one needs to risk their life to protect it anymore."
------
Shen Chi held Mo Chenzi in his arms.
Gradually, I noticed that the old man's chest was no longer rising and falling.
He wanted to wait a little longer.
But the hundred-refined hammer was completely useless in his hands.
The hammered dough, which had been kept warm since returning from the clock tower, suddenly turned completely cold. It was like the fire in the furnace had gone out, the charcoal ash had cooled, and all that was left was iron.
Shen Chi stared at the hammerhead. His hands, which held the hammer, began to tremble. He knew that from now on, no one would wait for him in the wooden house, no one would scold him for "sitting there like an idiot," and no one would walk to the town entrance in the dead of night to protect him.
If he had chased after him in the morning—if he hadn't been so obedient—would things have been different?
He didn't know. But he knew this question would stay with him for the rest of his life.
------
Footsteps could be heard in the distance.
The executioner, whose right hand had been hanging down, straightened up. He drew a short blade from his waist with his left hand.
He glanced at his two companions on the ground, then at Mo Chenzi's corpse.
Then he looked up at Shen Chi.
He didn't speak. He didn't mock. He simply raised his knife and took a step forward.
Shen Chi gently laid Mo Chenzi's body flat and placed the broken iron crutch beside him. Then he stood up.
The hundred-forged hammer was in my hand. It was cold.
But something was burning in his chest. Like the instant iron is immersed in water during quenching, the alternating hot and cold exploding together.
He knew what he was facing. The Yansheng Pavilion. The Lock King. He hadn't even survived a single move last night. Now the old man was dead, and Azhu and Mo Huaizhou were waiting for him at the shop. He had to go back.
He knew he couldn't win.
But his feet did not move backward.
He gripped the hammer handle and took a step forward.
Just one step.