The Fragrant Wood Swordsman
pk 01 part 7

Red was the woman's face and now she's saying, "Two lewd-hearted jackbirds!"

But her husband quickly connected, "Sin-jiu Kiam-ong, we used to have a freight escort company. Have you forgotten Hek-houw Piauwkiok (Black Tiger Guard Company)?"

"Aha, now I remember! Are you not the She Tan who is the head of the piauwkiok? And your wife who used to be very fierce and very good at using am-gi (secret weapon)? Hemm, I once took away some beautiful jewelry items that you escorted, jewelry sent by the royal finance minister, didn't I? Even his daughter, ahh, still remembered I was the daughter of the minister who was very beautiful sweet, she was willing to accompany me in the forest until two days and two nights! Aha, an experience I will never forget! The beautiful princess was sweet, and she gave me a skewer of condes and eye marks. The skewers of the konde and the jewels I stole are still in my stash. Ehh..., Tan-piauwsu, now that you and your wife have come what will?"

"Sin-jiu Kiam-ong, in your youth you have committed all kinds of crimes. Robbing the property of a high magnate, even desecrating his daughter, harming us who control goods and princesses. Still wondering why we came? Feel our retaliation!" This old Piauwsu (goods guard) closed his speech with one hand gesture that was immediately followed by his wife.

Very fast movement of their hands and small objects seem to grab forward and know-how the husband-wife attacked Sin-jiu Kiam-ong with their secret weapons.

Piauwsu was using two kinds of secret weapons, namely piauw (blank knife) and Toat-beng-cui (Life Removal Drill), respectively, his wife also used Ngo-tok-ciam (Jarum Lima Poison) which is much faster and more dangerous than both kinds of am-gi (dark weapons) her husband. The dozens of secret weapons snatched into the weak parts of the body, even those fine needles directly led to the deadly streets of blood!

But the old man did not become nervous at all, only raising his hands and ten fingers twitched like ten live snakes, but the fingernails are a shield that not only fends off all secret weapons, even with a strange jolt of being able to send those small weapons back towards its attackers! There was a rain of secret weapons from both sides, who attacked and returned!

"Friends who are clean! What if today we don't eliminate a foul person, wait until when else? Let's exterminate him together!" shouted Tan Kai Sek, the old piauwsu while continuing to attack with his secret weapon.

Seven other gallant people agreed with this invitation. They all took a grudge against Sin-jiu Kiam-ong and it was clear that if they only relied on their own intelligence, there would be no way they could defeat the great-grandfather. While declaring their agreement they all pulled out the weapons and lunged forward!

But suddenly the shadow of the grandfather flashed upwards and when they looked, the great-grandfather with Siang-bhok-kiam had disappeared as well. May the old man jump up and very quickly creep up on the sword and have vanished into the clouds or thick cucumbers that cover the top of the sword stone. From above there was a laughing voice, as if this voice came from the sky because it did not appear that the person was covered by thick cucumbers.

The nine people looked at each other and no one dared to go up. For those who are highly educated, it may not be very difficult to climb the sword stone upward, but the sword stone cannot be climbed by them together, one by one. And if they climb up one by one, it is the same as giving their lives to the grandfather!

I heard laughter from above. "Ha-ha-ha! Don't think I'm too stingy to lay down my life in this old body or give up Siang-bhok-kiam. I took a month to enjoy this place. After a month, if you still want my soul, come to the southern foothills, in the rose forest, where I wait for you with Siang-bhok-kiam!"

After this voice was heard, things became quiet. They waited but there was no sound anymore. Feeling that there would be no point in waiting, what else was trying to chase the great-grandfather onto the top of the sword stone whose vanishing tip was hidden behind a thick fog, eventually the nine valiant men left Kiam-kok-san and inwardly promised to search the rose forest that the great-grandfather intended a month later.

...********************...

At that time, the kingdom of Beng (1368-1644) experienced division and civil war. The Beng Dynasty was founded by Ciu Goan Ciang who succeeded in expelling the Goan (Mongol) colonial government and later became the first Emperor of the Beng Dynasty with the nickname Thai Emperor Cu (1368-1398).

Peking (the northern capital) which was once the king's city of the Mongol Empire, by the Emperor of the Kingdom of Beng was not made the center of the kingdom. Nanking (southern capital) was the capital of the Yang-ce-kiang River valley, in a more fertile land.

However, the city of Peking, which was an area of upheaval and an important base to maintain the threat of a Mongol counter-offensive in the north that had been driven from the interior, it was maintained and in the former city of the Mongol king was reinforced with a large army and led by the son of the Thai Emperor Cu himself, namely Yung Lo who was famous for being mighty and good at war.

This split in the new kingdom of Beng occurred after the first emperor died. Thai Emperor Cu died in 1398 and since the emperor's eldest son had died, Thai Emperor Cu had already appointed descendants of his eldest son, so his much-loved grandson, he succeeded him and ascended the throne the following year. The grandson who became the second emperor of the kingdom of Beng was named Hui Ti. And this is what led to the civil war.