780 Luring the Snake In (1/2)
Dog Butcher sat on the side of the road, contemplating the best place to find kung fu practitioners from the Central Plains. Old Man Mu's acupoint had been restored awhile ago. Out of boredom, he was mindlessly kicking gravel around and waving the sword he had bought not long ago. Out of annoyance, he refused to talk.
Dog Butcher was facing a major issue. Since he knew nothing about Jade City, he felt like he was a blind man with no idea where he should begin searching. Yesterday, he had aimlessly wandered around the city with Old Man Mu pinned to his waist for more than half the night, and eventually he had inexplicably exited the city. Dawn had just broke, and there was nobody on the road except for themselves.
”The brothel, casino, inn, pub, blacksmith village, saberman village…” Dog Butcher muttered the names of the places they had visited repeatedly, hoping to find some clues. But after mulling it all over for quite a while, he still had nothing, so he turned his head and asked Old Man Mu, ”Is it really that tricky to have an adventure in the martial arts world of the Western Regions? I thought that it was all about making friends, fighting enemies, and cavorting around heroically anywhere, anytime I want! Yet it turns out that it's pretty much the same as the Central Plains'. No, it's much harder here. Back then in the Central Plains, at least people knew of the Kongtong Sect when I mentioned its name.”
Old Man Mu snorted contemptuously. He raised his head and pretended to not hear Dog Butcher's complaints. Yet he was so eager to talk to someone that his pride only lasted for a short while; he quickly ran up to Dog Butcher in a single step, and said, ”Making friends, fighting enemies, and cavorting around heroically anywhere and anytime you want – that was my previous life. You still have a long way to go. First of all, your kung fu has to be as good as mine was ten years ago. And second, you need to learn to let things go. I mean, you barely have any brains…”
Dog Butcher knew what Old Man Mu was trying to say and he shook his head repeatedly. ”I don't want your life. You were a devil – killing innocent people, doing all kinds of disgusting stuff, being chased by enemies everywhere… I don't want any part of that.”
Old Man Mu widened his eyes, and then changed his mind instantly as he replied, ”Ha-ha. Fair enough. But I've changed now. I'm wholeheartedly serving the Dragon King who's decades younger than me and was kidnapped by a man who had once been defeated by me, and it's hair-rippingly hard to find someone to kill. Good, it's really good. Why didn't I choose this path earlier? Why… why are you giving me that look?”
Dog Butcher was peering curiously at Old Man Mu from his head to his feet, as if this was the first time that he had seen someone this short. ”You have a lot of enemies, don't you?”
”Of course. They're everywhere. They could even form an army if somebody organized them.”
”Is there any chance that many of them are from the Central Plains?”
”All of the Nine Grand Sects are my enemies. You tell me.”
Dog Butcher knew that he was bragging, but he continued digging in. ”The reason why the Kongtong Sect holds a grudge against you is because of me. But how did you make yourself an enemy of the other sects?”
”That's none of your business. It's been so many years since then. How am I supposed to remember all of that?” Old Man Mu thought on his feet quickly, squeezing his brain for the best way to make his lies foolproof. ”The Jade Pure Sect is among the Nine Grand Sects, right? They wanted to snatch my Five Hole Punch technique, and I kicked several of their elders' asses in response. That is the reason for the hatred between us.”
Dog Butcher nodded. On his arrival in Royal Court, he heard what happened to the five elders of the Jade Pure Sect. So he slapped his leg and stood up immediately. ”Good. Then we'll do it that way!”
”Which way? Don't do anything stupid.” Old Man Mu had a faint feeling that he might have taken his bluff a bit too far.
”In the Western Regions I'm nobody, but you're a celebrity.”
”I used to be, but not anymore. Find someone and ask him about me if you don't believe it. There're barely any people left who still know who I am. Now, the Dragon King is the star.”
”Not the Dragon King. Nominally, he's still in closed-door cultivation. The Kongtong Sect and the Jade Pure Sect are all we need.”
”You want me to act as bait?”
”Yep, this is called 'luring the snake out of its hole'.”
”Why aren't you the bait? Just go whoring and then refuse to pay. Then I'll show up and spread word that the elder of the Kongdong Sect is being a bully. If there're any Kongdong disciples in Jade City, they will surely come and seek you out.”
Dog Butcher thought for a while, then he stretched his hand out to grab Old Man Mu. ”That's not a good idea. The Dragon King said that I'm the one who should call the shots, and I think that it's better to use you as the bait.”
The decision had been made. Old Man Mu opposed intensely – acting tough, talking soft, making unbelievable suggestions, and of course swearing. Tu Pianpian, who had nothing to do with this at all, suffered from a lot of off-color words. Dog Butcher carefully defended himself against every accusation, and rather than change his mind, he keep adjusting his tactic of 'luring the snake out of its hole' to perfection.
Two hours later, Old Man Mu gave in. And not only did he give in, but he also enthusiastically started offering to help make preparations.
By dusk, this originally simple tactic had evolved into a sensational citywide kung fu competition.
There were two reasons why it had caused a sensation. The first one was its wildly arrogant slogan: the Number One Devil under the sun challenges all heroes – come and get your revenge if you bear resentment against him, and come and get some gold if you don't.
Gold was the second reason why people had become interested. But the amount of the gold was uncertain – it ranged from dozens to ten thousand taels, and everyone spouted off a different number.
Suddenly, Lü Qiying discovered that he had become a busy man. Everybody said that he was the guarantor of the kung fu competition's bounty. Both people he knew and people he didn't were coming up to ask him for more information.
Lü Qiying day became grueling and long. He wanted to figure out what was happening but was unable to find either Old Man Mu or the Dragon King, so he had to close his door and refuse all visitors, secretly praying that he would still be able to leave Jade City alive after this.
Gu Shenwei heard the news that afternoon and he was fairly startled. He made a quick decision to stand by and wait to see the results of those two old men. At the same time, he knew that he could no longer return to Lü Qiying's mansion.
Rumors of the kung fu competition only grew wilder as time passed. There was even a rumor circulating that the supposed 'Old Man Mu' had accumulated a hoard of treasure, including countless gold and silver, jewelry, and kung fu manuals, and that anyone who managed to survive more than ten moves of his would be qualified to pick out a treasure of their desire.
There hadn't been any titillating news in Jade City for quite a long time, so the residents kept talking about this ”Number One Devil” for an entire day.
The place for the kung fu competition was set to be an inn which was also a brothel. They reserved the whole backyard for the competition and it held a hundred people or so, and the time was also that night.
Night hadn't fallen yet, but Dog Butcher was already looking around at the door. Old Man Mu appeared relaxed as he laid in a chair and enjoyed the grapes being fed to him by a fat prostitute. ”Even if the Kongtong Sect doesn't come, the Jade Pure Sect will come. Rest assured. Trust my charisma.”
But it turned out that Old Man Mu's charisma was not as magnetic as he had imagined. He had gained his reputation a dozen years ago and it mostly spread within the areas to the north of Heavenly Mountain. Few people in the Western Regions had known about him during his peak, and after so many years the number of people who still knew of him was even fewer. When the residents realized that the so-called ten thousand taels of gold was probably nothing more than rumors, the ”Number One Devil” lost most of his appeal and became nothing more than a joke people talked about as they drank.
When it was completely dark, there were only several dozen people still at the venue. Judging by their outfits, they were all poor sabermen who had just spent all their money and who refused to let go of any chance to make money. They would be tempted to wield their saber with just a promise of a hundred silver taels.