Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The entire army camp was surrounded by the Court Attendants Army. Shulitu and his 3,000 men had retreated to the main tent at the center of the camp and were huddled together, horrified by the prospect of confronting enemies that outnumbered them by several times.
Riding on their horses with their bows drawn halfway, multiple groups of heavily armed Court Attendants soldiers welcomed the Dragon King with silence and suspicion.
Gu Shenwei stopped at the outer gate with his right hand holding onto the reins. His left hand was shaking gently behind his back. Han Wuxian and the others knew what the Dragon King was signaling, and they started backing away slowly. Yet Han Fen suddenly rushed forward without hesitation, and nobody was quick enough to stop her.
Han Fen always tried to stay as far away from Hall Leader as possible.
“Who’s your leader?” Gu Shenwei asked in a loud voice. He didn’t try to stop Han Fen.
He could hear distant sounds, yet no one stepped forward.
“Who’s your leader?” Han Fen repeated. “You’re all men, so stop being shy.”
“You tricked us with a fake head,” someone in the crowd said in a cold voice. “The Court Attendants Army fought for you, and yet you rewarded us by desecrating the Khan’s holy name with an ordinary man’s body.”
The remains and head which had been brought back under Mo Lin’s guidance had been identified as counterfeit. Gu Shenwei knew that he had come back too late, so he could do nothing but venture into accepting the challenge. “I’ve never shown the body to anyone. Neither did I ever claim that the body was the Khan’s.”
“We all heard that you planned to trick us into believing that the Khan’s a mortal with the fake body. You just haven’t carried out your plan yet,” a man yelled in grief and indignation.
Gu Shenwei opened his arms and declared, “Then let God be the judge.” He then spurred the horse on with his legs and proceeded forward slowly.
The crowd slowly moved aside. The Court Attendants Army were still in awe of the Dragon King, and many of them looked into the dark sky in panic, unaware that the giant roc had already flown far away.
An arrow was shot at him from far away, yet Gu Shenwei merely grabbed it with his hand and continued forward. This was a crucial moment, and he couldn’t afford to show any sign of panic or hesitation.
“Fire,” Gu Shenwei said in an extremely low voice, barely moving his lips.
Han Fen craned her neck to look at the Dragon King, her eyeballs rolling around. Finally she understood the meaning of the word, and then she straightened herself and quivered once as if there were bugs crawling on her.
Hundreds of thousands of Court Attendants troops drew their bows; the tension between them and the Dragon King was very thin. If two or three of them took the lead, it would shatter into pieces.
Right at this moment, the arrow in the Dragon King’s hand started burning. The flame was red, and yet the smoke it gave off was tinged slightly blue.
It was an eerie scene. Several thousands of pairs of eyes were staring at the Dragon King, and yet no one knew how he had done it.
Gu Shenwei raised the arrow high, like he was holding a small torch. The flame started moving downwards and in the end it looked like the flame was coming out of his palm. Yet the arrow shaft remained intact as if the fire was just a passerby in the a wind. And yet the Dragon King remained as cold as he always was, his palm unharmed.
“The Khan has given a decree…” someone whispered in fear and excitement.
“The Fire God forbids us from shooting at the Dragon King.” Finally someone drew the conclusion Gu Shenwei had been waiting for.
A soldier jumped off of his horse and knelt down – it was the soldier who had shot the first arrow.
Gu Shenwei walked before him, loosened his hand and the arrow dropped to the ground, “The Khan believes that I’m innocent, but what you did was done so out of loyalty. I absolve you of your sin.”
Patches of arrow heads drooped down along with their owner’s heads and the narrow passage widened considerably. Taking Han Fen along with him, Gu Shenwei proceeded to the main tent at a steady speed.
The common soldiers had heard what happened at the front gate. In awe, they stepped out of the Dragon King’s way, their confidence boosted.
Fang Wenshi was sweating buckets in anxiety. He was not good at dealing with this kind of urgent crisis. If the Dragon King had taken his advice, the Court Attendants Army would have suffered great losses along with King Shengri’s army, and they wouldn’t have had enough strength to surround them at this point.
Yet when he saw the Dragon King, he still rejoiced. He pushed all the others aside with an unstoppable courage and brought the Dragon King into the main tent – he wanted to be the first to fill the Dragon King in.
“I heard that, Dragon King, you waved your hand and the arrows in thousands of Court Attendants troops’ hands just turned into ashes. Was that true?”
It was only a half mile’s distance, and yet the truth had already been distorted to countless times its original grandness.
“One arrow.”
“Not only is the Dragon King good at kung fu, but he is also skilled at conjuring… No, this is divine power. You don’t have to talk about it, and don’t tell me how you did it either. It’s all about the mystery.”
Han Fen had been by the Dragon King’s side the whole time, and she giggled. “It was me…”
“You have to keep that a secret,” Gu Shenwei said.
Han Fen put away her smile. “It was me who saw it all.” Then believing that she had reacted really quickly, she started laughing even more happily.
Fang Wenshi took a deep breath and gave a brief report on what had happened these past two days.
The kung fu competition between Chu Nanping and Liu Qingpu had been called off.
Gu Shenwei had sent the Court Attendants Armies’ contingents in several directions. Yesterday, a corps of 10,000 men came back. Their opinions were more radical, and they wanted to execute Azheba along with all the ex-officers of the Court Attendants Army in the camp.
Shulitu tried hard to reason with them, and during the debate he had mentioned the coffin that the Dragon King and Mo Lin had brought back. There had been widespread rumors that the Khan’s remains were in the coffin, but the Court Attendants troops refused to believe it and insisted on an identification of the corpse.
And it had turned out that both the remains and the head were counterfeit copies.
“The body’s terribly rotten, and yet someone still managed to recognize it.” Fang Wenshi didn’t know about the details, but it had caused a serious disturbance and the Court Attendants Army decided to add Shulitu and Mo Lin’s names to the list of sacrifices.
A large number of common soldiers, who were loyal to Shulitu and discontent with the domineering attitudes of the Court Attendants soldiers, gathered around and wanted to save the two by force. There was a conflict between the two sides, and the Court Attendants Army had numerical superiority. Thus, not only did they refuse to hand over the hostages, but they also surrounded the common soldiers, which was why the kung fu competition had been canceled. Liu Qingpu and the rest of the Qingcheng Sect were also trapped in the army camp.
“Alas, what a shame,” Fang Wenshi languished as he shook his head repeatedly. “Fortunately you have come back, Dragon King. Just go play another conjuring trick or two, and call the divine bird back too. These are probably the only two methods I can think of that might work on the Court Attendants Army.”
“Who do the bodies outside the camp belong to?” Gu Shenwei asked.
“The Qingcheng Sect came for their sect leader and the Court Attendants troops started shooting arrows at them without saying a word, which was yet another nuisance.”
The two were still talking when there was a quarrel took place outside the tent. Then a man came in uninvited, the Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect, Liu Qingpu. “Dragon King, all the sects and schools of the Central Plains have come here for the kung fu competition because we had faith in your commitment. And yet, what is this? There’s no competition, and you’re even holding us hostage.”
Gu Shenwei saw at first sight that Liu Qingpu was holding his saber and sword. He took a step forward and said, “Lü Mian and Deng Yuanlei are dead.”
“What?” Liu Qingpu took a step backwards involuntarily. “Uh, that’s good. They were traitors of our sect… The Dragon King killed them?”
Gu Shenwei nodded. The look on Liu Qingpu’s face changed slightly – he knew how powerful Lü Mian’s swordsmanship was, and he didn’t expect that Lü Mian would actually be killed by the Dragon King.
“That saber and the sword are mine.”
“You haven’t been carefully enough. They were ditch-”
“Sect Leader Liu should be more careful. I found a guy who claimed to be your son.”
The look on Liu Qingpu’s face changed yet again. Liu Fangsheng was his only son, and he had gone missing along with Deng Yuanlei two nights ago. He had been searching for him frantically yet still hadn’t found any clues. “My son did indeed go missing. Dragon King… Is he okay?”
“As okay as my saber and my sword are.”
Liu Qingpu instantly lost his momentum. After hesitating for a while, he handed the saber and the sword over to Dragon King and said, “Now that they’ve returned to their owner. I’m hoping to have a fair kung fu competition with the Dragon King, without any personal grudges.”
“It’s best that way,” Gu Shenwei said as he took the saber and the sword back calmly. “Your son has very good prospects, and you have an excellent heir. Congratulations, Sect Leader Liu.”
Liu Qingpu gave an awkward laugh, knowing that his son had been spared.
The Court Attendants Army’s hostility towards the Dragon King had been greatly reduced due to the previous event, and Han Wuxian and the other two reached the camp without meeting any trouble. Nie Zeng and Tie Linglong entered the tent, and Gu Shenwei returned the narrow saber that he had borrowed.
Shangguan Fei and Chu Nanping also entered the tent together, and the latter stared at Tie Linglong with a limpid look in his eyes, seemingly expecting something. Yet Tie Linglong turned her head sideways, her lips clamped tightly together.
“I’m sorry that the kung fu competition has been delayed for such a long time, but fortunately it’s not too late. Let’s start right now,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Now?” Liu Qingpu was surprised.
“Dragon King, the Court Attendants Army…” Fang Wenshi was also surprised – the issue of Court Attendants Army was a hundred times more important than the Qingcheng Sect.
Raising his hand, Gu Shenwei stopped him from speaking. Then he asked Chu Nanping, “You can wield two swords again, right?”
Chu Nanping thought for a while and then said, “I think so.”
Gu Shenwei handed him the Dragon Head Sword, “If you lose, return it to me; win, and it’s yours.”
Chu Nanping was indifferent to the incentive. He received the Dragon Head Sword and lowered his head, seemingly contemplating the methods of dual-wielding swords.
“Isn’t the Dragon King the one I’m supposed to fight?” Liu Qingpu asked as he blushed, feeling belittled.
“I’m not good at kung fu competitions.” After giving a response, Gu Shenwei took the Five Peaks Saber and left the tent. From this day, he would never use a sword again.
The sword used to be the ferry, yet now he believed that he was already on ‘the opposite side’ of the Death Scripture, so he wouldn’t need to depend on his tools anymore.
The tent was plenty spacious. All Nie Zeng and the others had to do was move the tables and chairs aside to make some room. Even Tie Linglong stayed in the tent out of curiosity, wondering if Chu Nanping had really made any progress in his swordsmanship after forsaking her.
The look on Liu Qingpu’s face was shifting violently. The Dragon King had addressed the matter of the kung fu competition as if Liu Qingpu were just one of his servants, without even discussing the bet. Yet Liu Qingpu didn’t reject immediately, and now the Dragon King was gone, along with Liu Qingpu’s best chance of refusing.
There was still a trace of childishness in the look of the swordsman who was dual-wielding swords, which made this kung fu competition even more humiliating.
More and more kung fu practitioners poured into the tent. Liu Qingpu unsheathed his sword – only by defeating the teenager before him could he force the Dragon King into fighting with him.
Fang Wenshi shook his head slightly, wondering why even the Dragon King had so much faith in Little Chu. Yet he was in no mood to watch the fight, so he merely nodded at Long Fanyun, who had just come in, to tell him to maintain order, and then left the tent to chase after the Dragon King.
Where was the Dragon King leading the Court Attendants Army by playing all these conjuring tricks? Fang Wenshi had no idea at all – it seemed that the Dragon King’s tactics were not quite conventionally following what he had read in strategy and war books.
As a military counselor and a member of the army’s think tank, Fang Wenshi finally acknowledged that he had been flustered when dealing with unexpected events, which made him even more dearly miss the days when he had been making all kinds of visionary suggestions and talking about war and military tactics.
In the army camp, the confrontation between soldiers of two sides was still on-going and Shulitu, Mo Lin , and several dozen officers were still under the jurisdiction of the Court Attendants Army.
Gu Shenwei had a plan in mind. He turned his head and glanced at Han Fen who had been walking by his side, wondering if it would be stupid of him to assign such an important task to her.
