Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Shangguan Ru had never wanted to train killers in the Land of Fragrance, so although Red Bat had learned the lightness skills and the rules of performing missions at night, she didn’t have the ability to improvise according to changing circumstances that a killer had.
She came here to rescue the instructor but found that the things were not quite the same as expected. Flustered, she had surprisingly carried Old Man Mu and run to the Dragon King to report the situation.
“Go.” Gu Shenwei ordered.
Red Bat followed the order and left. The tall Taoist priest who was competing with Shangguan Fei shouted, “You can’t go, leave Old Man Mu behind.”
Well, there was nothing he could do about it.
The elegant-looking Taoist priest said, “Dragon King, Old Man Mu is a disciple of the Jade Pure Sect and we have no grudge against you. He has done so many evil things, why Dragon King asks for trouble? Give him to us, and the Jade Pure Sect owes you a favor from now on.”
This was the way people of the Central Plains spoke. The word ‘favor’ was a magic word. Its importance could be significant or trivial, not only depending on the sincerity of the speaker but also depending on the degree of cooperation of the other side. People who were well-mannered to others would receive kindness and favors. The so-called ‘courtesy demands reciprocity’ worked this way.
After moving to the Western Regions for many years, Gu Shenwei still remembered the rules of his homeland, so he thought for a while before saying, “Alright, let’s stop at the same time, we can talk about Old Man Mu later.”
The five Taoist priests nodded. Although the Dragon King and Shangguan Fei’s internal energy had been in a defensive position and couldn’t pose a threat to their lives, it was really eerie and they would rather get away from it as soon as possible.
The elegant-looking Taoist priest was obviously the leader of the five, “I’ll count the numbers one, two, and three and all of us withdraw at the same time. Is that okay, Dragon King? Shangguan Fei?”
Gu Shenwei said ‘yes’ for the two of them. Shangguan Fei could barely nod but he was very pleased with the suggestion at heart.”
“One.”
Shangguan Fei felt that the old Taoist’s counting was too slow.
“Two.”
The elegant-looking Taoist priest deliberately spoke in a dragging voice to buffer time for everyone.
“Three.”
The last call was clear and decisive. Regardless of whether it was a plot or not, Shangguan Fei immediately withdrew both the yin and yang internal Qi, which caused him to stagger back and almost sit on the ground.
The seven people finally broke free. The disciples of the Jade Pure Sect all heaved a sigh of relief. The elegant-looking Taoist priest coughed and got ready to ask for Old Man Mu. Since the Dragon King knew to quit while he was ahead, he believed the negotiation would go well this time.
Although Gu Shenwei knew the Jianghu rules of the Central Plains, he didn’t want to abide by the rules.
He attacked again before the elegant-looking Taoist priest opened his mouth and spat out a word.
This time, Gu Shenwei didn’t want to compete for the internal energy, so he drew the Five Peaks Saber.
The weakness of the Jade Pure Sect’s lack of external martial arts skills was shown clearly at the moment. Breathless, they were all flustered, showing no elegance of kung fu masters at all in the face of a sneak attack. The tall Taoist priest was the most talkative, his mouth not idle while he was jumping up and down, “Cheat! You cheat!”
Gu Shenwei, however, didn’t think he was cheating, or he didn’t think it was wrong to cheat. From the moment he entered Golden Roc Castle, he had been rolling in the mire of conspiracy and had long accustomed to the smell of the mud and regarded it as good medicine for the body and mind.
The tall Taoist priest had the weakest kung fu and therefore, became the breaking point for Gu Shenwei.
Ten moves later, when the five Taoist priests had just stabilized their foothold, the tall priest got cut and shouted ‘I’m dead’, and fell.
Other Taoists hesitated a bit between saving people or fighting back, revealing more flaws.
In a moment of time, Gu Shenwei had rushed behind the elegant Taoist priest and knocked him out with the saber hilt and dragged him to retreat quickly. In several jumps, he had disappeared into the night. It was too late for the disciples of the Jade Pure Sect to catch up when they finally realized what had happened.
Shangguan Fei did react but he was a bit slow. Early in the Dragon King’s first move, he had thought of the fact that his task had finished and he could run away, but he was afraid of being blamed by the Dragon King so he waited for a while, which resulted in being left behind by the Dragon King.
Shangguan Fei was just about to jump up before he was surrounded by three Taoist priests. The Jade Pure Sect’s external martial arts skills were poor but Golden Roc Castle didn’t pay much attention to fist and foot techniques, so it would be a close match for both sides. It was just that Shangguan Fei didn’t want to fight at all when facing three kung fu experts alone.
“Heh heh.” Shangguan Fei hoped his smile could show a little kindness and also cover his miseries at the moment. “Dragon King knows you’re not going to kill me. I’ll go join the warrior contest tomorrow for him, so he will exchange me with the old Taoist.”
The tall Taoist priest didn’t die. He touched his ear and found half of it was missing and it was bleeding, so he covered it with his hand and jumped up, “Dragon King has taken senior brother away!”
“I see.” Dao Huo, the Taoist priest who first came out to compete with Shangguan Fei, said impatiently. Then he turned to Shangguan Fei, “You said Dragon King would save you but I don’t think so. You are all despicable people who don’t keep their promises.”
“Yeah, we’re despicable, but you can’t call yourself fair and square by kidnapping Old Man Mu.” Shangguan Fei smilingly argued, not wanting to offend these people or to be despised without cause.
“Old Man Mu is a disciple of our Jade Pure Sect …”
Shangguan Fei seemed to suddenly understand and nodded, “I see. You can be more strict with your fellow disciple.”
“Of course, just as parents discipline their children, beat them up or scold them if they have to.”
“Needless to say, Dragon King must have taken you as his own sons.”
Shangguan Fei regretted as soon as the words were out. The Taoist priests weren’t like jokers and didn’t have the mood to win a verbal fight when their senior brother was kidnapped. His quick wit could only turn their shame into anger.
“I’ll take you to the Dragon King.” Shangguan Fei had no intention of suffering an immediate loss, “I have to remind you that the Dragon King is a snobbish man. If I’m injured and can not attend the warrior contest tomorrow, he will definitely abandon me and you won’t get your senior brother back.”
It was much easier for the Jade Pure Sect to control a captive. The long-bearded Taoist priest came forward and poked an important acupoint in Shangguan Fei’s chest before he could resist. Shangguan Fei immediately found his internal Qi stagnated in the meridian. Although he could still walk, he couldn’t use his internal energy to attack or run away.
“That’s cool.” Shangguan Fei praised sincerely. “We don’t have such acupoint striking techniques in the Western Regions. Look at Dragon King, he can only knock out people with the saber hilt, it’s really inferior to the divine kung fu of your honored sect.”
“Lead the way!” The long-bearded Taoist priest ordered, uninterested in his flattery.
Shangguan Fei walked towards the Dragon Army camp in the noble district while thinking about how to get away. He couldn’t guarantee that the Dragon King would agree to exchange him with the Taoist priest. “You’ve seen my internal energy. It’s not bad, is it?”
“Unorthodox, just so so.”Shangguan Fei chuckled without arguing. He had heard it clear that that guy named Dao Sheng admired the Three-in-One Power very much and it was not ‘just so so’ at all. So he insinuated that he was willing to hand over the manual if the Taoist priests made a reasonable offer.
Shangguan Fei not only talked in a roundabout manner but also walked in a zigzag way. Dao Sheng realized the problem first and questioned, “Stop. Where are you going to find Dragon King? We already went through this place once.”
“Really? I’m not familiar with the road here, and now it’s dark …”
The tall Taoist had his ears bandaged and scowled at Shangguan Fei, “Dragon King has acted treacherously and you love to cheat as well. I’ll cut you up into pieces if I can’t get my senior brother back.”
“Taoist Master, don’t get mad and break your discipline because of people like me. Although Dragon King is a little treacherous, he is very reasonable and values the friendship between us very much. Actually, he kidnapped senior brother to inquire about my sister’s whereabouts and had no evil intentions. Otherwise, he would have killed people long ago for his temper.”
“Your sister, the woman of the Land of Fragrance?”
“Yes, we came together to check my disease last time, you’ve peeped at her.”
The Taoist priests frowned. They did see her at that time, but they didn’t like the word ‘peep’, not to mention that they were mainly looking at the Dragon King, not the woman.
“What does it have to do with us if your sister is lost?”
“Ehh? Old Man Mu was my sister’s lackey. Since he was in your hands, my sister was obviously kidnapped by you too.”
“Jade Pure Sect never kidnaps!” The tall Taoist priest shouted, agitated. Maybe he was too agitated that he fell to the ground heavily.
Having suffered setbacks all night, the Taoist priests were all filled with pent up anger. So they reacted much faster when being attacked again. They jumped to their feet and rushed off in three directions. Everyone felt that their judgment was the most accurate.
Shangguan Fei spat out his tongue and thought, ‘No wonder I’ve heard it since I was a kid that an excellent killer can kill martial artists who had much better kung fu. The curs of the Jade Pure Sect are so careless. They even forget to leave a man to guard the captive after being tricked.’
The tall Taoist priest was still alive and was struggling to get up. Without hesitation, Shangguan Fei immediately ran away. Although his internal energy did not work now, his intuition told him to head straight for the camp with densest tents and hide in shadow. Then he quickly moved away from where he was like a nocturnal cat and found another relatively better place to hide and kept still.
Shangguan Fei’s heart thumped wildly. This was the first time for him to cooperate with a killer, so he was really afraid that he did it wrong.
Ever since he left the camp of the Jade Pure Sect, he had been looking for a suitable ambush site. As soon as he found it, he began circling around. If the Dragon King wanted to save him, he would get the hint left by him and set a trap at the road junction.
As expected, the trap was triggered when he circled back to the junction.
This was a means of Golden Roc Castle. Shangguan Fei didn’t understand the specific process, but he knew that his acupoint had been sealed and running away randomly would only expose him. He must hide somewhere and wait for the Dragon King’s rescue.
The four Taoist priests angrily searched the enemy and captive around. The nearest distance between them and Shangguan Fei was actually within ten steps. If they stayed a little longer, they could even hear Shangguan Fei’s uncontrollable gasps.
A patrol of the Norland Cavalry was coming. The horses’ hooves sound very clear in the quiet night.
The Taoist priests of the Jade Pure Sect could only retreat.
Shangguan Fei finally heaved out a sigh of relief after the cavalry passed. Actually, he could walk back to the camp himself, he just hoped that the old Taoist priest had used an ordinary acupoint striking techniques to seal his acupoint and would not leave any further aftereffect.
The cavalry rushed by. Shangguan Fei turned abruptly and looked with amazement at the sudden appearance of a man, who was not the Dragon King. “Shangguan Yun … Third brother.”
Shangguan Yun held up his finger to his lips and said in a low voice, “Little brother, Golden Roc Castle has come to save you.”
Not far away, Gu Shenwei silently watched. He did return to rescue Shangguan Fei but didn’t expect that Golden Roc Castle had taken action before him.
