Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Luo Ningcha was still unaware of the situation’s seriousness. She pointed the saber at Shangguan Nu’s vitals but didn’t act. Instead, she watched as he spat out blood and lifted his iron hook.
The narrow saber fell, and Luo Ningcha’s body swayed backwards. She suddenly came to her senses and realized the severity of the situation. But she had forgotten the name of the Waning Moon Hall disciple. Tongue-tied, she was actually still trying to recall her name.
Shangguan Nu rose from the ground and wiped the blood from his mouth. He wobbled towards his wife with his right iron hook held high. He wanted to kill this woman, even if the whole world was against him.
Of all the people who had humiliated him, from the officers of the Central Plains, nobles of the Norland, the Unique King, to even the Dragon King, they were all so high in the air that their faces were blurred. Only this woman could be seen clearly and was close enough for him to exact vengeance wantonly.
Luo Ningcha was stunned. She neither begged for mercy nor shouted. She was still brooding over the name of that madwoman as if it were a magic spell that could reverse the imminent danger as long as she said it out aloud.
Shangguan Nu stopped five steps away, his iron hook still held high.
Luo Ningcha suddenly remembered the name. “Han Fen.” She raised her voice and called out again, louder this time, “Han Fen!”
The ghostlike madwoman did not appear. Shangguan Nu also did not move, but his eyes grew fiercer and the veins on his forehead twitched as if he were going mad.
Luo Ningcha suspected that he was losing his ability to move again but dared not to verify her theory herself. She moved backwards step by step and finally decided that it was better to order someone else to do something like murder while she watched by the side.
When she hit something behind her, Luo Ningcha, who was in extreme fear, almost fainted. Her body softened and collapsed.
Gu Shenwei held her waist while fixing his eyes on Shangguan Nu. It was the first time they had met after Heaven’s Pass.
As Luo Ningcha looked up at the Dragon King, her whole heart suddenly melted. Just like how the little her had done so when asking her father for help when things didn’t go her way, she held onto him, sputtering out, “He, he wants to kill me,” between sobbing sounds.
But Gu Shenwei wasn’t the Big Head God, and he pushed her away while saying, “Go back to the Flower Camp.”
“No, I want to see you avenge me. He killed the Big Head God … And your father.”
“It’s not the time for revenge. Leave now.”
Gu Shenwei’s tone was a bit harsh, so Luo Ningcha was very displeased. “Why are you always so grumpy? You weren’t like this in the castle.”
Luo Ningcha turned her head and glanced at Shangguan Nu who was obviously in a state of panic and alert. She suddenly put on a cheerful smile and added in a seductive tone, “But I love it.”
As she said that, she ambiguously caressed the Dragon King’s chest before slowly walking out of the tent. She paused for a moment at the door to see the damage caused by her harsh blow.
Shangguan Nu was like a wild animal driven to the edge of a cliff by a pack of hounds, full of desperate terror and savagery, wielding his incomplete claws, and trying to make a deadly counterattack.
Luo Ningcha’s heart skipped a beat, frightened yet satisfied.
“Did you sleep with her?” asked Shangguan Nu, his iron hook still held high in the air.
Gu Shenwei even felt a bit of compassion for him, an emotion that had long become unfamiliar. In less than a month, Shangguan Nu’s characteristics of a killer, which were actually not much anyways, had almost completely disappeared, leaving behind only pure hatred and rage. Such a person, no matter how advanced his kung fu was, was no different from a lamb to be slaughtered.
“Put your pants on.”
Shangguan Nu looked down and frantically pulled up his trousers at once, the iron hook almost scratching his thigh.
Humiliation was a magical feeling. It might seem weak, but it often overwhelmed a deeper feeling like love and hate. Shangguan Nu immediately felt like a clown. He didn’t even know what he was jealous of. He had never loved that woman. He had killed the Big Head God himself. What did it have to do with him whether she was a slut or a good wife?
Frustrated, he slumped to the bedside in a daze, and said after a while, “What are you waiting for? Avenge yourself now.”
“It’s not the time for revenge now.” Gu Shenwei repeated what he had said to Luo Ningcha.
“Heh, you’re going to keep torturing me until I can’t bear it and commit suicide myself?”
“There’s no point in torturing. Killers don’t do that.”
“You still think you’re a killer?” Shangguan Nu sneered, “Funny words, such sheer hypocrisy. Killers are just another kind of slave that dominates in their own world but can only be lackeys when they meet real strength.”
After the double blow he had suffered in the Central Plains and Norland, Shangguan Nu had become cynical, but this was the first time he had said such words.
Gu Shenwei didn’t want to explain. It was a waste of time to argue with a man who had lost his dignity and fighting spirit. Besides, he didn’t want to fall into nothingness along with the other side’s topic. “The Central Plains has bought over a Norland noble, who’s now acting as a mole. I want to know who he is.”
Shangguan Nu was stunned for a moment, and then laughed. “So you didn’t kill me because I am still useful.”
“You’re still useful enough to buy your own life.”
“The identity of the mole is a secret of the Central Plains. Why would I know?”
This was an obvious fact. Shangguan Nu knew that the Dragon King had been invited to the Norland as a guest. If he himself didn’t have some valuable information, he would not have dared to seek refuge with the nobles.
As for detailed information, Gu Shenwei had made a guess and Shangguan Nu’s performance had proven his guess was correct.
Gu Shenwei also didn’t want to explain. “Tell me who the mole is, and I can spare your life.”
“Spare my life? Haha, you wish to spare my life while your own life is at stake? You only have one chance to kill me. After today, you will die before me.”
“You still have time to think about it.” Gu Shenwei wasn’t in a hurry. The mole couldn’t hide for long. As soon as the situation changed, he would soon show his true colors.
Gu Shenwei started walking outside. All of a sudden, he paused, as if he had remembered something important, turned around, and said, “You should use your internal energy less frequently; it’s not good for your health.”
The Dragon King just left after that, leaving the shocked and puzzled Shangguan Nu alone. When they had met at Heaven’s Pass, Shangguan Nu was forced to swallow a small pill, which made him nervous for a long time. Later he found nothing unusual and had finally laid his worries to rest not long ago. Now this fear was stirred up again by the Dragon King’s words.
He secretly guided his internal Qi and found that the internal energy in his Dantian really seemed to have changed slightly.
Luo Ningcha was sent back to the Flower Camp while Gu Shenwei led the guards back to his own camp. The day’s warrior contest was not over yet, and he was still interested in watching it.
Without the Dragon King’s permission, a small banquet was being held in the camp. The laughter from the tent could be heard from afar. The guards on duty looked back admiringly. When they saw the Dragon King, they all greeted with a smile, “Congratulations, Dragon King.”
Shangguan Fei was making heroic remarks in the tent. Over thirty soldiers of the Dragon Army were listening with wine glasses in hands. Surprisingly none of them showed any signs of impatience.
“I won!” Shangguan Fei couldn’t restrain his joy, and shouted to the Dragon King, “Three straight wins!”
“Bring everyone in for a drink.” It was daytime, so Gu Shenwei thought there was no need to be so vigilant.
The Dragon King’s order was met with a unanimous welcome. To Shangguan Fei, it sounded like direct praise, so he became even more elated. He was immersed in a strange sense of contentment. Ever since childhood, this was the first time someone had sincerely admired his martial arts skills. These swordsmen of Big Snow Mountain, who usually tried to avoid him, were all drinking with him on their own initiative today.
Shangguan Fei’s only regret was that Long Fanyun was not here. He had simply disappeared after riding the Flame Foal into the horizon and winning the horse race yesterday. The Dragon King was probably the only one who knew his whereabouts.
Shangguan Fei came over with two glasses of wine before he remembered that the Dragon King did not drink, so he poured all of them into his mouth and said in a low voice with a wink, “Of course, it’s all to the Dragon King’s credit.”
“Hmm, it’s good you know that.” Gu Shenwei didn’t intend on pointing out the truth. “Get ready for the contest’s second round.”
“Me again?” Shangguan Fei was taken aback and sobered up.
“You are the only player of the Dragon Army. Of course you have to compete to the end. If you don’t get first place, the hard work you’ve done will be in vain.”
“Ehh? That’s not what the Dragon King said earlier.”
“Alright, you don’t have to beat everybody.”
Shangguan Fei heaved a sigh of relief. Although he had won three times in a row and enjoyed the feeling of being a hero, he firmly believed that his opponents had been forced to show their flaws and he still did not want to put himself in real danger. But what the Dragon King said next pushed him into the abyss of suffering once again.
“I’ve bet with three lords and only won one of them. There are two bets left now, so you have to win.”
Fang Wenshi was waving his hand so Gu Shenwei walked towards him, leaving Shangguan Fei alone to himself, as he muttered, “The Dragon King has arranged everything, right?”
“We’ve completely offended King Kuari this time,” Fang Wenshi, who also had a cup of wine in his hand, felt happy for winning the bet yet worried for the tricky situation. “Now more people will have the impression that the Dragon King has many kung fu experts under him.”
“It’s inevitable.”
“King Kuari is really patient. He has invited so many kung fu experts from the Central Plains and the Western Regions but doesn’t use them, and insists on using the sabermen of his own country. Even I know that the people of Norland are good at riding and shooting but have nothing worthy of praise in martial arts.”
Fang Wenshi’s words were a bit exaggerated. There were indeed not many famous sects in Norland, but it didn’t mean that all the kung fu practitioners here were worthless. Experts like Bie Yan could still win a place even if he was put in the Central Plains.
The one with better martial arts skills was actually Shangguan Fei. It was just that he didn’t have confidence in himself and naturally, others would despise him.
Although King Kuari had hidden his power in the warrior contest, the outcome of this fiasco was probably not what he had expected.
Fang Wenshi pointed at the saber and sword on the table and said, “These are the earnings from the bets we won.” Then he pointed at two pieces of wood beside the saber and sword, and continued, saying, “Someone delivered those just now. I don’t know what it means.”
Gu Shenwei knew that this was the wooden saber that the disciples of the Essence Pavilion had shown him. It was very similar to the weapon Shangguan Ru used.
The deadline for the Essence Pavilion had passed but they didn’t deliver ‘part of the hostage’ as they had threatened except for the broken wooden saber. Gu Shenwei snorted with disdain. The people of the Essence Pavilion were good at confusing the mind, and perhaps because of this, they lacked a profound understanding of the heart and appeared very naive when they resorted to all sorts of schemes and intrigues.
As long as one’s willpower was strong enough, one could resist their hypnosis and see through the fog. The disciples of the Essence Pavilion were also ordinary martial arts practitioners.
Gu Shenwei beckoned for Shangguan Fei to come over. “Go take a rest, we’re going on a mission tonight.”
“What mission?” Shangguan Fei’s face paled. The Dragon King’s missions had always been dangerous, which he had tried to avoid every time.
“To save your sister.”
