Chapter 258: Victory
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei was able to successfully capture Shangguan Tian alive because he got a clear understanding of a fact: Prime Minister Shi hated and feared the Dragon King and would not easily sever his own relations with Golden Roc Fort.
Therefore, as soon as Shangguan Tian disappeared, he deduced that the Second Young Master was still hiding near Prime Minister Shi.
Under such circumstances, he had to figure out a way to make Shangguan Tian surrender and admit defeat without disturbing Prime Minister Shi.
Chu Nanping successfully attracted the Golden Roc Fort killers’ attention, and even though he was in a dangerous situation, Gu Shenwei was certain that before the killers found out where he was, they would never kill or harm Chu Nanping.
In the meantime, he deliberately left some blurred tracks inside the Prime Minister’s mansion, which were invisible to untrained eyes but would successfully mislead the Golden Roc Fort killers into believing that the Dragon King was hiding inside the mansion.
Shangguan Tian was dressed in a servant’s uniform, drinking alone in the tent. He was confident that his killers would return with good news very soon, but he still felt depressed.
He did not doubt his killers’ ability. After all, there were 30 of them. It should be a piece of cake for them to kill a former slave boy of the Golden Roc Fort. The reason he was unhappy was that as the Second Young Master of Golden Roc Fort, the most likely successor of the Supreme King after the deaths of his brothers, he was not shown due respect in Shu-lik, and was even asked to prove his own strength by the Prime Minister, who had taken so much bribery. In his eye, what Prime Minister Shi did to him was public humiliation.
Shangguan Tian had no choice but to tolerate this insult, as he was sent here on a mission, which was to lobby Prime Minister Shi against the Great Snow Mountain. The Golden Roc Fort intended to spur Shu-lik on to crush the swordsmen in the mountain as a way to eliminate its traitor, Yang Huan.
Because of the tribal hostilities among the swordsmen, their army would quickly disintegrate once they lost a battle.
Shangguan Tian was well aware that if he failed to fulfill such a simple task, his father would question his ability again.
Thinking about the troubles from inside and outside the Golden Roc Fort these past few years caused Shangguan Tian to have a lingering fear in his heart.
All the internal strifes that happened within the Golden Roc Fort ended up in a lose-lose situation, so was the one between the Second Young Master and Lady Meng. As the Supreme King had lost patience with the endless infighting, they had to make peace and privately negotiate with each other. According to their agreement, Lady Meng would let Shangguan Tian inherit the title from the Supreme King, and Shangguan Tian would give Shangguan Fei a large number of territories and killers.
Shangguan Tian was pretty sure that this was just a stalling tactic of Lady Meng. He believed that she was waiting for her son to grow older.
The Second Young Master was an indecisive man, but this time he was determined to destroy his enemy once and for all. In order to become the next Supreme King, Shangguan Tian planned to draw support from a powerful foreign country. That was the reason he volunteered to come to Shu-lik as the messenger of the Golden Roc Fort.
Shangguan Tian was sitting next to the candlelight, thinking about what he should say to Prime Minister Shi after getting Yang Huan’s head. All of a sudden, he froze, “I’m here all by myself, but how come there are two shadows on the ground?”
If Shangguan Tian had been a seasoned killer or an apprentice who had survived the gang wars, he would have attacked right away before thinking instead of looking back.
However, the Second Young Master’s knee-jerk response was to turn his head back. He regretted it shortly after turning his head halfway as he realized that his saber was hidden in a parcel three steps away. When he was about to get up to grab his weapon, a saber from behind was already against his throat.
He slightly lifted his head up from the blade, while hastily searching through his memories for proper words to say. Many thoughts flashed across his mind, and he was pretty sure that he knew what to say during such a moment as a young master of the Golden Roc Fort. Nevertheless, the words that he blurted out in the end while trembling was,”Don’t kill me.”
If Gu Shenwei had intended to kill the Second Young Master tonight, he would have never played such a trick on Shangguan Tian. He wished to kill everyone surnamed Shangguan, but he needed to give Prime Minister Shi an out. “Send your servant to invite the Prime Minister here,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Slave Ya, go and invite the Prime Minister. Just say I have something important to tell him,” Shangguan Tian ordered. A minute ago, he was thinking about becoming the next Supreme King, but now he was willing to do everything for the blade to distance away from his neck.
“Yes,” someone replied from outside. In order to hide himself among the Prime Minister’s servants, Shangguan Tian had sent all his servants away except Slave Ya, his most loyal servant. It was because of this slave that Gu Shenwei was able to quickly discovered Shangguan Tian’s tent.
Slave Ya noticed that Shangguan Tian had emphasized the word “something” slightly, and understood what his master meant, so he hurriedly went to ask Prime Minister Shi for help.
Upon hearing Slave Ya’s request, the Prime Minister knitted his eyebrows. “My impression of Golden Roc Fort was that they were widely known as an expert in solving problems, yet this Second Young Master is an expert in causing problems instead. How can he deem himself a professional killer if he needs me to rescue him?”
Despite that, Prime Minister Shi still sent out a dozen soldiers to surround Shangguan Tian’s tent. He believed that Yang Huan was a very dangerous man and planned to take this chance to kill the Dragon King, even when there was a possibility that a young master of the Golden Roc Fort would be harmed or even killed during this process.
Slave Ya was stunned upon seeing a dozen archers aiming their arrows at the Second Young Master’s tent. “If they all shoot together, my master will die along with the assassin as well,” thought the slave worriedly.
To Slave Ya’s great relief, the Prime Minister was cautious and did not order his bowmen to launch an attack. He nodded to one of his guards, who then drew out his scimitar and approached the tent and announced, “Second Young Master, the Prime Minister is here.” With these words, the guard entered the tent.
A moment later, he came out, a strange expression on his face. He was bewildered yet could not help but laugh. It seemed like he had seen something ridiculous inside, “Prime Minister, please come in. There’s no danger,” said the guard.
Prime Minister Shi appeared hesitant in the beginning, but he chose to believe his guard and walked into the tent, which was encircled by his archers.
The next thing he saw was Shangguan Tian sitting on his bed looking up at the ceiling dazedly, his hands trembling in front of his chest. There was a saber against his throat. However, there was no one behind the young master. The saber was tied to a wooden stick erected on the bed.
Upon seeing this, Prime Minister Shi laughed so hard that he ended up in tears. From this moment on, he decided to take Dragon King of the Great Snowmountain seriously.
In fact, right after Slave Ya left to invite the Prime Minister, Gu Shenwei had sneaked out of the tent through an opening at the back. He despised this son of the Supreme King very much. In his eyes, Shangguan Tian had good kung fu, perhaps even stronger than most killers, but he was unable to even show half of the kung fu skills he had learned due to the lack of a real killer’s sharp sixth sense.
This competition between the two groups of killers came to a dramatic end. Since then, most of the residents in Shu-lik City had acknowledged Yang Huan as the Dragon King. As for Shangguan Tian, rumors had it that he was so frightened that he wetted his pants and his slightly dark facial complexion turned as pale as Dragon King’s face and remained pale all the time after this incident.
Prime Minister Shi publicly admitted the Dragon King’s victory and invited the messenger of the Great Snowmountain into his mansion again.
Upon hearing this news, Fang Wenshi felt much relieved. He immediately began to prepare for the second visit to the Prime Minister’s mansion and asked Xu Xiaoyi to buy various things for him. The swordsmen who had accompanied Fang Wenshi to the Prime Minister’s mansion several days ago told everyone how brave the counselor had been in the face of danger. This story totally transformed how others viewed the counselor. Now Fang Wenshi was very respected among them and thus all his requirements were satisfied. Soon, he got new hats, clothes, and footwear, a luxurious carriage to replace the old one and even a slave boy to serve him. The five swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain also received new outfits after getting back their heavy swords. This time, all five swordsmen would follow the counselor to the Prime Minister’s mansion again.
The Prime Minister’s attitude toward Fang Wenshi had changed as well. This time, the Prime Minister invited him into a study for a private talk.
Fang Wenshi seized this chance to elaborate his carefully considered plan to Prime Minister Shi, and the Prime Minister frequently nodded in agreement. After Fang Wenshi finished talking, the Prime Minister expressed his doubts. “Mr. Fang’s speech is very impressive, but I don’t have a say on this matter. You still need to ask His Majesty for permission. You’ll get a chance to meet His Majesty within three days if everything goes well. During which you will be challenged by the other ministers. Are you sure that you can win this debate, Mr. Fang?”
Fang Wenshi stood up and bowed deeply to the Prime Minister in gratitude. He said assertively, “I know I’m just an obscure scholar, but I sincerely hoped to have a chance to debate. No matter if I win or lose, it is still my doing. Please rest assured, Prime Minister.”
After that, Prime Minister Shi gave Fang Wenshi a brief introduction of all the ministers and their stance toward the Golden Roc Fort and told the counselor how to behave himself in front of the king to avoid offending His Majesty.
Fang Wenshi benefited enormously from the Prime Minister’s advice and thanked him repeatedly, all the while thinking, “The Dragon King’s risky trick is indeed effective.”
Prime Minister Shi also requested to meet the Dragon King towards the end of their meeting.
Fang Wenshi readily promised him but was at a loss after leaving the Prime Minister’s mansion. He himself had not seen the Dragon King for days on end.
As soon as he returned to the inn, he immediately asked Xu Xiaoyi for help. Unfortunately, Xu Xiaoyi had no idea where the Dragon King was either. He told the counselor, “It’s always the Dragon King who comes to find me usually. I never know where he is.”
Toward midnight, Gu Shenwei sneaked into Fang Wenshi’s bedroom and woke up the counselor without awakening anyone else in the inn.
If Fang Wenshi had met Gu Shenwei a few days earlier, he would have grumbled that the Dragon King had put his life at risk by sending Xiang Kai’s head to Prime Minister Shi. However, now he was pleasantly surprised to see this young man and did not complain about the sending of Xiang Kai’s head at all.
Gu Shenwei shared the same concern as the Prime Minister. Fang Wenshi was eloquent from the perspective of the Great Snowmountain. But most of the officials would prioritize the interests of Shu-lik during the debate, and many of them probably would never support the Great Snowmountain for there was also Golden Roc Fort in the background. He was worried that the counselor was unable to handle so many officials when they take turns to debate with him.
According to Xu Xiaoyi, although Prime Minister Shi won the hearts of the residents of Shu-lik, many officials considered him their political enemy. Evidently, it was not enough to have only the Prime Minister’s support.
However, now it was too late for them to lobby the other officials in Shu-lik City. Recently, Shangguan Tian had been very active going around bribing many officials in the city. The Second Young Master, who was humiliated during the previous competition, was determined to defeat the messenger of the Great Snowmountain during the debate in front of the King of Shu-lik.
Gu Shenwei believed that he had done everything he could to help the counselor, and now he could only hope that Fang Wenshi would deliver an excellent speech during the debate. The two of them are still in the process of testing waters and had not attained full trust with each other yet.
To show his determination to win the debate, Fang Wenshi solemnly swore, “I guarantee that I’ll persuade the King of Shu-lik to help the Great Snowmountain. I’ll swear to you on…” Fang Wenshi was about to say that he could swear on his own life but suddenly realized that the Dragon King was a killer who takes such oaths seriously. After pausing for a moment, he continued, “I can swear on the lives of my entire family.”
Fang Wenshi’s elder brother and sister-in-law were heartless to him, so he decided to drag them in as well.
“Don’t say that, Counselor. Even if you fail to win Shu-lik’s support for the Great Snowmountain, I’ll still need your assistance in the future,” said Gu Shenwei.
Fang Wenshi felt much relieved and said other things to assure Dragon King of his success. He finally added that Prime Minister Shi requested a meeting with Dragon King.
“Tell the Prime Minister that I’ll meet with him when you go to the palace for the debate,” said Gu Shenwei cautiously. He did not want to make a public appearance before Fang Wenshi won the debate.
The next day, Fang Wenshi was invited into the Prime Minister’s mansion for the third time.
Prime Minister Shi informed him that the King of Shu-lik will summon the messenger of the Great Snowmountain in the main hall of the palace on the third day of the eighth month.
Fang Wenshi was thrilled by the news. He had succeeded in persuading many people, but most of them, including the tribal chiefs of the five peaks of the Great Snowmountain, were ineloquent and thus could not be considered as real debate opponents. Given that, the meeting with the king of Shu-lik two days later would be the first time for Fang Wenshi to fulfill his long-cherished dream of distinguishing himself in front of a ruler during a debate.
Fang Wenshi felt so exhilarated that he could not fall asleep. If it weren’t for the important debate, he would have wanted to sleep with a prostitute to calm his nerves.
