Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
All ten guards of the Dragon King had been trained by the old saberman Tuo Nengya. They took the Dragon King’s hint and immediately centered around Chu Nanping to protect him, which surprised everyone.
Old Man Mu was excluded from the circle. He ran around the protective circle, hoping to find a gap. But it was so closely surrounded that not only was he unable to break in but he was also forced to retreat several steps under the pressure of the guards’ grand formation.
“Whoa, come on. We’re all on the same side. Dragon King, are you offering me to King Rizhu as a gift? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I can commit suicide by myself. Wild Horse, do you still remember? I even did back trampling for you.”
The thirteen kung fu experts of King Shengri were also very surprised. Although the circle of the ten guards was watertight, it was completely defensive, which meant that the attackers left were just the Dragon King and the useless Old Man Mu.
Iron Harrier was presumed to be the leader of the small group, and his tactics were simple. The five elders of the Jade Pure Sect were to join forces with the disciples of the Essence Pavilion to detain the Dragon King while the rest of the people tried to finish their goal of killing the seven guards as quickly as possible. As for Wild Horse, he could do whatever he wanted to hunt down Old Man Mu.
The Dragon King’s deployment slightly upset his plan. Although the martial arts skills of the ten guards were not first-rate, they became much more powerful with the sword formation and therefore, brought trouble to his rapid annihilation plan. He winked at the five elders of the Jade Pure Sect to signal them to join in on the siege of the guards while he himself would fight alone with the Dragon King.
Although he had been defeated by the frosty Qi in the competition of internal energy, Iron Harrier was still very confident. He had been observing the Dragon King’s saber techniques for the first several games and felt that he held an advantage over the Dragon King, or at least he could fight with him for a while.
Unfortunately, although King Shengri’s impromptu team was full of experts, it was a mob when they were all gathered together. Nobody cared about Iron Harrier’s hints at all.
The five elders of the Jade Pure Sect, who were determined to render the greatest service, were unwilling to change their target. So they pretended not to understand Iron Harrier’s eyes and rushed at the Dragon King at the same time.
The two hunchbacks of the Essence Pavilion also changed their original plan and rushed at the guards, aiming for Chu Nanping in the center. They jumped around with their crutches and tried to break through the protective circle but just ended up wasting their time.
The three warriors of King Shengri understood their lord’s present state, so they set their mind on pleasing the Essence Pavilion and following the hunchbacks to jump up and down.
Only Silver Condor, another wing guard of the Khan, followed the plan and directly rushed at the guards, but he was impeded on his way. No one knew whether they had done so intentionally or not, but Old Man Mu and Wild Horse, one running as the other pursued, always flashed in front of him.
Gu Shenwei had realized his purpose of baiting the two hunchbacks through the protection of Chu Nanping.
For the Essence Pavilion, the importance of Chu Nanping was no less than that of Immortal Peng’s ‘legacy.’ The Dragon King suddenly putting him under close protection meant that he would never give up the boy easily. As expected, the two hunchbacks were fooled, and they persisted in trying to take Chu Nanping away on the spot.
Gu Shenwei’s move was likely to have no effect on ordinary people because as long as the other side randomly killed seven people, they would win and by that time, the Dragon King could only hand over the legacy and the young swordsman as agreed. Why would they resort to snatching right away?
But the minds of the disciples of the Essence Pavilion were different from that of ordinary people. The fact that they were good at confusing others’ mind actually made them bad at understanding their own. Their thought process was simple and direct: Since the Dragon King was protecting Chu Nanping, it meant that he didn’t want to hand him over, so they must grab him in advance.
The thirteen experts of King Shengri were divided into three or four groups and each fought on their own. Gu Shenwei refused to fight with any of them. Like Old Man Mu, he also ran and leaped around the ten guards’ sword formation, and the ones following him were the five elders of the Jade Pure Sect.
“What do you mean, Dragon King?” Old Man Mu shouted loudly.
“Old Man Mu, I’ll drive you out of the Dragon Army if you fail to kill two people,” said Gu Shenwei as they passed each other by.
Old Man Mu paused for a moment before suddenly turning around to catch up with the Dragon King, during which he easily slipped past Wild Horse. “You found out?”
“Humph.”
“What on earth gave me away?”
As he spoke, Old Man Mu didn’t slow down. No matter how the Dragon King changed directions he could keep abreast of him. He wasn’t like a man whose power had been seriously damaged at all. Although the situation was severe, he had to figure out the problem.
The poor five elders of the Jade Pure Sect who had average lightness skills scattered and wanted to surround the Dragon King but always failed when they were on the verge of success.
Wild Horse was in hot pursuit but he misjudged every now and then. When Old Man Mu and the Dragon King made sharp turns, he continued moving forward and would occasionally bump into his partners.
Gu Shenwei launched a feint attack at Iron Harrier and Silver Condor to prevent the two from approaching the sword formation and then leaped away quickly before he found time to reply Old Man Mu. “You are full of flaws.”
“What?” Old Man Mu didn’t understand.”
“Would you have dared to take Shangguan Fei to the forbidden zone if you were powerless?”
“Uh … It’s really not like me at second thought. Heh heh, but I might be influenced by the good girl and change myself.”
Gu Shenwei hummed again. Old Man Mu would never change. In order to heal himself, Old Man Mu had lived in seclusion for more than a dozen years without revealing any news. For a person who could tolerate anything to ensure his own safety, he would not risk his life unless he had something secure to rely on.
He had claimed that he had little power left after being tortured by the five elders of the Jade Pure Sect but right after, he had actively gone into a place difficult to reach with the unreliable Shangguan Fei. His change was a little too much if everything he had said was true.
“You overdid it when you showed me your soft armor.” Gu Shenwei added another reason.
Old Man Mu had been hit by Lu Tianfeng of the Kunlun Sect. He pretended to be unable to dodge and had taken the blow, but he was not dead and was not even seriously injured. To conceal it, he had deliberately showed off his soft armor and indicated that he could lend it to the Dragon King. He thought that he had hidden everything well, but it had only confirmed Gu Shenwei’s judgment that he was lying.
Old Man Mu looked helpless. “Do I really look like a bad guy? Well, forget it. I’m not a good person. But please, Dragon King, let me fool you once. Please do not see through me every time. I feel so ashamed.”
Old Man Mu changed his attitude fast and he praised cleverly. With self-ridicule similar to a kind of entreaty, he not only avoided apologizing but also praised the Dragon King. In fact, he had only lied twice since he had come to the Norland.
“Do it now.” Gu Shenwei ordered and made an example by running toward Silver Condor who was said to be even better than Iron Harrier.
Old Man Mu had hidden his kung fu to evade responsibility. Since he had been exposed, he knew that he must exert all his strength to kill two of his opponents in order to obtain the Dragon King’s forgiveness.
His lightness skills were even better than that of the Dragon King. Without even a stop, he went straight back at the Taoist priests of the Jade Pure Sect while shouting viciously, “Let me have my revenge first.”
The fact that Old Man Mu was willing to stay in the Dragon Army was obviously because he hadn’t recovered to his full power yet. He still had sixty to seventy percent internal energy left but it was enough to cope with some average kung fu experts.
As soon as the Dragon King and Old Man Mu launched a counterattack, the enemy reacted. Silver Condor was tired of being blocked every time he ran at the guards’ sword formation. He was pleased to see the Dragon King attack him so he also took the chance to press forward. Iron Harrier’s tactics had failed so he also ignored the others and decided to join Silver Condor in defeating the core figure of the enemies.
The five people of the Jade Pure Sect were a bit scared of Old Man Mu. Upon hearing that the other side still had power, they immediately fanned out into a battle formation. And they would have surrounded the target if Wild Horse didn’t rush ahead.
It was the first time the experts of the Norland and the Central Plains experienced how the Dragon King fought alone with his opponents. They had misjudged many things in the moment, which they were deeply impressed by when they recalled it afterward. As for the onlookers, they were completely dazzled. The Dragon King had only said a few words with Old Man Mu, which immediately changed the whole situation on the field.
The two Eagle Claws, Iron Harrier and Silver Condor, had had a chance to take the initiative if they had coordinated their target at the very beginning but the two had hesitated between the Dragon King and the guards and lost their best opportunity.
Gu Shenwei’s tactics coincided with those of Old Man Mu. The two staged a diversionary attack by suddenly turning to attack the three warriors of King Shengri without even touching their oncoming opponents. The three warriors were the weakest part of the thirteen opponents and had always been the first target of the two from the outset.
“Do not compete with me.”
Old Man Mu blurted out and punched over a dozen times in a row, striking one of the warriors into flight. Then his expression suddenly changed, “Damn, I promised the good girl to not kill again.”
The warrior spat out a mouthful of blood after falling to the ground and obviously looked more dead than alive. When he heard Old Man Mu’s words, the last thing on his mind was that his luck was so bad.
Gu Shenwei’s saber was much quicker. The other two warriors fell down dead before they could even have a last thought.
“Today is an exception,” said Gu Shenwei after the kill.
“You are the boss.” Old Man Mu was actually waiting for this. With the Dragon King’s permission, the good girl would not say anything even if she found out later.
Old Man Mu rushed towards the five elders of the Jade Pure Sect again with the same words, “Let me have my revenge first.”
The three warriors under him had died so easily that King Shengri immediately lost all face. What made it worse was that King Rizhu who was beside him refused to keep his mouth shut. “Ouch, who can tell me how the three people died? Well, they should at least last two or three moves so I that can see it clearly.” King Rizhu then turned to talk to the other kings, saying, “Had I known so, you should have lent Second King several experts like I did.”
“Old Cha is farsighted. We didn’t think of that.”
Most of the kings gloated. King Shengri swore at heart that he would avenge himself sooner or later.
Just as the kings stopped talking, the situation on the field changed again.
Old Man Mu’s second revenge statement wasn’t a bluff, he was fighting with the five elders of the Jade Pure Sect but wasn’t able to finish the fight soon anymore. Although the Taoists’ fist and foot techniques were far inferior to those of their opponent, with the combination of the five, their palm attacks were so fierce that Old Man Mu couldn’t even approach within five paces of them.
And Wild Horse was even more ferocious and looked as if he really wanted to kill Old Man Mu. The secret order he had received was to help the Dragon King in secret but it didn’t include this old enemy of King Rizhu’s.
Soon, Old Man Mu fell into a losing position. “Dragon King, come and help!”
Gu Shenwei couldn’t get away. In the face of several enemies, his style was to lure the enemy into pursuing him and counterattacking when facing a lone opponent. But Silver Condor and Iron Harrier were not ordinary kung fu practitioners. Gu Shenwei was entangled by the two after exchanging only one move and actually couldn’t break free.
After five moves, Gu Shenwei struck with his left palm and exchanged a slap with Silver Condor.
The frosty Qi did not work this time. Silver Condor neither trembled nor lowered his speed and instead wielded his saber faster and faster. He had taken the blow with complete confidence.
Even King Shengri could see the Dragon King’s defeat now. His expression, therefore, returned to normal and he said with a smile. “Old Cha, now you can see clearly?”
