Chapter 308: Snow Night
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Lianye had been a solitary bandit before he became a monk. Although he rarely participated in jianghu affairs after becoming a monk, he was still very well-informed. He had never heard of the name “Five Warlords of Tianshan”. He then quickly realized that the people who had come up with that name and claimed that they were seeking for revenge, were actually after the silver taels.
“Amitabha,” Lianye chanted. Other than avenging his senior, he did not plan on fighting anyone else. “If you are here for the silver, please take it. Both Dragon King and I will not stop you.”
The monk spoke the truth, but the five people on the roof did not believe him. They had been observing nearby for a while and had already discovered that the machetemen and swordsmen, who were initially in the front yard, had moved to the backyard. The gate of Dragon King’s residence was open and it made them feel more wary.
All five of them were covered in black from head to toe, and each wielded different weapons: a saber, a sword, a spear, an axe and a bow.
The one with the saber appeared to be their leader as he was the one who spoke on the behalf of the group. “Hey, we will seek our revenge and take our taels. These taels were obtained by betraying Chipo. Dragon King should not have taken these taels. Get him to come out. We want to test Dragon King’s machete skills.”
Lianye shook his head and said, “Taels are worldly items and Dragon King is unwilling to hurt the innocent. The taels are in front of you. You are free to take as much as you need.”
The monk was extremely honest. The five people on the roof felt uneasy, thinking there was a trap in the courtyard. The leader simply ignored Lianye and shouted, “Dragon King, are you a coward? We are good brothers of Chipo and are here tonight to avenge him. Stop playing tricks and come out quickly.”
There was no sound in the house. Monk Lianye knew that there was no use speaking further, and lowering his head, started chanting softly.
The snow on the ground was piling up and had completely covered the silver taels in the courtyard. The monk was also covered with snow.
The man with the axe lost his patience first. He said, “Dragon King is a coward. Big Brother, let me go and kill him.”
The eldest brother, the one with the saber, was more cautious. During the first half of the night, he had seen the fate of seventy plus bandits. Although he believed that the five of them were more capable than the bandits, they still had to be on guard against Dragon King’s tricks. He said, “Fifth Brother, shoot an arrow at Dragon King.”
“Fifth Brother” drew his bow and notched an arrow. Kneeling on one leg, he aimed at the monk and fired.
In the split second before the arrow reached the monk, it suddenly split into three pieces, each aimed at the monk’s head, chest, and abdomen.
Lianye took a breath, clenched his fists and grunted. No matter whether it had been one or three arrows, they snapped into pieces under Lianye’s Internal Strength.
The leader laughed and said, “You are indeed worthy to be the holy monk of Four Truths Temple. You have great skills. It is a pity that you are willing to be a slave to Dragon King just because of your defeat at the Machete God Contest. You have insulted the name “Holy Monk” and have embarrassed Four Truths Temple.”
Lianye’s killing desire had been suppressed by years of mediation and Breaking Obsession. But oce his killing desire was ignited, it would not be controlled, like a prowling tiger on the loose. He shouted, “What is there to talk about? Come and fight me.”
The leader took the lead and the Five Warlords of Tianshan jumped onto the ground. They had basic courtesy not to crowd the monk. The well-built man with the ax stepped forward and said, “Monk, let’s fight.”
The handle of the ax was less than two feet long, but the ax was bigger than his head. When the ax was held up, wind rushed around them, blowing snow in swirls.
Lianye was already losing his patience. He jumped towards the enemy without any weapon and slapped him without even a word of warning.
The two of them exchanged blows and the four people watching the match were stunned. The monk’s capability exceeded their expectations – he could force the built man into a retreat with his bare hands. The most astounding thing was that even though the monk made huge movements, the snow on his head and shoulders did not move as though it was firmly attached to him.
“Let’s go together,” the leader shouted. Dragon King had not appeared and the four of them were confident. They ignored the jianghu rules, which was to fight one on one.
Lianye became more and more at ease. He did not bother to evade his opponent’s attack but focused on attacking the opponent. Although the built man was strong, he had no power to retaliate. He had to block every attack with his ax as he knew any strike from the monk could be fatal.
Just when the four other warlords launched their assault on the monk, the monk shouted and the snow on his body fell off. He punched directly at the ax. The power was so strong that it knocked the well-built man off his feet, despositing him on the pile of silver taels in the courtyard.
The man vomited blood and he couldn’t move his ax away from his body. Although he was not dead, he was badly injured.
After Lianye had injured one person, his killing desire was was inflamed. Before the four people could reach him, he rushed at them and began attacking first, throwing them into confusion.
Before Lianye had became a monk, his kungfu was already good. Although he practiced Buddhist doctrines at the Four Truths Temple, his skills didn’t deteriorate. Under the guidance of a teacher, his Internal Strength had became stronger. If Dragon King had not revealed the secrets of Peripheral Force at the Machete God Contest, he would not be thrown off and he would probably have won when they had competed with their Internal Strength.
The monk’s robe sleeves danced around and his moves were as fast as lightning. Their weapons could not even get close to the monk and the archer could not shoot his arrows as he could not get a good shot.
Mama Xue once told Gu Shenwei that it was difficult to use bare fists to fight against weapons. Gu Lun had also said something similar to his son. They were right, but there was a pre-requisite: the two sides had to be evenly matched.
Gu Shenwei’s Internal Strength was not as good as the monk, and his melee attacks were much weaker, but Gu Shenwei’s chance of winning increased exponentially when he had a weapon. “Five Warlords of Tianshan” were second-rate bandits. Even if they had weapons, they would still lose.
The leader became more and more frantic as the fight progressed. He wanted to use his best move. He swung his saber several times, jumped out from the fight and shouted, “Monk, don’t you want to dispel your Peripheral Force? Just surrender!”
This move was similar to that used by Gu Shenwei at the Machete God Contest, but the effect was the opposite.
The reason why Lianye was controlled by Wildhorse was not that he was afraid of death, but because he had not wanted his junior to suffer. As he also wanted to promote Breaking Obsession, he was willing to speak of law and was hence duped by the swindlers.
As Lianye wanted to seek revenge, he still cooperated with Wildhorse at the Machete God Contest. He had not expected Dragon King to know his predicament. He lost as he been distracted at the crucial moment when they were competing with Internal Strength. In the same way, he was now collaborating with Dragon King in order to seek revenge. He knew that Wildhorse would leak the secret, and was prepared. Upon hearing the leader’s threat, he was not afraid, instead, he was furious.
“All of you will die!” The monk shouted. His movements did not slow. Before he had even finished speaking, he had snatched the sword. He turned to avoid the spear and stabbed the person with the spear in the heart.
The leader saw that his best move had backfired. His face turned white and said, “What a crazy monk. We shall fight another time.” Before he had finished his first sentence, he was already at the gate. By the time anyone heard his next sentence, he had already disappeared.
The leader had escaped. The archer was even more terrified, and jumping onto the roof, he ran in the other direction.
Only the man with the sword was left. His weapon was snatched away. He stared at the monk, dazed, momentarily forgetting to flee.
Lianye sighed. His late senior would know that he had started killing people and blame himself. His heart clenched and he threw down the sword. He said, “Leave. Take the both of them away. Don’t come back.”
The man only then, responded, saying “Thank you Holy monk for sparing my life.”He carried the corpse of the man with the spear, supported the man with the ax and staggered out from the gate as quickly as he could.
Snow was still falling. The monk was alone in the courtyard as he started to chant the Breaking Obsession. He blamed himself for igniting his killing desire.
Someone peeked out from the gate of Dragon King’s residence. He was the leader with the saber who escaped earlier on. He said, “Monk. Master Lianhua had died of a terrible death. Don’t you want to avenge him?”
After spending much effort to calm down, he was irritated. He asked, “What do you know?”
“I know that Lianhua was murdered and the killer hid well. You were completely kept in the dark.”
“I know who the murderer is.” Lianye almost said Shangguan Fei’s name. He held it back. Slave Qing had been killed that night by poison, so there was no basis to accuse Stone Castle Ninth Young Master. The only possibility of revenge would occur when Dragon King was at war with Golden Roc Fort.
“Hey. You thought you knew, but you don’t know anything. Lianhua had died of a terrible death, and he had left behind a stupid junior. You want to avenge your senior, but you can’t find the murderer.”
The leader disappeared immediately after saying those words.
Lianye knew that it might be a trick, but his patience could not withstand another blow, otherwise, he wouldn’t have such a ridiculous nickname. He turned around and looked at Dragon King’s room, thinking that he would capture the leader easily and still have the time to rush back to protect Dragon King after interrogating him. With that, he rushed out into the snow.
When the monk left, it began to snow heavily. The snowing subsided only when the snow on the ground was one foot thick. The four lanterns hanging around the yard had burnt out and was dark.
The snowing suddenly stopped. The moon was hanging high and illuminated the entire area.
Another person peered out from gate of Dragon King’s residence.
A red-faced, young macheteman sneaked into the courtyard, leaving deep footprints.
He passed the pile of silver taels in the middle of the yard. He glanced at the taels and ax, which were covered by thick snow. He was tempted, but continued walking. Then, he felt something amiss. He turned around and gazed at the top of the tall Red Raven Flag.
There was a person standing at the top of the flag.
The young macheteman blicked his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The top of the flagpole was less than half a foot long and swayed in the wind. How could anyone stand on it?
However, it was a person. He jumped down and snapped open his cape. His cape looked like giant wings. He landed silently and with almost no trace on the snow.
The person was covered in black and his weapon was concealed in his cape, hidden from the young macheteman’s view.
The cloaked man placed his index finger on his lips.
The young macheteman had a little jianghu experience. Even though he was stunned, he did not show it. He just nodded his head.
The cloaked man pointed at Dragon King’s room and said softly, “Check it out.”
This was an unusual instruction, but the young macheteman was controlled by the cloaked man who descended from the sky. He nodded again and walked towards the room.
Dragon King’s door was in front of him. The roof had not been able to withstand the heavy snow there was half a foot of snow at the doorstep.
The young macheteman gently pushed the door open and saw Dragon King sitting cross-legged on the bed. Dragon King was motionless, just like an ice statue. His stiff face showed that Dragon King was in great pain.
The young macheteman was unable to move.
