Old Man Mu emerged from behind the shrubs. He had grown and in the dark night, looked more like a moving bamboo pole.
After looking at the figure for a while, Gu Shenwei realized that Old Man Mu was standing on the Blessed Child’s shoulders, his legs clamped around the youth’s head.
Old Man Mu did not weigh much and even youths would be able to handle his weight. However, the Blessed Child was visibly frightened and tried hard to keep his body from trembling, occasionally letting out a sob. With his arms at his sides, he dared not move a single muscle.
It was as though he was being possessed by a demon.
Old Man Mu was very pleased. He opened his arms as though he had wings, looking like a proud master showing off his residence to visitors, “Welcome, Dragon King! Everybody is here except for you!”
There was no sign of Shangguan Ru or Maid Lotus.
Although they were still a distance from each other, Gu Shenwei angled his body slightly forward as if readying himself to face an enemy while slowly drawing out the Dragon Head Sword. Slowly, he said, “You should know that you will be defeated. I still thought you would hide further away from me.”
“Hehe, I know Dragon King would not be provoked so easily. Actually, I am like that as well. All I want is to do as I pleases, instead of being led by the nose. Nobody can crder or trick me into doing things.”
Old Man Mu spoke in the tone of a King issuing a command. Gu Shenwei snorted softly and said, “To do as one pleases, how nice indeed. But I heard that you are scared to death of Supreme King? Trembling and quivering whenever you see him; you even volunteered to be a pawn for him!”
“Nonsense.” Old Man Mu, who was “not easily provoked” reprimanded, “It was Wildhorse who accepted Supreme King’s orders, not me. I was merely just fooling around and killed a few experts along the way.”
“I see. So you never really humbled yourself in front of Supreme King’s daughter and begged for mercy, or worked for her like a simply pack horse? Are these nonsense as well?”
A trace of anger flashed past Old Man Mu’s face, but he quickly composed himself and continued smiling, “So what if it’s true? A great man knows when to yield and when not to, I imagine Dragon King should be well aware of this? You used to be that good girl’s slave in the past, right?”
They could continue throwing insults for a long time, and neither of them was willing to take a step closer to each other. It was as if there was a sinister undercurrent between them and taking a step forward would put their lives at risk.
“Takes one to know one. Well, let’s go straight to the point, Old Man Mu.”
“Don’t you want to wait for the girls to come before I say my piece?” Old Man Mu was not in a rush. He felt very safe and even that he had gained the upper hand.
“It doesn’t matter whether they come out or not.” Gu Shenwei calmly, as if they were entirely irrelevant to him.
“Hey, you think I don’t know?” The three of you outnumber me and have already planned it all out. The two of them don’t have the guts so they are hiding nearby, waiting for you. And now, you have finally arrived.” Old Man Mu raised his voice and said, “Good girl, evil girl, hurry come out and fight for your man!”
Ten steps away from Gu Shenwei, flower shrubs rustled slightly. Shangguan Ru appeared first followed by Maid Lotus, who emerged another ten steps away.
The three of them formed a semi-circle, facing Old Man Mu.
Maid Lotus was expressionless. Shangguan Ru, unlike the other two, was unable to keep a poker face. Old Man Mu was always trying to grate on her nerves, making her anger harder and harder to contain.
“Alright, everybody is gathered here now.” As Old Man Mu clapped his hands together, the Blessed Child underneath him swayed slightly. Old Man Mu still managed to stand firmly, but he used his legs to grip the youth’s head tightly and scolded, “You idiot! You’d better stand up straight or else I will eat you alive! Look at you, all soft and tender, you will definitely taste better than beef or mutton!”
The Blessed Child struggled to stop himself from trembling, but could not stop his tears from falling.
“Why did you frighten him? He’s just a child.” Shangguan Ru questioned angrily.
Old Man Mu was very pleased despite being criticized, and he placed his left leg on top of the Blessed Child’s head, putting his hand on his knee, he said, “It’s much more interesting to torture innocent kids like him! All his emotions are shown naturally, it’s refreshing to watch. Once they grow up, they learn to pretend and hide their emotions, no matter how unwilling they are on the inside, they still pretend to be respectful and polite on the surface. Then there’s no point, isn’t it? Just look at Dragon King for example. He used to be so obedient to you when he was still Slave Huan, but now he is so good at putting on airs, don’t you find it boring?”
Old Man Mu had an entire set of corrupted theories in his heart and he could continue talking til dawn if nobody stopped him.
Gu Shenwei took a half step forward and Old Man Mu immediately silenced, looking at him with interest.
“Do you want to take revenge for that stab? I’m right here waiting for you.” Gu Shenwei gently shook the Dragon Head Sword, challenging him with contempt.
“Have all of you seen the cripple’s books yet?” Old Man Mu did not accept the challenge but answered his own question instead, “Of course, or else would you dare to come and look for me? Alas, had I known earlier that the cripple was useless, I would have just killed him right away.”
Among the high priest’s numerous books, there was one which was devoted to the Kung Fu of Yuqing Sect. It was full of praises for the Five Hole Punch, while also pointing out several possible flaws.
Maid Lotus had read through the contents but she did not think it would be helpful at that time. However, while she was in her semi-coma, she had been in a state of tenseness, ready to fight, and Old Man Mu was one among her pretend enemies. The description of Five Hole Punch in the book had alway dangled in front of her, just out of reach, until she finally realized the problem.
“Straightforward and to the point, the punch will injure all five organs.” This was the author’s praise given to the unique skill of Yuqing Sect. Maid Lotus had not thought much of it at first, but later on, she found out that this comment was completely contrary to Old Man Mu’s style.
Like a killer, Old Man Mu had always killed secretly in ambush or in sneak attacks. Even when the opponent’s Kung Fu was far weaker than him, he would never attack in the open. This did not seem like the “straightforward and to the point” punch style that was mentioned.
According to the book’s records and the high priest’s words, Yuqing Sect was an orthodox sect in the Central Plain. Their Kung Fu originated from Taoism and focused on tranquility and passiveness. It was totally different from Old Man Mu’s bloodthirstiness and his habit of removing his victim’s heart.
Maid Lotus had abided by her sect’s warning and had never practiced the Seven Rotation Skill before, but she had seen the contents regarding it in the manual and could remember the general gist of it. After waking up, she finally understood something – Old Man Mu had gone overboard in his practice of the evil arts, not only did his tall, built figure shrunken into a small, short body, his Kung Fu had also fundamentally changed.
The plain and unpretentious Five Hole Punch had turned into a ruthless unique killing skill in his hands. Yet, it was also because of this that he was unable to reach the highest level of Earth Punch, and he could not block the biggest flaw in this set of fist techniques no matter how hard he tried.
The Five Hole Punch cannot be used continuously.
Both Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus was able to relate because the same problem was also in the Death Scripture swordcraft. The two of them had used different methods to solve the issue. Gu Shenwei would use his saber most of the time and would only use a sword at crucial moments, while Maid Lotus incorporated a set of swordcraft from New Moon Hall into it. It might look like the same swordcraft, but was completely different internally.
Both the Death Scripture and Five Hole Punch would require the practitioner to use all of their might to strike a deadly blow to their enemy. It was no wonder that there would be similar loopholes.
Old Man Mu’s way of dealing with it was to only kill one person at a time, and he would move swiftly so as to not let the opponents have a chance to outnumber him in the battle.
Maid Lotus and Shangguan Ru were waiting for Dragon King. It would be possible to subdue Old Man Mu if the three of them attacked at the same time.
Old Man Mu’s regret for not killing the high priest earlier seemed to prove that Maid Lotus’ speculation was correct.
“It must be hard to do as one pleases.” Gu Shenwei merely took half a step forward, not willing to go any further. Now that this area was Old Man Mu’s territory, he would have set up traps instead of attacking them honestly. Gu Shenwei tried to look for clues but was unable to notice anything unusual.
“Of course it’s hard.” Old Man Mu deliberately ignored the sarcasm in Dragon King’s words. “Freedom is gained by taking from others. How can one do as one pleases unless he possess Kung Fu of the highest level? All this while, this old fellow’s life here, is very close to realizing it, but it’s always lacking a little something.”
Old Man Mu gestured “a little” using his thumb and forefinger, not caring whether they were able to make out his gesture in the dark at night. “Wayless Qigong, Wayless Qigong. It’s because of this that this old man here cannot truly do what he wants.”
Finally, Old Man Mu revealed his true intention. Gu Shenwei was relieved. Just as he had expected, the manual that the high priest and the Blessed Child had memorized as a unique skill was only part of the Wayless Qigong. Moreover, the first chapter was definitely missing, which explained why they were unable to practice it for over hundreds of years.
Old Man Mu had not gotten rid of Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus, nor had he killed them. Instead, he had waited for Dragon King to arrive so that he could negotiate.
“So, you see. I have a proposal.” Old Man Mu placed his left foot back on the Blessed Child’s shoulder, away from his head. Speaking like one of the peddlers in South City, his voice was full of enthusiasm, “The eighth chapter of the Wayless Qigong is right under my feet. But the previous seven chapters are memorized in your heads. Let’s cooperate and fulfill each other’s wishes, how about that?”
Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus did not say anything. Before Dragon King arrived, Old Man Mu had already expressed the same intention. The two of them had not wanted to expose themselves at that time so they had kept quiet. Now that Dragon King was here, they would go along with his decision.
Gu Shenwei took a step back. The grip on his sword loosened, and he let out a sneer.
“Young man, don’t reject my offer so quickly..” Old Man Mu still believed that he had the upper hand, so he continued, “Think about it carefully, sooner or later you will need to face Supreme King if you want to compete with Golden Roc Fort. You still have a long way to go. You might not be his opponent even if you master the Dajue Book of Swordcraft. But with Chapter Eight, you can oust him!”
Of course, Gu Shenwei would want Chapter Eight, but he did not want to cooperate with Old Man Mu. Once he gathered all eight chapters of the Wayless Qigong, this double-crossing devil would definitely attack the three of them.
“Hegemony of the Western Region depends on strategy and military strength. You are too childish, Old Man Mu.”
“I’m childish? Stop trying to play hard to get, you think this old fellow here can’t see through it?” Old Man Mu raised his head and looked around, “Let’s be direct here, shall we? The three of you can work together with me; all four of us will benefit from it. But I won’t force you either, I won’t reject if any of you wants to work with me alone. And I will definitely help if you want to get rid of the other two as well.”
Old Man Mu was openly sowing discord and did not expect this plan to work. He only wanted to express how determined he was. He never thought that someone would really agree to it.
“What if one person wants to get rid of the other three? Will you help as well?”
Shangguan Fei walked out from the flower shrubs behind Old Man Mu, vigilantly keeping a distance from Dragon King and the other two. Although his expression was shadowed in the dark night, his voice was undeniably full of excitement.