Shangguan Yun had nearly all the typical facial features of the Shangguan family. He had a long thin face and sunken eyes, and his facial skin tone was slightly dark. In Gu Shenwei’s eyes, such a face was only suitable for an expression of indifference or cruelty, and a charming smile should never appear on it.
Nevertheless, in the queen’s eyes, this was the most handsome face in the entire world, and the innocent smile did not look incongruous with the face in the least bit.
“Kill him now,” shouted the queen while sliding backward and further into her bed.
“Chop off his hands and feet first,” added the little prince, while pointing one of his remaining fingers at the Dragon King. With Shangguan Yun backing him up, he looked much more confident than before.
“Don’t rush, let’s take our time,” Shangguan Yun replied, his eyes still fixed upon the Dragon King. When he had first met the Dragon King several years ago, who had been Slave Huan at that time, he had not shown so much interest in this young man.
“Don’t rush? He’s a cruel beast and will kill me and my son at any time,” said the queen, anxiously. Being trapped in the same room with the Dragon King, she could not feel at ease.
“Don’t worry, my beauty. Now you’re his protective talisman, he won’t harm you guys. Isn’t that right, Dragon King?”
Shangguan Yun particularly emphasized the words “Dragon King” but did not sound sycophantic or sarcastic. He talked as if he was greeting an old friend. Even if this friend had just gotten a rise in his status, he still had the right to sweet talk him.
“I can’t make such a promise, and maybe I’ll chop off a few more fingers.” Gu Shenwei said while his saber was only a few meters away from the queen and the little prince.
Stung by the harshness of the Dragon King’s words, the little prince burrowed into his quilt.
“Well, that’s alright. Just a few fingers. No one will die from that,” Shangguan Yun said, pretending not to understand the irony.
“What’re you talking about?” the queen got a little pissed off and said crossly. All this while, she had been putting herself in danger and waiting for Shangguan Yun with pious gratitude. Beyond her expectations, when he finally showed up, he did not show much concern about her. “What do you even bother talking with him? Didn’t you say that you could kill him with just one move?” asked the queen.
“Oh, my beauty is impatient. She’s always short-tempered,” Shangguan Yun said unhurriedly and even a little bit sarcastically.
Despite that, he still pushed the door open and came into the room.
The queen’s bedchamber was well designed. It consisted of two parts, and when the back part of the chamber sunk into the ground, the front part would remain intact and in its original position. All the doors and windows of the back part would be blocked up when it was below the surface of the floor, but once it fell into its position, a hidden door of the room could be opened and serve as the only entrance to the room.
When Shangguan Yun was only halfway through the door, Han Fen, who had been hiding behind the Dragon King all this while, launched a surprise attack on him. She moved so fast, and even the flame of the small oil lamp on the wall flickered because of the sudden airflow. Han Fen kept rapidly swishing her hands, and at the same time, some light-colored powder began drifting out of her sleeves, mouth and hair.
However, it was herself who collapsed to the ground the next moment.
Shangguan Yun continued to walk into the room, while slightly lifting up his right hand to block the powder. He used his Internal Strength to scatter most of it away while the rest drifted into Han Fen’s nostrils.
“I hope that she’ll be fine. Why do beautiful women always act so hastily,” said Shangguan Yun.
He did not close the door behind him, so Gu Shenwei could see a long narrow passage outside. He was not worried about Han Fen and was pretty sure that she was just lying unconscious at the door for now. He was certain that as a disciple of the New Moon Hall, she was already immune to all the toxins produced by her own sect, even if it was a lethal toxin for common people.
The queen was excited to see her lover knock the evil woman down with just a movement of his hand, although she could not figure out how he managed to do that.
“Shangguan Yun has learned many different types of kung fu. He practiced saber skills in the Golden Roc Fort during his childhood. When he turned 13, he swore not to draw out his saber again and went traveling in jianghu. He learned many other kung fu skills during those few years. When he returned to Jade City and joined the Joy Pavilion, his kung fu levels were further improved.
“However, only an exceptionally strong Internal Strength could enable him to block the power with just one movement of his hand. That means he has learned Wayless Qigong,” Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
Instead of taking the chance to launch a sneak attack on Shangguan Yun, he said, “Congratulations.”
In the Golden Roc Fort, the Supreme King had exclusive use of Wayless Qigong. Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Fei had once stolen the Wayless Book from the Six Kill Temple and stealthily practiced it. Shangguan Yun had always known the whereabouts of the book and even offered Shangguan Ru this information, but he had never been allowed to practice it. Now, he was able to use it adeptly, which meant that his father had already permitted him to practice it.
“It’s not that great. It’s nothing more than another shackle on me,” said Shangguan Yun.
He did not like Wayless Qigong for a reason. To practice this Qigong, he had to kill people and make himself a lot of enemies. In the meantime, he had to face the inevitable consequence of practicing it, which was the self-destruction process. During such a period of vulnerability, he would be unable to protect himself from his enemies.
Gu Shenwei seemed to be infected by Shangguan Yun’s relaxed attitude. He inserted his Five Peaks Saber back into its sheath and stopped being so tense.
Upon seeing that these two men, who had a dozen years’ difference in their ages, suddenly gave up confrontation, the queen felt bewildered. She put on airs and said, “Hey, this is my bedroom.” Now, she looked as arrogant as she had appeared when she had first met with the Dragon King.
“Please give us more time, Beautiful. We’ll be done very soon,” said Shangguan Yun.
He always called the queen “Beautiful” and made no attempt to conceal his affection toward her, so much so that even Gu Shenwei started feeling very uncomfortable and experienced goosebumps from time to time. However, the queen clearly enjoyed it very much. “Be quick. I don’t want any other men to see me like this,” said the queen.
Shangguan Yun smilingly nodded and said, “I think the Dragon King will never forget about this moment.”
It’s hard to tell whether he was complimenting or mocking her. The queen was stunned at first and then quickly chose to perceive it as a nice compliment with a nice relaxed smile on her face.
Shangguan Yun managed to pay equal attention to all the people present, a deep boredom hidden behind his cordial attitude. Even in the face of a dangerous enemy, the Dragon King, he still did not appear particularly cautious.
“You’re so talkative. It’s not the style of Golden Roc killers,” said Gu Shenwei. Golden Roc killers never wasted their time chatting with their targets. For them, killing was just a task to complete and nothing more.
“So, now you can believe that I’m not planning to kill anyone here,” Shangguan Yun said and spread out his arms as a way of showing that he had no hostility toward the Dragon King.
“Shangguan, you’ve promised,” interrupted the queen, anxiously. She got confused, as it was Shangguan Yun who had asked her to fool the Dragon King into this chamber. Shangguan Yun had told her that the Dragon King was a coward, who seldom separated himself from his troops, since this coward needed his army’s protection. He had also told her that only in this chamber could they kill the Dragon King without causing any trouble to her country.
“You look more attractive when you get anxious, beautiful. However, you’ll lose your charm when you ramble on too much,” Shangguan Yun said softly, with a slight twinge of reproach.
“What’re you saying?” The queen was furious and continued, “I’ve given you the entire Hui Kingdom and even myself…”
Shangguan Yun came to her bed and gently cradled her head in his arms in front of the Dragon King, while saying, “I know, so I give you my heart, beautiful. Pleasure is transitory like a sweet dream, and once we wake up from the dream, we had to face the harsh reality. Well, let’s stay in the dream forever.”
With these words, he cupped her head with both hands and slowly put it back on the her pillow. The queen lay peacefully on her bed and looked as if she were convinced by her lover and fast asleep now.
The little prince was still hiding under the quilt and oblivious to the fact that his mother was already dead.
“Now, no one can interrupt our conversations,” Shangguan Yun said smilingly and in a somewhat apologetic tone.
At this moment, Gu Shenwei realized why both Shangguan Fa and Zhang Ji favored Shangguan Yun and waited so many years for him to grow mature enough to be the successor to the Supreme King. At the same time, he also had a rough idea of what Shangguan Yun was going to say to him.
“Well, let’s talk,” said Gu Shenwei.
“I owe you a favor,” said Shangguan Yun.
“I was not just helping you at that time. I had my own purpose and I’ve achieved what I wanted, so you don’t owe me anything.”
Several years ago, Gu Shenwei had promised to help Parro Chen and Madman Wu flee from Jade City in exchange for Shangguan Yun telling Shangguan Ru the whereabouts of the Wayless Book. He had kept his promise to help Parro Chen and Madman Wu, although they got assassinated in the end.
For Shangguan Yun, Parro Chen was the love of his life and Madman Wu his best friend. Their death had severed all his emotional connection with the world, and since then he began to think about returning to the Golden Roc Fort and becoming a typical man of the Shangguan family, who was cruel and merciless.
Reality was harsh and ugly, but he had to face it.
“Well, I still owe you a favor and I have to repay it,” said Shangguan Yun.
“Alright,” said Gu Shenwei.
Shangguan Yun remained silent for a while and then shook his head, while saying, “I thought that I would have a chance to repay it today, but now I know that I was too optimistic. Where’s your assistant? Ask him or her to walk out of the shadows. Let’s talk together.”
“The Dragon King remains calm and collected all the time even when he’s trapped underground. He must’ve prepared for such a situation beforehand,” thought Shangguan Yun.
“Go ahead. We’re listening,” replied Gu Shenwei.
“Come on, Dragon King. Don’t get so defensive. Alright, alright, l’ll get straight to the point. The Golden Roc Fort hopes to make peace with you. We want to work together with you and share power and land with you in Western Region.”
Although he had already predicted this, Gu Shenwei still could not help but snort upon hearing Shangguan Yun’s words. He could serve either the Central Plain or Norland for the benefits or make peace with any force in Western Region except the Golden Roc Fort.
He believed that both the Supreme King and Shangguan Yun knew why this was impossible.
However, Shangguan Yun seemed to be very serious about this proposal and continued to persuade the Dragon King, “You want to avenge your father’s death, but Dragon King, the Golden Roc Fort was just hired to complete this task. We did this for the money not for some personal grudge against your father Yang Zheng. ”
Without interference from the queen, Shangguan Yun gradually sounded differently. Now, he was calm and sincere and speaking with respect for the Dragon King, treating him as an equal.
“The Golden Roc Fort will try all possible means to accomplish its assassination tasks, but we also have to stick to some principles. We’re running a business and thus have to keep our credibility. We never divulge any personal information about our clients, even when they become our enemies,” said Shangguan Yun.
Gu Shenwei was also clear about this fact. The Golden Roc Fort had stuck to this principle for so many years that no one would worry about their personal information being divulged to any third party when they hired the fort for assassination tasks. The Golden Roc Fort did not even need to emphasize this principle of service in front of its clients now.
“We’ve stuck to this principle for more than 100 years, but now, we can make an exception for you, Dragon King. The Supreme King can tell you who hired us to wipe out your entire family, and all you need to do is to agree to my proposal,” said Shangguan Yun.
Gu Shenwei would have probably taken this proposal into consideration, if he had never practiced the hatred-enhancing Death Scripture or had the three-year humiliating experience serving the Golden Roc Fort as a slave boy. Even now, this proposal was quite appealing to him. After all, what he wanted was the dominance over Western Region. It was acceptable for him to put his revenge plan aside and work together with his enemy temporarily.
Fang Wenshi once had such a strategy but never gotten a chance to implement it.
“Shangguan Yun is indeed skilled at winning the trust of others and discovering the needs of others. He’s always able to find out what they care most about.
“If Fang Wenshi knows that I refuse to make an alliance with the Golden Roc Fort because of my personal hatred toward the fort, he’ll probably be very disappointed,”Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
After a moment of indecision, Gu Shenwei realized that he could not let Shangguan Yun gain control of the conversation, so he started another topic by saying, “You’ve been away from this city for two months. What were you busy with those days?”
“Well, just a mere trifle,” Shangguan Yun replied smilingly but gave no further explanation.
Upon hearing this, Gu Shenwei knew immediately that it was definitely no small matter. In the meantime, he also came to realize that the so-called alliance proposal was probably just something that Shangguan Yun had made up to deceive him.