Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Taoist Yu was not the fellow male junior apprentice of Old Man Mu, but had a relationship with the Yuqing Sect, which came from the Central Plain. Old Man Mu had found out about it recently.
When talking about the relationship between the Central Plain and Norland, people only mentioned it vaguely. They either were ashamed to talk about it or only knew a little about it, because it had happened 70 or 80 years ago.
The result of the split was obvious. The Norland took away a lot of external-style kung fu, while the Central Plain possessed all Internal Strength. Neither side benefited, but rather lost their good reputations gradually and became unremarkable sects.
Old Man Mu was the only disciple of Norland left today, but he brought new hope to the Yuqing Sect.
Old Man Mu was very famous in the north of Tianshan, but he had since become well-known in the Central Plain. When the people of the Yuqing Sect heard that a man with excellent kung fu claimed to be the disciple of their sect in Norland, they were very surprised and sent someone to check it right away, but they were too late. When they arrived in Norland, Old Man Mu had been chased by his enemies and “buried” in the desert. As a result, they had missed their chance to meet him.
However, they discovered something: Old Man Mu was, indeed, the disciple of the Yuqing Sect, and had learned external-style kung fu .
The Yuqing Sect of Norland had disappeared for many years and did not have any kung fu masters. Why was Old Man Mu so different? This confused the Yuqing Sect, but encouraged its people to revive its prestige.
They were disappointed with the “death” of Old Man Mu, but gained confidence because of the battle of the seaside slope .
Old Man Mu had been back for some time, but he did not tell many people who he was, so few knew that he was still alive. When he stirred up trouble in the Land of Fragrance, some isolated locals and only a few in the Dragon Army recognized him. In the war of the seaside slope, he helped the Dragon King kill Shangguna Jianyi, the Commander of Golden Roc Fort, and finally became known to people.
After that, the news spread to the Central Plain quickly.
The five elders of the Yuqing Sect decided to go to the Western Region to try to find the amazing external-style kung fu that they thought had died out. They believed that if they could learn the kung fu and combine it with their own advanced Internal Strength, the Yuqing Sect would rise from the ashes.
The Yuqing Sect of the Central Plain did not care about the notoriety of Old Man Mu, simply because they had not heard about it, as it had happened long ago. Now, they only knew that a disciple of their sect was dominating Norland with amazing kung fu.
After the elders arrived in Jade City, they heard that Old Man Mu had been invited to go to Norland with the “Queen” of the Land of Fragrance. Therefore, they waited for him in Qianji Pass and finally met him when he chased a rogue who broke into the encampment.
Old Man Mu was very surprised about it. He did not have any friendship with them and only cared about one thing: The people of the Yuqing Sect had a good Internal Strength, so they could help him restore his skills.
So, the five elders checked his wounds and then admired him more. They had never heard of New Moon Hall. In fact, they thought that he had learned his amazing kung fu from the Yuqing Sect.
At last, they reached an agreement. Taoist Yu was chosen as their spokesperson, because he was very famous and had a relationship with the Yuqing Sect.
The elders hoped to keep their identities hidden. When they gradually became more acquainted with Old Man Mu, they did not want to make public contact with him. Moreover, they were from the Central Plain, so they did not want to be accused of collaborating with the enemy during these sensitive times. After Old Man Mu confessed to the Dragon King, one elder came out, but the other four elders still did not show up.
The elder was short and thin, with a little black and white beard and hair. He looked very friendly. He was dressed in the robes of Norland, but behaved like a Taoist priest and did not want to speak his real name.
After listening to his story, the crowd became more confused.
The Yuqing Sect hoped to negotiate with the Dragon King alone, but Gu Shenwei still brought his people.
Shangguan Ru was extremely angry with Old Man Mu, saying, “You had ulterior motives in persuading me to go to Norland.”
“No, no, no…” Old Man Mu denied immediately. If the speaker had not been Shangguan Ru, he would have admitted that he had ulterior motives happily. However, when faced with the good girl, he needed to defend himself, so he said, “When I was in the Land of Fragrance, I did not know that I had so many ‘relatives’ in the Central Plain. If I had known that fact, I would have encouraged you to go to the Central Plain instead of Norland.”
Shangguan Ru snorted. She knew that Old Man Mu had something to say, but it was not the time for it.
Shangguan Fei admired Old Man Mu, but still mocked him, “Wow, you plotted to trick us. You said that the Yuqing Sect had no Internal Strength to the Dragon King’s face before, but I think that you deliberately increased your mystique to gain his the trust.”
Old Man Mu laughed with embarrassment. The Dragon King was suspicious, so he intended to increase doubts in some irrelevant things, and attract the Dragon King’s attention to hide the most critical secrets. He said, “But I failed to fool the Dragon King.”
“Yes, I regard the Dragon King as my teacher now,” Shangguan Fei said, taking the opportunity to please the Dragon King. Then asked about what he really cared about: “Those elders are able to restore his skills, so can they also help me treat the Qigong Deviation?”
“We can talk about it,” the elder said, unwilling to make any promises casually so he would not look like a charlatan. After looking Shangguan Fei up and down for a while, he decided to give him a little hope, saying, “We are good at Internal Strength. If the Qigong Deviation hasn’t entered your heart, I may be able to cure you, but…”
Then the elder looked at the Dragon King. His purpose was to negotiate with the Dragon King, so he would not cure anyone unless he got the Dajue Book of Swordcraft.
Shangguan Fei still wanted to ask more questions, but the elder wanted to negotiate with the Dragon King, so he stopped talking immediately. He looked at the Dragon King and Shangguan Ru, hoping that it would be a successful negotiation.
Gu Shenwei continued to ask more questions, such as, “Where did Wildhorse learn his kung fu?”
Old Man Mu laughed and said, “I’ll take the blame for that. I wrote several books on the basis of understanding martial arts for many years and hid them in different places. I didn’t think that Wildhorse, the dumb man, found the secrets of that kung fu. But I don’t know how much he got.”
Wildhorse was unable to speak, so he naturally couldn’t “incite” the Old Man Mu to tell those secrets. In fact, it was Old Man Mu who offered to give him his secrets.
“You guessed that Wildhorse helped King Rizhu test my kung fu, right?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“Haha, what I guessed was right. It’s obvious that Wildhorse used to take refuge with the bigwigs of Norland, and he still does that now,” said Old Man Mu.
Old Man Mu was crafty in that he made Taoist Yu become more important by saying that. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that Taoist Yu only had very general kung fu. The more he boasted, the more flaws he made.
Gu Shenwei didn’t continue to ask Old Man Mu, but turned to the elder and said, “You came to look for Old Man Mu. Why are you interested in the Dajue Book of Swordcraft all of a sudden?”
Hearing this, the elder laughed with embarrassment. Old Man Mu interrupted and said, “It was also my idea. When we talk about the external-style kung fu, the most powerful is the Dajue Book of Swordcraft. People who learn martial arts all have curiosity. Dragon King, never mind. I have nothing to exchange with you, but these elders are experts in curing Qigong Deviation.”
Gu Shenwei knew that Old Man Mu had been eager to learn the Death Scripture for a very long time, so he wasn’t surprised. He continued, “What happened to the people of the martial arts world in the Central Plain? I’m very confused why some kung fu masters from the Qingcheng Sect disguise them as the soldiers of King Riyao. It is said that more masters will come to Norland. Have they betrayed their loyalties and taken refuge with their enemies?”
Only Gu Shenwei was surprised about that matter. The others felt it was normal. For the people from the Western Region, it was common for them to change their masters temporarily whenever war broke out. Therefore, they took it for granted that the people of the Central Plain could work for Norland.
When he was 12, Gu Shenwei moved to the Western Region from the Central Plain, but he still received his education from his father and brother. A man from the Central Plain must be loyal to his own court no matter where he went. Otherwise, he betrayed his court.
However, Gu Shenwei learned what he had thought was wrong after staying in the Western Region for many years. He met many people from the Central Plain, who were always affected by the locals and ended up changing loyalties after some time. They weren’t loyal to their countries, and did not feel any allegiance for their homeland. Sometimes, they may attach to some powerful person, but they did not serve any court.
In the Central Plain, people had a completely different idea. They regarded this kind of behavior as betrayal and thought that it was immoral to take refuge with their enemy.
The elder was also watching the kung fu competitions now, and he sighed and said, “Gu Da and Yang San are masters of the Qingcheng Sect. In fact, the real name of Gu Da is Gu Feng, and he was good at the acupuncture technique. Yang San was called Yang Yingshu, and used to use double halberds. But now they have changed their names and weapons, probably because they’re afraid of being recognized. Gu Feng was called ‘A finger making the universe’, but he hid his skills today. In addition, I know why they and other people of the martial arts world from the Central Plain came to Norland.”
He paused for a moment. It seemed that he was hesitant to tell the truth, but then he went on, “It is said that the Court of the Central Plain has issued a secret order that any man who can take the head of the Khan will be rewarded with millions of silver taels and also be awarded a grand title.”
“Haha,” Shangguan Fei couldn’t help laughing loudly upon hearing this. He said, “Because of that reason, the people of martial arts world have come to assassinate the Khan, right? It’s too ridiculous. Do they know how many masters there are in Norland and how tightly they’re protecting the Khan? If they can assassinate the Khan, anyone could become the owner of Golden Roc Fort, right?”
The elder laughed and then said, “That’s their idea. Our people don’t want to join them. We only want to bring our external-style kung fu back to the Central Plain and learn the Dajue Book of Swordcraft. What do you think, Dragon King?”
“I don’t agree with you. I won’t exchange the Dajue Book of Swordcraft with you, because it is an unfair deal,” Gu Shenwei said, refusing directly.
Suddenly, Shangguan Fei was surprised. “No. Dragon King, please think about it some more. Sister, you should give some advice to the Dragon King, because Qigong Deviation will kill me,” he said.
Shangguan Ru agreed with the Dragon King, however, and said, “The Dajue Book of Swordcraft shouldn’t be spread in the future.” She thought that “Death Scripture” was a most suitable name. The kung fu had turned Slave Huan and Maid Lotus into devils, so no one else should be able to use it to hurt others.
“But…” Shangguan Fei said anxiously, as the Dragon King stood up to leave. He said, “Qigong Deviation is not so terrible.”
In fact, Old Man Mu was as anxious as Shangguan Fei, but he knew to hide it. He just gave a hint with a wink to the elder.
“We only need ten days,” the elder also stood up and said. “In ten days, we will leave Norland. I hope that the Dragon King will reconsider,” he said.
“You won’t get the Dajue Book of Swordcraft,” Gu Shenwei didn’t change his idea and said. “Besides, you can’t take Old Man Mu and his kung fu. He is a soldier of the Dragon Army, so he has to follow all my orders. He is my only bargaining chip here,” he finished.
“What?” Old Man Mu asked, finally knowing what the Dragon King was thinking. If he had known it before, he would have agreed to the deal of exchanging healing with external-style kung fu when he had first met the elders.
However, when he thought of the Dajue Book of Swordcraft and the amazing swordcraft of the Dragon King and Maid Lotus, he still became very excited.
