Book 14 Chapter 7 - Marquis Wu[1] Reincarnated
Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling stepped over the threshold and stood on either side of Kou Zhong; they were stunned as well.
The furnishing of the reception hall was simple. There were only a table and a few chairs, and some other essential things.
Leaning against the large window on the south side was a long bench where Xu Xingzhi was sitting motionless with his eyes closed.
His long hair was undone, and Wanwan, in her plain white clothes, was standing behind the chair, with a comb in her hand, and a gentle and soft expression on her face, combing his hair with utmost care. It was an extremely weird scene.
With a thousand ways and a hundred plans the three were able to break away from their pursuers; who would have thought that in this place, which they thought would be the Peach Blossom Spring [i.e. utopia, a hidden land of peace and prosperity] in the midst of chaotic world, and the Holy Land where they could retreat in peace, they were welcomed by their terrifying archenemy?
Wanwan's deep gaze was fixed on Xu Xingzhi's hair. With breathy voice that came out of her purple-red lips, she said, "What took you so long? I have been waiting here anxiously!”
The three looked at each other; they all felt that they had fallen into an absolutely disadvantageous position.
Unable to think of any way to deal with the distressing situation in front of their eyes, Kou Zhong stretched out his limbs, and sat down on a chair on the opposite corner from where Wanwan was standing; he said, "You really have some ability. How did you find this place?”
Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling separately sat down on the chairs left and right of the main door; they have regained their composure.
Wanwan still did not look up; her eyes were following the movement of her comb along Xu Xingzhi's hair. "Since you are smart,” she said tenderly, "If you think it through, you ought to know the answer. But enough chitchat, I want you to look at something interesting.”
"Ah!” Nobody knew what kind of trick Wanwan was playing, but Xu Xingzhi suddenly opened his eyes and regained his consciousness. But he was still unable to move a single step.
Wanwan hung her small cicada head low; looking at Xu Xingzhi's profile from the side, she chuckled and said, "Whatever you say now, Mr. Xu will be able to hear every single word without missing anything. Let us play am imteresting little game now.”
Xu Xingzhi seemed to understand what kind of game Wanwan was talking about; his eyes revealed a pained and helpless expression.
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, "You seem to have a bad habit of breaking into others' warm homes. Spit it out! [orig. you have a fart, let it out]”
Wanwan still did not look at them; she calmly said, "How could you be so foul-mouthed toward a girl? I just want to ask you one thing: which one is more important: the Jade Annulus of He Clan, or Mr. Xu's life?”
Immediately the three felt big headache.
Currently, Wanwan's manner and movement were graceful and elegant, extremely touching. Her white clothes and black hair matched very well with her bare feet and exceptional countenance. She was the epitome of feminine charm, beauty and tenderness. But the three knew that she could make her move any time, and when she killed, she would not be tenderhearted at all.
And the most formidable part of her plan was to let Xu Xingzhi hear Kou Zhong's answer with his own ears, so Kou Zhong could not play any trick.
Holding his head in his hands, Kou Zhong painfully said, "The Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in my hands, how am I supposed to hand it over to you?”
Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling also looked at each other with wry smile on their faces.
Hearing Kou Zhong's response, Wanwan was stunned; raising her beautiful face, she looked at the three men, and then her tender body shook severely. Her beautiful eyes, which appeared to be eternally shrouded in dense fog, shot a look of disbelief, and her combing movement stopped.
On the other hand, Xu Xingzhi's eyes revealed a hopeful look.
Ba Fenghan interjected, "Not in our hands means not in our hands. For the sake of Mr. Xu's life, I, Ba Fenghan, will make an exception of swearing an oath that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in our hands. If you still insist on taking Mr. Xu's life, I, Ba Fenghan, vow that I will kill every single person of Yin Gui Pai.”
Wanwan appeared to regain her composure; her beautiful eyebrows knitted together, she asked, "What happened to you? How come your expressions look like you have shed your mortal body and exchanged your bones?”
The three shivered inwardly at the superiority of Wanwan's eyesight; at a single glance, she was able to see that in mental cultivation, they had made a comprehensive breakthrough.
Tranquil and calm, Xu Ziling responded, "Even if we tell you, you won't believe it. Last night we went to Jing Nian Chanyuan to steal the treasure; it's a pity that before we even see the Jade Annulus of He Clan's shadow, Liao Kong already detected our hiding place that without any better option we sounded out the difficulties and retreated to avoid defeat. Afterwards, with nothing else to do, we trained together following the Secret to Long Life's technique. Totally unexpected, we actually made a breakthrough. But the Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in our hands.”
In their hearts, Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong cried ‘Wonderful!' Coming from Xu Ziling, who had never lied, these words were more convincing than if it was Kou Zhong who said it.
Wanwan seemed to be deep in thought, a facial expression that was enough to make others lost in wild and fanciful thoughts. With a faint sigh she put away the comb, and spoke softly, "You may not believe this, but I really believe that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is not in your hands, because I know ‘listening to the sound to distinguish emotion' technique. Just now Kou Zhong was sincere, but Ziling Xiong's remark has a not completely dishonest nuance. But since it has nothing to do with the Jade Annulus of He Clan, nujia naturally has no time to think about it. Anyway, who stole the Jade Annulus of He Clan? Of course you did not have this ability.”
The three heaved a sigh of relief, but at the same time their heart was overwhelmed with horror.
Secret consummate skill of the demonic school emerged more and more, turning their hearts cold.
Kou Zhong spoke in distress, "If Shi Feixuan had the same ability as you to tell the truth from the lies, we would not need to carry this black pot on our backs!”
‘Pow!'
Wanwan's palm slapped Xu Xingzhi's back. The latter immediately regained his speech and movement ability. Naturally he understood the gravity of the situation that he did not dare to act blindly without thinking.
Wanwan turned her tender body around, so that her milky white back was facing four men. Looking at the small garden in front of the wall, she said softly, "This time even if you wash yourself in water you can't be clean. However, according to what I heard, I still feel it strange: how come the thief was only one person and not three? Yet Liao Kong was adamant that it was the three of you who did it. He must have his reasons.”
Ba Fenghan coldly said, "And now, what do you want?”
Wanwan shrugged her fragrant shoulders slightly. Laughing tenderly, she said, "If you are willing to tell me the secret of Duke Yang's Treasure, I can help you get out of here safely. Currently, other than us, who dares to offend those women from the Jing Zhai?”
With a bitter smile Kou Zhong said, "I'll say your ‘listening to the sound to distinguish emotion' technique is not always effective. That time our Niang did not have time to tell us the secret of the treasure before she passed away. And now what do we have as an exchange to your help?”
‘Pfft!' Wanwan laughed tenderly, and turned her tender body around. Full of tender feelings, she looked at Kou Zhong and said, "You are still lying! Don't forget that we obtained all information about your Shuang Long Bang [double-dragon gang] from your subordinate!”
Xu Ziling let out a cold humph; his tiger-eyes flashed with sharp rays.
Were it not for Xu Xingzhi was still under her control, hence he ‘refrained from shooting at the rat for fear of breaking the vase', he would have made his move immediately.
Wanwan cast her gaze on Xu Ziling's out-of-the-ordinarily outstanding handsome face. Sighing gently, she said, "Two sides fighting each other, if you didn't kill me, I would kill you. However, due to changing circumstances and vital interest, can't we temporarily work together?”
Ba Fenghan laughed aloud and said, "I wonder if Miss dares to have a one-on-one duel with me, other things can be discussed after victory and defeat is decided.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other in surprise; they did not expect Ba Fenghan would make this move.
Although in term of power they had enjoyed tremendous advancement due to the Jade Annulus of He Clan, yet they still needed to digest and train diligently. At that time they might have enough power to fight one-on-one against Wanwan. But right now their chance of victory was really very little.
Wanwan laughed calmly, "Either you were born with self-destructive character, or you were born an idiot,” she said.
Ba Fenghan revealed a smile full of confidence; he responded indifferently, "You are free to say anything you want to say. The Ol' Ba just wants to know if you have enough guts to accept the challenge.”
Frowning, Wanwan stared at him for half a day. Finally she nodded and said, "It was because you have seen right through me that I can't possibly fight with you right now that you spoke conceited nonsense like that. But be careful since I might suddenly change my mind, and take Shi Feixuan's place in taking care of you.”
Ba Fenghan's eyes were gleaming with sharper-than-saber-blade rays as he stared deeply into Wanwan's beautiful eyes. Shaking his head, he spoke heavily, "I also know that not only you can't possibly fight with us, you do not dare to do so. The most subtle reason is because your decisive battle against Shi Feixuan is near at hand; therefore, both sides want to save your energy. Under this situation, do you dare to fight to the death against me, Ba Fenghan?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had a sudden understanding; they were both crying ‘wonderful!' inwardly.
The biggest problem right now was that the initiative lay entirely in Wanwan's hands.
She could both ‘throw stones at somebody who fell down a well', by announcing the location of their hideout, or make her move by killing Xu Xingzhi, to vent her resentment for their refusal to cooperate with her.
But Ba Fenghan had pointed out her only weak spot, which was afraid to have a hard battle and suffer damage of her strength, which Shi Feixuan could exploit to her advantage.
[1] Marquis of Wu (Wu Hou) or Marquis of Zhongwu is another name of Liang (181 - 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a chancellor (or prime minister) of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is recognized as the most accomplished strategist of his era. (Wikipedia)