Chapter 256 - The Misunderstanding (1/2)
Lu Shengnan did not understand what we were up to. The looks on our faces must have left her thinking that we were intending something untoward and she looked absolutely afraid. She was, after all, a girl and she had just come out of the bathroom, wearing only a thin white shirt aside from the bra visible inside. She must be thinking that we were up to something no good. In fact, anyone would. Two men pouncing on you and tied you up and then stripping off your shoes. What else would one think?
“Damn you, Murong Shiyan! You scoundrel! What do you want!?” Lu Shengnan screamed at the top of her voice. Ignoring her cries and howls, Lin Feng and I each held a leg and plucked off the slippers she was wearing. But we were both dumbfounded. The toes on her slender legs were normal; ten of them and each looking ordinary as ever.
Shaking at our manhandling of her, Lu Shengnan continued howling her protests as Lin Feng and I shared a look. “You’re sure about that legend?” I scowled. “How am I to know if it’s true?” “Have you ever seen anyone with nine toes?” Lin Feng answered again, “Nope, except for people who are injured or maimed.”
The edge of my lips twitched irritably and we let go of Lu Shengnan. She was drinking with us together and she seems utterly unaware of what happened, I reflected. Is she really innocent? But if she really was part of this plot, she wouldn’t be drunk herself. Moreover, she should also be attacking us when we were caught in the pocket dimension of the Bamen Dunjia earlier if she was indeed a co-conspirator of Huang Li’s.
Lu Shengnan got up, staring at us with an expression of terror and fright, all the while never stopped at pelting us with curses and admonishments for what we did as she curled into the sofa. “All right, everything is fine now,” I sighed and muttered. Lin Feng went to her and undid the cords that bound her and sank into the single-seater just opposite her, finally heaving breaths of relief.
My Spirit Wolves stopped their snarlings too when they sensed me calming down and they huddled around me, sitting down on their haunches demurely like obedient dogs. The Forest Sprite, still perched on the top of the sofa, stared dubiously at Lu Shengnan before looking at me. “Urm… Master…” “It’s fine now, Freaky. Thanks. You can come on down now,” I muttered to him, smiling weakly. With a wordless assent, he hopped down too.
Lu Shengnan was however astounded by our earlier roughness and now my Spirit Wolves and Forest Sprites turning docile, at a total loss for words as Lin Feng and I both set alight our cigarettes. Then I took out one and offered it to Lu Shengnan, who finally recovered from her stupor and glowered angrily at me, “What was all that for?!”
“Well, about that… It’s just a misunderstanding,” I answered sheepishly, “We thought you could be a cohort of Huang Li’s, see? But after thinking more deeply, you shouldn’t be. Relax, we’re not thinking of doing anything nasty to you. We’re the men having a girlfriend. Come on.” Lu Shengnan pouted her lips irately, still clearly miffed. “What about Huang Li? Why was she trying to catch you?” she asked. I took a swig off my cigarette before replying, “Surely you’ve noticed her calm and composed demeanor when we met earlier today? Do you really believe her word that her house was haunted and she needs my help? She only wants to lay a trap for me.”
Lu Shengnan beheld me with a disbelieving look, although her expression softened when she recalled Huang Li’s odd and smug disposition when we met, which was just as I described. “But why? What does she want you for? You two don’t have a vendetta so bad, as I recall?” “Well, that’s where you’re wrong there. If my guess is correct. She does have a strong vendetta against me. One which could only be destined by Fate.” “AH?!” Lu Shengnan yelped with incredulity which made me chuckle. “There are something which you should not know, Shengnan,” I expounded gently. “But since you’re knee-deep in this too, I might tell you as well.” Lin Feng and I traded a quick look. “Remember the time when I told you about how I got my name? That I was named after my sword?” Lu Shengnan bobbed her head. “Well, I’m not actually a human in the truest sense. I’m a Spirit. The Spirit of the Shiyan Blade, the legendary relic weapon that belonged to the ancient Yan Di of the South.”
Lu Shengnan’s mouth was hanging so large that she could not say anything. Obviously, this was just unbelievable to any ordinary person. One might even dismiss what I just said as a stupid joke. But coming from me, Lu Shengnan could only believe it to be true.
“By my deductions, Huang Li could be my nemesis who is the descendant of Tribe Nine Li,” I explained further, “In theory, I am the true heir to Tribe Shennong that issued from Yan Di and Huang Li, if I’m right, should be the last daughter of Tribe Nine Li, the tribe of Chiyou, the enemy of Yan Di and Huang Di in prehistoric China. That would make us sworn enemies. There is a strong possibility that Huang Li was the one who attacked me when we were at Shanggu Town.” I crushed my cigarette stub in the ashtray and took a breath before I went on. “As to why she wants to abduct me, I can only surmise it has something to do with the dragon leys of this country, based on the premise that whoever controls the Shiyan Blade possesses the power to awaken the dragon leys to build an everlasting empire. With me, the Spirit of the Sword, now separated from the Shiyan Blade itself, Huang Li and her confederates must believe that by controlling me, they achieve at least a 50-50 chance of achieving that motive. We misunderstood you earlier as a cohort of Huang Li’s because you took us for a drink this evening and all of us ended up drunk. And because of that, we nearly got into trouble just now. It seems like a minute possibility that this is a mere coincidence, so we had to check.”