Chapter 925: Underground

Shangguan Hong placed his right hand on the hilt of the sword, raised his head, and said, “I’m here to request an audience with the Master Commander.”

Some passersby had already noticed him, and they were now pointing at him, but nobody approached the building.

A ripple of pride passed through Shangguan Hong. Unexpectedly, he was neither unduly nervous nor afraid. Though he was slightly flustered, it had nothing to do with either Wild Horse or those onlookers.

The so-called kingly aura was actually just him bullying the weak. This was the simple conclusion that he had arrived at. The reason why the Unique King was able to scare a person to death with a mere gaze was because his kung fu was the best in the stone castle, and because he had a large group of killers working for him. The reason why the Dragon King was so young yet had hundreds of thousands of troops at his command was also because of his excellent sabersmanship. And Old Man Mu was an even more drastic example – after he lost a considerable amount of his internal energy, he seemed to have transformed into a completely different person.

Shangguan Hong’s accomplishing nothing in the stone castle had nothing to do with his talent at all. Zhang Ji’s had given up on him merely because he had found Shangguan Yun, who possessed better kung fu as well as a better more background. But eventually, Zhang Ji had shifted the responsibility onto him, claiming that he was born with various kinds of weaknesses.

‘Hypocrite!’ Shangguan Hong thought angrily. And he conveniently switched the target of the anger he was about to vent onto Wild Horse. He even began to yearn for a public duel against this one-armed freak.

But seeing Wild Horse had disillusioned him. The face with eyes far apart disappeared, and he even closed the window.

Shangguan Hong’s confidence that he had found in his sword quickly dissolved. He didn’t know how to deal with this embarrassing situation. ‘The Unique King and the Dragon King must know how to handle this kind of thing.’

Shangguan Hong felt that Zhang Ji was making a scornful “Tsk, tsk” sound besides his ears, so he strode up to the gate and hammered at it.

The gate of the Essence Pavilion opened. The previous young sabersman, who had previously declared that they were open to business, walked out. He sized Shangguan Hong up and apathetically said, “Go to Old Li’s Tavern and wait.”

Shangguan Hong was stunned. “I’m not here to hire a killer. Wild Horse knows-”

But before he could finish talking, the gate was shut with a seemingly bored and impolite bang. Shangguan Hong raised his hand and was about to knock again, but forbore himself from doing so. ‘That man didn’t say anything about killers, so maybe he really was asking me to wait for the disciples of Waning Moon Hall in that tavern.’ The Master Commander always acted mysteriously, but he was still indignant about Wild Horse’s scornful manner.

‘I have to find a way to let the Master Commander know about how good my swordsmanship has become,’ Shangguan Hong thought, believing this was the key to changing his destiny.

There were several back streets in southern Jade City, and there were hundreds of people called Old Li, but when these two clues were taken in conjunction, he could only think of one place that fit the description.

Soon, Shangguan Hong found the right place. He fastened the horse to a post outside and went into the gateway, looking in.

The tavern was dirty and disorderly. Groups of sabersmen were drinking and bragging inside. Judging from their conversation, all of them were here because they had become bored with the beauties and good wine of Retention Alley. Thus, they had come here to have a taste of the “sabersmen’s wine.”

Even in the past, Shangguan Hong had never gone to this kind of place to drink. He preferred quieter taverns where wines were cheap, and where guests spoke little words and were inclined to sit alone. In Old Li’s Tavern, any simple movement could bring one a friend or an enemy.

Shangguan Hong, who was standing at the gateway looking around, immediately made an enemy.

A drunken, middle-aged sabersman walked to the gateway. He ignored the wide gap and fixed his eyes on Shangguan Hong. “I know you.”

Shangguan Hong stepped aside, remaining silent.

“Why aren’t you replying? Are you playing dumb?”

“I don’t know you.” Shangguan Hong laid his hand on the hilt of the sword again.

“You slept with a whore but didn’t pay, and you also cheated when gambling. Do you want to deny it? Today, I’m going to teach you a lesson for your father.” After saying these words, the sabersman pounced on him.

Shangguan Hong hesitated briefly. He believed that there was no need for him to use his sword to handle a drunk, so he merely raised his arm to parry the attack.

He was wrong. One of the Golden Roc Castle’s traditional teachings was that one should make every move with ferocity, and that under no circumstances should one underestimate their opponent. However, the drunkenness of this red-eyed sabersman had clouded Shangguan Hong’s judgement.

The sabersman drew a dagger when he was less than half a foot away from Shangguan Hong. Meanwhile, three other sabersmen rushed over and surrounded the target at the narrow gateway.

Shangguan Hong was taken aback, but it was too late to whip out his sword. He abruptly leaped rightward, hoping to find a chance to fight back.

The first dagger was stabbed into his waist, and the second into his right shoulder. There was only a gap several feet wide left for him to maneuver in, and by no means could Shangguan Hong have dodged the attack.

Pain, blood, confusion, and fear made Shangguan Hong feel like he was trembling all over, but he didn’t want to be killed, and especially not by a bunch of nobodies in a cheap tavern.

The four enemies pounced on him again, blocking all of his escape routes.

Shangguan Hong fell to the ground, desperately reaching his hand out to pull the sword wrapped around his waist.

The guests inside looked on excitedly. Here in Old Li’s Tavern, this kind of fight was usually the best dish to pair with wine. They didn’t care about who won or who lost, and they certainly didn’t care about whose kung fu was more advanced. They only wanted to see blood splattering everywhere.

As a result, when the strange man covered in blood struggled to his feet and glared at the enemies, a great cheer arose from those guests.

Shangguan Hong finally whipped out his sword and started attacking at a speed so fast that even he himself didn’t expect it. The first slash, the second slash… Though the opponents had already fallen down to the ground like he had earlier, he still didn’t stop.

Two sabersmen who had provoked him were down, soaked in blood. Seeing that the odds were heavily against them, the other two fled immediately.

Shangguan Hong swelled with anger. Wielding the blood-stained soft sword, he yelled at the cheering crowd, “Wild Horse! Show yourself, you mute, you coward! Come here and duel me! I’m not afraid of you! I’m not afraid of you!”

The cheers grew louder.

Shangguan Hong suddenly became unprecedentedly vigilant. He abruptly turned around and saw that young sabersman who had asked him to come to Old Li’s Tavern.

“You-”

For the second time that day, that man didn’t let him to finish talking. He directly turned around and left.

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“Stop! I’m telling you to stop!” Shangguan Hong ignored the cheering crowd behind him. With his right hand holding onto the sword and his left hand clutching the wound in his abdomen, he followed that man as he suppressed the pain. Compared to the humiliation that had been inflicted on him earlier, the pain was nothing.

Surprisingly, the young sabersman’s kung fu was pretty good. Though he seemed to be running at a moderate pace, Shangguan Hong couldn’t close the distance no matter how much of his internal energy he used.

The alley was getting narrower and the lights on the two sides were getting sparse, but Shangguan Hong didn’t slow down. The young sabersman running in front of him had merely shown a rather apathetic attitude towards him, but at this moment, in Shangguan Hong’s eyes, this man was the incarnation of all the humiliation and scorn that this world held against him, and Shangguan Hong was determined to kill him.

The young sabersman abruptly stopped, turned around, and faced his pursuer.

Shangguan Hong let out a growl and stabbed his sword at him.

The young sabersman spoke. His voice was completely different from the previous one. It was a female voice. “Do you want to meet the Master Commander?”

Shangguan Hong stopped in time. “You… You’re a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall? Why did you have those men ambush me?”

“Answer my question.”

“Yes. I want to meet with the Master Commander. We had an agreement to meet every ten to fifteen days.” The moment he found out that this person was a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall, Shangguan Hong’s anger had greatly abated.

“Here you are,” said the saberswoman, tossing him something.

Shangguan Hong caught it. It was a small wooden box. “Thanks for the antidote, but I want to meet the Master Commander. There’s something… that I want to tell her face-to-face.”

The saberswoman was silent for a while. “You’re bleeding.”

“I am.” Shangguan Hong knew that blood was still gushing out of his wounds. Though it hurt a little and he was still buckling at the knees, overall, he felt very comfortable. It was as if he had a piece of ice in his mouth in a scorching summer.

But if he didn’t do anything, then he would still bleed to death. Shangguan Hong hurriedly opened the medicine box only to find that it was empty. He was transfixed with shock. “There’s no antidote in it,” he said in a perplexed tone as well as a perplexed mind.

There was no antidote in the box, but the box was giving off a unique faint fragrance. Knowing that he had been tricked, Shangguan Hong dashed forward furiously, but he only managed to take one step when he fell to the snowy ground.

The saberswoman watched him and said in a low voice, “I really don’t understand. What use could this guy possibly be of?”

Wild Horse walked out of the dark, peered at Shangguan Hong for a while, and then lifted him with one hand. That old disciple of the Essence Pavilion wasn’t around, so Wild Horse couldn’t speak.

Shangguan Hong gradually came around with a sharp headache. After quite a while, he recalled what had happened to him before he passed out. He hastily reached out with his hand to grab the soft sword wrapped around his waist, but didn’t find it. After abruptly sitting up, he saw that his weapon was placed right beside him.

He was in a small room with a door but no windows. On the table was a candle that was glowing dully.

“Anybody here?” Shangguan Hong yelled but there was no response. He got out of the bed, put on the shoes, took his soft sword, and slowly walked towards the doorway while holding his breath.

There was no lock on the door. Outside the room was a very long corridor with many torches as well as some rooms of similar size on either side. He walked out of the room and turned right. After walking a short distance, Shangguan Hong abruptly realized that he was underground.

As he walked through the seemingly endless corridor, Shangguan Hong felt a little scared. He was just about to turn around and retrace his steps back when a beam of light suddenly came out of the room beside him and startled him.

The door was half open. After standing outside and thinking for quite a while, Shangguan Hong pushed the door open and walked in.

It was a room the same size as that of the one before. There was no bed, only a table, a chair, a lamp, and a person.

“Master Commander.” Shangguan Hong was relieved, and he knelt down involuntarily.

Sitting on the chair, Lotus was contemplating something before the lamp. As if she hadn’t heard his voice, she only slightly turned her head aside after quite a while. The look in her eyes was apathetic but not threatening. Shangguan Hong felt this was the most tender gaze in the world.

“What can I do for you?”

“I’ve mastered the Death Sutra Swordsmanship.” Kneeling on the ground, Shangguan Hong talked urgently. “Really. I can do something big for you, Master Commander. There’s no need for me to stay around the Dragon King.”

“Something big?”

Lotus’ voice was very apathetic, but Shangguan Hong didn’t feel it at all. “Trust me. I’ve comprehended the essence of the Death Sutra, and it’s…” Noticing that the Master Commander’s eyes seemed to have swept across the wounds on him, Shangguan Hong blushed. “This injury is nothing. In fact, it’s beneficial to me. I’m not afraid of pain or bleeding, which is one of my unique traits.”

“But you failed to defend yourself against the most common knockout powder.”

Shangguan Hong’s face became even redder. “I was momentarily careless… Yes. I’m not the best killer. I wasn’t, and I probably never will be. However, the situation is different now. The Central Plainsmen are here. Both the Dragon King and the Unique King have to participate in a face-to-face kung fu competition. And the Master Commander also needs someone who can take part in the kung fu competition, right? The disciples of the Essence Pavilion may be competent killers, but they know nothing about kung fu competitions.”

Shangguan Hong watched Lotus expectantly, hoping for her encouragement. Even just a little bit would have been enough for him.

“I still haven’t figured out what kind of task I should assign to you.”

“Yes. Of course, the Master Commander is the one to make all the decisions. I’ll also try to be a killer if necessary.”

“But since you’re already here, there is indeed something you can do for me.”

“I’m at your service, Master Commander.”

“Go and invite the Dragon King here.”

Shangguan Hong was stunned. He had thought that the Master Commander no longer needed the Dragon King’s help. “Yes. I’ll do it.”

“It’s not easy to get out of here. You’ll have to kill someone.”

Shangguan Hong was more amazed, staring fixedly at the Master Commander. Suddenly, it dawned on him that both he and the Master Commander were prisoners.