Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Fang Wenshi had rendered outstanding services, but he had also landed the Dragon King in a tricky situation.
“The Queen was very brave and gained the Second Consort’s trust all on her own. I think that the Dragon King should take the time and visit her whether it is for your public or private interests.”
Gu Shenwei couldn’t help but doubt whom the counselor’s ‘brilliant plan’ had been designed for, but he had to admit that the Dragon Army was ultimately the biggest beneficiary. “I will,” he replied.
After Fang Wenshi took his leave, Gu Shenwei sat alone for a while before going to meet Shulitu. On the way over, he called Mo Lin to come with him.
This twelve-year-old kid, who had already acquired three ‘king’ titles and had been tested on the battlefield on the first day, always behaved very calmly and maturely, which surprised many people.
“I was looking forward to meeting with the Dragon King,” he said with a weak voice reminiscent of a little girl’s, but with a tone that was neither humble nor pushy, which forced people to not underestimate him.
The guards and attendants sensibly retreated. Nie Zeng and Han Wuxian did not respond. They stayed with Shulitu as though they were his men.
“You seem to have changed your mind.” Gu Shenwei didn’t treat the other side as a kid.
“It’s hard to tell.” Shulitu took a glance at the Khan’s ex-wing guard standing next to the Dragon King and continued saying, “But the fact that Silver Condor is standing on the Dragon King’s side does increase my faith in you.”
“Your Highness knows me?” Mo Lin was a bit surprised. He remembered that he had only seen the great-grandson of the Khan once long ago, when Shulitu had only been five or six years old.”
“Someone already told me what you look like. Actually, I remember you personally. The Khan trusted you a lot, more than most of his children and grandchildren.”
The description would have been a dire threat if it was said by a grown-up king, but when said by the twelve-year-old Shulitu, it was more like a sincere compliment. Mo Lin slightly bowed his head to receive the honor. “My original name is Mo Lin.”
“You no longer call yourself Silver Condor?”
“Mmm, I won’t serve the second Khan. My only duty in this world now is to avenge the old Khan, destroy the Waning Moon Hall, and kill the Master Commander Lotus.”
Sitting on a soft couch, Han Wuxian, who had taken off her uniform and garland, held her long hair and looked up, saying, “Yo, you seem to be very confident. But the Waning Moon Hall is mine. Let’s see how you will ‘destroy’ it.”
Han Wuxian’s voice was as gentle as an innocent girl’s, but Mo Lin felt like his blood freeze and his right hand uncontrollably reaching for his saber hilt.
“This is Han Wuxian, the Hall Leader of Waning Moon Hall,” Gu Shenwei introduced.
Mo Lin retracted his hand but didn’t lower his vigilance at all. He corrected his words and restated, “I’ll kill all the disciples who are loyal to Lotus.”
Han Wuxian’s smile grew bigger and her voice became even more ethereal. “I like you.”
Mo Lin did not dare answer. The one he admired more from all this was the Dragon King, who was bold enough to join hands with this madwoman.
Shulitu looked at the Dragon King and said, “May I say something?”
“Go ahead.” Gu Shenwei replied.
“Maybe I was wrong. The Dragon King might really be innocent and all the plots might have been planned by that Lotus and the Waning Moon Hall. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are still a foreigner. How am I supposed to believe you have no ambition in taking over the Prairie?”
Gu Shenwei shook his head and said, “There’s another fact that has never changed. Although you have an army, you do not have any security and your life is in my hands. So I don’t have to prove if I’m ambitious or not; however, you, you have to prove you are a sensible man worthy of being my ally.”
Shulitu was obviously enraged, but even then he did not make a scene like an ordinary kid. Instead, he looked quietly at the Dragon King and then turned to glance at Nie Zeng and Han Wuxian beside him.
Nie Zeng did not speak, but his face had become stern. Han Wuxian indifferently sighed and said, “I was glad when you tried to win me over and I hope that you can continue to do so in the future, but that won’t make me soft. I can promise you, you would not be the first cute kid to die in my hands.”
Shulitu blushed a little. For the last night, he had racked his brains for ways to appease and please Nie Zeng and Han Wuxian, and for a time he thought that he had a chance of convincing the two to pledge allegiance to him. But it turned out that Han Wuxian had remained ruthless and Nie Zeng also had not wavered.
“I’m impressed by the Dragon King’s subordinates.” Shulitu wanted to cover up his disappointment, but he was still a twelve-year-old kid after all and his voice was full of unrestrainable bitterness and jealousy.
Neither Nie Zeng nor Han Wuxian were true loyalists, but Gu Shenwei did not intend on explaining the complex relationship between them. He just wanted the precocious kid to understand the truth. “You have to work hard to survive.”
All of a sudden, the Dragon King had become as majestic, as terrifying, and as annoying as his grandpa, the old King Riying.
Shulitu’s face turned even redder, and he looked down a little bit. This was his usual reaction to his grandpa, but this time he summoned up enough courage to say what he would not have dared say to his grandpa. “What else do I have at the end other than my life?”
“It depends on your ability. You may gain warriors who are truly loyal to you, the reputation that you are a worthy descendant of the Khan, and maybe even the whole prairie.”
Shulitu’s face was not just red, but also warm now. “Will you let me act on my own?”
“I’ve never bound your hand or foot.”
Shulitu took another look at Nie Zeng and Han Wuxian. Indeed, the two only protected him and prevented him from committing suicide, but had never restricted him from seeing anyone.
“I’ll think about it.” Shulitu reminded himself to stay calm and that he didn’t need to answer right away.
Mo Lin felt that he had misjudged the Dragon King before. The Dragon King was not unpredictable. He had strict principles and a clear bottom line, but they were just too unconventional and often overlooked by others.
“What will the Dragon King do with the head of the Khan?” Mo Lin asked after they left Shulitu’s tent. This was the most important benefit he could offer to the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei thought for a moment and asked, “Do you believe the shamans of the Court Attendants Army?”
Mo Lin had already heard that the Great Shaman had delivered the ‘decree of Heaven’ in public. “They are nothing but a bunch of clowns who think that they can control people’s mind like the masters in the palace. I think that they’re just bringing about their own destruction.”
“No one has yet been able to properly bury the Khan, so keep the head to yourself.”
Mo Lin was very surprised because he had thought that the Dragon King’s purpose behind winning him over was mainly for the Khan’s head. The Dragon King’s words moved, but also alarmed him. He had said that he would not serve a second Khan and naturally would not turn to anyone else. “The Dragon King must have something else he wants me for.”
“I’m a bit confused about the Devil Bird mentioned by the shaman. Even if the roc does come here, there doesn’t seem to be any need to connect it to the selection of a new Khan. I hope that you can help me figure this conundrum out.”
Gu Shenwei didn’t say it in a commanding tone. He knew that Mo Lin was not yet his subordinate.
Mo Lin slightly bowed and said, “I’ll find out.”
He had been the Khan’s wing guard, most trusted man, and was also acknowledged as the Khan’s most loyal man. He had a great reputation among the ordinary soldiers, which eclipsed even his own imagination. This was actually what Gu Shenwei was most interested in.
Mo Lin glanced at the noisy crowd in the distance before he retreated. “The two of them seem bound to fight.”
Dog Butcher of the Kongtong Sect was confronting Old Man Mu.
Dog Butcher had finally found Old Man Mu, but he didn’t believe that the other side was the devil who had run amuck in the Norland and kept shaking his head. “No way, you can’t be Old Man Mu. I remember what you looked like.”
Old Man Mu recognized Dog Butcher, “Good girl, what did you bring this Old Dog here for? Was there no room left in the camp to dispose of the bones?”
Shangguan Ru coughed sternly and said, “You two haven’t quite settled the score, but this is the Dragon Army camp. I have to make some rules. First, do not accuse or mess with each other. Second…”
Dog Butcher hadn’t recovered from the shock yet. He looked at Old Man Mu up and down, “You don’t look like him but you do talk like him. Are you really Old Man Mu?”
“Of course.” Old Man Mu began to get angry and started ranting, “Even the woman I slept with recognized me, so why don’t you, who suffered defeat at my hands, recognize me?”
“I haven’t slept with you, so it’s normal that I didn’t recognize you.” Dog Butcher sighed and continued, asking, “I heard that you were injured and are not as powerful as you used to be?”
“What said that?” Old Man Mu was furious.
“I said it. It’s not a lie,” Shangguan Ru said with a cold face. Her rules had been ignored before she could even finish speaking.
“Heh heh, that’s all right. It’s not a secret and many people know about it anyways. Old Dog, you have nothing to be proud of. Even if I only have ten percent of my internal energy left, I can still beat you. If you lose this time, you don’t have to keep your surname anymore; just call yourself ‘Dog.’”
Dog Butcher would not be provoked easily. He kept shaking his head and said, “That will not bring me honor even if I win. There’s no need to compete. In fact, you might have been no match for me even in the past. A man just enlightened me towards the fact that the kung fu used to kill is different from that of competing. Now I finally understand why I was defeated and I won’t make the same mistake again. Alas, unfortunately, my name has been shortened by half, and your figure and power are also shortened by half. What’s the point of it even if I win?”
Dog Butcher was only expressing his own feelings and his speech had no special meanings. To an outsider, however, it sounded like contempt and provocation. Old Man Mu flew into a rage. “No, you’re gonna compete. Old Man Mu has lots of martial arts skills, and even if he’s injured, he’s still invincible… He’s still better than you, anyway. Good girl, do not stop me this time, not for this one. I’m about to explode.”
Before Shangguan Ru could speak, Dog Butcher had turned around and left with a long sigh. “I’ve come in vain, and now my Senior Sister can’t say anything about me.”
Old Man Mu ran after him and punched, forcing the other side to have a fight with him.
Dog Butcher easily dodged it without even looking back. “Hmm, you really are not as powerful as you used to be. If I had known this, would I still have practiced that hard for more than a decade? Poor Senior Sister still expects me to redeem my reputation, but it seems that I’ll never have a chance now.”
Dog Butcher did not mean to anger Old Man Mu, but Old Man Mu was obviously incensed and kept pestering him to fight. But no matter if it was a challenge through mouth or hand, Dog Butcher refused them all. And occasionally he would use his lightness skills to avoid his blows, which showed that his martial arts skills were much better than those of Old Man Mu.
When Gu Shenwei came over, the two were still entangled, and the other people were watching for fun. Except for Shangguan Ru, no one had persuaded the two to stop. But Old Man Mu had already became ill-humored and would not listen to anybody.
Shangguan Ru looked worriedly at the Dragon King and asked, “What should I do?”
“Old Man Mu, come with me.”
“The Dragon King arrived just in time. You know my kung fu the best. Can I beat this old dog?”
“No.”
Old Man Mu was stupefied. Gu Shenwei continued, “But you are more useful than him.”
Old Man Mu was stunned again and was wondering whether the Dragon King was praising or belittling him when Gu Shenwei had already turned to the others. “Doctor Sun, Shangguan Fei, and Instructor Shangguan, please also come with me. I have something to ask.”
‘Your Daoless Divine Power is disappearing.’ Doctor Sun’s words made Gu Shenwei feel very uneasy, which was also one of the doubts that he needed to resolve.
