Gu Shenwei had to admit that the little prince did suprise him.
“Some midgets can pretend to be children, and sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish them from real children. However, the little prince is not one of them,” Gu Shenwei thought to himself. He had a habit of observing everyone he came across and had scrutinized the boy’s features as well as his every action. He was sure that the little prince was just a child.
“It’s impossible for a child to have superb kung fu. Besides, the little prince seems to be pampered and lack regular physical exercise, as he dosen’t have a good physique.
“It’s really surprising that he’s so good at acting. He’s less than 10 years old but has successfully tricked me into believing that he’s timid, helpless and bewildered.”
“Besides, at that time, my whole attention was concentrated on the agitated queen, completely neglecting this boy,” thought Gu Shenwei.
In the blink of an eye, the weapons flew close to him. He did not have time to think about what had happened and immediately began to brandish his saber to fend them off.
These hidden weapons carried an awful lot of momentum, as if they had been thrown out by a kung fu master who had practiced with them for decades.
They were 5 prism-shaped darts. Four of them were blocked by Gu Shenwei, and the last one grazed his left shoulder, leaving a bleeding wound.
“Yes, I hit him!” the little prince shouted excitedly and did not look timid or nervous at all.
“Now, you’re dead.” He pointed at the Dragon King and issued an order. He looked so confident as if what he had uttered was a magical spell, which could deprive a person of life.
“Don’t get close to him,” said the queen. Evidently, she was more cautious than her son. She took a step back and carefully observed the Dragon King.
Upon seeing their reactions, Gu Shenwei knew that the hidden weapons must have been coated with some poisonous substance. Thanks to Maid Lotus, who had left him with lots of pills which could be used to counteract the effects of poison, he was still able to save himself.
He put his Five Peaks Saber down on the table and took out three small wooden boxes from the front of his coat. He quickly picked up and swallowed some pills of different colors from the wooden boxes, all the while remaining calm and collected.
If the poison on the hidden weapon was specially made, these pills would hardly work. However, no one else in Western Region was so proficient in making all kinds of strange medicine like the New Moon Hall.
Soon enough, when the numb feeling around his wound subsided and stopped spreading to the other parts of his body, he knew that he was alright.
He picked up his Five Peaks Saber again and pointed it at the little prince while saying, “Put that thing down.”
When he discovered that the prince was hiding a steel cylinder in his sleeve, he came to realize that the little prince was indeed an ordinary child and it was this steel cylinder that had fired the hidden weapons.
Upon seeing that the Dragon King was still alive and well, the little prince was so frightened that the color of his face changed. Nevertheless, he did not freak out and even looked as if he was eager to try again.
As the tip of the saber was at least a few meters away from the little prince, the boy believed that the Dragon King would never be able to stop him. However, the queen who was standing by the side, thought that the Dragon King had already gained the upper hand.
“Put it down,” the queen said to her son.
“He’s injured. This is our only chance,” the little prince retorted. He did not want to give up and even felt a little regret that he had not launched the second round of attack right after the first round. A cunning look came into his eyes, which made him look somewhat more like a deceitful adult than an ignorant child.
Nevertheless, he was still a child, and his smarts were not enough to make up for his lack of experience. Instead, it would only bring him trouble.
“As long as he’s dead, the Dragon army will fall apart,” the little prince said while lifting his arm slightly to aim at the Dragon King.
“No.” The queen wanted to stop him, but her clever son had already made up his mind.
Even a first-rate kung fu master would never dare to throw a hidden weapon at the Dragon King when he or she was clearly at a disadvantage. However, the little prince still refused to back down.
The next moment, the shining Five Peaks Saber cut across the few meters with unearthly speed, and then the little prince was transfixed by the scene in front of himself: there were only half a steel cylinder on the table and beside it laid four tender fingers. They were obviously the little prince’s fingers; only an extremely pampered child could have such spotless fair skin.
.
“Argh—” the little prince screamed painfully, jumping up and down while holding onto his severed hand.
The queen ran over to hold the prince tightly, looking absolutely desperate, and then she shifted her gaze to the Dragon King and pleaded. “Don’t kill him. We, We surrender. I’ll tell you everything.”
Upon hearing the screams, Long Fanyun led the guards into the Council Chamber and was greatly surprised to see the wound on the Dragon King’s shoulder.
Outside the chamber, the Dragon King’s guard troops had already occupied the whole palace. They also sent out some teams to take over the other importants places in the city, intending to have the entire the city under control.
“Show this parchment to the ministers outside and put up a notice to tell the truth to the public.”
“Yes,” Long Fanyun picked up the parchment and walked out. He did not know what the “truth” was, but he was certain that the ministers were going to tell him everything.
“Who gave you this thing?” Gu Shenwei asked the little prince, while showing a great interest in the boy’s weapon. He believed that no one in the Hui Kingdom was able to make such a thing and that it must have something to do with the Golden Roc Fort.
By now, the queen had already finished dressing her son’s wound. She admitted her defeat and only hoped that the Dragon King would spare their lives after she told him the truth. “A man from the Golden Roc Fort—”
Upon seeing that the Dragon King was dissatisfied with such a vague answer, she immediately added, “Shangguan Jianyi. He—”
“Don’t tell him anything. The Golden Roc Fort will take revenge on him for what he did to me. I’ll chop off his fingers and toes,” the little prince interrupted, still refusing to come to terms with his failure. As he said this, his blood kept oozing out of his wound, and the pain was so intense that he broke out in a cold sweat.
Gu Shenwei moved his saber slightly, and the little prince immediately shrank further into his mother’s arms upon seeing that. He panted heavily but did not say anything afterwards. This was the first time that he had behaved so submissively in front of others.
Upon seeing that, Gu Shenwei thought, “This little prince is a pampered and spoiled child. He’s like a wolf cub. Once he grows up, he’ll become very dangerous.”
After that, he nodded to the queen, indicating to her that he wanted her to continue.
“Shangguan Jianyi came here a month ago, when we were surrounded by bandits. After learning that the king was dead, he compelled us to follow his orders. He commanded us to try our best to keep the Dragon army away. He said that if you broke into the city, we could use this weapon to assassinate you. He also said that no one was able to escape from it.”
“Divine Spit.” The little prince, who now looked like a big baby hiding inside his mother’s arms, added without lifting up his head.
Upon hearing that, the queen gave the little prince a hard slap across his face to stop him.
The prince was stunned. He found his mother’s action even more shocking than the Dragon King’s sudden attack. He struggled to get out of her arms and went to hide under the table, while watching her balefully.
Upon seeing that, Gu Shenwei waved to the several guards left by Long Fanyun. Two guards immediately stepped out of their queue to pull the little prince out from under the table and forced him to sit on the table so that the Dragon King could keep him in sight.
The queen did not interfere upon seeing that. She tried her best to show complete obedience to the Dragon King but was unable to hide all her resentment toward him.
“Shangguan Jianyi promised to give us half of the Sha Kingdom’s land after the war. He said that he would make my son the actual ruler of all the countries around the Xiaoyao Lake. He said that at that time, the Golden Roc would take the Hui Kingdom as its ally while the other four countries could only be counted as its minions,” the queen continued.
“Is this how he won your trust?” Gu Shenwei asked in disbelief. “How come these people were that stupid to believe such airy promises. Even if the queen and the little prince are really foolish, it’s impossible for those sophisticated ministers to be deceived by such a hypocritical liar,” he thought to himself.
“I’ve no choice,” said the queen. Her voice rose slightly. “And everybody lies. I’ve discounted most of what he said. Even if he carries out only half of his promises, the throne will still belong to my son, but you, Dragon King, you…”
The queen stuttered, as she was clear what would happen to her and her son when the Dragon King, who had only promised not to kill them, failed to keep his words.
Gu Shenwei gave an order to imprison the queen and the little prince in the palace, and then he selected three ministers, who looked comparatively well-built, to fetch the crown prince of the Hui Kingdom. They immediately left for the Stone Kingdom, accompanied by 5 guards.
After that, he announced that he would let the new king decide how to punish the queen and her supporters and invited several dozen representatives from all walks of life into the palace to mourn the death of the old king. They were allowed to see the king’s remains, which had been stored in an ice house all this while. As many parts of the remains had already decayed, they could barely recognize the old king. When the representatives brought this news to the people outside the palace, they burned with indignation. Thousands of them voluntarily surrounded the palace, demanding that the vicious queen and her supporters be executed.
As such, the Dragon King’s image changed. He was no longer an invader with an evil intent, but a savior of the royal family of the Hui Kingdom. The Hui people did not hail him as a hero, but at least, they would no longer consider him an enemy.
This change was positive enough for Gu Shenwei.
Despite this change, he still lived in his tent outside the city. His guard troops were stationed in several different places both inside and outside the city and were able to quickly retreat from this place once the situation changed.
The city began to trust the Dragon King, but the young lord did not like this city very much.
He thought that what the queen had said might be true, but it was probably just part of the truth, since he could tell that the queen had displayed an obvious reluctance to tell him everything during the negotiation.
In order to find out more about the truth, he summoned and interrogated the ministers, the guards of the palace and even the maids of the queen successively. Surprisingly, these people’s statements were consistent with that of the queen. They told the Dragon King that a big shot from the Golden Roc Fort had come here a month ago and promised them that the troops outside would have never been able break into the city. This big shot had also made commitments to them in exchange for their loyalty.
Based on their description, he had assured different people of different things and each of his proposals sounded very appealing.
Gu Shenwei was surprised and thought, “Is this Shangguan Jianyi a sorcerer or something? It seemed that he uttered some spells and all of the people in the Hui Kingdom began to take his orders submissively.
“Dugu Xian once mentioned that this Shangguan Jianyi was skilled at gaining trust from others.
“If this is true, it’ll be more difficult than I’ve expected to defeat this man.”
After hearing those people’s comments on Shangguan Jianyi, Shangguan Fei, who had stayed with the Dragon King throughout the interrogation process, shook his head in and gasped in admiration, “Wow, I never know that my uncle is so formidable. How come he was defeated by my mother? Tut-tut, if I had discovered his ability earlier, I would’ve tried my best to get along with him.”
Upon hearing Shangguan Fei’s words, Gu Shenwei realized that he had neglected something. He immediately sent his men to bring all the city gate officers to him.
There were only three city gate officers. They showed more respect to the Dragon King than they did to the former king of their own country and patiently answered all the young lord’s questions.
Gu Shenwei asked them when Shangguan Jianyi had entered the city and who had come here together with him.
The three officers swore to gods that they had never seen anyone from the Golden Roc Fort pass through the city gate during recent months. “He possibly sneaked into the city,” they suggested.
Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei thought to himself, “Evidently, these low-ranking officials haven’t been bought over by Shangguan Jianyi.”
He decided to change his question and asked again, “Since the siege, have you ever seen a strange person or a person who deeply impressed you enter the city?”
Two of the officers immediately shook their heads. The other one also shook his head at first, but gradually he slowed down and said, “I’m not sure if this person can be counted as a strange person. Oh, no, this person entered the city before the siege.”
“That’s alright, tell me everything about this person.”
“Ugh, actually, this person wasn’t very strange. It was a woman but she was dressed like a man. She even carried a sword with herself, and her attitude was very cold. At that time, we thought that she was going into the palace to serve the king as a new concubine, but we didn’t hear anything like that after she entered the city. Not long after that, we were besieged. I’m sure that I haven’t seen her leave the city by now.”
“A woman who was dressed like a man…” Shangguan Fei wondered and then asked the Dragon King, “Could she be my sister?”
Gu Shenwei was pretty sure that this person was not Shangguan Ru since now she lived in the Land of Fragrance, which was far away from this place and she only used a wooden saber instead of a sword. He suddenly thought of another person and his heart skipped a beat. “What does he have to do with Shangguan Jianyi’s plot?”