Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
In the camp of the Land of Fragrance, Old Man Mu opened his eyes. Looking at the figure he seemed to be familiar with, the first thing he said was, “Am I dead?”
Outwardly, the wrinkled Old Man Mu seemed to have not suffered much, except that his face was pale and his skin was more flabby as if it were a borrowed ill-fitting garment.
The Jade Pure Sect was famous for its internal energy, even its means of torture was not visible. When Red Bat saw Old Man Mu, he was untied but was moaning in pain. He could not even open his eyes at that time.
Gu Shenwei looked at him for a while and said, “You’re lucky, you’re still alive.”
“Oh.” Old Man Mu closed his eyes again, wondering who he was, who was the man speaking to him, and what ‘alive’ meant.
“You are Dragon King?” Old Man Mu was already half awake when he opened his eyes again.
Red Bat had long been impatient, interrupted, “Where’s the instructor? Where’s she? Why isn’t she with you?”
Old Man Mu couldn’t accept so many questions at once. He blankly stared at the woman in front of him, suddenly sat up and said, “Good girl is missing!”
“Yes, the instructor is missing. Didn’t you go out with her?” Red Bat anxiously asked.
Old Man Mu turned to the Dragon King and shook his head, “I didn’t encourage her, good girl insisted on going with me.”
Old Man Mu said he had three Bone Shrivelling Pills, Shangguan Ru was very interested. She suggested as soon as they came back to the camp, “Let’s go fetch the bills. Dragon King has an agreement with the Norland, it’s not easy for him to break in randomly.”
So on the third night watch period of that night, the two moved out and sneaked into King Rizhu’s Office, and took out the Bone Shrivelling Pills from the jewelry box of the dead princess consort. The whole process went smoothly except that they caused the attention of one hidden sentry when they retreat. But they managed to flee out of the camp before the night guards had reacted.
As to why the two did not return safely, Old Man Mu could not tell clearly. “I, Old Man Mu, have overrun the whole world and gone anywhere as I please for decades, but I haven’t had such a shameful experience — I’ve been drugged. You know, I used to eat pills like eating candy at Waning Moon Hall.”
“What happened then? Did both of you get caught by the old Taoist priests?” Red Bat just wanted to know the final result.
“I don’t know. When I woke up, I’ve already fallen in the hands of those five bastards. After being played by them like a tortoise egg for days, I’m as miserable as a ghost now. Almost all of my acupoints were sealed, uh, even now they are still blocked. I had asked about the good girl’s whereabouts too, but they didn’t tell me. Every day they just forced me to hand over the martial arts manuals. I tried to plead them with tactful words. I said that we had an agreement that they had to help me restore my power before I taught them the martial arts. I didn’t expect them to turn against me … ”
Old Man Mu wanted to continue talking about how he fought a battle of wits and courage, but Gu Shenwei became uninterested and gently push him down, “Take a rest, I may need your help later.”
“Dragon King, I didn’t betray you. The good girl’s missing has nothing to do with me. When I’m getting better, I’ll help you find her out even if I have to toss the Royal Court upside down.”
“Hmm, very good.” Gu Shenwei ambiguously replied. About Old Man Mu’s story, he hadn’t decided how much he would believe, “Amongst the disciples of the Jade Pure Sect, what’s the youngest one’s Taoist name?”
“He’s called Dao Nian. He’s a monster. He looks young, actually, he’s seventy-eight years old now. He’s the big brother and has the strongest internal energy. Dragon King must be careful dealing with him.”
Gu Shenwei would be careful, of course, in interrogating him.
In the tent next door, Dao Nian still sat upright even when tied to a chair. As a respectable elder of an esteemed sect, it was quite normal for him to be unprepared for dirty tricks, so it was not a disgrace to be caught. He made up his mind that he would not say a word to the Dragon King and his junior brothers would come to his rescue sooner or later.
Gu Shenwei interrogated the captive alone. The female soldiers taught by Shangguan Ru were all normal people and were not suitable to watch some of his means.
The old Taoist didn’t want to talk, so Gu Shenwei also didn’t want to waste his breath. He slowly walked to the prisoner, took out a dagger, and put it on the prisoner’s right thumb.
The two looked at each other for a while. Dao Nian was confused. In his imagination, the other side would go through the process of verbal sparring before forcing him to speak and would only act ruthlessly when the other side got annoyed. But looking at the Dragon King’s appearance, he seemed to be more reticent than him.
‘He’s bluffing,’ Dao Nian looked away, thinking that even if the other side was playing it real, with his dozens of years’ cultivation, couldn’t he bear this little torture?
The dagger slowly cut down, and the pain was more severe than Dao Nian had imagined. Cold sweat oozed from his forehead but he could still stand it. He believed that he would be at least better than Old Man Mu but to his great disappointment, those holy scriptures he recited daily actually didn’t work and wasn’t able to ease his pain at all.
Gu Shenwei waited for a while before producing several small boxes from his robe, which were all felt by Lotus. He wasn’t good at torture, but when he had to do it, he still wanted to do it as best as he could.
He pinched Dao Nian’s nose. The old Taoist was very good at holding breath, it took him a long while to force his mouth open and quickly flicked a small pill into his mouth.
Dao Nian blushed with anger and almost asked what it was. But thinking that it was tantamount to admitting defeat if he spoke, he swallowed his doubts.
The Waning Moon Hall had many kinds of pills, many of which were powerful enough to make the strongest person break down. But most of them were either expensive and rare or slow to be effective. The one Gu Shenwei used was relatively simple, which was to make the user’s senses sharper.
For the killers who couldn’t take a rest for several days and nights, it was necessary medicine to stay awake. To the victim, however, it would multiply the pain.
With the dagger pressing on the index finger of the right hand, it felt like thousands of daggers piercing the body from both the inside and outside. Dao Nian couldn’t bear it any longer when it was cutting down less than half an inch, “I am seventy-six years old now.”
Even Dao Nian himself didn’t know why he said this. Was he hoping the Dragon King to respect the old?
Gu Shenwei stood upright and left the dagger on the old Taoist’s index finger, “Well-maintained. You looked only in your forties.”
Dao Nian stunned and suddenly wanted to cry out loud. He managed to hold it back with full strength but his voice still trembled, “Jade Pure Sect is an esteemed orthodoxy of the Central Plains. You are against the whole martial arts world of the Central Plains.”
“So, you should understand how much I’m willing to pay to get you to talk.”
Dao Nian finally understood that all the Central Plains rules he was familiar with did not work for the Dragon King. The sect, Status, Martial arts, none of them could help him here. “What do you really want to know?”
“Where’s Shangguan Ru?” Gu Shenwei should have left the question until the end, but he also failed to maintain complete calmness and throw it out first.
“I don’t know.” Dao Nian shook his head desperately. Once he opened his mouth, his dignity and cultivation all became illusory. And his only thought was to end the pain on his body as soon as possible, “Even Old Man Mu was not caught by us, he was sent to us.”
“Who?”
“They left him at the door without leaving the name.”
Gu Shenwei had to cut off the old Taoist priest’s forefinger.
“It’s Golden Roc Castle, it must be them. They were dressed in black, coming and leaving without a trace.” Dao Nian screamed and his muscle tightened. He almost jumped up from the chair.
“Why does Golden Roc Castle send Old Man Mu to the Jade Pure Sect?”
“I really don’t know. They didn’t make any requests.” Dao Nian racked his brains but can’t think of any information of Shangguan Ru. Flurried, he began to confess other secrets, “You can’t hurt me. I’m also an honored guest of the Norland, a Master hired by the Khan. The truce agreement you agreed is also valid for me.”
This was indeed some information that Gu Shenwei didn’t expect, “Master?” He still remembered that the disciple of the Essence Pavilion also claimed to be a ‘Master’ granted by the Khan.
“Yes, the Khan admired Jade Pure Sect’s way of keeping healthy and had sent invitations to us years ago. We didn’t want to come, but this time, we accepted the invitation in order to get our external kung fu manual back.
“The imperial court of the Central Plains allows you to do so?”
“Jade Pure Sect doesn’t pursue fame and fortune. We just hope the Khan can be influenced through lectures so the two countries can turn hostility into friendship and people of the world won’t suffer from war.” The elders of the Jade Pure Sect had said this many times so it was easy for them to say it again.
The curtain of the tent door was lifted, Old Man Mu wobbled up like a prisoner half-dead from hunger who suddenly smelled the food and desperately tried to crawl over, “I heard screams of pain.”
Torturing others had always been Old Man Mu’s favorite, he had restrained himself since he followed Shangguan Ru. But upon hearing the screams of pain, especially when it seemed to come from an elder of the Jade Pure Sect, he couldn’t help coming to have a look.
“Ahh, is Dragon King avenging me?” Seeing Dao Nian, Old Man Mu was surprised and pleased, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? This old Taoist is the worst. He not only didn’t help restore my power but nearly destroyed the rest of my power. He said I was evil and deserved it, but I hadn’t done so even when I was at my worst.”
Old Man Mu had the intention to pour out all of his grievances. Gu Shenwei stopped his nagging, “This old Taoist is yours now.”
Old Man Mu’s eyes sparkled. No one knew it was tears or excessive excitement. “Seriously?”
“But you can’t kill or maim him.”
“Ah, what’s the point of keeping him then?
Gu Shenwei walked out of the tent.
Those three female officers and a dozen or so female soldiers were waiting for him, all looking scared and afraid to speak. They also heard the screams of the captive, but unlike Old Man Mu, they were filled with fear.
“Your instructor is not in the hands of the Jade Pure Sect.” Gu Shenwei didn’t want to explain.
The crowd nodded and urged each other to return to their own tents, leaving only Red Bat behind who had no intention to leave.
“You have something to say?”
“No.” Red Bat faltered and finally said it, “We all want to get the instructor back right away, but … but …”
“But is it necessary to torture the old Taoist?” Gu Shenwei finished the question for her.
Embarrassed, Red Bat smiled, “I know there’s no other choice. When I was in the Land of Fragrance, the lords’ means were crueler. No no, I’m not saying that Dragon King is the same as my old master. Dragon King has saved us and we are all grateful. Well, the Taoist priest is very bad and it’s reasonable to give him a lesson, but should we leave the instructor’s brother behind like this?”
Red Bat talked a bit incoherently. Obviously, she was complaining for Shangguan Fei and what she said had been discussed by the female soldiers in advance.
Gu Shenwei wanted to tell her the truth about the world but felt it unnecessary before he spoke out. They were Shangguan Ru’s subordinates. There was no need for them to understand the ruthlessness of killers. Be angry at betrayal and cruelty, and stay away from them, wasn’t this the ideal of Shangguan Ru?
So he said, “Shangguan Fei is not in danger and will be back soon.”
It was like Shangguan Fei had been hiding nearby and waiting for the Dragon King’s words, he really came back. Puzzled, he said, “Dragon King, third brother … Shangguan Yun wants to see you. He’s outside.”
