Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Shangguan Yun had successfully persuaded many people in the past. He did not care so much about occasional failures.
Gu Shenwei felt he had heard enough and the best way to say no to Shangguan Yun was drawing out his Dragon Head Sword.
Shangguan Yun was worthy enough to be pitted against his swordcraft.
“I’ve heard that you intend to compete for hegemony in Western Region, so I suggest this alliance between us. Please think twice about it, Dragon King. If we continue to fight against each other, we’ll would only let the third party reap the benefits from the wars between us. Besides, we’re never each other’s biggest enemy,” said Shangguan Yun, sincerely and logically, although he had already noticed how impatient the Dragon King was.
If you had brought this up two months ago, I would’ve probably taken it into consideration, but now… You’ve been to the Land of Fragrance, haven’t you?” asked the Dragon King.
He was pretty sure that Shangguan Yun, the King of Xiaowan, had not been waiting here to form an alliance with him or been planning to secretly instigate a rebellion against him all this while. He deduced that Shangguan Yun must have taken a trip to visit his little sister in the Land of Fragrance.
“No one is more loyal to you than her,” sighed Shangguan Yun, his eyes contained a hint of melancholy.
This was the first time that he had expressed his disappointment at the failure to persuade someone.
“She’s not loyal to me or anyone. She just got tired of everything about the Golden Roc Fort.” Gu Shenwei explained.
It was not because of Shangguan Ru’s loyalty that he had decided to leave the Land of Fragrance in her care. Shangguan Ru was the Supreme King’s daughter and a very proud person. She was always ready to receive the homage of others but disdained to give her allegiance to anyone. She just kept feeling homeless since being banished from the fort by her father.
She had never sworn an oath of loyalty to the Dragon King and thus could never betray him. She took the Land of Fragrance as a property entrusted to her and was always disposed to return it to its rightful owner.
After hearing the Dragon King’s explanation, Shangguan Yun, who wore a smile on his face all the time, suddenly looked solemn and said, “You know her better than I do. No one in our family is able to understand her change, but on second thought, I think that she has never changed. She just needs more time to figure everything out.”
“Are you suggesting that she’s just like you?” asked Gu Shenwei.
Shangguan Yun had once hated his father’s guts, but now he was willing to forgive and even assist his father.
“No, Dragon King. You know the Golden Roc Fort is on the brink of collapse, and this is not because of you. Just as it says in the Wayless Book, ‘as a person gets increasingly stronger and kills more and more people, one day, he or she will have more enemies than friends. At that time, when even his or her own friends start fearing this person, this person is doomed’,” said Shangguan Yun, in a quite harsh but caring tone, as if the Dragon King were also one of his close relatives. “You believe it or not. I’ve told my little sister these words as well.
“I never intend to save the dying Golden Roc Fort. I just don’t want to see too many people going down with it, such as residents of Jade City and you, the Dragon King. Now, you still have time to save yourself, and I’m more than willing to help you out, as a way of atoning for my family’s sins.”
Gu Shenwei discovered in surprise that Shangguan Yun’s words had somehow inhibited his impulse to kill. Moreover, he found that Shangguan Yun was able to intrigue him into mulling over those ideas once he relaxed his vigilance, even if he did not believe or accept them.
It was then that he truly understood why this man could persuade his apprentices to betray him. It was just a piece of cake for Shangguan Yun to convert such a bunch of simple-minded teenagers.
Gu Shenwei glanced at the queen in the bed and the two killers on the ground, while thinking, “Shangguan Yun never intends to treat them kindly. In his eyes, they’re nothing but sacrificial lambs in his plan. So are my young apprentices who died during the previous actions. I have to pin the blame for their death on him.”“Where’re the other people locked up by you?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“They’re just outside. To show my sincerity to you, Dragon King, I didn’t kill anyone of them.” Shangguan Yun said, as he looked back at the passage behind him.
“Shangguan Yun probably have spent most of the past two months traveling back and forth between the Hui Kingdom and the Land of Fragrance. It’s not easy to avoid being detected by sentries of the Dragon army along the way while traveling.”
Gu Shenwei thought to himself while secretly channeling his strength and killing intent. All this while, he had been waiting for the best chance to attack, but it kept eluding him. Shangguan Yun talked on and on, seemingly oblivious to the Dragon King’s real intention, but he never let his guard down a little bit.
“Are they still my people?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“Yes, most of them are still yours,” Shangguan Yun said smilingly, resuming his relaxed and casual tone. “You’ve overestimated my demagogic power, Dragon King. Most of your people are very loyal to you, and only a few of them believed my words. I really admire your ability, Dragon King. I was deeply impressed by two children. There’s enmity between you and them, but they turned out to be your most loyal servants. Tut-tut, even the Golden Roc Fort can’t do this. We can manage to make our apprentices forget about their hatred toward the fort, but we can never make them serve the fort with a deeply-rooted hatred.”
Those two children mentioned by Shangguan Yun were Chu Nanping and Nie Zeng. The Dragon King had killed the former’s elder brother and the latter’s uncle and his entire family.
“And Hu Shining. That’s incredible. How did you do that, Dragon King? It felt so unreal to see a former training tutor of the Golden Roc Fort unswervingly serve you now, an enemy of the fort. He led such a large group of children to flee all the way from Shu-lik and even tried to assassinate me. Alas, I’m so envious of you having such a subordinate,” said Shangguan Yun.
Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei realized what had happened on the night when Chu Nanping had gone missing.
He thought, “Hu Shining probably led all the apprentices to leave Shu-lik for the Xiaoyao Lake region upon hearing that I’ve occupied the entire region, but beyond their expectations, when they entered the Hui Kingdom, they heard that the royal family of the kingdom had just received a distinguished guest from the Golden Roc Fort.
“Hu Shining was not likely to know who this guest was, so he decided to lure this person out to determine whether it was just a rumor.
“As such, he sent Chu Nanping strutting into the city without concealing his good looks. The training tutor must’ve believed that if the guest was really from the Golden Roc Fort, he or she would immediately notice that this young swordsman was the Dragon King’s bodyguard and send someone to assassinate him.
“After that, he and the other apprentices set up a trap in the alley where Chu Nanping lived and lay in wait for the enemy.
“To his surprise, this enemy was much smarter than he had imagined and had already figured out what he was planning to do, as this was one of the customary tactics used by the Golden Roc Fort.
“The details are not very important, but the result of this rivalty is plain to see. Hu Shining and his apprentices must’ve been caught on the spot by their enemy, and Chu Nanping fled. In the following days, the young swordsman must’ve been hiding somewhere in the city, hoping to find a chance to rescue them until he was lured into the ancestral shrine and got captured.
“Shangguan Yun managed to convert some of my apprentices and entice them into doing things for himself. When this was done, he left this city for the Land of Fragrance with Chipo and some other bandits. As a famous bandit and a man of connections, Chipo could create a safe passage for him before he walked out of Wushan.”
Shangguan Yun seemed to be particularly interested in the topic of loyalty and continued, “But when it comes to your loyal servants, no one is more faithful to you than Maid Lotus is. Did I guess correctly?”
“Have you met her?” Gu Shenwei asked, feeling as if something ominous was happening. “Shangguan Yun mentioned Maid Lotus in a very casual tone, which indicates that this is the topic that he most wants to bring up.
“Maid Lotus has been following Shangguan Yun all this time. Now that he has returned to the city, she must be near here already,” thought Gu Shenwei. It was this thought that had given him confidence to break into the ancestral shrine and the royal palace tonight.
Gu Shenwei was certain that Maid Lotus was somewhere around this place at this moment, since he had discovered an important fact: Han Fen’s sword was not the “Huan” sword anymore.
When he had first met with Han fen, she had been equipped with the “Huan” sword, but tonight he had discovered that her sword looked somewhat different from before and asked her to show him the sword outside the ancestral shrine. He noticed that the character engraved on its hilt was “Yun”and took this as a definite sign that Maid Lotus was back in the city.
As to Han Fen, she probably had never noticed that her sword had been replaced by another one.
“Maid Lotus must have a reason for still remaining in hiding,” thought Gu Shenwei.
Nevertheless, Shangguan Yun suddenly said, “She’s dead.” His tone was so deep and solemn, as if he was delivering the news of an important person’s death. “It’s a great pity that she died. She’s such an excellent killer and probably the best killer in the Golden Roc Fort’s history. She followed us for more than 40 days without alerting anyone of us until we returned to Wushan.”
What Shangguan Yun said did not sound like a lie. Gu Shenwei felt his heart throb upon hearing that but still managed to remain calm by thinking, “Well, let me see how good Shangguan Yun is at telling lies. The ‘Yun’ sword hung at Han Fen’s waist is the best proof that Maid Lotus is still alive.”
“In the beginning, I didn’t know that she was Maid Lotus, so I treated her as an ordinary killer. I organized three ambushes, trying to kill her, but I just ended up losing five subordinates. What an amazing killer she was. At that time, the only thing that could put her at a disadvantage was that she was alone, without a capable partner like you to cooperate with her. In the end, I had to put more effort into dealing with her, and finally, she fell into my trap in the Gulping Wind Gorge,” said Shangguan Yun.
“What happened next?” Gu Shenwei put a poker face on and asked, trying to delude Shangguan Yun into believing that he really bought this story.
“Well, there’s nothing much worth mentioning. The locals in the Gulping Wind Gorge were a little bit dissatisfied with you, Dragon King. With their help, I managed to kill all the trackers behind me. I’d never met Maid Lotus before. It was the locals who told me that this woman often appeared around you.”
Shangguan Yun paused for a moment while looking down at the ground to express his sincere condolences and then he continued, “Chipo confirmed that the dead woman was Maid Lotus. He said that among all your bodyguards, she was the one with the most superb kung fu skills and she also looked like the legendary Maid Lotus.”
Shangguan Yun said heavily, but in Gu Shenwei eyes, this only made the situation more hilarious. Even so, he still looked calm on the outside. He was much more versed in concealing his emotions than the Queen of the Hui Kingdom was.
“A killer in my team suddenly thought of a rumor. He said that Maid Lotus and you had once asked a blacksmith in Jade City to build you two swords and have your names engraved on the hilts of the swords respectively—”
Shangguan Yun paused all of a sudden, causing Gu Shenwei’s heart to pound again.
“So I checked the female killer’s sword and found a character ‘Yun’ on its hilt. It’s Maid Lotus’ real name, isn’t it? I brought the sword back.” Shangguan Yun tilted his head to cast a glance at Han Fen, who was lying unconsciously on the floor now, and then continued, “Last night, I replaced this crazy woman’s sword with the ‘Yun’ sword, thinking that I can finally trick you into this trap, Dragon King.”
The Dragon Head Sword was 15 centimeters out of its sheath.
Gu Shenwei could not help feeling astounded at the news but still managed to control himself not to take any further action, as this was not the best time to attack Shangguan Yun. He felt an emotional upheaval deep inside his heart, which was strong enough to destroy his willpower at any minute.
“Maid Lotus is dead? Is it true?” Gu Shenwei thought in disbelief. He was unable to fully trust her, but this did not prevent her from becoming his best partner. Only under her protection, could he have no worries about attacks from behind and both sides.
However, now the evidence was certain and the facts were clear. He did fall into Shangguan Yun’s trap.
Shangguan Yun’s eyes seemed transparently clear, but they were cold and emotionless, so was his heart. He had made an arduous effort to metamorphose himself into a different person. Now, he still had a deep insight into the world, but none of the things that he experienced in this world, such as killing, scheming, loyalty and betrayal, love and affection, could stir his heart anymore.
The Dragon Head Sword was completely out of its sheath.
Gu Shenwei felt that he could not wait any longer. He came to realize that when faced with Shangguan Yun, he could never get an ideal chance to launch an attack.
“Well, I can finally repay your favor.” Shangguan Yun was excited to see that he had provoked the Dragon King and said. “I’ll spare your life as a reward for you helping Wu Shengqing and Parro out.”
“But I want you to repay my kindness with your head,” said Gu Shenwei.
Thus, the duel began. However, Shangguan Yun and the Dragon King were not the only ones engaged in this fight.
