Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The night was deep and dark, and the camp lights which were normally brighter than the stars were unlit tonight. Most of the camp was immersed in darkness so pervasive that the faint yellowish halo of the Dragon King’s tent was very conspicuous.
There was no officer urging the soldiers and servants to work. This evening, they mourned in the dark.
While Liman was running over, he had happened to see the Dragon King fighting with Old Man Mu, and an audience numbering in the dozens standing in the doorway. In addition to the guards of the Dragon King, there were also curious soldiers from the Court Attendants Army.
He squeezed into the tent and initially wanted to say something but stopped on second thought. Instead, he sat down and quietly watched the unexpected kung fu competition.
It was not so much a competition as Old Man Mu’s performance. He was showing off all of the fist and foot techniques he had learned. And instead of using all the skills of a set of technique, he would change from one to another after a dozen or so moves. As he performed them, he commented on each one mainly for the Dragon King’s edification. The audience also learned a lot from the demonstration and kept nodding in agreement.
The only problem was that he spoke so quickly that the many people who were trying to follow along could not enjoy the competition in front of them.
“This’s the Five Form Fist, and has nothing to do with the Five Hole Punch, nor the five elements of metal, wood, earth, water, and fire. It’s the five styles of tiger, leopard, bear, wolf, and crane. The tiger form functions as the commander-in-chief, the leopard the vanguard, the bear the main force, the wolf the auxiliary force, and the crane the ambusher. When all these forms are added up, they become a completed army, grand and magnificent… Ehh, if you don’t like it, then…”
Gu Shenwei still didn’t draw his saber. He was focusing on adjusting his tactics based on what he had learned, from relying on his nimble footwork to having steady movement patterns. The style of his palm attack was still very simple and bland but it was slowly becoming more and more powerful. Old Man Mu actually had less and less room to twist and turn as they continued battling.
“Not bad, not bad. You should have tried this earlier. You are still playing around like a killer. It’s alright if you have a saber because then you can kill the enemy in one attack, so the faster you move the better. But you are barehanded now and can’t finish the opponent off in one move, so you have to play both the offensive and defensive lines. Now, look at my ‘Seven Circles Flower Picker.’ Just from the name, you can tell that it’s a kung fu skill of the madwoman of the Waning Moon Hall. It’s called a ‘picker,’ but it’s actually a hidden steel needle. The needle is poisonous so I won’t show it off here, but this set of techniques has a lot of unique and complicated moves like a woman’s heart. Do not let my finger touch you or you will be the one to lose…”
Liman watched for a while and felt that it was the time to pass his message on. He raised his voice slightly, and called out, “Dragon King, the lords will come into the camp soon and the candidate to be nominated by the officers has been decided.”
These were the two most pressing matters in the camp and even the fanciest martial arts skills couldn’t compare to news of their resolution. Most of the soldiers who were watching dispersed and the guards brought by Shangguan Ru also began whispering to each other.
Seeing that the audiences were gone, Old Man Mu also lost his interest, crying out, “Take my Heart Stopping Finger, it’s over!”
The cry drew a lot of people back in.
Old Man Mu’s skills in fist and foot were much better than Gu Shenwei’s. As he finished his words, he had already made a complete turn around the Dragon King and poked out seven times in a row. After using all his techniques, he leaped to Shangguan Ru and breathed out, “Heh heh…”
He had a bellyful of boastful things to say but was only able to let out a short laugh before he flopped to the ground and shivered. He used his right hand to prop himself off the ground, stood up, and exclaimed in a hoarse voice, “Strange!”
Old Man Mu could only exert sixty to seventy percent of his full power but his fist and foot techniques were still far ahead of the Dragon King’s. Gu Shenwei had removed several of the fiercest finger energy instilled into his body but he still had two acupoints that were sealed.
Gu Shenwei stood still, so no one knew that he had been frozen. He channeled his internal Qi several times to unblock it but failed, so he could only order, “Help me restore my acupoints.”
Only then did the crowd know that the Dragon King had been defeated. Shangguan Fei was particularly surprised, who took a deep breath and wondered if he should give up the Five Hole Punch to learn the Heart Stopping Finger.
Old Man Mu was not at ease either. He had struck seven times but as a price received seven strands of frosty Qi in return. Daring not to fight against it, he guarded his heart meridian. There was still a bit of it remaining, so he feebly said, “The Dragon King’s internal energy is too strange, and I, Old Man Mu can’t use his internal Qi. Good girl, I can only bother you for a favor because of everyone here, only you know the Heart Stopping Finger besides me.”
Seeing that Shangguan Ru was still skeptical about it, Old Man Mu shivered again, his face seemingly frosting over. He pointed to his throat as if he suddenly could not speak.
Shangguan Ru walked to the Dragon King, feeling calm but also feeling her body heating up for no reason. She first poked the Dragon King in the chest to check the sealed acupoints and also the nature of the internal energy. Then she poked twice to restore them and immediately retreated to the side.
Gu Shenwei glanced over Shangguan Ru’s head and held his breath for fear of blowing her hair or inhaling that familiar smile.
He could move now, and the first thing he did was to take back his saber and sword. With them, kung fu masters like Old Man Mu would no longer dare to approach him.
Without noticing the little drama hidden in the scene, Liman immediately walked up to him and said, “The lords may have arrived at the camp by now.”
“Hmm, who’s the new candidate?”
“A captain called Tuershan.” There was a hint of dissatisfaction in Liman’s voice. “He’s the least controversial, but he’s not a… nobleman.” Liman lowered his voice as he said the last word but his discontent became even more evident.
Most of the officers of the Court Attendants Army were from noble families and occupied almost the entire upper echelon of the army. The ordinary soldiers could only rise to the rank of centurions at most no matter how many contributions they made. But by tradition, one of the ten captains was always picked from ordinary soldiers since he would have no support from a noble family and though would be the weakest in the Norland, would also have the fewest enemies.
“Isn’t that for the best? He may be the best person to mend the division.” Gu Shenwei pointed out the contradiction in Liman’s excuse. Liman had realized the split between the commoners and the nobles of the Norland but he himself placed lots of importance on pedigree.
Liman sighed. “I hope so. Anyway, he won’t be chosen… Azheba and the others are on the move.”
If the mutiny was successful, then the Court Attendants Army would be divided and no one could be the Commandant; if the mutiny failed, the Commandant would be one of the other four, and Tuershan wouldn’t even have a chance.
“Everybody, stay in the tent and light up another lamp,” Gu Shenwei ordered. “Let’s continue practicing the fist technique. Shangguan Fei, go fight with Old Man Mu.”
The first two orders were fine, but the Dragon King’s insistence on continuing to practice the fist technique really baffled everyone.
Shangguan Fei liked to guess at the Dragon King’s ideas so he was the first to get it, whispering, “If they make trouble, then we’ll practice kung fu. This is the so-called self-concern, so that no one can blame us later.”
That was pretty much what Gu Shenwei meant, and he also really wanted to patch his weakness in fist techniques. Though it still caused pain to its master, the frosty Qi had turned from a hidden danger to a weapon,. He had gotten used to it, and the biggest problem for him was that he lacked the subtle techniques to easily infuse it into the enemy’s body.
The soldiers who were watching the fight all dispersed, and the remaining dozen or so either sat or stood in a ring. Two lamps were lit on the left and the right side. Old Man Mu rubbed his hands and said, “Well, Old Man Mu can play again. Shangguan Fei, get ready to be beaten.”
Shangguan Fei understood the Dragon King’s goodwill, but he really didn’t want to fight with Old Man Mu because it would be troublesome for him no matter if he could defeat the other side or not. Standing at where he was, Shangguan Fei stammered, “I’ve already fought with the Dragon King. My sister hasn’t played yet, and her kung fu has always been better than mine…”
Old Man Mu began to stare at him, and the skin around his eye sockets became much smoother. “How dare you disobey me? How dare you! Come, before I have to enforce military law…”
Two riders dismounted from their horses in front of the tent and rescued Shangguan Fei from his predicament.
Dressed in a monk’s attire, Lianqing was completely out-of-place in the military camp. He looked ferocious as if he was full of pent-up anger. Without greeting anyone, he directly strode to Shangguan Ru. No one knew he was going to protect or fight her.
Fang Wenshi was full of sweat and panted heavily. He glanced at the monk and ran straight to the Dragon King while muttering ‘All is well’.
The kings had entered the camp. The two of them finally slipped inside as part of his entourage. Instead of going to the main tent, they directly came looking for the Dragon King.
“I’ll have a word with the counselor. Everybody stay outside and don’t wandertoo far.”
Shangguan Fei heaved a sigh of relief. “Let’s go. It’s cooler outside.”
Gu Shenwei then turned to Shangguan Ru, “Please stay.”
Shangguan Ru, who had taken a step out , was a bit surprised but still stopped.
Liman hurried to ask, “What does the Dragon King want me to do?”
“You have to make your own decision.”
Liman did face a choice. If he stayed, he would be the Dragon King’s man and have nothing to do with the mutiny; if he helped, he would get involved in a battle that had little chance of winning.
“They are my friends,” said Liman with difficulty.
“I understand.” Gu Shenwei did not regard Liman as a subordinate so he would not order him around.
Looking at the rapidly disappearing Liman, Shangguan Ru was a bit hesitant. Those officers, in a sense, were also her ‘friends,’ but she decided to stay.
Fang Wenshi came into the camp with Lianqing but now he just looked at the other side and refused to talk.
Lianqing glared back and said, “What? You want me to leave here? No way!”
Shangguan Ru could only open her mouth. “Monk, I’ll just stay here in the tent. Do you think that I can disappear into thin air?”
Gu Shenwei said nothing but Lianqing defiantly shot a glance at him before reluctantly walking out of the tent.
“What’s wrong with this monk?” Fang Wenshi asked in a low voice, “He insisted on entering the camp and said that he would kill anyone who dared to stop him.”
Shangguan Ru smiled bitterly. “It is all my fault, because… For some reason, he believes that part of his Master’s soul is on me, so…”
“So he wants to keep an eye on this part of the soul to prevent it from getting away?” Fang Wenshi felt it was unbelievable.
“Pretty much.” Shangguan Ru did not care. She didn’t tell anyone that Fayan had transferred his internal energy to her, and only ambiguously revealed a little bit to Lianqing, which was what had caused the other side’s misunderstanding.
Fang Wenshi shook his head. “Do the monks also believe in this kind of stuff?” Then he turned to the Dragon King, “May I say it?”
“Go ahead.” Gu Shenwei replied.
Shangguan Ru’s heart moved a bit, knowing how much trust there was in those two simple words.
“King Riying accepted the Dragon King’s proposal to form an alliance. He had hoped to raise the price but changed his mind as soon as the Commandant died.”
Fang Wenshi had been busy with finding a new ally these two days and had finally fished up some good results. Gu Shenwei was relieved because he could carry out his original plan now, which was a series of killing.
