Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
News of the ‘Queen’ of the Land of Fragrance’s disappearance had already started spreading several days ago, but Shangguan Fei had not heard of any news related to that at all. He had been too busy worrying about his Qi deviation to listen to anything else.
“Will she be all right?” Shangguan Fei asked. Then he suddenly realized he was being too indifferent, so he immediately threw away his wine glass and clenched his fist, “Who’s so audacious, to dare mess with my sister? I won’t spare him; the Dragon King will not spare him.”
“Good.”
The Dragon King was obviously satisfied with his performance. Shangguan Fei immediately had a bad feeling that he had overacted.
“Uhh… I have to attend the kung fu competition tomorrow. It’s very important for the Dragon King, so I’m… I’m a bit at a loss for what I should do.”
“No worries. You need to rest now. If all goes well, the rescue mission tonight won’t take very long.”
Shangguan Fei’s victory party ended just like this.
Gu Shenwei also needed to rest, he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep for several days.
And even in his dreams, his thoughts did not settle down. Countless people and events appeared and melded together like the bubbles in a pot of boiling water, scrambling to appear only to vanish in an instant, leaving behind no clear clues.
Gu Shenwei opened his eyes, which were not the hazy and fretful eyes of someone who had just woken up and more aggressive than those of the usual Dragon King. It was as if he had never fallen asleep. Fang Wenshi, who had followed the order to wake him up, was startled.
Fang Wenshi was immediately reminded of the story of an ambitious and ruthless lord who had ordered his attendant to wake him up but still killed his attendant. Then the lord lay back down again to sleep. When he woke up, he wept aloud for the dead man, claiming that he didn’t know anything at the time. From then on, he had a reputation for slaying people in his dreams, and no one dared to come near again when the lord slept 1 .
“I have important news,” said Fang Wenshi immediately, thinking that if the Dragon King really wanted to play such a trick, he would not sacrifice his military counselor. Fang Wenshi’s heart calmed down a bit as he thought of this.
Gu Shenwei’s thoughts weren’t as clouded. He did just wake up after all. “Is King Kuari angry?”
It had been just half a day, and the only ‘important news’ Gu Shenwei could think of was King Kuari, who had lost both the game and the hostage in the morning.
“He’s more than angry, he’s almost furious. But the Dragon King is not the one he’s most angry about, but rather King Rizhu and the Second Consort. His guy Wei Chun was really unlucky. He was punished for not being able to keep that woman of Golden Roc Castle hidden, and was whipped so badly he probably won’t be able to leave his bed for a few days.”
“What is he going to do?”
“I’ve heard news that King Kuari is making every effort to remove obstacles and to facilitate a meeting between Dragon King and the Khan,” said Fang Wenshi in a calm tone. He was deliberately not showing that he was surprised by the unexpected news. It was as if he was playing a guessing game with the Dragon King. He had already told the riddle, and it was time for the other side to guess the answer.
But suddenly, Gu Shenwei changed the subject. “The officials of Norland are willing to speak to you again?”
“Heh heh, these people are all fence sitters. As soon as they heard that the Dragon King had a backer, they came over to reestablish a relationship with us, claiming that they had secrets to offer. Actually, they wanted to ask for information from me, but how can I be so easily fooled?” Fang Wenshi was very proud because he had gotten lots of urgent information without paying any price.
“King Rizhu isn’t my backer. Did they forget about yesterday’s horse race?”
“Golden Roc Castle used to be the enemy of King Kuari, yet didn’t they ally with each other in a blink of an eye? The Dragon King doesn’t have a backer now but there’s no need to tell anyone about it. Who are they to blame for their own misunderstanding?”
“King Kuari is about to make a move in advance.” Gu Shenwei returned to the topic just now.
Fang Wenshi nodded with satisfaction and wasn’t surprised at all that the Dragon King could guess the answer. The reason he played this minigame was to experience the wonderful moment when the counselor and the lord understood each other without saying a word. “The Dragon King has sharp eyes. King Kuari is not qualified to inherit the throne. He’s too impatient and is always the first to be thrown into confusion at the critical moment.
“Hmm.” Gu Shenwei waited for his counselor to continue his analysis.
“Let me explain the current situation of the Royal Court.” Fang Wenshi had not been idle these days. He had made every effort to gather information and had formed a complete view. “King Dari’s senile dementia has been exposed so he has actually withdrawn from the power game. The second-ranked King Shengri, therefore, is now restless, but he has a shallow foundation. He has wasted all these years drinking and raising birds and doesn’t have many supporters. As the Dragon King said, he has placed his hopes on a bunch of fortune tellers, and is bound to lose.”
“The third king, King Zuori, who was once a vassal of King Dari, is now in a constant state of anxiety. It is said that he has voluntarily surrendered his of king in order to lead his people to move to the no man’s land and expand the land for the Norland.”
“The fourth king, King Kuari, who originally planned to use Golden Roc killers to assassinate the Khan and frame the Dragon King while mobilizing his soldiers to suppress his foes but failed his attempt. Even his most important tool of killing was taken away. Now he can only take desperate measures; we’ll talk more about him later.”
“King Rizhu is ranked tenth and is the only one who’s not a lineal descendant, so he can’t inherit the throne no matter what. He has remained neutral for many years, when all of a sudden, he wooed the Dragon King and semi-openly confronted King Kuari, which can only mean one thing: that he has chosen a person to support. And this person will reward the Naihang Tribe handsomely after he becomes the Khan.”
“Among the other five kings, the seventh king, King Riyao, showed his stance too early to side with King Kuari. His future is bleak. King Nari, the fifth king, King Riying, the sixth king, King Riming, the eighth king, and King Rixin, the ninth king, who were losers of the power game earlier, now have hope again.”
Fang Wenshi was almost finished when Gu Shenwei interrupted, “The premise all lies upon King Kuari’s failure. But he’s more likely to succeed even if he makes a reckless move.”
“Yes. If I may guess, King Kuari’s desperate plan is like this. He has no time to mobilize the soldiers in the frontline, but he still has eight or ten thousand of his own men in the Royal Court. Compared to the other kings, he is far from amassing an overwhelming majority even when adding in the force of King Riyao, so he has to find another path to victory.”
As his explanation continued, Fang Wenshi explained with the “scholar’s four jewels” (writing brush, ink stick, ink slab, and paper) on the table, “Who is the most powerful force in the Royal Court now? An interesting way of examining the situation is to say that the kings mutually restrict each other, making the cavalry under their command immobile pieces, which makes the swarming kung fu practitioners the only remaining force that can change the power balance between the various forces.”
Fang Wenshi glanced at the table and picked up a brush pen. “This year’s Tournament of the Royal Court has attracted a particularly large number of martial artists, so much that they form a force that can ‘write freely’ in the Royal Court. King Kuari has probably bet all of his fortune on this ‘pen’. The fact that he would rather risk losing to Dragon King than send a real expert to attend the contest was a cover-up. Although he was trying to mask his true intentions, unfortunately this move exposed them instead.”
“If so, Golden Roc Castle will be more important to King Kuari.” Gu Shenwei went along with his counselor’s line of thought. “The Unique King has a high position in the martial arts world of the Western Regions. He’s able to rally multitudes of people for King Kuari at his call.”
“So too does the Central Plains. Dragon King once said that there was a mole in the Royal Court. Before you guessed it was Fu Yuan, the mastermind behind King Dari. I guessed it was King Rizhu. Now it seems we were both wrong. The mole is actually King Kuari.”
“King Kuari is the most powerful competitor of the title of Khan, so why would he seek refuge in the Central Plains?” Usually, Fang Wenshi was the one who asked questions and Gu Shenwei the one answering. Now they had changed the roles so they could think from different perspectives.
Like the Dragon King, Fang Wenshi also put himself into the world of conjecture and speculation, and he was extremely confident of his conclusions. He took a deep breath and stated, “There are two reasons.”
Fang Wenshi raised his right thumb before he hesitated and felt that King Kuari wasn’t worthy of it, so he replaced it with his index finger. “The experts of the Qingcheng Sect defected anonymously to King Riyao. I’ve asked around carefully and the sects in the Central Plains cared very deeply about loyalty and filial piety, and if even one person collaborates with the enemy, the whole sect will feel ashamed. The Qingcheng Sect has a high status in the Central Plains, and there is no need for them to come to the Norland to compete for silver, and it is not only the Qingcheng Sect that concealed themselves. There are also other people from various sects hiding in the Royal Court, most of whom work for King Riyao and King Kuari. There can only be one reason for this. They were sent here by the authorities of the Central Plains.”
Fang Wenshi raised his middle finger, “As for why the mole is King Kuari, and not King Riyao, we need to examine the second reason. In fact, I was too stupid. King Kuari has long since revealed hints at it, but I ignored them. The Dragon King must have heard of his argument that the Norland people would become people of the Central Plains and vice versa.”
“Hmm.” Gu Shenwei did hear it before and was very impressed.
“Ever since I learned that the spy Central Plains had planted in Norland was probably a king, I’ve been wondering what kinds of benefits the ruler of the Central Plains can offer that would seduce a king into betraying his own ancestors and country. In fact, King Kuari’s idealistic speech has explained it. Among all the kings, only he did not worry about the invasion of the Central Plains. He believed that the boundless grasslands were the most effective means of resistance. Therefore, he was able to trust the Central Plains and make use of it with confidence.”
“In the view of the Central Plains, he’s a mole. In King Kuari’s mind, however, he probably feels that he has taken advantage of the situation. Look, he will use the power of the Central Plains to seize the throne and afterward he will give up a part of his territory in the name of pacifying internal strife. After a few years, when his position is secured, the army of the Central Plains will be either be assimilated by the prairie or will have declined due to the hardship of the frontier life. By that time, he will take the chance to reclaim everything and become a ‘great’ Khan.”
Fang Wenshi put down the brush pen and slammed the table with his right hand as if his statement had been refuted, and he was about to make an impassioned speech and confirm his victory. “I know it sounds a bit odd, but it doesn’t matter what you and I think. King Kuari believes this so he’ll think it’s irrevocably logical.”
“Counselor Fang can’t be more right.”
Fang Wenshi was actually a bit disappointed that the Dragon King had accepted his guess so quickly. He could have voluminously talked on the subject for another two or four hours.
“As for how to deal with it, I also have an idea. The People of the Central Plains are sensitive towards their reputation. How about we expose the real identities of the so-called disciples of the famous sects? After all, they do dare not to argue now. As long as half of them feel ashamed and run away, King Kuari’s power will be greatly weakened.
After arguing eloquently that King Kuari was the mole who had been planted by the Central Plains, the solution put forward by the counselor was a bit of a joke. Gu Shenwei pretended to think for a moment before shaking his head, and replying, “No, that will only force King Kuari to act earlier.”
“What should we do then?” Fang Wenshi was a little unconvinced.
“We are not here to protect the Khan.” Gu Shenwei reminded Fang Wenshi.
Fang Wenshi was stupefied for a moment. He had been thinking of a way to deal with the current enemy and in the process forgotten that the most important purpose of this trip was to use the chaos in Norland to seek profits for the Dragon Army.
“The Dragon King means…?”
“After all this time, I think we can finally make an offer.”
Shangguan Fei stuck his head into the door. “Dragon King, I think something is wrong. I seemed to have used too much strength during the daytime and will have Qi deviation again.”
Shangguan Fei was still trying to avoid going on the Dragon King’s mission, but Gu Shenwei was thinking that he could not just act to save people tonight as there were many other tasks that needed to be taken care of. As such, he needed Shangguan Fei’s help.
