Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
In the face of the enemy’s sneak attack, the Dragon King and Wild Horse reacted so quickly that Liman felt like a clumsy child.
This must have been a trap set well in advance. Gu Feng and another person had attacked Chu Nanping from both sides, while three masked assassins hiding in the nearby shadows suddenly made a move, targeting the Dragon King.
Between vengeance and protection, Wild Horse chose the latter. He was still a killer in his bones and devoted to his task. Since he was now the Dragon King’s bodyguard, he would not fail at carrying out his duty.
Liman finally reacted along with the others after the initial chaos. He drew his machete, ready to join the fight.
The Dragon King and Wild Horse’s cooperation was very smooth. In just a few moves, they had already killed one assassin and thrown the other two into confusion.
As Gu Shenwei passed by Liman, he ordered, “Go help him.”
Liman had no doubts about the Dragon King now. He immediately followed the order and ran towards Chu Nanping who was not very far away.
Chu Nanping didn’t seem to be taking the two’s converging attack as a sneak attack and was still treating them with the attitude that he was in a competition. He coped with it calmly, ignoring the chaos developing around him.
Gu Feng deftly waved his narrow saber as he swiftly moved back and forth like a grasshopper dancing in the dark.
Liman arrived just in time as another five or six people jumped out from the retreating onlookers and rushed at Chu Nanping.
Liman had learned his martial arts skills from a great master and was a bit famous among the aristocratic circle of the Royal Court. He roared once and swung his machete to open a path for him to guard behind Chu Nanping.
Five moves later, Liman found the problem. Although these people attacked eagerly, their moves were not ferocious. Instead of killing, their purpose was to capture the opponent alive. Their target was exactly Chu Nanping; Gu Feng was obviously looking for the chance to strike an acupoint.
Not only this, but the attackers also seemed to be giving the general’s son a way out. Liman launched several attacks, but the other side always either dodged or blocked, none of them counterattacking.
Liman’s heart suddenly throbbed with fear that he was making a terrible mistake.
Gu Shenwei hadn’t unsheathed his saber for a long time, so he did not rush to kill. Instead, he carefully circled around searching for the right feeling. Then all of a sudden, he jumped out of the battle and rushed to Chu Nanping. He knew what these people’s real target was.
Chu Nanping had gained a lot of experience in the process of fighting as one versus many. He was still on the upper hand at the moment but would fall into a deep siege soon.
The short-term killer training hadn’t changed his nature as a swordsman. And still, in his consciousness, he wanted to defeat the strongest opponent first rather than removing the weak and driving the rest into disorder so that he could break the siege.
Gu Shenwei’s choice was the exact opposite. No matter how dangerous the person to be saved was, his first cut was always aimed at the weakest besieger and he would never enter the innermost circle on his own initiative.
He jumped more nimbly and disorderly than Gu Feng, which made it hard for his opponents to defend against his attacks. Three people fell after three cuts. The siege encircling Chu Nanping immediately loosened. Everyone started protecting themselves and nervously chasing the Dragon King, completely forgetting about the main task of their trip.
Soon, only Gu Feng was left to brawl with Chu Nanping. He attacked more fiercely and no longer conceal the purpose of his left hand. With the cover of the narrow saber in his right hand, he started striking his opponent’s acupoints with his left hand.
It was the first time that Liman had experienced a real assassination and he was learning much from it. But soon he would learn another lesson, that a fierce offensive was often the prelude before an escape attempt.
In fact, Gu Feng had already accepted the failure of the mission, and he was laying the groundwork for a safe escape. As an experienced veteran in Jianghu, he knew best how dangerous it was if they were closely followed as they retreated.
He fooled his frantic companions, the indecisive Liman, even Chu Nanping, but couldn’t fool the more experienced Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei was still jumping around at the periphery. He seldom waved his saber, but every time he did so, someone would fall. Everything occurred like it had been rehearsed, with Gu Feng turning to flee and his first jump landing exactly where the Dragon King had jumped towards.
Gu Shenwei didn’t know how to strike acupoints, so his only method of capturing the enemy alive was to hit him on the back of the head with his saber hilt.
Gu Feng fell heavily. With his kung fu, he wouldn’t have been knocked out in a single move., but he thought that he had successfully retreated and the unexpected blow, had turned into a surprise attack.
The few who survived no longer hesitated; they fled in all directions and mingled once again with those who were watching from afar.
Gu Shenwei didn’t run after them. He had captured a prisoner who could provide him valuable information and that was enough.
Gu Feng awoke soon. The pain behind his head was still clear, but the narrow saber on his throat was more frightening.
He was a famous figure in Jianghu of the Central Plains. It was already contemptible for him to serve the nobles of the Norland, and the assassination and kidnapping attempt was abhorrent, but he still had his own bottom line, rasping out, “I won’t say anything …”
Gu Feng indeed said nothing. When he breathed his last, he did not even realize that death had come.
Wild Horse thrust the saber into Gu Feng’s heart and glanced at the Dragon King before walking away.
Liman tried to control his pounding heart. Wild Horse had reacted faster than he did, but he was the one who had made the mistake, so he explained, “It seems that this man is an expert hired by King Riyao. He’s dead but his appearance hasn’t changed. With this, the Dragon King can file a suit against King Riyao, and Golden Roc Castle too. Those people were are all Golden Roc killers.”
Gu Shenwei wasn’t able to stop Wild Horse in time, which was a small mistake but this didn’t affect the overall situation. “Those people are not Golden Roc killers, and Gu Feng is probably not King Riyao’s man anymore.”
“They are not Golden Roc killers?” Liman’s surprise was real. To him, those people who held a narrow saber had used a distinct style of Golden Roc Castle.
“They’re not killers, but ordinary sabermen.” The one spoke was Chu Nanping, who hadn’t killed anyone. “Killers wouldn’t have been thrown into confusion so easily.”
Liman blushed with shame, though fortunately, no one could see his face in the dark. “No matter what, it must be related to King Kuari and King Riyao. The Dragon King should fight back. They have openly defied Khan’s promise, this is outrageous.”
Gu Shenwei didn’t say anything. These people apparently wanted to capture Chu Nanping alive, as they had either came for the swordsmanship or the Flame Foal. And Liman’s full efforts to cover this up seemed to prove that King Rizhu was more suspicious.
The struggle with the Royal Court was much more complicated than that of Golden Roc Castle and no one would take their stand until the last moment when things became more obvious.
Most of the onlookers were martial arts practitioners. Although they were alarmed, they were not at a loss. Seeing the end of the fight, they slowly drew closer.
“Excellent sabersmanship, Dragon King,” someone suddenly shouted. Although the young boy’s sword techniques were remarkable, it was a little dull and profound and was, therefore, not as interesting as the Dragon King’s swordsmanship that only killed.
The crowd kept silent for a moment as if a voice of assent would offend someone, and then cried out in unison.
“Dragon King, are you taking new disciples? I’ve been practicing my saber techniques ever since I was five …”
“Dragon King, do you need any more people? I don’t care about the pay …”
This was not the effect Gu Shenwei had wanted to achieve tonight. He put away his Five Peaks Saber and beckoned to Chu Nanping that the competition was over and that it was time to leave.
A thunderous sound of horse hooves came, and those who had experienced the riots and encirclement in the slums a few days ago immediately changed their faces, while those who wanted to work for the Dragon King also ran away in a blink of an eye.
Liman said in a panic, “Dragon King, I can’t be seen …”
He and Wild Horse hadn’t revealed their names during the fight so they were at best suspects. But if faced with the formal Norland Cavalry, he would have to reveal his identity.
Gu Shenwei nodded understandingly. Liman and Wild Horse immediately blended into the fleeing crowd.
Before long, there were only two people left in the vacant field.
Large numbers of Norland Cavalry had arrived, but they did not directly rush to the front of the two but instead surrounded them from dozens of steps away to form a dense encirclement like a thick wall with legs.
Hundreds of arrows were aimed at the Dragon King and Chu Nanping, and with just a single order, even an immortal could not escape.
The cavalry automatically opened a narrow passage, and more than a dozen generals filed in and lined up seven or eight steps in front of Gu Shenwei. Amongst them was a stocky old general.
“Dragon King, you really know how to cause me trouble.”
Gu Shenwei knew him. It was King Shengri, who was ranked second amongst all the kings of Norland. The two had once met at the banquet of King Kuari. At that time, King Shengri looked like a typical drunkard who was only interested in the Dragon King’s roc. After hearing that the roc had not come, he never looked him in the eye since then.
Today, dressed in his armor and towering headdress, he actually gave off an air of awe and even a sense of being above everyone else.
“I thought that King Shengri had come here to help me solve the trouble.”
“Haha.” King Shengri let out the characteristic chipper laughter of all men of the Norland before he frowned, “Who are these corpses?”
“I’m also waiting for that answer.”
“Did you kill them all?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I seem to remember Dragon King promising not to kill anyone in Norland at will.”
“Right, as long as I am not attacked. I can find a lot of witnesses to prove that these people started the fight.”
“No need.” King Shengri suddenly became angry, shouting, “I don’t get it, as an honored guest of the Norland, why would the Dragon King come to a place like this? Do you need someone to practice saber techniques with? I can find you an opponent. Are the women serving you not good enough? I can help with that too. Why would you come here and fight a bunch of rabble?
“Don’t you, King Shengri, also come to this place personally with a band of horsemen?”
“That’s different, I’ve been ordered to straighten out the slums to make sure there won’t be another riot. And the Dragon King almost started a riot just now.”
Gu Shenwei took a turn and looked at the heavily armed cavalry, “It’s strange that we went through the slums and didn’t bump into King Shengri. It’s really unpredictable, that is the fate of our lives.”
King Shengri’s face darkened, “Cut the crap. You two have to come with me. I don’t care what kind of king you are, or what those foolish officials have promised you, but you’ll be dealt with by me as long as you make trouble on my territory.”
“I can accept the invitation of King Shengri, but my follower can’t.”
King Shengri snorted coldly. “Invitation? Nobody can refuse my ‘invitation,’ including your flowery follower. We men of Norland are not interested in men, but it isn’t a problem to try something new sometimes.”
The cavalry laughed out loud. Many of them had actually never seen such a pretty-looking young man before. They looked at Chu Nanping without any scruples, suspecting that he might be a girl dressed in a man’s attire.
They shouldn’t laugh, because it not only spoiled the seriousness of the situation but also weakened the strength of their arm and relaxed the bowstring.
The two that were deeply encircled acted at the same time. Chu Nanping waved his dual swords to ward off any possible rescue attempts, while Gu Shenwei sat behind King Shengri and drew aside the troublesome headdress, whispering, “Take me to honestly meet the people of Essence Pavilion, and it’ll make life easier for both of us.”
Chu Nanping was able to use two different sets of swordsmanship alone. Gu Shenwei believed that those who were most interested in the matter in the Royal Court would be the eleven disciples of the Essence Pavilion.
He wanted all of his hidden enemies to show up.
