613 Crushing (2/2)
The Dragon King had shown his speed in the first fight so everyone put the blame for the dullness on the Slanted Eyebrows and complained about him.
Old Man Mu was one of the few people who genuinely agreed with the tactics of the Slanted Eyebrows, which was why he had to do something to sabotage the match and do the Dragon King a favor.
”Sour-faced, you can't be shameless just because you look so ugly. No wonder you didn't dare to say your name. Your Master must have gone mad watching such a cowardly fighting style as yours.” Then he imitated the Master of the Slanted Eyebrows in a voice dripping with sarcasm, ”My disciple, our rabbit sect is a famous sect of the Central Plains, so how did I take a rat like you as my disciple…”
Shangguan Fei had not yet learned Old Man Mu's ways of humiliating others, so he could only seize the moment to echo. ”Exactly, exactly.”
The Slanted Eyebrows was more composed than Old Man Mu had imagined, as he turned a deaf ear to the insults and remained on the defensive instead of taking the offensive. He was competing in patience with the Dragon King.
Old Man Mu wouldn't admit defeat that easily. Seeing that he was unable to irritate the Slanted Eyebrows, he immediately changed the object of his satire. ”King Shengri, I really worry for you. The Sour-faced said that he was loyal to the Norland and the Khan but he was not even willing to reveal his real identity. Obviously, he's hiding something from you. Ahh, I see. It's called the Battered-Body Trick, pretending to be helpless and miserable to gain trust while secretly looking for a chance to kill the lord. Tut tut, If the old Khan dies at his hand, King Shengri can go to the Central Plains to receive a reward.”
Upon hearing Old Man Mu's words, King Shengri, who already lacked trust in the kung fu experts of the Central Plains, became more suspicious. And what he wanted to see was a neat and swift killing, not the conservative style of the Slanted Eyebrows.
”What sect is this man from?”
Some of the kung fu experts knew the background of the Slanted Eyebrows but didn't directly answer. ”I'm sorry, Your Highness, please calm down. This man is good at counter-attacking. He will kill the Dragon King soon.”
”How soon is soon? He is representing the Norland right now, not his own sect. And a prairie man doesn't play so slowly.”
The man pleaded guilty again before returning to the field, raising his voice and ordering, ”Junior brother, don't wait any longer.”
The Slanted Eyebrows' heart trembled. He didn't expect that the most effective tactic would be ruined by the hands of his own allies.
The long sword thrust like the snake's tongue. The slowish Slanted Eyebrows proved that he was also good at a speed attack.
But the Dragon King was also very fast. The two exchanged a move and retreated at the same time, now ten steps apart.
Few people could say exactly who was faster. King Shengri was perplexed; his interest had just been roused and he was about to call out 'bravo' before the competition surprisingly stopped. ”What happened?”
The master who was speaking for the Slanted Eyebrows sadly lowered his head. ”The Dragon King won.”
The Slanted Eyebrows flopped onto the ground, adding a second corpse to the field.
Gu Shenwei turned to his subordinates, ”You can go now.”
Shangguan Fei could hardly believe his ears. He looked around, especially at the Red Bat not standing far away, and felt that the Dragon King must misspoke. ”Me? Is it really me?”
”Yes, it's you.”
Shangguan Fei's reasoning told him that he should refuse out of modesty, and give an excuse like saying that the Dragon King should give the chance to the only female subordinate, Red Bat. But his true and powerful instinct forbade him from doing so, for fear that the Dragon King would really agree with his suggestion.
”Thank you … I … Dragon King …”
”You have to go to the warrior contest. Today is my bet with King Dari and you can't lose.”
”What?” Shangguan Fei had forgotten about such a thing a long time ago and didn't expect the Dragon King would still remember the bet in such circumstances.
”I won't let the Dragon King down!” Shangguan Fei jumped onto the horse, his voice coming from afar.
King Shengri's discontent was written on his face, ”Are you really kung fu experts of the Central Plains? Not a bunch of liars?”
No one dared to contradict him. One of the officers close to King Shengri said, ”The real masters of the Central Plains won't come to serve the Norland. The Shaolin Temple and the Luo Village are the most powerful among the nine major sects. But they didn't come this time. Neither did the sect leaders of the seven sects. These people are all third-rate, and it's no wonder my lord is unsatisfied.”
Such humiliation was only a bit better than death. All the kung fu experts of the Central Plains blushed but were unable to refute the officer's statements. What the officer had said was generally correct but calling them 'third-rate' was underrating them too much.
Dao Nian had originally planned to capture the Dragon King alive and force him to hand over the antidote as well as the method for removing the frosty Qi, but he had no time to consider all this now. ”I have a way to defeat the Dragon King,” he said.
”Oh?”
”The Dragon King competed in internal energy with me last night and both of us were injured. As long as Your Highness can send out an expert who's good at internal energy, we can win easily.”
After observing two fights of Gu Shenwei, Dao Nian finally realized that the Dragon King was also recovering from a severe internal injury just like him.