At a camp in the Land of Fragrance, Old Man Mu opened his eyes. Looking at the familiar figure in front of him, the first thing he said was, "Am I dead?"
Outwardly, the wrinkled Old Man Mu did not seem to have suffered much, and the only signs of his captivity were a pale face and flabbier skin, as if it were an ill-fitting cloth.
The Jade Pure Sect was famous for its internal energy methods, and even its means of torture were not visible. When Red Bat saw Old Man Mu, he was untied but moaning in pain. He could not even open his eyes at that time.
Gu Shenwei looked at him for a while before saying, "You're lucky you're still alive."
"Oh." Old Man Mu closed his eyes again, wondering who he was, who the man speaking to him was, and what 'alive' meant.
"You are the Dragon King?" Old Man Mu was already half awake when he opened his eyes again.
Red Bat had long been impatient, interrupted, demandingly asking, "Where's the instructor? Where is she? Why isn't she with you?"
Old Man Mu couldn't answer so many questions at once. He blankly stared at the woman in front of him, suddenly sat up, and said, "Good girl is missing!"
"Yes, the instructor is missing. Didn't you leave with her?" Red Bat asked anxiously.
Old Man Mu turned to the Dragon King and shook his head, "I didn't encourage her. The good girl insisted on going with me."
Old Man Mu had said that he had three Bone Shrivelling Pills, and Shangguan Ru was very interested in them. As soon as they had come back to the camp, she suggested, "Let's go fetch the pills. The Dragon King has an agreement with the Norland, so it's not easy for him to break in randomly."
So on the third night watch period of that night, the two had left and sneaked into King Rizhu's Office, and taken out the Bone Shrivelling Pills from the jewelry box of the dead princess consort. The whole process went smoothly except that they had attracted the attention of one hidden sentry when they retreated. But they had still managed to flee the camp before the night guards could react.
As to why the two did not return safely, Old Man Mu could not clearly explain. "I, Old Man Mu, have roamed the whole world and gone anywhere as I please for decades, but I haven't had such a shameful experience — I've been drugged. You know, I used to eat pills like candy at Waning Moon Hall."
"What happened then? Did both of you get caught by the old Taoist priests?" Red Bat just wanted to know the final result.
"I don't know. When I woke up, I'd already fallen in the hands of those five bastards. After being played by them like a tortoise egg for days, I'm as miserable as a ghost now. Almost all of my acupoints were sealed, uh, and even now they are still blocked. I had asked about the good girl's whereabouts too, but they didn't tell me. Every day they just forced me to hand over the martial arts manuals. I tried to plead them with tactful words. I said that we had an agreement and that they had to help me restore my power before I taught them the martial arts. I didn't expect them to turn against me … "
Old Man Mu wanted to continue talking about how he fought a battle of wits and courage, but Gu Shenwei became uninterested and gently push down on him. "Take a rest, I may need your help later."
"Dragon King, I didn't betray you. The good girl's kidnapping has nothing to do with me. When I'm getting better, I'll help you find her even if I have to toss the Royal Court upside down."
"Hmm, very good," Gu Shenwei ambiguously replied. With Old Man Mu's story, he hadn't decided how much he would believe, "Amongst the disciples of the Jade Pure Sect, what's the youngest one's Taoist name?"
"He's called Dao Nian. He's a monster. Although he looks young, he's actually seventy-eight years old. Among their group, he's the oldest brother and has the strongest internal energy. Even you, the Dragon King, must be careful when dealing with him."
Gu Shenwei would be careful, of course, in interrogating him.
In the tent next door, Dao Nian still sat upright even when tied to a chair. As a respectable elder of an esteemed sect, it was quite normal for him to be unprepared for dirty tricks, so it was not a disgrace that he had been caught. He had already made up his mind that he would not say a word to the Dragon King and believed that his junior brothers would rescue him sooner or later.
Gu Shenwei interrogated the captive alone. The female soldiers taught by Shangguan Ru were all normal people and were not suitable to watch his various methods.
The old Taoist didn't want to talk, and neither did Gu Shenwei want to waste his breath. He slowly walked to the prisoner, took out a dagger, and put it on the prisoner's right thumb.
The two looked at each other for a while. Dao Nian was confused. In his imagination, the other side would go through a process of verbal sparring before forcing him to speak and would only act ruthlessly when he became annoyed. But when he looked at the Dragon King's countenance, he seemed even more reticent than him.
'He's bluffing.' Dao Nian determined as he looked away, thinking that even if the other side was being serious, with his dozens of years' cultivation, couldn't he bear this little torture?
The dagger slowly fell down, and the pain was more severe than Dao Nian had imagined. Cold sweat oozed from his forehead but he could still bear the pain. He believed that he would at least be better than Old Man Mu but to his great disappointment, those holy scriptures he recited daily didn't actually work and weren't able to ease his pain at all.
Gu Shenwei waited for a while before producing several small boxes from his robe, which were all produced by Lotus. He wasn't good at torture, but when he had to do it, he still wanted to do it as best as he could.
He pinched Dao Nian's nose. The old Taoist was very good at holding his breath, and it took a long while before his mouth was forced open, during which Gu Shenwei quickly flicked a small pill into his mouth.
Dao Nian blushed with anger and almost asked what it was. But in his mindset, any speaking was tantamount to admitting defeat, so he swallowed his doubts along with the unknown pill.
Waning Moon Hall had many kinds of pills, of which many were powerful enough to break down even the strongest person. But most of them were either too expensive and rare or too slow to be effective. The one Gu Shenwei had used was relatively simple, which was to make the user's senses sharper.
For killers who sometimes couldn't afford to rest for several days and nights, it was a necessary medicine to stay awake. To a victim, however, it would only multiply the pain.
As the dagger pressed on the index finger of Dao Nian's right hand, it felt like thousands of daggers were piercing his body from both inside and outside. Dao Nian couldn't bear it any longer when it was just about to pierce half an inch in, saying, "I am seventy-six years old now."
Even Dao Nian himself didn't know why he said this. Was he hoping that the Dragon King would respect the elderly?
Gu Shenwei stood upright and left the dagger on the old Taoist's index finger, "Well-maintained. You look like you're only in your forties."
Dao Nian was stunned and suddenly wanted to cry out loud. He managed to hold it back with all of his strength but his voice still trembled. "The Jade Pure Sect is an esteemed orthodoxy of the Central Plains. You are fighting against the whole martial arts world of the Central Plains."
"So, you should understand how much I'm willing to pay to get you to talk."
Dao Nian finally understood that all of the Central Plains rules he was familiar with did not work with the Dragon King. Sects, Statuses, Martial arts; none of them could help him here. "What do you really want to know?"
"Where's Shangguan Ru?" Gu Shenwei should have left the question until the end, but he also failed to stay completely calm and threw his question out first.
"I don't know." Dao Nian shook his head desperately. Once he opened his mouth, his dignity and cultivation all turned illusory, as his only thought was to end the pain he was suffering as soon as possible. "Even Old Man Mu was not caught by us. He was sent to us."
"By who?"
"They left him at the door without leaving a name."
Gu Shenwei had to cut off the old Taoist priest's forefinger.
"It's Golden Roc Castle, it must be them. They were dressed in black, coming and leaving without a trace," Dao Nian screamed as his whole body contorted. He almost jumped up from the chair.
"Why would Golden Roc Castle send Old Man Mu to the Jade Pure Sect?"
"I really don't know. They didn't make any requests." Dao Nian racked his brains but couldn't think of any information regarding Shangguan Ru. Flustered, he began to confess other secrets, desperately shouting out, "You can't hurt me. I'm also an honored guest of the Norland, a Master hired by the Khan. The truce agreement you signed is also valid for me."
This indeed was some information that Gu Shenwei hadn't expected. "Master?" He still remembered that the disciple of the Essence Pavilion also claimed to be granted the title 'Master' by the Khan.
"Yes, the Khan admired the Jade Pure Sect's way of staying healthy and had invited us years ago. We didn't want to come, but we accepted the invitation this time in order to retrieve our external kung fu manual.
"The imperial court of the Central Plains allows you to do so?"
"The Jade Pure Sect doesn't pursue fame and fortune. We just hoped that the Khan could be influenced through lectures so the two countries would turn hostility into friendship and the people of the world won't suffer from war." The elders of the Jade Pure Sect had said this many times so it was easy for them to say it again.
The curtain of the tent door was lifted, and Old Man Mu wobbled in like a prisoner half-dead from hunger who had suddenly smelled the food and was desperately trying to crawl over. "I heard screams of pain."
Torturing others had always been Old Man Mu's favorite past time, though he had restrained himself ever since he started following Shangguan Ru. But upon hearing the screams of pain, especially when it seemed to come from an elder of the Jade Pure Sect, he couldn't hold back from coming in to have a look.
"Ahh, is the Dragon King avenging me?" Seeing Dao Nian, Old Man Mu was surprised and pleased. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? This old Taoist is the worst. Not only did he not help restore my power but he also nearly destroyed the rest of my power. He said I was evil and deserved it, but I hadn't done anything of the sort even when I was at my worst."
Old Man Mu intended to pour out all of his grievances now when Gu Shenwei stopped his nagging with a simple sentence. "This old Taoist is yours now."
Old Man Mu's eyes sparkled. No one knew whether it was from tears or excessive excitement. "Seriously?"
"But you can't kill or maim him."
"Ah, what's the point of keeping him then?
Gu Shenwei walked out of the tent.
Those three female officers and a dozen or so female soldiers were waiting for him, all of them shaken by fear to the point that they were too afraid to speak. They had also heard the screams of the captive, but unlike Old Man Mu, they were filled with terror instead.
"Your instructor is not in the hands of the Jade Pure Sect." Gu Shenwei didn't want to explain.
The crowd nodded and urged each other to return to their own tents, leaving only Red Bat behind who had no intention of leaving.
"You have something to say?"
"No." Red Bat faltered but finally said what was on her mind. "We all want to get the instructor back right away, but … but …"
"But is it necessary to torture the old Taoist?" Gu Shenwei finished the question for her.
Embarrassed, Red Bat smiled. "I know that there's no other choice. When I was in the Land of Fragrance, the lords' means were even crueler. No no, I'm not saying that the Dragon King is the same as my old master. The Dragon King saved us and we are all grateful. It's true that the Taoist priest is very bad and it's reasonable to teach him a lesson, but should we leave the instructor's brother behind like this?"
Red Bat talked a bit incoherently. Obviously, she was complaining for Shangguan Fei and what she said had been discussed by the female soldiers in advance.
Gu Shenwei wanted to tell her the truth about the world but decided that would be unnecessary before he spoke out. They were Shangguan Ru's subordinates. There was no need for them to understand the ruthlessness of killers. Being angry at betrayal and cruelty, and avoiding them at all costs: wasn't this Shangguan Ru's ideals?
So he said, "Shangguan Fei is not in danger and will be back soon."
It was like Shangguan Fei had been hiding nearby and waiting for the Dragon King's words, he really appeared. Puzzled, he said, "Dragon King, third brother … Shangguan Yun wants to see you. He's outside."