Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The kung fu competition had reached its most crucial moment, when Shen Yongjiu suddenly mentioned lord Wei Song, the Governor of the Western Regions. There were many reasons for him to do so. He might want to signal goodwill and hope for the Dragon King to show mercy, test the Dragon King’s stance on behalf of King Shengri, or simply disturb his opponent and find an opportunity to win.
No matter his purpose, he didn’t achieve any of them.
Although Shen Yongjiu’s sabersmanship and bodily movement techniques were top-notch, he was not good enough to speak while fighting the Dragon King.
Like an over-exerted runner who couldn’t suddenly stop, he wasn’t able to halt until he was ten steps away from the Dragon King, his right hand gripping the sharp saber and his left hand covering his stomach. He looked down at the blood oozing from between his fingers in amazement because this was quite different from how he had imagined it would end.
“Good sabersmanship, Dragon King.” Shen Yongjiu actually showed a smile at this time, and even his tightened eyebrows stretched a little.
“Your saber technique is also not bad.”
“I’m far from that level.” Shen Yongjiu shook his head. He was no match even when the other side’s internal energy was impaired, not to mention if it were in a normal state. “I do not represent the real strength of the kung fu practitioners of the Central Plains, and neither do these people.”
More and more blood flowed from between his fingers but this kung fu master of the Kongdong Sect had spent the last part of his life defending the martial arts practitioners of the Central Plains.
“I understand.” Gu Shenwei was also from the Central Plains. He had heard many Jianghu legends from his father and his old servant Yang Zheng, and naturally believed that the real ability of the martial arts world of the Central Plains was more than this. But that was something irrelevant to the situation at hand.
Shen Yongjiu fixed his eyes on the Dragon King’s face without blinking. Revealing his true identity had earned him a lethal cut, but he still wanted to know what position the Dragon King held. “I wish for the Dragon King to promise me one thing,” he said.
“Go ahead.”
“Those two are my junior brother. If I fail, they will be killed by the king. Please save their lives.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Shen Yongjiu had hoped to explain to the Dragon King the importance of saving his two junior brothers without arousing any suspicion but suddenly felt that it was unnecessary. So he took a deep breath and solemnly said, “The Kongdong Sect will appreciate what the Dragon King has done.”
Everyone was puzzled by the conversation. Shen Yongjiu’s request was quite improper and the Dragon King didn’t have to agree to it. Old Man Mu especially could not understand Shen Yongjiu’s last words, and wondered out loud, “Is this fellow threatening the Dragon King?”
No one responded. Shen Yongjiu fell while still holding the boning saber in his hand.
King Shengri looked a bit better. He could afford a few more losses as long as the scene was fierce, and he would be very disappointed if the Dragon King was really defeated by a kung fu expert of the Central Plains.
Those two disciples of the Kongdong Sect nervously looked at the king. Their senior brother had lost and died but he had also performed well, so maybe the lord would be lenient and spare them. As for the fact that their senior brother had asked the Dragon King for help before his death, they wouldn’t even mention it in front of the lord.
King Shengri seemed to have really forgotten about them. Looking at the Dragon King, he was wondering whether or not to send out a real expert in the next game.
The officer under King Shengri, however, didn’t forget. He waved his hand, and immediately, twenty or so cavalry adjusted their positions and surrounded the targets, ready to shoot.
Other kung fu experts from the Central Plains moved back right away. Some of them had a long-standing friendship with the Kongdong Sect, so they retreated even further than the others.
“My lord… please allow us to fight for you.” This was the only excuse they could come up with, and though they would still die, it was still better than being shot to death.
King Shengri turned his head as if he had just seen the two and was amazed that they were still alive, “Allow you to fight? Hmm, let me see… No.”
It was both a refusal and an order, and the cavalry let loose their arrows.
The disciples of the Kongdong Sect fought back. They might not be top-notch masters, but they weren’t mediocre kung fu practitioners who could be killed by a dozen or so arrows either. And they had reacted faster. They had jumped up before King Shengri had even formed the word ‘No’ in his mouth.
The arrows fell on the ground but the targets were missing. This, however, wasn’t what surprised the calvary the most. Just at the moment when they were stupefied, one of the two disciples of the Kongdong Sect fell to the ground. The whole process was not like an arrow shooting a man but more like a man crushing an arrow.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, but your kung fu is terrible.” King Shengri coldly gave a judgment. The kung fu master of the Norland he had arranged to be next to him had finally come in handy when he killed the attacker in one shot with a speed no slower than the Dragon King.
The kung fu experts of the Central Plains had seen it more clearly than the Norland Cavalry and were all surprised, but not because of the behavior of the disciples of the Kongdong Sect, but rather because they finally realized that the Norland had some real hidden kung fu experts.
Another disciple of the Kongdong Sect had made a different choice: running towards the Dragon King.
King Shengri looked at the escaper’s back with interest and didn’t issue an order to shoot. He had also heard Shen Yongjiu’s plea before his death and wanted to see if the Dragon King, who had readily agreed, would keep his promise or not.
“I’ll try my best,” the answer given by the Dragon King was, of course, a vague one. It might even be merely a perfunctory reply.
The disciple of the Kongdong Sect didn’t have much confidence either. He paused at a distance of seven or eight paces from the Dragon King and didn’t know how to speak to the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei looked over the help seeker and said to the officer opposite, “I won and I’ll let one of my men go.”
“Please appoint, Dragon King.” The officer’s attitude seemed to grow a little more respectful every time the Dragon King killed a man.
Gu Shenwei turned to the disciple of the Kongdong Sect, “What’s your name?”
“Fan Yongda.”
Old Man Mu couldn’t help interrupting, “Why you are not called Yongliu or Yong Qi to follow your senior brother?”
Extremely nervous, Fan Yongda suddenly felt that Old Man Mu’s words were really laughable and couldn’t help but give out a dry laugh.
“Kneel down and say that you will join the Dragon Army.”
The Dragon King’s tone was flat and had no intent of coercion but Fan Yongda, who seemed like a puppet controlled by a string, kneeled immediately. “I am willing to join the Dragon Army.” He didn’t realize what that meant until after he said it.
Kneeling was not an etiquette of the Dragon Army, but rather was the simplest and most obvious way to pledge allegiance in front of the people of the Norland.
“You can go now,” said Gu Shenwei.
It all happened so fast that Fan Yongda knew that he seemed to have been saved but stood still, not understanding what the word ‘go’ meant and where he should go.
“No.” The astonished Norland officer finally came to his senses and barked, “This man is not the Dragon King’s subordinate.”
As a master of a verbal fight, Old Man Mu would never let the others steal the show. Although he didn’t quite understand the Dragon King’s behavior and thought that it was unnecessary to save people, he still went forward to speak for the Dragon King. “Hey, he was obviously kneeling down to swear allegiance, and even the dust on his knee hasn’t been swept clean. How can you say that he’s not the Dragon King’s subordinate?”
“He… just joined, so it doesn’t count.”
“So, are you saying that a newborn son doesn’t count as a son and he has to wait for a year before he can take his father’s surname?”
The officer ignored Old Man Mu’s quibbling and looked back at King Shengri, waiting for his instructions.
King Shengri was surprisingly not angry. He urged his horse to move a few paces forward and spoke to the Dragon King directly. “The Dragon King is acting like a Bodhisattva today. Do you want to save everyone?”
“Saving lives can sometimes be addictive.” Gu Shenwei also took several steps forward. The cavalry immediately raised their bows and arrows.
“It’s a pity that killing is more addictive. The Dragon King’s wish is good but I can’t agree.”
King Shengri raised his hand, and over a hundred arrows were directed at the frightened Fan Yongda who was standing to the right and back of the Dragon King. But in the midst of the encirclement, nothing could keep him safe.
King Shengri pointed at Fan Yongda and after a pause, he then pointed to Old Man Mu. “And this blabbering freak.”
Old Man Mu was startled and dodged between the two guards of the Dragon Army, “Hey, easy, easy, you might hurt the Dragon Army by mistake, you might…” As for what ‘they might,’ he didn’t know.
“Please recall your order, King Shengri,” Gu Shenwei said.
As long as King Shengri’s hand fell, the two men who he wanted to kill would die under the random rain of arrows. But he was not in a hurry. He had drunk and kept birds for so many years and hadn’t had the pleasure of deciding other’s lives for a long time, so he chuckled and hummed. “Well, give me one good reason and I might spare their lives for the time being.”
“I will soon see the Khan, and I will not mention the Essence Pavilion in front of him.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“King Shengri can also take this as a show of goodwill. I’ve known the disciples of the Essence Pavilion for a long time. No one knows more about them than me.”
King Shengri’s smile disappeared, “That’s not a very good reason. Now I want to kill even more people, including the Dragon King. I’m going to cancel the tournament.”
“You have the right to.” Gu Shenwei stopped speaking as if he had given up all efforts at persuading King Shengri.
But not everyone could be as calm as the Dragon King. Old Man Mu squatted at the feet of the guards and shrank his body as small as possible while at heart, he was constantly guessing at the reasons why the Dragon King could be so fearless. Fan Yongda was completely frozen, standing there speechless.
The cavalry and the kung fu experts of the Central Plains on the outer circle together with the besieged at the inner circle all looked at the King Shengri’s raised right arm. Everyone knew that killing the Dragon King would be the beginning of a greater slaughter.
King Shengri coldly regarded the Dragon King and burst out laughing. “Haha, everyone says that the Dragon King is bold, and now I see it. You obviously know that I don’t want to give up this wonderful competition and deliberately said that to annoy me. The Dragon King’s saber techniques are a hundred times more interesting than the warrior contest, so you must show them all to me today. All right, you can release whoever you want. One round, one person, as long as you win. If you are capable enough to win a thousand times, you can release all the people here.”
King Shengri’s statement surprised everyone. Those quick-witted amongst the eight or nine hundred kung fu practitioners that were surrounded heard a gleam of hope from these words. They immediately forced their way through the crowd and knelt towards the back of the Dragon King, shouting, “I want to join the Dragon Army! I want to join the Dragon Army!”
Flop! More than half of the besieged fell to their knees and requested to join the Dragon Army. Only a small fraction of people were concerned about their face and didn’t kneel down. They thought that the Dragon King could not save all the people and even if he could save of them, it might not ever reach their turn so there was no need to lose face in public.
Old Man Mu was the happiest. He jumped up and laughed, pointing to the King Shengri, “A promise is a promise. What Your Highness said was not a fart. Since you’ve said ‘all the people,’ it also includes me.”
King Shengri completely ignored him.
Only Gu Shenwei understood this lord’s intention. King Shengri was using the kung fu competition to hide his true purpose. The disciples of the Essence Pavilion had finally cornered the Dragon King and they were determined to obtain the relics of Immortal Peng and Chu Nanping. As for the victory of the contest, King Shengri already had a well-thought-out plan.
Gu Shenwei glanced back at the masses of people kneeling down and had a pretty clear idea of what to do now. He didn’t intend to save the irrelevant ones but suddenly realized that the choice he had made today might be very important to the future.
Of course, he couldn’t save everyone one by one; he had to think of another way.
“King Shengri, please spare the Dragon King!” A cavalryman shouted from a distance, followed by a group of cavalry galloping from the South.
One of the miracles Gu Shenwei had been waiting for had come at last.
