Chapter 923: Alliance
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Old Man Mu craned his head out of a pile of snow and looked at Lotus in surprise, who was standing on the top of the wall. “Lunatic,” he mouthed. Then he reminded the Dragon King in a muted voice, “Should we sit this one out and reap the spoils later on? Or should we join the fight and steal their thunder? Your choice.”
Gu Shenwei’s original plan had been to steal the two golden-crowned rocs and provoke the Unique King. But now, it seemed unnecessary to carry out that plan, as his plan was nothing compared to what the Waning Moon Hall was currently doing. With regards to stealing their thunder, if Gu Shenwei wanted to attack the Golden Roc Castle directly, then he would have done it several months ago.
Before Gu Shenwei left, he finally had a chance to personally witness how powerful Lotus had become after dispersing her internal energy.
Two killers joined hands and launched an sneak attack on Lotus. They had been hiding at the foot of the wall and hadn’t engaged the intruders. At this moment, they suddenly climbed up along the wall like two venomous snakes revealing their lethal fangs right when they reached the feet of their target.
Lotus didn’t even pull out her sword, which went against the killer commandment to spare no strength even if the target was only a beggar who knew nothing about kung fu. After her internal energy had been boosted, her personality seemed to have also changed. She now acted more like a sect leader. Lotus’ fingers stiffened into two claws, and she raised them at a horizontal position before her chest. The two stealthy attackers uncontrollably rose upwards like two leaves caught by a whirlwind.
Their narrow sabers were still under their control, and they thrust them right at the target, aiming at her chest and abdomen, which were vital parts, instead of her feet and legs. However, they were unable to control their own bodies.
Lotus’ fingers sank into their heads. The two narrow sabers were merely three or four inches away from her vital parts, but they were unable to move another inch forward.
With just a little force, Lotus threw the two bodies over ten steps away, where they crashed into deep drifts of snow.
“Bone-piercing Claw.” Old Man Mu stopped moving. He could barely believe what he had just seen. “This… This is just an entry-level kung fu of the Barren Sect. How can it be so this powerful? It’s almost as powerful as my Five Hole Punch. Lotus’ kung fu is now good enough to… G.o.d! This is so unfair!”
The Bone-piercing Claw didn’t technically count as an entry-level kung fu in the Barren Sect, but it was by no means an advanced kung fu either. Many years ago, Lotus had learned a few moves from Madame Xue. Now, with the Daoless Divine Power, these moves had instantly become unstoppable.
Gu Shenwei was at a loss. Lotus, who had just displayed her divine kung fu, reminded him of the Unique King. The Unique King had already gone through the process of dispersing his internal energy several years ago. And after that, he seldom used any weapons. Even when his opponent had been the Dragon King, he had still fought with his palms.
Gu Shenwei leaped on top of a wall. Though he was masked and over ten steps away from her, he knew that Lotus must have instantly recognized him.
He watched her silently for a while before saying, “Let’s leave together.”
He had a speculation that he would never ask her about, and he would probably never be able to verify it either – apart from taking revenge, there might be another reason why Lotus had chosen to launch a decisive attack on Golden Roc Castle on this very night, such as trying to save a certain someone.
And now, both of Lotus’ purposes had been achieved. Though she hadn’t seen the Unique King himself, the Golden Roc Castle’s indestructible reputation had suffered a disastrous blow. But she didn’t feel satisfied at all. Just like a whirlwind, she wanted to wipe everything in this place away.
More people leaped onto the walls from the East and West Castle. Bodyguards were standing on both sides of the Master Commander. Facing the Dragon King, Wild Horse held an unsheathed sword and raised it above his head. It seemed as if he was flaunting his power, but it was actually more like he was warning him – yes, this was his circle, and it would never open up to Servant Huan.
This was a childish retaliation. Back when they had been receiving training in the East Castle, as a member of the core group of the Tattooed Arm Gang, Lotus used to be very helpful to Servant Huan. But now, she had “taken another side.”
Gu Shenwei jumped off the wall and quickly disappeared into the darkness with Old Man Mu. It was not a single person’s heart but rather hundreds of thousands of people’s support that he cared about.
The fire in the castle was not as big as what the spectators from afar thought it was. There were four places on fire, and they were far away from one another. Because of the stone walls, the fire didn’t cause much damage. But under the flickering light of the fire, the servants that knew nothing about kung fu were running around in a panic. They became targets of their enemies and, one by one, fell to the snowy ground before they could figure out what had happened to the stone castle.
The Heavenly Mountain Sect had once set fire to the City View Alley and killed a lot of disciples of the Waning Moon Hall as well as those of the Essence Pavilion. Lotus wanted to prove that she was far more powerful than her enemies thought she was.
The main hall was among the four places on fire, and the fire there was the biggest. Clearly, there were many flammable things in it.
Watching the fierce fire, Old Man Mu resignedly said, “This is it. The giant rocs are destined to be cremated.”
But they were just two hollow sh.e.l.ls that the Unique King regarded as the symbol of Golden Roc Castle. So, Gu Shenwei felt that them being burnt to ashes was also a pretty good ending for the two birds; he continued rus.h.i.+ng towards the front gate.
The two sides were fiercely fighting and scrambling for the control of the stone bridge. Each side had about a hundred people, and everyone was trying to charge forward, but only two or three people at the front could engage the enemies. After exchanging a few moves, they all either slipped or were stabbed, inevitably falling off the bridge and into the abyss.
These people’s kung fu was clearly not as good as that of those in the inner chamber.
Kung fu experts who yearned for attention would choose to run to the front by stepping on their companions’ heads, but Gu Shenwei was not interested in that. Taking advantage of the chaotic situation, he leaped beneath the stone bridge and crawled across from the bottom side of the bridge by using the cracks in the bridge as handholds.
Following behind the Dragon King, Old Man Mu reminded himself that he had only fifty to sixty percent of his previous power left, and that he must be careful. If he fell off, even a “Hundred Rotations Skill” wouldn’t be able to save him.
More and more people came out of the houses on the sides of the mountain road and rushed towards the mountaintop. Most of them were retired killers of Golden Roc Castle, and they were obligated to help when the castle was in danger. Though they could no long wield narrow sabers the way they used to, they were still more helpful than common sabersmen.
The situation of the battle in the inner chamber was unknown, but the Waning Moon Hall’s men near the stone bridge would probably be wiped out soon.
Gu Shenwei and Old Man Mu made it to the foot of the mountain without any trouble. Their downhill running speed was already very fast, but the rumor traveled even faster.
Dawn broke. Northern Jade City was right below the mountaintop, but the residents here were unable to see the fire. The unconfirmed rumors caused a wild sensation to spread through the whole city. People got up much earlier than usual and went to the doorways of their houses, sharing whatever they had heard with neighbors.
“The Dragon King made his move?”
“The Dragon King made his move.”
“Ahh, c.r.a.p. I thought that the Dragon King would do this a few months later… The stone castle still owes me a debt. Do you think that, by any chance, the Dragon King would pay the debts of the Unique King?”
“You should go and ask him for us. By the way, prepare a spare head.”
At first, most of the news were merely people’s speculations, and naturally, they were all about the Dragon King. But before Gu Shenwei and Old Man Mu crossed through northern Jade City, more reliable news came.
“Waning Moon Hall? What’s Waning Moon Hall?”
“You forgot? A few days ago, didn’t Golden Roc Castle and the Heavenly Mountain Sect stick a bulletin on the wall saying that they had wiped out the Waning Moon Hall?”
“That’s right. What’s going on? The Waning Moon Hall must have the Dragon King’s support.”
“…”
“s.h.!.+ Stop mentioning the Dragon King. It’s said that the Waning Moon Hall is also the Dragon King’s enemy. This is bad. Jade City is going to become more chaotic. We’d better go back and sleep some more. I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to do so.”
Most of the residents in southern Jade City had only had two to four hours of sleep, but they were even more energetic than the northern Jade City residents. Almost all of the streets and alleys were crowded with people. This area was half a city further away from the mountain, so the rumors here were more specific and exaggerated. It was as if someone who was standing in mid-air above Golden Roc Castle had told them what was happening.
“The Waning Moon Hall is tightly besieged. The female devil challenged the Unique King to a duel and they started fighting! She won’t last three moves.”
“Half of the Waning Moon Hall’s men are downed. The female lunatic was. .h.i.t by the Unique King’s palm attack and is spitting out blood constantly.”
“The Waning Moon Hall is not wiped out yet. The fight between that… woman and the Unique King seems to still be going on.”
“The two sides are fighting tooth and nail. Lotus is capable of using witchcraft, and the Unique King is a little dizzy.”
“Shangguan Fa was. .h.i.t by a sword strike! Shangguan Fa was. .h.i.t by a sword strike! The Master Commander’s swordsmans.h.i.+p is matchless!”
In a stronghold in the southern Jade City, Xu Xiaoyi knelt down upon seeing the Dragon King. She said in a tearful voice, “Dragon King, you finally came back. If you had come back even a little while later, then I’d have fought my way to Golden Roc Castle as well. Please return to the camp immediately. The prime minister is so anxious that he’s about to start killing people.”
With regards to the situation on the mountaintop, Xu Xiaoyi made only one remark. “None of the news I’ve received so far is reliable, but once I get some reliable intelligence, I’ll report it to Dragon King immediately.”
Escorted by over a hundred sabersmen, Gu Shenwei mounted a fast horse and galloped back to the eastern camp.
Zhong Heng was indeed terribly anxious, but he hadn’t forgotten himself like Xu Xiaoyi had. He respectfully led the Dragon King into the main tent and summoned all the generals who would later tell the hundreds of thousands of troops that they had seen the Dragon King with their own eyes, so that troops’ morale and confidence would be stabilized.
Dugu Xian came to the tent from the camp of the Central Plains and then returned after seeing the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei knew that he had made a big mistake. For a couple of swordsmans.h.i.+p moves, he had nearly lost the army that he had worked so hard to build.
But this was also a test. Without his presence, some of his allies had indeed had second thoughts. Though Zhong Heng didn’t complain, every message that he reported was a warning to the Dragon King. The prince of the Shule Kingdom had been exceptionally active during the past few days, frequently summoning his generals. The deputy envoy of the Central Plains, Sun Chengqi, as well as eunuch Zhang You, had also been very interested in the Dragon King’s whereabouts, and they even put out a bounty on reliable intelligence almost in public.
The good news was that the Dragon Army was very stable. Long Fanyun and the swordsmen of the Big Snow Mountain didn’t worry about the Dragon King at all. Their confidence had a huge impact on the troops. Xiaoyao Lake’s troops were also significantly more composed than those from the Shule Kingdom.
“What happened in Golden Roc Castle?” It was not until they had talked about the most pressing military affairs that Zhong Heng finally showed his curiosity and concern about the big fire on the mountaintop. And almost at the same time, the first reliable intelligence report from Xu Xiaoyi was delivered to them.
“The fire in the Golden Roc Castle was put out. The battle has ended.”
There were no other words. Xu Xiaoyi knew the Dragon King well, so he had sifted out all the unconfirmed rumors.
In the afternoon, more news came in. Waning Moon Hall had retreated from Golden Roc Castle, seemingly with a victory. But this message was soon corrected with a news update: unexpectedly, Waning Moon Hall and Golden Roc Castle had reached an agreement and stopped fighting at daybreak. The price that the Golden Roc Castle had paid was abrogating the truce agreement signed in the Four n.o.ble Truths Temple.
There were not many people who still remembered that event, but for the people of the Waning Moon Hall, they finally regained their public ident.i.ty.
As to whether Lotus had fought the Unique King, everyone’s opinions differed. And as to which one of them was tougher was an even more controversial topic. One thing that everybody knew was that a third party had just joined the fight for the control of Jade City.
“The Lord of Jade City will be selected via a kung fu compet.i.tion.” This news, which originally was only known by a small group of people, spread through the whole city on that day, continuously rippling towards further areas.
All residents of Jade City were shocked with the exception of very few people.
Standing in knee-deep snow at the bottom of the cliff, Shangguan Hong and the five killers were all s.h.i.+vering with cold. They raised their heads and looked at that pa.s.sage, unaware of the event that had taken place on the mountaintop.