330 Retaliation (1/2)

Chapter 330: Retaliation

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Monk Fayan was the type of person who somehow always appeared superior to you. If you were a beggar, you would feel inferior to him. If you were a king, you would still look up to him with veneration. He was always a notch better than you, no matter who you were or what you did.

In the meantime, he naturally maintained an approachable attitude without being condescending.

Gu Shenwei felt somewhat nervous in front of this monk.

He never dreaded fierce-looking opponents, such as Lianqing, as he believed that he could always take them on. Nevertheless, when confronted with Fanyan, he felt helpless as if he were an exhausted leopard chasing a prey who always managed to stay one step away.

The moment Gu Shenwei stepped into Fayan's tent, the skinny monk smiled knowingly at him, seemingly having predicted the young man's arrival a long time ago. Gu Shenwei disliked the monk's attitude very much, as the monk behaved as if he already had everything under his control.

Lianqing was standing beside Fayan, breathing heavily as growls emanated from his throat. He looked like a fierce guard dog which was ready to open its mouth and tear the intruder into pieces at any minute on behalf of his master.

”Lianqing, relax. The Dragon King bears no ill will,” said Fayan. Surprisingly, the skinny monk had a very soft and gentle voice.

Upon hearing his Master Shifu's remarks, Lianqing put his palms together, bowed to Fayan and drew aside to join the meditating monks. There were 6 monks inside this tent. Fayan sat in the middle, with two monks sitting on his left and three on his right. Lianqing was now sitting on the second meditation cushion on the right.

For a moment, Gu Shenwei really wished to tell the monks bluntly that he was indeed bearing some ill will, but he quickly banished the thought away since he did not want to act in such a juvenile manner. He nodded slightly to Fayan and said, ”I've come to meet you, Master Fayan. I want to make a deal with you.”

In Gu Shenwei's eyes, everything could be discussed. He needed to win the monks over as temporary allies, so he came here to visit Fayan right after Shangguan Hong's departure.

”Ah, it's a good deal, but we can't agree to it.” Fayan firmly refused the Dragon King before hearing the young man's proposal and acted as if he had seen through the Dragon King's mind.

Gu Shenwei had intended to work together with the monks to fight the bandits, since some of these bandits planned to kill him, and the others wanted to snatch something from the monks.

”Master Fayan, do you think that I'll be defeated?” asked Gu Shenwei.

”No, I believe you can defeat all your enemies, Dragon King. However, you've a particularly strong killing intent. I dare not get too close to you,” said Fayan.

Gu Shenwei glanced at the monks who were meditating beside Fayan and mocking them, ”I'm pretty sure that they'll display strong killing intents too once they get pissed off.”

”They're different from you, Dragon King. Your killing intent keeps growing stronger while theirs has already showed signs of abating.”

Gu Shenwei was well aware that Fayan was just packaging his refusal in a friendly manner and said, ”Well, masters, I have to excuse myself. Have a good rest.”

With these words, Gu Shenwei stepped backward toward the entrance of the tent. Fayan smiled and fixed his eyes on the young man, as if he had already known what the Dragon King was going to do next.

Gu Shenwei did not believe that this monk was really able to read his mind.

He promptly drew out his Five Peaks Saber and stabbed at Lianqing, who was sitting in a meditation position beside Fayan with his eyes closed.

This strike was enough to kill a first-rate kung fu master in jianghu, but it was stopped by someone using only a few fingers.

Fayan moved even faster than the Dragon King and used three fingers to stop his saber. ”Dragon King's saber is impressively quick, Dragon King,” said Fayan.

”You indeed have incredible Internal Strength, Monk,” said Gu Shenwei. He did not feel much energy coming through the monks' fingers, but no matter how hard he tried, his saber still could not pierce through the defence of the monk.

”Impressive,” Gu Shenwei praised Fayan's kung fu, before suddenly drawing back his saber and stepping to the right to strike at Lianqing again.

Lianqing remained in deep meditation with his eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. However, his eyebrows began to knit together at this moment.

Fayan quickly moved to stop the Dragon King and used the same move to block the young man's saber once again. Just as he was about to speak, he realized that he had been set up.

He suddenly heard a sharp weapon ripping the tent wall behind him and then saw a dark shadow darting toward him. Before the other monks realized what was going on, the shadow retreated as fast as the wind, leaving only an open gash in the tent.

Fayan released the saber and retreated to his meditation cushion. As he took a seat on the cushion, he said, ”Congratulations to you, Dragon King. Your assistant has superb kung fu.”

The five monks sitting beside Fayan could no longer focus their minds on meditation. They opened their eyes and discovered that the part of garment covering Fayan's ribs had already turned red with blood.

Upon seeing this, Lianqing roared with anger. When he was about to spring at the Dragon King, Fayan stopped him by saying, ”No, Lianqing. I've told you that the Dragon King bears no ill will.”

”But, Master Shifu...” Lianqing did not want to let the Dragon King off so easily.

”The Dragon King has already recognized you. It's a good thing for you. Now you don't need to conceal your identity anymore,” said Fayan.

Suddenly, Lianqing's face changed. ”Master Shifu, I...” he stuttered.

Gu Shenwei stood at the entrance of the tent with unsheathed Five Peaks Saber in hand and said, ”You've sacrificed a lot for your revenge plan during the past two years. You even shaved your head and became a monk for it.”

Ever since hearing the name ”Zhuang Qiang”, Gu Shenwei could sense that someone's face kept coming up in his mind. After spending a whole day recollecting his memories, he finally realized that it was that of Lianqing.

According to Shangguan Hong, the monks from Four Truths Temple planned to kill him during this journey to avenge the death of Lianhua and Lianye, but he could not understand why the monks hated him so much, since those two monks' death was not directly caused by him. However, as a person who had also suffered from the pain of losing his close relatives, he could recognize the intense hatred in Lianqing's eyes when he first met the monk.

Gu Shenwei believed that Shangguan Fei must have been planning to use Lianqing to kill him in this desert and he had better strike first. That was why he had asked Maid Lotus to work together with him to kill Fayan, the monk's protector.