Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Fang Wenshi thought that he had already taken the people of the Central Plains seriously. He had sent out ten teams of horsemen, each of which consisted of at least five hundred people. The teams spread out in different directions, but maintained a close enough distance that they were still able to support each other when necessary. By all odds, it should have been more than enough to deal with the groups of martial arts practitioners that numbered no more than a couple dozen people in each group.
The mission went almost exactly how Fang Wenshi had anticipated. Wherever the horsemen went, most of the Central Plains people fled. There had been only minor skirmishes, but one of the teams had met a powerful opponent.
The powerful opponent was only a single man. When he approached them alone with his sword alone, the horsemen thought that it was ridiculous and therefore, didn’t take the advantageous tactic of shooting the other side, and instead drew their scimitars and decided to cut the arrogant challenger down from his horse.
By the time the swordsman had broken into the team’s formation, it was too late to start shooting.
The cavalrymen were ashamed to mention the scene of the battle, but the humiliation was clearly written on their face; there was no way to hide it.
The swordsman had written a character on the foreheads of more than seventy horsemen. Each time he injured a person, he would call out a number and force the other side to remember it so that in the end they would combine together and become another brief letter of challenge.
As soon as they returned to the camp, they were scurried away in a large tent and forbidden from going out by the counselor. But the rumor still spread quickly and uncontrollably.
There was still some time before dark, and Nie Zeng had nothing to do but sit in his small tent thinking how amazing this man’s swordsmanship was. But as a killer, he couldn’t ask around for details like ordinary people. And he also had no friends among the teenage killers with whom he could freely exchange his private opinions and thoughts.
He hoped that someone could answer his doubts. After thinking about it for a long time, he could only think of one person.
‘This isn’t a good idea,’ Nie Zeng thought to himself, but his body uncontrollably moved towards that tent. The Qingcheng Sect Leader wasn’t the only person he was interested in. Although the Dragon King and the counselor had not admitted it, everyone in the camp believed that the swordsman who had come and left without a trace was definitely Liu Qingpu.
A burst of clear laughter came from that tent. Although he knew that the other side was an old woman, Nie Zeng couldn’t help but blush whenever he heard the laughter. He was just about to leave when a man’s voice rang out, “Coming with high spirits and returning with a sour face? Little Bro, come in. We were just talking about you.”
Nie Zeng scratched his sideburns twice with his left hand before he steeled his heart and walked inside.
Sitting on the soft couch, Han Wuxian let her legs dangled gracefully to one side, her dress reaching her ankles. She had finally put on shoes which, however, were not the boots commonly wore by women of the prairie but rather a pair of tiny embroidered slippers.
Nie Zeng anxiously looked away.
Shangguan Yun, the owner of the tent, sat in a chair a few steps away and smilingly said, “It’s nice to have all the team members gathered again. Hall Leader Han and I were just talking about the next step to take in hunting the traitors of the Waning Moon Hall.”
“I’m afraid Little Nie won’t have the energy to follow us anymore as he’s the Dragon King’s bodyguard again,” Han Wuxian said politely. Compared to her usual soft and sweet voice, this could be considered a cold reception.
“I have the energy,” Nie Zeng hastily said, then added, “As long as I let the Dragon King know.”
Han Wuxian held her long hair in her hands and asked without looking up, “Is there something on your mind?”
“Hmm, a little bit.”
“Hehe, you came to the right person. Hall Leader Han is an expert in soothing anxiety.”
“What does that have to do with me? He’s here to see you.”
“No, no, I’m here to see… Hall Leader Han, as well.”
There was a little bit more of a smile on Han Wuxian’s face. She swept Nie Zeng aside and said in her usual gentle voice, “You are in love.”
Nie Zeng blushed. “Nonsense, I don’t…”
Shangguan Yun clapped his hands and laughed before saying, “Little Bro doesn’t need to blush. Even I am enchanted by a beauty like Hall Leader Han.”
“You are the one talking nonsense.” Han Wuxian didn’t get angry but instead sighed lightly. “How can an old lady with disheveled hair compare to a little girl with jewel-like eyes?”
Shangguan Yun remembered who Han Wuxian was talking about. “Tie Linglong, the bodyguard of the Dragon King? Brother Nie and her are a perfect match. But arrogant little girls are everywhere while there’s only one ‘old lady’ in the world who has both top-notch martial arts skills and a perfect temperament.”
Seeing the two flirting and digressing, Nie Zeng interrupted, “I was actually going to ask you about how good… the Dragon King’s kung fu is…”
“Why do you care about that? That’s not something we can casually talk about.” Shangguan Yun was slightly surprised, and even his voice lowered a bit.
Nie Zeng, whose face was still red, looked quite resolute. “Both of you said that you were not subordinates of the Dragon King. Why can’t you talk about it then?”
Han Wuxian laughed and said, “I like this kid but he won’t carry me around anymore.”
Nie Zeng said nothing, for fear that this madwoman would take the chance to digress again.
Shangguan Yun coughed and said, “You are a killer. You should know that the Dragon King has never been a martial arts master, but he’s a master in killing. So, what do you want to know?”
“But one’s killing ability is relevant to one’s kung fu level, isn’t it? In the Western Regions, the two are clearly distinguished, but for the people from the Central Plains, they seem to be the same thing.” Nie Zeng knew very well about the difference between a killer and a regular martial arts practitioner, but the things he had seen and heard since coming to the Royal Court had changed his mind and also made him a bit puzzled.
He had went to Shangguan Yun for answers because he had heard that the third young master of Golden Roc Castle had traveled a lot of places in the Central Plains when he was young.
Shangguan Yun opened his eyes wide in amazement and said to Han Wuxian, “I’m beginning to like him too.”
Han Wuxian smiled without a word, leaving the responsibility of answering the questions to Shangguan Yun.
“Even in the Western Regions, kung fu and killing cannot be completely separated,” Shangguan Yun seriously explained, no longer regarding Nie Zeng as an ignorant teenager. “Golden Roc Castle has the best killers and the best martial arts skills.”
“But they never killed the Dragon King.”
Shangguan Yun let out a long sigh. “This was a mistake of the castle. To put it bluntly, everyone from the Unique King to the ordinary killers, including me, made a series of grievous mistakes. When the Dragon King fled with Lotus, we only felt humiliated and few people took the two killers seriously. At that time, the Unique King had already begun to make plans for hegemony, so he entrusted the task of hunting the two down to the saberlord under him. It turned out the Dragon King escaped unharmed, but all his pursuers died.”
Shangguan Yun did not smile this time. He was a person who was willing to reflect on his mistakes and didn’t hide them. “The Dragon King stole the Daoless Scroll, and no one knew where he found the Grand Enlightenment Sword Sutra. These two amazing kung fu manuals had a greater impact that the mistakes made by the castle, and for a long time, the pursuers all regarded the Dragon King as an excellent killer. No one expected that his martial arts skills were far beyond that of an ordinary golden roc killer’s. If the Dragon King didn’t have these profound martial arts skills as his foundation, he would still have a long way to go.”
“The castle found out about it later.”
“Yes. But lots of things had changed in the castle by then. The Unique King no longer wanted to be the Assassin King anymore. He wanted to turn the title he received in Jianghu into a real royal title. And the first step of his long-term plan was to play down the role of the killer. Lots of energy was spent on building an army. But change cannot be achieved overnight, and there will always be a difference between a killer and a soldier.”
Shangguan Yun’s arms were bent with his palms facing upwards. He shook his head as he smiled as if he were reflecting on the childish mistakes he had made when he was little. “The Dragon King was very lucky. He experienced the most hesitant stage of the castle, and Heaven was also watching over him and helped him find the Land of Fragrance when he was on the run. That’s it. The fact that the Dragon King lived to this day is not purely due to his superb martial arts and killing skills. The most important factor was luck. If you want to know how good the Dragon King’s kung fu is, I can only tell you that his luck is the best.”
“You are the third young master of Golden Roc Castle.” Nie Zeng wasn’t so easily fooled. “So you refuse to acknowledge the power of the Dragon King.”
“Hehe, of course. Believe it or not, it’s up to you. But there are some facts that no one can contest. The Dragon King is still in his early twenties and he has practiced kung fu for no more than ten years. He doesn’t have any other special kung fu manuals besides the Grand Enlightenment Sword Sutra. Unless you believe that the sword sutra is invincible and can be mastered in a short time, no one will believe that the Dragon King’s kung fu is the best.”
Nie Zeng thought for a while and then asked, “Everyone is talking about the swordsmanship of the Qingcheng Sect Leader. Who’s better, him or the Unique King?”
“No wonder you would come to me. I happen to have a lot of connections with the Qingcheng Sect and know a little bit about this Sect Leader Liu. If I’m not mistaken, his sword techniques are not as good as those of the Unique King and are probably comparable to the Dragon King’s.”
“But he can accurate write characters on a horsemen’s forehead with his blade. Isn’t that amazing?”
Han Wuxian interrupted, “I can perform even more magical martial arts, but I would never dare to say that I am more formidable than the Unique King.”
Nie Zeng was still dwelling on what they had said when Shangguan Yun smilingly said, “Stop thinking about it. Sect Leader Liu isn’t a mediocre kung fu practitioner, but he isn’t a top-notch master either. The one who wrote characters on the soldiers’ foreheads with a sword can’t be him.”
“Can’t be him?” Nie Zeng was very surprised. He had already formed a mindset that that person was the Qingcheng Sect Leader.
“At the very least, it’s not Liu Qingpu, the Qingcheng Sect Leader I know. Writing characters on someone’s forehead with a sword is just a gimmick, but this person can freely come and go in front of five hundred horsemen. Both his courage and martial arts are absolutely first class. I really hope to see him compete against the Dragon King, and you’ll also get an answer to your question then.”
“The Dragon King will accept the contest,” Nie Zeng blurted out. Even he himself did not know why he was so sure about it. Then he turned to Han Wuxian, bit his lip and hesitated for a while before asking, “Can you teach me your lightness skills?”
Shangguan Yun smiled and didn’t say anything. This kid still didn’t believe in Golden Roc Castle. He would rather take the Hall Leader of the Waning Moon Hall as his Master than learn the Unique King divine power.
Han Wuxian wasn’t surprised at all. “Will you eat tonight?”
“Of course.’
“Then I’ll also teach you the lightness skills and many other amazing kung fu skills so that you can defeat the little green-eyed girl and her pretty little follower easily. But I have one condition.”
“I’ll get another rattan chair.” Nie Zeng had thought of it long ago.
“Good boy, go ahead. I’ll need it soon.”
Nie Zeng walked out of the tent. He wanted to become more formidable but it had nothing to do with jealousy. His target was the Dragon King.
Someone else, however, became jealous. Old Man Mu suddenly jumped in front of him and pointed his fist at him. “What’s the madwoman doing in his tent?”
“I don’t know.” Nie Zeng dodged aside nimbly and quickly walked to the Dragon King’s tent. It was getting dark and he still had to perform his duty as a bodyguard.
Tie Linglong arrived earlier than him who looked coldly at him and whispered, “The Dragon King doesn’t need two bodyguards. Let’s choose a date to have a competition where the loser has to quit automatically.”
“Good.” Nie Zeng also coldly replied, but suddenly dared to look into that pair of green eyes. He secretly blamed Han Wuxian for instilling an idea into his mind. How could he like this insolent and arrogant little girl?
The two walked into the tent and happened to hear the counselor ask in bewilderment. “A female slave left to the Dragon King by the Khan? What does that mean? Is the Dragon King accepting the challenge because of her?”
