Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
This was the blow Han Wuxian had been waiting to unleash for a long time. Her right claw had already touched Lotus’s back when she spat out the word “traitor.” Meanwhile, her long hair was spreading and creeping towards Lotus’s whole body.
She thought she had calculated everything perfectly, but she didn’t expect the Dragon King to adjust so quickly.
Gu Shenwei couldn’t stop the saber in his hand. To him, this was like a game of tag where all of the players were trying their best – due to the short distance separating each player, both the chaser and the chased were tapping into the full extent of their ability, to the point that they couldn’t even feel the passage of time. But in the eyes of an outsider, everything happened in the blink of an eye, where decisions had to be made instantaneously; and yet for the players, that decision was impossible to make because all of their attention was focused on one spot, pushing out any other thought.
This saber attack Gu Shenwei made was aimed right at Lotus, but Han Wuxian, who was behind Lotus, felt that the heavy pressure seemed to be actually aimed at her. After all, the scene and pressure that a player felt was completely different from a spectator’s. Han Wuxian had seen Old Man Mu and the others falling down like patches of grass, but it was not until she personally faced the pressure of the saber and the sword herself that she realized that she had underestimated the strength of these two people.
Lotus was right under her nose, and it would only take her an extremely brief moment to infuse the secret arts’ energy into Lotus’s body and regain control of Lotus, allowing her to get revenge in whatever way she wanted afterwards. But she hesitated. She knew that the Dragon King’s saber would definitely pierce through Lotus, and she didn’t know whether or not he would show mercy to her.
Han Wuxian would undoubtedly regret this momentary hesitation in the future, but in that instant, this was an instinctive reaction that she was unable to consciously affect.
The tip of the saber clashed with the tip of the sword and Lotus started shooting backwards as fast as an arrow shot by a strong crossbow.
Han Wuxian felt something slip out of her hand. Noticing that the prey she had waited so long to catch was about to flee, she severed the inopportune hesitation, flexed her five fingers and finally firmly gripped Lotus’s shoulder, her long hair entangling Lotus’s arm at the same time.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With one stab, one simple stab, Gu Shenwei would be able to finally remove the sting in his heart once and for all.
The look in the middle of the mask was still cold, yet the killing aura had disappeared – that was Lotus’s original symbol.
Gu Shenwei would never be able to figure out whether it was a moment of kindness or if it was the sudden disappearance of Lotus’s killing aura that affected his mentality. Either way, his supposedly lethal stab unexpectedly transformed into a common stab and lost its lethality, which was originally like that of a venomous snake’s tongue.
Yet Lotus didn’t give up her struggle for survival. She had already backed up to a position parallel to that of Han Wuxian’s. She grabbed the enemy’s forearm with her left hand and wielded her sword in her right, ignoring completely the saber which en route to her chest.
The seemingly endless chase between the two had finally come to an end.
Lotus arduously fled into the wilderness, leaping up and down like a giant bird, yet her speed remained amazingly fast.
Han Wuxian stood where she was, her long hair now shortened, the broken strands drifting around her. Her right forearm was covered with blood and there was even more blood in her hand, but she seemed indifferent. A rare grave look had appeared on her face. As she looked into the direction that Lotus had fled, she didn’t pursue, and neither did the Dragon King.
The wound in her forearm didn’t seem to influence her at all. After a short while, Han Wuxian opened her right hand, in which there was a piece of flesh – Lotus’s flesh.
“You want to eat me, and I want to eat you.” Han Wuxian’s voice was still gentle, and her characteristic smile had also reappeared. Then she put the piece of flesh in her mouth, produced several pills with her left hand, and swallowed them altogether.
Gu Shenwei felt an overwhelming nausea overcome him. Ever since that time when he had met the giant roc and moved the bodies in Golden Roc Castle, he hadn’t felt anything like this for a very long time.
He tried very hard to control the muscles of his whole body, determined to not show any signs of weakness before this woman. In the relationship between them, any sign of weakness could be a potential flaw that might upset the balance of power, so he resolutely stared at Han Wuxian.
“The little bastard’s going to escape!” a voice yelled from behind.
Wild Horse hadn’t died. He was grievously wounded, but was still mobile. After dashing into a murder of crows, under the cover of the darkness, he quickly vanished.
Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher had also survived. As they laid on the ground, watching the Dragon King in surprise, they simultaneously asked, “Why didn’t you stop him?”
Gu Shenwei couldn’t answer. He had a potential health risk that Lotus didn’t – the frosty Qi. He had been keeping it well controlled, and he could even utilize it to attack his enemy, but when he was faced with strong enemies, it became excessively stimulated. Now, he was trying his best to suppress it and was on the verge of Qi deviation, so he wouldn’t risk pursuing Wild Horse in this state.
This was also another flaw that he didn’t want the others to know about.
Gu Shenwei didn’t answer the two’s question. He kept staring at Han Wuxian as if this was the first time that he had seen her.
Han Wuxian was also looking at him. The smile on her face grew bigger, but the blood on the corner of her mouth only doubled the eeriness of the smile. “I thought that the Dragon King could kill her.”
“I thought that Hall Leader Han could stop her.”
“Ha-ha. Anyways, you stabbed her, and I scratched her. It should take her a long time to recover from that. It’s a pity-” Han Wuxian glanced at her wounded right arm before continuing to say, “She also took a piece of my flesh, which will allow her to produce enough antidote for two years’ use.”
In the Waning Moon Hall, there was no such thing as faith. Loyalty was completely based off of the threat of drugs, and Lotus was no exception. Back when Lotus had first joined Waning Moon Hall, she had consumed Han Wuxian’s Blood Coagulation Pill, and when she had imprisoned the Hall Leader, she had also forced Han Wuxian into consuming the pills. The flesh of the pill-owner was an irreplaceable ingredient of the antidote.
Dog Butcher hadn’t seen the dreadful scene, so he couldn’t understand what Han Wuxian was talking about, but Old Man Mu could guess what had just happened. He struggled to stand up, struck his own acupoints to stop the bleeding and then walked towards Han Wuxian with a hand feebly clamping his chest as he said, “Woman, your blood is precious. Don’t let it flow in vain. Come, let me stop the bleeding.”
Han Wuxian raised her right arm again and licked the wound a few times. Now, half of her face was stained with blood and it looked like she was wearing a red mask. Surprisingly, the bleeding stopped.
Upon seeing this, Dog Butcher widened his eyes and jumped up instantly, completely forgetting about his injuries. “How did you… This is…”
Under the light of the rising sun, Han Wuxian seemed to be glowing ephemerally. In a gentle voice, she asked, “Do you want me to stop the bleeding for you?”
Dog Butcher shook his head violently and instantly struck his acupoints to stop the bleeding.
Old Man Mu’s response was opposite, and he crooned out, “Ouch, I’m still bleeding. Woman, would you please do me a favor?”
A delighted smile appeared on Han Wuxian’s face as she answered, “With pleasure. I still remember your blood being very delicious. I hope that the Seven Rotations Skill hasn’t changed flavors.”
Old Man Mu recalled the horrible things that happened back then when they were in bed. With a shake of his body, he jumped beside the Dragon King, “Never mind actually. I’m much smaller now, and I don’t have as much blood left. I think I’ll keep it.”
Then he raised his head and looked at the Dragon King as he prasied admiration, “Saber-sword cooperation. Dragon King, if you cooperated with Lotus, you two would be invincible. If you had learned the secrets earlier, I would have been dead in the desert a long time ago. Death Scripture, Death Scripture. What a fucking evil kung fu.”
“Don’t ever say the words ‘saber-sword cooperation’ again,” Gu Shenwei replied coldly. Old Man Mu had only seen the strength of the saber and the sword, yet he didn’t know the price the users had to pay. Besides, Gu Shenwei clearly knew that he and Lotus would never have another moment of “cooperation” again.
Gu Shenwei walked towards the bodies scattered all around on the ground. Although Dog Butcher was seriously wounded with a large part of his chest soaked by blood, he was still wielding his saber and driving away the excited crows mobbing the bodies. He didn’t know these people, yet he couldn’t stand by and watch their bodies be desecrated.
Luo Qibai’s kung fu was the best, yet he had died the most violent death, with seven or eight long wounds crossing across in his body, his eyes wide open, and a look of incredibility on his face.
Between Old Man Mu, Dog Butcher and Wild Horse, none of them had kung fu skills as good as Luo Qibai’s. The reason why they had survived was because they didn’t have any intentions to kill, and they had went down immediately after entering the central maelstrom. Regardless of who hit them, they didn’t make any struggle and went down easily.
Among the more than ten corpses, someone was still breathing.
Li Tongsheng had first been stabbed by Luo Qibai, and then after receiving a few more hits from the Dragon King’s saber and Lotus’s sword, he had also went down fairly quickly. But he was grievously injured, and even a god wouldn’t be able to stop his bleeding.
Gu Shenwei removed his mask, lowered his head and looked at Li Tongsheng in total confusion as he asked, “The Heavenly Mountain Sect works for Golden Roc Castle now?”
“Hee.” Li Tongsheng struggled to let out a laugh as he spat out, “The Unique King’s just one man, and Golden Roc Castle’s just one castle. They’re nothing in comparison to Jade City. Yet the Dragon King will never understand, since the only thing you care about is your hatred. Can’t blame you though – you’re from the Central Plains after all.”
Gu Shenwei was puzzled. “Does the Heavenly Mountain Sect have a score to settle with people from the Central Plains?”
Li Tongsheng gave out two short coughs, each accompanied by a lot of blood spilling out. “I should’ve killed you, but your kung fu… It’d be a pity to kill you. Go find Old Hong in the blacksmith village. He’s been…”
Li Tongsheng’s eyes gradually dimmed as his words were cut short.
Old Hong was a blacksmith, one of the founders of the Heavenly Mountain Sect. Gu Shenwei still remembered him.
Watching the bodies on the ground and the countless crows flocking above, Dog Butcher became more and more flustered. This was different from the martial arts world in his imagination. “Dragon King, what should we do? These birds won’t leave.”
Old Man Mu answered the question for the Dragon King and said, “They’re having breakfast. Why do you want to drive them away? Be polite, okay?”
Looking towards the north, Gu Shenwei said, “We have to go. People are going to arrive soon. Leave the crows to them.”
Dog Butcher glanced in that direction and did see a group of people progressing towards Reincarnation Hill quickly. Yet there were more and more crows coming, and a few vultures were also circling in the sky now. It was very likely that the bodies would be eaten up before those people arrived.
“The soul rises to the Ninth Heaven, and the spirit falls to the Ninth Abyss. The living suffer in grief, and the dead settle in peace.” Unprompted and unintended, words fell out of Gu Shenwei’s lips, and then he turned around and left.
Following behind the Dragon King and Han Wuxian, Old Man Mu turned his head and yelled, “Idiot. Do you want to be held responsible for their deaths? Life, death, and reincarnation follow a cyclical pattern. What’s the difference between being eaten by birds and being eaten by underground worms?”
Dog Butcher believed that there was a difference, but the only thing he could do was turn any upward-facing bodies over so that, hopefully, the group of people would still be able to identify them when they arrived. The remarks that the Dragon King had made before leaving had left quite a deep impression on Dog Butcher, so he kept repeating those words to himself as he turned over the bodies as if they were some kind of incantation.
But he knew that this time, neither the dead nor the living would rest in peace. Apart from everything else, the Luo Village was not a small sect that would let things go easily.
Walking at the front, Gu Shenwei was thinking about the same thing that Dog Butcher was. He desperately wanted to figure out the purpose of the people of the Central Plains and the Heavenly Mountain Sect, as well as why Golden Roc Castle had not participated in this battle.
