Gu Shenwei and Han Fen sneaked into the ancestral shrine but found no trap there—no killers were lying in ambush and there was no hidden passage or secret chamber.
The Dragon King did not find Chu Nanping, Hu Shining or any of his apprentices either.
Twenty soldiers from the Dragon army were standing watch at the main entrance of the shrine and patrolling in shifts. The priests and handymen inside the shrine were asleep and the entire place was very quiet.
Gu Shenwei and Han Fen circled around the place and searched it twice while avoiding the soldiers, but they found nothing suspicious about this place.
Gu Shenwei suddenly realized something. “I nearly fell into Shangguan Yun’s trap. He deliberately sent the three apprentices out to irritate me. He wants to spur me into sending my troops to raid the shrine, as this would definitely stir up resentment among the people of the Hui Kingdom.
“Not only did Shangguan Yun deceive me, he also deluded Maid Lotus into believing that there was a trap inside the ancestral shrine. She even ordered Han Fen to keep watch on it.
“He must’ve spotted Han Fen a long time ago and asked his subordinates to sneak in an out of the shrine from time to time to make her believe that this place was indeed very suspicious.
“As for Han Fen, she might’ve never thought of this possibility. Perhaps she even doesn’t care much about whether there’s a trap inside the shrine. She’s just performing a task given by her Managing Master, which is to remind me that this place is dangerous and to protect and assist me after we meet.
“Shangguan Yun must’ve assumed that once I knew that he was hiding inside the ancestral shrine, I would send my troops to demolish the building. He never expected that I would take the risk of breaking into the shrine on my own. It turns out that I’ve made a wise decision tonight.
“When it comes to scheming, everyone seems to have different knacks. As for Shangguan Yun’s style, I need to spend some time figuring it out,” thought Gu Shenwei.
Although he always believed that human nature was evil, he still could not help but feel surprised at Shangguan Yun’s change.
He clearly remembered the night when he had first met with that man. At that time, Shangguan Yun had been locked up in the dungeon and looked at the moon through the window with a smile on his face, behaving like a poet. He was nothing like his father except for their uncanny resemblance. He cared about his little sister and despised merciless killers. He was angry and sad about the misfortunes of his friend and his lover. He even tried to assassinate his ruthless father.
Back then, Gu Shenwei had often thought that Shangguan Ru would have grown up like her Third Brother, since the values they shared were so irreconcilable with the life in the Golden Roc Fort. He had never expected Shangguan Yun to suddenly become a totally different person. Shangguan Yun had once been quite a rebel of his family. He had sworn that he would have never unsheathed his saber, but now he suddenly became the most trusted son of the Supreme King.
“Now, Shangguan Yun is the King of Xiaowan. Why did he even bother to take the risk of coming here personally? Besides, he has spent two months setting up such an intricate trap. Did he just want me to lose the support of the Hui nation?” Gu Shenwei wondered.
Once again he felt confused.
Han Fen turned out to be a good partner except for one thing—she was too talkative. The moment she noticed that the Dragon King had let his guard down, she automatically declared that her task had ended and approached him saying, “This shrine is not so spacious as it appears to be on the outside. It would be better if we came here during the day.”
If Gu Shenwei had come here with Maid Lotus, he would have discussed the current situation with her. Unfortunately, now he only had Han Fen. It would cost him a lot of time to clarify the situation for her, let alone seeking advice from her.
“Come with me,” Gu Shenwei said. He had already decided what to do next.
Han Fen seemed to be able to switch freely between being a crazy woman and professional killer. The moment she heard the Dragon King’s command, she immediately became a quiet killer and retreated into the shadows several steps away, faithfully guarding the blind sides of the Dragon King.
During his previous visits to the royal palace, Gu Shenwei had always entered through the main entrance, but this time, he and Han Fen sneaked in.
When they broke into the queen’s bedchamber, she was sleeping together with the little prince, who was almost 10 years old. The boy was experiencing a nightmare and would scream occassionally.
The queen slept lightly, and every time her son screamed, she would subconsciously pat him a few times to comfort him.
Suddenly, the little prince sat up and lifted up his head to look at the blurry figure in front of the bed. He then drifted back into sleep for a while before his reason told him that what he had just seen was not a dream.
He nudged his mother awake.
The moment the queen opened her eyes, she was filled with uncontrollable rage. She was angry that the Dragon King humiliated her increasingly strongly each time, as if she were just a lowly slave woman in the palace.
“You’re so unworthy of your title, Dragon King,” said the queen grumpily. She had decided to give in to the Dragon King but now, as anger rose in her, she totally forgot about the decision she had made during the day. “You’re even unworthy of being called a man. Go out, please, if you still have some respect for the late king of the Hui nation.”
“Respect?” Gu Shenwei retorted in a sarcastic tone. He had wasted a lot of time in this country because this woman had provided him with a lot of distorted information. “When you hooked up with him, your husband was still alive, wasn’t he?”
“What’re you talking about?” the queen sat up abruptly and shouted. Although she was dressed in a proper gown, she still used her blanket to cover herself up.
“Who killed the previous king, you or him?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The queen had softened her voice this time, but she had not yet given up resisting.
“Every time you mentioned the name Shangguan Jianyi, you looked somewhat uneasy. I guess that’s because you have a special feeling for this man and feel quite unnatural to use another man’s name to refer to him,” said Gu Shenwei, while thinking, “Shangguan Yun probably used his uncle’s name to introduce himself during his talks with my apprentices and the ministers of the Hui Kingdom, and only the queen knew his real name.”
Gu Shenwei had felt that something was not quite right about the queen since the very beginning, but had never thought of such a possibility. He just did not have a sharp nose for this kind of thing like Xu Yanwei did. If Xu Yanwei had been here, she would have figured out the thing between the queen and the mysterious man a long time ago.
“So you know everything?” asked the queen, vigilantly.
“Almost everything. Now, tell me, how did the previous king die?” asked Gu Shenwei. In fact, he did not care much about the death of the old king. He just wanted to use this as a conversation starter to get the queen to speak out the truth.
“It’s none of my business. I didn’t kill him,” said the queen, hastily. By her reaction, Gu Shenwei could tell that the old king must have been murdered.
“So why did he kill the king?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“The king was senile and reacted nonchalantly to his proposal, and… he did this for me, so you can also put the blame on me. I hate that old fool’s guts. I’m happy that he’s dead,” the queen blurted out.
“Mother,” the little prince said quietly. He was pampered but also smart. More importantly, he still had some feelings for his own father and could hardly accept his mother’s attitude toward the late king.
“Cover up your ears,” The queen ordered coldly.
Just like before, the little prince behaved very obediently upon hearing that order. He pressed his hands onto his ears and closed his eyes. He knew when to behave himself.
“He’s the only savior of the Hui Kingdom,” said the queen. Upon learning that the Dragon King had already known everything, she began to speak truthfully to him. “You’re no match for him. No one in this world is. You want to kill me, don’t you. Go ahead and kill me now, but do yourself a favor, Dragon King. Spend more time arranging a way out for yourself.”
Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei could not help but exclaim in his heart, “Wow, Shangguan Yun is capable of making all his followers stay faithful to him, such as the queen, his friend, Madman Wu in Hope Alley and even my apprentices who have known him for just two months. Even Tie Hanfeng, my late Master Shifu, who was cynical toward almost everything in the world, always harbored a deep respect toward this Third Young Master.”
“Where’s he?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“Shangguan Yun has disappeared for two months and must’ve returned to the capital of the Hui Kingdom by now. Even though he hasn’s brought back a large army, he won’t easily give up his plan against me,” thought Gu Shenwei.
The queen remained silent for a long time, seemingly determined not to betray her lover. “He,” she intoned, elongating the word, “is right here.”
Before she finished her sentence, two killers popped out; one swooshed down from the ceiling, and the other came out from under her bed. They coordinated their actions very well with each other and came at the Dragon King almost at the same time.
They were not young apprentices but professional Golden Roc killers.
Gu Shenwei drew out his Five Peaks Saber and struck it at the killer from the ceiling.
No matter how well coordinated their were, the killer who came out from under the bed would inevitably move slower than the one from the ceiling. As such, Gu Shenwei focused on fighting against the latter and left the former to his partner.
Han Fen proved her skill and loyalty. When she was serious, she was fit to replace the position of Maid Lotus. Immediately after the Dragon King struck with his sword, she slipped into the room through a crack between a door and its frame, attacking the other killer with her claws.
Both of the two pairs were busily engaged in fighting, but none of them made a sound.
The queen got butterflies in her stomach as she watched them fighting. The little prince widened his eyes, his cheeks flushed with excitement, but before he could start to cheer the Golden Roc killers on, one of them had already been defeated by the Dragon King.
After exchanging four or five moves with the Dragon King, he retreated and then quickly launched the second round of attack. However, he only ended up brushing past the Dragon King. The first two steps he took looked alright, but after that he was staggering until he bumped into a wall and collapsed to the ground.
By that time, Han Fen had won her fight, too, but the outcome of this fight was not that clear to outsiders.
At first glance, Han Fen seemed to be at a disadvantage, since her opponent was brandishing his saber with an increasing speed. Nevertheless, after a while, even the queen who did not know any kung fu discovered that the killer was just struggling to protect himself. He was unable to see the target at all.
The New Moon Hall disciples fought and killed their opponents in a way which was very different from that of all the other sects. Gu Shenwei knew some of their tricks, but the queen and the little prince could only perceive Han Fen’s kung fu techniques as some evil enchantment.
“Don’t get close to us,” the queen shouted.
“It seems that he won’t come here to save you. Am I right?” Gu Shenwei stepped forward and placed the tip of his saber on the edge of the queen’s bed.
“You won’t die well.” The queen issued a curse and then activated a device, trying to make her prophecy come true.
The next moment, the floor shook violently as if it were going to be turn upside down.
Gu Shenwei and Han Fen glanced around, searching for the enemy everywhere, but found no one.
Their feet were still on the ground, but they felt that they were falling. Gu Shenwei had seen many secret chambers which could sink into the ground, but none of them were this large. The entire room, including the walls and the ceiling, now had sunk into the ground. The room still remained the same except for one thing— its door and windows were all blocked up.
As the room began to fall, the little prince threw himself into his mother’s arms and screamed with fear, but the queen smiled. Although now she was trapped together with the Dragon King, she was confident that her lover would come to her rescue and kill the Dragon King very soon.
The queen’s smiling face quickly disappeared into the complete darkness, and after a while, the room stopped falling,
Everyone inside the room remained silent except the screaming little prince.
When the little prince finally quieted down, a relaxed voice sounded from outside. “Slave Huan, it’s been a while.”
“I still can’t see you inside this dark room,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Take your time. I’ll light up the room for us very soon.”
The next moment, when a small oil lamp on the wall was lit, Gu Shenwei discovered that there was no one in front of the light.
Beside the light, there was a small window. It was opened slowly, revealing a smiling face. “It was you who used to see me behind bars. Now, our positions have switched.”
Shangguan Yun’s face had not changed at all.