Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The belated doctor did not come in handy. All he did was remind the chief of the camp to burn the body as soon as possible because the old monk’s death was somewhat abnormal.
Indeed, Fayan was like a lamp that had run out of oil, his thin body as skinny as a skeleton. Kumie and several others were so scared out of their minds by the sight that they ran out of the tent and chanted sutras, regretting that they hadn’t obediently left earlier.
The monks, who didn’t remember that they had lost consciousness for a moment, were under the impression that Fayan’s appearance had changed in the blink of an eye.
Xu Yanwei was also scared, as she dragged Shangguan Ru away while running away.
As night fell, a deep Sanskrit chant came from the big tent. Shangguan Ru liked the sound but could not calm the confusion in her mind. She began to doubt whether she had really understood Fayan’s last request.
Why did Fayan want to destroy the Death Sutra through killing when he had always opposed all killing? Shangguan Ru felt that she might have thought too much. Even if Fayan really had the intention of doing so, she didn’t have to do it. Like the senior monk, she intrinsically believed that the Dragon King and Lotus weren’t incurable devils.
And the more salient point was Shangguan Ru was no match for the two at all.
Fayan’s internal energy was very powerful but the portion he had transferred into Shangguan Ru’s body was only seventy or eighty percent of his total power. Although it was much more powerful than the Daoless Divine Power that Shangguan Ru had before, it had not yet reached the peak and Shangguan Ru couldn’t use it right away. She could clearly feel that there was a hard core inside her Dantian, and with each grand cycle of her internal Qi, the hard core would melt a bit and turn into internal Qi. According to a rough estimate, it would take at least a few months to finish the whole process and right now she could only exert ten to twenty percent of the power.
Even if she could regain full control of power in the end, Shangguan Ru was not a match of the practitioners of the Death Sutra Swordsmanship. There was no chance of winning for a person who had no killing desire when he fought against two people who were full of killing intent.
Fayan had given her his internal energy but also a task that she could not complete.
Shangguan Ru shook her head and temporarily cast away the burden in her mind. As the bitter taste lingered in her mouth, she missed the wine again.
It was late at night, and the other three women were fast asleep. Queen Ju was tossing and turning as if she were complaining about the harshness of the conditions even in her dreams.
Shangguan Ru slipped out of the tent. She couldn’t find any good wine so she could only use another way to relieve her depression.
Regaining the ability to leap onto roofs and vault over walls was so pleasurable for Shangguan Ru that she even felt a little guilty about Fayan who had just died.
Ten or twenty percent of internal energy was enough for her to perform forty or fifty percent of her lightness skills but she was still careful to not alarm the guards in the camp as she leapt out of the outer picket fence and left the poorly defended prison.
Although she was unwilling to accept it, Shangguan Ru had to admit that Old Man Mu’s saying that kung fu could really make a person free was true.
She made a large circle around the prison area and checked the terrain before she followed the original route to return. She would keep her promise and escape with the three women.
Just then she noticed a man sneaking out of the camp. Shangguan Ru’s first reaction was to not meddle in others’ affairs, but the bald head made her change her mind.
With the dim moonlight, Shangguan Ru could recognize that the man was Kumie from the big tent.
Kumie was also a prisoner, so how could he walk out of the camp freely?
He had no idea that there was someone watching him nearby and he walked quickly, obviously very familiar with the route. After several turns, he arrived at the smallest camp in the prison area, which was also the only vacant camp.
The Immortal Master had waited for a while. Though expressionless, the silence itself showed his impatience.
“Fayan… Fayan is dead.” Kumie appeared a bit timid.
“I know.” The Immortal Master was apparently not interested in the news.
“But he… didn’t leave anything.” Kumie’s voice was trembling.
“It was your idea to keep all the monks together, and it was also you who assured me that you could persuade Fayan to hand over the Sumeru Mustard Divine Power.”
“Fayan is very cunning…”
“I thought you were more cunning.”
“Yes, yes… Well… Oh, I see, Fayan has secretly given the divine power to the woman of the Land of Fragrance.”
“Hmm.”
“Women are easy to deal with. As long as we do something… I’m pretty sure she will hand it over soon.”
“Do you think it’s because of my kindness that I’ve been doing nothing these days?”
“We don’t have to do anything special.” Kumie wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand and continued, “It’ll be just like the first day. Just use a bit of aphrodisiac… Fayan is dead now, and no one can stop the effects of the drugs.”
“Try to find another way. Do not use these means anymore.”
“Why?” Kumie was surprised.
“It’s none of your business. Go to those women, pretend to help them escape and beguile them into handing over the Sumeru Mustard Divine Power and the Daoless Scroll. If you can’t do it, prepare to stay here forever.”
Kumie, like a wild dog wounded in a fight, stooped low and stumbled away.
The Immortal Master held his thick coat about him and didn’t move for a long time.
“Women,” he muttered, “are unpredictable.”
A shadow came out of the tent behind him, “Will we always be controlled by that woman?”
“She likes to hide in the shadows, so let’s just hide in her shadow. Since she wants the whole world to be in chaos, it’s also a good chance for us.”
“What’s she gonna do to the Dragon King’s women? Arresting them, but not punishing them.”
“Do not guess. Whatever choices she makes, she’s going around in circles. It doesn’t matter to you or me.”
“The Dragon King has killed six more families.”
“Alas, there are only six people left. The Essence Pavilion is almost gone.” The Immortal Master turned around and then said with a rare touch of excitement in his voice, “You may be the only one left in the end. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Your kung fu will grow stronger and stronger. When you kill the Dragon King, remember to tell him that the Immortal Peng will never die. When you kill that woman, tell her that no matter how divided the Essence Pavilion is, it is still one.”
“I will.”
The Shadow held the Immortal Master and walked to the tent.
Shangguan Ru felt a chill in her heart.
She recognized that the person was Wild Horse, and the weird thing was that the voice had come from the Immortal Master alone, even as she knew that the woman they were talking about was Lotus.
Six of them had died and there were still six left. It turned out that Wild Horse had joined the Essence Pavilion and become the Immortal Master’s dual cultivator. They had sought refuge with the Waning Moon Hall but in the meantime had made plans to kill Lotus.
Shangguan Ru snuck back to her tent and woke the other three up one by one.
“I have a plan to escape from the prison, and I’ll do it tomorrow night.”
Queen Ju immediately sobered up and asked, “Can you guarantee the safety?”
Xiao Fengchai firmly believed in the ‘Tenth Gongzi.’ “No matter what the others do, I’ll go with you.”
Xu Yanwei yawned, “Tomorrow night? Let me sleep for a while first.”
Shangguan Ru’s plan was to leave the prison as a nun.
Early the next morning, Queen Ju brought Xu Yanwei and Shangguan Hong with her to personally visit the nuns in another tent. She listened to their preaching and promised to support them.
After this meeting, the nuns’ respect for the Queen had reached the point of flattery.
Xiao Fengchai tactfully made the chief of the camp produce his waist token and show it off. “With this, you can go anywhere in the Royal Court, even the palace.”
Though the chief’s words were a bit exaggerated, Xiao Fengchai was sure that this waist token would be very useful.
In the end, stealing the waist token was left to Shangguan Ru. She didn’t tell the other three that she had regained some of her powers but instead said that she had received the relevant training before and that she was sure of succeeding.”
Shangguan Ru wasn’t idle either while Queen Ju and Xiao Fengchai were busy.
That morning, Fayan’s body was cremated in the camp. Not many people attended the funeral, and Shangguan Ru was the only woman among them.
Lianqing knelt down and wept bitterly. Kumie sighed while shaking his head.
Shangguan Ru thought that Kumie would take this chance to approach her and perform the task the Immortal Master had assigned him but it turned out that he didn’t even look at her.
Shangguan Ru finally understood the Kumie’s whole plan at the end of the cremation.
After several monks took their leave, Lianqing stood up and that hoped he could find the Sarira of his Master but only found a few charred bones. He put them into his robe before putting his palms together to salute Shangguan Ru. “Benefactress, please show some mercy.”
“What do you mean, eminent monk?”
“I’m not an eminent monk. I can’t settle the score. So please tell me who injured my Master. I want revenge.”
Shangguan Ru shook her head and responded, “Fayan didn’t want revenge, so he didn’t tell me anything.”
In fact, she had already figured out who did it. As a very powerful kung fu master, very few people could injure Fayan in a normal kung fu competition. Only an unscrupulous killer might be able to sneak attack him successfully. Amongst all the disciples of the Essence Pavilion, only Wild Horse had a chance to do so.
Shangguan Ru didn’t give her speculation, because this was against the last wishes of Fayan.
Lianqing looked down and thought for a while, “I can always find out. But I have one more presumptuous request. Did my Master… give you something before he died, or tell you some secrets?”
Shangguan Ru immediately understood that Lianqing was asking for Kumie.
‘Has Lianqing betrayed his Master?’ Shangguan Ru quickly understood that Lianqing had no need to betray his Master and that he was just being used.
Kumie clearly knew that he couldn’t gain the trust of the four women, so he used the idea of revenge to persuade Lianqing. And he would find a way to snatch it away after Lianqing got the manual of the divine power.
“Uh, your Master did give me something,” Shangguan Ru deliberately said in a hesitating tone. She didn’t lie, but what Fayan had given her couldn’t be passed on to anyone.
“I know that Master doesn’t want me to improve my kung fu, but I have to rely on it to get revenge. The one who injured my Master must be an expert, so…” Lianqing plopped on his knees and bowed his head in silence. He felt ashamed of his request but believed that he didn’t have a choice.
Shangguan Ru appeared to be in a very awkward position and finally said, “I can’t just hand over the legacy of Master Fayan, but… If you can find a way to get us out of here, I can tell you an important secret.”
Lianqing’s eyes lit up, and he stood up and said, “Master has passed away so I don’t have to stay here any longer. Just wait for me to figure out a way to get you all out of here.”
The one who was going to ‘figure out a way’ was Kumie. He would set a trap, wait until the four women believed they were safe and told him the secrets, and then take them all back to prison.
Shangguan Ru just wanted to use the first half of the trap as she would carry out her own plan in the second half.
Everything went just as planned. Shangguan Ru suddenly thought of the Dragon King, wondering whether he would have a better idea in such circumstances.
In the evening, ‘Lianqing’s way’ had not come out, and a few others things happened as well, which spoiled Shangguan Ru’s plan.
Two more women were sent to the camp, causing a stir. And Azheba, who had not shown up for several days, appeared at the same time and claimed that he had a way to save them, but only one.
