1.
Among all the residents at the Village of
Dragon Shadows, the most revered figure had to be Sky.
Sky, with his regal composure and calm demeanors, was
perpetually reticent, which had always puzzled Jin Ke, the
immortal who had just recently become a US (United Stars)
citizen.
Jin Ke sometimes wondered whether Sky's silence was some
side effect resulted from his failure to assassinate the
King of Chin. Jin Ke thought to himself, "I tried to
assassinate the same king as well, and I failed as well,
but how come I have not become so reclusive, so
self-absorbed?" After all, it had been more than two
thousand years since his attempt on the King's life, and
it was no longer something he really cared about. If
someone asked how he felt about it, he would just shrug it
off, "I tried to assassinate the King for one reason
and one reason only, it's because I was BORED." If
being asked why he failed, he would say, "Had I
killed him in that one attempt, it would not have been too
much fun. I saved it so I could always go back and try
again, wouldn't that be more entertaining? Surely that
would give me more chances of testing my wisdom, and
strengthening my physical prowess? You must understand, I
am the GREATEST immortal." The faint-hearted people
would always suffer a mental breakdown upon hearing these
words.
However, since both Jin Ke and Sky attempted to
assassinate the King of Chin, Jin Ke, who normally looked
up to no one, considered himself sharing a special bond
with Sky, hence he admired Sky with all his heart.
If someone dared to utter a word against Sky--even if Sky
himself, who remained supremely calm all the time, did not
care--Jin Ke would definitely start arguing vehemently
with that person; on many occasions, force was applied.
Being superior in Kung Fu and at the same time immortal
proved to be an incredible advantage, as Jin Ke remained
gorgeous and handsome, and perfectly in one piece,
after all these years of beating people up. Soon people
started to tell the legend of Jin Ke and Sky: "The
God could be offended, but Sky could not."
Therefore, it came as a shock that one nameless individual
not only challenged Sky, but also injured him. How could
Jin Ke tolerate this? He immediately prepared to seek
revenge on Nameless. He took out his spear that he had not
used for a while, donned his golden crocodile-skin jacket,
and was ready to rush out before he was stopped by Sky.
Sky, with his perpetual charm and serenity, looked deep
into Jin Ke's eyes, "Please do not stir up any
trouble. Nameless did this for the same noble purpose as
ours, assassinating the King of Chin. This is only a small
sacrifice from me."
Sky's authority was undeniable. How could Jin Ke disobey
him? However, less than a minute after
returning to his luxury abode, Jin Ke became increasingly
frustrated, "Assassinating the King is MY job, and
Sky's, when did it become a job for you, Nameless? You
don't even have a name, what are you doing here,
interfering with our business? And how dare you inflict a
serious injury to my dear brother Sky. If I don't teach
you a lesson, who will?"
Jin Ke, having received formal education in both East and
West, having witnessed so many sagas in history, such as
Napoleon Bonaparte's rise and fall, having had so many
near-death experiences for an immortal, knew very well
that in this situation one could not be impulsive.
Jin Ke had to devise a thorough, fool-proof plan. It's
close to impossible to find someone who could hurt
Sky, Nameless did it, so he must have some unusual skills.
If Jin Ke himself were not very careful with Nameless,
he could put his 2000 years of reputation of being an
invincible warrior at risk. After three minutes of
contemplation, he had a plan. He selected two members of
Dragon Shadows, Eddie and Alan, to be his accomplices in
the mission to teach Nameless a serious lesson.
Eddie and Alan, both cute, youthful, energetic, had always
venerated Jin Ke's virile, mature, and graceful mannerisms
(a fact that Jin Ke was well aware of. However, for 2000
years numerous people had thrown countless adulations on
him, he had grown accustomed and insensitive to being the
center of people's attention), and had always referred to
Jin Ke as their Big Brother. At this time, Eddie and Alan
were feeling a little down because Jin Ke had, to a large
extent, ignored their sincere admiration. Therefore, being
summoned by Jin Ke to such an important mission was no
doubt a jubilation for the two.
The three arrived at the crime scene, the Chess House. Jin
Ke looked around them cautiously. Like a powerful and
commanding general giving orders to his humble
subordinates, he pointed his chin at Eddie. "You, go
first."
Eddie, super-charged with the excitement, dashed into the
Chess House without giving a second thought. With a sly
smile in his face, Jin Ke dragged Alan aside. In the
shadows, the two waited.
Ten steps into the door, a sudden realization dawned onto
Eddie. "Wait, this is not right. Why did Jin Ke send
me first to face Nameless? He must know that
Nameless is a martial arts expert. I, I am just a high
school student, all I know is how to break dance. I don't
know how to fight! No...There is no way that I am going to
do this." He decided to turn around and head back.
It was too late.
A voice, somewhat dry and cracked, ringed in his ears,
"Brother Sky, for what purpose didst thou change thy
attires?"
"Damn it! Now this is the point of no-return. Brother
Jin Ke, Brother Alan, you have to save me if anything bad
happens to me."
Turning around reluctantly, Eddie was startled to see a
dark figure standing in the middle of the court yard. The
man was clad in complete black from head to toe and his
face was hidden in dark shadows. Surrounding the stranger
were seven men dressed alike holding swords bent in all
directions, their faces bruised, their eyes glazed.
A light glistened in Eddie¡¯s eyes, and a smile rose to
his lips, "Oh, they must be the seven masters from
Chin Palace who were defeated by Brother Sky. Bravo,
Brother Sky!"
Eddie suddenly felt a chill go down his spine, "Oh
No, then this must be THE Nameless who injured Brother
Sky. My oh my. I am in some serious trouble."
2.
Eddie had yet had a chance to voice his dismay before the
man in black spoke again, this time he sounded somewhat
surprised, "This is odd. I have not seen you for only
a few hours, but you, Brother Sky, seem to have been
rejuvenated, and you seem to have completely recovered
from your injury. It is a miracle. Do you possess a
special kind of force so this could happen?"
Eddie felt like bursting into laughs, "I see, he has
mistaken me for Brother Sky. Darwin's evolution theory is
100 percent right, through natural selection process, only
the smartest will prevail. Ancient humans are indeed less
intelligent than us modern, 'hip-hop' crowd."
(Months later, Eddie accidentally said the same thing at
the Dragon Shadows Easter party, and you can imagine what
a big repercussion that led to. Jin Ke, Tsao Siu Yin and
Commander Lan gave Eddie quite a earful, a handful, and a
foot-ful.)
Eddie adopted a more serious facial expression, "You
have guessed correctly. Indeed I possess a special 'Force'
that enables me to rejuvenate within 3 hours."
Curious, Nameless asked, "Really? I have never heard
of such a thing."
Deadpanned, Eddie continued, "This Force comes from a
galaxy far, far away, from a legendary Kung Fu master
called..." He stopped, rolled his eyes, and
remembered that he just had yogurt for lunch, and Yoga
lessons from Wong Kei Ying the day before, "Yo-Da."
He finally squeezed out a name.
"The most amazing part of the Force is to allow one
to transform his look to looks of any age at will. This is
a secrete that has never been disclosed before to
anyone,"
Nameless was even more curious now. "That is indeed
amazing. I am wondering if Brother Sky can demonstrate the
magic of this ¡®Force¡¯ right here, right now."
Eddie rolled his eyes again, "No problem. Please wait
here, I will go out for a second, and when I come back,
you will see that I will be 7 or 8 years older looking
than I am now."
Like a whirlwind, Eddie rushed out. Without even saying
anything, he immediately pushed Alan into the chess house.
Having heard everything Eddie said to Nameless, Alan
certainly knew what to do. Barely stifling his laughs, he
said to Nameless solemnly, "You see, I am much older
and much more mature-looking now. You know what, I can
make myself look another 7 or 8 years older in a minute.
Why don¡¯t you follow me? I will show you."
While Nameless hesitated for a second or so, Alan ran out
of the chess house, and signaled to Eddie to run away. The
two of them soon disappeared into the dark alleys, leaving
Jin Ke standing all by himself outside the chess house.
Jin Ke, quite furious that the two juniors simply deserted
him, turned around and found himself facing Nameless, who
just came out of the chess house.
"Wow," Nameless exclaimed in admiration,
"This is astonishing! You ARE another 8 years
older!"
Jin Ke gave him a dirty look, "Do I look that
OLD?" But he did not say anything.
Nameless continued, "This has to be THE supreme state
of martial arts.... I am wondering if Brother Sky could
teach it to me?"
Jin Ke suddenly grinned, somewhat viciously, "You
want to learn how to use the Force? I can tell you the
secrete: The only way to learn is to first learn how to
FEEL the Force."
Nameless was still pondering Jin Ke's profound words, when
he suddenly felt a strong force colliding into him: Jin Ke
had just unleashed a full double kick into his chest.
Nameless¡¯motion-less body flew out and landed 10 yards
away from Jin Ke.Before he completely lost consciousness,
he heard Jin Ke¡¯s voice, "Did you feel IT?"
Jin Ke gracefully landed on the ground, then gently waved
to the seven masters from the Chin Palace who had followed
Nameless out: "See, this is the only way to learn how
to use the Force. He needs to 'feel' more of the Force.
You have to help him, following my example."
The seven masters, having witnessed Jin Ke's lethal
skills, exchanged quick glances with each other. In no way
did they prefer to be the ones on the receiving end of the
Force. They rushed forward, and pounded Nameless with
fists, feet, teeth, and head-butts.
Three days later, a nameless warrior entered the Chin
Palace and attempted to assassinate the King of Chin.
Persuaded by the King's plea for peace, the assassin gave
up his sword in the last second. The witnesses reported
that the man, dressed in complete black, had a face that
was so disfigured that it was impossible to forget.
It is said that an indefinite number of light years later
a movie director named George Lucas stumbled across the
story. He was inspired by this incident and later created
a motion picture called Star Wars that went on to smash
the all-time box-office. It is rumored that the character
of Darth Vader was in fact based on Nameless, as he was
dressed in complete black, and his disfigured face hidden
behind a mask. Lucas also brought into his Star Wars saga
the concept of Kung Fu Master Yoda, who was shown in the
movie busy teaching people how to use, or
"feel," the "Force."
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