novelraw Chapter 1003: Swords drawn
Chapter 1003: Swords drawn
"I heard you were whining about how hard your life is to Butler Bang every day", a voice resounded in the room.
"Wu Lo-...", hearing the familiar, long-awaited voice Wei Yuanjie, sitting on a sofa with his side to the door, turned to the door with a smile and, "Who the hell are YOU?!?!"
Wu Long chuckled, shaking his head while the 9th prince pointed at him, and turning to Duan Feng - who sat in an armchair directly opposite the door with his sword in sheathe held by both hands in front of him - started complaining, "See? ...ehm, I mean I know you can’t but... you know... metaphorically speaking... anyway, see what I mean? That’s why life is unfair! I’m staring in the mirror for an hour every morning to see any signs of becoming more mature and this guy does it in a week! And he’s looking like THAT!!!"
Although it was harder to tell the blind swordsman’s expression with the blindfold covering a lot of his face, the way he turned his head alone at the beginning of this speech caused the prince to correct himself, but as the latter spoke about an ’hour of staring in the mirror’, he gave an even more obvious reaction this time the wrinkles on his forehead giving away he was raising one eyebrow, which completely went over Wei Yuanjie’s head who was busy looking at Wu Long.
"I told you to stop telling people about that... routine of yours. I’m not telling you to not do it, it’s your prerogative, just keep it a private thing", Wu Long’s expression also became a bit strange as he sighed.
"Why? I told it to my brother the other day"
Wu Long placed a palm over his face, sliding it down as he sighed even more heavily.
"What?", Wei Yuanjie made that specific high-pitched near the end of the word voice, while spreading his hands to the sides and raising his shoulders, and then started explaining in a rapid rambling tone while actively gesticulating the two sides, "We had an argument, he said I’m not even his opponent, I said ’it looks like I am, and I’m good at it’, and then he told me to look in the mirror, and I said I did, I did it every day. He had no comeback to that! So I won the argument!"
"That... actually does make sense which is not what I ever expected to, nor wanted to say to something like that", Wu Long raised his finger to object, but didn’t find a good angle, while Duan Feng shrugged his shoulders with a small head tilt and scrunching his chin a bit, with a slightly surprised ’alright, that’s fair’ sentiment.
This caused Wei Yuanjie to make a triumphant pose with a smile, "Haha, I’m on a roll. Now I’m even winning arguments with you"
"I’m happy you’re gaining confidence and racking up wins", Wu Long made a wry smile, and then his tone turned a bit more serious as he proceeded to go into the room and sit in on a sofa opposite Wei Yuanjie, "I heard the Seven Extreme Swords Sect made a move"
"They framed it as exchanging pointers between fellow swordsmen", Duan Feng spoke in his usual calm voice, nodding, "I couldn’t refuse when challenged so publicly, even if the challenge was not direct and more of a question, nor did I want to if I am honest with my inner desires. My sword told me I had to cross blades with many experts before it could reveal more of its Dao to me"
Wei Yuanjie’s face turned to a worried one, and then suddenly made a shift into an angry expression, "It’s my brother’s fault! He gave them the opportunity to sneak that challenge in! He actually dared to question Master Duan’s skills with a sword because they heard he was from the Battle God’s Cradle which was cut off from the outside world"
"It was to be expected. Not finding flaws to throw at you, they have to shift to attacking those around you", Wu Long calmly replied, "That’s why I told you that me being absent for a while would be actually beneficial to you. I have too many flaws in the eyes of the Imperial Court for them to nitpick, since I’m already known in the Wei Dynasty. Me being absent for the first week, not only threw off their starting gameplan, but also gave you that starting advantage of them not having anything to even throw at the wall, let alone having something stick"
He then shifted his eyes to the blind swordsman and added, "Duan Feng is an enigma for them, far too unknown, so it’s hard to attack him. In fact the only thing they could come up with after an entire week is this. This roundabout way is the only thing they could realistically do anyway. Now, however, they actually foolishly exposed the 5th prince to damage from the results of Duan Feng’s fight. Because the prince questioned his skills publicly, and you stood by those skills confidently also in view of public, now the nobles can clearly compare your eye for talent and overall judgement. And you heard him, it is a welcome outcome for him"
"But it happened because of me", Wei Yuanjie sighed, guiltily looking at the blind swordsman.
"Do not worry, Your Highness", the corners of Duan Feng’s mouth went slightly up in a rare smile, "This is indeed what I was hoping for, and whatever the outcome is, it is my wish to take this challenge"
"Besides, Yuanjie, I think you still underestimate our friend here", Wu Long gave the blind swordsman a meaningful gaze, "Count me impressed, I didn’t think you’d be able to succeed in gaining what you did in this past week from the cut I gave you on your shoulder this quickly. It took some others decades and centuries"
"You flatter me", Duan Feng shook his head, "I only took what you bestowed so clearly"
"For someone else, it might have been just an injury they were annoyed with", Wu Long chuckled.
Wei Yuanjie turned his head between the two, finally chiming in, "I’m sorry, what? You cut his shoulder?"
"We didn’t meet as friends or simple strangers", Wu Long chuckled.
"I thought I was crossing blades with a great enemy and a worthy opponent, but I was facing someone I didn’t deserve to face, and was blessed with a great gift", Duan Feng nodded.
"What the-..?! Great gift?! He cut you up!!!", the 9th prince scratched his head, completely taken aback at this revelation.
The two did not elaborate, as Wei Yuanjie found them both to have a leg in the lunatic territory, but he then shifted to the challenge again, "Even if you win... I have no doubt in your skills, Master Duan... I know you probably will. But won’t that just give them more reasons to pick another fight? They’ll nitpick your win and start making up reasons to fight again"
"Then I will welcome it", Duan Feng spoke with enthusiasm subtly felt in his voice, "That would be a blessing for me, I could ask no more than that"
"But they won’t stop. Don’t think I don’t know how some of the Righteous Path Sects operate just because I’m a prince! I’ve read many accounts and books. If they want to bring you down, they will entrap you in an endless cycle of provocations or accusations and challenges, to try and make you guilty of severely hurting one of them, which will give them the righteous excuse to persecute. And if you win too much without that happening, they will find a way to accuse you of being a Evil Path... if not that, Corrupt Path... or even Demonic Path cultivator because you are ’unnaturally strong’ or something..."
Wu Long showed an impressed look, "You know their tactics quite well. But don’t worry, Duan Feng will handle as many fights as possible before they start getting shady, and as soon as there are signs of that I’ll break the cycle"
"You’re going to come out in the open? Didn’t you just say it was better for you to be absent?", Wei Yuanjie raised his eyebrows, already feeling better just from Wu Long’s words, but confused because of the contradictory statements.
"That was for the initial week. The timing is everything here. My absence allowed you to gain initiative and set the pace by throwing them off. Any attacks they land on me now won’t carry as much impact as they would in the starting week", Wu Long shrugged.
And then, leaning forward from the sofa while interlinking his fingers, added, "But me being absent not only screwed up their start, it also fooled them into thinking you and I were showing weakness. ’He was too afraid to be attacked so he didn’t dare show his face’. This false assumption makes them vulnerable to our next move. I’ll just appear while they don’t expect me to show up, and throw them off again"
"Whew~... if you say so...", Yuanjie reclined onto the backrest, half-relieved half-resigned to whatever is going to happen next, and then, it was possible to tell the exact moment an idea came to him as his eyes lit up, turning to Wu Long, "I don’t get why it was Seven Extreme Swords Sect though, aren’t they secretly aligned with that City Lord, Ko Zhu-... Zhuwai? Is he shaking hands with the 5th brother? But that doesn’t make any sense... why did he oppose me only to side with another Imperial Family member?"
"Haha, Ko Zhumen, and yes, they’re allies with him", Wu Long lightly laughed.