An awkward silence hung in the air for a good long while...
"Hahahahaha!!"
All four experts burst out laughing at once. The giant doubled over, howling; even the goddess archer laughed until she trembled like blossoms in the wind. Only the mage, Bidar Duo, face hidden inside his hood, did not stir at all, as though he were staring straight at Xia Ya Leiming.
At last the blond swordsman Geli stepped forward, chin up, chest out, a sneer of contempt on his face: "Petty thief! You actually dared rob the four of us — you really are asking to die! Hmph, do you even know who we four are?"
Beside him, the goddess archer Masha smiled a "kindly" smile: "Geli, don't frighten the poor little thing. A thief from some backwater hole like this surely can't have heard of our great names."
The giant Nigu'er glared at Xia Ya: "Kid, we're named, famous experts, and we won't stoop to your level. Drop your weapon yourself, kowtow a few times, and roll out of here — spare me having to dirty my axe. My axe takes no nameless souls."
With that he stroked the axe blade lightly and gave a sigh, the very picture of a master's loneliness.
Xia Ya was so furious he laughed instead: "You? Who are you people? Are you famous?"
The blond swordsman Geli and the giant Nigu'er exchanged a look — the look of you tell him, or should I? — then Nigu'er nodded, strode forward a few paces, and looked down at Xia Ya with haughty arrogance: "Kid, today I'll open your eyes. Hmph... listen closely, keep your legs straight, don't go dropping to your knees in fright! We four are the renowned Four Gallants of the Royal City!"
The Four Gallants of the Royal City?
Xia Ya shook his head blankly.
"This one is Lord Geli, the 'Silver Sword Sage.' He once trained bitterly in the distant killing grounds at the far edge of the world, and the keen blade in his hand has struck the head off a demon! This beautiful lady is Miss Masha, known as the 'New Goddess of the Dark Moon' — her wondrous archery is as famous as her beauty! And this is the mage Bidar Duo, whose magic light blazes like the sun itself. When you see that dazzling radiance, that is the moment your life is being harvested!"
He paused, puffed out his chest, and with a touch of reserve: "As for me, my name is Nigu'er, nicknamed the 'Beast-Soul Berserker,' because everyone agrees I have the savage strength of the ancient beast-soul warriors! Heh heh — in a moment, when I crush your bones, don't you go crying about the pain."
He looked at Xia Ya with the gaze of a man staring down at something far below him: "I, Nigu'er, the beautiful Masha, the Silver Sword Sage Geli, and the mage Bidar Duo — the four of us together are the legendary 'Four Gallants of the Royal City: Ni, Ma, Ge, Bi'!!!!"
Having said it, he wore an expression of pure rapture, as though waiting for the petty thief before him to drop his weapon in terror and come crawling up to kiss his feet.
The Four Gallants of the Royal City. Ni... Ma... Ge... Bi?
Xia Ya repeated it silently twice over... and then he really did lose his temper!
"Fuck! You're cursing me!" Xia Ya exploded. "Don't think I'm too much of a country bumpkin to hear it!"
Seeing that this stupid thief, with death right in front of him, still refused to mend his ways, the elegant Silver Sword Sage Geli snorted and stepped out proudly: "Enough. I'll send you on your way."
The gorgeous goddess archer beside him smiled faintly: "Geli, don't drag it out with him. Give him a clean death."
"Ah... Masha is kind-hearted after all." Geli sighed on purpose and flashed the gleaming silver cross sword: "Little thief, prepare to die. My sword is very fast — you won't feel a thing."
If lines like that, backed by such presence, had come from a famous sword sage of the continent — or even from any battle-hardened mercenary warrior you might pull at random out of Wildfire Town — Xia Ya probably would have been bluffed. As it was, he merely sneered, wasted no more words on this posturing fellow, and simply leveled his axe and charged.
Geli gave a sigh, and the silver cross sword was already raised.
His strike was gorgeous: along the silver cross sword the bright blade flashed out a sheet of silver-white light, and as the blade twisted, the red gem in the hilt set a fleck of vivid crimson into that field of silver!
That one stroke was like a dancer's splendid movement; even the twist of his waist carried a bleak, chilling sort of beauty.
The sheet of silver light beneath the sword spilled down as if poured from the sky, silent and soundless...
Compared with Geli's gorgeous, dance-like strike, Xia Ya Leiming's movement was utterly simple — nothing more than a flat, unremarkable chop straight down!!
But when the axe blade fell, it actually carried a faint wind in it like rolling thunder!
How many winters and summers, days and nights of bitter practice had gone into that simple chop of Xia Ya's, nobody could say — well, this much could certainly prove it: the woods around his mountain home had long since been hacked bare, so that every time he split firewood he had to walk another ten-odd li of mountain road.
Clang!
With one crisp sound, the two figures crossed and then parted. Geli still held his sword-raised pose, turned slowly, and looked at Xia Ya with a cold sneer.
Xia Ya stood there, a somewhat blank look on his face. On the rusty axe in his hand there was now a deep gouge — so deep it had nearly split the whole hatchet in two, and the blade itself had a chip the size of a palm knocked out of it. A three-copper-coin axe, and that was the quality you got.
Geli looked smug: "Kid, you dare play highwayman with a piece of junk axe like that?"
He was about to add a couple of fine, showy words — and then, suddenly, a crisp clink...
The gorgeous silver cross sword in Geli's hand had snapped into three pieces in an instant!! The broken fragments fell to the ground, and in Geli's hand there remained nothing but a hilt!
Geli froze. Never mind how good his own martial skill was — this silver longsword was the genuine article! Its blade was forged from the finest steel; it might not slice iron like mud, but it was absolutely a sharp weapon!
Before he could cry out, there came several soft "chhh, chhh" sounds from his body, and then a clatter—
The beautiful, finely made mail shirt split in two down the chest; the armor came apart into two pieces and dropped away from either side of his body!
The gouge ran from Geli's chest all the way down to his waist...
And the armor falling apart in two was not the end of it — with a pff, the belt at the waist of the trousers Geli wore underneath suddenly snapped as well, and his trousers dropped, all the way down to his knees!
Geli felt a sudden chill over everything below his waist; the wind blew across him and he shuddered, and that thing between his legs was now exposed to everyone's eyes...
For a good long while Geli just stood there. Then, like a ravaged little girl, he let out a shrill shriek, spun around, and clutched both hands over his crotch.
Xia Ya Leiming laughed out loud, stepped up, and booted Geli in the backside so hard he went sprawling on the ground: "Sword Sage, my ass! If you're a Sword Sage, then I'm the Sword God of the continent!"
Geli scrambled and rolled his way back to his companions. The remaining three experts were struck silent together, staring at this "petty thief" with very strange expressions.
Geli yanked his trousers up in a hurry, twisted his face back around, and cried out in panic: "Pah! Little thief! Don't get cocky — this young master ate something that didn't sit right this morning and was short on strength, that's the only reason I lost to you!" He grabbed the giant beside him: "Nigu'er, go teach this fellow a lesson — don't let the name of our Four Gallants of the Royal City be dragged through the mud!"
Nigu'er hesitated a moment, but when he saw that the axe in Xia Ya's hand was completely wrecked, his confidence came back. He mustered his courage, walked up, and bellowed: "Kid! That last one didn't count — my companion was careless. I'm here to collect your miserable little life!"
He came on with a vicious grin: "You've got no weapon now — let's see how cocky you can be!"
As he spoke he raised his axe and waved it about: "This mountain-splitting battle-axe of mine weighs forty jin! One chop and I'll turn you into—"
Xia Ya gave the fellow a look of pure contempt — Fight if you're going to fight. All this blather — you might as well change trades and become a minstrel, telling stories for a living.
He glanced left and right, said nothing, and walked straight over to a nearby tree so thick it would take a man's arms to encircle it. He wrapped both arms around the trunk, sank his weight, twisted his waist, and let out a breath...
Kraaak, kraaak, kraaak...
After a series of deep, dreadful sounds, the great tree was torn out of the ground roots and all by Xia Ya, dirt showering off its root hairs.
Xia Ya hugged the thick trunk to his chest and straightened up, not even flushed, not even out of breath, and looked coldly at Nigu'er — whose mouth had fallen open, his jaw nearly dragging on the ground.
"Hey, big fellow. How much did you say that axe of yours weighs?"
Thud. Nigu'er's grip went slack, and the battle-axe dropped to the ground.