Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Shangguan Ru didn’t believe this was all Lotus’s idea.
“I want to see your Master Commander.”
The disciple of the Waning Moon Hall stared at her coldly for a moment before saying, “You’ll see her soon.” Then she turned away and left.
The monks and nuns could hardly believe that this was an idea of the Khan’s. Many of them had seen this Prairie Demigod and felt that he would not do such a degrading thing.
The officer regretfully shook his head. “Now you regret it; seems like I’m better than these baldies after all.” Then he turned to everyone else to say, “The higher-ups know that there are too many monks and too few nuns. The so-called problem of ‘too many monks and too little gruel,’ so I’ll add some ‘gruel’ for you.”
Proud of his metaphor, the officer chuckled and also left.
The ‘gruel’ wasn’t sent right away. The first that arrived was a few buckets of rice. The Norland People didn’t farm so the rice had been imported from the Central Plains and other places and was naturally very expensive. The monks were actually given preferential treatment and therefore, many people believed that the Khan would not force them to break their precept of abstaining from sexual misconduct.
“It must have been the officer playing tricks all along, and he will soon be stopped. Amitabha, this person will surely go to hell after death…”
While the monks and nuns talked about the matter. Shangguan Ru went to the door, lifted the curtain, and found that there were no guards outside.
They were in a small square camp with a total of seven or eight tents surrounded by a dense picket fence, amongst which the tent that imprisoned the monks and nuns was the largest. Outside was a separate picket fence that only had a single small door.
Shangguan Ru was standing in what looked like a courtyard and was immediately noticed by the guards outside.
There were many watchtowers around the small camp, with four in each of the four corners, two on each side, and one in the middle of the camp for a total of thirteen watchtowers. Each watchtower had three to five soldiers in it, who immediately drew their bows and aimed at Shangguan Ru as soon as she walked out.
She observed it all for a moment and felt a little strange. This place wasn’t like a temporary place of detention. It seemed to be the official prison of the Royal Court. How could Lotus have the clout to bring her here? But if the one who had kidnapped her was another person, then what could explain the familiar knockout drugs and the woman with the unique temperament of a Waning Moon Hall disciple?
Shangguan Ru returned to the tent. She couldn’t figure it out for the time being but deep in her heart, she knew that as long as her internal energy was restored, she could easily escape from this place and that she could then go to the Second Consort and the Khan to ask for an explanation.
As for Lotus, Shangguan Ru had always felt that something wasn’t right.
In this short period of time while Shangguan Ru was out, the monks and nuns in the tent had split on their opinions, which had been simmering for many days and had boiled over today.
Over thirty monks were gathered near the tent door where it was a little cooler, the head monk of this group being Kumie.
Eight or nine nuns sat on one side and kept their distance from the monks. One of the nuns waved at Shangguan Ru when she appeared.
Shangguan Ru smiled back but walked to the two monks in the innermost section.
Fayan and Lianqing were isolated with no one around them within ten steps. Upon seeing Shangguan Ru walk towards them, Lianqing was very happy. But he knew it was inappropriate, so he stood up and said in a low voice, “It’s better for you to sit over there.”
Most of the monks were eating and chatting which was a perfect cover for their talks. Shangguan Ru smilingly said, “That’s all right. I’ll sit here. We’re all from Jade City and we should take care of each other.”
Lianqing was thinking the same and cast a challenging look at other monks.
“Hey monk, it seems easy to get away from here,” Shangguan Ru eagerly said to Fayan. “And the Khan thinks that you have the secret manual of immortality. If you run away, the others will be all right.”
Lianqing interrupted before Fayan spoke. Although he appreciated Shangguan Ru’s choice, he still couldn’t change his tone of banditry, which always sounded full of anger and ferocity. “Do you think that we don’t understand that? But this is the Khan’s territory. As long as he wills it, the whole of Norland and half of the Western Regions will become a prison. If my Master runs away, the monks here will take the blame. The Four Noble Truths Temple and even all of Jade City will suffer no matter how advanced your father’s kung fu is.”
Shangguan Ru hadn’t thought so far. “The Khan is so unreasonable. How can he lock up others just because he can’t live forever?”
“Exactly.” Lianqing punched the center of his left palm with his right hand, showing his agreement. “But you can’t blame the Khan completely. He did this because he was misled by the villains.”
“The villains?”
“Of course. I was really pissed off. These people are also from Jade City but have no neighborliness at all. It was exactly them who told the Khan that my Master was over a hundred years old and also them that taught the Khan sexual techniques, attracting a lot of evildoers.”
Lianqing looked really angry, his eyes wide open and his fists clenched. Shangguan Ru immediately had an image of a bandit getting furious and ready to kill in her mind. “From Jade City? Do I know them?”
“The weirdos of the Essence Pavilion; you must have heard of them even if you haven’t seen them before, right?”
Shangguan Ru nodded. Unlike the Dragon King and Lotus, she didn’t have an instinctive reaction to intrigue and craftiness. She just felt strange. She thought for a while before finally understanding. “So it’s not the Khan who wants the secret manual of immortality but rather the disciples of the Essence Pavilion who want to force the Four Noble Truths Temple to hand over the martial arts manuals?”
Fayan smiled without a word. Lianqing, however, jumped up over a foot high and scratched his head after landing, “Yes, that’s it! Little girl, you really are smart. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“I’m not a little girl.”
“Right, how should I address you then?”
She had a lot of identities, some of which she disliked and some that she felt too embarrassed to say out aloud. “You can call me Shangguan Ru.”
“Shangguan Ru. Hmm, that’s strange. So why did the Khan send you here? Do you have the method to achieve immortality?”
“No, no.” Shangguan Ru hastily denied it but refused to give the reason.
The young monk, who had been serving Kumie, felt that the name ‘Shangguan Ru’ was very familiar. He muttered her name over and over until he finally remembered, loudly exclaiming, “Shangguan Ru, isn’t that the Queen of the Land of Fragrance?”
The monks and nuns had been held for nearly a month and knew little about what had occurred in the Royal Court. They didn’t know the news of the Dragon King’s visit. Upon hearing this, all of them were surprised and simultaneously turned to look at Shangguan Ru, whispering to each other.
“No, you don’t look like a queen,” Lianqing said in a matter-of-factly tone.
“I was never a queen in the first place.” Shangguan Ru flushed. She didn’t like being stared at by so many people.
The attention lasted for a quarter of an hour, and when the lunch was over and the servant packed it all up and left, she was finally free because what the officer had called ‘gruel’ had arrived.
This was a woman that wasn’t a nun judging from her dress. The escort took off her hood and left without a word.
Standing in the doorway, the woman blankly looked at the baldies in the tent, her body swaying and seemingly unable to support herself. She looked very tired, and her hair was a little disheveled but it extruded a peculiar elegant disposition and seductive charm. The monks couldn’t take their eyes off of her and even the nuns couldn’t help but be jealous.
Shangguan Ru was also very pretty but whether she admitted it or not, she still seemed immature and was quite different from this mature and gorgeous new woman.
The woman seemed to be used to these kind of stares and showed no trace of shyness and timidity. Instead, she grew more and more bewildered. “Where is this?” she asked. Then she took a step forward but nearly fell.
Over a dozen monks stuck out their hands at the same time but also drew back at the same time. Some turned around, some coughed, and others even continued chatting sutras, all feeling very embarrassed.
“Xiao Fengchai!” Shangguan Ru finally recognized this woman.
“And you are?” Xiao Fengchai didn’t recognize Shangguan Ru.
Several years ago, Shangguan Ru had kidnapped the courtesan of the Retention Alley for a short time. But she had been wearing a mask and was very young at that time and therefore, hadn’t left an impression on her.
Shangguan Ru was very happy to finally meet someone that she knew. She walked over and helped Xiao Fengchai to Fayan’s side and let her sit on a futon.
Before Xiao Fengchai could ask, Lianqing suddenly patted his head and said, “Xiao Fengchai, aren’t you the number one prostitute in the Retention Alley of Jade City?”
His voice wasn’t small. Everyone in the room heard him. The monks, who had ducked their heads, secretly peeped while the nuns glanced at her with obviously disdainful eyes and even their impression of Shangguan Ru grew worse.
Unaware of how long she had been in the carriage, Xiao Fengchai still felt shaky but she gradually calmed her mind and looked up at the monk, and coldly said, “So, you’ve been to my place before? I don’t remember ever having a monk customer like you.”
Lianqing blushed, “Amitabha. Before I became a monk, I visited the Retention Alley a few times but never had the luck to meet Miss Xiao.”
“Hey, that’s fine. I thought that you’d spent all your money on me and had no choice but to be a monk.”
Lianqing’s face turned even redder. Xiao Fengchai’s customers were either rich people or nobles. He was indeed not qualified to meet her but like many men, he also had many fantasies about the most popular woman in the Retention Alley.
“Amitabha.” Lianqing felt that his cultivation over the years was in danger of being destroyed in one day. Ashamed, he turned his back to Xiao Fengchai and chanted sutras in a low voice, not daring to look at her again.
To those who knew her and helped her, Xiao Fengchai, however, was very polite. “Who are you, little girl? How do you know me?”
“Shangguan Ru. We’ve… met before.”
Thinking of that childish kidnapping, Xiao Fengchai suddenly realized who the little girl was and said with a smile, “I was wondering which little girl would have such gallantry. So it’s the Tenth Gongzi of Jade City.”
Shangguan Ru’s face was as red as Lianqing’s. Neither ‘little girl’ nor ‘Tenth Gongzi’ were titles that she liked. “How did you get here?”
Xiao Fengchai skillfully arranged her hair and said, “I was also wondering this. Who could have imagined that an experienced person like me would become careless and be drugged in my own house? I don’t know why I was brought here, and no one told me the reason along the way. I’m really confused, to the point that my puzzlement is almost killing me.”
“This is the Royal Court. We are all in the Khan’s prison.”
Xiao Fengchai was dumbfounded. She had tens of thousands of ways to deal with women and money but she still didn’t understand why she would end up being thrown into a group of monks and nuns. “The Khan? If he invited me, I definitely would have come. Why did he kidnap me?”
Fayan, who had been silent all the time, opened his mouth. “I’m afraid it has nothing to do with the Khan. He’s just providing a place.”
“If it has nothing to do with him, then who kidnapped me?”
Shangguan Ru was even more confused than Xiao Fengchai. If Lotus had kidnapped her out of jealousy, then why did she kidnap Xiao Fengchai from the far-away Jade City? After all, Xiao Fengchai had nothing to do with the Dragon King.
A young monk at the door suddenly stood up and started tearing his robe, shouting, “I can’t bear it anymore. I’m going to break the precept!”
The monk fixed his greedy eyes on Xiao Fengchai like a hungry wolf.
Although Xiao Fengchai was confident about her appearance, she didn’t expect that she had such a huge draw. Shangguan Ru’s heart moved a bit and she blurted out, “The rice!”
The young monk was not the only monk who had become restless. Over a dozen monks’ eyes changed. Although the rest of the monks managed to sit quietly and meditate, they weren’t able to stop their companions.
They were all people with a strong degree of self-control who would rather die than act like a fool in public if not having been stimulated by drugs.
