Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Gu Shenwei had noticed long ago that some of the men in the audience were not common martial artists. Unlike how Dog Butcher who had focused on people’s faces, Gu Shenwei instead observed their positions.
Assuming an air of indifference was within the capability of many people, but the positions they took would always expose their truest intentions: common people would choose the positions with the best view, and only people with hidden intentions would block the exits in a seemingly casual way as their eyes sweeped the scene, barely giving any glances at the kung fu competition in the ring.
Gu Shenwei moved backwards, signaling Nie Zeng to move forwards and start monitoring the front and sides, as he would be in charge of the rear.
A quarter of an hour later, the two quietly left and reconvened at a spot two streets away.
“Did you find anything?” Gu Shenwei asked in a low voice. There were people constantly coming and going in the street, which was the perfect camouflage for them.
Nie Zeng knew that the Dragon King was testing him and answered, “There were at least twenty men in the yard who were not watching the kung fu competition, and outside the yard, there were another five or eight people hiding.”
It was about what Gu Shenwei had also noticed. “And?”
Nie Zeng thought for a while before replying, “They… they didn’t seem to be on the same side, and they were all wary of one another.”
Gu Shenwei nodded, hinting for the teenager to keep talking.
Nie Zeng flushed slightly as he admitted, “That’s all. I didn’t find anything else.”
“This kung fu competition was a farce from the very beginning. Everybody was talking about it as a joke, those participants are all ordinary sabersmen, and yet there are two or three groups of people who have paid an unexpected amount of attention to the competition.”
Nie Zeng also began to feel confused. “Yes, and it seems that those people’s kung fu skills must be pretty good as if they want to capture Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher.”
“Go find a position far away and just keep watching. Don’t get close no matter what happens in there.”
“Yes.”
Nie Zeng had hoped that he would have a part to play in the upcoming fight, but he still obeyed the order without any dissent – this was an intrinsic part of his duty as a bodyguard and a killer.
Gu Shenwei returned to the arena and chose a position near the inn this time. He didn’t watch from any of the rooftops on the periphery – although they were the best surveillance positions, they also exposed him to any observant onlookers. Instead, he lurked in a dark corner, wearing a black outfit and a mask that only showed his eyes – even if someone saw his eyes by chance, they would probably mistake them for polished rocks.
He had a feeling that this kung fu competition that had been held by Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher on a whim had caught the attention of a particular force, and that their intervention might result in the further participation of other forces.
This was not going to be a quiet night. To best prepare for the upcoming chaos, he needed to wait quietly.
In the courtyard, Old Man Mu’s swordsmanship was getting smoother and smoother and the audience had started cheering for him. Finally, there were barely any people left who dared to go into the ring to challenge Old Man Mu, so he started showcasing his swordsmanship all by himself, and some of the audience even publicly beseeched him to take them on as apprentices.
The kung fu competition was coming to an end. On the rooftop where Gu Shenwei and Nie Zeng had been hiding earlier, several figures appeared.
That rooftop was not only an excellent observation spot, but also the only path to retreat into the city, so those figures were about to fight for control over it.
Gu Shenwei witnessed the whole process like he was watching a shadow play in the moonlight. The four figures were divided into two groups. The two opposing groups initially hid themselves from each other, and then they both showed themselves and gestured for the other side to back off. They both refused, took out their weapons, and threatened the other side back. But in the end, they didn’t start a fight. They both compromised and agreed to share the rooftop, each side staying in their respective areas. They started monitoring the kung fu competition in the inn, and also maintained their guard against the other group.
Both of the two groups had helpers, evenly spread across the periphery of the inn. And the closest one was only a dozen steps away from Gu Shenwei.
Gu Shenwei was not able to see all of them from his current position, but of the ones he could, none of them were Golden Roc killers.
Jade City was the core territory of the Golden Roc Castle. Their men were all over the city and nearly everything was under their surveillance. It was unbelievable that not a single killer of the Golden Roc Castle had come to join in on this “party.” The only plausible explanation that Gu Shenwei could think of was that the men of Golden Roc Castle had hidden themselves so well that they were staying outside of his sight.
Old Man Mu had been showcasing his swordsmanship for quite a long time and he finally had enough. There were no more challengers and the four gold ingots were still in their original place. Yet he was still unsatisfied, and in a loud voice he said, “Tomorrow night the competition will resume. You have all seen my swordsmanship, right? Go back and do some publicizing for me. Tell everybody in the city about how good the kung fu of the “Number One Devil Under the Sun” is, and… and the bounty will be doubled just to attract some real kung fu experts. Guys like you, who don’t even have any clean clothes, should just watch and have some fun. And your presence will also be rewarded – free wine for everybody tomorrow night!”
The owner of the inn smelled the scent of a big deal and started applauding and cheering. Although those sabermen were humiliated by Old Man Mu’s words, the part about “free wine” still aroused their interest, and many of them even requested Old Man Mu to fulfill part of his promise in advance, claiming that they would be able to publicize better after drinking some wine.
The courtyard was filled with hustle and bustle for some time, yet the crowds gradually scattered.
Two encircling rings started contracting correspondingly. Every one of the audience members were under the surveillance of at least two pairs of eyes when walking out of the inn, and yet none of them were aware of their situation, talking excitedly about the promised free wine the next night.
The goal of the people who surrounded them seemed to be the same as that of Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher – they focused on the audience, trying to find some clues.
As the encircling rings contracted, the distance between the members of the two sides was growing closer, and some of their positions even began to overlap. Gu Shenwei sensed the killing aura grow thick.
Nobody could tell when or how the tangled fight started, and Gu Shenwei was no exception. He could only see a small part of the whole area, and unfortunately that was not the start of the fight.
Maybe it had been all planned out in advance, or maybe the darkness had caused excessive vigilance. Either way, the moment the last batch of sabermen walked out of the inn, the sound of weapons clashing rang out from some corner, and soon multiple people started randomly yelling, “Ambush! There’s an ambush!”
The two sides started fighting immediately. People poured out of every random crevice: the rooftops, streets, on trees, behind trees, and more. The sabermen were all startled and started running instantly, yet none of them made it out of the alley .
“Take them alive!” someone shouted.
“Take them alive!” another one shouted back.
The tangled fighting continued, but most of the people were moving towards the back of the inn.
The owner, waiters and prostitutes had all seen fights before, but none of those fights had been as widespread as this one. There were figures flying everywhere and there seemed to be hundreds of them. The ones who had quick reflexes immediately returned to their rooms and hid behind their bed, while those with slower reflexes were killed before they could identify the fighters.
Old Man Mu was extremely excited. He wielded his sword freely and chipped one of the table corners. The table and the chair both fell over simultaneously, along with the gold, but he didn’t care about the gold at all. He yelled at Dog Butcher, “What did I say? The kung fu experts were just hiding. Dog Butcher, this time you call the shots. Do we kill them or not?”
Dog Butcher was no less panicked than the waiters of the inn. He had set the bait and lain in wait for half of the night, disappointed, but in the end, unexpectedly, a big fish he never could have imagined took the bait. He leaped beside Old Man Mu in a single step, and whipped out the saber he had just bought. “They said ‘take them alive.’ Do you think that they were referring to us?”
“Mostly you. People with sharp eyes could tell in a single glance that I was just bait because I appeared in public; you, the one that was stealthily hiding are the true mastermind behind this. So it’s your call. If you decide to kill, then we can start right way and have some serious fun, and you can explain it to the Dragon King afterwards. If you decide not to kill, we’ll surrender, lure the snake out of the hole, and find out who the big boss is.”
More and more people were jumping into the courtyard. Some of them were fighting in pairs, and some others were fighting in groups of four or five. Yet all of them were solidly surrounding the two old men.
Dog Butcher felt it too difficult to make a decision, and the stress caused the color of his face to alternate between red and white, “Old Man Mu, how about you… eek, this guy’s using the Kunlun Sect’s swordsmanship, and that guy’s using the Taishan Sect’s swordsmanship – there really are people from the Central Plains here!”
Their tactic had worked. Dog Butcher became delighted, and in a loud voice he yelled out, “I’m Dog Butcher from the Kongtong Sect. Everybody please listen to me…”
Two sabers and one sword stabbed at him simultaneously. Dog Butcher wielded his saber and defended himself and then resumed talking in a urgent tone. “I’m also from the Central Plains. We can talk about this…”
“Or we can let our sabers talk,” Old Man Mu interjected as he finished Dog Butcher’s sentence for him. He wielded his sword and started attacking the other two. During their fight, he spared a glance at Dog Butcher. “Moron, what did I tell you? Use deadly blows from the onset, use your unique skill without hesitation! What are you waiting for?”
At this moment, the two who were originally fighting each other both turned to attack Old Man Mu. Their attacks were ferocious, indicating that they were clearly not normal sabermen. Old Man Mu concentrated on the fight and even stopped talking – a rare sight.
Dog Butcher kept defending and retreating for six or seven consecutive moves only to find that the opponent really didn’t seem to treat him as a compatriot and that there were no signs of mercy in the opponent’s attacks, so he made up his mind and yelled, “I’m going to make some violent moves.”
But Dog Butcher didn’t have any chance to “make some violent moves.” Hardly had he finished speaking his last word that a resonant voice came out from the rooftop of one of the inn’s rooms in its eastern part. “All sects of the Central Plains, retreat!”
And then, another voice came from the rooftop opposite, “Tianshan Sect, stop!”
Standing outside of the wall, Gu Shenwei was very surprised. The Tianshan Sect was a secret organization consisting of the blacksmiths and wandering sabermen of Jade City, and it was an enemy of the Golden Roc Castle as well as a former ally of the Dragon King’s – his former subordinate Lin Xiaoshan was from the Tianshan Sect.
Gu Shenwei clearly recalled that there were no remarkable kung fu experts in the Tianshan Sect. Yet judging from the fighting he had seen, the two sides were equally-matched -the Tianshan Sect was, surprisingly, powerful enough to compete with a famous sect of the Central Plains.
The two people who had issued the orders were obviously of high status. The two sides of the entangled battle soon separated and started retreating eastwards and westwards.
Only two people were unable to follow the order – they were struck in a fight with Old Man Mu.
Old Man Mu was enjoying the fight. His swordsmanship was very special. Although his moves were unorthodox and erratic as if he were a rookie who had just started practicing the sword several days ago, his moves were very effective and Old Man Mu was solidly blocking his two opponents’ escape route. He gradually gained the upper hand and even managed to have enough space to talk. “Interesting, interesting.”
Dog Butcher tried to persuade him by saying, “Stop, Old Man Mu. The people from the Central Plains have come. Let’s talk to them.”
Old Man Mu didn’t want to stop at all, and he said in a seemingly surprised tone, “It’s not me who doesn’t want to stop. You see? It’s them.”
The two were indeed fighting with their full strength. Every time one of them tried to speak out, Old Man Mu would immediately stab at their vitals and forced them into defending. Thus the two had no chance to speak and it seemed as if they were tacitly agreeing to Old Man Mu’s accusation against them.
Two men simultaneously jumped down from the east and west rooftop respectively. Dog Butcher turned his head and gave a glance. On the west side, there was a tough man. He was not tall but had wide shoulders and a strong back, his physique reminiscent of a solidly filled sandbag, with a single saber fastened to his waist. On the east side, there was a middle-aged man about forty years old. He was dressed in white, and even his sword sheath was white. He looked handsome and graceful, like a noble young master from some prestigious family.
Dog Butcher didn’t recognize the tough man, yet he had certain impression of the man in white, and called out, “Aren’t you the Luo Village…”
The man in white smiled and joined the fight, and the tough man opposite him also rushed into the fight as if they had made some sort of prior agreement. The two freed their own men from the fight.
Old Man Mu had lost his targets and was furious. He wielded his sword and started attacking the two newcomers at the same time, without even thinking about whether their kung fu skills were better than his.
The tough man didn’t back off and instead advanced. Without even unsheathing his saber, he thrust a palm attack at Old Man Mu, who felt the resulting piercing wind even when the palm was still four or five feet away. Old Man Mu was startled and forced into a hurried retreat. He changed the direction of his sword and stabbed at the man in white.
The man in white didn’t use his weapon either. He raised his right hand and pinched the tip of the sword with three fingers before calmly asking, “Will you stop now?”
Old Man Mu was even more startled by this. He pulled on his sword harder and harder, but the sword refused to move at all, so he abandoned the sword, quipping, “Take it.” Then he backed off by three steps, only to find that the sword was still in his hand, and that the man in white had already lowered his hands and was smiling at him.
This was the first time that Old Man Mu had wanted something to say, but couldn’t find the words for it; it was also the first time that he had felt that he would be no match for the man before him even if he were at full power.
The entangled battle stopped. And it was at this moment that Gu Shenwei spotted a familiar figure – one-handed, with a narrow saber. The ephemeral figure appeared for a brief instant and then quickly vanished. They had once chased each other in the ruins for a whole day and a whole night. Towards Wild Horse, Gu Shenwei had an almost instinctive reaction and he instantly recognized a suspicious movement: Wild Horse was protecting someone, and he wasn’t alone.
There was only one person who could order Wild Horse to be a bodyguard, but Gu Shenwei had never found any signs of her presence. Soon, the sound of another entangled fight came from the courtyard.
