Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
It was suffocatingly hot outside, but this man was wearing a thick coat as if he had a bad cold. It seemed like he didn’t have many days left to live and couldn’t be moved even with four beautiful women standing right before him.
“The Dragon King’s women,” he said. Except for a slight movement of his lips, the muscles of his face was as stiff as iron. And he indeed couldn’t be moved by the beauties in front of him; his shrill voice and beardless chin had clearly given away his identity.
The four women who had been at loggerheads just moments ago exchanged a glance. Being in the same dangerous situation made them put aside their disputes for the time being. Shangguan Ru stood out and asked, “You are a disciple of the Essence Pavilion?”
“The pavilion is gone, and there are no disciples anymore.”
Shangguan Ru knew that she was right but what was strange was that this disciple of the Essence Pavilion was alone. His dual-cultivator was nowhere to be found, and the one standing behind him as a guard was that disciple of the Waning Moon Hall. “Don’t you always appear in pairs? Where’s your partner?”
“Dead. He became seriously ill as soon as he entered the prairie, but like the others, his death is also on the Dragon King.”
“What does that have to do with the Dragon King?” Xu Yanwei stuck out her head and asked. Hearing that the other side was from the Essence Pavilion, she wasn’t that afraid. After all, she had visited them to have her fortune-told before.
“He killed Immortal Peng and broke apart the Essence Pavilion. He’s the origin of all tragedies, so he has to accept all the consequences.” The stiff-faced man looked low in spirits and said his story that should have been full of hate weakly as if he had been forced to do so.
Xu Yanwei was slightly stunned and didn’t understand the connection between the two matters, but she knew one thing for sure. “Well, let’s say you really hate the Dragon King. So why not just go kill him to avenge yourself? What’s all this about capturing a few women who don’t even know kung fu?”
The stiff-faced man shook his head. “Just killing the Dragon King is not revenge. What goes around must come around, and since he killed the one I love, I’ll just return that feeling to him.”
The Essence Pavilion was located in the City View Alley which was a den of iniquity and even Xu Yanwei didn’t want to ask for more detail. She frowned and said, “In that case, please release me first. The Dragon King doesn’t love me and I also don’t love the Dragon King.”
Faced with the gaze of the other three women, Xu Yanwei was bold and straightforward. “We have to tell the truth, don’t we?”
“I haven’t even met the Dragon King that many times,” Xiao Fengchai rushed to say. “My man is Meng Mingshu and he lives in the Northern Jade City. You must know him. Just let me go; he can afford any amount of money.” She carefully concealed the fact that she herself was very rich.
Shangguan Ru and Queen Ju remained silent for a long while and it was Shangguan Ru who spoke first in the end. “I’m the daughter of the Unique King, an enemy of the Dragon King. I’m also the instructor of the Land of Fragrance, a guest invited by the Second Consort.”
Only Queen Ju continued wearing a cold face with her head held high, neither asking for mercy nor saying anything.
Xu Yanwei sighed inwardly, knowing that the Queen would rather die than openly admit that her husband and wife relationship with the Dragon King only existed in name.
The stiff-faced man’s chest heaved. He breathed heavily as if he had been persuaded but when he opened his mouth, he said, “It doesn’t matter. As long as the Dragon King cares about you, it’s enough. Just like the disciples of the Essence Pavilion who’ve died, they might not care about me but I still will avenge them.”
Queen Ju grunted and finally spoke up. “Where’s Lotus? Why didn’t you bring her in? She’s the one the Dragon King cares about the most.”
The disciple of the Waning Moon Hall behind the stiff-faced man said, “Master Commander hates the Dragon King to the core. The only reason she acts courteously with him is that it’s just a disguise. She’s actually waiting for the opportunity to avenge herself. The Essence Pavilion has joined the Waning Moon Hall, and what we carry out are the orders of the Master Commander.”
“I don’t believe it.” Shangguan Ru took a step forward as she stated, “Lotus would not do such a despicable thing.”
The facial muscles of the stiff-faced man were like dried bacon even when he smiled. “Hehe, ‘despicable.’ I like this word. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any more despicable means to deal with you so I can only let the monks take advantage of you first. As for the Master Commander, she has something more important to do and doesn’t have time to deal with you herself. But she has given me a list which is actually very helpful. So, forget about her. Your fate is in my hands now.”
The more Xiao Fengchai listened, the more confused she became. She had a vague impression of the name ‘Lotus’ and only knew that she was a female killer and the Dragon King’s bodyguard, and that she herself seemed to have never met her before. “Wait a moment. Let’s get this straight first. I don’t know anybody who is called Master Commander or Lotus. Why did you put me in the list? You must be mistaken.”
The disciple of the Waning Moon Hall snorted, “What is done by night appears by day. You tried to seduce the Dragon King back in Jade City; do you think no one saw your ugly wriggling in bed?”
Xiao Fengchai was dumbfounded. First, she couldn’t imagine when such a secret thing had been seen. She actually couldn’t control herself after the Dragon King had left. Second, she was a prostitute, and the fact that she had made those poses after failing to seduce the Dragon King was like being a calligrapher who couldn’t show her talent in public and then privately creating her calligraphy works for self-entertainment. How could someone even get jealous of this?
Xu Yanwei curled her lips, thinking of something to say but holding back.
Xiao Fengchai quickly adjusted herself and ignored the eyes of the other three women. “Well, now that you have seen it, you should know that the Dragon King never accepted me. He didn’t take me seriously at all, let alone care about me.”
“He doesn’t care about you? You are still in charge of transferring the money of the Dragon Army, aren’t you?”
“That’s business.” Xiao Fengchai couldn’t understand how anyone in the world could be so unreasonable. She and the Dragon King did have an agreement to help him deliver gold and silver but that had stopped for a year before resuming after the fight at the Xiaoyao Lake. But she had never met the Dragon King in person and the one she had been in touch with had always been Xu Xiaoyi.
The stiff-faced man who hadn’t spoken for a while interrupted the two’s argument, “This isn’t important either. As long as you are still useful to the Dragon King, that’s enough. I want the world to know that the Dragon King can’t protect his own women.”
The conversation ended like this and the four were taken back to the tent.
For the first time in her life, Xiao Fengchai flew into a rage. Not only had she been kidnapped, but she had also failed to put her invincible seduction techniques into good use, except for that trivial officer who kept winking at her.
Xu Yanwei was also very angry because all she had done so far was take care of women for the Dragon King, and she had always been polite to Lotus. She didn’t expect that she would also be on the list. “Lunatic, she’s really a lunatic. It’s such a pity I used to be so good to her.”
Queen Ju was lost into her own thoughts with her head lowered when she suddenly looked up and said to Shangguan Ru, “Do you think there’s a problem, too?”
“Yes.”
“Of course there is. As I said, Lotus has gone crazy.” Xu Yanwei didn’t understand the meaning of the two.
Xiao Fengchai suppressed her anger and also came to understand. “Yeah, it seems unnecessary for the zombie face to call us out and just say something like that.”
“He isn’t here just for revenge. There’s something he couldn’t say under the supervision of the disciple of the Waning Moon Hall.” Although Queen Ju was still young, her experience had been greatly enriched in the past several years and she was now very good at reading people’s faces. But she still looked at Shangguan Ru instead of Xiao Fengchai when she spoke.
Xiao Fengchai patted her chest and let out a long breath. “It’s okay, but what does he want? If he wants sex, I can make a sacrifice for everyone once. If he wants money, then I’ll have no choice but rely on you, Xiao Fengchai.”
“He’s a eunuch; how can he have sex? And I don’t think he loves money either. Those disciples of the Essence Pavilion are all weirdos, and the things he wants must be also very weird.” Xiao Fengchai looked around and lowered her voice. “He’ll come to us again whenever he wants, so don’t worry about it. These monks are the ones we actually have to be careful of.”
The monks looked quite honest sitting on the futon and doing meditation with their eyes closed. Once in a while, someone would open their eyes but immediately closed them again.
Xu Yanwei was very clear about what was hidden in the flashing eyes and couldn’t help but become a bit worried. “Honestly, I can take on two or three monks but there are so many of them here, you’d better not push me into the pit of fire alone.”
“No one will push you.” Xiao Fengchai turned to Fayan and said in an admirable tone, “With this head monk, we won’t be in danger. Can you recite the sutra you did before? Wouldn’t it be better to take precautions?”
Fayan shook his head. “The result will only grow worse and worse. Some people may sever their evil thoughts from now on but some may also backfire. The Essay of Severing Obsession will destroy the last bit of virtue they had ever cultivated. So it’s better to not use it if there’s any other way.”
Fayan was answering Xiao Fengchai’s question but Shangguan Ru felt that he was talking to her.
Lianqing leaped to his feet and said in a loud voice, “I’ll protect you. I’ll knock out the teeth of anyone who dares come near you.”
The threat was so powerful that several monks who frequently opened their eyes dared not to peep again. But Xiao Fengchai, who had seen this robber monk poor self control, didn’t trust his words much and contemptuously said, “What if you lose your reasoning first? Who’s gonna knock your teeth out then?”
Lianqing blushed and rebutted, “I won’t eat or drink so they won’t have any way of tricking me again.”
Xiao Fengchai didn’t trust him much but Xu Yanwei winked at her to signal her not to offend the backer who had voluntarily promised to protect them.
Queen Ju hadn’t experienced danger and didn’t have any experience of observing men like Xu Yanwei did, so she was the least afraid of the four women. She beckoned Shangguan Hong to come over and said, “Do the monks know who I am?”
“Yes, I already told them.” Shangguan Hong respectfully replied.
“Go tell them again that when I return to my country I’ll build the largest temple in all of Xiaoyao Lake and they will be welcome to join it. I’ll make offerings to them and also leave the position of the head monk to them.”
Shangguan Hong followed the order to pass the message. Queen Ju loftily looked around to show that the problem had been solved.
Xiao Fengchai smiled. “That’s what a queen does. You are so rich that we commoners just can’t compete. But a temple may not be enough. These monks are all like hungry wolves after taking the aphrodisiac. I’m afraid that they are not interested in the offerings. Your Highness, you might as well promise them a brothel.”
Queen Ju’s expression changed slightly. She turned around her head, still refusing to speak to Xiao Fengchai directly.
Shangguan Ru didn’t join their conversation but had something in her mind that she had to say. Sitting on her heels while opposite Fayan, she asked, “You are very good at kung fu and also have the will to help others. Why are you willing to stay in prison and watch the enemy strike?”
Fayan’s smile seemed to have never moved and his eyes seemed to be able to pierce into a person’s heart. “Aren’t you willing to stay in the ‘prison’ and wait for a miracle to happen, too?”
Shangguan Ru’s heart trembled and all the words in her mind turned to dust. For her, the ‘prison’ was not this tent, but rather the whole world.
Xu Yanwei didn’t understand what the two were talking about. Seeing Shangguan Ru’s face change slightly, she couldn’t help but sympathize with her and walked over, saying, “What prison? Such a broken place can’t imprison Miss Ru at all. Monk, if you are really capable, just help Miss Ru restore her power so that she can fly out like a bird and call for the Dragon King and her female soldiers to get us all out.”
Xiao Fengchai just said it casually but Queen Ju and Xiao Fengchai cried out ‘brilliant idea’ in a low voice at the same time. Then the two of them exchanged a glance, all surprised by this coincidental tacit understanding.
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