The Sharp-Faced Boy

White Silk had surely been lost while he was wrestling with the bearded man. Gu Shenwei clung to the wooden bars of the cage cart and looked back, but all he could see was a long line of ox carts. He waited a long while. Only when the convoy turned a bend could he see farther down the road.

The crossroads was no longer in sight. The convoy had already gone a long way.

Gu Shenwei gripped the bars so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He stared blankly into the distance, unable to believe that his family's secret manual was gone just like that.

"Did any of you... see a piece of white cloth?"

Gu Shenwei turned around and asked the other children in the cage cart, clinging to his last thread of hope.

Perhaps they didn't understand Central Plains speech, or perhaps they simply didn't want to speak. None of the children answered. Not one even looked up at the newcomer.

"A piece of white..."

Gu Shenwei gestured with his hands to show the size of White Silk. The more he said, the less certain he sounded. Every child in the cart was gaunt and dressed in rags; none of them would have any interest in a strip of cloth.

"They can't understand you."

After the ox cart had swayed along for a while, a boy in the corner finally spoke.

The boy looked about Gu Shenwei's age. He had delicate features and a pointed face, and compared with the other children, his clothes were fairly clean. Though the cage cart was cramped, he had a corner all to himself. He toyed with a blade of grass in his hand, studying the newcomer with a curious gaze.

"White Silk—a piece of white cloth. Did you see it?" Gu Shenwei asked urgently.

The sharp-faced boy thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. Was it important?"

Gu Shenwei slumped down. His mind was a blank.

"Where are we going?" After a long while, he asked without thinking.

"Jade City."

Gu Shenwei knew the city. A major hub in the Western Regions, where roads from every direction converged and merchants gathered. A paradise of wine and women, and a hell of blades and swords. He had once spent a night there—and then it suddenly came to him: wasn't Golden Peng Fortress just outside Jade City?

Gu Shenwei looked up and met the sharp-faced boy's gaze. It seemed there was something strange about him that had kept the other boy's attention.

"Do you know me?" Gu Shenwei asked, somewhat annoyed. They were the only two in the cart who spoke Central Plains speech, but he had fallen into slavery and lost his family's priceless secret manual. He was in no mood to make friends.

"Some rich family's brat." The sharp-faced boy gave a sneer, his tone flippant and full of scorn.

"What's that supposed to mean?" A surge of anger shot through Gu Shenwei and straight to his head, though most of it had little to do with the sharp-faced boy.

"Nothing. We'll all be sold when we get to Jade City, but no one's going to buy you to be a young master again. I'm doing you a kindness. Going from master to servant isn't easy. Servants have their own rules and ways to survive. Want to hear a word of advice?"

The sharp-faced boy had a point. Gu Shenwei nodded.

"Wash your ass."

The sharp-faced boy said it with a straight face, then smiled. His grin grew wider and wider until it erupted into wild laughter.

For a long time, Gu Shenwei didn't understand what the words meant. He was only annoyed by the sharp-faced boy's brazen laughter. Then he slowly grasped the lewd implication, but the best moment to react had already passed. In his brief life of fine clothes and rich food, no one had ever taught him how to deal with a situation like this.

Having scored a point with his mouth, the sharp-faced boy pressed his advantage. When his laughter died down, he pretended to be serious and said:

"Don't worry. A former young master like you, who's still pretty clean-looking, will have people fighting to buy you in Jade City. You've got a bright future, haha. Your ass won't be getting much rest."

It was an unmistakable insult.

Gu Shenwei leaped at the sharp-faced boy, but one of the children between them tripped him. They tumbled into a heap, cries of pain rising all around and attracting a guard's attention. Without asking questions, the guard thrust his cudgel into the cart, jabbing wildly.

The children quickly scattered. Every one of them took a beating, Gu Shenwei included, but he still hadn't managed to reach the sharp-faced boy in the corner.

The sharp-faced boy had been holding back his laughter. Once the guard left, he clutched his stomach and laughed so hard he could barely catch his breath.

Gu Shenwei had never imagined there could be someone so infuriating in the world. For a time, the sharp-faced boy even took the place of the Golden Peng Fortress Killer as the person he hated most.

Gu Shenwei wasn't the sharp-faced boy's only target. He would fall silent for a while, then suddenly launch into a stream of words, hinting at or bluntly describing the miserable fate that awaited them as slaves. He was determined to anger or frighten every listener into tears.

What made it worse was that he could speak several languages. The children in the cage cart came from all over, and he could talk to almost every one of them. As he spun his horrifying tales, he put on an array of expressions and gestures.

"Some masters like to eat children, especially kids our age. Every year, these slave traders pick out a batch of tender-skinned children for the grown-up gentlemen with special tastes. The master will tell everyone you were disobedient, defied him, and tried to run away. Then they'll tie you up good and tight, wash your ass clean, and cut off your flesh while they torture you. Slice by slice—some roasted, some boiled, all kinds of ways to cook it. And while the master eats, you'll still be alive, watching it all."

The sharp-faced boy showed two rows of white teeth and ran his tongue around them. "Wash your ass" was his favorite catchphrase.

Only when an eight- or nine-year-old started bawling did he finally fall silent and take a satisfied rest.

Before long, Gu Shenwei had grown used to the sharp-faced boy's caustic tongue and endless chatter. He felt like a terminally ill patient who already knew his time was up and no longer cared to fight for life. If there was anything left to look forward to, it was wondering when death would come.

The convoy moved slowly, through daylight and then into the night. The slaves were let out now and then to relieve themselves. Gu Shenwei was like a walking corpse, offering no resistance and not even trying to escape. He had lost all faith. Even the Divine Will had abandoned him, no longer giving him the slightest hint.

The mood in the convoy, however, grew more and more cheerful. Jade City lay just ahead. Waiting for them there were buyers with fortunes at their waists, endless flowing wine, and a world of ravishing pleasures. Most important of all, the convoy had entered Golden Peng Fortress territory. They wouldn't encounter any danger.

That last belief was shattered at noon on the third day. The convoy was just over a day's journey from Jade City. The road was growing smoother, the greenery thickening around them, and villages were beginning to appear. It hardly looked like a place where bandits might roam.

And yet here, a band of bandits blocked the road at the very front of the convoy. Those farther back couldn't see what was happening, but one bad report after another made its way down the line:

"Bandits are blocking the road ahead."

"How can there be bandits here?"

"What about the Golden Peng Fortress Killer? Wasn't he leading the way?"

"Don't worry. We've got more people. There are only a few dozen bandits."

"Great Head God? It's Great Head God! Oh, mother!"

Gu Shenwei had heard of Great Head God, too. He appeared again and again in frightening tales, so extraordinary that Gu Shenwei had always thought he was a mythical figure. He hadn't expected him to be real.

"That's it for us. Great Head God loves to eat children. He'll eat them whether their asses have been washed or not."

The sharp-faced boy turned deathly pale and repeated this in four or five languages. Unlike usual, his expression was not flippant, and his voice trembled. That made his words seem all the more credible.

Almost every child in the Western Regions had heard stories about Iron Mountain Great Head God. At the reminder, they all fell into a panic. The timid ones curled up in the hay, shivering all over, too frightened even to lift their heads.

At first, it wasn't Great Head God himself who negotiated with the convoy. The entire group was already shaking with fear when a voice, terrifyingly loud, called out:

"Don't be afraid. I'm friends with Unrivaled King. I don't do business on his turf. I'm not here to rob you. I'm here to buy something."

Iron Mountain Great Head God actually wanted to "buy" something. The merchants were even more astonished, but none dared reply. They feared it was bandit code—that if they eagerly went forward, a clean, swift knife would be waiting for them.

Only after Great Head God's men tossed two huge bags of gleaming silver onto the ground did the convoy's leader gather the courage to ask:

"What might Your Majesty wish to buy? We have..."

"People."

At that, everyone in the convoy retreated three paces at once, bunching together. They all wondered who had offended this great demon, that he would actually pay to buy someone.

To their surprise, Great Head God really was just buying people. A bony, middle-aged woman emerged from the bandits' line of horses with a small group in tow. She inspected each slave cart and had anyone she liked dragged out.

The merchants' hearts settled. The slaves who heard the news, however, were terrified. The sharp-faced boy first gaped in disbelief, then pawed frantically through the hay, scooping up handfuls of dust to smear over his face.

His actions reminded everyone else. Even Gu Shenwei, whose heart had turned to ash, joined the scramble for dust, trying to make himself as ugly and inconspicuous as possible.

But the gaunt woman seemed to have a special knack for seeing people's true faces at a glance. No matter how thick the dust on their faces, when she reached their cart, she swept her eyes across it and chose two children.

Gu Shenwei steeled himself and jumped down on his own. The sharp-faced boy slumped in the corner, still clinging to a faint hope, but a bandit grabbed him and dragged him out.

The gaunt woman chose people quickly. In the end, she selected ten boys and ten girls, all around ten years old. The two boys who had been pursued by Snow Mountain Swordsman Long Feidu were among them.

"The flesh of virgin boys and girls is the tenderest. We really are going to have our asses washed and get eaten."

The sharp-faced boy spoke only in Central Plains speech. Then, his face mournful, he followed Gu Shenwei and clung tightly to his arm as they walked toward their new master.

Great Head God had been at the very front of the convoy. Until now, Gu Shenwei had only heard his voice and never seen him. He now dared to raise his head and take a glance. Even though he had prepared himself, he was still startled. He wondered how such a terrifying person could exist in the world.

Great Head God sat astride a black horse. Just the upper half of him that showed above the saddle was nearly as tall as a man. As his name suggested, his head was enormous, and his bushy hair and beard made it seem even larger. It looked like a giant ancient cauldron carved with a taotie mask. His eyes, nose, mouth, and ears were all huge, as if he had stepped straight out of a temple shrine.

His upper body was bare, his muscles knotted and gleaming in the sunlight.

The black horse was unusual, too. It was a full size larger than an ordinary horse, with bared teeth and a fierce glint in its eyes. It looked more like a ferocious beast that ate meat.

Gu Shenwei almost believed the rumors that Great Head God ate people. Behind him, the sharp-faced boy stumbled and nearly fell against him.

Great Head God's group had plenty of horses. Men immediately led out more than ten of them, and the newly bought virgin boys and girls were forced to mount, either alone or in pairs.

The sharp-faced boy stuck close to Gu Shenwei and climbed onto the same horse. He wrapped his arms around Gu Shenwei's waist from behind. No matter how hard Gu Shenwei tried to shake him off, he refused to let go.

After buying the children, the Iron Mountain bandits turned their horses east and galloped away. Nearly ten thousand taels of silver had been left on the road—enough to buy dozens more little slaves. The merchants were still shaken, and Great Head God had already vanished. No one dared touch the silver.