Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Both Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus were led into the Land of Fragrance by Old Man Mu. As the two of them were chasing him into the forest, they had not the slightest idea that they were three days ahead of Dragon King, who was leading the remaining troops of the Great Snowmountain and marching through the wilderness as well.
Old Man Mu had planned his escape for a long time. All his previous actions, including the multiple escape attempts, were just a ruse to let the two girls let their guard down. His Kung Fu had not yet fully recovered, but he was not lacking in jianghu experiences.
Unlike Old Man Mu, Dragon King and his troops raided the villages where the savages lived in order to collect supplies. However, Old Man Mu did not dare approach places with traces of human habitation. He was afraid he would leave visible trails and specifically chose to walk in secluded places covered with dense trees and tall grass. Moreover, those areas ensured that there was not much sunlight during the day so that he was able to travel through day and night.
Maid Lotus was extremely skilled at tracking. No matter how small the clues left by Old Man Mu were, she was always able to discover his tracks.
In the beginning, Shangguan Ru was very surprised because almost all the greenery in her eyes looked the same. Gradually, she came to realize that the methods used by Maid Lotus had all been taught by the killer mentors in Golden Roc Fort. Everyone had learned it but not many could remember when it comes to applying these methods in real life situations.
Due to this, Shangguan Ru’s respect and admiration for Maid Lotus grew.
During a short break, Shangguan Ru gave serious thought about the current situation of Golden Roc Fort for the first time and came to understand many things.
The decline of the Stone Castle was inevitable. As the castle continued to cultivate stronger and powerful killers, the decline of the castle itself would soon follow as well. This was because while the masters of the Stone Castle enjoyed the safe environment created by these powerful killers, they neglected the need to progress and improve along with them.
Compared to the ruthless and cruel experience of the killers, the power struggle between the Shangguan children really were not worth mentioning.
A killer who grew by leaps and bounds would not endure the weakening authority of his master forever.
The Stone Castle was like a gigantic rotting corpse, while it nourished worms and larvae, at the same time, it was also withering increasingly day by day. There would only be more traitors like Slave Huan and Maid Lotus and it was only a matter of time when the rotting corpse was completely wiped out.
Shangguan Ru suddenly understood why her father was persistent in wanting hegemony in the Western Region to fight for the title of King for the Shangguan family. He wanted to make use of the loyalty shown by these killers to set up a new empire and create a kingdom that would not rely on just killers alone.
Rather than letting these killers end the Stone Castle, it was better for the master to do it himself.
She also came to understand the pathetic and sorrowful behavior of the current generation of the Shangguan children. They were still having fights among themselves according to the traditions laid down by previous generations and were not aware that their most important audience outside the arena was already restless, their minds long drifting to matters that had nothing to do with these power struggles.
This was also the reason why the most unusual son of the Supreme King was suddenly in favor.
Third Young Master Shangguan Yun had always refused to become the master of the killers. He was the only one among them who had actually braved the real jianghu and understood the thoughts and needs of the common people. This was a course that the future successor would need to learn the most.
Therefore, even without the help of outsiders, the Supreme King would be reminded of this son sooner or later.
It was as though the blind could see again; Shangguan Ru’s thoughts had never been so clear and lucid. Moreover, what had triggered all of these was due to Maid Lotus unconsciously performing the skills used by killers.
When they set out again, Shangguan Ru gave Maid Lotus a sincere smile. Her resentment, secret or public, had all vanished. She realized that her fate was neither arranged by gods or anyone else, but bound to the family’s overall destiny. No one was to blame for this.
However, Maid Lotus was puzzled by her smile and increased her vigilance toward her.
“To what extent do you think Old Man Mu has recovered his Kung Fu?” Shangguan Ru asked quietly. In the enclosed forest, strangers tend to lower their voices to speak, as if they were guests visiting for the first time. Only the savages who had lived here for a long time spoke loudly, like the master of this place.
During the several days traveling, they two of them seldom spoke to one another. Maid Lotus was always the one who found the clues and Shangguan Ru would follow silently. Therefore, her simple question perplexed Maid Lotus.
“About 50 percent or so.” Maid Lotus never revealed her uncertainty easily, so she added, “He is constantly on the road and has no time to practice his Kung Fu, so his recovery will likely be slower.”
“Will Old Man Mu really lose all of his Internal Strength if he is exposed to the sun for seven consecutive days?”
“That was what the book recorded.” Maid Lotus pondered for a moment, then she continued, “They say Old Man Mu is the only one who has practiced the Seven Rotation Skill in recent decades.”
“I hope you can forgive my mistake. I should have listened to you and tanned him under the sunlight for seven days straight so that his Kung Fu could be disabled completely.”
Maid Lotus paused for a moment. She would never have imagined hearing an apology from the Tenth Young Master herself. “It’s alright. We still have time to capture him.”
The two of them continued to track down Old Man Mu. It was also from this day onward that Shangguan Ru’s attitude toward Maid Lotus changed greatly. She was much warmer toward Maid Lotus as if they were good friends who had known each other since childhood.
Shangguan Ru wanted to confide in Maid Lotus and let her understand that all the Golden Roc killers, be it the loyal ones or the traitors, were on their way to demise. Rather than just sneaking into the Stone Castle and seeking revenge alone, Slave Huan grew to become Dragon King instead because he had already realized this,
However, she was unable to find the right moment to say all these. Maid Lotus’ suspicion was more impregnable than the stone walls of Golden Roc Fort. It was not something that could be broken down easily, not even by Shangguan Ru’s cordial attitude.
The two of them entered the Land of Fragrance on the 20th day of Old Man Mu’s escape.
Dragon King and his soldiers from the Great Snowmountain wandered around the forest for a few months because they did not know the way out. Likewise, Old Man Mu chose secluded areas to travel because he did not know the route as well. However, it only took him less than a month to traverse through the shrouded maze.
In the remaining days, Old Man Mu’s Kung Fu had evidently improved, as noticed by fewer traces he left behind. However, the two girls were already very familiar with his tracks and routines by then. Just by speculating, they were able to roughly make out his destination and they sped up their pursuit as well.
They managed to catch up with Old Man Mu at the edge of the forest.
Old Man Mu fled down any path he stumbled upon and assumed that any route that was remote and difficult to traverse would lead deeper into the forest. Yet he did not expect the trees starting to become more and more sparse, and there was an ambush waiting for him.
A total of five people, dressed in white robes and wearing strange masks were hovering around the trees, emitting creepy, hollow noises.
These must be the strange monsters that the savages were talking about. They had never dared to come near here because of this, and therefore had no chance to discover the Land of Fragrance, a country rich in fertile land and resources.
But in the eyes of Old Man Mu, these were merely rascals with ordinary Kung Fu – they were just small preys for him to vent his anger.
“Finally, I see living people!” Old Man Mu smacked his lips and was so excited that he almost wanted to eat these people. He had been living on berries, grass, and leaves for the past few days and was really famished.
Only savages who had lost their way would occasionally intrude into this passage, therefore, the five men who were acting creepily did not pay attention to the small fellow, Old Man Mu. But they would never have imagined that this small fellow here was a devil who would even kill real ghosts.
Old Man Mu had already restored about 60-70 percent of his Kung Fu by now. He was still wary of Maid Lotus but others were just ants to him.
Like a wanderer who had not seen his family for a long time, Old Man Mu let out a whoop and rushed toward one of the “white mask ghosts”, killing him with just one move. He held the fresh heart in his hand and shook his head. “Sigh. It’s too much of a difference.”
The Five Hole Punch of the Fire level required the person to break the opponent’s heart pulse immediately and the heart dug out should be done as neatly as possible. Old Man Mu carefully observed the heart he held in his hands under the moonlight and was unsatisfied the more he looked at it.
The remaining four “white mask ghosts” did not share the same thoughts as this devil. Even after pretending to be ghosts for years, they were still as timid as ever. After seeing the real “ghost”, they were much more afraid of this than the savages in the forest. They let out a scream and quickly ran away.
Old Man Mu could no longer withstand it once his interest in killing people was piqued. He quickly chased after them using the Foxlike Movement Skill. His actions were so rapid that it was really as though some ghost had come running out from the forest.
Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus followed the sound of screams and arrived just as Old Man Mu killed the fourth person.
Shangguan Ru had been slightly impatient and revealed her tracks too early. Old Man Mu hesitated for a moment and decided to avoid them. Then, he laughed loudly and rushed out of the forest, crawling into the tall grass.
The two girls followed closely behind. They would never let Old Man Mu escape from their sight again.
Out of the “white mask ghosts” who were guarding the edge of the forest, only one had managed to survive. Without even seeing clearly if the two figures behind him were men or women, human or ghost, his legs went as soft as dough. The moment he managed to stand up, he escaped to the capital city and reported that things were not looking good. There were three ghosts who had emerged from the forest and specially fed on the hearts dug out from the victims.
The residents were rather dubious about this news but quickly grew pale with fright upon seeing the four corpses, quickly carrying them back to the city. No one dared to come to the edge of the forest from then on.
Therefore, a few months later, when the Great Snowmountain army walked out of the forest, they did not see any “ghosts” as mentioned.
Old Man Mu did not know his way and just ran about aimlessly. He regretted leaving the forest once the sky began to brighten up. Here, the trees were scattered and sparse and the weeds were short, there was no way for him to hide from the sunlight.
Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus knew that the opportunity to capture Old Man Mu alive was coming, therefore, they were not in a hurry to chase him up. They slowly split up, preparing to block him.
Old Man Mu tried to think of a solution, but he was unable to come up with anything useful and could only make empty threats to intimidate them.
“Listen up, you girls, if you continued to chase me… I will take my pants off!” This might be effective for Shangguan Ru, but as a strictly trained killer, Maid Lotus was not affected by his threat at all.
“I will surrender all my Kung Fu and will not hide anything from you all, just let me go.” This might be tempting to Maid Lotus, but it would not work on Shangguan Ru. If it was possible, she would rather forget everything she learned about the Heart Stopping Finger.
Old Man Mu had really run out of ruses. But just when the sun was about to come out, once again, the gods blessed the wicked.
A forest appeared in front of them.
It was a stretch to call it a forest since most of the plants were tall exotic flowers and grasses. Although it was not enough to cover and hide the sky, the shade offered by the plants were more than enough to protect Old Man Mu from direct sunlight.
At any one time, Old Man Mu and the two girls behind him would never enter this flower forest rashly because it had obvious hints of being manmade and artificial. It was also somewhat odd that there were no houses nearby.
However, because Old Man Mu wanted to avoid the sunlight at all costs and the two girls did not intend to let their target go, the three of them barged into the unknown flower forest, one after another.
This place was located several miles away from the west of the capital of the Land of Fragrance, and it contained one of the most important secrets of the residents of the country.
