Beware Of Chicken Book 6: Chapter 17: The Forging of a Blade

“I grew up in the Crucible, just like you—an orphan,” Gramps began.

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“I worked as a street cleaner to earn my rice. I did jobs for the madams so I could sleep in their back rooms. I worked as much as I could, because I wanted . I knew that the life of sweeping streets was not for me. Things ,” Gramps continued, his voice quiet.

We had been the same. His words brought my own memories forward. Of the stink of shit and the backbreaking labour. Of eating rats and scrounging, scraping for survival. Rou’s life had been shit. But the fire and will to survive had burned so strongly in Gramps’ guts that it was nearly a physical thing.

I could see why he was so driven. And I .

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“Master Chiang…he was a cultivator who had been crippled. Once a member of the Imperial Army, he had come to Crimson Crucible City to die. Yet even broken and a drunk, he saved my life. I remember seeing his movements, so fluid. The last fading dregs of his Qi, as he cut them all down. His sword… ” Gramps trailed off and sighed, before a fond smile came to his face.

“It took me a week of bringing him booze and kowtowing before him to convince him to teach me. But teach me he did… but not like most masters, I think. He gave me nothing. Nothing but the basics. Nothing but the barest guidance to keep me from killing myself, and instead, he let me figure most of it out on my own. To this day I don’t know if he was doing the bare minimum out of laziness, or doing me a kindness. But that was what my foundation was made from. Myself. My own struggles. I don’t know what he thought of the speed of my advancement, for he neither praised nor disparaged my growth. For five years he was my Master… until the day he perished.”

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“Well, he had a sense of humour about it at least,” I said, cracking a grim smile at the gallows humour.

The old man laughed. “He did. He told me about it when he was drunk, once, and forgot he had. He and his comrades had made bets on how they would go—outlandish, embarrassing deaths. Chiang bet that he would die in an alley and get eaten by dogs. I am an unfilial disciple, however. I could not bear the thought of dogs eating him, so I had him cremated, and bought the dogs a meal instead—so I robbed him of his final victory.”

“Probably better for them anyway,” I said, shaking my head. “Did you go for the Cloudy Sword Sect after that?”

“No. I had no knowledge of my strength, so I sought to test myself. They have academies for the rich, or for those who unexpectedly awaken their Dantian. I found their students. The ones who would go out into the city and ‘practise’ on each other. They were little better than the gangs at times. I challenged them. With My Master’s sword I defeated their least disciples. Then, those who I learned were in the middle of the road from the courtesans. Then the strongest. Then the Young Masters of their schools. This earned me my first epithet, though only my closest friends are alive to remember it.”

“What’d they call you?”

Taking a sip of tea, the man barely bothered to hide his smirk, “They called me the Academy Crusher.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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“Ge beat my arse like a drum,” Gramps stated bluntly. “As I lay there in the dirt, waiting for him to step on me, waiting for him to put me back into my place… instead, I was offered his hand. He said I had potential. He said I could do better, with the instruction of a Master. That was the day I knew the Cloudy Sword Sect was different. He brought me to his Master. My second Master, Zexian.”

No wonder they were so close. No wonder he thought the sect was safe. To him, the Cloudy Sword Sect could only have been the best place for anyone to learn.

“I guess I really should call him Uncle Ge, huh?” I asked.

“Of course you should! Ge is my brother! Him and Ran. Oh, living in the sect in those days… it was perfect. I wish you could have had the same experience.”

He sounded genuinely regretful. If I had the same experience as him, would I have left? The answer was, of course, no. Who didn’t dream of going on adventures and getting stronger with your friends?

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“You’ve known her for that long?” I asked.

Gramps nodded, and sighed. “At first we desired each other, but neither of us wished for marriage at that point in our lives. We were young, and reckless, and that arrangement suited us both. I honestly assumed she was seeing others as well, at the time.”

I raised an eyebrow, a little bit shocked to hear him say that. It was surprising. Rather than saying “all the women are mine!” and getting a massive harem, Gramps was fine with it being casual?

“That's fair,” I said, and it was Gramp’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Not many seem to think so,” he said, before sighing. “I’ve seen what men do to women they covet too fiercely. I’ve seen women who were kind to me broken due to obsession and lust. It's an ugly, wretched thing, and I am above it. They will either desire me and leap gladly into my arms, or they do not. The chase is fun, but binding someone to you, when you have no intention of reciprocating, is distasteful.”

Which tracks, especially when the people who taught Gramps sex-ed were literal prostitutes. But I was beginning to see the problem, and Gramps had evidently seen it too.

Minyan had fallen into the “fun, casual” category to Gramps. And with a lack of progress on each side… well, no wonder that a misunderstanding could happen.

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“Her name was Qinxiao,” Gramps whispered and I understood instantly. I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. I had a feeling that I knew where this was going, and it was nowhere good. “She was… . My own words will do her only injustice, but I will try to convey to you Qinxiao. What I first saw was her warmth. She put on no airs. She had no need of them. She simply was. She was strong and fierce and yet soft and welcoming. She was a woman who knew herself. She knew herself like I knew myself, and I instantly knew that she was… special.”

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“Minyan took it… poorly,” Gramps said with a grimace. “I hadn’t realised the extent of her desires until that point. I thought, like always, what we had was… casual. I was wrong, and I hurt her. But I would not go back on my decision.”

I nodded, but didn’t trust myself to speak at the moment, as Gramps stared off into the distance. Things were… raw, when he talked about his wife. I could feel the pain in his voice.

But he forged ahead, even though his voice wavered.

“Together, we had a son. His name was Shen Bu. I still remember his birth. How he grabbed my finger, when Qinxiao handed him to me. I remember walking into the courtyard with him. How many of my retainers, my friends, were there, to pay their respects. How bright the sun was, and how perfect the breeze. I swore then that my son would never know the brutality I had been throu