Death Sutra

Chapter 674 - Release

Chapter 674: Release

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Red Kit was a practical man; if there was a tiger standing in the way, he would always choose to take a detour around even if he were able to defeat the beast.

“Save your energy for more important things.” It was a principle that he often talked about. He never expected that one day, the detour that he always took would be a trap.

He had never put Shangguan Fei in his eyes. This so-called champion of the warrior contest had trembled with fear on the competition field and abased himself while trying to ingratiate himself with the Khan. All of it had left Red Kite with the impression that he was an indecisive wimp.

There was no need to make any further inquiries. Red Kite had determined Shangguan Fei’s preference at first sight. He didn’t mind taking advantage of it to bypass Han Wuxian, the ‘tiger’ blocking his way.

As the Khan’s wing guard, he was confident that he could defeat this strange woman with his own power, but wouldn’t it be safer and more efficient to let the other side make way herself?

And so he had fallen for the trap.

Red Kite felt so ashamed with himself afterwards. He could have defeated Han Wuxian with dignity, or at least he thought he could. But instead of having a straightforward fight, his carelessness and his lack of resolution to fight with all his strength had caused his wrists to be bound by the woman’s hair and then loosen grip of his scimitar. Then after his acupoints were struck, he fell to the ground, lying prostrate as if he could not resist the temptation of the beauty and had automatically gave up.

Heaven and Earth knew that Red Kite would never prostrate in front of a woman.

The contest ended and the crowd dispersed. Han Wuxian raised her head and sniffed the air several times before pointing out the direction of the Dragon King with absolute certainty. “This way, the Dragon King is not far from us.”

Soon after, the Dragon King came walking towards them alone from the direction Han Wuxian had pointed out, surprising Shangguan Fei. With admiration in his voice, he asked, “Can you really smell where the Dragon King is?”

Han Wuxian turned her back to the Dragon King and carefully combed her hair like a valiant soldier cleaning his weapon. “When a man becomes a real king, he’ll smell different from the rest.”

“Really?” Shangguan Fei had never heard of such a magical thing, and he breathed in hard himself, trying to smell this unique scent. “Maybe one has to have a unique nose like Fairy Han’s to smell it, right?”

“Hehe, lovely kid, would you like to learn my ‘sniffing skill’?”

Shangguan Fei was actually interested, though not because he wanted to use it to look for the Dragon King. “Fairy Han’s ‘sniffing skill’ is so useful. The Norland is in chaos right now, and many people are fighting for the throne of the Khan. If one could ‘smell’ the result in advance…”

The Dragon King had arrived, so Shangguan Fei hastily shut up and said, “Dragon King, we’ve carried out your orders and captured this wing guard named Red Kite. Please let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you.”

As he said this, he kept winking at the Dragon King. He had given out a fake order under the name of the Dragon King because he had no other choice. Without using the name of the Dragon King, he had no other method of forcing Han Wuxian to seize Red Kite alive as the other side was already addicted to killing.

The Dragon King didn’t show an unexpected look as if everything had gone according to plan. Shangguan Fei’s nervous heart calmed down, as now he could rest assured that his little lie would not be exposed.

Gu Shenwei still remembered Red Kite. After staring at him for a while, he said, “Unseal his acupoints.”

This order was a bit strange. Both Shangguan Fei and Dhuta Kingkong were surprised. Although Han Wuxian did not care, she also did not act right away. “You said that the disciples of the Waning Moon Hall would show up, so why didn’t I see any of them?”

“There was one. She was probably too afraid to meet her former Hall Leader and fled in fear.”

“Former? I am the Hall Leader even at this moment. That little girl Lotus doesn’t have to guts to take my position yet.”

“Hmm, either way, the disciples of the Waning Moon Hall are all afraid of you.”

Shangguan Fei secretly nodded. It turned out that the Dragon King was so good at lying that he could casually make up lies on the spot without mincing words. It seemed that he still had a lot of things to learn from the Dragon King.

It was hard to tell whether Han Wuxian believed it or not. “Next time the Dragon King will fight openly and I’ll hide and capture people,” she stated flatly.

“All right.”

Shangguan Fei had discovered a rule. The more charming Han Wuxian’s smile was, the heavier her killing intention was in her heart. She seldom smiled in front of the Dragon King. When he realized this, Shangguan Fei couldn’t help but take a few steps to the side.

Red Kite’s acupoints had been unlocked but without a saber in his hand, he could only vigilantly looked at the Dragon King, not knowing what the other side was going to do with him.

“You can leave now.”

“What?”

“You are very lucky, as I’ll spare your life this time. Go back and tell Silver Condor that you’ve already used one of the three chances.”

Red Kite was tongue-tied, but he wasn’t the only one surprised. Shangguan Fei had finally devised a clever plan and caught a big fish, and didn’t want to let go free so easily. “Dragon King, he’s a wing guard of the Khan and must know a lot of secrets. It’ll be very useful for us to keep him.”

Gu Shenwei shot a stern look at him and Shangguan Fei immediately shut his mouth.

Dhuta Kingkong felt that it was time for him to tell the truth. “Wait a moment, Dragon King. May I have a few words with you privately?”

Gu Shenwei didn’t move. Dhuta Kingkong embarrassedly looked at the Dragon King’s subordinates before beckoning for his dozen or so sabermen to retreat before whispering, “Dragon King, this man can’t be released. At least have him reveal the whereabouts of the head of the Khan first.”

“Don’t you have it?” Gu Shenwei pretended not to understand.

“In fact, this is all King Riyao’s plot. I work for him, and so does the Dragon King. We are actually serving the same lord.”

Gu Shenwei didn’t speak right away. Han Wuxian smiled and softly said, “You little baldy. You really lied to me.”

Shangguan Fei moved another few steps to the side. If he were Dhuta Kingkong facing Han Wuxian’s smile, he would never have calmly smiled back with flattery, let alone take two more steps forward. “Please forgive me, Fairy Han. I had to follow the king’s order and accomplish my mission. Fortunately, we are on the same side. After seeing King Riyao, I’ll personally make amends to Fairy Han for sure.”

Han Wuxian suddenly shook her long hair which caused it to gently brush past Dhuta Kingkong’s face as she turned her head, leaving behind a beautiful side view of her face as it portrayed a look of indifference and resentment.

Dhuta Kingkong had controlled himself well up to then but for some reason, at that moment, he lost almost all self-control and collapsed, begging for mercy. His knees were still shaking, but when he saw the Dragon King’s eyes, he suddenly came to his senses, blushed and turned to say, “Please forgive me, Dragon King. Let’s go see the king together. All the credit will go to the Dragon King. Just leaving a bit for me and my brothers’ hard work will be enough.”

“Are you really a man of King Riyao’s?”

“I can swear in the name of Heavens.”

“Aren’t you from the Central Plains?”

Dhuta Kingkong chuckled. “The area west of the Yellow River has always been a battlefield between the Central Plains and the Norland since ancient times. Today we belong to the Central Plains and tomorrow we may belong to the Norland. Everyone from my homeland is pledged to money. The Dragon King is from the Western Regions and I’m sure he knows as much about this as well as I do.”

“I see. You can go now. I still have to release this man. As for King Riyao, I’ll explain this to him later.”

Dhuta Kingkong’s face reddened even further but this time it had nothing to do with Han Wuxian. “Dragon King, the lord is very concerned about this plan. You’ve already made a big contribution, so what’s the point of releasing it for no reason?”

Shangguan Fei couldn’t smell the Dragon King’s kingly scent but he could smell the alliance breaking apart on the spot so he said to Red Kite, “Idiot, are you waiting for the Dragon King to give you a ride?”

Confused by the series of matters, Red Kite finally came to understand the situation and retreated step by step, ready to defend himself at any time. It was not until he had retreated ten steps away that he suddenly turned around and used his lightness skill to flee, quickly disappearing into the night without a word.

Dhuta Kingkong helplessly watched Red Kite leave, feeling humiliated. “Dragon King, I have to trouble you to come with me. Anyhow, we have to explain this to the lord.”

Shangguan Fei impatiently replied, “The Dragon King is very busy. He’ll naturally go see the lord when he’s free. How dare you ‘trouble’ the Dragon King when your identity is still unclear as of now?”

Dhuta Kingkong turned around and walked towards his men, his face livid. After meeting with his sabermen, he cried out, “Dragon King, don’t blame me for being disloyal. I’ve said what I had to say. It was your decision to release him.”

As he watched King Riyao’s subordinates walk away, Shangguan Fei bowed to Han Wuxian respectfully. “Fairy Han, your ‘sniffing skill’ is good, and your eyes are even sharper. How long do you think this Baldy Kingkong has to live?”

Han Wuxian sighed and said without looking up, “Who knows? But judging from his face, he’ll have to thank Heaven if he lives to see daybreak.”

Han Wuxian did not smile and her tone was also flat. Shangguan Fei was overjoyed in his heart. He touched the fine scars on his face and felt that he was safe now.

Gu Shenwei heard what Han Wuxian had said when he came over but he didn’t believe in her so-called ‘sniffing skills.’ “How did you find me?” he asked.

This was very important as he didn’t want his whereabouts to be known to anyone.

Han Wuxian smiled and didn’t seem to want to answer. The ground was shining with moonlight, and it also formed an illusory halo over her. Shangguan Fei stared at her in a daze and had to keep reminding himself over and over again that she was a woman, just a woman.

“I left a hair on you and I’m the only one who can smell it. You’ve been around us the whole time, so of course I can smell it.”

Seeing that the Dragon King had a serious expression, Han Wuxian giggled uncontrollably. This time she was just laughing and had no killing intent. “It’s just a little trick. Does the Dragon King want to learn it?”

Gu Shenwei didn’t care about her tricks. He just wanted to find that hair and throw it away. The first thing he had to do after returning to camp was to take off his clothes and wash himself from head to toe.

But he couldn’t go back to camp yet. The four of them found their horses and joined up with the golden roc killers and the teenage killers before riding eastward. In less than six hours, the final battle between the Court Attendants Army and King Shengri would begin at the ruins of the Royal Court. Gu Shenwei did not want to miss the opportunity to watch the fight.

It was dawn now and they were halfway there. Gu Shenwei saw five kung fu practitioners on horseback from afar who had also joined in last night’s contest but gotten nothing. They were probably going to observe the battle and fish in troubled waters.

Gu Shenwei adjusted his direction, intending to avoid those people in front of him. But before he had ridden too far away, he looked up again and saw that the five figures were gone.

The prairie was not really a flat stretch of land. It had some topography to it and one’s view being blocked was normal. Gu Shenwei didn’t care about it too much but Han Wuxian, who had been sitting in the cane chair suddenly loosened her long hair and said, “Waning Moon Hall members are really audacious, daring to show up in front of me.”

Gu Shenwei’s heart was agitated a bit and he galloped towards the place where the five people had disappeared.

The discovery the disciples of the Waning Moon Hall’s traces had transformed Han Wuxian into another person. She ‘flew’ up.

Nie Zeng felt the weight on his back suddenly disappear. Before he could react, Han Wuxian had leaped over him and was jumping through the grass at a very high speed. Each time she landed, she would advance a long distance, and the horses behind her would fall farther and farther away.

“She could walk the whole time!” Nie Zeng angrily cried out, feeling that he was really a fool.

Gu Shenwei urged the horse to gallop faster. He yearned somewhat for the Flame Foal at this moment.

Not only was he was concerned about the disciples of the Waning Moon Hall, but the disappeared Jianghu wanderers also worried him. The simple lure set by King Riyao might have attracted some really big fish, big enough to affect the whole Royal Court.