Nightfall

Buzzing, Sighing, the Sword

The dim, matte small sword seemed to be aware of why the giant roared and that it fell into a trap. It started to vibrate fiercely in the air, making an echo of buzzing sounds as if it was a chaotic bird panicking that desperately desired to escape.

With his hands on his knees, the elder gazed intently at the hiltless mini-sword seemingly both tenderly and peacefully. This lingering gaze had a kind of horrible power that bound the small sword, making it impossible to move, let alone to flee.

Suddenly, there was a sharp drop in temperature at the area where the elder set his eyes on. Covered with a layer of frost soon, the small sword vibrated more severely with a noisy and lasting buzz, but all its efforts were in vain.

It seemed like a century before the small sword gave up this wasted struggle and voiced its last cry. The small sword fell upon fallen leaves, helplessly and lifelessly laying there.

The moment the small sword fell onto the ground, an agonized grunt sounded behind a tree not far away from the fleet, somewhere within the woods of Northern Mountain Road.

A trace of relief flashed in the elder’s quiet eyes as he once again placed his hands on his knees. All of sudden, as though blown away by a gale, the skinny and bony elder leaped from the carriage and stopped right in front of the giant man, deep within the woods of Northern Mountain Road.

The giant man’s huge palm burst forth with a howl and thumped upon the skinny old man like a mountain, so ferociously that the elder seemed to be crushed into a pile of flesh.

However, the elder looked at the huge palm with a poker face and his dry lips moved, soundlessly uttering a ‘Fu’. Then, with his smudgy hands crossed in front of his chest, the elder made an Emblematic Gesture.

The ‘Fu’ word was mouthed from his lips and the Emblematic Gesture formed by his hands instantly turned the elder’s dirty and shabby robe extremely hard. Every ruffle in the cloth was smoothed. It looked as if the robe was supporting his skinny body rather than he was wearing the robe himself.

The gust of wind produced by impact from the palm ceased abruptly. The palm had no way to move forward in front of the trembling elder’s head. The giant palm came to a halt; the rest of his body grew stiff. Blood ran down from his canthi and his jaw quivered uncontrollably. Obviously, he was in mighty agony.

The elder’s face was extremely pale and he seemed to feel the strain. Nevertheless, he raised his right arm with difficulty as he stretched out very slowly towards the giant man’s chest.

Inhibited by sort of bizarre power and unable to move, the giant man could not help but witness the elder’s palm getting closer inch by inch.

Softly, the elder placed his palm on the giant man’s chest.

A hissing turbulence could be heard between the palm and the chest. With a dull thud, the giant man’s stone-like sternum was fractured and his chest began to collapse inward.

Meanwhile, riding on the powerful gust of winds created from the exchange, the elder shrunk his body and swiftly withdrew toward the carriage. The winds in the woods stirred his robe, causing it to roll around. He retreated back momentarily and sat down with legs crossed.

It happened in a brief instant. The elder was once again seated with his hands on the knees again and his robe turned back to being ruffled and shabby. Everything appeared to remain the same.

Finally, the giant man deep in the woods of Northern Mountain Road regained ability to control his body and that huge palm came crashing to the ground. Though the power of palm made a pit on the ground, it was too late. He stared at the bloody hole in his chest, cried desperately as well as regretfully, and fell down on the ground as if a mountain collapsed.