730 Challenge (2/2)

Azheba was even more confused. The Dragon King was growing stranger and stranger in his eyes. ”The Dragon King is not going to join in on the kung fu competition?” He clearly remembered that the Dragon King had attended several competitions before.

”I won't accept any contests that have been forced upon me. Will the Khan wrestle with the enemy leaders? Will you lay down your bow and arrow to compete against your opponent with a saber? We all choose the most advantageous competitions for us. I have thousands of men while the Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect is relying on his advanced martial arts skills. We are both trying with every means to gain the upper hand.”

Azheba bowed his head, feeling that the Dragon King's words seemed reasonable but also at the same time unreasonable.

Fang Wenshi secretly nodded, thinking that the Dragon King was getting more and more skillful at winning over his subordinates.

When they arrived at the shamans' holding cell, a guard led the two inside with an oil lamp.

Four shamans sat on the ground with a lot of injuries on their bodies. Seeing the Dragon King come inside, they all shivered. One young shaman rushed to say, ”Dragon King, I've confessed everything. Seriously, I've only seen Han Xuan once…”

”This has nothing to do with you.”

The young shaman was relieved, but the Great Shaman's eyes were full of hatred and fear. ”I've already told you everything I know.”

”You might as well say it again.”

”A few years ago, the Khan asked the Masters to try their new magic on the Court Attendants Army…”

”Masters?” Azheba asked confusedly, ”Which ones?”

”The people from the Essence Pavilion of the Western Regions,” Gu Shenwei answered.

Azheba knew those people and had even met several of them, as they had thrown Shangguan Ru and several others into prison under the name of the Khan.

They were really a bunch of weirdos. Very weird.

As he grew older, the Khan had become more and more suspicious of those around him. For a person who had enjoyed unlimited loyalty from the moment he was born, he, in his late years, suddenly felt that loyalty was scarce in his life.

The disciples of the Essence Pavilion had shown him lots of wonderful 'magic,' especially in regards to controlling people's minds, which made him very excited. So he came up with a bold plan.

The Court Attendants Army was the core of the Khan's power. He didn't trust the noble officers who would return home after ten years of service and instead only trusted the soldiers who served him from cradle to grave. Even so, that loyalty seemed insufficient.

The hypnosis used by the disciples of the Essence Pavilion had many limitations, but it did have a good effect on heightening people's already present emotions. The task entrusted to them by the Khan was to make the soldiers only loyal to he himself.

It was a secret plan. Of all the generals and officers, the Commandant was the only one who had known even a little bit of it.

The shamans of the army were chosen to be the assistants for the Masters. They orchestrated the events and had the hypnosis take place during the ordinary soldiers' simple prayer rituals, which was one of their traditional duties, and therefore never it received any attention or suspicion.

In the first year, the disciples of the Essence Pavilion had almost attended all of the rituals. Sometimes they knocked the ground with crutches to make noises, sometimes they made strange noises with their mouth, and sometimes they simply observed the soldiers' behavior.

The shamans had never figured out the Masters' tricks. They only followed their orders and did what they were told.

Two years later, the disciples of the Essence Pavilion no longer came anymore. They probably thought that there was no apparent effect, and the Khan had also lost interest in it. But the soldiers had already fallen into the habit of praying, and the shamans, who had not received the order to stop, could only continue organizing the rituals.

Not long after the guests of the Western Regions came to the Royal Court, the Masters showed up again with a woman.

The woman called herself Han Qin, and she showed more 'magic' and completely conquered the shamans. ”She's not a human. She's a demon, a very powerful demon. No one can defy her will,” The Great Shaman said with a voice drenched deep in despair.

”The shamans all experienced the demon's sexual techniques,” Gu Shenwei explained again.

Azheba felt himself caught in a fog again. What the Great Shaman and the Dragon King were saying was beyond his understanding.

The attempt made by the disciples of the Essence Pavilion had actually partially succeeded. The signs weren't apparent when the Khan had still ben alive, but the effect fermented after his death until it finally exploded with a surprising amount of force. But no one could control it, not even the disciples of the Essence Pavilion. By contrast, the shamans who had always been confused had an advantage over the others.

Han Qin, a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall, was the first to discover that the force, though uncontrollable, could still be used. She carried out the orders of Lotus and used the opportunity to start a large-scale scuffle.

”The soldiers are just confused for the time being. There's definitely a way to wake them up.” Azheba still didn't want to give up.

”If there is enough time, then the soldiers will naturally forget the indoctrination, but we happen to have no time.”

Azheba knocked hard on his temple, hoping to get some dark thoughts out of his mind. ”Give me a chance. I'll return the Court Attendants Army to normal.”

Gu Shenwei thought for a moment and then said, ”You have two days.” The army needed two days of rest, which was already a big compromise made by Gu Shenwei.

His task was to change thousands of people's thinking developed and cemented through years of habit in just two days. Azheba nodded, but was actually wholly unprepared for the momentous task he was about to perform.

All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind blew in, and the tent wobbled. Gu Shenwei and Azheba gripped their saber hilt at the same time.

The tent was torn in twain by two sharp claws, and the red-crowned roc descended from the sky. The half-closed wings occupied almost the whole tent. It stood on one leg and stuck out the other towards Gu Shenwei, its red eyes burning with anger.

On the scaly leg was a flying dagger. Gu Shenwei gently picked it out and immediately smeared some hemostatic medicine on the wound. Then he picked up the flying dagger and saw several words engraved on it: 'Leader of the Qingcheng Sect.'