Death Sutra

Chapter 537: Steal the Horse

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Long Fanyun worked with Old Man Mu for the first time, so he was nervous.

Long Fanyun did not know much about Old Man Mu, but these days he had heard many rumors about him from people of Norland. He considered Old Man Mu as a devil, and his hatred and fear towards the old man increased. However, Long Fanyun was curious about Old Man Mu.

Now, Old Man Mu did not look like a bad guy. Instead, he seemed to be a poor old man who had not experienced many happy things. Long Fanyun could hardly connect this old man to that merciless Ferocious Old Devil.

Long Fanyun looked at Old Man Mu.

“What are you looking at?” Old Man Mu stared at Long Fanyun as he asked. He pretended to be an amiable man to please Dragon King and Shangguan Ru. However, facing swordsman from the Great Snowmountain, he exposed his bad temper. He continued, “Do you have a crush on me? You already have girlish Shangguan Fei to entertain you.”

All of a sudden, Long Fanyun became flushed. He reached for his long-saber, but he did not draw it. Until now he had not realized that he had not brought a weapon. He exclaimed, “I want to challenge you to a duel now!”

Long Fanyun could not stand this shame. He had a wife in the Great Snowmountain, so he could not tolerate being accused as a gay. Otherwise, he would have no face to return to his hometown.

Old Man Mu raised his head and looked at the furious swordsman. Suddenly he burst into laughter, his sinister smile hidden in his wrinkles. He replied, “Do not get angry. I’m just kidding. Everyone knows that only applies to Shangguan Fei. He is not good enough for… I know Lord Long is straight and not interested in men.”

Long Fanyun’s anger subsided. He understood he was no match to this old man. But if this old man continued to provoke him, he would fight even he would be defeated.

Old Man Mu continued, “I finally understand why Dragon King chose you to pretend to be Cavalry Hang. You two not only look alike, but also have a similar temper. Listen to me. When we reach the encampment, you’d better pick out a soldier inside and fight him. I promise that no one dares suspect you.”

At this time, just after the second shift, the night was thick, and there was a man lying in the grass. Long Fanyun had stripped the man’s coat and put it on himself. The cavalry in Norland seldom wore undergarments. The man was not dead, only knocked out by Old Man Mu.

Old Man Mu was right. When Long Fanyun wore his coat, he looked like Hang Cavalry.

Long Fanyun got on the horse and opened a leather sack. He told Old Man Mu, “Hide in here.”

“Old Mu took a deep breath. For years, he had to hide in his leather bag as long as he acted during the day. But the only advantage of his loss of power was that he was no longer afraid of the light and that the leather bag was no longer a suitable shelter. He took a deep breath and murmured to himself, “I used to sleep with your woman, today I will steal your horse. I used to sleep with your woman, today I will steal your horse…”

Old Man Mu entered the leather sack. He looked around through the peephole, but he saw nothing. Therefore, he leaned backward to make himself more comfortable. “It’s not bad. Instead, I feel a sense of safety as if I were on my way home,” he thought.

Old Man Mu did not have a home. The home he referred to was where he had learned kung fu from his master. His skillful master, envious fellow male apprentices and master’s beautiful wife stayed there. In fact, he did not remember the appearance of his master’s wife. But when he thought of her, Han Wuxian, the Master of Xiaoyue Hall, would enter his mind and then he would immediately drive those thoughts out.

Old Man Mu thought a lot in the leather sack. Long Fanyun was not as composed as Old Man Mu. The task Dragon King had assigned to him was difficult and dangerous. He did not fear being killed during the task; however, he was afraid of failure: in which case he would be scoffed by his companions, and Dragon King’s plan would be ruined.

Dragon King wanted to teach King Rizhu a lesson.

Long Fanyun had heard that King Rizhu had cursed Dragon King, so he had supported Dragon King’s revenge. But when Fang Wenshi had heard Dragon King’s plan, he was stunned and tried to stop him. He said, “Please do not act on impulse. We have not reached their royal court yet. We can not offend King Rizhu. We’re here to negotiate instead of…”

Dragon King had taken him aside and whispered to him. Fang Wenshi reluctantly changed his mind and no longer opposed stealing the horse.

There were two reasons why Long Fanyun worshipped Dragon King who was several years younger than him. For one thing, Dragon King was skilled in martial arts. For another, although he showed no mercy to his enemy, he seldom forced his subordinates to follow his orders; instead, he could always find a proper reason to persuade others, which Long Fanyun admired most.“Dragon King and I rarely speak or laugh, but Dragon King could be eloquent if necessary, while I can not.

Compared to Dragon King, Shangguan Fei is just a talkative joker,” Long Fanyun mused.

Long Fanyun spat towards the ground at the thought of Shangguan Fei. “Why did I think of Shangguan Fei? It’s a huge disgrace to Dragon King to compare Shangguan Fei to him,” he thought.

Dragon King’s plan was simple. Old Man Mu made was in charge of knocking people out, while Long Fanyun stole the horse. Long Fanyun had a similar temperament to cavalry from Norland. Besides, he knew horses so he could tame Flame Foal.

The defenses at the Naihang Tribe encampment were loose. Compared with the men there, the horse would be more difficult to handle. According to his observation, this horse could wake up dozens of soldiers including King Rizhu with a single neigh. Therefore, this task mainly depended upon Long Fanyun.

Old Man Mu could easily knock out soldiers. Even if he was in danger, he could quickly run away. As for Long Fanyun, Old Man Mu would not help him. After all, Dragon King had not asked him to keep Long Fanyun safe.

When they were approaching the Naihang Tribe encampment, Old Man Mu reminded Long Fanyun, “Hurry! Rush in!”

“What?”

“Rush in, idiot. Are you waiting to be questioned? I just said you looked like people from Norland. Have you forgotten their style?”

Long Fanyun understood what Old Man Mu meant. He galloped up to the encampment and shouted around, acting like a drunk.

Several guards rushed out to the gate of the encampment. They questioned Long Fanyun in the local tongue, but Long Fanyun ignored them. Instead, he rode faster and broke into the encampment, nearly hitting the guards.

He entered the encampment. The guards cursed him angrily, but no one chased after him.

King Rizhu had his reason to have such a loose defense. No one dared provoke him in Norland. Although he ranked last among ten lords, even King Dari, who ranked first, needed to pay some respect to him.

He thought himself a sensible man. “I pretended to be on a hunt. I intend to meet Dragon King before the other lords do. I will not meet danger during the hunting or the meeting. Therefore, I do not need my men to be on patrol day and night. The war is coming, and I will have my opportunity to strike.”

Long Fanyun and Old Man Mu would come later. For the cavalry in Norland, midnight was the best time for them to drink. The whole encampment was holding a feast. Soldiers with wine bowls and meat on their hands rode around aimlessly. They saddled their horses even if they only needed to enter the tent next to theirs.

Soon Long Fanyun blended in with the crowd. He often got a big bowl of liquor, which was strong and hot. When he drank it, he felt like his throat and stomach were on fire. Particular drinkers might dislike it, but Long Fanyun enjoyed it.

After he finished ten bowls of liquor, Long Fanyun had the same thoughts as people born in Norland. “A man should drink. It’s a pity that Dragon King does not drink,” he thought.

Long Fanyun managed to approach the tent of King Rizhu in a roundabout route. However, he could not find an opportunity to steal the horse.

Lights inside King Rizhu’s tent were on. At least thirty men stayed inside. They drank and sang without order. Sometimes they spoke their local language, and sometimes they spoke Central Plains Chinese.

Flame Foal was chained up in front of the tent. Under the light, it looked bloody red. The horse ate fine cereals, receiving attention from the crowd. The horse raised its head and gave a neigh now and then. Every time it would neigh, it would win praises from the crowd.

King Rizhu was in good mood. He raised his bowl of liquor and cried in Central Plains Chinese, “It’s a pity that Flame Foal is not a man. Otherwise, I would pass my title to it. Look at it. It looks like a king. Except for Khan, who deserves to be a king better than it? The king of the Central Plain is not even qualified to feed it.”

“Exactly. As for that boy toy who claimed himself as Dragon King, it is his honor to catch a glimpse of Flame Foal. He dared…” someone followed.

King Rizhu downed a bowl of liquor and threw the bowl out of the tent. The bowl did not hit Flame Foal, but it almost hit Long Fanyun, who was pretending to have lost his way.

“Bastard. He dared make terms with me. I guarantee that he will kneel on the ground to beg my forgiveness at dawn tomorrow. Do not treat him nicely. If I do not teach him a lesson, he will mistake Norland for a small kingdom in the Western Region.”

They freely cursed and insulted Dragon King when they drank. Everyone took pleasure in abusing Dragon King loudly. They used all swear-words they could think of.

Long Fanyun was irritated by their words, so he intended to ride forward. At this time, Old Man Mu’s voice reached his ear, “What are you going to do? Do you intend to commit suicide? Let me get out of the leather sack first.”

Long Fanyun was reminded by the old man’s words. “Even if I died here, I could not hurt King Rizhu The best retaliation is to steal his favorite horse,” he pondered. However, he could not stay here to hear them curse Dragon King, so he said to Old Man Mu, “I will ride around, and then come back here later.”

“You are a fool. We can not wait to steal the horse until they go to sleep. I will cause chaos, and you can take this chance to steal the horse. I will meet you outside the encampment,” Old Man Mu suggested.

“King Rizhu hates you so much. Once you were discovered…”

“Haha. What do you think turns me from a tall, strong man into a short man? Although I am a good kung fu master, I have a handsome look that even the king’s concubine did not want to miss me. That’s why I altered my appearance…”

Old Man Mu did not stop bragging. Long Fanyun opened the leather sack and let Old Man Mu jump out.

Old Man Mu instantly disappeared into the darkness, leaving Long Fanyun waiting alone anxiously. He had no idea how Old Man Mu was going to attract the attention of King Rizhu.

Soon he knew.

The disturbance took place far away from the encampment. But soon an increasing number of Norland cavalry called their buddies and rushed to where the disturbance had broken out. When they arrived, they joined in the fights.

The sounds of fights overwhelmed everything, and it soon reached King Rizhu’s tent.

“What the hell is happening?”

A soldier rode to them and said with a red face, “Fights! They are fighting against each other. I do not know who started it.”

King Rizhu said, his eyes sparkling with anger, “A group of little sheets dared fight in my encampment. Let’s go. I will kick their ass.”

Everyone followed King Rizhu, except Flame Foal.

Long Fanyun had already gotten down. He lay on the ground and pretended to be asleep; no one paid attention to him.

As soon as King Rizhu and his men left, Long Fanyun immediately got up. He took out a black cloth from the leather sack, tied it to his belt and walked up to Flame Foal. Instead of taking the action hastily, he stretched out his left hand to stroke the horse, and then grasped a handful of grain with his right hand to feed Flame Foal.

After that, he opened his black cloth and tied it on Flame Foal. It did not resist.

King Rizhu called a group of people to appreciate the horse daily, so it had lost its vigilance to humans.

Long Fanyun was still angry when he was about to ride Flame Foal. He walked into the tent of King Rizhu and urinated into two jars of liquor.

King Rizhu thought it was a perfect day. That group scuffle erased the displeasure Dragon King had brought to him in the day.

“Did you see how I kicked that kid’s ass? He knelt on the ground, crying for his mother. Who dared look down upon me for my age? Even after ten years, I can defeat kids around twenty!”

King Rizhu poured a bowl of liquor for himself and took a swallow of wine. It tasted odd. When he raised his head, he saw his subordinates gazing at the empty plot where Flame Foal had been chained up. He turned around, and found his favorite Flame Foal disappeared. When they had returned to the tent, they were too excited to notice the horse was gone.

Long Fanyun awaited Old Man Mu at the rendezvous. He saw the cavalry of Norland rushing out of the gate madly towards Dragon King’s encampment.

Long Fanyun had no idea how Dragon King was going to handle King Rizhu who had lost his mind. He was not good at schemes, but he believed that Dragon King could handle it properly.

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