Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Fu Yuan was a very realistic person. He had profitted a lot with the hypnotism taught by the eleven disciples. He also secretly supported King Kuari, and King Dari had no idea about that.
The eleven disciples only wanted to pass down their master’s divine kung fu. They did not care about what purpose it was used for.
“King Dari has no hope. Thanks to me, he didn’t expose the plan to the Khan. But the fact is that he has lost his mind and will only get worse. I can’t put my future in his hands,” said Fu Yuan.
Fu Yuan did not feel guilty about his betrayal, saying, “I earned King Kuari’s trust a year ago, but he asked me to stay with King Dari and pretend to be against him. The Khan doesn’t like one lord to be stronger than the others, so King Kuari needs an enemy that looks powerful, but is actually weak. King Dari fits that standard.”
“So, you can understand why King Kuari also wants the Khan to die early. In case King Dari is exposed, King Kuari will have to face the new rival appointed by the Khan. And the newly emerging forces are always difficult to deal with. You, for example, Dragon King,” he continued.
As the “confession” went on, Fu Yuan became more and more relaxed. From time to time, he would drink some water or touch a test subject with his crutch to manipulate them to abuse themselves, not caring that the Dragon King was watching. It was like a bored child torturing insects, not for fun, but to kill time.
“Snatching the granddaughter of the Supreme King was a show. We planned it for three purposes. First, it would show people that the two lords were still on bad terms with each other. Second, Golden Roc Fort would get a bad reputation from it, which is still better than obscurity. Third, King Kuari and Golden Roc Fort believed that it was about time to let people know that they were allies. As far as I know, Golden Roc Fort has been working for King Kuari for a long time. In my opinion, it must have been Golden Roc Fort’s idea to invite the Dragon King to Norland only to frame the assassination on you,” Fu Yuan went on.
Golden Roc Fort would certainly benefit a lot from the alliance, but Gu Shenwei could not figure out what King Kuari would gain from it. Fu Yuan swore that he also had no clue, saying, “King Kuari is the only mutual contact in the alliance. He talked with each ally separately, and the allies avoid talking to each other as much as possible to avoid suspicion.”
At last, Fu Yuan advised the Dragon King, as if he were a close friend, “This is how things are. Everything has been arranged and the Khan will not live much longer. Many people, including several lords, are involved in the assassination plot. As for the details such as time and means, they have nothing to do with me, and I won’t inquire about them.”
“Dragon King, face the reality. Even if you run away, you will still be suspected of the Khan’s death. It’s well known that you have the best killers. Winning the tournament against the three lords will make you look even more guilty,” he advised.
“In my opinion, you’d be better off running away, though. Guilty or not, at least you can save yourself. After the Khan dies, Norland will be in chaos for several years. Everyone will surely talk about revenge, but they will fight against each other first to compete for the crown. The Dragon King will still have time to find a way to protect himself in the chaos. If I had a good place like the Land of Fragrance like you do, I wouldn’t be afraid of anyone,” he continued.
Suddenly Gu Shenwei raised his saber for the second time, and another cut aappeared on Fu Yuan’s face. He was terrified again and cried, “You, you…”
“No more tricks! Answer my questions honestly,” Gu Shenwei demanded. He was familiar with the tricks of Immortal Peng. Fu Yuan had only learned a little of it and was now trying to use it on the Dragon King, who had seen through him from the very beginning.
Fu Yuan was both angry and scared. He wiped his face with his hand, looking at the blood on his hand and trembling. As King Dari’s favorite eunuch, he was used to special treatment. Even King Kuari treated him with respect in order to win his loyalty.
“What else do you want to know?” Fu Yuan asked, trying to sound tough, but he could not help trembling.
“What’s special about the Tournament of the Royal Court this year? Why does everyone want to be the champion?” asked Gu Shenwei.
Fu Yuan did not want to answer, but the shining saber forced him to. “It’s very simple, in fact. The Dragon King would understand the importance of this year’s tournament if you knew more about the customs of Norland. In the past several hundred years, every time a Khan died, Norland has fallen into division and chaos. There have been no exceptions. The people on the grassland respect the strong. Even the heir designated by the Khan needs to prove his strength in a real fight,” he answered.
“This year’s Tournament of the Royal Court is a good chance. The champion will win admiration and respect from the Norland people, thereby gaining a huge advantage in the melee that is about to begin. I didn’t understand this kind of thing when I first arrived in Norland, either. But now, I have to preach to King Dari these platitudes every day and I’m finding that they are really useful. King Dari can’t beat King Kuari, but there are still many people who are unwaveringly loyal to him,” he continued.
“But then again, honor, admiration, and respect — these things only work for the offspring of the Khan. It’s useless for the Dragon King to have them here. In my opinion, the Dragon King has been unwise in challenging the three lords,” he concluded.
“King Rizhu is not of the Khan’s bloodline, but he is also very enthusiastic about the Tournament,” Gu Shenwei pointed out.
“True, but he is the brother of the Khan’s first wife. The Queen’s family needs him to guarantee their position in the court. I am sure that on King Kuari’s crowning ceremony he will have to announce that he will marry a woman from the Naihang Tribe as his first wife,” explained Fu Yuan.
“What about the riots in the slums?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“That was a prelude to the Tournament of the Royal Court. The lords have recruited too many kung fu masters to participate in the Tournament, and some have to be eliminated in advance,” Fu Yuan answered.
“Who was the winner?” asked Gu Shenwei
“Each had his own gains and losses. After all, it was only a prelude. Real masters don’t live in the slums,” said Fu Yuan.
“What was King Kuari’s brother, Kuo Zhen, doing in the slums?” Gu Shenwei asked.
“You got me. King Kuari doesn’t tell me everything. I don’t talk to his other allies,” said Fu Yuan.
The blood on Fu Yuan’s face was dry now, giving him a ferocious look. He had given up his efforts to control the Dragon King with his tricks. Having been the spokesperson for King Dari for a long time, there was a lord’s tone in his speech. It was as if his statements were all voluntary, rather than being forced out by a saber.
Gu Shenwei decided to stop his questioning. Although he had not gotten all the answers he wanted and was sure that Fu Yuan had not told the complete truth, he had to let it go. If he kept pushing, the eunuch would have to die.
The five victims were still standing there, dumb and stiff. They had been tortured for so long that they would probably never be normal again.
Gu Shenwei raised his saber for the third time, and Fu Yuan’s crutch was broken in two.
Daylight had broken when he returned to the Dragon Army’s encampment. He summoned Fang Wenshi and told him what he had learned from Fu Yuan, omitting that Shangguan Ru was missing. Fu Yuan had no information about that matter, anyway.
Fang Wenshi was convinced that the Dragon King was correct again, but he found some errors in Fu Yuan’s story. “Fu Yuan must have lied. I don’t believe Golden Roc Fort is just a minor factor in their plot. The Supreme King must have bigger ambitions. The lords need someone to kill the Khan, and Golden Roc is the best candidate to do that. The price for the killing must be very high,” he said.
“Yeah. Fu Yuan tried to persuade me to run away from Norland. He also tried to talk me out of the Tournament of the Royal Court. It seemed like he had already prepared those words in his mind. And last night’s action was incredibly successful, but probably not because of my luck,” said Gu Shenwei.
Fang Wenshi thought for a moment, then said, “So, there won’t be a war between Norland and the Central Plain.”
All the forces in Norland were busy preparing to grab the legacy of the Khan. Under those circumstances, they wouldn’t want to launch a large-scale war.
“It makes sense,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Who is the mole that was bought by the Central Plain?” asked Fang Wenshi.
They had betted against this. Gu Shenwei said it was King Dari and Fu Yuan. Fang Wenshi believed it was King Rizhu. The appointed date had passed, and no one had found clear evidence of either.
“Anyway, you won,” Gu Shenwei admitted. Their original agreement was that if both of them were wrong, then the Dragon King would lose the bet. Fu Yuan was obviously not a mole, otherwise, he would not have tried to persuade the Dragon King to escape from Norland as soon as possible.
Fang Wenshi smiled without any joy. He was still thinking about the current situation. “It’s such a mess. I actually think Fu Yuan’s words are very reasonable. Maybe fleeing back to the Western Region is, indeed, the only viable option,” he reasoned.
“That will only stall the crisis, and make me seem more guilty of the Khan’s death,” said Gu Shenwei.
Fang Wenshi shook his head, as if denying some ideas, one after another. Finally, he said, “Then there is only one choice left.”
He looked at the Dragon King, and the Dragon King looked at him. Then both of them said at the same time, “Protect the Khan.”
Fang Wenshi smiled, shook his head, and said, “What are we doing? The so-called ‘most loyal’ Norland people are planning to assassinate their own Khan. We outsiders even haven’t met the Khan in person, but we still have to find a way to save him.”
Despite complaining, Fang Wenshi immediately conceived a plan. “The Khan’s second wife wants to bring the Dragon King to her side. The timing is perfect. We should use her to send out a warning message, and with her help maybe we will be able to meet the Khan in person before Golden Roc Fort does,” he suggested.
“But she also wants to use me to kill,” said Gu Shenwei.
“So what? As long as she does not ask us to kill the Khan, the other people don’t matter. In a crucial time like this, only extreme measures can be taken. But, we have to take advantage of a woman again. The Dragon King won’t care too much, will he?” said Fang Wenshi.
“I’m not from Norland,” replied Gu Shenwei.
Fang Wenshi understood Gu Shenwei’s meaning and smiled. Then he said, “The second wife of the Khan is not a simple person. The Dragon King asked me to inquire about her background, so I have acquired some information about her. At first, nobody in Norland dared to talk about her… until they saw the money. Actually, this woman has a small connection to the Dragon King.”
He stopped for a minute to let the Dragon King become more interested, and then continued, “She is the woman who almost became the daughter-in-law of King Rizhu, and the reason why the Seventh Prince of the Central Plain fought against King Rizhu’s son. She also benefited the most from Gu Lun’s murder of Wang Sun.”
Fang Wenshi still thought that the Dragon King was named Yang Huan and that his father was a servant of the Gu family, so he had not taken this information very seriously.
Gu Shenwei, however, was alerted by the information. He remembered that New Moon Hall’s poison was involved in Gu Lun’s murder case. The woman who had benefited most from the murder was exactly the person he should have suspected.
