Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
They managed to leave Old Man Mu behind, but not for long as Wildhorse would bring him when he caught up again.
“Is it true, what he said?” Even in this critical moment, what Shangguan Hong cared about the most was Old Man Mu’s story. It was no wonder since his Internal Strength was the weakest among them and the Seven Magical Tones had the biggest influence on him.
“Maybe.” Maid Lotus returned to her normal indifferent and dull tone. Then, she looked at Gu Shenwei and explained it specifically to him, “In the Seven Rotation Skills, bones and muscles are the basis of kung fu practice. It’s similar to the Divine Rotation and people say that it has the effect of bringing the dead back to life, but…”
These people saw with their own eyes the result of that “but”. An old man of normal stature had shrunk into a dwarf. Everyone concurrently thought to themselves that they would never practice this manual even if they were killed.
New Moon Hall being an expert in evil secrets had originally been a legend. But Gu Shenwei honestly felt it now.
“Is digging out someone’s heart kung fu from New Moon Hall as well?” Shangguan Hong asked. He and the twins had recently found out that Maid Lotus was a disciple of New Moon Hall and had been both surprised and awestruck, especially Shangguan Hong. Maid Lotus was raised to almost the same level as Dragon King in his heart.
“No, I read some notes in one of the Master’s books about the Five Hole Punch that uses the five elements and when it is practiced to the Fire level, it aims for the heart. Maybe this is the kung fu used by Old Man Mu.”
Shangguan Hong covered his chest and said, “Maid Lotus, New Moon Hall is so familiar with Old Man Mu…”
But he was disappointed before he even finished speaking. Old Man Mu and New Moon Hall were enemies; they had already threatened each other. The first to be killed would be Maid Lotus and Old Man Mu would never spare her life.
Shangguan Fei clapped his hands and said, “Everything is becoming clearer now, Old Man Mu’s targets were only Dragon King and Maid Lotus, so…”
“So it’s better for the three of you to stay away from us.” Gu Shenwei ordered with a cold voice.
Gu Shenwei’s plan was to fight to win or die.
Wildhorse continued to follow his target steadily. The Gobi desert on his left and the deserts on his right were completely flat. Slave Huan and the others had nowhere to escape. Their lives were all in Old Man Mu’s and his hands.
Wildhorse hated the old dwarf hiding in the sack behind his back, but he had no choice but to rely on Old Man Mu’s kung fu to back him up.
The year that Shangguan Ru had expelled him from Golden Roc Fort, his Internal Strength had almost been destroyed by Slave Huan’s sword. He had wandered alone aimlessly towards the north, his heart filled with hatred.
He would always remember how Slave Huan had betrayed him. They had originally agreed to assassinate the Tenth Young Master who no longer possessed her killing desire. But Slave Huan had turned on him at the last moment.
Since the beginning, he and Slave Huan had been nothing but rivals. It was only until that day when he was expelled from Golden Roc Fort that they became enemies.
The mute young killer had never once thought about the times when he secretly harmed Slave Huan, his mind was preoccupied with the dreams that were destroyed, and the fire of revenge blazed hotly within him from then on.
It was purely by chance that Wildhorse met Old Man Mu.
At the cost of his own kung fu, Old Man Mu had obtained the pills and the occult sciences from New Moon Hall that could save his life. Since then, he had practiced in seclusion for more than ten years. When he emerged, he had already shrunk into an ugly dwarf, afraid of sunlight, and only active at night.
Old Man Mu also harbored a desire for revenge. He wanted to kill all the people who had besieged him and the disciples of New Moon Hall. It was because of those crazy women that he had turned into a creature that looked neither human nor ghost.
But before this, Old Man Mu needed a servant who could take him along during the day.
He chose Wildhorse, a killer who had been exiled and was unable to talk.
In order to make the servant worthy of himself, Old Man Mu taught Wildhorse a lot of kung fu. When he found out that this young man was actually a prodigy in kung fu, he started teaching him with even more enthusiasm.
They were not master and disciple but they had a real teacher and student relationship.
Wildhorse was glad to have met such an extraordinary man and cautiously won his favor. He then slowly imbued his own hatred into Old Man Mu.
After a year, once Wildhorse’s kung fu began to take shape and Old Man Mu also felt that he had the strength needed to take revenge, the two men returned back to Jianghu.
At this time, Slave Huan had been fleeing and as his fame was growing day by day. Wildhorse’s hatred grew deeper and deeper. But his ambition was not just to revenge. Therefore, he sought shelter in Norland, and thanks to his unbeatable kung fu skills, he immediately obtained the trust of a prince. He was then ordered to go to Jade City to secretly build up his influence.
Wildhorse felt the advantage of having a strong backing. Even though he was a deserter from Golden Roc Fort, he was welcomed by Golden Roc Fort and was able to move freely in Jade City with their authority.
It was exactly because of Slave Huan that Wildhorse knew that there were many experts at Joy Pavillion in Hope Alley. He went to visit them and quickly gained the trust of Immortal Peng. Thanks to this group of eccentric people, he was able to build up a powerful force.
During the whole process, Old Man Mu was in hiding. Except for Wildhorse, only one person knew of his existence.
Although Supreme King was hiding his skills in the Stone Castle, his eyes and ears were not idle. He knew about everything that was happening in Jade City. Wildhorse returning to Jade City as an expert from Norland had obviously been reported to him by his men.
At first, Supreme King regarded this as a trivial matter but finally picked up notice as the news of Wildhorse’s incredible kung fu spread to him time and time again. He noticed a shadow of New Moon Hall’s training in some of Wildhorse’s skills.
The results of the investigation were unexpected: Supreme King found out that Old Man Mu was reduced to a state of neither human nor a ghost.
During those days, Old Man Mu was famous in the Western Region, but he held Supreme King in such high esteem, to the point that he had never committed a crime in Golden Roc Fort’s territory. Moreover, they hit it off easily now that they had a common enemy. Supreme King would help to keep his secret and in turn, he would provide his services to Supreme King.
Lady Meng and Meng Yuzun was obsessed with seizing Slave Huan’s Dajue Book of Swordcraft and requested for Wildhorse’s help at that time. The news reached Old Man Mu’s ears but he did not pay much attention to it. It was only until he was ordered to kill Dragon King and saw the elusive sword move for himself that his heart stirred.
The two children did not learn well. If that kind of swordcraft fell into my hands…Old Man Mu’s heart stirred once again. He still believed that his kung fu was second to none in this world. Perhaps he was only a little inferior compared to Supreme King, but he still envied this particularly unusual swordcraft. Like a fool who collected paintings and calligraphy, once he saw something special, he could not help but covet it.
This was supposed to be a killing mission, but now he had another purpose.
Not only did Old Man Mu liked killing people, he also deeply enjoyed the process of doing so. Other people’s fear was a feast to him, and his insatiable hunger could never be satisfied.
Therefore, he was very happy as he stood on Wildhorse’s shoulders and saw Dragon King and his entourage had divided into two groups, “The brats of Supreme King seem really good-for-nothing. No wonder they lost favor.”
Wildhorse was a capable servant. His only shortcoming was that he could not talk. Old Man Mu, on the other hand, was a garrulous man and was content to talk by himself, “Which one shall I kill first? Dragon King and that woman from New Moon Hall or the three babies of the Shangguan family? I told her I will cut her into pieces. She has definitely already set up a trap together with Dragon King. Haha, it’s not so easy to fool me, you know. I’ll kill Supreme King’s daughter first, let’s see if he will come and save her. Then, I’ll kill that woman. That’s right, that’s right.”
Wildhorse made several gestures.
“Dragon King is tricky and foxy? I think he’s at the end of his tether. He failed to kill me twice and revealed his background to me instead. Either something is wrong with the Dajue Book of Swordcraft or he uses it in the wrong way. Anyway, Dragon King’s unique skill can only be used once. He must channel his Internal Strength in order to attack a second time. Just this window of time is enough for me to kill him ten times over.”
After speaking, Old Man Mu jumped nimbly onto the ground. In a few jumps and bounces, he had already disappeared, faster even than a galloping horse.
Wildhorse made a face of disgust. Even though he had a debt of gratitude toward Old Man Mu, there was no way Wildhorse could take a liking to this man who had shrunk himself into a dwarf. He wanted to vomit every time he came into contact with him.
Wildhorse and Old Man Mu had surprisingly similar definitions of kindness and hatred.
The small group of five split up. Dragon King and Maid Lotus walked close to the deserts, while the three siblings of the Shangguan family traveled along the Gobi desert. They were half a mile away from one another. They would not arrive in time even if they wanted to help each other.
Old Man Mu quickly caught up with his target. He could not run all night like a galloping horse, so he jumped onto the sides of a horse that nobody was riding and tugged the horse belly strap to secure himself and stealthily watched.
His Lightness Skills had always been very good, but it became even better after he shrinking into a dwarf.
The three people were obviously frightened and were traveling in a hurry. The faces of Shangguan Hong and Shangguan Fei were especially pale.
Which one should I kill first? Old Man Mu pondered. Despite his excellent kung fu, he was still cautious and preferred to kill the easiest opponent first.
Both Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Hong were easy prey since one did not possess the killing desire and the other had poor kung fu.
As long as one of them was killed, the remaining two would certainly run to Dragon King for protection. Old Man Mu decided to follow behind them and take the opportunity to kill the New Moon Hall disciple, thus fulfilling the promise he made before midnight.
This was his plan.
Old Man Mu decided that his target would be Shangguan Hong.
He was not in a rush. He preferred to do it right before dawn. Other than the fact that people tended to be more relaxed at that time, he wanted was to create a killing style that left a deep impression.
Now was the time since he still needed to give the other two enough time to run to Dragon King for help.
Shangguan Hong looked even more helpless than a baby, but Old Man Mu didn’t mind. He had killed many people who were physically weak, and the pleasure was always the same, merely lacking in the thrill when compared to killing an expert.
The Five Hole Punch was a kung fu where the hands had to be made into claw-shapes. It was a very powerful kung fu and even more effective than sabers or swords. Old Man Mu found it outrageous that not many people wanted to learn it.
He gently jumped off the horse and landed on his four limbs like a fine fox. He quickly moved in front and burrowed under the belly of another horse. The rider was Shangguan Ru. He resisted the impulse to remove the girl’s heart, and sped up to surpass two other horses and caught up with Shangguan Hong’s horse.
The galloping horse hoofs became the best cover for him. Even the Jianghu experts were unable to notice a little shadowy figure in the dark, much these three children who lacked experience.
Flipping over with his right hand and mounting the horse, he struck a blow and dismounted with his left hand before hiding again.
This was Old Man Mu’s usual technique and he had never once failed. If his rival was an expert, he could take his heart out from behind, but since it was Shangguan Hong, he could easily kill him from the front.
Everything went smoothly when he mounted the horse. Shangguan Hong did not notice anything. However, the unexpected occurred when he struck his blow. The chest of his target was harder than steel and even his sharp claw was unable to penetrate it.
Old Man Mu was shocked. Even though it had not worked out as he thought, he would still need to dismount, but he was unable to move at all as a strong arm held onto his belly. At the same time, a dagger stabbed into his lower abdomen. From the strength and the speed of the move, he could tell it was not an ordinary person with kung fu.
The man was obviously Shangguan Hong, but his skills were like an expert who had practiced for more than ten years. Old Man Mu was even more appalled when he realized that he had fallen into a trap.
