Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Chapter 14 (Part 7)

The assassin has had a rather awkward fall, and he turns over to get back to his feet.

“Stop it now —!”

The local guardsmen have arrived and Duan Ling calls out at once, “Don’t fight anymore! Come back here!”

Wu Du stands there looking at the assassin, but the assassin doesn’t seem like he’s in any hurry to run. Once the road nearby is all filled up with guardsmen, a middle-aged man dashes out of the crowd and yells, “My lady! My lady!”

Only then does the girl Duan Ling saved earlier come out of shock from the many frightful situations she’s had to endure, and with a yell she throws herself towards the man.

Two hours later.

Wu Du and Duan Ling share a single horse. Their carriage is gone, they’ve lost their luggage, and Wu Du is still bare from the waist up with a sword case on his back, looking like a blacksmith, while Duan Ling’s face is covered in soot from the smoke as he sits in front of Wu Du. The guardsmen are leading the way ahead as their convoy moves steadily along.

“Who is he?” Duan Ling asks.

Wu Du leans in next to Duan Ling’s ear and whispers, “That would be Helan Jie.”

Duan Ling is instantly overcome with shock. Wu Du adds, “That’s the very man who poisoned the late emperor. Do not go near him under any circumstances.”

“Why would he want to kill me?” Duan Ling says incredulously. He’s just now beginning to worry — he mustn’t die in his nemesis’s hands after all this effort to stay alive.

“No reason at all.” Wu Du adds quietly, “He’d kill just about anyone he doesn’t like the look of.”

As he says this, the Helan Jie riding ahead of them turns his head and shoots Duan Ling and Wu Du a glance. His gaze fills Duan Ling’s heart with terror.

“What is he doing here?” Duan Ling asks.

With the two of them riding on a horse, they’re sitting extremely close to each other, and when Duan Ling turns his head, their lips nearly touch.

Wu Du is wordless for a beat, then he asks, “Aren’t you supposed to be really smart?” Wu Du takes a look at the people around them and says quietly, “Take a guess?”

Duan Ling’s heart is as upset as a tangled skein; his father’s killer is close at hand but there’s nothing he can do about him. He can’t even tell Wu Du his true identity, and his mind is momentarily so unsettled that he can’t concentrate at all.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Du asks curiously.

Duan Ling shakes his head trying his best to clear it, and he begins making sense of the tangled web of all that’s happened.

“I understand now.” Duan Ling murmurs, “He’s working for Bian Lingbai. Bian Lingbai asked him to come search for the whereabouts of that girl.”

“That’s right.” Wu Du’s tone is chilly. “That hostage was heading to Tongguan in the first place, presumably to see Bian Lingbai, and halfway through the journey she was kidnapped by mounted bandits, and that’s why Bian Lingbai sent Helan Jie here to investigate. As for who she is, I’m not sure about that either.”

Duan Ling nods. That means they’re only robbed because the bandits were mistaken about who they are.

When they get to the crossroads, Duan Ling catches sight of a carriage and everything becomes clear to him — her carriage is a splitting image of his own. The bandits must have mistaken Duan Ling’s carriage as their target, and both confused and unable to fulfil their mission, had no option but to drag the carriage back with them. Then they just happened to run into their actual target on their way back and thus took her with them. The only one who managed to escape was the middle-aged man who seemed to be a steward, and he went looking for help along the road.

Sure enough, Duan Ling’s conjecture isn’t far from the truth at all; a captain of the Tongguan Guard is waiting for her in a post house just up ahead. It seems they’ve been going the wrong way ever since the post house before this one, as they had been directed towards the border between Xiliang and Chen. Crossing that very stream had put them in Xiliang territory.

After they had left, the middle-aged man took the coachman with him and went calling for help in the nearby post house. As it turned out Tongguan was also waiting for this young woman’s arrival, so when the two sides happened to meet up, they came to lend their assistance as quickly as they could.

Their coachman hasn’t been seriously injured, and he’s resting in a woodshed behind the post house. Duan Ling has checked his pulse and determined that his life isn’t in danger.

Mounted banditry devastates the area all year round, and they’ve been harassing the populace for a long time. The Tongguan Guard has already tried to stop them, but this time their guest had been kidnapped anyway, so they’re now going around expressing sympathy to each of them in turn.

“Don’t worry, my lady.” A Tongguan guardsman says to the young woman, “From now on, you won’t be in any more danger.”

The young woman is still grieving over her maid and the servants who came along with her, and she has no appetite. She gives him a nod, and next the captain approaches Wu Du and Duan Ling.

“Hey,” the captain says, “Who are you people?”

“We’re just passing by.” Wu Du says, “Don’t fuck with me.”

As soon as those words leave his mouth everyone around them draws their weapons. Duan Ling is lying down asleep behind Wu Du, and startled at the sound of weaponry he abruptly sits up. Wu Du though, just reaches behind him, and places his hand on Duan Ling’s shoulder to make him slowly lie back down again.

“Even your Lord Helan was defeated by my hand. If that’s all the men you’ve got how long do you think you’ll last against me?”

One of the guards gives their captain a tap on the arm and murmurs something quietly. Duan Ling is lying down behind Wu Du, while Wu Du is sitting cross-legged drinking a cup of tea, entirely unruffled. He tosses out a calling card. “Get somebody to show this to your General Bian, and tell him to prepare himself.”

The captain watches Wu Du for a little while, and picking up the calling card he leaves the post house, taking his men with him.

Visitors in the post house are congregating in three separate groups. The Tongguan Guard and the assassin named Helan Jie are gathered in the same spot. Helan Jie has a glove on his left hand and a hook for his right hand, and he’s constantly eyeing Wu Du’s every move. Meanwhile the young woman who was once a hostage is sitting now at the other side of the room, still crying, while the middle-age man keeps saying things to her in a soft voice attempting to console her.

Wu Du and Duan Ling have become the third force in the post house. A sleepless night has left Duan Ling so sluggish that he can barely keep his eyes open, and after a quick nap Wu Du is waking him up again, telling him to eat.

“What about you?”

“I already ate.”

And so Duan Ling sits up to eat, while Wu Du stays nearby cleaning Duan Ling’s boots for him like a patient older brother.

Once the young woman calms down, she stares at the two of them from across the room. Soon, the steward comes over to thank them both and invites Duan Ling over to speak with her, but Wu Du tells him, “My young master isn’t in the mood right now. We’ll see once we get to Tongguan.”

The steward can but bring that answer back with him. Duan Ling takes his time eating his food, and as he thinks about how his father’s killer is sitting right across the room, the rancour dripping through his blood is at once flowing anew. As he chews on the pastries, it occurs to him that if it wasn’t for this guy named Helan Jie, he would never have landed in the sorry spot he’s in now. Memories past and present intertwine, overlapping, making him more furious than ever.

Wu Du! Kill him! That’s the one thing Duan Ling wants to say most.

Of course, there’s no way he can order Wu Du to kill Helan Jie. He can’t do it now, and in the future if he regains his identity as the crown prince, that fact remains the same.

That’s because Wu Du isn’t a tool of murder that can be ordered around.

“What’s the matter now?” Wu Du asks.

Duan Ling pulls himself together; he’s starting to notice that whenever he’s feeling out of sorts, Wu Du can always tell for some reason.

“I didn’t … didn’t sleep well. He kept watching us.”

“He’s already ruined. Four of his fingers were chopped off by the late emperor outside Shangjing. I don’t know how he managed to get his right arm lopped off as well, but that means he’ll never be able to use a sword again.”

“He must still want to kill me.” Duan Ling has detected that much.

“Oh, your Master Wu over here wants to kill him too,” Wu Du says coolly. “You don’t need to be scared of him.”

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

If he attaches a sword to the stump he can probably still use it, Duan Ling thinks, but this way he won’t be able to use his wrist for moves like the overturn, twist, flick, loop, or seize; his martial arts will inevitably suffer a devastating setback, thus losing the chance to vie for supremacy ever again.

That night, Wu Du asks the post house to set up a screen, and so the two of them lie down behind it. Duan Ling recalls the things Master Kongming said; the one junior disciple who betrayed his sect and took the Duanchenyuan must have been Helan Jie.

Those words and deeds are so distant in the past that they feel as though they’re memories from a past life, and it makes Duan Ling feel strange, like they’re not even real. As his mind wanders he thinks of how Lang Junxia has done just the same thing as Helan Jie and once betrayed his sect. Duan Ling wonders why he’s so full of loathing for Helan Jie that he wishes he could cut him to pieces, but for Lang Junxia, he mostly feels the broken-hearted ache of having been betrayed.

“How do you plan to deal with him?” Duan Ling asks.

“I can’t do anything to him right now.” Wu Du turns to his side and says next to Duan Ling’s ear in a barely perceptible whisper, “We must first confirm what he is to Bian Lingbai.”

“He has to be a subordinate.” Duan Ling says quietly, “No doubt about that.”

“Yeah.”

Duan Ling watches Wu Du expectantly. It’s the first time he’s heard anything about killing from Wu Du’s own mouth.

“Do you want to spare his life?” Duan Ling asks.

“What?” Wu Du replies, sounding baffled, “What would I spare his life for? Once we’re done here and we have to leave, of course I’m going to have to kill him. Why’d you ask that?”

Duan Ling is nearly moved to tears — he just wants to throw his arms around Wu Du and kiss him. Wu Du, for his part, notices that something seems to be off about Duan Ling again. Duan Ling has come to realise that when Wu Du really wants to kill someone, he has no hesitation, and in his eyes this Helan Jie is as good as dead. The only reason he’s still alive now is because they can’t alarm Bian Lingbai yet.

The next day, more people arrive at the post house; at dawn, before Duan Ling even opens his eyes, he has already heard their hoofbeats. The Tongguan Guard is well-disciplined, their formations neat and uniform. With his eyes closed Duan Ling counts silently: five, ten, fifteen, twenty … nearly a hundred people have arrived.

One of the senior officers of the Tongguan Guard comes in to take that young woman outside first, and Helan Jie also leaves the post house right after her. Before Duan Ling knows it, everyone’s gone.

“If you’re awake, get up,” Wu Du says.

Duan Ling has to sit up then, and when he looks around he realises that no one is around anymore.

“They all left?”

“They’re all outside. Sit behind the screen and don’t come out for now.”

“I never figured that you’d have the guts to do this.“ A voice says, “To think you’d come all the way here to Tongguan.”

Wu Du sneers, “Bian Lingbai, I told you to make sure to wash your neck nice and clean. Did you do as I asked?”2

A military officer who looks to be around thirty walks in, stopping inside the door with his feet slightly apart, then the Tongguan Guard files in quickly behind him to take up positions around the room, each raising their crossbow at Wu Du.

Meanwhile, in front of the screen, Wu Du is squatting on the daybed and yawning, watching Bian Lingbai with impatience.

"If I really wanted to kill you,” Wu Du says, “I’d have waited by the door and stabbed you right there. You’d be dead the moment you walked through that door — as if I’d ever give you the chance to set up your men. Doesn’t even bother looking behind the door when you come in, gee you’re as dumb as your dog. Stay too long in Tongguan and this is how slow you’ve become.”

“Why you…” Bian Lingbai is furious.

Listening from behind the screen, Duan Ling just finds all this really funny.

“What did you come here for?!” Bian Lingbai says frostily.

“I brought someone here to see you.” Wu Du gets up indolently. “But since you’re going to point at me with bolts this way, we’re leaving.”

“Wait.” Bian Lingbai signals his subordinates to put down their crossbows.

Wu Du’s tone is chilly. “It’s one thing for you to not even thank me when I saved someone for you, but Bian Lingbai, do you really think no one in the world can keep you under his thumb?”

Bian Lingbai looks utterly livid, but he dares not contradict Wu Du; after all, Wu Du used to be Zhao Kui’s number one right-hand man, and as a close confidant of General Zhao there’s no telling just how many secret dealings of the border military he was privy to. All Bian Lingbai can do is sneer. “If you’ve got the guts, then go ahead and enter Tongguan.”

Bian Lingbai withdraws from the room. Wu Du takes Duan Ling outside only once he’s gone, and after he inspects the carriage, he lets the Tongguan Guard drive the carriage while he himself sits inside with Duan Ling, and they move on to Tongguan.

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In case this isn’t clear, the implied message is “wash your neck nice and clean so it doesn’t dirty my blade when I cut your head off”. ↩︎