The Princess knew nothing about Kung Fu; however, she managed to separate the remaining Wayless Book into chapters.
She gave Dragon King only 10 pages of the eighth chapter, without the last page and the 12 pages of the ninth chapter.
Gu Shenwei had Maid Lotus alter the 10th page of the ninth chapter. Then, he rolled it up again and hid it under the throne.
Maid Lotus had always known the Dragon King’s motive behind his every act. However, this time she was a little puzzled. “Shall we not keep a copy?”
Gu Shenwei just shook his head without answering. He was thinking that they had already lingered here for too long, so they should leave in case of any future suspicion.
The King of the Stone Kingdom had already been “forgiven” by his sister; however, he did not dare to visit the Dragon King in person. In the end, he hid inside his palace and sent Xu Yanwei to report it.
“Your Majesty, the Princess has realized her mistake. She wants you to forgive her. Moreover, the King of the Stone Kingdom has reflected on his mistakes too.”
Gu Shenwei still looked angry. He had the King of the Stone Kingdom apologize to her, but that did not mean he had forgiven the Princess. Finally, he marched off with the guards.
Back in the barracks, Gu Shenwei explained to Maid Lotus, “The ninth chapter is reserved for the Supreme King, so we can’t practice it. He’ll send people to spy on us.”
“We’re not even keeping a copy?” Maid Lotus still found it puzzling. “He’s not only giving up the ninth chapter, but also the eighth chapter because of the missing last page.”
“No, the Wayless Qigong won’t benefit any of us.”
Maid Lotus was stunned by his stubbornness, and again, she felt lost. “But you’ve taught the Divine Kung Fu to so many swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain.”
“In that way, they won’t all have self-destruction at the same time. They can protect each other from the assassins if any of them self-destructs.”
Maid Lotus saw the obvious contradiction in his words, but did not ask further.
She started to get suspicious.
Gu Shenwei knew what Maid Lotus was thinking: “He’s acting weird, as if he is deliberately giving up the eighth and ninth chapters in front of me to cover up something. Maybe he has a copy of them and doesn’t want me to know.” Thus, Gu Shenwei could only comfort her. “I have my reasons, please believe me.”
At that time, Maid Lotus suddenly dropped her suspicion. Their friendship was delicate; all they had was the trust between them. Any strain on that would permanently break their relationship.
Actually, she wanted to tell him: “I don’t care even if you keep those two chapters”, but in the end, she remained quiet.
Maid Lotus bowed and was ready to leave.
“Wait.” Gu Shenwei stopped her to discuss something more important. “I’ve been thinking about the Sumeru Mustard Divine Kung Fu. Chu Nanping is practicing it, so why can’t we?”
“Have you found a solution?” Maid Lotus’s eyes flashed.
Actually, as long as she refrained from the Death Scripture swordcraft, Maid Lotus had little chance of having Qigong Deviation. However, because of the previous incorrect manual, Gu Shenwei suffered from Qigong Deviation periodically. Maid Lotus was feeling happy for him.
“It’s a bit risky.” Gu Shenwei had reflected on it. Finally, he decided to take the risk because he could seize the opportunity to completely get rid of his Qigong Deviation and strengthen his Internal Strength. That was more than he could obtain by practicing the two chapters of the Wayless Qigong.
“Have you heard of the Yin and Yang Strength from our Gu family?”
Maid Lotus was the only one who knew the Dragon King’s real name; she surely remembered the Yin and Yang Strength well. At that time, Gu Shenwei got rid of Slave Yao using that strength and stirred up a deep hatred in her heart. Now, even though she could not recall the victim’s face, her hatred remained.
She nodded.
“The Yin and Yang Strength is different, one can’t practice it alone. He must have the aid of another expert. Yin produces yang, and yang produces yin, that’s how the strength grows. To practice the Wayless Qigong, I gave up the Yin and Yang Strength. I thought it was lost forever.”
Slave Yao died of Qigong Deviation because Gu Shenwei had just stood by. He did not rescue Slave Yao using his Yin Strength. After he abandoned the Yin and Yang Strength, there was no way for him to help others practice it anymore.
In order to find out the real cause of Slave Yao’s death, Maid Lotus had studied the first stage of the Yin and Yang Strength. Now, she quickly realized what he meant. “You want to practice the Sumeru Mustard Divine Kung Fu using the Yin and Yang Strength method?”
It was risky indeed.
“The Sumeru Mustard Divine Kung Fu contains all the Internal Strength in the world, while the Wayless Qigong has none. These two manuals are completely opposite each other. One is warm and the other is cold, which resembles the Yin and Yang Strength of the Gu family.”
Maid Lotus could not help asking, “Have you tried it?”
If one wanted to control the Yang Strength at the first stage of the Yin and Yang Strength, he needed another expert who had controlled the Yin Strength to help him. Gu Shenwei had mastered the Wayless Qigong, so he could manage to control both strengths on his own.
“Not yet, there’s too much risk in practicing on my own. If I were to fail, I wouldn’t know how to reverse it. I need your help.”
Looking at Gu Shenwei, Maid Lotus breathed heavily, emotionless. “Not only is he seeking help from me, but he’s also putting his life in my hands.”
“You’ve had an army; you don’t have to beat the Supreme King in Kung Fu. There’s a chance that you may have Qigong Deviation. We can always find a better way to solve the problem, a safer one.”
In fact, she found it too great of a temptation because she could not be sure that she would always keep down those thoughts of vengeance.
“Armies are indispensable, but they can’t solve all problems.” Being the Dragon King for a long time, Gu Shenwei had realized that many hands made light work. At the same time, he found out their shortcomings, thus he turned to Kung Fu as an alternative. He decided that he would no longer allow one single master, like Old Man Mu, to stall an entire army.
“We should try it on someone else first,” she suggested, rarely appearing hesitant. She knew how risky it was to merge three disconnected sets of Internal Strength.
Gu Shenwei had thought about that option, but there were few “victims”. The victims needed to have practiced the Wayless Qigong, so that alone ruled out all of the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain. “They’ve just started practicing. Apart from me and Maid Lotus, there are only Chu Nanping and Shangguan Fei.
“Chu Nanping has just practiced a few chapters, and he’s also been practicing the Sumeru Mustard Divine Kung Fu well. He doesn’t qualify.”
Therefore, Shangguan Fei became the only candidate.
Shangguan Fei was unreliable, which made him a perfect subject to experiment on.
And regarding Shangguan Fei, Maid Lotus could not help asking, “Will he steal the ninth chapter?”
“Even if he doesn’t, someone will. After all, the Supreme King has set his eyes on the ninth chapter.”
As usual, Maid Lotus did not ask anything further, so Gu Shenwei continued on his own, half-explaining and half-briefing. “Shangguan Yun decided to stop the battle between us after his visit to the Land of Fragrance. He couldn’t have done it on a whim. I think he’d heard about the grand priest, and knew that I was collecting the Wayless Book , thus he wanted to know the results.”
Gu Shenwei believed that no matter how strange a person was, he would follow the normal rules of benefit when making any big decision.
Shangguan Yun was often unpredictable, maybe it was out of his personality. However, Gu Shenwei did not think the Third Young Master would make a futile attempt since he was the one who both the Supreme King and the teacher Zhang Ji appreciated. He must have had a plan.
“Now, I’ll give him the results and see how he gets them.”
Maid Lotus understood, and even his declining to keep the ninth chapter made sense now. In the end, she did not ask if it was Shangguan Ru who had spilled the beans.
Shangguan Fei stayed with the guards most of the time. As he was summoned alone, he appeared delighted; or at least he was acting like it. “Your Majesty, what are your orders? I’m so bored, give me something to do.”
The teenage Shangguan Fei had been a master most of his life, receiving praise and flattery. He was the Ninth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort before he turned refugee. But when his life changed, he did not find it too hard to suck up to others. And he did not bear any grudges while doing so as if he had been born a servant.
“How’s Shangguan Hong lately?” Gu Shenwei asked coldly. Although he could pretend to be a servant, he could never accept it.
“He’s good. I’ve been watching him for Your Majesty. But I think he’s always been plotting a rebellion. To be honest, Your Majesty forgave him too easily… too generously.”
If Shangguan Fei was keeping something in mind, it had to be the affair between Shangguan Hong and his mother. He would never forgive Shangguan Hong because of that.
“He’ll be useful.”
“Yes, yes, I appreciate Your Majesty’s foresight.”
“You’ve helped me a lot, but I haven’t found an opportunity to thank you yet.”
“Your Majesty’s sheltering is my best reward, I couldn’t have asked for more.”
“I have to. Even if you don’t care about it, others may be disappointed in me. Well, I’ve taught the Wayless Qigong to the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain, so I’ll teach you some Kung Fu too.”
“Oh…” Actually, Shangguan Fei had expected a reward deep down in his heart—his greatest wish was to go to the Land of Fragrance to block the passage permanently. Then, everything would be fine. He had always lacked interest in Kung Fu and cultivation methods. He would not even practice the Wayless Qigong if it were not for his mother.
“The Sumeru Mustard Divine Kung Fu is the best among the Four Truths Temple Kung Fu, you won’t be afraid of those Golden Roc killers after you master it.”
No matter how capable he was, Shangguan Fei could not control his fear. “Well… Your Majesty thinks too highly of me. I’m untalented and ungifted, I’m afraid I won’t…”
“That’s okay. I’ll have Maid Lotus help you.”
Something dawned on him. “Your Majesty, I’ve been loyal. I’ve never done… well, after surrendering, I’ve never done anything that went against your benefit. You don’t mean to kill me, do you?”
“Why would I do that? Even Shangguan Hong is still breathing, let alone you. I do want to teach you the Sumeru Mustard Divine Kung Fu, and Maid Lotus will help as well. We don’t have any bad intentions.”
Shangguan Fei groaned. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great kindness! Has Your Majesty practiced the Divine Kung Fu yet?”
“No, I haven’t. However, Chu Nanping is practicing it, and he finds it very helpful.”
Shuangguan Fei requested to leave, feeling a little relieved. He had not foreseen the suffering he was going to encounter.
The seeds of betrayal had been planted in many people among the Dragon army. The King of the Stone Kingdom’s siblings and Shangguan Fei were the ones most likely to yield to the temptation of the Golden Roc Fort. He had encouraged every one of them to see who would steal the roll of paper under the throne.