Chapter 311: Cooperation
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei had imagined a variety of ways to meet Maid Lotus again, but none of it was like this: Holding a sword in his hand, he wanted to move, but he held himself back, knowing that he would be defeated as iciness gripped at his Dantian.
He fell off the beam. His landing was wobbly but he managed to stand firmly.
They stared at each other in silent, wary of each other. Each had no intention to speak up first.
Suddenly, a series of exclamations came from outside. "Are you alright, Dragon King?" Lin Xiaoshan asked urgently.
"I'm alright." His gaze still remained on Maid Lotus. "How many were killed?"
"Five, and two of them belonged to Joy Pavilion."
"Alright, I got it." A total of four assassins were heard by Gu Shenwei, but he was still missing one.
Lin Xiaoshan was full of doubts but did not dare to ask. Then, he cleaned up the corpses along with the guards and left.
"So, you are called Dragon King now?" Maid Lotus spoke first, her hostility and vigilance suddenly disappeared. She even smiled faintly, as if they were still good partners, just like before.
"So, have you came to save me again?" Gu Shenwei replied sarcastically. The hostility was gone but he still kept his vigilance. He had had a taste of Maid Lotus' tricks and knew that she would never help him kill five assassins for no reason.
"It is New Moon Hall who saved you, not me."
After not seeing Maid Lotus for three years, Gu Shenwei noticed that she had changed. It was very subtle, but he realized that the quiet girl who had often been overlooked in the past now possessed a sense of confidence and grace, so much so that it was somewhat aggressive.
Maid Lotus had accomplished a huge deed for New Moon Hall, naturally, she would be held in high regards by the Master of Xiaoyue Hall. Her temperament would surely be different now that she was of a different status. Unknowingly, Gu Shenwei became defiant and cocked his head slightly. "If that's the case, then let the Master of Xiaoyue Hall come and speak to me."
Maid Lotus somehow noticed the change in his attitude and relaxed her stance. "Just consider me as the messenger from New Moon Hall. You should at least talk to the messenger briefly before meeting the Master."
Gu Shenwei suddenly realized that he was giving in to his personal feelings. No matter what Maid Lotus' real intentions were, the Great Snowmountain and New Moon Hall were natural allies as they shared a common enemy. One acted in the open and another in secret, but this actually complemented each other. Slowly, he eased his tone and released his grip on the hilt of his sword.
"Are we discussing it here right now?"
Maid Lotus glanced over at Jiang, who was sleeping soundly. She had breathed in quite a significant amount of the knockout powder and was in a deep slumber, oblivious to the conversation going on beside her.
"No, go to Doctor Sun's at North City after daybreak. We will talk there."
Even though Gu Shenwei was aware that New Moon Hall had planted many spies in Jade City, he was still taken aback. He would never have thought that Doctor Sun, who was well renowned, would pledge his allegiance to New Moon Hall. He immediately felt that he had done far too little these few years.
Maid Lotus took out a small wooden box and pass to him, "Take one pill every morning and night. It acts as an antidote for the poison in your chest."
Gu Shenwei took the wooden box but did not open it.
"You know I won't hurt you."
She smiled softly and left without waiting for Gu Shenwei to answer.
There was some bawls outside the room before Lin Xiaoshan barged in. He had noticed that something was amiss, so he let the guards continue their patrolling while he remained guarded outside the room. But in a blink of an eye, the person who came out of Dragon King's room leaped onto the roof and was gone before he could even catch up.
Relieved that Dragon King was unscathed, he saw Jiang on the small bed and was a bit embarrassed. He stammered, "Please pardon me, Dragon King… I didn't know…"
"It's okay, she's… a friend from the past."
Lin Xiaoshan was slightly suspicious but took his leave. Gu Shenwei played with the wooden box for a long time before opening it. Inside was two small pills with an unusually bright shade of red.
Gu Shenwei closed the lid without touching what was inside.
After daybreak, Gu Shenwei headed toward North City, accompanied by Lin Xiaoshan and 10 other guards. This was not really necessary since the news of five assassins killed in the residence had already spread to the whole of Jade City. Everybody now believed that Dragon King had never been hurt in the first place, let alone paralyzed.
Lin Xiaoshan and others waited outside the residence of Doctor Sun while Gu Shenwei entered alone.
The tall and robust Doctor Sun remained unchanged, only balder than before and his beard bushier. "The last time I diagnosed you, you were still a killer apprentice. Today, you are Dragon King. The affairs of the world are constantly changing, no?"
Doctor Sun gazed at Gu Shenwei curiously, as though he was a rare case waiting to be examined.
"A lot of things are not how you would expect it to be, isn't it?"
"Well, there's no need to think about it if it's going to be unexpected. Come, let me check your pulse."
The doctor reached over with his slender fingers and Gu Shenwei did not move away. He knew Doctor Sun was excellent in kung fu.
Doctor Sun's brows furrowed sharply as the minutes ticked by. Soon, nearly an hour had passed. He had completely forgotten that Dragon King had come here today with the purpose of meeting Maid Lotus as a messenger of New Moon Hall. When he finally spoke, his tone carried a sense of bewilderment, like someone at their wits' end. "Difficult, this is indeed difficult. Dragon King, how could you possibly practice your Internal Strength to this extent? Both positive and negative exist within, and your yin and yang are not in harmony. To think you could actually withstand it…"
Doctor Sun could not help but shake his head. Clicking his tongue, he said, "If Dragon King doesn't mind shortening your lifespan by 30 years, I actually have a solution that you can try. But no promises that it'll work out."
"I am not here to see a doctor." Gu Shenwei replied coldly. "If I was able to endure it before, I can endure it in the future as well."
Doctor Sun stared at Dragon King in surprise. His haughty demeanor had been replaced with one that seemed like a child making a mountain of a molehill. Bowing slightly, he said, "As Dragon King wishes, I apologize for meddling. One moment, please."
Doctor Sun took his leave. Gu Shenwei waited alone until suddenly, the bookshelf near the wall split open and Maid Lotus emerged.
Seeing Maid Lotus in daylight made him realize how much she had really changed.
In the past, she had been a quiet and amiable girl. Although she did not attract attention, she was able to gain the trust of others easily. Now, even though her looks remained unchanged, there was something in her gaze that people could not possibly ignore.
Gu Shenwei suddenly missed that quiet girl. He quickly cleared his thoughts and said, "When can I see your Master?"
"Soon, but not now." Maid Lotus' gaze was making him uncomfortable. "Master is not in Jade City right now, she has other matters to attend to."
"If that's the case, does that mean you are the one who makes decisions in Jade City now?"
Maid Lotus smiled before lifting her hands in front of her and clapping twice. Guan Shang, the former black-masked assassin from Golden Roc Fort came in upon hearing the summon. She bowed respectfully toward Maid Lotus and asked, "What can I do for you, Managing Master?"
"Convey to him what Master said."
"Yes." In the presence of Managing Master who was younger than her by a few years, Guan Shang's nervousness was akin to a killer apprentice who had just entered the East Castle. Her tense expression eased as she turned toward Dragon King.
"Dragon King would like to wipe out the Shangguan family, and New Moon Hall would like to occupy the castle on the mountain top. Since Golden Roc Fort is the common enemy, Master hoped that we could cooperate and work together. With the Great Snowmountain in the open, and New Moon Hall in secret, this is a match made in heaven."
Gu Shenwei tensed slightly at the words 'match made in heaven', but showed nothing.
Maid Lotus waved a hand in dismissal, and Guan Shang bowed as she left the room.
"What do you think?" Maid Lotus asked.
"Working together is a good thing." Gu Shenwei suppressed his true emotions and decided to consider the proposal in his role as Dragon King. "Let's be honest and talk about what we both want."
"We only want to take over Golden Roc Fort as it was the original home of New Moon Hall."
"The Great Snowmountain wants to take over the entire Jade City, all 800 miles from east to west."
"The Great Snowmountain can have all territories as long as you provide New Moon Hall an escape route."
"How many people are there in New Moon Hall? Where are they distributed?"
The answer to that question was classified information. However, Maid Lotus did not hesitate and answered immediately, "167 people. 121 of them are in Jade City. We have seven people in Meng Family, one in Joy Pavilion, another in Four Truths Temple and 18 of them in Golden Roc Fort. The rest are dispersed in different areas. It is alright to assume that New Moon Hall had insiders planted in all the forces within the Jade City."
Gu Shenwei was surprised and delighted. New Moon Hall was indeed the assistance that he needed. In the past three years, when he had been hunted and forced to flee to the Western Region, New Moon Hall had quietly shifted their influence from the desert to Jade City. It was even possible that Supreme King had no idea that his enemies were so close to him.
"Are your people reliable? Take Guan Shang for instance."
"People are never reliable." There was a hint of coldness from Maid Lotus' voice. "What is reliable is the means to control them."
A green pill, similar to the one that she gave to Gu Shenwei, appeared in Maid Lotus' hand. "The Blood Coagulation Pill was made with the blood of the drug maker and mixed with 81 types of herbs and poisons. It is necessary to consume one every year. If you miss the timing, within seven days, you will go berserk and die. And the state when you are dying… it's better not to say."
Her calm tone carried a tinge of pride, as though the pill in her hands was an elixir that could bring back life.
"You consume it as well?" He could not help but ask, relieved that he had not taken the pills given by Maid Lotus yesterday.
"People are never reliable." Maid Lotus repeated, not answering Gu Shenwei's question directly. "I know a lot of things in New Moon Hall, for example, Supreme King used pills like that to control the black-masked assassins. Golden Roc Fort has sworn to never use the occult sciences from New Moon Hall, but he still kept some of it. He didn't even dare to name the pills. But those are just imitations. Their effectiveness pales in comparison to the authentic ones that we have in New Moon Hall."
Gu Shenwei finally understood why Guan Shang had defected from Golden Roc Fort. He cannot help but shudder at the allegiance established through fear by these pills. But then he remembered the crazed women and believed Maid Lotus' words. The reverence she had towards the Blood Coagulation pills was also tinged with a trace of craziness. Gu Shenwei heightened his alertness.
"With such tactics, New Moon Hall should be able to penetrate Golden Roc Fort from within any time."
Maid Lotus shook her head and put away the green pill. "The Blood Coagulation Pill is very rare and precious. You cannot use it on just anybody. If we want to capture Golden Roc Fort, it's better to rely on true strength, like the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain that you led."
Gu Shenwei became vigilant and slowly drew out the Dragon Head Sword, pointing it at a slant to the ground.
Maid Lotus pulled out her sword nonchalantly and crossed it together with Gu Shenwei's weapon.
With this as a symbol, the two of them began their second cooperation.
Gu Shenwei recognized that Maid Lotus' weapon had not changed, it was still the "Huan" sword.