Wei Black Egg killed Qiu the Clear out of secret hatred, and the son of the Clear, Faithful, planned to take revenge on him. Faithful was very strong in spirit, but too weak in body: he ate a grain at a time, and walked only with a fair wind. Even in anger he could not raise a weapon to take revenge. But, ashamed to resort to someone else's help, he vowed to deal with the Black Egg with his own hand.
The Black Egg surpassed everyone in audacity and courage, with strength he resisted hundreds of men, with the strength of joints and bones, muscles and skin he did not even look like a man: with his elongated neck he repelled the blow of a sword, and with his bare chest he repelled an arrow. The blade and the tip bent and broke, but there was no scratch or scar left on his body. Knowing his strength, he looked at Faithful as if he were a chicken.
-What do you think you'll do? — his friend, Advisor Shen, asked Faithful. “You are so insulted, and he neglects you so much.”
“I want you to advise me,” answered Verny, shedding tears.
“I heard that the ancestor of the Great Perfection from the Wei kingdom obtained the precious sword of the Yin king. With such a sword, one youth is able to repel three armies. Should I ask him for this sword? - said the Adviser.
The Faithful went to Wei and saw the Great Perfect. He bowed to him like a slave-driver, asked him to accept his wife and children as a gift, and then made his request.
“I have three swords, choose any one,” the Great Perfect answered him. “But none of them can kill a person.” First I'll tell you about them.
The first one is called Melting Light. You look at it and you don’t see it; you wave it and you don’t know whether it touched something or not; transparent and has no edges, cuts through the body, but the body does not feel anything.
The second is called Shadow Taker. If you look at it from the north side when the pre-dawn darkness changes to morning dawn or at dusk - on the verge of day and night, you will see something, but you will not be able to make out the shape. When it touches someone, it makes a quiet ringing sound, as if furtively, but the body does not feel pain.
The third one is called Nightforged. In the light of day its shadow is visible, its shine is not visible; At night it shines, but the shape is not visible. Having touched the body, it cuts it with a crash, but the wound heals immediately, only pain remains, and the blood does not stick to the blade.
These three treasures have been passed down in our family for thirteen generations, but have never been used. They were hidden in a casket, and even the seals were not removed from them.
“And yet I must ask you for the last one,” said Faithful.
Then the Great Perfect returned his wife and children to him, fasted with him for seven days and, on the verge of the evening dawn and darkness of the night, knelt down and handed him a sword, Tempered at night. The faithful received him, bowed twice and returned home.
And then Faithful went with a sword to the Black Egg. He, just drunk, lay on his back under the window. Faithful cut him three times from neck to waist, but the Black Egg did not wake up. Thinking that he was dead, Faithful hurried to leave, but at the gate he met the son of the Black Egg and slashed him three times, cutting him like air. The son of the Black Egg laughed and asked:
“Why did you beckon me so stupidly three times?”
Then Verny realized that such a sword could not kill a person, and, sighing heavily, he went home.
Waking up, the Black Egg became angry with his wife:
- She left me, drunk, uncovered. So my throat hurt and my lower back was aching!
His son said:
“Recently Verny came, met me at the gate, beckoned me three times, and my whole body also ached, and my limbs went numb. He crushed us!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru