305 Banks (1/2)
Chapter 305: Banks
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
Chipo was a tough man and refused to divulge any information to the Great Snowmountain. Two swordsmen had beaten him so hard that they had broken a wooden cudgel each, but he just continued taunting them as he wished, after spitting out teeth and blood.
”Harder, why do you have less strength than a whore from Pleasure Alley? I'm not enjoying it enough.”
The two swordsmen were already panting from their exertions. Nevertheless, upon hearing his taunt, they lifted up what was left of their cudgels and wanted to work Chipo again. They were only stopped when Gu Shenwei, who was observing from the sideline, ordered them to stop. He instructed them to leave him alone with Chipo, as he wanted to speak privately to the bandit.
Chipo was covered in his own blood and looked cheekily at the Dragon King, the ferocity of his gaze undiminished even after his ordeal. ”It's so easy to be called a king nowadays. I'll get myself such a title one of these days. Since you're the Dragon King, I shall be known as the Dragon Slaying King, ha, ha.”
Gu Shenwei was unaffected by his taunt. Other than Xu Yanwei, nobody could get him angry. He waited for Chipo to stop laughing before replying, ”You can call yourself king of whatever for all I care. Since you're unwilling to admit to conspiracy with the Golden Roc Fort, I have to make a wild guess.”
”As you wish. You can even assume I had an affair with women of the Fort for all I care.”
”The Golden Roc Fort's willingness to cough up large amounts of money in return for your life proves that your value to the Supreme King lies beyond your machete skills.”
”Are you suggesting that my machete skills are inferior? I was careless before, let's have another fight.”
”There's no need to. Your machete skills are alright, but not worth one or two million taels of silver. You operate alone, with only a few men, and are known for being a spendthrift. No one has noticed you ever hoarding your money. Therefore, I can say the Supreme King neither values your skills nor your wealth.”
”Of course, why should I hoard my money? Money only has spenders and not owners. Hey, Dragon King, why don't I introduce some whores to you? They're guaranteed to be worth it and once you've tried their services, I'll be sure that you'll be the same as me—spending all your money away in no time.”
Gu Shenwei stared at the bandit, who was immensely pleased with himself. The Dragon King wrinkled his eyes slightly and said, ”Why would the Supreme King spend so much effort to rescue someone so useless?”
”Are you calling me useless?” Chipo stared angrily, puffing up his body. The cowhide rope which bound him pressed deep into his muscles, but he did not seem to care. ”You really think you're a king after earning the loyalty of a few thousand swordsmen from the Great Snow Mountain? How dare you call me useless. The joke's on you. With a single call, I can summon ten times your number of men. Yang Huan, you're just a killer on the run and no different from a rat scampering across the street. Kill me now if you dare, we shall see how much longer than me you have to live. Aren't you cruel and ruthless, capable of any methods...”
Chipo had let his secret slip and was frantically trying to cover it up by spouting a bunch of gibberish. However, it was too late and the Dragon King had already caught on to him. The information on Chipo collected by Xu Xiaoyi and the Tianshan Sect checked out with what the bandit himself was saying and basically confirmed Gu Shenwei's suspicions.
”Summon more than 10 times the swordsmen of the Great Snow Mountain,” Gu Shenwei repeated what the bandit said. ”Hearteater Chipo, the bandit who acts alone, travels across each nation in Western Region and likes to make friends with his fellow bandits. The amount you've spent to secure your connections is a hundred times more than what you've spent in Pleasure Alley.”
Chipo's looks changed a little and he tried to cover it up by laughing loudly. ”You're right, every bandit camp I visit, I'm treated as a VIP. What about swordsmen from the Great Snow Mountain? Bunch of fools with snowy mush on your legs you all are. Even if you invited me to go, I would never set foot in such a miserable place. Hey, you'd better kill me now, before every bandit in the world comes looking for you.”
”What benefits does the Supreme King grant you for helping him to garner the support of the bandits?”
Chipo remained calm faced with the Dragon King's unexpected question. The only sign that he was worried was his laughter, which had become a little hoarser. ”Ha, ha, you really like to joke, Dragon King. Are you a joker? What a pity that I don't have any women or booze around me now.”
Gu Shenwei knew he could not squeeze out any more information from the bandit. ”I'll let you walk out of here alive. After that, I'll send people to establish contact with bandits all around the land. Soon, news will spread that both the Great Snow Mountain and the Golden Roc Fort are competing to gather the most support from bandit gangs in the Western Region, as well as news that I have a list of all the gangs that have secretly allied themselves with the Supreme King. Don't you think that everyone will wonder how I got hold of this list?”
Gu Shenwei walked out of the room, leaving Chipo to ponder the answer to his question alone.
”You, you despicable, treacherous, nasty person!” Chipo shouted, finally unable to keep his act up. ”It won't be so easy to frame me. The Supreme King would not believe your lies, and I will come for you sooner or later to take my revenge.”
That afternoon, Xu Xiaoyi came back with the old machete man Liu Zu, smiles on both their faces. The former was genuinely happy and could not control himself, while the latter's expression was so stiff and unnatural that even the loose skin on his face was all stiff. When he greeted the Dragon King, it seemed that his throat was filled was phlegm.
Gu Shenwei was sure that the old moneybags had to cough up some of their personal savings to contribute to the ransom; there was nothing unnatural about the hate in Liu Zu's eyes.
Gu Shenwei nodded nonchalantly and let Xu Xiaoyi handle the transaction on his behalf.
Chipo was gagged tightly and escorted by 10 swordsmen from the residence of the Dragon King to Liu Zu's residence in South City. It was impossible for an infamous bandit such as Chipo to enter North City openly.
The next day, the severed head of 'Chipo' was hung high up for all to see, inviting many people to crowd around it. They had not come to see the head of an infamous bandit, but rather a valuable object that was worth two million taels of silver.
”This is the most expensive head in the whole world, isn't it?”, observed many amongst the crowd. Thus, the reputation of the old machete men who were one foot in the grave spread so far that there was always someone trying to visit them nearly every day, either to offer their services or to secure a loan from the old men.
Later, Xu Xiaoyi went to inspect the severed head personally, and came back reporting, ”It's pretty identical, but the hair is still intact.”
The two swordsmen had pulled off a clump of Chipo's hair when interrogating him, upon receiving the secret instructions of the Dragon King. A little of the bandit's scalp was thus exposed, and as he was being beaten at that time, he took no extra notice of the pain emanating from his head and did not know that there was another identifying mark on his head now.
Gu Shenwei's guess about Liu Zu's link with the Golden Roc Fort was proven correct by the old man's act of using a fake head to deceive others into thinking that Chipo was dead.