Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Long Fanyun lost his temper again for no reason.
"Don't treat me like a child. Do you think that I'm a useless piece of garbage that can't do anything anymore?"
Red Bat forced a smile onto her face, but she did not stop, still holding the chamber pot and helping Long Fanyun, who was lying in bed, urinate. "You are not a child, and neither are you a piece of garbage. You are just recovering from your wounds."
With a cold face, Long Fanyun showed no grat.i.tude at all. "You don't have to make that face. Even I can smell the odor of urine, so why do you pretend to not smell it? Just turn around and show your disgust. I don't care."
For a moment, Red Bat did not know what to do. She was still hesitating when Long Fanyun finished urinating and pushed her aside. He pulled up his pants, grabbed the blanket to cover himself, and lay down on his head. But even these few simple movements pulled at his wounds and caused a sharp pain to run through him that made him sweat all over his head.
Red Bat put down the chamber pot and picked up a handkerchief to wipe it down. Long Fanyun raised his hand to stop her and said, "No need, I'm good. At the least, I know that I'm still alive."
"Rest then. It's growing late."
Long Fanyun turned his head and glared at her. "How am I going to sleep if you stay here?"
"Haven't I been here this whole time?" Red Bat revealed a tender smile, which was a skill that she had developed as a slave girl. It had always worked before, but this time, it failed.
"Nonsense. I was in a coma that time. How could it be the same as now?"
"Please don't get angry. I'll leave right away. Divine Doctor Sun said that you need time to calm your mind…"
"Doctor Sun this, Doctor Sun that; do you think that everything he says is the truth? Do you think that he's an immortal? Just go if you want to, the further the better."
Red Bat understood men, but she had never seen someone act like this. The better she treated him, the angrier he became. Puzzled, she asked, "Are you forcing me to leave you? I told you that I don't care…"
"I care." Bearing the great pain in his leg, Long Fanyun gritted his teeth and said, "I am a swordsman of the Big Snow Mountain, the chieftain of the Canopy Peak. I'd rather live standing or die lying down rather than be what I am now."
"Divine Doctor Sun said you might be able to stand up one day," Red Bat said haltingly, a little frightened by Long Fanyun's words.
The words 'Divine Doctor Sun' merely roused Long Fanyun's anger even further. "What's the use of standing up? Can I walk freely? Can I ride a horse? Can I use my sword? I am a joke now and it's all because of you. It was you who let Doctor Sun save me. Why didn't you just let me die in the first place? Then I could have been a hero of Big Snow Mountain."
"Slowly… It's going to be okay… I think that you can still use your sword…"
"Use the sword as a cane?" Long Fanyun said in a mockingly sarcastic tone. This reticent man was finding fault in every word of Red Bat's. "Give it up! Do not use your false hope to deceive me. It is what it is. Thanks to you and Doctor Sun, I am now a cripple. And I'm also at your disposal now. Are you happy?"
All the skills that Red Bat had learned and used to deal with men were useless against this man. Standing by the bed in a daze, her tears burst out. Long Fanyun's cold face, however, did not soften in the slightest. "Get out," he said callously.
Red Bat ran out of the tent. After she left, Long Fanyun stared up blankly, his eyes not blinking at all. Whenever any thoughts came up, he forcefully suppressed them. He did not want to think, nor did he dare to think; he was afraid that if he hesitated at all, he would become weak.
Several swordsmen of the Big Snow Mountain snooped around at the door and peeked inside every now and then.
"Come on in," said Long Fanyun in a warm tone.
The swordsmen filed in and silently looked at their chieftain. They all belonged to Canopy Peak.
"Bring the wine and we are still brothers. Get the h.e.l.l out of here if you don't have any wine with you." Long Fanyun said harshly.
The swordsmen looked at each other, and then a young man took out a full wine bag from behind him. "Is this enough?"
Long Fanyun sat up and s.n.a.t.c.hed it even as he bared his teeth in pain. But he still raised his head and took a hearty swig. "Ah, that's what I call living."
The swordsmen all laughed, and the young man sat by the bed, punching the chieftain on the shoulder. "It looks like you are alright. We were worried…"
Long Fanyun held the wine bag with one hand, put the other on the back of the young swordsman's neck, and pressed down hard as he said, "I am fine… of course."
The young swordsman's face turned red, and with a sudden burst of strength, he straightened his neck and pushed the big hand off. Long Fanyun fell back onto his pillow with wine spilling all over his body.
The young swordsman felt a bit embarra.s.sed, but Long Fanyun did not care. Instead, he smiled and said, "Little Seven's strength has grown a lot."
The young swordsman named Little Seven smirked while a swordsman who looked a bit older took the chance to ask, "Chief, what happened to Red Bat? We saw her… She was crying."
The mirthful atmosphere became awkward. Long Fanyun put away his smile, took a sip of wine, but did not answer.
The young swordsman coughed twice and said, "Are you worried about your wife back in Big Snow Mountain? The situation is quite peculiar at the moment, we can go explain to her later. She'll understand…"
Looking at the few people in front of him, Long Fanyun's voice became quite emotional when he said, "How many people did we have when we left the mountain to follow the Dragon King?"
"Hundreds of people," replied one swordsman, not understanding what the chieftain was trying to say.
"Canopy Peak didn't have that many people. Before we went to the Land of Fragrance, we had a total of 861 soldiers." As the chieftain, Long Fanyun remembered the number clearly. "It's been more than two years now. And look, we can't even fill up a tent now. One, two, three, four… Eight people. Eight and a half people including me."
"We still have some brothers at Xiaoyao Lake."
"Hmm, 134 brothers. I remember them. As long as we take Thousand Hors.e.m.e.n Pa.s.s, we'll meet again soon. Then we'll attack Jade City and burn down Golden Roc Castle together."
The thought of burning down Golden Roc Castle aroused the swordsmen's fighting spirit. The nine of them then took turns drinking starting from Long Fanyun.
"We of Canopy Peak haven't brought disgrace to the Big Snow Mountain," a swordsman said loudly after drinking.
"No, we haven't," they all said back in unison.
Only then did Long Fanyun pick up the topic where he had left it off earlier. "Do you still want to go back with me to persuade my wife? Do you still think… that I should keep Red Bat with me?"
No one spoke. The eight swordsmen all understood the chieftain's mind. It would be a tough fight against Jade City, and no one knew how many people would die.
Long Fanyun felt that there was a fire burning in his body. It was not hatred or love, but rather just a simple fighting spirit, which could only be understood by the swordsmen from Big Snow Mountain. "I beg one thing of you all."
"You are the chief. Just give the order."
"No, it's not an order. I'm begging you. The only begging I've ever done in my life."
"Yes, we'll agree. Please, Chief."
"Carry me into the battlefield when you attack Golden Roc Castle. Do not make me a burden to the Dragon King."
The eight swordsmen fell silent and suddenly all drew their grandswords at the same time. With a strong swing, the swords pierced through the carpet and sank several inches deep into the ground.
The tent wasn't big. With the eight grandswords stuck in the ground, it felt like a forest of swords. Long Fanyun felt rest a.s.sured and lay down again.
"Dragon King?" A swordsman called out in surprise.
Long Fanyun sat up abruptly and saw the Dragon King standing in the doorway. "What brings you here? I…"
Gu Shenwei walked over and stopped Long Fanyun from getting out of bed. "It seems that there's a lot of fun going on here. Are you drinking?"
One swordsman picked up the wine bag and smiled sheepishly. When they got together with their kinsmen, they could smile and talk unrestrainedly, but they acted very reserved in front of the Dragon King. It was not that they took the Dragon King as an outsider. They had long since considered the Dragon King as a member of the Big Snow Mountain and a hero sent by Heaven.
Their reserve came from the awe rooted deep in their hearts.
Gu Shenwei grabbed the wine bag, took a swig, and exclaimed, "Good wine."
The swordsmen were all surprised at what they were seeing because they all knew that the Dragon King did not like drinking.
"Long Fanyun."
"Yes, Dragon King."
"I order you to resume your duty as captain of the guards starting from tomorrow."
"Yes, Dragon King."
"You don't have to leave the tent, but there are a few things you have to do right away. First, increase the squad of bodyguards to 500 people; you have to choose the guards personally. Second, make a schedule for the s.h.i.+fts. We can't slack off at such a critical moment, and I can't entrust such an important matter to others. Third, apologize to Red Bat."
Gu Shenwei turned around and left, leaving the swordsmen looking blankly at one another. The young swordsman asked puzzledly when the Dragon King disappeared, "Did the Dragon King just ask Chief to apologize to Red Bat?"
Gu Shenwei had heard most of the swordmen's conversation. The number of troops under him were growing higher and higher. This created a major problem that he had overlooked: the soldiers who had first followed him to fight this war were becoming fewer and fewer and the rate at which they disappeared was growing faster than ever.
Big Snow Mountain had five peaks. The manpower of Canopy Peak was above-average among the five, but now, there were only a bit more than a hundred people left. The weakest Luoshen Peak existed only in name now. All the people except for the chieftain were dead.
And the 1500 or so sabermen of the sixth peak, the Truth Custodian Peak, which had been set up to thank the old saberman, Tuo Nengya, for his timely rescue, had disappeared completely. Some of them had died while the others had fled. Even the name of the peak had been completely forgotten after Tuo Nengya's death.
Dugu Xian was still awake. He was still discussing tomorrow's battle plan to several officers. Since it had been postponed for one day, he wanted the plan to be as detailed as possible.
When he saw the Dragon King, Dugu Xian dismissed the officers and said, "We can start the war in less than four hours and I believe that Dragon King will be able to enter Thousand Hors.e.m.e.n Pa.s.s before noon."
Gu Shenwei nodded. Dugu Xian was rather conservative in such matters. If he said that they could take it before noon, it would be achieved for sure. "There's something that I want to ask the General for advice."
"I'm at your service, Dragon King."
"On the surface, we are fighting against Golden Roc Castle, but our real enemy is the Central Plains."
"That's true."
"Do the soldiers understand this?"
Dugu Xian was stunned slightly and said, "They don't need to know. It'll be alright as long as they know their duties tomorrow."
"But they will know sooner or later. How will the Norland people and the Western Regions people react if they know that our next enemy is the Central Plains?"
Dugu Xian was stunned again. "I… I never thought about that."
"Think about it now. You know the armies of the various countries best, and you know what they think."
Dugu Xian thought for a long while before saying, "I can't give you a definite answer. It's always hard to guess at the people's mind, but I would suggest the Dragon King to reveal the news of the war with the Central Plains as late as possible, and it'd be best if the new Khan announced it. The Norland and the Central Plains are feuding, so war is inevitable between the two. While the people of the Western Regions… just act as help."
"The Norland owns the vast gra.s.slands and can advance and retreat at will. General Dugu said that that was one of their greatest strengths, but the Western Regions cannot follow suit."
"Uh… Does the Dragon King want to cancel the siege plan?"
"Put it off for a few days."
"Yes." As a professional general, Dugu Xian never asked questions when following orders.
Fang Wens.h.i.+ hurriedly ran out of his tent with bare feet and checked the Dragon King who was walking to his tent. "No attack on Thousand Hors.e.m.e.n Pa.s.s?"
"Temporarily."
"Is the Dragon King going to take part in the kung fu compet.i.tion for the position of the Lord of Jade City? You said…"
Gu Shenwei had said that he was no match for the Unique King. "I'll figure something out."
Fang Wens.h.i.+ stared at the Dragon King's back blankly, not caring about the cold mud underfoot at all. The Dragon King had chosen his plan in the end, but he did not feel much excitement.
Gu Shenwei returned to his tent and found Han Fen sleeping on his soft couch again, so he woke her up and said, "You can go now."
"What? I haven't found any disciples of the Waning Moon Hall yet," Han Fen said sleepily.
"No need. Go find your Master Commander and tell her that I want to talk to her."
Han Fen immediately woke up. She jumped up and burst out laughing. "I've been waiting for the Dragon King to say this for a long time!"
Gu Shenwei was no match for the Unique King. He needed Lotus. Only by combining the saber and sword could he exert his maximum power.
