Sichuan, Jiading Prefecture.
At a relay station near Jiading Prefecture, a burly man who looked like a jianghu veteran chatted animatedly to the companion sharing his table, spittle flying with every word[1].
"Hey, did you hear? Last month, a branch of the Ghostbane Association at Yingtian prefecture was annihilated!" exclaimed the burly man.
"How could I have not heard about such a horrendous massacre? The entire branch of more than one hundred people were killed! Rivers of blood flowed and broken limbs were scattered everywhere. Even the Ghostbane Association Heaven-ranker Lin Jiangxian was killed, split in half by a blade!" replied his companion.
"That's right, that's right. Since the Ghostbane Association has always had a bad reputation in the jianghu, there were people who celebrated after learning of the massacre. I heard that Chen Dafu, the wealthy merchant of Jiangnan, even set up a longevity tablet for the hero responsible for the deed in his home," the burly man solemnly stated to his companion as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
"Why would Chen Dafu do that? What does this massacre have to do with him? Could it be that he has a grudge against the Ghostbane Association?" the companion asked in confusion.
"Well, it’s rumored that Chen Dafu's only son had a conflict with someone who ended up hiring the Ghostbane Association to assassinate him," replied the burly man.
Fang Dingwu snorted as the gossip drifted over from the next table. As a well-traveled armed escort, he had heard countless stories about the destruction of the Yingtian Prefecture Ghostbane Association over the past month.
There were all kinds of versions. Some said that the hero wielded an eighty-one jin heavy broadsword, others said that he was over eight chi tall and eight chi wide. If that were true, wouldn't he be a square?[2]
Some even claimed that he had three heads and six arms that wielded six types of weapons. Fang Dingwu, who considered himself a seasoned traveler, naturally would not pay heed to such nonsense.
Fang Dingwu was the leader of this group of armed escorts for this escort mission. Now that they were heading back to the security agency's headquarters, they didn't need to be as vigilant as they had been while escorting the clients. Besides, the name of their agency, the Changfeng Escort Agency, carried a lot of weight in the Jiading Prefecture.
As Fang Dingwu and the other guards finished eating, he asked the relay station staff to bring them their horses so they could ride back to the agency to register the completion of their commission. Just as they were setting off, his attention was drawn to a man resting by the side of the road. More specifically, the weapon in the man's hands caught his attention.
The weapon was neither a sword nor a saber, as it was neither as long as a sword nor curved like a saber. However, as an experienced captain of an armed escort team, Fang Dingwu recognized it at a glance. It was a weapon rarely used by people now—a Tang Blade.
In The Six Statutes of the Tang Dynasty: Volume Sixteen, the vice-captain in charge of the armory recorded four types of blades: the ceremonial blade, the defensive blade, the waist blade, and the long blade.
The man was holding a sheathed waist blade in his arms. The blade was about three chi[3] long and had a natural and understated aura. A red cloth-wrapped long hilt allowed for comfortable two-handed wielding and an unadorned smooth scabbard made of fine iron interlocked seamlessly with the hilt. Only a few loops of hemp cloth were wrapped around the middle of the scabbard to make it easier to carry.
What an amazing blade! Fang Dingwu instinctively admired the weapon. Out of curiosity, he dismounted and walked over to the man. It was only then that Fang Dingwu could take a good look at him.
The man sat cross-legged on the roadside, holding the Tang blade in his arms. He wore a thin conical bamboo hat that granted no protection from the elements and clothes so worn that they were falling apart. His clothes and hands were covered in dirt and dust, yet the blade in his arms remained spotless.
Due to the man's hat, Fang Dingwu could neither see his face nor discern his age. Nevertheless, he decided to strike up a conversation and asked, "Brother, do you know how to use this blade?"
The man did not respond, causing Fang Dingwu to feel a little awkward.
"Brother, my name is Fang Dingwu. I am an armed escort team leader of the Changfeng Escort Agency in Jiading. I have no ill intentions, it's just that you look tired and hungry. Have you had lunch yet?"—he took out a bun wrapped in oil paper from his bag and handed it to the man—“Please take this."
Receiving no response even after holding out the bun for a while, Fang Dingwu decided it was nearly time to leave when he heard a clear voice ask, "What do you need me to help you do?"
Fang Dingwu was temporarily stunned before realizing the incongruous voice belonged to the man before him. He assumed that the blade wielder would be a veteran of the jianghu who had run into misfortune. He never expected the voice to sound so clear and youthful, like that of a young man. Fang Dingwu teased him, "Haha, what can a youngster like you do?"
Fang Dingwu resigned himself to another pregnant pause, but the young man firmly responded, "My blade is very fast."
Fang Dingwu didn't know what to say to that, so he just stiffly held out the bun and smiled embarrassedly.
Suddenly, a flicker of light flashed before his eyes, temporarily blinding him. When his vision cleared, he could just barely make out the young man sheathing his blade and extinguishing that light. Only half a bun remained in his outstretched hand.
Holding the other half, the young man declared from under his hat, "Half is enough."
1. Jianghu is the term used widely in wuxia/xianxia that refers to the world of martial arts, as there are often different rules, traditions and customs associated with martial artists when compared to the secular or mainstream world. ☜
2. Chi and jin are both Chinese units of measurement. They both vary in size historically but you can consider one chi about 33cm (one foot) and one jin about 500g (one pound). ☜
3. Chinese traditional units of measurement: 1 cun ≈ 3.3cm, 1 chi ≈ 33cm, 1 zhang ≈ 3.3m. ☜