Chapter 689: Encirclemen

Silver Condor sincerely accepted his defeat.

The duel had went exactly the way he wanted it to go, and it had lasted for over a hundred moves. But the Dragon King's reaction and counter-play was unexpected. Instead of adopting a normal killer strategy of quick tricky attacks, the Dragon King had instead opted to fight as steadily and surely as he himself had.

It was a breathtaking fight with no opportunistic moves or dirty tricks. Each move was made with the intent of being a final blow to end the fight but had ended up as a draw. They were like two rams vying for a mate, straightforwardly rushing at each other in a desperate manner.

As the competition went on, their moves became even simpler because the two had already grasped each other's strength. Silver Condor was no longer unfathomable, and the Dragon King also lost his unpredictableness and complexity. Convoluted tricks and moves would no longer deceive the other side and just wasted the already tight time.

In hindsight, Silver Condor thought that he had actually had four or five chances to win but hadn't been able to seize any of the moments. He didn't feel particularly regretful though because the Dragon King had also missed a few of his own flaws in the duel and was the one who caught the other's flaw first.

Silver Condor had lost once again because of that strange frosty Qi. The two had entered a stalemate when their sabers clashed, but then the Dragon King used his newly learned palm technique. He had no choice but to parry back with his own palm.

The two had exchanged seventeen palm strikes. As they did so, the Dragon King became more and more adept at controlling his internal Qi and seemed to be progressing further in the technique with each palm strike. At first, the frosty Qi was like a petty thief who could only lay hands on its target when the other side was unprepared. From the sixth stroke onward, it became a great thief who could break into a heavily guarded mansion, and on the eleventh stroke, it evolved again into a righteous armed officer who forced open the door and openly entered the main hall.

In total, Silver Condor had accumulated nine strands of frosty Qi inside his body and his solution was simple and natural — just let them be. The first six chills vanished dully. Although Silver Condor felt very uncomfortable throughout the process, he had still been able to resist it.

Silver Condor had dared to let all the frosty Qi strands in because every time the Dragon King launched a palm attack, he himself would also be injured inside.

And Silver Condor was very confident about his endurance.

But the last three strands of frosty Qi had crushed him. The Dragon King had hit him three times in a row with nearly no time between each hit, as he had used the saber in his right hand to force the other side to take the blows.

Silver Condor had uncontrollably shivered and then lost.

Gu Shenwei was exhausted. Abandoning the killer's style and entering a close combat fight with a kung fu master like Silver Condor where they exchanged blow for blow and shown him his own limit.

If his frosty Qi couldn't have defeated the enemy in another three palm strokes, then it would have run wild inside its master's body and caused a serious Qi deviation.

Such was his sabersmanship. He could have defeated Silver Condor a bit earlier if he could slash his saber a bit faster while maintaining its power or wielded his saber with a bit more strength while maintaining his speed. This was the first time that Gu Shenwei had felt that both his internal energy wasn't powerful enough and that his usage of it wasn't skillful enough.

Few outsiders realized that the was Dragon King exhausted, and the onlookers only saw the Dragon King's narrow saber pressing against Silver Condor's chest.

The wing guard of the Khan had lost, and even the pickiest spectator couldn't find an excuse to justify writing it off.

Those thousands of officers and soldiers were dead silent.

"This is the second time," Gu Shenwei said as he put away his Five Peaks Saber.

A strange feeling suddenly appeared in Gu Shenwei's heart, bringing him a fit of dizziness and a little trepidation.

He had just unconsciously violated one of the most basic tenets of being a killer; he had put down his weapon in the face of a formidable enemy who hadn't yet lost his fighting ability.

But he believed that Silver Condor would not take this chance to counterattack. His superficial understanding of this wing guard was one just aspect of his prediction. After he used the saber technique of the Gu family, this trust had naturally manifested as if it were a part of the sabersmanship.

The best moment to launch an attack had disappeared. Gu Shenwei retreated three steps. The killer's tenets once again became his instinct, and the sabersmanship of the Gu family could only bring out that momentary change.

Silver Condor did have a chance to turn his loss into a win. Although it would have been very shameful to do so at that moment, his limited Jianghu experience told him that a few words of empty rhetoric combined with a day or two of letting the drama die down would make it so that most people would only remember the final victory with its glory being unstained by the contemptible means.

The idea flashed in his mind for a second but was instantly abandoned by Silver Condor with disgust. He had come to openly challenge the Dragon King and would also accept his defeat openly.

"A small favor won't change the truth."

"I don't want to change anything," Gu Shenwei said. He really wanted to lie down and rest but the situation required him to stand upright. "I learned a lot from fighting with you, that's all."

Silver Condor froze. If someone else had said that line, he would have dismissed it and immediately classified it as a perfunctory pleasantry, but it was said by the Dragon King and when he said those words, they seemed to have some real sincerity behind them.

He turned around and walked into the dark crowd while dwelling on other ways to deal with the chilly Qi. 'There must be a way,' he thought. 'The Dragon King has learned a lot but that doesn't mean that I've gained nothing.'

He would not turn to the soldiers for help because these people would never believe that the Khan had been killed by mortals. But neither would he stop their actions as it had nothing to do with him.

The soldiers silently gave way without a word. Then they all took three or five steps forward and narrowed the circle in unison.

The torches on the ground went out one by one. As the irregular physical boundary slowly disappeared, the soldiers sporadically took a few more steps forward. The defeat of the wing guard disappointed them but had also made them aware of their own strength.

Gu Shenwei remained standing where he was. He was well-experienced in fighting from a numerical disadvantage, but he had never come across such a situation where the besiegers had surrounded him and were closing in with no one ahead or behind. Everyone felt that he was no match for the Dragon King but everyone also believed that the Dragon King couldn't win against all of them as a whole.

Proper fear with a little manipulation would make the crowd divide and disperse. Gu Shenwei prepared himself while quietly praying that his Qi deviation would not trigger too soon and that the thousands of soldiers would only target him and not the few people in the tent behind him.

Shangguan Fei, who had hid himself behind his sister long ago, peeped out in the hopes that he could find a few familiar faces in the crowd. He admired the calmness of the Dragon King but was also a bit confused. If it were him, he would have taken advantage of the crowd's surprise to flee the moment he had defeated Silver Condor because that was the best path to survival.

Red Bat had no internal energy anymore, but she still drew her saber and stood guard at the door. She did not know what fearlessness was but knew that there were some things she had to do.

The five guards were all from the Norland, and they technically belonged to the Second Consort, not the Dragon King or Shangguan Ru. But they also drew their sabers and even stood in front of Red Bat.

There was a little fear in everyone's heart, as it was a feeling that was bound to facing a far stronger enemy that had nothing to do with cowardice.

But Old Man Mu was the exception to the rule. He looked expectantly at Shangguan Ru with sparkling eyes like a money grubber standing in front of a golden mountain.

Shangguan Ru shook her head with an indisputable look before stepping forward and leaving her surprised brother behind. She patted Red Bat on the shoulder in a soothing manner, passed by two guards, slowly walked towards the slowly shrinking circle, and shouted, "I'm Shangguan Ru of the Land of Fragrance. All of you have been deceive. The Dragon King did not kill the Commandant. I have proof."

The soldiers stopped but soon someone shouted, "They are both in this together. There are always enchantresses around a devil."

Old Man Mu jumped out of the tent, "Who said that? If you really are that bold, then stand out to let everyone see if you are a member of the Court Attendants Army."

There was a little commotion in the crowd. One of the soldiers pushed his way out and said with his head held high, "It's me. You said you had evidence, so why not show it to us now?"

Old Man Mu didn't recognize him but judging from the reaction of the soldiers around him, he must be a real soldier of the Court Attendants Army. "Who do you think you are? Everyone's got a mouth, so why is it your turn to speak..."

Shangguan Ru motioned for Old Man Mu to stop his lame arguments and turned to the Dragon King who was standing a few steps away from her. Gulun had once given him a piece of evidence which could be used to identify the real murderer.

Gu Shenwei shook his head. That paper slip was in his robes but he couldn't take it out right now, especially not in front of such a large group of soldiers. "I'll show the evidence at daybreak."

The soldier laughed angrily and accusatorily said, "You want to stall for time so that the lords in the tent can save you. I won't be fooled; we won't be fooled."

The crowd took two more steps forward.

"Idiot, King Riyao's men were just trying to sow discord earlier. How can the Dragon King still rely on the lords to save him? He said that there was evidence and there must be evidence, so what's with all your hurry?" Old Man Mu snapped back aggressively, but his words weren't convincing at all. Everyone had seen the intricate relationship between the kings. The fact that King Riyao wanted to kill the Dragon King didn't mean that no one wanted to save him either.

Shangguan Ru also walked took a few steps as she held her wooden saber. "Just think about it carefully, the Dragon King had no reason to assassinate the Commandant."

Gu Shenwei felt grateful for Shangguan Ru's support but he really felt that it wouldn't work.

Sure enough, another soldier refuted loudly, "He's a killer. A killer works for money and doesn't need any other reason."

"He's a devil who wants the Court Attendants Army to split up and the Norland to fall!"

"He kills people like flies to feed his devil bird!"

...

There were so many odd reasons that even Old Man Mu couldn't get a word in edge-wise.

Everyone was in a state of excitement and exuberance. Red Bat and the five guards ran to Shangguan Ru and the Dragon King. Shangguan Fei hesitated for a long while before finally deciding to walk to the door of the tent, ready to wait and see the situation before making his next move.

Tangled warfare was about to break out at any moment, but the besiegers were the first to fall into disarray.

"We are screwed," Old Man Mu excitedly sighed. "Here comes another bunch of people. Good girl, I will listen to you and stand here waiting to die."

Old Man Mu was right. At least several hundred more people joined the crowd and squeezed into the innermost circle, who looked at the Dragon King first and then turned around, drawing their sabers.

They were here to protect the Dragon King.

The besiegers retreated uncontrollably, and a distance of dozen or so steps was left between the inner and outer circles.

"Have you all gone mad?" A soldier from the outer circle angrily questioned, "Why are you protecting the devil who killed the Commandant?"

In order to mourn the Commandant, most of the bowstrings and crossbows had been loosened and left unused. Azheba missed the feeling of pulling the bowstring, but he still held his scimitar high up in the air and shouted, "The Dragon King is not the murderer. We can guarantee it!"

"Ehh, aren't they the officers who were caught but then ran away?"

The protectors of the Dragon King included those thirty or so officers who had been captured and more centurions and Decanuses, less than half of whom were ordinary soldiers.

"The officers are traitors!" A voice resounded through the crowd.