A Prophet - Chapter 18 (Part 2)

Chapter 2 - The Tiger Covered in Green Fur

Tiger Hong's real name was Hong Shichang. He was the fifth child in his family and was in his early forties at the time, right in the prime of his life. In his early years, he had been a schoolteacher. Later, because he could not afford the land rent, the landlord brought men to snatch his wife. His wife, who was already three months pregnant, was violated and subsequently threw herself into the river to commit suicide. Armed with a kitchen knife in the middle of the night, Hong Shichang climbed over the wall into the landlord's estate and hacked all seven members of the landlord's family—old and young alike—to death, before fleeing to the mountains to hide.

At that time, a beast disaster was raging across the Hunan-Hubei border, and people were widely whispering that a man-eating monster had appeared deep in the mountains. The monster looked like a tiger but was covered entirely in green fur, earning it the moniker "Green Fur Tiger." It terrified the common folk so much that they dared not enter the mountains even in broad daylight, and if they did go in, they traveled only in groups.

Hong Shichang was also terrified of this kind of monster, but having committed murder, he had no choice but to flee deep into the mountains, where the dense, remote forests offered safety.

Hong Shichang hid in the mountains for a week, suffering from extreme hunger and cold. He picked a few wild berries to eat, but they did nothing to stave off his hunger. While he was hesitating, he suddenly saw a wild hare bounding over, and Hong Shichang instantly perked up. Catching this rabbit would be enough to fill his stomach!

Hong Shichang slipped out his kitchen knife and crept forward quietly, terrified that the rabbit might run away. As he closed in slowly, he noticed that the hare's movements were sluggish and its belly was huge, bulging and dragging heavily on the ground—it was pregnant!

Hong Shichang suddenly thought of his beloved wife and could no longer bear to eat the rabbit. He sighed, shook his head, and muttered, "Ah, little rabbit, hurry home."

With that, he tucked the kitchen knife back into his waistband and walked straight away.

Suddenly, a chilly gust of wind swept in from behind. Hong Shichang whipped his head around just as a ferocious tiger lunged out from the bushes, clamped its jaws around the pregnant rabbit, and tore into it with violent bites. After struggling for a few moments, the rabbit stopped moving, its abdomen ripped wide open and blood streaming freely.

Hong Shichang let out a loud shout of "Ah!" and reached back to pull out his kitchen knife.

As it turned out, the tiger had been stalking this rabbit for a long time. Earlier, when Hong Shichang had lingered nearby with his kitchen knife, the tiger had not dared to press forward rashly. But the moment Hong Shichang turned and walked away, it had pounced viciously and killed the rabbit.

Hong Shichang stood his ground, raising his knife. The tiger clenched the bloody rabbit in its jaws and glared fiercely, assuming Hong Shichang intended to steal its prey.

Hong Shichang stared fixedly at the tiger, noting that it was indeed covered in green fur from head to toe. He thought to himself: You beast, you've plagued so many living souls; today I'll be damned if I don't hack you to pieces!

Though he thought this in his heart, the calves of his legs kept shaking. He had killed men before, but he had never killed a tiger, and this creature was not easy to deal with. It would be better to just run away right now. Thinking of this, Hong Shichang began to slowly retreat, preparing to slip away, but the tiger kept its unblinking gaze locked firmly on him. Suddenly, the tiger dropped the prey from its jaws, leaped fiercely into the air, and lunged straight at Hong Shichang.

Crying out in panic, Hong Shichang instinctively raised his kitchen knife and slashed forward. In the crossing of their paths, Hong Shichang's shoulder took a blow from the tiger's claw, but his blade also carved a deep gash across the tiger's neck.

Hong Shichang's left shoulder was nearly pulverized; his clothes were shredded to ribbons, and blood gushed out in streams. The tiger's hide was thick and its fur dense, so despite taking a slash, it had not sustained internal injuries—only a severed surface layer of skin that bled freely.

Standing sideways with his body half-cocked, Hong Shichang managed to raise his kitchen knife with his right hand. The tiger eyed him and began to circle, and Hong Shichang spun continuously to match the tiger's rhythm.

The tiger was searching for an opening. Suddenly leaping to the right, it prompted Hong Shichang to raise his knife to chop. Unexpectedly, the tiger used a feint—swiveling its body around, it lunged toward Hong Shichang's left shoulder and bit down hard into the bleeding flesh.

In an instant, Hong Shichang was knocked flat to the ground. The flesh on his shoulder was torn apart with excruciating pain. In his desperation, he swung his right hand backward and thrust his kitchen knife straight into the tiger's open mouth. Feeling pain, the tiger pulled back, wanting to retreat, but the blade had entered vertically. The edge caught against the tiger's teeth, blocking its entire lower jaw so that it could neither spit the knife out nor swallow it further. The tiger kept backing up, while Hong Shichang gripped the kitchen knife for dear life, refusing to let go. Like a game of tug-of-war, they remained deadlocked.

Enraged, the tiger thrashed its head back and forth with a force so immense it felt as though it would fling Hong Shichang up into the skies. Hong Shichang fluttered back and forth like a kite, nearly fainting from exhaustion. I cannot die! I cannot die! I cannot just die like this!

The greatest distinction between humans and animals is that humans possess willpower. The driving force ignited by mental power can sometimes exceed one's wildest imagination—Hong Shichang went all out! During a brief moment when the tiger paused to catch its breath, the desperate Hong Shichang recklessly shoved his entire right hand straight into the tiger's maw, sliding his whole arm past its throat and straight down into its stomach. Gagged and choked so badly that tears streamed continuously from its eyes, the tiger tried to open its mouth to bite, but with an arm blocking its interior cavity, it couldn't bite down at all. Gathering every last ounce of his strength, Hong Shichang let out a thunderous roar, "Motherfucker—!" and with a mighty heave, he gouged out half of the tiger's stomach!

The tiger's stomach was turned inside out. It staggered back a few steps, and soon blood poured from all seven of its facial orifices. Its body went limp as it collapsed onto the ground, blood bubbling continuously from its mouth as its breathing grew fainter and fainter. Finally, it blinked its eyes and stopped moving entirely.

Hong Shichang went completely limp all over, collapsing onto the ground. By now night had fallen, and ravens hooted as they flew overhead. Feeling his mangled, bloody arm, Hong Shichang could not help letting down a flood of scalding hot tears.

"Brave hero!" Two figures materialized from within the bushes.

Hong Shichang jumped in fright: "Who's there?"

"Brave hero, you are truly amazing! That tiger fight just now was so magnificent!"

"You saw it?"

"Yeah!" The two men nodded repeatedly.

"Then why didn't you come out and help?" Hong Shichang raged.

"It was dark, and at first we couldn't see clearly. We only heard the tiger roaring and thought two tigers were fighting over territory. We didn't dare get close, terrified of being eaten by the Green Fur Tiger. Then we heard someone shouting and rushed over, but by that time the brave hero had already killed the tiger," one of them explained.

"What do you two do?" Hong Shichang asked.

The two men looked at each other. "Sigh, to not hide it from the brave hero, we two... we two are deserters."

"Deserters?"

"The Central Plains大战 threw everything into utter chaos. We were Han Fuju's soldiers guarding the southern bank of the Yellow River. Later, Feng Yuxiang's army attacked. The officers refused to charge forward; instead, they stayed in the back and forced us forward at gunpoint. We soldiers aren't afraid of dying, but we can't die in such an obscure, meaningless way. It's one thing if the generals don't charge, but even the company and platoon commanders refused to move, each and every one of them clinging to life and fearing death while using us as human meat shields. It's not worth risking our lives for an army like that—and it's not just us, plenty of people have run away! By the way, hero, where are you from, and why did you come up the mountain to fight a tiger alone?"

"Sigh—I was driven to it. My surname is Hong, given name Shichang, and I'm a local of this county..." Hong Shichang recounted his past.

After listening, the two men were filled with admiration. The slightly taller one spoke up: "My name is Wang Jikun, and his name is Liu Xuequan. We're both from Shandong. The three of us are outcasts wandering the ends of the earth, and meeting here today is fate. Why don't we swear an oath of brotherhood, becoming sworn brothers in this turbulent world to look out for one another? What do you say?"

Hearing this, Hong Shichang felt it made a lot of sense. Surviving alone in the great mountains was difficult, and only by banding together could people accomplish things. Furthermore, seeing that these two men were both honest and reliable, he said, "I am 34 years old. How about you two?"

Wang Jikun said, "I'm 28."

Liu Xuequan said, "I'5."

"Good!" Hong Shichang shouted loudly. "Today, let us use this tiger's head as a sacrifice, drink blood to seal our alliance, and become brothers! We seek not to be born on the same year, month, and day, but only to die on the same year, month, and day!" With that, he used his kitchen knife to chop off the tiger's head.

The three men placed the tiger head upon a massive bluestone, facing the bright moon with their backs against the whispering pine trees, and knocked their heads in a vow to become brothers. From that day onward, the largest bandit syndicate in the Hunan-Hubei borderlands began to sprout.

Wang Jikun and Liu Xuequan both had firearms. After their sworn brotherhood, the three first used their guns to descend the mountain and rob several landlords and wealthy households. Later, as they acquired wealth, they began gathering impoverished desperados to head up the mountain and expand their military equipment. Just like that, the troop grew larger and larger. Meanwhile, in light of Hong Shichang's tiger-hunting feat, the brothers felt their eldest brother was even more formidable than a tiger and was the true King of the Mountains. They suggested that their boss adopt the moniker "Tiger Hong"—which sounded imposing!

Hong Shichang nodded in agreement, and from then on, the name of Tiger Hong grew increasingly resounding. Tiger Hong's troop enforced strict discipline: first, never oppress the common people; second, never forcibly seize common women; third, never traffic in young children; fourth, never plunder legitimate merchants; fifth, never kill revolutionary martyrs.

Underworld circles hailed this troop as righteous bandits. Much like White Horse Zhang, the righteous bandit of the Northeast, Tiger Hong was deeply respected, earning them the contemporary renown of "Southern Tiger and Northern Horse."

Liu Congyun's arrival was like adding wings to a tiger for Hong Shichang, and Liu Congyun felt as though he had found a kindred spirit, the notion of achieving a grand enterprise flaring up within him once more.

After listening to Liu Congyun's account, Master Zu was filled with boundless emotion; heroes were always forced into greatness by circumstances. He then proceeded to recount to Liu Congyun how he had come to this place himself.

Upon hearing it all, Liu Congyun gave a double thumbs-up: "Master Zu's patriotism, loyalty, and meticulous planning command this old man's utmost admiration. Come, accompany me to see Commander Hong! Once we meet, we can clear up the misunderstanding—Commander Hong took you for wandering petty thieves stirring up trouble on his turf, which is why he came to suppress you!"

Master Zu hesitated: Should he go or not? Con artists and bandits were not walking the same path. On the other hand, if he didn't go, he certainly wouldn't be able to stay in this territory any longer—where else could he possibly walk?

Suddenly, a crucial question crossed his mind: "Master Liu wouldn't have told Tiger Hong all the inside secrets of the Jiangxiang Sect, would he?"

Liu Congyun gave a hearty chuckle: "Of course I did."

"This..." Master Zu fell into a moment of hesitation.

"Hahaha!" Liu Congyun laughed again. "Has Master Zu not heard the military maxim about mixing the false with the true? I told him that our group are all fortune-tellers well-versed in the arts of Yin and Yang, and that we all possess genuine abilities. Among so many 'sect associations' across the country, one more 'Jiangxiang Sect' doesn't make much difference—except that some possess real skills while others are fakes, whereas we are the real deal. That is why Master Zu was able to be hailed by the people of Jianghuai as the Number One Master, and why I was able to become a military strategist holding military power under Liu Xiang. Furthermore, in the Pacification Campaign, I heavily routed Liu Wenhui—who among the Nationalist and Communist parties, or the various warlords, does not know of it? Master Zu, my rebellious disciple Qin Bailuan was right: make the false look true and the true look false; we had already bleached ourselves white long ago! As for our schemes and scams, who knows? Who could ever see through them? I already told Commander Hong that even Wang Yaqiao, the boss of the Axe Gang, holds you in high regard! And putting it another way, Tiger Hong himself is a bandit too—it's all a trade that cannot see the light of day. Who is going to expose whom?"

At that moment, Master Zu suddenly recalled what Jiang Feiyan had once told him: "Master Zu, we have long since been truly great masters!"

After turning it over and over in his mind, Master Zu decided to go meet Tiger Hong, and make his final decision only after exchanging words with him.