Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Upon hearing that the Dragon King had met with the military counselor of the Heavenly Mountain Sect with only two attendants, Zhong Heng was taken aback. “No offence, Dragon King, but this was… rather reckless. Though the ceasefire is still in effect, it’s still possible that Golden Roc Castle would breach the agreement, launch an attack, and then find an excuse to shift the responsibility away. In that case, Wei Song will only thank the Unique King instead of holding a grudge against him.”
“Zhang Ji wouldn’t dare kill me at the headquarters of the Heavenly Mountain Sect because he clearly understands that the truce was only reached under the supervision of the Central Plains. No matter how ‘grateful’ Wei Song is to the Unique King, he won’t kill someone to keep someone else’s mouth shut. Besides, Zhang Ji is also counting on me to defeat Madam Meng.”
“But won’t the Unique King punish him? After all he wasted such a good opportunity.”
Gu Shenwei shook his head. “The Unique King needs Zhang Ji, and Zhang Ji will also find an excuse for his mistake.”
Zhong Heng still believed that the Dragon King had a bad habit of making especially risky moves. Though he had spent several years in Jade City, he knew little about the relationships between people in Golden Roc Castle, so he couldn’t help himself from shaking his head repeatedly. “Is this Zhang Ji’s hatred towards Madam Meng really so deep that he would rather ally with enemies than her? The Unique King… It’s really difficult for me to believe that something like this would happen to somebody like him. But I can also understand. Golden Roc Castle has been a powerful organization for decades, so there must be a lot of pent up hatred among those people inside it. Alas, neither the Central Plains, the Norland, countries in the Western Regions, not this small Golden Roc Castle can escape from the fetters of internecine struggles. This is one of the main reasons why I’ve taken the Dragon King’s side.”
Grabbing onto this opportunity, Zhong Heng briefly flattered the Dragon King, but Gu Shenwei knew very clearly that there were also people around him who held grudges against each other. The reason why this was not very obvious was because it had only been a few years since he had become a force to be reckoned with. Zhang Ji had already told him, as if he were making a prediction, that the Dragon King would also believe in destiny after a few more victories.
And not only would the Dragon King believe in destiny, but he would also organize an imperial court and appoint officials. More and more people would gather around him, which would require him to balance their powers by using one side to counterbalance another. The old Khan had done this, and so too did the Central Plains. Back when Gu Shenwei had been helping Zhang Ji arrange books and scrolls in White Clothes Yard, he had found that all the previous Unique Kings had adopted the same tactics as well.
Gu Shenwei took a calm, dispassionate view towards this issue, and he made no judgement about the other powers. In fact, he had already been experimenting with counterbalancing the powers of his subordinates. After he took Golden Roc Castle and Jade City, he would set about creating a balance of power at a more precise level.
Currently, he only wanted to defeat his opponent in a close battle.
“No matter what, Zhang Ji provided valuable advice. He knows the Unique King well, and he knows the situation inside Golden Roc Castle even better, which is an advantage that nobody else has.” Gu Shenwei didn’t praise the wisdom of the counselor on the opposing side in front of Zhong Heng.
Indeed, the Dragon King had returned safely and unharmed. It was almost daybreak, and Zhong Heng had nothing else to say about this, so he gave out two short coughs and began to report his recent accomplishments. “I had an audience with the deputy envoy of the Central Plains and disclosed part of the situation to him. He was very interested in it. Since the envoy was assassinated, then this visit of his to the Western Regions has been in vain. As the deputy envoy, not only has he made no contribution, but he also might have to accept part of the responsibility. Thus, he’s very willing to catch some corrupt officials to make a contribution.”
Wei Song’s guilt of accepting huge amounts of bribes was not useful for the moment, so Gu Shenwei said, “Tell me more about that Zhang You.”
“Zhang You is no mediocre official. The deputy envoy told me that Zhang You was nominally a mere eunuch servant who was appointed by the Emperor himself, and who didn’t have much power in the royal palace. But in reality, he acted very haughtily in the envoy’s team. Ma Lian was very polite to him when he was alive, and he never treated him like an attendant. If my guess is right, then Ma Lian had already switched from his previously neutral stance to being a minion of the Empress Dowager. It was just that he didn’t expect to still be sacrificed.”
Gu Shenwei nodded, his view of the situation clearing up.
“With regards to Wei Song’s plan, I also have a speculation,” Zhong Heng continued. He knew that he needed to state all the various possibilities one by one, and then the Dragon King would correct him. “Under normal circumstances, the Dragon King would accuse the Governor of the Western Regions of hiring killers from southern Jade City, but this accusation requires evidence, and if necessity arises, you’ll have to give Madam Meng’s name. In that case, the Unique King will become nervous and naturally take Wei Song’s side.”
“After that, there will be another confrontation. In order to clear his name of suspicion, Wei Song will invite someone more righteous to be the witness, like an eminent monk of the Four Noble Truths Temple. He might also invite Madam Meng. Anyway, Madam Meng will stoutly deny ever saying those words to the Dragon King. The Dragon King will have to judge for yourself which side Shangguan Fei will take in that case.”
“And then Madam Meng, the Unique King, and Wei Song will join hands and try to pin the killer to… Madam Luo and Dragon King. The Unique King will be indignant. He might even publicly launch an attack out of anger, and everybody will forgive him afterwards because, after all, the Dragon King has committed the crime of framing others as well as raping the Mother Lord before that. In that case, the Unique King will get to kill Dragon King, Madam Meng gets to eliminate Madam Luo and her son, and Wei Song gets to have his revenge. Everybody gets what they want.”
Zhong Heng’s deduction was reasonable, and though he was unable to guess some of the details, such as how they would convince the people that the murderer was Luo Ningcha’s subordinate and how they would involve the Dragon King in it and thus expose the “adulterous” relationship between the two, the outline was clear.
Even Gu Shenwei couldn’t have had a more detailed speculation. “What if I don’t mention the assassin and instead shift the blame onto Zhang You? In that case, Madam Meng won’t be involved.”
“The evidence is key. From Zhang You’s identity and status, I’ve speculated that he was the one who divulged the secret, but I can’t say this in public because we have no direct evidence at all.”
Zhong Heng was right. There was nothing that Gu Shenwei could do. “Then we have only one option remaining.”
Zhong Heng lowered his head and thought for a while. Actually, he had already made his decision, but the experience that he had accumulated through so many years told him that while he should scramble to make suggestions when the occasion was right, there were still some key words that could only be uttered by the Dragon King himself. “The Dragon King didn’t break any promises or breach any agreements.”
“Yes. All I have to do is stand by and let the Unique King frame the Waning Moon Hall. Then, the Dragon Army and Golden Roc Castle will join hands to hunt Lotus down.”
When the Dragon King was saying the words “hunt Lotus down,” his tone was so bland that Zhong Heng became greatly relieved. “There’s only one unpredictable flaw of this plan. No matter how many plots those women in the Waning Moon Hall have secretly set up, they’re still a bunch of nobodies in the eyes of the Central Plains. It’s possible that even if we manage to frame them for the assassination, it still won’t be enough to quell the Central Plains’ anger, and they might still dispatch armies to the Western Regions.”
“We’ll have to count on Prince Xiao then. But after this issue is addressed, I need you to return to Xiaoyao Lake and muster the army immediately. Then, you need to send some scouts to the Loulan Kingdom, which is in the easternmost area, to collect intelligence. If the army of the Central Plains is really coming, then the Dragon Army will make the first move and take Jade City.”
“Yes,” Zhong Heng answered as he bowed. The Dragon King had made the right decision. He should have taken Jade City several months ago, and now all this time had been wasted. However, there was nothing that they could do about it. They had to make an effort when they had a better choice.
There were 10,000 Golden Roc troops outside of Jade City and another 10,000 to 20,000 outside of Thousand Horsemen Pass. The army of the Central Plains was 20,000 strong, but half of them were at Dugu Xian’s command, so there was a chance that the Central-Plains army would stay neutral. The Dragon King’s army was 20,000 strong, and Xiaoyao Lake could provide about 30,000 to 40,000 more soldiers, and there might be more coming from the Shule Kingdom… Zhong Heng had begun calculating the troop numbers of the two opposing sides, believing that it was viable for them to take the city first.
Then dawn broke. There was about four hours before the deadline that had been imposed three days ago. Wei Song had someone deliver a message to the Dragon King, requesting an audience with him in the Four Noble Truths Temple at noon. Gu Shenwei agreed.
After working day and night while seeking clues, he had merely managed to find out about the enemy’s trap which he had to avoid. Gu Shenwei was rather disappointed. With regards to the Waning Moon Hall and Lotus, both of which were about to be sacrificed, he didn’t think much about them, since their crazy plans were a threat to everybody. They had to be eliminated sooner or later.
Lotus’ strength would increase drastically after she finished dispersing her internal energy. She might not necessarily be invincible like Han Wuxian had said she would be, but she would definitely be powerful enough to preserve her line in any circumstance, and nobody would be able to stop her.
Her imparting the Death Sutra Swordsmanship to others still rankled Gu Shenwei. Though the swordsmanship had been altered, and most people had learned it from Wild Horse, Lotus was the source, and at least two people, Wild Horse and Shangguan Hong, had directly it learned from her.
A sense of jealousy, like that of a child’s, rose within Gu Shenwei. He had thought that the saber-sword cooperation between him and Lotus was irreplaceable, but all the signs indicated that Lotus was trying to cultivate a partnership with someone else, who was more in favor with her.
As usual, he stopped himself from thinking too much and started circulating his Qi to rid himself of any sleepiness.
An hour later, Tie Linglong, who had received an order to meet Luo Ningcha, came back with a lot of messages.
“That woman,” Tie Linglong exclaimed angrily. She couldn’t understand how a woman so hateful would exist in this world while so many men scrambled for her. “She said that the armor that the Dragon King gave her was too old, not uniform, and even worse than the previous armor that the Iron Mountain Army had, and that she was too embarrassed to meet her subordinates. She asked you to ‘figure something out,’ and also said that Prince Xiao would surely have handled this in a better way if he were here. She was so annoying.”
“Ignore her,” Gu Shenwei had kept his promise and sent some armor to the Iron Mountain Army, but both Xiaoyao Lake and the Shule Kingdom were expanding their armies, and the troop numbers had been steadily increasing. This meant that there was now a shortage of armaments, so he was unable to provide Luo Ningcha with the “shiny, uniform, and awe-inspiring” armor that she had imagined she would get.
Tie Linglong also wanted to ignore her, but the anger in her refused to subside. If it weren’t for the fact that the Dragon King had forbidden her from fighting, she would have taught that woman a lesson on the spot. “And then I asked her whether anybody was missing in the Iron Mountain camp. She actually knew nothing about it and just kept saying ‘my 3,000 cavalrymen.’”
The Iron Mountain Army only had around 2,000 troops or so, and they didn’t even have enough warhorses. But in Luo Ningcha’s imagination, they were still “3,000 cavalrymen.”
Tie Linglong complained for a while and then realized that she was becoming long-winded, so she hurriedly got to the point, “The ‘General’ of the Iron Mountain Army seemed to be familiar with his men. He said that over a thousand Iron Mountain troops joined the army because of Golden Roc Castle. Ever since Madam Luo took command of the army, there have been desertions almost every day. He said that he couldn’t stop them, and that neither did he want to stop them. Then I asked him about the young soldiers. He said that about two months ago – which is not long after the battle for Thousand Horsemen Pass ended – when Prince Xiao required the Unique King to return the Iron Mountain army, a batch of teenagers suddenly enlisted. There were about twenty of them in all. He remembered this very clearly, because those teenagers were very different. He said that they were uncommunicative, but their kung fu skills were very good, though they weren’t very good at riding or battling. Currently, they’re acting as Madam Luo’s bodyguards, and they seem very loyal. But about seven or eight days ago, five of them suddenly deserted at once.”
“Five of them?” Gu Shenwei was a little surprised.
“Um. Madam Luo is still unaware of this. Nobody dares to tell her.”
Shangguan Hong had killed one of them during the assassination of the envoy of the Central Plains, so there were only four of them left biw. Gu Shenwei speculated that these four teenagers were probably going to be the witnesses to accuse Luo Ningcha and the Dragon King.
A question suddenly rose in Gu Shenwei’s mind. Could he really steer clear of the trap by sacrificing Lotus?
