Chapter 360: Shaking

Wildhorse fell into the trap. He used a small percentage of his strength to attack Shangguan Fei, while the majority of it was channeled towards defending against Dragon King. However, Shangguan Fei was stronger than he had thought, and the way he retreated was just as Dragon King expected.

Wildhorse had run out of escape routes and could only exchange his left arm for his life. He immediately jumped off the horse and ran away.

“We can still catch up with him.” Shangguan Fei urged himself, urging his horse faster. However, this brave idea was just as fleeting as Wildhorse was fleetfooted. He tightened his reins.

“You won’t be able to catch up with him.” Gu Shenwei sheathed the Dragon Head Sword. Though Wildhorse head did not learn the Wayless Book or Death Scripture, his kung fu had advanced by leaps and bounds, especially his Lightness Skills, which was more proficient than even Gu Shenwei.

Gu Shenwei knew what his weaknesses were, which was why he needed a helper like Maid Lotus. Wildhorse would never have escaped if she had been there.

Several days ago, Gu Shenwei was hurrying along the journey, and did not think of this assassination plan.

Gu Shenwei rode on Wildhorse’s horse, and came up to Shangguan Fei.

Shangguan Fei held the scabbard of Five Peaks Saber and was reluctant to return it to Dragon King “It really is a nice saber!”

Gu Shenwei snatched it back immediately. Shangguan Fei’s cowardice was inborn. No matter how sharp the weapon was, it would not give a coward courage.

When the two returned to the resting place, the fire was still alight, but Shangguan Hong was gone, along with one horse.

“I knew it was him!” Shangguan Fei shouted angrily, “It was him that set Old Man Mu free instead of my sister. He must have left to get his reward.”

“Don’t worry about him.” Gu Shenwei was not worried at all. He took out a few pieces of dry food from a pack tied to the horse and shared it with Shangguan Fei. They set off again after finishing their food.

Shangguan Fei hoped to have a rest; it seemed that there was relatively little danger, especially since Wildhorse had run away. However, he did not dare to voice it. The longer he had spent in the presence of Dragon King, the more unconsciously he obeyed the master-servant arrangement.

Dragon King’s calmness was not without reason. Shangguan Hong caught up late in the morning, gasping and sweat dripping down his brow, “Alas, why did you two leave first? I had to relieve myself…”

This excuse was surely too far-fetched, even Shangguan Hong did not expect that anyone would believe it. Instead, he chuckled ingratiatingly, “Dragon King, please forgive me, I won’t do it again.”

Shangguan Fei was shocked and immediately asked, “Tell us, did you go to see Old Man Mu? Where is he hiding? Confess quickly.”

“No, no, I have nothing to do with Old Man Mu.” Shangguan Hong defended himself though his face was pale. However, only telling the truth would get rid of the suspicion, “I didn’t think… I didn’t expect… that we would encounter so many dangers following Dragon King. When we reach the Great Snowmountain, it will be even more dangerous. I’m poor in kung fu and clumsy, and I can’t help you, so… ”

“So you ran away!” Shangguan Fei was indignant. Supreme King’s acknowledged son had not run, while the illegitimate son fled. “Why do you come back?”

Shangguan Hong put up a pathetic face and looked at the silent Dragon King, begging for mercy, “Dragon King, it’s all my fault. I’m a coward, I’m treacherous, I’m shameless and contemptible…”

Shangguan Hong rebuked himself with a dozen words consecutively. Thinking that was enough, Gu Shenwei took a piece of dry food from the pack and threw it to him.

Shangguan Hong, like a hungry dog, caught the dry food with both hands, stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing.

Shangguan Fei suddenly realized something, pointing to Dragon King, “You… you… did you put poison in the dry food?”

To be precise, it was Maid Lotus who had poisoned the food. The Blood Coagulation Pill was too precious to waste on these two people, so she had used the poison used commonly in New Moon Hall. After taking the poison for a while, he would occasionally experience abdominal pains. The method to relieve it was simple: one way was to suppress it, and he would recover after a few days. The other way was to continue to take the poison.

Shangguan Hong did not know the first method. The moment he felt abdominal pain, he knew that he had been tricked and pleaded Dragon King to give him the antidote.

“You won’t die.” Gu Shenwei always Zhong Heng’s warning that all the people in the Shangguan family were wolves on his mind, and knew he must possess the skill for training wolves.

Shangguan Fei’s face changed, “Dragon King, you are too cruel. I trusted you so much. Was my sister …”

For sure, Gu Shenwei would not treat them differently. He knew that Shangguan Ru would not die, the abdominal pain would disappear completely after several rounds. It did not even hurt that much. However, he certainly would not tell them the truth, so he simply nodded his head.

Shangguan Fei did not become enraged. On the contrary, his anger seemed to dissipate suddenly. All he had for Dragon King was respect and worship, so he changed his tone and repeated. “Dragon King, you are too cruel.”

Shangguan Hong was eager to change Dragon King’s impression of him and said, “How can you be a killer if you are not cruel? How could you compete with Golden Roc Fort?”

From then on, the two competed to win Dragon King’s favor. They tried flattery, eyes constantly scanning on the parcel that stored the dry food. Shangguan Fei privately despised Shangguan Hong: Why did he run away empty-handed, he should at least have taken water and dry food.

Gu Shenwei also became more vigilant. He kept the real poisonous powder hidden in his sleeve, and each time he took out some dry food, he would spread a little on it.

The tail who had been following them finally disappeared. The whole day of traveling passed without a hitch. Gu Shenwei decided to rest early this night to be more energised. They set off before dawn the next day and saw Tianshan rising in the north. Soon, they would enter the territory of Shu-lik.

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Gu Shenwei was right. He had guessed Wildhorse would set an ambush at the end of the road.

However, no fight occurred. Wildhorse’s disappearance obviously unexpected. As soon as Dragon King drew near, they fled. No one came out to challenge him.

The ten men, who were hidden in a large bush by the road, fled like frightened animals.

The road ahead was bumpy. That afternoon, the three of them finally drew near to Shu-lik’s border and could see the country from a distance. Having just escaped danger, they still did not feel at ease.

They stopped on a hill. Shu-lik’s border post several miles away was now a mere pile of burnt debris, the ashes lay smoldering.

When the three of them rode up on their horse, stopping to survey the expanse of smoke and dust that continued to wind east of the road.

The three jumped off the horse with Gu Shenwei taking the lead. They hid the horse under the small hill, and hid themselves behind the bushes on the top of the hill, observing from a distance.

“That’s Norland’s army! Has Norland invaded the Western Region?” Shangguan Fei cried out in surprise.

Gu Shenwei also recognized the white wolf flag of Norland. The army had a total of 1,000 people, advancing at full speed, with no scouts. Obviously, this was not the first cavalry to have entered Shu-lik.

“They were sent by Supreme King.” Gu Shenwei finally believed understood Master Fayan’s analysis. Supreme King’s ambition was beyond his own. He had wanted to invade a territory bigger than his own and borrowed troops to occupy Shu-lik.

As the map indicated, the Great Snowmountain’s campsite was 30 miles away in the east. Gu Shenwei had to face a cruel fact that 3,000 swordsmen and machetemen were possibly dead. All his efforts might be in vain.

Meanwhile, Jade City, several hundreds of miles away, was in turmoil. There was also a man, just like Dragon King, who was worried about the fate of Great Snowmountain’s campsite.

Fang Wenshi had experienced the biggest storm in his life. The peace negotiation was going to end and the outcome was good. The night before, he had been preparing for the signing ceremony to be hosted in the Four Truths Temple the next day. The eminent monk there would be the witness.

However, Xu Xiaoyi knocked at the door just before dawn, waking Fang Wenshi from his sweet dream. “Damn it! News has been circulating around that Dragon King failed in the contest to be Emperor’s son-in-law, so he started a slaughter, cutting off the heads of the Ninth Young Master, the Tenth Young Master and more.”

Fang Wenshi shot up, dressed in his underwear and paced back and forth several times, and then pat himeself on the forehead. He smiled, “Nonsense, I was almost scared by you. Think for a moment, it takes at least 10 days to go from Stone Kingdom to Jade City. Rumors cannot reach here so fast unless they can fly. Dragon King just arrived Stone Kingdom ten days ago, and the contest for being the Emperor’s son-in-law would have just begun. Hence, it hasn’t been decided who will be the emperor’s son-in-law, why would he kill anyone?

Fang Wenshi shook his head repeatedly. Although he had not spent much time with Dragon King, he believed that Dragon King would not kill anyone and undermine the hard-won peace negotiation even if he failed to be the Emperor’s son-in-law.

Xu Xiaoyi smiled, thankful that it was probably nothing, but could not help but still feel uneasy, “Would it be a conspiracy of Golden Roc Fort?”

Fang Wenshi pondered for a while and shook his head again. “Probably not. They were quite earnest during the negotiation and scrutinised every detail. It doesn’t seem likely that they will start a war.”

In reality, Fang Wenshi was being too optimistic. Though Golden Roc Fort did not have any intention of starting a war, and was skeptical about the rumors, they did delay signing the agreement.

This caused a problem because the three-month-long temporary armistice had come to an end. Theoretically, Golden Roc Fort and the Great Snowmountain were at war again.

Fang Wenshi sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.

Golden Roc Fort had put on a dazzling show, evolving from disdain to hesitation, and finally the rage and shock after discovering the evidence. Supreme King had made an alternation from the offender to the prosecutor.

Initially, citizens of Jade City unanimously believed that Dragon King killed people. In their minds, Dragon King was a demon who did not bat an eye when killing people.

Not until even more shocking news spread did some people begin to suspect that Golden Roc Fort was involved in a big conspiracy. But no one dared to speak.

Third Young Master Shangguan Yun, who had nearly faded out of people’s memory, suddenly became the Emperor’s son-in-law of the Xiaowan Kingdom in the north of Tianshan. Moreover, he was likely to succeed to the throne.

A serious riot irrupted in the Loulan Kingdom of the east. A large group of bandits joined forces to invade the capital of the Loulan Kingdom. Troops stationed in all part of the Central Plain rushed to the capital at night to aid them.

Next, an unknown army set off from the Xiaowan Kingdom and went straight to Eighth Young Master Shangguan Nu at the eastern border, with the excuse of revenge for Bighead Kingpin. Supreme King’s attitude toward Bighead Kingpin had undergone a complete reversal overnight.

That night, another army joined forces with the troops stationed at the western border, and they launched an attack on the Great Snowmountain’s campsite.

A few days later, the whole Western Region was shaken by an upheaval that had not happened in a thousand years: thousands of Norland cavalry marched southwards, through the western mountain pass and into Shu-lik, claiming that King of Shu-lik sent assassins to assassinate Khan.

As the situation exacerbated, everyone felt that the world was turning upside down. It was no longer important whether Dragon King had killed Supreme King’s sons and daughters.

On the seventh day after the rumor, Fang Wenshi was imprisoned at his residence. Golden Roc Fort kept him alive in order to force him to admit that it was Dragon King who had triggered the war.

For the first time, Fang Wenshi saw personally how unscrupulous Golden Roc Fort was. His fury became unprecedented courage as he firmly rejected the threats and promises of Golden Roc Fort.

There was no news of Dragon King’s death, and that became the greatest consolation for Fang Wenshi. For more than ten days, he had worried about the Great Snowmountain campsite. With 3,000 people there, it was the foundation for Dragon King power. If the entire army collapsed, there was no way back even if Dragon King grew three heads and six arms.