Shangguan Ru was still worried about her brother. The moment they lest the forest, she asked Dragon King, “My brother is working for you, right?”
“I hope so,” Gu Shenwei replied, halting. He gazed at Shangguan Ru’s face for a moment before turning back to look at the pitch black forest.
“You… what do you mean?”
“Shangguan Fei is acting on his own accord, nobody knows what he’s really thinking about,” Gu Shenwei said. He was speaking the truth; he did not expect Shangguan Fei to tail behind them secretly, and the Ninth Young Master had concealed himself so well that no one had noticed him along the way to the forest.
Shangguan Ru was stunned for a moment before replying, “What do you intend to do next?”
“Maid Lotus would never ask so many questions,” Gu Shenwei could not help but think.
He hesitated before replying truthfully again, “I’ll set fire to the forest.”
He had left behind a number of his soldiers to manage the capital and could summon a portion of them at any time he wished to set fire to all corners of the forest. This would kill off every living thing that resided inside it.
Shangguan Ru’s eyes grew wide with surprise. She had heard numerous stories of how cruel the Dragon King could be, but even so, she could not accept what she was hearing with her own ears. “My brother and that kid…”
“Allowing Old Man Mu to escape will only lead to the deaths of more innocent people.”
To Gu Shenwei, it was a simple choice. With people like Old Man Mu, he could never speak his terms plainly, the only way to handle them was to eliminate them.
Shangguan Ru pressed her lips together tightly and her jet black eyes were like a bottomless abyss; gazing into them made one dizzy. Gu Shenwei turned his head away again, right into Maid Lotus’ cold gaze.
“The Blessed Child really know the eighth chapter,” Shangguan Ru said. She knew that it was pointless to plead – the Dragon King was no longer Slave Huan, and she could only try to convince him with benefits.
Gu Shenwei tried his best to make his tone sound calm as he replied, “Then, he was purposely reciting the wrong version just now.”
Shangguan Ru grew a little red. She felt the man standing in front of her grow increasingly unfamiliar to her. “I know this may be hard to believe, but… when I was in a daze, I kept having the same dream. The Chief Priest was saying something important but I could not hear clearly…”
That was why she made the same request to anyone she saw after taking the antidote: “Go on.”
Gu Shenwei did not make fun of her, and this encouraged her to continue speaking. “When I woke up, I recalled that one night, I did indeed hear the Chief Priest reciting the incantation, and it was exactly the same as what the Blessed Child recited just now – it sounded all over the place. I didn’t pay much attention then and heard only half of it, but I have an idea now – ”
An idea, like a venomous snake, had taken hold of Shangguan Ru and kept circling in her mind. As she heard the incantation for a second time via the Blessed Child’s recital, she had suddenly gotten a brainwave. “The contents of the incantation are not entirely undocumented. In fact, they are written down in the archived documents kept by the Chief Priest. The only thing is, they have been separated into different books, so I think…”
Gu Shenwei immediately caught on to her idea: what the Blessed Child was reciting was not the actual eighth chapter, but a code that would allow one to discover the original texts from the archived documents.
Shangguan Ru’s deduction seemed to be logical. If this was true, it would mean that even the Chief Priest and the Blessed Child themselves did not know about the secret.
The Indra fragrance could make one fall into a partial coma or be anesthetized, but it could also narrow the thoughts of the person who inhaled it. Under such circumstances, Shangguan Ru had spent nearly all of the previous month repeatedly hearing the Chief Priest reciting a portion of the incantation, and she had finally managed to notice a pattern in it.
However, she had only seen a small part of the archived documents kept by the Chief Priest, and it was still difficult to know if her deductions were correct or not.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus exchanged glances while Shangguan Ru said impatiently, “I know, it’s just a dream. But if I’m right, with that incantation, we can derive the eighth chapter from the documents.”
To get hold of the eighth chapter in this manner, they would have to give up their chance of killing Old Man Mu.
Gu Shenwei weighed out his options before shaking his head. “Even if there is really an eighth chapter to Wayless Qigong, I still have to set fire to the forest. Old Man Mu poses a big enough threat to us that I cannot allow him to live any longer.”
Shangguan Ru was aware that what she was about to do was very foolish, but she still felt that she had to try. “Give me some time, I will bring Old Man Mu and the Blessed Child to you.”
Gu Shenwei did not reply immediately. She tried again, this time her tone nearly bordering on pleading, “Believe me this time, it imght be the only chance for us to get our hands on the eighth chapter.”
The other copy of the eighth chapter only existed in the mind of Supreme King and nobody could take it from him.
“Alright,” replied Gu Shenwei as he lifted his head to look at the starry night sky. It was soon going to be midnight. “Once dawn breaks, I will set the fire. You… should remember to exit the forest in time.”
Shangguan Ru nodded joyously.
Maid Lotus, who had been silent all this while, said, “I’ll go in with you.”
“No, you stay, I can do it alone,” Shangguan Ru replied. She did not want to explain her plan for fear that the Dragon King would find her immature and make fun of it.
As such, Shangguan Ru turned back into the forest. Maid Lotus looked at the Dragon King, awaiting his orders.
“Gather the troops garrisoned in the capital and prepare to set fire to the forest.”
The sole remaining Flower Soul Forest of the Land of Fragrance would not escape the fate of being burnt down as well. Old Man Mu, who was still hiding within it, was clueless about Gu Shenwei’s plan and continued interrogating Shangguan Fei. He wanted to know Shangguan Fei’s true motives.
Shangguan Fei had to pluck up a lot of courage before deciding to enter the forest, but now, every word and glance from Old Man Mu was chipping away at it. He grew increasingly frightened and knelt down again, pointing to the heavens while swearing, “Shangguan Fei had no ulterior motives against his Master Granddad. Should I have any intention to harm you, may I be punished by the heavens.”
Going against his own oaths was second nature to Old Man Mu and therefore he thought nothing of those sworn by other people. He was still somewhat skeptical of the younger man. Sensing this, Shangguan Fei quickly added, “My request to take over the Land of Fragrance is not urgent at all. Please act only when you wish to, Master Granddad. Treat it as a test of your apprentice’s loyalty.”
“You can get up,” replied Old Man Mu. He reluctantly decided to accept Shangguan Fei’s explanation on account of the seven chapters of Wayless Qigong that he held. “What’s so good about this rotten country that you need to have it?”
Shangguan Fei brightened upon hearing the question. In his eyes, the Land of Fragrance was the ideal nation that he had always dreamt of; there was nothing bad about it. “Isolated from the rest of the world, a simple local culture, no wars, citizens that are happy and contented with their lot, easy to conquer without much planning. I only wish that the Great Snow Mountain’s influence on this land could be removed as quickly as possible.”
Old Man Mu raised his right index finger to his lips, signaling for Shangguan Fei to be quiet. He grinned and said softly, “I knew it. The Dragon King was playing tricks with me, pretending to leave before sneaking back again. Hehe.” He then suddenly raised his voice and shouted with the Seven Magical Tones, “Are you the Dragon King or Mouse King? Stop being sneaky and come on out!”
A figure stepped out from the nearby cluster of flowers, but he or she was not alone. Dozens of soldiers from the Great Snow Mountain, armed with sabers and swords, appeared.
Their leader was a swordsman of about 50 years of age. He had been garrisoned in the capital under the Dragon King’s orders and had only came to check the situation upon receiving a report that there were strange sounds emanating from the old royal palace. Unfortunately, they had entered the Flower Soul Forest from a different direction and had not met the Dragon King.
The old swordsman recognized Old Man Mu and knew that he had killed many of his comrades. As such, he lifted up his heavy sword and said in a deep voice, “Prepare to die, old devil.”
“Old devil? I’m Old Man Mu. Even if you find me old, you should address me as an Old Mu! Most probably, the Dragon King sent the bunch of you to draw me out. Just with your abilities…”
The swordsman was not adept at verbal exchanges and gave a loud roar, leading the charge toward the enemy.
Five other swordsmen followed closely behind him. The others were slave soldiers and waited for a while before following suit.
Old Man Mu was stunned by the audacity of the soldiers for a moment before spitting out, “Fools.”. He did not make any move until the soldiers were 20 feet away from him. Then, he lifted his right leg and lightly kicked the back of the Blessed Child’s head.
The scene that unfolded next would forever be imprinted in Shangguan Fei’s memory.
From the gound, clusters of flowers and other sharp sounds of objects whistled through the air as countless hidden weapons flew across them. The dozens of attackers appeared as if they were being strangled by unseen ghosts as they all fell heavily to the ground heavily. Their corpses were like human-shaped water containers that shattered instantly upon hitting the ground, blood gushing out in all directions like a waterfall.
Old Man Mu was watched in delight before noticing that he was suddenly closer to the ground. It turned out that the Blessed Child, whose shoulder he had been standing on, could not take the bloody scene and had fainted.
He kicked the Blessed Child’s body once before saying, “Coward, you aren’t even fit to be a pack animal.”
“Master Granddad’s… kung fu is just divine,” commented Shangguan Fei. He felt that he had the responsibility to add ingratiation, but his voice shook and he could only speak a few words.
“Of course,” Old Man Mu replied, not taking his disciple’s ineloquence to heart. “It’s called the All Annihilating Formation, do you think it’s just for show? To set this formation up, you have to use hairs of the best quality that is also shiny and black – the longer the better – and razor-sharp pieces of steel – the smaller the better. Then you have to carefully set everything up and be ingenious with where you place the traps. Even if a deity stumbles into the formation, he or she would not be able to escape in one piece. A pity that it has been wasted on these fools. The Dragon King is indeed ruthless to send his men on a suicide mission to break into my formation. But, if he thinks that my ability is just limited to such traps, then…”
“He didn’t send them,” a voice said angrily from afar.
“Oh, the good lady is back. What about the Dragon King and Maid Lotus, where are they hiding?”
“I’m alone,” replied Shangguan Ru as she took a few steps toward Old Man Mu. She took one look at the bits of flesh and blood splattered all over the ground and averted her gaze. Her expression turned grim as she continued, “Did you really have to kill so many people?”
“I still think there are too few dead,” said Old Man Mu, his hands crossed behind his back, examining the traps that he himself had set. “There are simply too many people in this world; one can never kill all of them. Isn’t there a saying in the Golden Roc Fort which goes, “There are Six Paths of Reincarnation, Killing Never Ceases”? I’ve only killed a dozen people today, and tomorrow, twice that amount will be born. Tsk, tsk, this is such a heavy responsibility I bear.”
Shangguan Ru knew that she would only prompt the old man to come up with more twisted theories the more she spoke. She was already too late to save these brave and rash soldiers, but she could still rescue the other two people beside Old Man Mu. “I have a proposal,” she said.
Old Man Mu looked at Shangguan Ru in surprise before breaking into laughter. “You know how to negotiate now, good lady? It’s better to leave the trickery and backstabbing to the Dragon King. You’re not suited for it.”
“I’m not lying to you, nor do I wish to lie to you. Let the Blessed Child and my elder brother go. I will take their place as your hostage.”
Old Man Mu curled his lips as he replied, “You’re too late. Your elder brother has already recognized me as his master and acknowledged that I’m his grandfather. He even wishes to hand over the Wayless Qigong willingly. Isn’t that so, my good disciple and grandson?”
“Yes, Master Granddad. Don’t try to snatch what is mine, sister.”
Shangguan Fei sounded sincere. Shangguan Ru sighed lightly before raising her voice to say, “My brother knows Wayless Qigong, but what about the Dajue Book of Swordcraft?”
Old Man Mu’s smile immediately vanished. “Don’t tell me that you have it?”
Shangguan Ru nodded.