604 Competing Once Again (1/2)
The five Taoist priests were seated in a circle while looking at the Dragon King who was in the middle, all five of them wearing gloomy expressions, and none of them speaking for a long while.
There was a futon at Gu Shenwei's feet but he didn't sit down. Instead, he stood silently, his hand on his saber hilt.
”You've got a lot of nerve coming here.” One Taoist priest finally spoke out, his voice cold and ethereal as if the gods were speaking to their humble believers.
”I don't know what I have to be afraid of,” Gu Shenwei said as he stared at Dao Nian who was in front of him.
Dao Nian had finally freed himself from the panic and pain of his broken fingers. He still looked elegant but his scholarly-looking face was shrouded in a layer of frost that might never be dispelled. He kept staring at the Dragon King without saying a word throughout the conversation, hoping to use this as a means to restore his dignity that had been lost in the camp of the Land of Fragrance.
The other four Taoists took turns talking, their tone growing harsher, which made Gu Shenwei recall the old tricks played by the disciples of the Essence Pavilion.
”You've kidnapped our elder and injured him. It's an outrageous sin, and even you dying a hundred times wouldn't make up for it.”
”As cultivators, we stand aloof from the worldly affairs, but the Dragon King is obsessed with evil thoughts and challenges the orthodox sects. To remove the evil spirit, we, the Jade Pure Sect, as a representative of the orthodox sects, regardless of young and old, will consider the Dragon King as the primary enemy of the world.”
”The nine famous sects of the martial arts world are of the same breath and branch in the Central Plains and the Jade Pure Sect is one of them. As long as we issue a call for action, all of the sects will set out to slay the dragon.”
”We could have made a request to the Khan. As long as we said something, the Dragon King would have died that day and the tens of thousands of the Dragon Army would have been destroyed.”
...
”Do you want me to kneel down and beg for mercy?” Gu Shenwei hadn't been threatened with such a righteous and strict speech for a long time so he listened until the Taoist priests had nothing more to say.
The five Taoist priests recognized the Dragon King's sarcasm. ”You've already lost the chance to repent.”
”Exorcising the devil is …”
The Taoists seemed to want to start a long speech again, but Gu Shenwei had grown tired of it. He turned to Dao Nian, who had remained silent this whole time, and asked, ”You've found the antidote?”
The tent immediately grew quiet.
Dao Nian had been forced to swallow a few pills of the Waning Moon Hall. After he came back, he, together with his junior brothers, had immediately tried to force out the toxins but had made no progress in several hours. Although the Jade Pure Sect was experienced in refining pills, the pharmacology between the Central Plains and the Western Regions was quite different and they couldn't do anything about it in a short while.
”We can give the Dragon King a chance,” said one of Dao Nian's junior brothers.
Dao Nian still didn't open his mouth but his facial muscles twitched slightly, apparently trying hard to control his impulses.
”Hand over the antidote, Old Man Mu, and the Grand Enlightenment Sword Sutra, and the Jade Pure Sect can forgive your insolence and even help you meet the Khan.”
Even at this stage, they hadn't forgotten the true purpose of their trip to the Norland.
”I'll give you a chance too.” Gu Shenwei uncrossed his arms and slowly turned around, ”Keep your promise and take me to see the Khan, and I can let you return to the Central Plains alive.”
The tall Taoist priest laughed first and then the others soon followed. The laughter ceased with Dao Nian, as he finally spoke, ”We want to compete with you again. This time we won't compete in sword or fist techniques. Only in internal energy. The winner takes all.”
Well-known for its internal energy, the Jade Pure Sect had actually lost to two insidious kung fu practitioners of the Western Regions in crooked ways, which was really a great humiliation to them. So much was said that their purpose was still trying to regain their face.
”The Dragon King may invite as many companions as you need. As long as we are going to compete in internal energy, the Jade Pure Sect is not afraid of a numerical disadvantage,” added one Taoist priest, whose voice sounded much less callous and ethereal, though a bit urgent.
”Okay, I agree to a rematch but you have to wait for a while. Since the Jade Pure Sect isn't afraid of being overwhelmed by the number of opponents, I'll go back and bring those one thousand female soldiers of the Land of Fragrance here.”
The Taoist priests were all tongue-tied. What they had said was just a conventional verbal exchange between martial artists in Jianghu. Usually, even if the other side would invite friends to help, it would be no more than five people in total. They didn't expect that the Dragon King would take their words seriously and really wanted to call a thousand people to join the fight.
”We are Taoist priests, and we do not fight with women.” An excellent excuse suddenly occurred to the small, thin Taoist Dao Huo's mind at the crucial moment.
”Hmm, you don't compete with women, only practice kung fu with them.”
”Evildoers have no right to sit in judgment of our orthodox cultivation method.”
”Cut the crap. I'm only going to compete with one person. Pick your representative now.”
The five Taoist priests exchanged a glance before the tall Taoist priest stood up and said, ”Dao Xiu would like to challenge the Dragon King.”
The other Taoists also got up and walked to the back of Dao Xiu with their futons to make room for the competition.
Gu Shenwei was a bit surprised. During last night's internal energy competition, Dao Xiu had acted recklessly and was obviously not the strongest of the five, so why was he chosen as the representative to fight with him?
A cautious Taoist priest came forward and said, ”This is a fair kung fu competition, and the loser has to accept the winner's terms. If Jade Pure Sect loses, we are willing to risk the death penalty to take Dragon King to the Khan but the Dragon King has to hand over the antidote. If the Dragon King loses, you have to hand over the antidote, Old Man Mu, and the Grand Enlightenment Sword Sutra. Do you agree?”
”Just one more thing. I want to see the Khan tonight.”
The five Taoist priests looked at each other again, nodded, and agreed in unison.