923 Alliance (2/2)

”The Dragon King made his move.”

”Ahh, crap. I thought that the Dragon King would do this a few months later… The stone castle still owes me a debt. Do you think that, by any chance, the Dragon King would pay the debts of the Unique King?”

”You should go and ask him for us. By the way, prepare a spare head.”

At first, most of the news were merely people's speculations, and naturally, they were all about the Dragon King. But before Gu Shenwei and Old Man Mu crossed through northern Jade City, more reliable news came.

”Waning Moon Hall? What's Waning Moon Hall?”

”You forgot? A few days ago, didn't Golden Roc Castle and the Heavenly Mountain Sect stick a bulletin on the wall saying that they had wiped out the Waning Moon Hall?”

”That's right. What's going on? The Waning Moon Hall must have the Dragon King's support.”

”…”

”Sh! Stop mentioning the Dragon King. It's said that the Waning Moon Hall is also the Dragon King's enemy. This is bad. Jade City is going to become more chaotic. We'd better go back and sleep some more. I don't know when I'll have another chance to do so.”

Most of the residents in southern Jade City had only had two to four hours of sleep, but they were even more energetic than the northern Jade City residents. Almost all of the streets and alleys were crowded with people. This area was half a city further away from the mountain, so the rumors here were more specific and exaggerated. It was as if someone who was standing in mid-air above Golden Roc Castle had told them what was happening.

”The Waning Moon Hall is tightly besieged. The female devil challenged the Unique King to a duel and they started fighting! She won't last three moves.”

”Half of the Waning Moon Hall's men are downed. The female lunatic was hit by the Unique King's palm attack and is spitting out blood constantly.”

”The Waning Moon Hall is not wiped out yet. The fight between that… woman and the Unique King seems to still be going on.”

”The two sides are fighting tooth and nail. Lotus is capable of using witchcraft, and the Unique King is a little dizzy.”

”Shangguan Fa was hit by a sword strike! Shangguan Fa was hit by a sword strike! The Master Commander's swordsmanship is matchless!”

In a stronghold in the southern Jade City, Xu Xiaoyi knelt down upon seeing the Dragon King. She said in a tearful voice, ”Dragon King, you finally came back. If you had come back even a little while later, then I'd have fought my way to Golden Roc Castle as well. Please return to the camp immediately. The prime minister is so anxious that he's about to start killing people.”

With regards to the situation on the mountaintop, Xu Xiaoyi made only one remark. ”None of the news I've received so far is reliable, but once I get some reliable intelligence, I'll report it to Dragon King immediately.”

Escorted by over a hundred sabersmen, Gu Shenwei mounted a fast horse and galloped back to the eastern camp.

Zhong Heng was indeed terribly anxious, but he hadn't forgotten himself like Xu Xiaoyi had. He respectfully led the Dragon King into the main tent and summoned all the generals who would later tell the hundreds of thousands of troops that they had seen the Dragon King with their own eyes, so that troops' morale and confidence would be stabilized.

Dugu Xian came to the tent from the camp of the Central Plains and then returned after seeing the Dragon King.

Gu Shenwei knew that he had made a big mistake. For a couple of swordsmanship moves, he had nearly lost the army that he had worked so hard to build.

But this was also a test. Without his presence, some of his allies had indeed had second thoughts. Though Zhong Heng didn't complain, every message that he reported was a warning to the Dragon King. The prince of the Shule Kingdom had been exceptionally active during the past few days, frequently summoning his generals. The deputy envoy of the Central Plains, Sun Chengqi, as well as eunuch Zhang You, had also been very interested in the Dragon King's whereabouts, and they even put out a bounty on reliable intelligence almost in public.

The good news was that the Dragon Army was very stable. Long Fanyun and the swordsmen of the Big Snow Mountain didn't worry about the Dragon King at all. Their confidence had a huge impact on the troops. Xiaoyao Lake's troops were also significantly more composed than those from the Shule Kingdom.

”What happened in Golden Roc Castle?” It was not until they had talked about the most pressing military affairs that Zhong Heng finally showed his curiosity and concern about the big fire on the mountaintop. And almost at the same time, the first reliable intelligence report from Xu Xiaoyi was delivered to them.

”The fire in the Golden Roc Castle was put out. The battle has ended.”

There were no other words. Xu Xiaoyi knew the Dragon King well, so he had sifted out all the unconfirmed rumors.

In the afternoon, more news came in. Waning Moon Hall had retreated from Golden Roc Castle, seemingly with a victory. But this message was soon corrected with a news update: unexpectedly, Waning Moon Hall and Golden Roc Castle had reached an agreement and stopped fighting at daybreak. The price that the Golden Roc Castle had paid was abrogating the truce agreement signed in the Four Noble Truths Temple.

There were not many people who still remembered that event, but for the people of the Waning Moon Hall, they finally regained their public identity.

As to whether Lotus had fought the Unique King, everyone's opinions differed. And as to which one of them was tougher was an even more controversial topic. One thing that everybody knew was that a third party had just joined the fight for the control of Jade City.

”The Lord of Jade City will be selected via a kung fu competition.” This news, which originally was only known by a small group of people, spread through the whole city on that day, continuously rippling towards further areas.

All residents of Jade City were shocked with the exception of very few people.

Standing in knee-deep snow at the bottom of the cliff, Shangguan Hong and the five killers were all shivering with cold. They raised their heads and looked at that passage, unaware of the event that had taken place on the mountaintop.