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Chapter 390: Unique Skill

Old Man Mu did come to kidnap someone indeed. His target was neither the high priest nor Shangguan Ru, but the young disciple who had been accompanying the high priest.

According to tradition, this disciple was referred as “the Blessed Child”, and was the heir of the high priest. He would go on to become the “12th successor of the Reborn Fort of Xuandu Peak and the sixth High Priest of the Flower Soul Forest” in the future.

He was only 11 or 12 years old and of noble birth. In order to become a high priest, he was trained to be as submissive as a slave and was usually quiet around others, as though he didn’t exist. Other disciples were sent home but he insisted on staying by the high priest’s side and continue to receive guidance from him.

He wouldn’t even be squeezing in the same tent as the other youths tonight if it weren’t for the fact that the high priest had to act as a bait.

At that moment, Gu Shenwei came to realize what Old Man Mu was plotting. He leaped out of the ambush spot, wanting to give chase, but stopped in his tracks. As the Dragon King, thousands of soldiers were waiting for his command, he could not possibly take any chances.

But Shangguan Ru was by no means Old Man Mu’s opponent.

Just as Gu Shenwei hesitated, another figure flew out of the military camp.

It was Maid Lotus. Gu Shenwei was somewhat relieved.

Gu Shenwei summoned the soldiers who were lying in ambush and quickly ordered the whole troop to be divided into four groups and take turns to be on duty. Even though Old Man Mu had escaped, that did not mean that the danger had been eliminated.

Afterward, he immediately went to look for the high priest. There was surely some matters that he had not clarified yet, and the way the people of the Land of Fragrance talked grated his nerves. The thing about them was that these people would answer what was asked, but they always said less than necessary.

What was the secret that the high priest was unaware of but the Blessed Child knew about?

Gu Shenwei’s doubts were answered immediately. Contrary to what he had thought, it was a secret that both the master and disciple knew, and Old Man Mu only needed one of them.

The high priest was dead.

The medical high priest of the Land of Fragrance was in the camp and quickly came over to take a look. He concluded, “He was poisoned. It was most likely added into his food and its effects kicked in around midnight.”

Old Man Mu wanted to be the only one who knew about the secret, so he had killed the high priest who was in charge of Kung Fu and only kept the heir alive.

But it was impossible for him to poison the food.

The truth soon came to light. The high priest had eaten alone yesterday evening, and the people who cooked and delivered his meals were all investigated and questioned. All of their testimonies aligned and their suspicions pointed toward a noble soldier.

Su Mohua was zealous in serving the high priest and had not aroused anyone’s suspicion at that time. After pleading with the Dragon King last night, he went to the edge of the camp and replaced a fellow soldier’s place for guard duty, waiting nervously for the “Revered” to take him away.

But Su Mohua was stumped after Old Man Mu disappeared. His mind was blank and he even lost the strength to escape, staying put until he was brought in front of Dragon King.

It was not that Old Man Mu had forgotten about his loyal slave, nor was he punishing him, therefore, leaving him behind. He was merely using Su Mohua to make sure Dragon King knew what had happened and make his victory even more perfect.

It was very simple. Both Su Mohua and his brother had pledged allegiance to Old Man Mu under his coercion and had different tasks to carry out.

In fact, Old Man Mu was heavily invested in the mutiny organized by Su Mohua’s brother and the nobles. The change of attitude from the slaves was indeed something that he had not expected.

On the other hand, Su Mohua was responsible for another plan. He was tasked to secretly persuade the high priest and the Blessed Child to escape from the military camp and seek refuge with the “studious Revered.”

The high priest was someone who resigned himself to adversity. Be it Dragon King or Old Man Mu, to him, they were no different from the nobles of the Land of Fragrance. But the high priest lived by a principle – he would never take the initiative to do anything, anybody could come and take him away, but nobody could ask him to leave a place by himself.

The high priest was paralyzed and together with the Blessed Child, lived in a tent not far from Dragon King. Old Man Mu would not want to take the risk since it would be difficult to bring the two of them out of the camp.

The trap that Gu Shenwei had set up had provided Old Man Mu some inspiration.

And he had succeeded. The Blessed Child was in his hands and the high priest had killed by poison. Moreover, he had also led Shangguan Ru out of the camp in the process. All his goals were achieved.

Old Man Mu’s hatred for Dragon King was not only because of that one stabbing. The truth was that being deceived by Dragon King was a grudge that he had long harbored, and he finally felt a little avenged this time.

At dawn, Su Mohua along with the other nobles who were involved in the mutiny were beheaded in public.

Gu Shenwei sat inside the high priest’s tent, looking through the ancient books in hopes of finding any possible clues. But there was nothing. That secret must have been passed down by word of mouth instead of being recorded in books.

Gu Shenwei felt incredulous that Old Man Mu had only spoken with the high priest on one occasion and was able to make him divulge the important secret. So he summoned five noble soldiers who could speak Central Plains Chinese along with the medical high priest for questioning.

He felt that Old Man Mu probably learned about the secret from the nobles instead of the high priest.

The impact of beheading in public had not yet disappeared. The six men knelt as soon as they entered the tent, swearing to Dragon King that they had not participated in the mutiny.

Gu Shenwei listened for a while before asking them to provide a detailed introduction and information about the nine high priests of Flower Soul Forest.

Nobody knew what was Dragon King’s purpose in doing so, so they could only say what they knew and what they remembered. It pertained to all sorts of information and mostly irrelevant. In the end, it was the medical high priest who mentioned something of interest to Dragon King, “I know a mantra that can bring back the dead, but I will only pass it on to my heir.”

“You can only pass it on to your heir?” Gu Shenwei was not interested in the mantra, but he was fixed on the mention of the heir.

“You are the master, you can listen to it as well, Dragon King.” The high priest quickly added, then he said, “But it’s not effective every time…”

Gu Shenwei cut him off and said, “Does that mean that every high priest will have a unique skill of their own and they will only pass it on to their heirs?”

Only the high priest and his heir knew the antidote to the Indra fragrance, therefore Gu Shenwei wanted to clarify this.

All five noblemen and the high priest nodded their heads. To them, it was common sense and they never thought that there was a need to highlight this information.

“What was the unique skill of the high priest in charge of Kung Fu?”

They all looked at one another, unaware of the answer. A nobleman reacted quickly and said, “Someone might know, let me call him over.”

The nine high priests corresponded to different tribes, and people who were not of the same tribe knew very little about the unique skills of other high priests.

The insider quickly arrived. He was from the tribe of the Kung Fu high priest. Everybody started asking questions in their language, and he was very frightened. It took him a while to realize that he was not in trouble.

“The unique skill of the Kung Fu high priest was also a set of mantras, but it was very long. It was said that those who master the mantra would be invincible in the world.” The medical high priest translated what the insider said to Dragon King.

The unique skill was said to be passed down only to their heirs, but some of it might be circulated among people. The insider happened to remember some words of the mantra.

Just these few words were enough for Gu Shenwei to know what the unique skill of the high priest was. At the same time, he regretted that he had missed out on such an important secret.

Although that few sentences were poorly translated, it was definitely instructions for Internal Strength and was in line with the contents in the Wayless Book.

What was even more surprising for him was that these few words were certainly not within the scope of the seven chapters of Wayless Book that he had been practicing.

But the Kung Fu high priest had once mentioned that the Holy King had destroyed the divine kung fu and he did not look like he was lying that time.

The insider only remembered a few words, and only the Blessed Child would retain all the information now. But he was now in Old Man Mu’s hands.

Gu Shenwei finally realized how big a mistake he had made.

Both Maid Lotus and Shangguan Ru still had not returned by noon, and the soldiers who were sent out to check on them also did not manage to find any traces of them.

Gu Shenwei summoned several leaders from the army and ordered Long Xiaoshi, the chief of Danduo Peak and Tuo Nengya, the old macheteman to lead the troops and start moving. He would remain behind to search for Old Man Mu.

Old Man Mu’s threats to kill the remaining 999 soldiers were just a ruse aimed to disrupt the morale of the army. Gu Shenwei believed that he was in hiding now, interrogating the Blessed Child for the full incantation.

Old Man Mu was still not much of a trouble for now, but he would become an even bigger threat if he managed to learn the Wayless Qigong.

Everybody could not understand the severity of this incident, so they found the Dragon King’s decision unacceptable. Some even suspected that Dragon King only wanted to save his beloved women, and they unconsciously lamented over it.

In their eyes, they could have as many women as they want, but it was not worth taking any risk for any of them.

It was very hard for Gu Shenwei to explain the whole situation, so he simply did not explain and said, “Three days, then I will catch up with the army.”

No one dared to question Dragon King. The leaders accepted his orders and left.

Before the army marched out, Gu Shenwei rode a horse and went out of the camp by himself. He soon found markings left behind by Maid Lotus nearby.

Maid Lotus took a branch from a shrub and rolled it into a ball, and the remaining branch was pointed in the direction that she went in. Not many people could notice this marking, except for Gu Shenwei, who was familiar with her style.

It seemed as though Old Man Mu was trying to shake Maid Lotus and Shangguan Ru off his tail, as he went around in circles before finally entering the capital of the Land of Fragrance.

Only the elderly, women and children, and a small number of slave soldiers remained in the city, and they posed no threat to Old Man Mu at all.

It was getting darker now, so Gu Shenwei left his horse outside the city and quietly entered without informing the garrison nearby.

Gu Shenwei was able to guess Old Man Mu’s direction even without Maid Lotus’ markings.

It was probably the only place out of the whole the Land of Fragrance that was to Old Man Mu’s liking.

There were 10 Flower Soul Forests in total. Nine of them were located outside the capital and had been burnt to the ground. Only the one in the palace was spared, and it was the only one that was empty as no high priest lived there.

The Flower Soul Forest was a maze made up of plants. The branches on the plants were regularly coated with Indra fragrance to prevent intruders from destroying the forest in an attempt to find their way out.

But the Land of Fragrance had already subjugated. Nobody had come to care for the flora and fauna for the past month, and the effect of the drug had worn off. Both Maid Lotus and Gu Shenwei were not afraid of the Indra fragrance as they kept the antidote for it.

Maid Lotus had hastily broken off the flower branch and left an obvious marking.

Old Man Mu no longer going around in circles and went deeper into the Flower Soul Forest.

There were no more markings left by Maid Lotus. Nobody was in sight and there was no sign of any fighting. The three of them seemed to have disappeared into the air.

Gu Shenwei believed that this was the end of the path, so he breathed deeply and challenged Old Man Mu. “Old Man Mu you rat! Come and see me!”

The surroundings were silent as his voice lingered in the air. After a while, Old Man Mu’s eerie laughter could be heard nearby.