Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Gu Shenwei decided to launch an attack on King An's mansion.
He had sent Han Fen to deliver a message to Lotus offering to cooperate with her. However, it had been two months, but there was still no response back. Waning Moon Hall seemed to have disappeared from the world, and they hadn't made any major moves for a very long time. Lotus's vow that she would throw the whole world into chaos seemed like a joke.
Gu Shenwei hoped that this seemingly suicidal attack could stimulate Waning Moon Hall into reappearing to some extent.
Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong's seamless surveillance finally paid off. Tie Linglong had caught sight of Han Xuan momentarily. Although Han Xuan appeared only for a fleeting moment, Tie Linglong had seen her very clearly. "Maybe some disciple of the Waning Moon Hall disguised herself as Han Xuan." She had also considered this possibility.
Gu Shenwei nodded and then casually asked, "Has Han Wuxian ever been to King An's mansion before?"
Chu Nanping cautiously answered, "I didn't see her."
"I didn't… " Tie Linglong also started to say, but she suddenly felt her cheeks burn red. The Dragon King seemed to have seen through everything, and she didn't know why she wanted to hide this from him. "I've met Han Wuxian before. Just once."
"Mm. Han Wuxian said that she found several strongholds of Waning Moon Hall and that she wanted to launch an attack. I guess that her target is King An's mansion."
"But she was alone, and she didn't do anything other than talk to me for a short while." Tie Linglong was very worried that the Dragon King might ask her about what they had talked about. Despite the fact that she was not a good liar, she certainly didn't want to tell him the truth.
Fortunately, the Dragon King was thinking about another issue. "It's because she also knows that it's a trap."
"If it's really a trap, then the camouflage is perfect. I didn't see any flaws at all." After expressing her opinion, Tie Linglong turned her head and looked at Chu Nanping, hoping for his agreement.
His head slightly down, Chu Nanping was staring at the ground. He seemed to be preoccupied with his own thoughts and it was only after quite a while that he came to his senses. "Yes. It's flawless."
Gu Shenwei named a few random names and then asked Tie Linglong to call them in. After she left, he asked Chu Nanping, "Is there something bothering you?"
Chu Nanping was an even more terrible liar than Tie Linglong. He raised his head and looked straight at the Dragon King. "Tie Linglong likes you."
"I know. Do you care about it?" Gu Shenwei still had a vivid impression of Tie Linglong's unexpected love confession, but he had never taken it seriously. He just wanted to see how Chu Nanping would react.
"I hope that the Dragon King will be good to her." Chu Nanping lowered his head again.
"The reason why I saved her life and taught her kung fu was not out of the goodness in my heart, but to raise her as a worker for me. Chu Nanping, you should know about this."
Chu Nanping abruptly raised his head, a rare firmness appearing on his handsome face. "I'll do her job for her. Please a.s.sign all her work to me, Dragon King."
Gu Shenwei watched him, feeling deeply concerned. "First of all, you're just one person, I can't let you do the work of two people. Second, concealing your true feelings is not the right way to end a relations.h.i.+p."
Chu Nanping found that he was caught in a dilemma. He could regard Tie Linglong as a normal friend, but he couldn't watch her move towards the abyss, and the Dragon King was the abyss. "I'll do it step by step." He made an excuse, saying, "Many people like Tie Linglong and the Dragon King can like her too. You don't have to be very good to her. Just… just… "
"That's impossible," Gu Shenwei interrupted. "You court swordsmans.h.i.+p, and I court supremacy. You have no room for your beloved in your heart, and neither do I."
"She wants to give her virginity to the Dragon King on her birthday," Chu Nanping suddenly blurted out.
Gu Shenwei was silent for a while. "Do you want me to accept her or not?"
"I… I just don't want her to be heart-broken."
Gu Shenwei sighed to himself. He knew that he would have to resort to a cruel method if he wanted to help Chu Nanping get past this. "There's still a month left before her birthday. I have no reason to decline. She's a killer, and it's already pretty late for her to go through with this. But before that, you still have a chance."
"Chance?"
"You're the only one who can persuade her into changing her mind. She deliberately told you this because she wants you to talk to her. But you know her well. If that day comes and you don't do anything, then she might actually do it."
"And the Dragon King won't decline?"
"Rejection will be an even greater humiliation to her."
"And the Dragon King won't… marry her either?"
"I already have a queen. I won't get a second one."
Chu Nanping still remembered Queen Ju who was stuck far away in Xiaoyao Lake, and he knew that she had never been happy.
Chu Nanping stared at the Dragon King, faint anger glinting in his eyes. Gu Shenwei felt that he was playing with fire, so he coldly said, "Emotionlessness is strength. It's true with regards to swordsmans.h.i.+p, and it's also true regarding the contest for supremacy. There's no difference between my pursuit and yours."
"But I won't lie to her!"
"Neither will I. Tie Linglong will be more helpful to me when she becomes emotionless."
Chu Nanping's left and right forefingers twitched at the same time. Gu Shenwei's attention also s.h.i.+fted to his saber.
"The Dragon King won't do that. That's… That's… not who you are," Chu Nanping said the same words that Xu Xiaoyi had said to him back to the Dragon King.
"Don't speculate about what kind of person I am." Gu Shenwei's voice grew even colder. "There were a lot of things that I neither wanted nor desired to do, but I still did them."
Chu Nanping gradually calmed down. "If you hurt her, you'll lose me."
But Gu Shenwei was more composed than him. "If you still care about Tie Linglong, then you're not emotionless yet, and it wouldn't be a heavy loss to lose you if you're not emotionless."
Chu Nanping didn't expect that the Dragon King was so callous, but he knew that that was probably because he seldom communicated with the Dragon King. This conversation was the longest one they've ever had when compared to those that had happened so many years ago.
'Of course the Dragon King's callous,' he thought. 'None of those women who love the Dragon King is happy.' "As you wish, Dragon King," he said, as if he had accepted the fact.
"Good." If someone was too innocent, then Gu Shenwei surprisingly couldn't figure out what he or she was thinking. At this moment, he couldn't see through Chu Nanping's true thoughts. "Remember, how you treat Tie Linglong is your own business. Don't ask anybody for help, including me."
Chu Nanping remained silent, as if he had said everything he should say and it was unnecessary for him to ever speak again.
When Tie Linglong came back, she was unaware of the changes that had just taken place in the tent.
Old Man Mu, Han Wuxian, Dog Butcher, Shangguan Fei, and Hu s.h.i.+ning were all gathered in the tent. Gu Shenwei had called on his best killers.
"So we know it's a trap, but we're still going to jump into it?" Old Man Mu was always the first to raise questions.
"As long as we plan it out, even a trap won't be able to trap us."
Old Man Mu let out a couple of giggles and questioned no more.
"Here's my plan. We'll form a larger encirclement ring, send someone into the trap to lure the enemies out of the mansion, and then wipe them out."
"Just like that?" Old Man Mu couldn't help but ask.
"Mm. This is the general plan. We're here to consult each other about the details."
"Who will be the bait to lure the enemies out?" Shangguan Fei asked in a low voice. He had already thought of an excuse to decline.
Gu Shenwei looked at Han Wuxian and the others did the same, but Han Wuxian didn't seem to have noticed. Head down, she was looking at her hands, as if she was just here to listen.
"Darling, the Dragon King wants you to be the bait. With a beauty like you as the bait, how many big fish will be tempted?"
It was at this moment that Han Wuxian raised her head and smiled. "Okay. Who dares to disobey the Dragon King's order after all? I'll be the bait."
"Dragon King, she'll be safe, right?" Old Man Mu asked on behalf of his "darling."
"If I'm not mistaken, this trap was originally laid for Hall Leader Han, and they wanted to capture her. Thus, she is the only one who can act as the bait without running into any fatal danger."
"The Dragon King's right. Those traitors need my flesh for their guiding drug, so they definitely don't have the heart to kill me." With a face full of smiles, Han Wuxian agreed with the Dragon King, but the words "guiding drug" sent a chill down the others' spines.
"Rest a.s.sured, darling. I'll be the first one to rush in and save you. You won't even lose a hair."
Han Wuxian turned to her side and smiled. "Old man, you only have fifty percent of your strength left, but you're still as slippery as ever. I have a medicine that can treat talkativeness. Maybe you should give it a shot someday."
Old Man Mu shut up and made a series of gestures to indicate that his "condition" had been cured.
Gu Shenwei started arranging the ambush as the two bickered on the periphery. Old Man Mu, Dog Butcher, Shangguan Fei, and Chu Nanping would each take five helpers and lie in ambush on one side. Tie Linglong and Hu s.h.i.+ning would lead another twenty men as backup and stand by, waiting to be dispatched when the occasion arose.
"I'll join one of your teams, and I'll decide which one to join when the operation starts."
"Dragon King, my kung fu is the worst…" Expectation glinted in Shangguan Fei's eyes, but he received no response.
This was the first time that Dog Butcher had ever partic.i.p.ated this kind of operation, and he even had five killers at his command, so he was both nervous and excited. "I have a question. Do we take them alive or… "
All the others looked at him contemptuously. Realizing that he had shown his weakness again, Dog Butcher said in a muted voice, "I got it. We'll kill them all."
After consulting with each other for an extra while, they decided that they would take action after midnight. Then they all took their leave.
Tie Linglong stayed behind. She was displeased with the Dragon King's arrangements, "Dragon King, all the others are going to engage the enemies directly. Why do I have to be the backup?"
"I need a bodyguard."
Tie Linglong delightedly left the tent. 'I'm so stupid. Of course the Dragon King needs a bodyguard. This is his old habit."
A quarter of an hour later, Shangguan Fei returned, craning his neck to look into the room. "Dragon King, I have something to report."
"Go ahead."
"Yesterday, Shangguan Hong left the army camp and went into the city, and he disguised himself after the halfway point. Then… Then he went to City View Alley." Shangguan Fei appeared confused. "It's a pity that my man couldn't get any closer to him, but he got the address. Heh-heh, the City View Alley are full of pansies. Why did he go there? To solicit them?"
"Keep following him," Gu Shenwei said without giving any opinions on Shangguan Fei's report.
Shangguan Fei dutifully answered "yes" but didn't leave right away.
"Anything else?" Gu Shenwei asked.
"Er… actually it's not anything important." Hesitant, Shangguan Fei coughed several times before continuing. "I have no other intentions. I just want to show my concern for my friend, but Red Bat won't let me in. Dragon King, would you please tell her to let me see Long Fanyun?"
The Dragon King's eyes suddenly turned severe. Shangguan Fei hastily took his leave and hurried outside, planning to figure out a way to get through Red Bat by himself.
Gu Shenwei quickly forgot Shangguan Fei's disturbance and started reconsidering the night operation, hoping to not only force Lotus into showing herself, but also to identify the mole on his side.
