Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Standing at the gateway of the small courtyard, Han Fen seriously said, “I think that it’s here.”
Gu Shenwei took a step backwards and looked in the direction of the Bodhi Garden, which was separated from the small courtyard by a high wall.
The Bodhi Garden was the largest courtyard in all of northern Jade City. There was a complex underground maze in it. After passing through a variety of owners, it had ultimately fallen into the Waning Moon Hall’s hands and become a prison in which Lotus was locked.
As expected, Gu Shenwei had indeed come after sending Old Man Mu and Shangguan Fei out. But he hadn’t stealthily followed them alone. Instead, he had publicly entered Jade City while bringing hundreds of guards with him.
Old Man Mu had obvious characteristics and Shangguan Fei was a fairly famous man, so Xu Xiaoyi’s subordinates had easily recognized them and then reported their path to the Dragon King, who was behind them.
Gu Shenwei had learned his lesson in Golden Roc Castle and had no intention of taking the risk of taking action alone. So, he had left some of the guards outside the city and then taken the rest of them with him into northern Jade City. Through the bugle and specially made fireworks, he could immediately communicate with those outside the city, who could then send signals to the army. Thus, nobody in the city would dare publicly launch an attack on the Dragon King.
Most of the residents of Jade City had already seen the Dragon King and knew what he looked like, but they were still very curious. Large numbers of people crowded the streets to look at him, excitedly looking over those guards, who were standing on either side of the road, preventing onlookers from getting in the way in the direction of the Dragon King.
Han Fen also excitedly looked back at the crowds, thinking that these residents were more interested in the Dragon King than the location of the Waning Moon Hall. “Ha, there are so many people here. Dragon King, turn around. All of them want to see you.”
Gu Shenwei ignored her rambling.
Chu Nanping walked out of the small courtyard. “There’s nobody in there. Old Man Mu and Shangguan Fei went into a secret passage that leads underground.”
In the distance, Tie Linglong yelled, “Dragon King, Meng Mingshu and Du Jian from the Heavenly Mountain Sect are requesting an audience with you.”
Meng Mingshu was very embarrassed, as if he had been caught committing adultery. He had already secretly taken the Dragon King’s side on behalf of the Meng family. For the sake of the Meng family’s huge fortune, he had to fawn upon the Dragon King. But when he was faced with someone from Golden Roc Castle, he had to pretend that he barely knew the Dragon King. So, he was caught in a dilemma.
“Dragon King, to what do I owe the honor? Please come in and be our guest,” Meng Mingshu said politely. The moment his eyes met the Dragon King’s, he nervously lowered his head.
Gu Shenwei nodded without responding to Meng Mingshu’s greeting, his eyes focused on Du Jian.
Du Jian had planned to stand up to the Dragon King as an equal, but because of the raucous onlookers behind him, he was under huge pressure. All of the residents seemed to be demanding that he abide by the regular tradition of meeting with a king, so Du Jian slightly bowed and put on an unnatural smile. “May I ask what the purpose of the Dragon King’s visit is?”
Chu Nanping was the leader of guards. With his hand on the sword hilt, he said, “Watch your mouth. You’re not allowed to ask the Dragon King any questions.”
He said this to Du Jian, but Meng Mingshu became even more nervous because he had also made a remark in an interrogative tone a short while ago.
Du Jian wanted to sneer, but all he uttered was a string of weird, hoarse sounds. He hurriedly stopped and coughed several times. “A straightforward person does not resort to insinuations. The Dragon King must have come here for the underground maze in the Bodhi Garden, right? The Heavenly Mountain Sect has already sent some men down there. Soon, they will bring everyone in there up here. If the Dragon King is interested in any one of them, then maybe I can hand them to Dragon King.”
Meng Mingshu hung his head even lower. There was a huge maze under his dwelling, and it was not until today that he had been informed of this by an outsider. He was very ashamed, but he was also worried that the Dragon King might misunderstand him and think that the Second Young Master Meng of the Meng family had deliberately concealed this from him. Heedless of Du Jian’s presence, he immediately said, “If it weren’t for the fact that Sect Leader Du had mentioned it, I never would have known that there was a maze under the Bodhi Garden. When this is over, I’ll send some men to fill the hole with water right away.”
“There’s no hurry,” Gu Shenwei said to console Meng Mingshu. Then, he asked Du Jian, “How many people did the Heavenly Mountain Sect send down there?”
Du Jian laughed, implying that the Dragon King was being a busybody, but his voice was still somewhat different from his usual voice, which made him feel very embarrassed.
Chu Nanping coldly ordered, “Answer the question.”
Du Jian gave an angry glance at Chu Nanping, believing that Chu Nanping was like a fox assuming the majesty of a tiger. However, he had to admit that he was indeed a little afraid of the “tiger” behind this handsome swordsman. “At least fifty,” he said reluctantly.
“That’s far from enough.”
“Ha-ha. How many men does the Dragon King plan on sending? Ten thousand soldiers?” Du Jian believed that he finally managed to say something that matched his identity, and a wave of unbridled delight swept over him.
“Four. Me, her, you, and an attendant of yours. You may choose one.”
When Du Jian heard that he had to enter the underground maze along with the Dragon King, his instinctive reaction was to vigilantly take a step backwards. “I’m not going, and the Dragon King doesn’t need to either. The sabersmen of the Heavenly Mountain Sect will figure out what is happening down there.”
“Let me tell you what’s happening down there – the disciples of the Waning Moon Hall and the disciples of the Essence Pavilion are killing each other. I’ll go in and take a look. You can do whatever you want.”
Han Fen, who had been waiting impatiently, rushed into the small courtyard the moment the Dragon King turned around.
Stunned, Du Jian looked at Meng Mingshu with a displeased look. Originally, this new patriarch of the Meng family had supposed to help him prevent the Dragon King from entering the maze. But so far, he had been completely unhelpful. After hesitating for a short while, he waved at the four guards behind him, planning to follow the Dragon King into the maze. If by any chance there was indeed some kind of secret in it and the Dragon King got to it first, then the Unique King would surely hold him accountable for it.
Like a hateful rock, Chu Nanping always got in his way. “You can only bring one of them.”
Du Jian sorely wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to follow the Dragon King’s order, but the Dragon King’s guards outnumbered his men. So, he signaled three of the guards to stay, bringing the one whose kung fu was the best with him.
The moment he entered the underground maze, Du Jian regretted entering. They were in a dark, long corridor, and the distance between the torches was very long. Nobody knew whether there was anyone lying in ambush on the two sides.
Du Jian and his guard ran a few steps forward to catch up with the Dragon King, who had already walked a certain distance forward.
Han Fen was not afraid at all. “Dragon King, isn’t this place similar to that big grave?”
She was referring to the mausoleum of the old Khan. Du Jian’s heart lurched, and secretly reprimanded her in his mind. ‘Shut up, stupid woman.’
“Kind of,” Gu Shenwei replied. Though his tone was bland, Du Jian felt like he was colluding with her in speaking inauspicious words.
“But there aren’t any shiny things here. Actually there’s also a similar place in the Waning Moon Hall, and I used to play there a lot. It’s very interesting. Do you know what we played there, Dragon King?”
“I don’t.”
“Ha-ha, we each brought one type of knockout powder and a dagger. The one who made it to the other end alive won. I always won. Once, I even walked out with four kinds of knockout powder and six daggers. Hall Leader Han even praised me. Alas, I was carried away and let out a few laughs before the Hall Leader then took a dislike to me.”
“Han Wuxian didn’t allow you to laugh?”
“Um,” Han Fen replied in an aggrieved tone. “She said that laughing was an advanced secret art that we shouldn’t use arbitrarily, and that my laugh was silly and a humiliation for the Waning Moon Hall.”
Han Fen suddenly burst into laughter, as if she was purposefully protesting against the absent Han Wuxian. But her laugh just startled Du Jian and his guard, who then whipped out their sabers at the same time.
At this moment, when they were next to a torch, Han Fen stopped laughing, turned around, and looked at them in confusion before nervously asking in a muted voice, “What did you find?”
Du Jian was embarrassed and annoyed. He was the one who should be asking this question. He answered, “Nothing.” And then, he and the guard awkwardly sheathed their sabers.
But Han Fen became interested in him, so she let the Dragon King pull ahead of her as she fell back to walk side by side with Du Jian, staring at him. Even when they entered the dark, Du Jian could feel her eyes still staring at him, so he asked in an unfriendly tone, “What’re you doing?”
“Are you guys also killers?”
“Of course.”
“You don’t seem like killers.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Uh. I don’t know the specific reason, but I just feel that you two don’t seem like killers.”
Du Jian became more annoyed. He knew why he didn’t look like a killer. Compared to the Dragon King who was quietly walking in front of them, he didn’t have a single trait that was similar to a killer. Even the guard beside him, who had been a Golden Roc killer several months ago, was imagining things like him.
It’s not my fault,’ Du Jian thought. The Unique King wanted the Heavenly Mountain Sect to be a normal sect, so all of their assassination methods had been abandoned. It had been less than a year, but all of the killers’ skills had become rusty. Du Jian suspected that Golden Roc Castle would even have to hire outside killers if they wanted to assassinate someone.
But under no circumstances would he ever tell anybody these thoughts, especially the Dragon King. All of his complaints were expressed with an inexplicable snort.
Han Fen ran up to the Dragon King. “If I had known that we were coming to this maze, I would have brought the kid with me. He likes playing the most.”
Gu Shenwei had handed Shangguan Cheng over to Han Fen on a whim, but it turned out that that had been a good decision. The two had quickly become playmates. Shangguan Cheng would rather stay with this “weird elder sister” than return to his mother’s camp.
Luo Ningcha’s enthusiasm for her son had already disappeared, and it was very likely that she wouldn’t think of him until the fight for the title of the Unique King started.
Gu Shenwei casually replied with an “Um” sound, and then he suddenly stopped. Han Fen automatically shut up. She could tell when she could speak, and when she should be on her guard.
Even Du Jian and his guard sensed some kind of danger. Their vestigial killer instincts revived in this familiar life-and-death situation.
Standing in the dark, the four people breathed in an extremely slow and gentle manner, trying to sort through the various faint odors in the air.
The Dragon King’s figure suddenly appeared behind them. He had brought back a torch. Both Du Jian and the guard were startled and horrified, since neither of them knew when the Dragon King had moved behind them.
Not far away in front of them, the corridor branched off to the right, and the strange smell was coming from there as well.
Han Fen’s voice came from the depths of the branching corridor. Nobody knew when she had run forward. “Come here. There are so many bodies.”
The branching road led them to a spacious hall. The torch in Gu Shenwei’s hand was the only source of light.
Seven or eight corpses were on the ground, giving off the smell of blood that killers were familiar with.
Han Fen took the Dragon King’s torch and lit the torches fixed on the walls.
Even more bodies were seen, numbering at least twenty. Du Jian involuntarily gave out an exclamation of fear. He was not afraid of corpses, but half of the dead people were the Heavenly Mountain Sect’s sabersmen who had been sent here by him.
Both Gu Shenwei and Han Fen’s attention were drawn by another scene in the hall.
Two giant birds were standing in the innermost part of the hall. Their wings were drooping and their faces seemed to be tired, which made them look senile. Only the golden feathers on the tops of their heads had remained unchanged.
Unexpectedly, the giant rocs which were supposed to have been burnt in that fire had been moved to the underground maze in the Bodhi Garden.
Han Fen looked at them in awe. “I can tell that they were the Devil Bird’s parents at first sight. The Master Commander must have wanted to give them to the Dragon King as gifts.”
