Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Dhuta Kingkong was actually not a monk at all. Although he had a bald head, the dirty open leather jacket and his single saber in a shabby black scabbard clearly indicated that he was a wandering saberman who occasionally changed jobs to that of a robber.
After his appearance, Shangguan Fei found that he was not the only one who was unfamiliar with this Dhuta Kingkong.
The competition had come up quite suddenly and unexpected, but everyone accepted it since the sponsor was very generous. Not only was there the prize of a hundred thousand silver taels, but there was also the allure of free wine and meat. All of this, however, came under suspicion after people saw this Dhuta Kingkong, who had a weather-beaten face, in person.
“Today’s kung fu competition…” Dhuta Kingkong was interrupted by a random voice before he could finish his words. “Where’re the hundred thousand silver taels? Take it out so that we can have a look.”
“Hundred thousand taels! Hundred thousand taels!” It seemed like a mistake to have supplied plenty of wine and meat, as the half-intoxicated bold kung fu practitioners of the martial arts world began to jeer without caring about the host’s feelings.
Dhuta Kingkong was not tall, though his body seemed as sturdy as a calf’s. The most prominent part of his body was his hands which were almost as big as an average man’s head and looked very intimidating when they were fully opened. “Listen up, everybody!”
“Listen to him, listen to him.” The crowd gradually quieted down after the commotion.
“Some people know me.” The crowd cheered. “There are also many new friends here, so please allow me to introduce myself. I’m called and known as Dhuta Kingkong and my home is in the west of the Yellow River, which is why I don’t often come to the Royal Court. No matter who goes there in the future, just look for me. I dare not boast about anywhere else but I am the king of that place. I can satisfy you with money, wine, and women; anything you can name and you’ll have it!”
Cheers rang out everywhere. This was the kind of grandiloquence that was needed when people had dined and wined to their satisfaction.
However, someone would always question, “Hey, look at you, you are dressed no better than a street beggar. How could you offer all that stuff that you promised? And a hundred thousand silver taels? You must be bragging, aren’t you?”
In an attempt to ward off such accusations, the dozen or so sabermen, all holding their saber hilt, menacingly looked around as if they would attack anyone who dared mention the silver.
Shangguan Fei secretly curled his lips. This had turned out to be kung fu competition among a group of reckless sabermen, which was a far cry from the standards of the Tournament of the Royal Court. If he went out to compete, he would definitely take first place in just several punches and kicks.
But the Dragon King valued this contest and there were other unexpected figures also interested in it. Shangguan Fei couldn’t help but glance at the guard again, not knowing who he had pledged allegiance to after the Khan’s death.
The guard nodded slightly, indicating that he also recognized Shangguan Fei and hoped that he would not expose him.
Shangguan Fei tacitly showed a serious expression. He liked the smell of intrigue.
Dhuta Kingkong’s bold claims and the sabermen’s demonstration of strength still couldn’t dispel everyone’s suspicion regarding the hundred thousand silver taels. And there really was someone who had the courage to openly question the validity of the tournament. “I’m not here to drink wine or eat meat. Where’re the hundred thousand taels? Show it, and I’ll be the first to go out there and fight.”
The dozen or so sabermen quickly found the speaker and was just about to rush out to teach him a lesson when Dhuta Kingkong waved his large hand to stop the commotion. He then took a deep breath and said something that surprised everyone. “I really don’t have a hundred thousand taels, at least not yet.”
The audience’s gratitude towards the hospitable host quickly turned to anger, and curses could be heard everywhere. A dozen people could no longer hold it in. Finally, a high-pitched voice cried out, “Shut up, shut up, all of you. Just listen to the Baldy. I don’t think he’s trying to trick us.”
Dhuta Kingkong clasped his hands to show his thanks, as he said, “This bro is right. But if you dare call me ‘Baldy’ again, I’ll smack you in the face. Well, I don’t have a hundred thousand silver taels but neither am I tricking you. With all this wine and meat, do you think that I’m a lazy person? I have a priceless treasure and I will share it with whoever has the best kung fu skills.”
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, “What treasure?”
Dhuta Kingkong looked around and finally said after the crowd was completely quiet. “A head.”
The answer was obviously unexpected to most people, many of whom even asked each other, “What did he say? A head? What kind of treasure is that?”
Ruan Donglai, who was in charge of recording the names and still holding the paperboard and brush pen in his hand, came out of the crowd and bowed to show his respect before saying, “Brother Baldy, you must be kidding. Who can I sell it to if it’s a head?”
Dhuta Kingkong didn’t like others calling him ‘Baldy’ but he didn’t care about being called ‘Brother Baldy.’ “The wealthiest man in the world.”
His words raised a lot of speculations. Some people even mentioned the Meng family of Jade City.
An extremely gentle voice rang out in the crowd’s ears. Everyone heard it but no one felt that it was loud. “It’s the head of the Khan. Only the little Emperor of the Central Plains would be willing to buy it. Isn’t he the wealthiest man in the world?”
In fact, many had thought of this before but dared not say it.
The crowd was quiet again with both fear and hope floating in the air.
Dhuta Kingkong got a hint from Ruan Donglai and loudly said, “This Heroine Han Wuxian is right. I do have the Khan’s head but I do not dare keep it for myself. I want to share it with a hero.”
“You are afraid that you won’t be able to take it out of the prairie,” Han Wuxian calmly said as she combed her hair.
In order to let her face Dhuta Kingkong, Nie Zeng had to turn his back to the crowd. He was really curious about where Han Wuxian had learned all of this information as almost no one had spoken to this enchantress. And what she had just said was well organized and reasoned too. She didn’t seem to be mad at all.
“Heh heh, to tell you the truth. Heroine Han got it right. I have the treasure in my hands but the Central Plains is thousands of miles away. No one knows how many obstacles are waiting along the way. So I thought for a long while before deciding to find a real hero to be my helper and bring the head to the Central Plains. The reward and credit will be divided equally. Don’t you think that it’s worth a hundred thousand taels?”
It was worth much more than that. The number was buzzing around in everyone’s head, and some people had lost track of the amount of money and could only murmur, “It’s worth it, it’s really worth it.”
“It’s too tiring to trek across mountains and rivers to send the head to the Central Plains.” Han Wuxian was one of the few people who remained unmoved. So far, she had not even looked up at Dhuta Kingkong, and was just concentrating on combing her long hair. “It’s better to sell it to the kings of the Norland on the spot. You will certainly get a large sum of money.”
This remark angered the crowd.
“We are all from the Central Plains. How can we turn it over to the kings of the Norland?”
“Who’s this woman? Is she a spy from the Norland?”
Many people drew their sabers. Han Wuxian looked quite calm but Shangguan Fei anxiously stepped forward and said, “She’s from the Western Regions and has nothing to do with the Norland.” That being said, he continued to think, ‘I’ve done my duty to protect her. Now the Dragon King should have no excuse to blame me.’
“People of the Western Regions. No wonder.” The crowd put away their sabers. They could accept it as long as it was not said by the people of the Central Plains.
“It turns out that the Central Plains people are actually so loyal to their Emperor. I’m wondering if the people who kowtowed in front of the ten kings of the Norland were real Central Plains people or not.” Without holding back, Han Wuxian continued haranguing them. Nie Zeng was kind of in admiration of this woman by now. This woman had just come to the Royal Court for a few days but seemed to have already known everything.
Ruan Donglai squeezed through the crowd, stood opposite Han Wuxian, and said on behalf of the crowd, “There are both loyal and treacherous people of the Central Plains. The latter was driven away by the Khan and we are all loyal to the Emperor.”
“Mm, did you write down the names of the people to ask the Emperor for credit?”
Embarrassed, Ruan Donglai admitted, “It’s not impossible.”
“So you mean that it’s also possible that you’ll give it to people of the Norland?”
Those who took part in the contest were mostly reckless sabermen. Some people had given false names as Shangguan Fei did, but most of them had said their real names. Now they all came to their senses and surrounded Ruan Donglai in the blink of an eye.
“Hand over the list.”
“Destroy it, now.”
Han Wuxia, who seemed to quite enjoyed the scene, softly stated, “This is loyalty.” Her voice was not loud but Nie Zeng had a feeling that these words had actually been directed at him.
Flustered, Ruan Donglai could only produce a roll of paper and tear it up in public. “No offense was meant, it was just a convenient way to keep a record of the competition. I’ll just tear it up if you don’t want me to keep it.”
Dhuta Kingkong clapped his big hands and drew the attention back to his side, “Let me just say one more word for why we can’t sell the head to the kings of the Norland. First, they will kill those who hand over the head by burying them alive with the Khan. Second, there are so many kings in the Norland fighting against each other at the moment. Who knows who will rule in the future? Choosing the wrong person to trade with means dying…”
“Fuck it, somebody’s really dead!”
Shangguan Fei was startled because the man who had spoken was standing beside him, and the dead was not far behind him.
The victim was a small man who had just collapsed.
Dhuta Kingkong’s face changed, and he walked over to examine the corpse. “Motherfucker, don’t worry. He probably drank too much. It’s a sudden death, not assassination.”
Dhuta Kingkong returned to the campfire, and two sabermen carried the corpse away. Not long after they stepped out of the crowd, the two suddenly fell to the ground. Many people were looking back at the corpse and all saw it. After waiting for a while, they saw that the two men were also motionless. Only then did someone shout, “Poison, there’s poison on the corpse.”
The crowd dispersed at once.
In the face of an obvious assassination, everyone was fast looking for the murderer.
“Dhuta Kingkong, you poisoned the wine and meat!”
The crowd was immediately divided into two groups, Dhuta Kingkong and his twenty or so fellow sabermen near the campfire, and the two hundred or so ambitious and bold kung fu practitioners who surrounded them.
As he stood in the middle of the two groups, Ruan Donglai loudly said, “Let’s not panic. The poisoner couldn’t have been Dhuta Kingkong. He was drinking and eating with the rest of us. Besides, the men carrying the corpse were also his men.”
The latter reason was more trustworthy than the previous one. The game of finding the murderer continued, and Dhuta Kingkong appeared quite calm, saying, “Everybody, do not move. The poisoner is among us. Do not let him run away.”
After a moment of silence, a saberman suddenly pointed at Shangguan Fei and said, “It’s them. Fifth brother just walked around them …”
The saberman suddenly put his hands around his neck, constantly retching as if something had gotten stuck in his throat and his face quickly turned red due to lack of air. Before the ones around him could even react, he flopped onto the ground, twitched a few times, and ceased moving forever.
Shangguan Fei didn’t expect that trouble would catch up with him so fast, so he hastily said, “Everybody saw that. It has nothing to do with us. We were separated by several people.”
Four men had died one after another, each death odder than the ones before. The atmosphere of fear spread rapidly, and everyone had drawn their weapons at this point and vigilantly stood guard, yet they did not know who the enemy was.
Dhuta Kingkong came over again and stooped to examine the fourth victim. The people next to him all reminded him to be careful about the poison but he didn’t care. After pulling the hands away and checking the neck for a while, he abruptly stood up and turned to Han Wuxian, asking, “Who the hell are you?”
“A woman.”
“You… Which sect are you from?”
“Waning Moon Hall.”
The Waning Moon Hall wasn’t a famous sect even in the Western Regions, so people of the Central Plains had never heard of it. Dhuta Kingkong frowned, thinking that it might be a made-up sect name. “Did you kill them?”
“Yeah.”
Seeing the murderer admit to it so calmly, all the people were astounded. An acquaintance of the dead came forward and questioned, “Did he have a grudge against you? Why did you act so viciously?”
Han Wuxian revealed a beautiful smile. “Isn’t this a kung fu competition? I’ve already defeated four people, and I want to see who’s next.”
Shangguan Fei’s legs softened and his heart trembled, thinking that he might be unable to escape tonight. Then he realized that Han Wuxian had actually shown mercy to him in the Dragon Army camp. Otherwise, just the few bloodstains on his face were more than enough to kill him on the spot.
