On a night in July 1989, Xiao Man, whose mental state had been steadily collapsing after her antidepressants were secretly switched, stabbed Azure Dragon during a marital argument and then, in utter despair, leapt from the roof of the villa.
Azure Dragon, unconscious from blood loss, was rushed to the hospital. At that time, mobile phones were still not widespread. Xiao Liu was at Taan Heung Pavilion, wearing headphones and pretending to spend “a spring night together” with the hostess Xiao He. He failed to notice the frantic vibrations of his pager. That night, the first person to arrive at Azure Dragon’s hospital room was A’Ying, carrying Azure Dragon’s twin blades in both hands.
The night was still deep. A sliver of moonlight filtered through the gap in the tightly drawn curtains. In the darkness, A’Ying walked toward the bedside one step at a time. Azure Dragon awoke from the anesthesia and slowly opened his eyes. Through his blurred vision, he saw the tall figure standing beside the bed and the twin blades in his hands.
Azure Dragon let out a soft sigh. He still did not know that Xiao Man had jumped to her death. Her desperate and anguished cries still echoed in his ears.
A woman who had loved him for ten years could not understand why her husband always gave her care but could never give her true love. In the end, she discovered that he had been deeply in love with her younger brother all along, and she did not know that her brother harbored the same feelings. She saw it only as something perverse, twisted, obscene, and harmful—like the violation her own father had inflicted upon her brother. She could not believe that her husband could harbor such shameful desires. She collapsed in despair. Perhaps when she injured her husband, it had only been to protect her poor younger brother.
Azure Dragon understood her deeply, and he felt deeply guilty toward her. He did not blame Xiao Man for the stab wound that had nearly taken his life. He only wished he could explain everything to her properly and apologize to her properly.
He also felt guilty toward the “Xiao Liu” standing beside his bed. It was his own weakness that had led him to agree to Xiao Liu’s childish and cowardly request all those years ago. It was his own foolishness that had convinced him this was the best ending for the three of them. He had abandoned his true feelings, betrayed the vows he made before the priest when he married, and failed to take proper care of Xiao Man.
Weakly, he spoke into the darkness. “Xiao Liu, this is my fault. Don’t blame yourself…”
“Xiao Liu” lowered his head silently and looked at him. Strands of moonlight fell upon the blades, reflecting a pale white gleam.
“You’re carrying those blades… are you here to kill me?” he asked softly.
The other man still did not answer.
Azure Dragon closed his eyes regretfully and sighed. “I should have taken better care of Xiao Man. I should have loved her… but I couldn’t… For all these years, I tried so hard, but I couldn’t…”
“I’ve been wondering if I was wrong… Back then, I shouldn’t have agreed to marry her for your sake…”
Slowly, he raised a trembling hand toward the cold blade. The pain and longing he had suppressed for years, the yearning that could never be fulfilled, had gradually rotted his heart like an infected wound. Bitter sorrow filled his lungs and chest. He remembered Xiao Man’s desperate, frantic expression from only moments before.
Gathering all the strength in his body and all the courage of his lifetime, he finally confessed through trembling breaths, “Xiao Liu… the person I love is you… I fell in love with you many years ago…”
“Is that so?” a familiar yet chilling voice asked. “Do you really love him?” The voice let out two cold laughs. “How stupid I was. When I came in just now, I was still thinking that none of this was your fault. That brat had deceived you. Those two siblings are both little fox spirits who wrapped you around their fingers. I was even thinking that maybe I should secretly take you out of the hospital, leave a corpse here and burn it so no one could recognize it. Then we could stay together every day. Eat together. Have fun together. Go out and fight people together. Get hacked up together. Just like twenty years ago. If we did that, maybe after a while you’d forget those two little fox spirits. Maybe you’d become the Azure Dragon you used to be again… Ha! Hahaha! Turns out it was all just wishful thinking on my part!”
Azure Dragon recognized the voice. A shocked, hoarse sound escaped his throat, but before he could form words, the Azure Dragon Blade split the cold air and slid into his chest beneath the moonlight like a streak of snow.
Azure Dragon’s breath was instantly severed within his lungs. His eyes widened as he stared at A’Ying’s face leaning over him. He saw the resentment, jealousy, disappointment, and madness twisting across the face of his sworn brother.
His lips parted as he desperately tried to say something. But A’Ying stared into his eyes with a savage expression and slowly sawed the second blade into his abdomen.
The two blades were driven all the way in, piercing through the mattress and plunging into the empty space beneath the bed. Blood overflowed from the corners of Azure Dragon’s mouth. He stared at his brother with eyes that would never close in death. A’Ying lowered his face and whispered beside his ear, “Don’t worry. Since you truly love him, then as your sworn younger brother, I ought to help fulfill your wish. I’ll send him down to keep you company very soon.”
A’Ying released the hilts. In the darkness, he stood motionless and watched as the last trace of life slowly faded from Azure Dragon. The thick smell of blood filled the room. Dark liquid dripped steadily from the sheets, soaking the soles of his shoes.
Expressionless, he lifted one foot and wiped it against the corner of Azure Dragon’s blanket. Then he pulled the blanket up and covered the twin blades embedded in Azure Dragon’s body.
Calmly walking out of the hospital room, he turned back and closed the door behind him. Then he said to the subordinates waiting outside, “Go find Xia Xiao Liu. If you can’t find him, notify his little brothers and have them look for him. Make sure you lure him to the hospital as quickly as possible.”
A’Ying’s plan succeeded only halfway. Xiao Liu was lured to the hospital in the early hours of the following morning, and A’Ying successfully pinned Azure Dragon’s death on him. Xiao Liu escaped by jumping out a window, and A’Ying issued an underworld bounty, offering one hundred thousand for Xiao Liu’s life. For a time, every petty thug in the underworld came pouring out of the woodwork. Whether for loyalty or for money, the important thing was to kill Xia Xiao Liu, the little bastard who had murdered his Dragon Head and betrayed his oath.
What A’Ying had not anticipated was that not only did Xia Xiao Liu remain at large, but he also could not find the Dragon Head ledger that recorded Xiao Qi Hall’s transactions over the years and represented one of the symbols of the transfer of Dragon Head authority. The Dragon Head staff, needed to select a new Dragon Head, also stubbornly refused to appear. He did not know which of the elders was the Keeper of the Staff. His prime suspect was Uncle Yuan. Of course, it was also possible that the Keeper of the Staff was the fugitive Xia Xiao Liu himself.
As the days passed, he increasingly felt that something was wrong. Although he had assumed control of hall affairs as Acting Hall Master, without the ledger and without the company seals, he was unable to accomplish anything. Uncle Yuan, who had once confidently promised to put him in power, had become increasingly ambiguous in his attitude. Several elders also expressed doubts that Xiao Liu, whom Azure Dragon had personally raised, would have killed Azure Dragon, and they demanded that Xiao Liu be spared so they could hear the truth from his own mouth. Over on Golden Maitreya’s side, there was likewise no response whatsoever to his report. Fat Seven and Inspector Hua, who had previously promised to support his rise to power, still maintained contact with him, but as his hands remained tied and he could accomplish nothing, both men had begun showing signs of disappointment and distance.
After two agonizing weeks that felt like years, he finally received news of Xiao Liu. A subordinate reported that a student who had once associated with Xiao Liu had been caught red-handed by Xiao Qi Hall patrols while secretly attempting to carry a bundle of bloodstained clothing out of the Walled City and dispose of it.
A’Ying personally met with the student. The boy was all skinny arms and legs, with a pale, thin face that had not yet grown into a man’s features. Clutching the bundle of bloody clothing, he cowered in a corner, looking like a frightened little lamb.
“Little brother, don’t be afraid,” A’Ying said pleasantly. “Tell your big brother here whose clothes these are. You aren’t injured, so they obviously aren’t yours, right?”
The student glanced at him timidly and stammered, “M-my father has stomach problems. It’s blood he vomited…”
Before he could finish, one of A’Ying’s men knocked him sprawling with a blow. “Who the fuck are you trying to fool?! Your father coughed up two pounds of blood in one go?! Is that a stomach or a goddamn blood gourd?!”
The student pitifully scrambled back to his feet, only to strike his head against the corner of a table, raising a large bump on his forehead. He was so frightened that tears welled in his eyes. Looking up with watery eyes, he said, “It really was my f-father’s… Ahhh!”
The thug drove a punch straight into his stomach. Crying out miserably, the student collapsed to the floor clutching his abdomen. Cold sweat instantly broke out over him. Gasping, he looked up at the group and heard the thug snarl, “This is what stomach trouble looks like! How many pounds do you want to puke up?!”
“That’s enough,” A’Ying said, waving the thug back. He took out a dagger and laid it on the table. “Little brother, I’m not in a good mood right now, and I don’t have time to chat slowly with you. Tell me one more lie, and I’ll slice open your stomach and pull your guts out so you can have a look for yourself.”
The student obediently confessed everything. He explained that the Twin-Blade Red Pole had been hiding in his home for some time and had asked him to throw away the bloodstained clothes at the dock nearest the Walled City in order to create the appearance that he had escaped by sea. He also said that earlier that morning, the Twin-Blade Red Pole had asked him for directions and seemed to be looking for a secluded route into Hiu Kei Film Company within the Walled City.
A’Ying immediately understood that Xiao Liu was going there to retrieve something important. If it was not the ledger, then it was the Dragon Head staff. No—the Dragon Head staff would not save his life. It had to be the ledger. He personally led men to stake out Hiu Kei Film Company, and sure enough, he caught Xiao Liu sneaking back there that very night.
After a fierce argument and fight, A’Ying discovered that he had walked into an ambush. While the mantis stalked the cicada, the oriole waited behind. Xiao Liu had deliberately lured him to the film company so that all the elders and brothers of the hall could see his true colors. At some point, A’Ying’s own men had all found guns pressed against them. Supported by Cui Dong Dong, Uncle Yuan entered through the doorway accompanied by a large crowd.
The moment A’Ying saw Uncle Yuan, his heart sank.
And in that instant, he understood.
—Uncle Yuan had never intended to place him in power.
He was arrogant, headstrong, and impossible to control. Ever since the beginning, no one except Azure Dragon had ever been able to keep him in check. A schemer as cunning as Uncle Yuan, who had quietly manipulated Azure Dragon for years, would never support someone so unruly as Dragon Head.
Uncle Yuan’s intention had been to use him to kill Azure Dragon, provoke him and Xiao Liu into destroying one another, and then sit back and watch the tigers fight. If Xiao Liu died, Uncle Yuan would expose the truth that A’Ying had murdered Azure Dragon and conveniently eliminate him as well before selecting another puppet Dragon Head. If Xiao Liu somehow survived, Uncle Yuan would still expose the truth and then elevate Xiao Liu to the position instead. Young, inexperienced, and trusting, Xiao Liu had always been Uncle Yuan’s preferred choice.
And even if he exposed Uncle Yuan now, everyone would simply see him as a cornered mad dog desperately biting back at Uncle Yuan. Not a single person would believe a word he said.
It turned out that throughout this entire play, from beginning to end, he had been nothing more than a clown dancing in someone else’s hands!
All hope died within him. His despair reached its limit, and his hatred burned to its peak. He wanted to drag Xiao Liu down with him, to use him as a stepping stone on the road to the underworld. But Xiao Liu fought back instead, and A’Ying himself was shot! He was pinned to the ground by a crowd of people. Uncle Yuan drew the short blade hidden inside the Dragon Head staff and tossed it to him, ordering him to carry out the hall’s punishment—to perform the Three Blades and Six Holes upon himself and end his own life.
Three Blades and Six Holes? How could he possibly accept that?!
He snatched up the blade and struck with all his strength, intending to kill Uncle Yuan, the true mastermind behind everything. Yet Cui Dong Dong, standing beside Uncle Yuan, kicked him back to the ground. Xiao Liu picked up the blade and drove it into his chest, pinning him firmly to the floor!
His eyes widened as he glared savagely at Xiao Liu. The two men’s hatred-laden gazes clashed like blades in midair. He hated him so much. Looking at that bewitching face, he thought that he himself was not inferior in appearance. Why had Azure Dragon fallen for this brat? Why had Azure Dragon neglected him and betrayed him for this brat?
He had been selfish at times. He had been greedy for profit. But heaven and earth could bear witness to his loyalty and devotion toward Azure Dragon; the sun and moon themselves could testify. They had weathered twenty years together. How many twenty years did a person have in a lifetime? On what grounds could Azure Dragon say that he was “too scheming to be fully trusted”?! On what grounds could Azure Dragon give all the trust that should have belonged to him to this brat who had appeared halfway through their lives?
It had been he and Azure Dragon who had knelt before heaven and earth together and sworn their brotherhood in blood. By what right had this brat taken his place at Azure Dragon’s side and squeezed him out of the position that had once been his?
He did not know why, amidst the boundless hatred consuming him, there was also such bitterness, regret, and sorrow.
He remembered the look in Azure Dragon’s eyes before he died: shock, pain, disbelief. Azure Dragon had never imagined he would die by A’Ying’s blade. Azure Dragon had never anticipated the hatred and malice festering within him.
Had Azure Dragon really said those words?
Azure Dragon’s dying regret that he should never have married Xiao Man, that final confession before death, proved that he and Xiao Liu had never truly understood each other’s feelings. It proved that he and Xiao Liu had never actually become lovers. If that part was true, then was it possible that Azure Dragon’s supposed judgment—“Xu Ying is too scheming to be fully trusted”—had also been nothing more than a lie fabricated by Uncle Yuan to drive a wedge between them?
Could it be that Azure Dragon had trusted him deeply all along? That even if he loved Xiao Liu, he had still reserved for A’Ying a bond deeper than what he shared with anyone else?
What had been the sentence Azure Dragon never managed to finish?
He would never hear it.
Struggling, he reached both hands toward Xiao Liu’s throat. Xiao Liu gripped the bloodstained hilt and twisted hard. A strange gurgling sound escaped A’Ying’s throat as his trembling hands left ten bloody finger marks upon Xiao Liu’s neck. “Xia… Xiao… Liu…”
Leaning close to Xiao Liu’s ear, he hissed viciously, “I’m going to make sure you never find out… how Azure Dragon died…”
He wanted Xiao Liu to know that Azure Dragon’s death was not solely his doing. He wanted him to find all the others responsible for Azure Dragon’s death and kill them. On the road to the underworld, he would wait for them there. Then he would carry their heads and go together to see Azure Dragon.
No. Perhaps in the next life, and the life after that, for all eternity through countless reincarnations, Azure Dragon would never wish to see this sworn brother of his again. After all, brotherhood existed only in this lifetime, not the next. After all, he had been such a terrible and despicable younger brother.
They had once promised to be born on the same day and die on the same day. In the end, he was still late.
Suddenly, he thrust himself upward, driving the entire blade in Xiao Liu’s hand into his own body! A mouthful of blood erupted into a crimson mist. Filled with regret and unwillingness, he finally breathed his last.
In the final instant before death, he saw Azure Dragon’s retreating figure running ahead of him. It was the night Azure Dragon’s father had been murdered. He had rushed alone into Azure Dragon’s home to save him. They had been trapped in a narrow alley, and he had taken a blade for Azure Dragon. Azure Dragon had carried him on his back and run forward. The wind, the pounding heartbeat, Azure Dragon’s labored breathing—that night had been so damned beautiful. Resting on Azure Dragon’s back, he gently pressed his face against the back of Azure Dragon’s neck.
If only his life had ended at that moment—if only he had died on the day Azure Dragon loved him most and cherished him most—how wonderful that would have been.
The Brothers, END.
Futile Devices Scans 
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