Death Sutra

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Han Wuxian burst into laughter. "So the Dragon King knows about Lotus" secrets too. I was hoping that I could make a contribution. It seems that that"s not going to happen."

"You will have plenty of opportunities to make a contribution," said Gu Shenwei, giving two glances at Wild Horse and the disciple of the Essence Pavilion. "Which one am I supposed to talk to?"

The disciple of the Essence Pavilion walked up to Wild Horse and stood behind him, saying while helping him heal his wound, "Whenever you gain something, you also lose something else at the same time. The Master Commander is someone above this mortal world, someone you guys will never be able to understand."

Wild Horse was trying very hard to repress the pain, but there was still a faint pained look on his face, which made his cooperation with the bluff of the disciple of the Essence Pavilion less effective.

"So that"s why the Master Commander put you two in charge of this mortal world?" In Gu Shenwei"s opinion, these two people were far more terrible of a liar than the dwarf Immortal Peng.

Han Wuxian"s confidence suddenly surged. "There"s no need to talk to them. Let me use some other methods. I promise that they"ll tell us everything."

Wild Horse suddenly knelt down, revealing the perplexed, astonished disciple of the Essence Pavilion.

Han Wuxian eyes brightened meaningfully. "Hha. Do you really think that the injury caused by my Jueyin Finger Energy is that easy to heal? Sorry. I forgot to remind you that my finger energy is not in the Purple Palace Acupoint, but rather in the Grim Valley Acupoint. Kneeling is only the beginning. He"s going to have a lot of "fun". Speaking of which, I remember that I once poked you too. You seem to have recovered perfectly."

That had been many years ago. In order to tempt the Unique King into imparting the Daoless Divine Power to his daughter, Han Wuxian had imbued Shangguan Ru, Wild Horse, as well as a couple of other teenagers with evil Qi. But back then, it was the Tenth Young Master that she cared about, and Wild Horse hadn"t concerned her at all. It was not until she performed the Jueyin Finger Energy again and hit him that she discovered the traces of that evil Qi that she had left in him.

The Purple Palace Acupoint was located on the Ren Meridian in the chest. The Grim Valley Acupoint was an affiliate acupoint of the Feet Shaoying Kidney Meridian, and it was at the back side of the knee. Han Wuxian"s Jueyin Finger Energy had launched a two-p.r.o.nged attack, half of it occupying a frontal acupoint and the other half a hidden one. While Wild Horse and the disciple of the Essence Pavilion had been trying to expel the finger energy in the Purple Palace Acupoint with their full strength, the other energy in the Grim Valley Acupoint had taken this opportunity to invade his body.

Wild Horse clenched his teeth, the muscles on his face quivering, but he could barely stay composed, not to mention standing up.

The disciple of the Essence Pavilion didn"t dare to continue helping him recover from the injury. He finally understood the "secret" part of the secret arts of the Waning Moon Hall.

"How did Hall Leader Han learn that Lotus lost all her strength?" asked Gu Shenwei.

"I sat there and had nothing to do, so I did a little thinking. And then, I knew." Smiling with an amused look in her eyes, Han Wuxian watched Wild Horse struggle. Clearly, she didn"t plan to tell the truth. "Eek, where"s my precious baby girl? Why hasn"t she come back?"

"Heal Wild Horse," Gu Shenwei said flatly.

Han Wuxian looked surprised, "Why should I heal this freak? Only when he is in unbearable pain will he be willing to take us to that goblin Lotus."

"This is an order."

Holding the strand of hair cut off by the Dragon King, Han Wuxian said pensively, "Dragon King, at least show me some respect. Outside of the city, you"re the supreme commander of hundreds of thousands of troops. But here, the disciples of the Barren Sect are everywhere. Thus, maybe I should be the one giving orders. Do you think so?"

Gu Shenwei thought for a while, "I can show you more respect, but I"m still the one who gives the orders. Please heal Wild Horse of his wound, Hall Leader Han."

He emphasized the word "please," which made it sound more sarcastic than respectful.

Shangguan Hong felt that the Dragon King was too haughty and that it was no big deal to occasionally act humbly. However, he didn"t want to be a busybody. All he wanted to do was find an escape route and flee.

Han Wuxian raised her head and started laughing in an unrestrained manner, but the Dragon King was too composed, which made her suspicious. The laughter gradually stopped. She turned her head aside and glanced in the direction of the depths of the forest of peach trees. It shouldn"t take long to intercept Han Xuan and Han Fen, but her "precious baby girl" was still nowhere to be seen.

It was completely quiet in the woods. They all stayed silent. Faint sounds of fighting came from the distance. The two girls should have been able to stir up such a ruckus.

Han Wuxian"s face slightly blushed, but the smile on her face became more charming, as if it were tinged with the timidity of a teenage girl, "The Dragon King is the Dragon King after all. Who dares disobey your order? Fine. I"ll heal him of the Jueyin Finger Energy, but he must promise that he won"t take this opportunity to kill me."

Gu Shenwei nodded. "Both of you have seen Hall Leader Han"s secret arts. She will heal Wild Horse, but I can"t guarantee that she will heal him thoroughly. Maybe she will leave something else in him, so-"

"Immortal Peng won"t fight back," the disciple of the Essence Pavilion said. "At least not tonight."

Han Wuxian giggled. She walked forward, poked her fingers in Wild Horse"s chest several times, and then backed off.

Wild Horse grabbed his sword and stood up abruptly, his face full of anger, but he didn"t move.

Han Wuxian ignored him. p.r.i.c.king up her eyes, she affected an air of surprise. "The Dragon King"s subordinates are not fighting with the disciples of the Barren Sect, are they? That would be like a flood dashing against the Temple of the Dragon King. Oh, I"m not saying that I"m the "flood". Don"t be mad, Dragon King."

Gu Shenwei raised his head and let out a whistling sound which sounded like a whistle. Han Wuxian raise her right hand, curved a finger and flipped her hand. A green fire shot up into the sky, leaving a trail about five or six feet in length. The straight trail over forty meters high lasted quite a while in the air before dispersing.

The sounds of fighting in the distance died away.

Shangguan Hong"s face also flushed red, but it was not because he was excited. He knew that the Dragon King would never trust anybody easily. The Dragon King had dared to take him to northern Jade City and then to City View Alley, so he must have made some preparations in advance.

A rejoicing voice came from the distance. "Darling, apologize to the Dragon King. Your subordinates actually said that they didn"t know who the Dragon King was, so I punished them for you."

Han Wuxian slightly bent her knees and said to the Dragon King, "Please forgive me, Dragon King. The disciples of the Barren Sect are not well-educated, and Han Wuxian failed to teach them how to behave. They actually dared to say such disrespectful words."

"Um. Ignorance can be forgiven. Now, can you tell me how you knew that Lotus lost her strength?"

"Humph. I was nearly tricked by her."

Han Wuxian disclosed some more details. Her tone was angry, but the smile on her face was just as bright as usual.

"I had thought that Lotus had become invincible after absorbing the internal energy, but my precious daughter told me that Lotus hadn"t found the right way to extract the Gu, and that she could only take a small amount of it at a time. After several months, she had only managed to absorb half of the internal energy. But for Lotus, even that was too much, and it caused her Daoless Divine Power to enter the period of dispersing internal energy ahead of schedule. She"s like a cunning pixie. I spent so much time sounding her out, but I didn"t expect that she would have dispersed her internal energy long ago. She was smart, though. She made an unexpected move and returned Han Xuan, who had less than half of the original internal energy left in her, to me. It turns out that there was no need for me to feel so afraid of her at all."

This explanation was more reasonable, and Gu Shenwei accepted it. He turned and faced Shangguan Hong. "What about your truth? I"d like to hear it as well."

Shangguan Hong didn"t expected that the Dragon King would suddenly switch targets and ask him a question. He felt a shiver of fear and involuntarily raised the soft sword, but he soon lowered it. After thinking for a while with his head down, he said, "That night, I did kill the a.s.sa.s.sin, but I"m not the one who killed the envoy of the Central Plains. And… I was ambushed and I took a sword strike in the waist."

For Shangguan Hong, that had been an unforgettable night. He had confirmed the strength of his swordsmanship. If it weren"t for the fact that he had encountered a sneak attacker whose kung fu was better, and that his confidence had been shattered, he would have rebelled against the Dragon King in public.

He had thought that he was on the top of the mountain, but it turned out that there were even higher mountains right in front of him.

"I really didn"t kill the envoy of the Central Plains. I had no idea who was in that carriage. I chose the target randomly. Please believe me, Dragon King," Shangguan Hong added. Suddenly, a wave of shame flooded him. He despised himself for being so cowardly, but he was powerless to resist his instincts.

Gu Shenwei didn"t say whether he believed him or not. He just asked questions, and he wouldn"t tell others his thoughts. He then asked the other two people on the other side, "Was the a.s.sa.s.sin a disciple of the Essence Pavilion?"

Both the Essence Pavilion and Shangguan Hong were under the command of Lotus, but the behavior of the latter was clearly beyond Wild Horse"s control, and he might have killed people on his own side.

Wild Horse fixed his eyes on Han Wuxian, ignoring his cooperation with the disciple of the Essence Pavilion. The skinny, old man had no choice but to say, "The Master Commander is the only one who knows everything."

"Bring me to her."

"A month later-"

Gu Shenwei whipped out his saber, leaped forward, and exchanged a move with each of the two people in the twinkling of an eye.

Wild Horse and the disciple of the Essence Pavilion both stroked their faces respectively at the same time. When they saw the blood on their fingertips, they showed different expressions. The look on Wild Horse"s face became even more gloomier, but his anger gradually subsided. A flicker of enthusiasm flashed across the eyes of the skinny old man, but he still stubbornly believed that the Dragon King had learned his kung fu from the first Immortal Peng.

Han Wuxian tried to persuade them. "Neither of you are a match for the Dragon King. Just give up. Even I, Han Wuxian, have to submit to him, so it"s not shameful for you to follow his orders. Even Lotus can"t blame you."

As if he hadn"t heard her words, the disciple of the Essence Pavilion enunciated each word slowly and carefully said, "Only a month later can you meet the Master Commander."

Some people just couldn"t be reasoned with. Gu Shenwei peered at the two people for a while and then decided to kill the skinny old man. Wild Horse held a deeper hatred against him, but he could understand a threat and be threatened while the disciple of the Essence Pavilion was impervious to reason, which meant that his existence would only cloud Wild Horse"s judgement.

Wild Horse sensed the Dragon King"s killing intent. Holding his sword, he prepared himself for a fight. A while ago, most of his attention had been paid to Han Wuxian, so he was very unconvinced of that saber strike of the Dragon King"s.

Confidence was another basic principle of the Death Scripture, and sometimes, this kind of confidence would enable people to outdo themselves.

"Dragon King," a breathless voice was heard. Before long, Han Fen hurriedly showed up, taking a large detour around Han Wuxian. "Great. You"re still here."

Han Wuxian asked in a tender voice, "Han Fen, where did you take Han Xuan? You didn"t hand her over to that Lady Shaomin, did you?"

"Hha." Han Fen hid herself behind the Dragon King, craned her neck, and answered, "How do I know where Lady Shaomin is? I had no choice but to ask the Master Commander for help. You don"t have to worry, Hall Leader. You"ve heard Han Xuan yourself. The Master Commander is good to her."

Han Wuxian painfully regretted her misjudgment, but she just smiled and said nothing, waiting to see how the Dragon King would react.

"The Master Commander sent you here?" asked Gu Shenwei.

"Yes." Han Fen walked out. "The Master Commander said, "the Dragon King wants to cooperate with me. We can discuss this. As a goodwill gesture, please show some mercy to the disciples of the Essence Pavilion. In particular, don"t hurt Immortal Peng"."

Han Fen repeated Lotus" words, but her tone was listless. She didn"t like the weird "Immortal Peng" and she had deliberately slowed down on her way here. But to her disappointment, he was still alive.

"Lotus is not far from here," Han Wuxian suddenly interjected. "We don"t need Han Fen or Immortal Peng. I can find her myself."

Han Fen moved closer to the Dragon King, lowered her voice, and said, "Don"t trust the Hall Leader. She can"t find the Master Commander. Um. Aren"t you looking for the a.s.sa.s.sin who killed the envoy of the Central Plains? Neither Waning Moon Hall nor the Essence Pavilion has anything to do with that event. In all of Jade City, the Kun Society is the only organization that has enough young killers skilled at narrow sabers."

Han Fen made some very coherent remarks, which was rare. She seemed to have forgotten to add the four words "the Master Commander said."

Lotus was Gu Shenwei"s enemy. But somehow, he still immediately believed these words.