747 Seeking Someone (2/2)
With his head looking down, Nie Zeng was irritated by the muffled screech of the young saberman and hoped that someone would put an end to this ugly scene with a quick saber strike. His stretched his right hand towards the saber hilt.
Han Wuxian was concentrating on combing her long hair. She wanted to rebuild the Waning Moon Hall, which meant she had to start from the foundation, training these two teenagers. Lotus did bring some new ideas which she had to accept.
A figure flew over and gave the young saberman's neck a slight stroke.
Gasping heavily, the young saberman hurried behind the crowd on his hands and feet. He looked at Han Wuxian in horror from far away, and it wasn't until the people nearby reminded him that he raised his arm and discovered that he was holding onto three black hairs.
She had nearly suffocated him with her hair, and yet he couldn't break it?
Han Wuxian pressed her lips together and smiled, seemingly recalling some sweet moments of the past. ”Old woman, you broke my hair. How dare you!”
Tu Pianpian snorted and rebuked the people of the Central Plains, ”A bunch of cowards! You would rather stand by watching your own people die than offer help? Get out of my sight!”
The old woman was very abrupt, but in this occasion, everybody felt that the elder of the Kongtong Sect was totally right to speak this way, so the crowd scattered and nobody dared to get close again.
Tu Pianpian turned and faced Han Wuxian. The two had met without gaining a good impression of each other in the Dragon King's army camp. ”Han Wuxian, what should I call you? Elder sister or younger sister?”
”Humm, how about great-grandma.” Age was one of the most taboo subjects of Han Wuxian, whose voice had ceased to be gentle and joking, and whose hands were pulling at a strand of hair. A killing intent had been provoked.
Dog Butcher realized that he couldn't stand by and watch anymore. Neither of the two women were strict followers of the martial arts world's rules and it wouldn't take them long to fall into a life-and-death fight. Taking Fan Yongda with him, Dog Butcher emerged from behind a tent. He was running and talking. ”Wait a minute. Let's talk this out. Let's talk this out.”
Tie Linglong was surprised, ”Weren't you two with the Dragon King? It's almost noon. Why are you still here? Where's the Dragon King?”
Dog Butcher was sweating buckets, which had nothing to do with the hot weather or fatigue as he responded, ”The Dragon King – he – he's gone.”
”Gone? He returned to the camp alone?” Tie Linglong was confused.
”Ur, not really…” Dog Butcher wanted to continue but he stopped when he was interrupted.
Tu Pianpian was still glaring at Han Wuxian. The reason why she had come here, though reluctantly, was not because she really wanted to save the Dragon King but rather because her brother had begged her, so she declared loudly, ”The Dragon King's missing, probably kidnapped.”
”Impossible!” Tie Linglong and Nie Zeng yelled at the same time.
Tu Pianpian gave a sneer, ”Nothing's impossible. The Qingcheng Sect has his saber and sword. You wouldn't think that the Dragon King left them here accidentally, would you?”
The two teenagers were shocked. Nie Zeng turned the horse around and looked at Dog Butcher, asking, ”What happened?”
Dog Butcher believed that he was responsible for the Dragon King's disappearance and he was too nervous to respond to the teenager's question. Fan Yongda described what hhad appened the night before. ”When we came back, they were gone. We waited for dawn to break, and had to resort to asking Aunt Master, who said that she saw it with her own eyes and that…”
”That Liu Qingpu was holding a saber and a sword, saying in a self-satisfied tone that today he would surely take back the Khan's head.” Tu Pianpian finished his sentence, and she seemed to feel a little self-satisfied as well.
Unexpectedly, Tie Linglong calmed dow., ”You still have Liu Fangsheng?”
Dog Butcher and Fan Yongda nodded at the same time.
”Then the Qingcheng Sect won't dare to make any bold moves.”
Yet Tu Pianpian reminded them of an important fact, ”Maybe Liu Qingpu wouldn't, but isn't Lu Mian totally without scruples?”
Tie Linglong couldn't deny that. She had never thought that the Dragon King would be kidnapped. And neither had Nie Zeng. ”I still can't believe it. How could the Dragon King…”
”Maybe he was drugged,” Fan Yongda guessed.
Tie Linglong looked at Han Wuxian and asked, ”Are there really disciples of the Waning Moon Hall here?”
”Traitors,” Han Wuxian corrected her. ”There are traitors of the Waning Moon Hall here.”
”No, no,” Tie Linglong organized her thoughts quickly, ”The Dragon King has an antidote, so the common knockout powder of the Waning Moon Hall wouldn't work on him, unless…”
”Unless it's the new knockout powder which Lotus brought here from the Land of Fragrance,” Nie Zeng said aloud. ”The Indra Fragrance! Hall Leader Han, you have the antidote, right?”
Among all the people here, Han Wuxian looked the most indifferent, holding her long hair like a mother holding her young baby. ”Why do you think I have the antidote? I don't even know what the Indra Fragrance is.”
The others looked at each other, not knowing what to do next. Tie Linglong said resentfully, ”Han Wuxian, you're all by yourself now. Without the Dragon King, how will you avenge yourself against Lotus? Think, and find a way.”
With her back to them, Han Wuxian gently said, ”There's nothing I can do. And the Dragon King's also too smart to need help from others.”
”What do you mean? Are you saying that the Dragon King knew that there was a trap here?” Tie Linglong was both surprised and delighted.
”I have no idea what the Dragon King is thinking. But I would be surprised if he got knocked out by the Indra Fragrance because that Doctor Sun kept bugging me and asking all kinds of questions, so he should've made an antidote.”
Tie Linglong was slightly relieved, but another question arose. ”Why is the Dragon King still missing if he has the antidote to the Indra Fragrance?”
Doctor Sun did manage to prepare an antidote, and he had given the Dragon King a bottle of it, but he had stressed, ”I can't guarantee its efficacy, especially immediate effects. So try not to use it unless you have to, Dragon King.”
Right beneath the feet of Tie Linglong and the others, in the mausoleum, Gu Shenwei had secretly swallowed the antidote. Several hours had passed by, and he could now dully feel his internal energy, but it hadn't fully recovered.
But among all the people trapped down there, Lu Mian was the first one to stand up.