To the Supreme King, the most important and most dangerous enemy was the Central Plains, but he did not overlook the other smaller forces in the region.
The killers and machetemen of the Shangguan family, along with the merchants and banks of the Meng family in North City had been gathering support all around the Western Region, using both covert and overt means. This was for the rare occasion that their connections might come in useful one day.
The Gulping Wind Gorge was located in an important passage in Wushan. Naturally, its chief was someone the Golden Roc Fort considered necessary to associate with. Yan Er was just one of the many gifts that Golden Roc Fort had sent the chief over the past several years.
“The Supreme King sent me an old monster. What’s the meaning of this?” The fat chief had just taken another bath and changed all of his clothes. He was still indignant when talking about Yan Er.
It was not an easy task to clean up after such a large person with a mobility impairment. Gu Shenwei, Maid Lotus and Ha Chilie waited for almost two hours before they saw the fat chief reappear.
The answer was obvious, so Gu Shenwei did not reply. Ha Chilie hoped to win the fat chief over to Dragon King’s. He spoke angrily, “Of course it’s a trick. The Supreme King wants to see whether the Gulping Wind Gorge is obedient or not. Uncle, all this time, you have been living with a dangerous mole planted by the Supreme King. Luckily, the Dragon King’s guard recognized the assassin and foiled his plan. ”
Gu Shenwei reckoned that the small Gulping Wind Gorge was not worthy of the personal attention of the Supreme King, so Yan Er might not be sent by the Golden Roc Fort on purpose. Maybe she had just wanted to escape New Moon Hall. She had hidden in this remote place with the help of the Golden Roc Fort, but she never expected to meet the Managing Master Maid Lotus here.
“Supreme King’s ambition is great. I am afraid that the whole Wushan is his target, not just the Gulping Wind Gorge.” Naturally, Gu Shenwei would never defend the Supreme King but simply tried to make the conspiracy sound more remarkable.
The fat chief scowled fiercely and swore not to let the Supreme King succeed before ordering people to put on a sumptuous feast as a treat for the Dragon King. Maid Lotus did not participate, and the fat chief was sorry for her absence. He paid a great compliment to her, and envied the Dragon King for having such an incredible guard with excellent kung fu.
The banquet continued from the afternoon till midnight. Ha Chilie had drunk most of the wine on behalf of the Dragon King, and he grew sleepy and exhausted. When he returned to the guest room, he fell asleep immediately.
Gu Shenwei was also very tired, but he did not have time to rest. He sat in the room and waited. After a while, Maid Lotus pushed open the door open entered.
“How is it?” Gu Shenwei had asked Maid Lotus to walk around the village to see if there were any other Golden Roc Fort killers lurking around.
Maid Lotus shook her head, “I didn’t find anyone peculiar. If they are here, they must be hidden.”
“Do you trust the chief of the Gulping Wind Gorge?”
When judging a person’s credibility, Gu Shenwei rarely sought the opinions of others. Maid Lotus was taken by surprised and thought honestly about it, “He wants to keep the Gulping Wind Gorge independent, so he and his descendants can continue to rule this small kingdom. They would not want to be under the Golden Roc Fort. Furthermore, he seems to have no idea about the slave girl. ”
Maid Lotus knew that Dragon King was paranoid, so she did not finish her statement. Gu Shenwei was still thinking, but about something else. “I thought that with those specially-made pills, the New Moon Hall would never produce a traitor.”
Although they had united with New Moon Hall, it was still a mystery to Gu Shenwei. He had not even seen its master yet and had only dealt with a few female disciples till date.
“There is always an exception to everything,” said Maid Lotus without going into specifics. “The human heart is unpredictable. Even if we have the most effective pills, there is still no way to make everyone loyal.”
Gu Shenwei did not ask any further questions. His relationship with Maid Lotus was very delicate. Both of them had a small place in their hearts that they did not want the other to pry into.
“Everyone is loyal as long as it benefits them. Some people may undertake unprofitable tasks, but not for long,” Gu Shenwei continued Maid Lotus’s statement. “This is what irks me. The chief of the Gulping Wind Gorge promised to let us through without hesitation but did not ask for anything in return. ”
“He wishes to collect a toll fee,” Maid Lotus reminded him.
“That was the condition which I proposed, which he immediately agreed to. There was no bargaining. If it were somebody else, he would definitely ask for more.”
“Maybe he was so generous for the sake of Ha Chilie.” Maid Lotus did not intend to argue with the Dragon King. She was only trying to consider all the possible avenues for him.
“Perhaps, but his warmth towards Ha Chilie is fake. The Gulping Wind Gorge is located along an important passage. All the tribes in Wushan have to make friends with him. The Dongshan Mountain Tribe is apparently not their best friend. The fat chief has compromised too much. ”
“There is only one possibility left. He doesn’t think that his promise will be fulfilled. He is only paying lip-service.”
Gu Shenwei was pacing back and forth when he suddenly stopped. “I guess there are two possibilities. The assassins are ambushing in the village, intending to strike; or else the village is indeed not prepared. He is waiting for the helpers to arrive.”
“I choose the latter.” Maid Lotus believed what she had observed. There were no real masters in the village. The Dragon King had come so quickly. There was no way anyone could have foreseen his arrival.
“If we remain safe tonight and the fat chief does his best to keep us in tomorrow morning, then he is waiting for someone, possibly the Golden Roc Fort killers.”
For the second half of the night, they took shifts to rest and remain watching.
There were no abnormalities in the village. Even the occasional barks from the dogs seemed loud but calm, as if simply reporting that all was peaceful to their owners.
The next morning, the fat chief sent people to invite the Dragon King and Ha Chilie over. Firstly, they made some chitchat, before talking about the size of the Dragon King’s army and the toll that should be paid. The fat chief was very straightforward. He asked for one tael of silver for each person, 10 thousand taels of silver in total.
This was a very low price, even less than Gu Shenwei expected. Ha Chilie was very happy, and tried to encourage the friendship between the Dragon King and the fat chief.
Gu Shenwei took his leave politely. Now, he could pass through the Gulping Wind Gorge without impediment. However, after leaving Wushan, there was still a huge obstacle left to overcome.
The An Kingdom, which was located to the south of the Xiaoyao Lake, was officially under the Golden Roc Fort now. They would never accept the passage of the troops from the Great Snowmountain troops.
The fat chief patted on his fat chest. “Dragon King, you can stay here and wait for the army. I will take care of the An Kingdom. I have a very good relationship with the king; I know the difficulties he has. There is a saying ‘It’s better to big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond’. His Majesty was forced to surrender to the Golden Roc Fort. Now that you are here with tens of thousands of troops under your command, he has nothing to fear anymore. As long as I say the word, the whole kingdom will follow your lead.”
This was a typical show of brotherhood. The Dragon King refused his kindness, but the fat chief insisted on helping. In the end, the fat chief grew angry, “Why? You do not want to be friends with the Gulping Wind Gorge? Besides, it is good for the An Kingdom. As long as you promise to keep the An Kingdom independent, His Majesty will have to come out to welcome your army. ”
Gu Shenwei gradually caved. Finally, under the persuasion of Ha Chilie, he accepted the good intentions of the fat chief, but strongly insisted on giving some compensation to the Gulping Wind Gorge.
But the fat chief did not want money or beauties. “I liked these two things when I was young. Now that I am old, suddenly I have no interest in them anymore. I only have one request. I hope you can take my sons with you. If any of them makes any significant contributions in the future, I would be very satisfied and grateful if they are conferred a rank of nobility.”
This request was reasonable, and the Dragon King consented without hesitation. He even made an oath of alliance with the fat chief.
Friendship was like a fire. If the parties involved keep building it up, soon, everyone would be caught up with being friendly, with no need for a third part to facilitate.
The fat chief called in many children and grandchildren. He introduced them one by one to the Dragon King. He even wanted to call out his daughters, so that the Dragon King could select one of them and take her with him.
Gu Shenwei firmly refused. Among the many good intentions of the fat chief, he was only successful at this one.
Ha Chilie was touched by the friendly atmosphere and he proudly declared that the Dongshan Mountain Tribe would conquer the world with the Dragon King and maintain a friendship with the Gulping Wind Gorge forever.
Therefore, the Dragon King stayed in the village.
Maid Lotus was also kept occupied up till late afternoon, and could not discretely observe the situation.
The fat chief envied the Dragon King for having a female guard. So he made a small request, hoping that Maid Lotus could take some time to teach his female slaves a few moves, at least to make them calmer when there was an urgent situation.
The banquet started very early, with only a small break in the middle, and then continued until midnight.
There were more participants this time and many passing merchants were also invited. They were very surprised to hear that the young man in the distinguished guest seat was the Dragon King. That said, very few of them took the initiative to make friends with him. Only the fat chief and his descendants took turns toasting him enthusiastically.
The Dragon King made an exception and drank a few more bowls of wine. He had thrown up in public earlier that night, diminishing his aura somewhat. It also made the fat chief feel less embarrassed about his own vomiting incident the day before.
The banquet was still ongoing, but the Dragon King could only be helped back to his room by two female slaves.
The female slaves were ordered to serve the Dragon King all night, but Maid Lotus cleared them all out. “Dragon King can’t drink wine for a reason. When he gets drunk, he will kill. When he wakes up, he doesn’t remember anything. I am the only one who can stop him. You’ll be killed for no reason if you stay here.”
The two female slaves left in horror. Since their master was still entertaining the guests, they did not tell him about this small issue.
Gu Shenwei was indeed not good at drinking, but he was not yet drunk and unconscious. When the two female slaves left, he got up immediately.
The Gulping Wind Gorge was located to the south of Wushan, and to the north of the An Kingdom. It was hard to anticipate which direction the killers would come from.
Gu Shenwei intended to work together with Maid Lotus. Neither of them killed alone and they would feel unsafe working by themselves.
Gu Shenwei reckoned that the fat chief was more likely to invite killers from the An Kingdom.
The spies of the Golden Roc Fort in Wushan mostly hid their identities. They probably did not have much contact with the Gulping Wind Gorge. The fat chief claimed that he had a good relationship with the An Kingdom, and it probably was not all exaggeration. Therefore, it was most plausible for him to seek help from the An Kingdom.
Gu Shenwei had once asked Ha Chilie about the location of the capital the An Kingdom, and learned that the city was very close to the Gulping Wind Gorge. It would take only three days to make a round trip.
The Dragon King, Maid Lotus and Ha Chilie had arrived at the village around noon the day before. If the messenger sent out by the fat chief was fast enough, he could bring the killers over here tonight.
Gu Shenwei left the room with Maid Lotus later that night. They bolted the door from the inside and jumped out of the window before sneaking out of the village. They could still hear the merry laugher from the banquet even after a distance away.
There was only one passage through the Gulping Wind Gorge, which saved them a lot of trouble. They hid in ambush in a place which was less than three miles away from the village and waited patiently.
Nothing happened all night. Only a small group of patrolmen went through twice and talked about the luxurious banquet in the village. They were all very curious about their chief’s generosity.
Before daybreak, the urgent sounds of horseshoes came from the north. They sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet gorge.