The Angel's Descent Chapter 8

The old man who was on night watch was judged to have died of natural causes, the person wearing a mask in the yard was judged to have died of violent causes, and Mason was imprisoned in Hangzhou as a homicide suspect because he was unwilling to reveal the details of that night.

After being imprisoned for 15 days, Mason still kept silent. A jailer knew that he had been in a trance for ten days in front of the Yuewang Temple and said that the judge was a corrupt official. Corrupt officials are very superstitious. As long as he could be in a trance for ten days in prison, the judge would think he was a god and would not dare to offend him.

Mason thought that it would be good to deal with it by means of supernatural powers, so he tried to meditate, but he was often exhausted physically and mentally after sitting for two hours, and was unable to enter a state of concentration. Then he realized that the miracle was caused by a special state of mind and that miracles could not be repeated.

The prison had to do radio gymnastics all day, saying it was in response to the New Life Movement advocated by the central government. The purpose of the New Life Movement was to boost the national spirit. Mason asked, "Why do we need to boost the national spirit?" The jailer replied, "If we don't boost it, the Japanese will attack us at any time."

When doing exercises, Mason used the ring finger exercises taught by the seven sons of the Peng family. Gradually, he had a wonderful understanding. He enjoyed himself all day long and even no longer wanted to be released from prison.

Two months later, he was brought to court and convicted of murder and executed at the end of the month. Mason thought that with his martial arts skills, it would not be difficult to escape from prison, so he accepted the offer. His good attitude left a good impression on the judge, who believed it was the result of the New Life Movement.

Mason was not in a hurry to escape from prison. He stayed in prison because he was used to the peaceful and regular life in prison. Where would he go after escaping from prison? Would he return to the Taoist temple in Longjing Mountain? Or would he go far away like the seven sons of the Peng family?

The day before his execution, Mason reminded himself: "Escape from prison, it will be too late if you delay any longer!" But he was still too lazy to climb over the wall or go through the sewer. He muddled through the night and just as he was about to leave, he suddenly wanted to have a good sleep, so he lay down and slept soundly until dawn.

I was surprised that time was running out, but I was also curious about death. I thought it would be very comfortable to have a bullet hit my heart. It was not until I was handcuffed and shackled that I realized that death was really coming. I cursed myself: "Are you tired of living?"

Mason fell into a strange state of mind, exhausted all chances of escape, and was taken to the execution ground. Two people were shot at a time, and Mason waited on the side, watching the people in front of him die in pairs, and felt that their postures when they fell to the ground after being shot were very beautiful, neat and tidy, without any hesitation.

Mason was helpless about his own feelings and cursed himself again: "How come you became a weirdo before you died!"

When it was his turn to kneel at the shooting point, looking at the pitch-black muzzle of the gun three meters away, he was thinking: "It's so close. If the gun was fired from a hundred meters away, how satisfying it would be to die." Mason knew that he was hopeless, and shook his head helplessly, looking at the person being executed with him.

It was a big bearded man, with his head down, crying. Mason: "Brother, what crime have you committed?" The big man: "...adultery." Mason: "Adultery is punishable by death! How could that be?" The big man: "...r@pe."

Mason didn't know how to comfort him, so he said casually: "Alright, alright." The big man looked up in astonishment: "What do you mean?" At this time, the bailiff who was executing the sentence roared: "I'm about to die, why are you two chatting about trivial things? Be serious!"

There was a "bang" of a gunshot, and the big man was shot and fell to the ground, his frozen facial features still showing a confused expression.

Mason looked down at his chest and saw no blood. He looked up and saw the bailiff who shot him was repeatedly pulling the bolt with a "clang clang" sound, looking very anxious. The bailiff who shot the big man walked over and comforted him: "Another bad bomb? You're being a good guy."

The bailiff who fired the misfired gun said angrily: "I can't kill anyone, which makes me feel bad for my job."

Because according to the purpose of the New Life Movement, if an accident occurred during the execution and the prisoner was not killed, the execution would not be repeated a second time, because it would be against the spirit of humanity to scare the prisoner twice.

Mason was spared the death penalty and was taken back to the cell, waiting for two options: "life imprisonment" or "unconditional release." Two days later, Mason was released unconditionally.

The pharmacy was not closed down, and he returned to his original life. He was sincerely grateful to the New Life Movement.

Five days passed peacefully, and then Mason felt that he was getting weirder and weirder. He was interested in everything, obsessed with trivial matters, and could watch spiders weaving webs for a whole day. In other words, he had no interest in anything, and was unwilling to eat, sleep, or think about the people and things he had experienced. As for Tai Chi, he even wanted to chop off the ring fingers on both hands.

Mason knew that he had mental abnormalities and did not want to see Elder Rushong, so he went to the Shanshutang in Lingyin Temple and bought a set of Buddhist scriptures. He forced himself to read through them and finally understood his condition, which is called "unconsciousness" in Buddhism: neither good nor evil, being poor and wasting time, and after death he will turn into a lower animal.

This definition gave him endless associations. When he went out to see swallows flying in the trees and fish swimming in the water, he sighed, "I am not as good as them." He thought it would not be bad to become a small fish or a small insect after death. With this thought, Mason severely criticized himself: "I can't do this!"

But after three or five minutes of excitement, he became listless again, so he stopped struggling and just continued to live with this laziness.

On the morning of the tenth day after returning, a dark and strong man ran into the pharmacy, took a quick look, and ran out again. Then a man wearing sunglasses came in. He was neat and tidy, wearing a brown suit made of high-quality fabric. Mason saw a tall horse standing outside the door, and the dark and strong man was tying the horse to a tree.

The visitor held a short folding fan in his hand, walked to the small square table for the consultation, and sat down. Mason walked over and asked, "Sir, are you seeing a doctor?" The visitor opened the fan and waved it a few times, and said in a low voice, "I'm not seeing a doctor, I'm seeing you."

Mason: "Me?"

Visitor: "I heard that you escaped the death penalty because of a stink bomb. There are such lucky people in the world."

Mason: "No, no, it's just a worthless life. What's the point of living? It's just a boring life." The visitor laughed: "You are so self-deprecating. I didn't expect you to be such a person. Alas! It's not worth it for me to buy your life for two hundred dollars."

He An was shocked: "Did you bribe the person who shot me?"

Visitor: "There is no such thing as a stink bomb without a reason."

Mason quickly stood up and bowed to express his gratitude. The man closed his fan and said, "There is no good person in the world without a reason. General Chen who died in Yuewang Temple was my superior. I want to know what happened that night."

Mason fell silent when he heard that the person killed by Nolan had a military background. Although he was very disgusted with the cruel internal fighting of the Peng family, he felt a sense of pity that Nolan risked his life to protect the undefeated reputation of the Peng family, and his martial arts skills were after all due to the Peng family.

Seeing Mason bowed his head and said nothing, the visitor laughed twice and said, "I will tell you about General Chen first, and then you can decide whether to tell me the truth or not."

When General Chen was young, he followed Zhang Zuolin, a great hero in the three northeastern provinces. Zhang Zuolin was thin and small, with frail features, but he was extremely fierce, with a pair of fox eyes that were extremely alert. A casual glance from him would make the strong and sturdy men shudder.

General Chen was also a thin and frail man. He admired Marshal Zhang to the extreme and imitated him in every move. Marshal Zhang had the ambition to conquer the world. In order to have the physical strength to conquer the world, he quit opium when he was over 30. But General Chen smoked more and more. Marshal Zhang had more feelings for this smaller "self" than for ordinary subordinates and scolded him many times.

But General Chen still couldn't change. In a sudden battle, he smoked all the opium he had with him. Due to the intense fighting, General Chen forgot about the opium and commanded the battle for three consecutive days. When the situation improved, the cook who brought food to General Chen said: "General, you see, you can get through even without opium, right?"

This sentence reminded General Chen of opium, and he immediately rolled on the ground in pain, unable to command, and returned in defeat. The battle site was the key to unifying the Northeast, and General Chen felt guilty about his failure to live.

Before he committed suicide, he ran to the kitchen and prepared to shoot the cook. But the cook said, "I want to get rid of your bad habits with one sentence and turn things around to be a hero. Although I know it will affect the success or failure of a war, I still have to take the risk because I think you are a talent that can be cultivated!"

General Chen was stunned by what he said, and the cook became even more stern: "I didn't expect you to be so useless!" General Chen immediately burst into tears.

The next day, the cook and General Chen disappeared.

The man waved his fan and said, "The cook was a Tai Chi master who was hunted by his fellow disciples. He hid in the army for two years and then in Yuewang Temple. After learning Tai Chi, General Chen sought further and went to Wudang Mountain to practice Taoist swordsmanship, but he would go down the mountain for one day every year to drink at Yuewang Temple. This day was the day when he got a severe smoking addiction."

Mason remembered what the old man who kept watch over the night had said, "A person's birthday is not just the day your mother gave birth to you. There are many more to it. The day that can change your mood is your birthday." He suddenly felt that his mood had changed, and the lethargy and laziness of recent days disappeared.

Mason's eyes lit up, and the visitor seemed to see it, waving his fan and saying, "Does General Chen's deeds inspire you? I was his orderly, serving him while he smoked opium. His change made me indifferent to worldly affairs. When he and Master Zhou left the barracks at night, I begged him hard, and he finally took me with him. Alas, twenty years have passed in a flash."

Mason poured tea and told the truth about General Chen's death. The visitor was silent for a while, closed his paper fan, and sighed. Mason: "Are you going to seek revenge on the Peng family?" The visitor shook his head: "Nolan fought to his death, which was extremely stupid and also extremely clever. General Chen died a worthy death."

At this time, the sound of horses neighing was heard. Mason stood up and looked outside. He saw the dark and strong man outside the door lying on the ground, his limbs clenched, and he had fainted. A man wearing a Panama hat and a white gown stood in front of the horse, looking into the door in a free and easy manner.

Because the diagnosis table was on the side of the room, the person inside could see the person outside, but the person outside could not see the person inside. The visitor took off his sunglasses, and his eyes were sunken into a line, showing that he was blind. He sought help from Mason in the most direct way, whispering: "What happened outside?"

Mason said, and the blind man had a complicated expression after hearing it. He put on his sunglasses again and began to rub the paper of the folding fan with both hands. Mason immediately understood that the dark and strong man had entered the room first to see the direction and told him, but he walked to the diagnosis table by himself without showing any signs of being blind, which was also a miracle.

The young man outside the door walked in silently, his straw hat pulled down low to cover his facial features. He walked five steps away from the blind man, reached into his bosom, and without being able to see clearly, a long sword was already in his hand.

The long sword was unsheathed. The sword was very thin and narrow, and it trembled slightly even without wind.

The blind man said, "Bring me a glass of water." Mason hurriedly poured a cup of tea. The blind man had already rubbed off all the paper on the fan, leaving only the bamboo skeleton. He broke off a piece of bamboo and inserted it into the teacup. After pausing for three or five seconds, he pulled out the bamboo and handed it to Mason,   saying, "Give it to him."

Mason saw countless tiny bubbles condensed in the water marks on the bamboo strips. After walking a few steps, he found that the bubbles did not burst, like solid pearls.

The bamboo stick was brought to the man in the straw hat. He took a look at it, put the sword back into the sheath, and said, "I haven't seen you for two years. You have reached the level of condensing your energy into the sword. I have nothing to say."

The man in the straw hat clasped his fists and said goodbye, then turned to walk out. But as he stepped over the threshold, he suddenly jumped back and stabbed with his backhand.

The sword enters the blind man's shoulder.

The man wearing the straw hat raised his face, and Mason saw a heroic young face with a look of excitement.

The blind man sat upright, not changing at all because of the sword. He slowly took off his sunglasses, and the young man exclaimed: "What happened to your eyes?"

Blind man: "The result of daily practice."

The young man had a dull look in his eyes, as if he had suffered a great mental shock. He turned around and slowly walked out the door.

The young man's sword remained on the blind man's shoulder, still trembling slightly. The blind man's face turned pale, he stretched out two fingers to clamp the sword, and said to Mason: "Hemostatic medicine."

After drawing the sword and applying medicine, the blind man's complexion gradually recovered. Mason asked, "Who hurt you?" The blind man said, "My apprentice."

Wudang swordsmanship is divided into two types: monthly training and daily training, but he never taught the young man the daily training method, which made the young man resentful and left in anger two years ago. It was not that he was conservative, but he did not verify that these eyes were the deviation from the daily training method in the past two years.

Mason wanted to help him go to the inner room to rest, but he insisted on leaving. The dark and strong man was still lying on the ground. He kicked him lightly, and the dark and strong man woke up with a scream. After stretching his muscles, he helped him onto the horse.

The blind man sat on his horse and said goodbye to Mason with a fist. At this time, the young man who had drawn the sword and injured others ran out from behind a tree and snatched the reins from the black and strong man. The black and strong man swung his fist to hit him, but the blind man shouted and stopped the black and strong man.

The young man said nothing, but looked up at the blind man with a gleam of lightning. The blind man sat on the saddle, his posture as steady as a mountain. The young man's eyes dimmed, and he lowered his head, leading the horse.

A dark and strong man followed behind the horse.

They walked onto the avenue and looking from a distance, they saw just three ordinary figures.

When Mason returned to the pharmacy, he saw that the thin sword on the ground was still flashing with cold light, and he felt that everything was like a dream.