Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Han Wuxian was sitting on a man’s back with her legs crossed. The man was prostrated on all fours, sweating buckets, and yet he didn’t dare to move a single muscle.
A young woman was kneeling opposite Han Wuxian. Her upper body was straight and if people took a close look at her, they would find that she was quivering involuntarily.
Nie Zeng and Tie Linglong were standing to her left and right side respectively, each with a saber in their hands, and they were facing more than thirty kung fu practitioners who were holding various kinds of weapons.
They were surrounded, and yet Han Wuxian seemed indifferent, calmly combing her long hair carefully as if the people around her, who had venomous looks in their eyes were her admirers enjoying her incomparable beauty.
These people had all heard of the legendary horror of this woman. Some of them believed the tales and some others ignored it – they were people of the Central Plains and they didn’t even fear the kung fu experts of Norland, let alone a wicked woman from the Western Regions. A stout man who was around forty years old or more took a step forward and shouted, “Hall Leader Han, our Brotherhood Gang has never had any grudges with you. Why did you come to our territory, capture vice gang leader Zhao, and try to provoke us?”
Vice gang leader Zhao was the man currently beneath Han Wuxian. He was the vice leader of the Brotherhood Gang and yet now was being used as a mount for a woman, which made the members of the gang feel greatly humiliated and indignant.
Han Wuxian opened her right hand and stroked vice gang leader Zhao’s head as if he were an obedient dog. “Tell them, why am I being so good to you?”
Vice gang leader Zhao still didn’t dare to move. In a quivering voice, he said, “It’s me. I deserve to die ten thousand times for the crime I’ve committed. I was tempted by a traitor of the Waning Moon Hall into secretly joining the Barren Sect.”
“What’s the Barren Sect?”
“It’s an… an affiliated organization of the Waning Moon Hall.”
The crowd knew about the intimate relationship between the vice gang leader and the young woman, and they’d also heard of Waning Moon Hall, but none of them knew about the Barren Sect. Secretly serving a second organization was a great taboo in prestigious sects, but for these loose gangs, it was pretty common, and some people were even proud of it.
The stout man took another step forward, “We won’t interfere in the internal affairs of your sect. You can do whatever you want to this woman, but please let vice gang leader Zhao go. We can resolve any issue through mediation.”
Han Wuxian smiled, first in a gentle manner, but it gradually transitioned into a hysterical laughter. The piercing laugh frightened the crowd from the tips of their hair down to the marrow of their bones, yet they still refused to back away.
“Resolve any issue through mediation?” Han Wuxian suddenly stopped laughing and looked at the young woman opposite her. “Tell me, Han Ke. Why did you want to be a traitor?”
“Because Master Commander cares about all people, while you-”
“Han Ke, I was good to you,” Han Wuxian interrupted in a gentle tone. “Back then you were a little unqualified and it was me who gave you a second chance. So don’t lie to me like Han Qin did. She doesn’t lie any more, does she? ‘All people?’ Do you even know how to write those two characters?”
Han Ke’s trembling grew even worse. She opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, yet she choked down her words anyway.
The stout man felt ignored and wielded his saber. “Hall Leader Han, don’t refuse a toast only to down a loss. You humiliated vice gang leader in front of his men. None of the members of our Brotherhood Gang will let you get away with this.”
“Nie Zeng,” Han Wuxian commanded.
Nie Zeng took a step forward and leaped towards the stout man. When he was about a dozen steps away from the target, he launched an attack by adjusting his direction and then stabbed his narrow saber at the left side of the target.
The crowd hadn’t expected this teenager to attack without warning, so they all started accusing him of a sneak attack. Yet the stout man was startled. He raised his saber and was just able to parry the opponent’s first strike, but failed to fully mobilize his internal Qi, and so his opponent gained and held the upper hand in the battle.
Nie Zeng’s saber attacks were growing quicker and quicker, and his movement even faster. He switched his position around the target constantly, which forced the stout man to turn around with every move. Thus the stout man fluster made his position grow worse and worse.
Nie Zeng’s fifteenth saber attack hit his target successfully. The compact man took a hit in his neck and the blood started spraying out like a fountain. He dropped his saber and covered the wound with both hands, his head tilting as if he were pondering over something. A short while later, his hands stopped moving and he fell to the ground, dead.
The stout man was one of the few kung fu experts of the gang, and yet he had been killed by this teenager in only a few moves, which scared the gang members. A black, thin man stepped out of the crowd, holding a pair of iron hooks. “You’re such a ferocious guy. I’m-”
“Tie Linglong,” Han Wuxian commanded again.
Tie Linglong had been yearning for this. She leaped forward and started attacking frenziedly, each and every saber attack aimed at the opponent’s vital parts.
She hadn’t been through any rigorous killer training. And when she had been learning from Gu Shenwei, he had already started removing some of his killer’s habits from the sabersmanship he imparted to her. Thus, her sabersmanship had more direct frontal attacks mixed in, and her speed was even faster than Nie Zeng’s, let alone her moves’ unpredictability and diversity.
Nie Zeng had finished his job in fifteen saber attacks. She was determined to do it in fewer.
Though the black thin man didn’t have enough time to say his name, he was better prepared than the stout man. With his double hooks working in tandem, he didn’t let his opponent get the upper hand. The gang members regained their confidence and soon started cheering.
Tie Linglong had been counting her attacks secretly and she finally detected a flaw in her opponent on her thirteenth saber attack. She believed that the black thin man would either be killed or injured by this saber attack.
However, someone took that opportunity away from her.
A dagger appeared between the two. Tie Linglong backed up three steps. The black thin man’s double hooks flew away from his hands and he also backed several steps consecutively before struggling to gain his footing.
“Dragon King!” Tie Linglong gave a yell of delight, the anger in her heart dispersed before fully forming.
The Dragon King had shown up alone. Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher weren’t present.
Gu Shenwei said loudly, “All members of the Brotherhood Gang, leave the camp. Now.”
“But vice gang leader Zhao…” someone still wouldn’t let it go.
Gu Shenwei’s eyes swept around the faces of those people, “He’s not worthy of his vice gang leader position. Why do you still want him back?”
The Brotherhood Gang was a loose organization and the bond between the members was more like “strange brothers who hadn’t seen each other for many years”. Seeing that even the two teenagers at Han Wuxian’s command were so skilled at kung fu, and that there was now also a Dragon King whose power was unknown to them, the thirty plus men lost their confidence. Nobody knew who took the lead, but the crowd dispersed all at once, including the black thin man – he didn’t even try to retrieve his double hooks, and he was actually even more scared than the others, because the power that the Dragon King had displayed by disarming him with a single dagger move was beyond his imagination.
“It’s so nice of you to dismiss my enemies, Dragon King,” Han Wuxian smiled.
“I don’t want to waste any time here.”
Tie Linglong didn’t sense the hostility in their words, and she happily said, “We have been searching this camp for two days. Hall Leader Han discovered the underground chamber, but the Dragon King was not there. Most of the people from the Central Plains have left by now, and the Brotherhood Gang was the only organization that refused to do so. Hall Leader Han said that they must be up to something, and then we really found a traitor of Waning Moon Hall in their tent, but she refused to tell us your whereabouts. Where exactly have you been? And why are your saber and sword missing?”
“It’s a long story. Your sabersmanship’s getting better. But why are you killing again? Chu Nanping…”
“Don’t mention him,” Tie Linglong gloomily said as her delight instantly vanished.
Gu Shenwei didn’t have time to inquire about the relationship between the teenagers. Instead, he asked “How’s the kung fu competition against Qingcheng Sect?”
“No idea. The Qingcheng Sect hasn’t returned since they left for our camp yesterday,” Tie Linglong replied.
A smile of extreme delight suddenly appeared on Han Wuxian’s face. “It turns out that the Dragon King’s brought me a gift. Little Han Fen, come to me.”
Han Fen walked out from behind a deserted tent and kept a long distance from Han Wuxian. In a low voice, she said, “Greetings, Hall Leader.”
“How can I be unhappy with you traitors in front of me?”
Han Fen pointed at Dragon King and said in an almost humble tone, “I’m the Dragon King’s prisoner.”
Han Wuxian raised her head to look at Gu Shenwei and gave a smile as sweet as caramelized sugar. “I hope that this is the Dragon King’s gift to me.”
“Sorry,” Gu Shenwei said bluntly. “I still have plans for her. You can’t have her.”
Han Wuxian’s smile froze. Then with a faint smile, she sighed slightly. “The Dragon King is the Dragon King after all. You always have to grip the power in your hands and refuse to share it with allies. If I feel a little disappointed, I think you wouldn’t mind, would you?”
“I wouldn’t. As long as we have common enemies, the occasional disagreement is inevitable.”
Holding their breath, Tie Linglong and Nie Zeng looked at the Dragon King in reverence. Neither of them, and none of the people they had met, would dare to talk to the Hall Leader of Waning Moon Hall in such a disrespectful way.
With her smile growing bigger, Han Wuxian said “no wonder” three times consecutively. “In some respect, Lotus is exactly the same as you, Dragon King. Hmm, little Han Fen.”
“Ahi, I’m here.”
“The Dragon King’s going to protect you. You have nothing to be afraid of.”
“Thank you, Hall Leader.”
“You don’t have to thank me. The Dragon King cannot protect you forever. There’s no doubt that someday you will fall into my hands. Don’t you like dolls? I’ll make sure you become a flawless one.”
Han Fen hid behind the Dragon King and said, “Then I’ll be more grateful to Hall Leader. Dragon King, this is Han Ke, and she… she’s a good girl.”
Gu Shenwei knew that he couldn’t cross the line. “She’s Hall Leader Han’s prisoner, so she’s at Hall Leader Han’s disposal.”
The “Dragon King’s so thoughtful. Han Ke, shouldn’t you thank Dragon King?”
Han Ke raised her head to look at Dragon King, and she stopped trembling. “Be careful. Don’t let Hall Leader find Han Xuan. She-”
Two people made their moves at the same time.
With a slight movement of her fingers, three hairs of Han Wuxian’s wrapped around Han Ke’s neck. Meanwhile, Han Fen shot out a puff of yellow powder which dissipated at Han Ke’s nose.
Han Ke craned her neck, took a deep breath and inhaled as much of the powder as she could, willingly. Soon, she fell to the ground, convulsing, and seemed about to die. She would rather die of poison than be tortured cruelly by the Hall Leader.
Han Fen hid behind the Dragon King. “Han Ke was speaking so disrespectfully to you, Hall Leader. I killed her for you.”
“I can see that you’re growing in courage, Little Han Fen, and I’m starting to grow fonder and fonder of you.”
“Little Han Fen’s only has a little courage. I fear Hall Leader just like… a mouse fears a cat, a cat fears a tiger, a tiger fears the giant roc, the giant roc fears the Dragon King, the Dragon King fears… What do you fear?”
“Just like you, I fear Hall Leader Han.”
Han Fen nodded gravely, unaware that Han Wuxian couldn’t see her.
Han Wuxian laughed as her body trembled. Suddenly, she leaped into the cane chair on Nie Zeng’s back and ordered, “Go.”
No one cared about that vice gang leader Zhao, and it was not until the Dragon King and the others had ridden far away on the horses left behind by the Brotherhood Gang that the gang members hidden nearby started moving slowly towards Zhao’s body. They found that the vice gang leader was still kneeling on the ground, having been dead for quite a long time.
It was already after midnight when they returned to the army camp. From far away, Gu Shenwei could see that there were still lights ablaze in the camp, which was a departure from the norm.
About a mile or so from the camp, sparse bodies began to show up in the grass.
“Give me a saber,” Gu Shenwei said. He hadn’t taken anything from the mausoleum, and the only weapon he had on him was the dagger.
Tie Linglong handed him her narrow saber immediately.
Gu Shenwei rode forward, and then a voice came through the darkness. “Stop. Who is it?”
“The Dragon King,” Gu Shenwei didn’t stop moving, and kept progressing forward.
The other was clearly very surprised and didn’t tried to stop the Dragon King.
Arriving at the front gate, under the light of the torch fire, all Gu Shenwei could see were the flags of the Court Attendants Army.
