There were only three bodies left in the tent: Ha Chilie, who knelt eerily, as stiff as a stone, Xia Shouxiong, whose eyes were gouged out in pools of blood, and the soldier who came to deliver food as per the schedule.
The prisoner had disappeared.
Shangguan Yun looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief and frowned, which was very uncharacteristic for him.
The remaining two Xia brothers of the Qingcheng Sect stood at his side, eyes glowering, fingers rattling. “We must get revenge! We must find the bitch and avenge our brother, even if the whole Qingcheng Sect has to die,” they exclaimed.
Shangguan Yun turned to the two brothers. He raised his eyebrows, and his tone was not as casual as usual as he said, “Go get your revenge. You’d better hurry up. I told her all of our plans. You don’t want me to look like a fool, do you?”
The Xia brothers were taken aback, blushed, immediately bowed down to obey, and were ready to leave for the hunt.
It seemed that Maid Lotus had first killed two people and then waited. When the soldier had come in to deliver food, she ambushed him and put on his clothes to get out of the barracks. No matter how she escaped, her target was the 3,000 soldiers that Wu Zongheng had taken away.
“Wait,” Shangguan Yun said, stopping the two brothers and asked, “How are you going to get revenge?”
“Kill the woman! “the eldest brother said ruthlessly.
“Cut her into pieces!” the second brother added, gritting his teeth.
“Good idea, but before you get your wish, can you bring her to me alive first?” Shangguan Yun said. It sounded like a request, but was actually an unquestionable command.
Xia Yingxiong and Xia Wenxiong were taken aback again. “Sir…” they said in unison.
“I have placed a high stake on her. I can’t afford to lose my money. At least wait until I have talked with the Master of Xiaoyue Hall. Then Maid Lotus will be at your disposal,” said Shangguan Yun.
The two brothers looked at each other, then reluctantly replied, “Yes, Sir, we will bring her to you alive.”
Shangguan Yun watched the two brothers as they left the tent, and shook his head slightly while saying to himself, “Why do I have all these fools around me? The two of them thought they were a match against Maid Lotus? And they think that Maid Lotus is most concerned about the army?”
He looked at the bodies again with a frown and left.
After a while, several soldiers were ordered to dispose of the bodies. They were even unhappier than Shangguan Yun had been when they saw the bodies. One body was lying in a pool of blood, while another was kneeling in a weird way. Only the third body looked normal.
Even corpses can be divided into good ones and bad ones. Everyone rushed to the good corpse of the soldier.
Two short soldiers were the fastest to get to the soldier’s body. One of them comforted the others after they grabbed the body. “You are all carrying big bosses. Maybe you will get gratuities for that.”
The treatment of the three dead bodies was different. Ha Chilie would be delivered to the tribe soldiers in the camp. Xia Shouxiong would be properly preserved until his two brothers returned. Only the soldier’s body would be carried directly to the outside of the camp and buried in a pit.
Two days passed. Nobody cared about the smell of the dead bodies. But when the tent was occupied by soldiers, and a fourth corpse was discovered hidden under the bunk. It was too late by then, though. The Xia brothers had already set out, not knowing their target was actually behind them.
Shangguan Yun smiled and shook his head. It was useless to count on the Xia brothers. The core of the plan was to wait for the Dragon King to walk into the trap. As long as the Dragon King was removed from power, Shangguan Yun would not need to pay anything, and everyone — including Maid Lotus — would rush to support him.
The dead body of the soldier was actually played by Maid Lotus. She knew that holding her breath to play dead would have been seen through by top masters, so she had taken a pill to appear dead for a short period of time.
She had hidden some pills well from the Xia brothers, who had searched her roughly and took away most of the pills when she was captured.
She was sure that no one would pay attention to what a soldier delivering meals looked like. Besides, she had helpers.
Maid Lotus woke up slowly and heard two people talking.
“How did you know Maid Lotus would feign death?” one of them said.
“Of course I knew. All disciples of the New Moon Hall learn this tactic. ‘When being surrounded by enemies, hiding amongst bodies is the safest way to escape’.Nobody taught you that?” said the second voice.
“No. She didn’t teach me that.” Han Xuan said with palpable admiration. She was mentioning the mysterious woman who had taught her Kung Fu.
The “corpse” sat up. “Managing Master!” Han Fen happily called the “corpse”, who had been disguised as a man. The appearance of Maid Lotus had changed greatly, but her sparkling eyes were the same as usual.
Han Xuan had disguised herself, too. But at that moment, she removed the disguise from her face and returned to her original appearance. She looked at Maid Lotus coldly and asked her, “Why did my master die so awfully? Did you kill him?”
“Yeah,” Maid Lotus answered simply, feeling a little weak. After taking Han Fen’s antidote, she had woken up sooner than expected. Now she needed a little more time to recover.
Han Xuan suddenly waved her hands and said indifferently, “Bad men deserve to die. I just do not know how to explain it to my Lady.”
“That’s easy. Find her a better man.” Han Fen gave her a simple answer.
“It is not that simple.” Han Xuan contemplated. However, that was not her biggest concern at the moment. “How did you know that the two of us would come to carry away the body?” she turned to Maid Lotus and asked.
Maid Lotus felt much better. She stood up and pointed to Han Fen, saying, “I knew she would, but I didn’t expect you to come, too.”
Han Xuan looked doubtfully between the two, vaguely realizing she had been fooled.
Han Fen was embarrassed. She said, “I didn’t mean to fool you. The Managing Master asked me to sneak back to the barracks. I couldn’t tell you in advance.”
Han Xuan kept silent with anger. When she persuaded Han Fen to make the move, Han Fen pretended to be unwilling. It turned out they had planned this beforehand.
“She trusts you, otherwise she wouldn’t have let you come here with her.” Maid Lotus said patiently, knowing Han Xuan had close ties with her sect.
“I led her here.” Han Xuan corrected, feeling better.
Maid Lotus originally arranged one disciple of the New Moon Hall to stay with her. However, she still felt insecure, and so she ordered Han Xuan to return secretly. At that time, she did not have a clear target of suspicion. She only meant to make the defense measures tighter.
She had learned a lesson early in her life that a helper hiding in the dark was ten times more useful than the one standing in the light. She had been following this principle all her life.
This principle was proven to be true yet again. The disciple whom Maid Lotus had originally chosen died protecting her during the attack.
Han Fen claimed that she knew the Managing Master would be disguised as a corpse. Actually she exaggerated a little. The fact was that she and Han Xuan were in the barracks for more than half a day, and were planning to rescue Maid Lotus at nightfall. She did not realize Maid Lotus’s plan until she heard that the captive had killed three people and fled.
Han Fen was not clever enough to make such a speculation. Her reaction was just her instinct based on the long-term training of her sect.
“Where are we going next?” Han Xuan asked the Managing Master about her plan, unaware of the rules of the New Moon Hall.
“We are going to find the Dragon King. You can go back to your Lady,” answered Maid Lotus.
Han Xuan hesitated. She did miss her Lady, but she also wanted to go on adventures with the disciples of the New Moon Hall. Finally, she shook her head hard and said, “Well, the Lady has military protection. You two are too rash. Someone must take care of you. I’ll go with you.”
Maid Lotus was amused by the way Han Xuan accused others of being reckless. Still, she was hoping that Han Xuan would stay with them. Both she and Han Fen were not familiar with Wushan, so they needed a guide.
Maid Lotus did not know that Gu Shenwei had entered the mountain secretly. They traveled day and night unceasingly, hoping to meet him at Gulping Wind Gorge to tell him about Shangguan Yun’s plot.
Every once in a while, they would hear information from places that were habitated. They learned that the Dragon Army had lost the first battle and were retreating from the second battle. They also heard that the Dragon Army was making a great effort to retain the third line of defense, and the final decisive battle was just around the corner.
Then news came that the Dragon King had left the army and gone away alone. Although the rumors were that the Dragon King was staying in the capital of the An Kingdom, Maid Lotus knew for sure that he had really entered the mountain.
The Dragon King had walked into the trap, just as Shangguan Yun had planned.
Maid Lotus, with her party, ran into a group of three people in a small village.
Both groups were disguised. Without special attention, they would not recognize each other, even if they walked shoulder to shoulder. However, Shangguan Fei revealed himself by making an involuntary noise.
Shangguan Fei, Long Fanyun and Chu Nanping had passed Gulping Wind Gorge less than two days prior. Ever since they had entered the mountain, Shangguan Fei had been highly alert, constantly reminding the other two to keep low profiles and not reveal themselves. He warned, “My third brother, Shangguan Yun, is no ordinary person. He is sinister, vicious and ruthless. If he finds out, he will not spare us, even though I am his biological brother.”
It was Shangguan Fei who exposed his identity after warning the others to be quiet.
They were sitting in the tea shed when they saw three ordinary-looking tribal women coming in. Shangguan Fei felt something was wrong and looked them over a few more times. All of a sudden, he realized that one of them looked like Maid Lotus, and he couldn’t help crying out loud.
He had suffered a lot when Maid Lotus forced him to practice skills. Like a mouse meeting a cat, he sensed danger when she was close.
Maid Lotus came into the tea shed to get some water and ask for information.
The hostility was immediately eliminated after they recognized each other. Maid Lotus and Long Fanyun whispered almost at the same time, “Where is he?”
They said “he” instead of “the Dragon King”, because there were other guests in the tea shed.
Although knowing that Maid Lotus would not force him to practice the skills at the moment, Shangguan Fei still hid behind Long Fanyun and said, with his head poking out, “He must have entered the mountain to look for the mole. As long as we can find the mole, we can find the Dragon King. However, the mole may have been fabricated by Shangguan Yun, but as long as the Dragon King believes it, the mole is…”
A look from Maid Lotus worked better than a sword drawn by Long Fanyun. Shangguan Fei immediately shut up and felt once again that it was a good thing to have a man with wide shoulders and a thick back standing in front of him.
Of everyone there, only Chu Nanping had met with the Dragon King recently, but he could not provide any clues as to his whereabouts.
“We should go to Tuo Nengya’s camp to look for him first,” Long Fanyun said, looking somber when mentioning Tuo Nengya. The news of the assassination of the old macheteman had been widely spread. All of the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain had great respect for him. When they heard about his death, they were sad.
Maid Lotus shook her head. Most people would guess that the Dragon King had entered the mountain to take over the army. However, she did not believe that the Dragon King would be fooled so easily.
Where the hell was the Dragon King?
Shangguan Yun had the same question. The trap was set, but the prey was nowhere to be found. He doubted his plan for the first time.