Chapter 7
A Striking Femme Fatale
Behind the window of the room opposite, once the lamplight was extinguished, two pairs of eyes flashed in the darkness.
A look of pleasant surprise suddenly swept across the two pairs of peeping eyes.
Because they suddenly realized that in the room opposite there were no longer any swordsmen guarding the prisoner’s cage, just a lone prisoner’s cage. Such a great opportunity was not to be missed.
Sister As You Wish nudged Sheng Jian, who nodded in understanding, then they shifted their bodies and readied to leave.
Sister As You Wish suddenly grabbed hold of him and whispered, “Remember, don’t panic. This Bone Dissolving Golden Needle only has to prick the skin and that kid is done for. Once it’s done, don’t look around, just hurry back over here. We’ve already split the money. Tomorrow once it’s daylight we’ll calmly be on our way. This is the only safe way. That Merciless Gold Sword would never expect an assassin to have such gall to do a fine thing like this and still dare to stick around nearby. On the contrary, if we try to flee we’ll be caught for sure. Alright, go on, be careful!”
Sheng Jian nodded. “I got it.”
With that, his tiptoes pressed down and he moved like smoke lightly flipping through the pre-opened skylight.
※ ※ ※
Lying on the roof ridge, Big Treasure was panicky, because he didn’t expect the pair of them to suddenly split up.
Momentarily he had no plan, didn’t know whether staying here and keeping an eye on the woman or going after and tailing the man was better.
In his uneasiness, Sheng Jian flashed and disappeared from view.
He shook his head, very annoyed. Best thing would be to make up his mind and hurry back to the wineshop and talk it over with Second Treasure.
Second Treasure might have a good idea.
※ ※ ※
Sheng Jian’s martial arts was not exceptional, but his skill with hidden weapons was passable.
The Bone Dissolving Golden Needle that Sister As You Wish had given him was neither too heavy nor too light, it would be easy to use.
So when the gold needle zipped through the covering drapes in a thin flash of golden light and penetrated the prisoner’s cage, it was almost completely silent.
Sheng Jian was very pleased once he had thrown the needle.
Despite the fact that Sister As You Wish had told him that the gold needle was incredibly vicious, as long as it hit its target there was no worry about them not dying, still, to be cautious, he stayed on the roof for a bit after throwing the gold needle. Until he saw shaking from inside the prisoner’s cart, and a string of pained moans, only then was he satisfied and delighted and stealthily flitted down and wound his way back around to his quarters.
※ ※ ※
Second Treasure couldn’t think of any good ideas.
Big Treasure said, “It’s your turn, you go take a look. If it doesn’t look right, come back and call for me.”
Second Treasure agreed and went.
Around half a watch lapsed.
Second Treasure hurriedly returned.
Big Treasure met him and asked, “Did the man ever come back?”
Second Treasure nodded. “He did.”
Big Treasure said, “Then what did you come back for?”
Second Treasure said, “I also saw something weird and thought to find for and ask you about it, see how we ought to handle it.”
Big Treasure said, “What something weird?”
Second Treasure said, “After the man came back, he whispered I don’t know what to with that woman, then the two of them let out this smacking sound, like the woman was hugging the man and kissing him…”
Big Treasure said, “And then?”
Second Treasure said, “Then, I don’t understand what it was they were doing after that.”
Big Treasure said, “Big Treasure understands more than you do, tell me about it!”
Second Treasure said, “The two of them kissed on the mouth, then stripped naked and got into bed together. I thought they were going to sleep, but then without uttering a sound they suddenly started fighting.”
Big Treasure said, “Was it over the gold?”
Second Treasure said, “I don’t know.”
Big Treasure said, “Who ended up winning?”
Second Treasure said, “They haven’t finished. When I headed back, the man seemed to have the upper hand, because the woman was below him just kept on hollering out Big Brother, have mercy on me…”
Big Treasure scratched his head. “Why were they fighting? That is weird. Come on, let’s go have another look!”
※ ※ ※
Swordsman Sun’s death was horrible.
It wasn’t until the next day that the body was found.
The first one to see the brutal sight was not one of the inn’s waiters, but a Brocade Swordsman by the surname Yang.
After daybreak, Swordsman Yang on Merciless Gold Sword’s orders got ready to go over to the hall and open the prisoner’s cage and let Swordsman Sun out and lock Shen Wuhai back up inside so they could continue on their journey. But when he pulled back the drapes, Swordsman Sun inside had turned into a heap of meat pulp sauce, like purple rotting meat!
Why was Swordsman Sun locked in the prisoner’s cage?
Actually it was thoroughly unfair!
※ ※ ※
It was another Brocade Swordsman Fang’s idea.
This Brocade Swordsman’s name was Fang Zhiyi, and among the Brocade Swordsmen he was known as the Mastermind Star.1
Merciless Gold Sword’s decision to use put up a reward for 10,000 taels of gold in the Sword King Palace’s name for the capture of the Killer Star in the name had originally been proposed by Mastermind Star.
Merciless Gold Star usually always went to him to discuss things.
This time, before Merciless Gold Sword decided to release Shen Wuhai, he called Mastermind Star over to first hear what he had to say about it.
Mastermind Star thought about it a while, in the end deciding to go along with it.
Because he felt there was nothing this Shen kid was not capable of, it wasn’t worth getting irritated with this kid over a trifling matter.
However, he was worried about talk getting around among people at the inn. If they released this kid, and word got out that the prisoner’s cage was empty, it might lead to outsider criticism.
So he thought the most appropriate way was to lock someone else in the cage temporarily when they let the kid out!
Who’d be willing to volunteer for that? Of course no one was.
At the end of the discussion, everyone agreed to draw lots to decide it.
As a result, Swordsman Sun was the unlucky one, drawing the back tally of death.
※ ※ ※
Given Merciless Gold Sword’s experience it was not hard to tell that Swordsman Sun had been killed by a hidden weapon.
He quickly found the gold needle from Swordsman Sun’s body.
The other swordsmen gathered around in a circle and looked at it, but clearly none of them recognized where the gold needle could have come from.
Merciless Gold Sword turned over the gold needle in his hand inspecting it again and again. Suddenly he deployed the group of swordsmen and turned and looked at Shen Wuhai. “Do you have any grudge with the Meat-and-Wine Monk of Wutai?”
Shen Wuhai said, “This is the first time I’ve heard that name.”
Merciless Gold Sword said, “Then, last night when you forced this old fellow to let you out, was it because you knew someone was looking to harm you?”
Shen Wuhai frowned, like he kinda didn’t feel like answering.
After a short while, he took his time saying, “If you want to make it clearer, Head Steward, it would be best if you sat in the cage for a while, let the back drapes down over you and see just how much use are your eyes and ears then?”
Merciless Gold Sword turned around and let his gaze roam, slowly sweeping, finally making eye contact among the group of swordsmen with the Mastermind Star.
Fang Zhiyi coughed lightly. “This gold needle is the Meat-and-Wine Monk of Wutai’s signature hidden weapon, but I think the one who used it this time is not necessarily the Meat-and-Wine Monk himself.”
Merciless Gold Sword nodded but didn’t avert his gaze.
Fang Zhiyi coughed again. “Everyone who attacks from the shadows likes to shift blame to someone else. As for the background of this gold needle, we need not look too deeply into it. The Meat-and-Wine Monk is dissolute by nature, it wouldn’t be difficult to get one’s hands on one of these gold needles. What we ought to focus on now is whether the assassin has left the vicinity or not? After he learns he harmed the wrong person, might he stage a comeback and attack again?”
Merciless Gold Sword’s expression changed slightly.
That was just what he was worried about.
Sacrificing a few swordsmen didn’t the least bit concern him, but he absolutely could not, after untold hardships, after all the trouble and cost of offering 10,000 taels of gold to capture the Killer Star alive, allow anyone to kill his captive.
Fang Zhiyi seemed to see through from Merciless Gold Sword’s expression what their leader was thinking at the moment, so he followed up with, “But if we launch an investigation right away to find out this assassin’s operations, not only will we get no results, it will do us no good, because once our forces are scattered we’ll just be giving our adversary a prime opportunity. So we ought to deal with an ever-changing situation by sticking to a fixed plan and set out on the road right away, as if nothing happened, and on the other hand heighten our vigilance and be constantly on the lookout for anyone following us or any signs of movement.”
Merciless Gold Sword nodded. “Alright, that’s what we’ll do then.”
※ ※ ※
Sheng Jian got the worst of it because he was a man.
A man, no matter how shrew, coolheaded, or calm he was, unless he never got near a woman he would be unable to avoid this fatal moment.
Even though it was only a very brief moment, when that moment came, a man would never again think of another thing.
And that moment took his life.
His hand pressed against her chest, and her hand pressed against his Essence Urging acupoint.
They each were plotting against the other.
They each were on guard against the other.
But neither of them wanted to act rashly.
Because they both knew their skills were comparable, if they struck at the wrong time, they would both suffer.
So they were sweet and tender and pretended to be intimate. It looked like they were stuck together like glue, loath to part from one another, but in fact they were each waiting for an opportune time to strike.
Sheng Jian’s biggest mistake was that he forgot he was a man!
He forgot that a man’s staying power in this respect was forever inferior to a woman’s.
An indescribably pleasant sensation suddenly assailed his entire body.
He could no longer control himself.
His hands suddenly left their original position and wrapped tightly around the woman’s shoulders, and it was like he suddenly went insane.
The woman of course knew what was going on.
What she was waiting for was precisely this moment.
Poor Dagger Within a Smile, intelligent all his life, a fool for a moment and fully expected this split second to pass quickly, and once he’d waited it out it would not be too late to strike. Who knew that the woman was not going to wait.
By the time Dagger Within a Smile felt something was wrong it was already too late!
※ ※ ※
Big Treasure was really disappointed.
Because by the time he got there it was already all over.
He didn’t see a single thing that Second Treasure had described. By the time he looked down, the woman had already pushed Dagger Within a Smile off of her and covered up with a quilt.
There was nothing more the brothers could do except jump down, finally deciding not to split up but to sit in a dark hidden place and wait for daylight.
At the 5th double-hour the next morning, Merciless Gold Sword waited for his party to pay the bill and leave. The whole time he saw no activity in the room.
Once Merciless Gold Sword and his party were far away, the room doors finally opened slowly, and the old woman of the old couple walked out.
The old woman called a water to her room and with a worried look said, “My husband must have caught a cold out on the road, he had a high fever all night last night, always tossing and turning before finally falling asleep. Now I’m going out to get a doctor to have a look at him. I have to trouble you, after I leave, close the doors and don’t let anyone disturb him, I’ll be right back. This is some money for wine for you, when I get back I’ll reward you again.”
Saying this, she stuffed a few bits of silver in the waiter’s hand.
The waiter didn’t expect the old woman to be so generous and thanked her repeatedly and promised that he would let no one step a foot near her room till she got back.
※ ※ ※
This was quite a bleak and desolate road.
There was no sign of habitation visible for miles. Weeds grew on either side of the road, as if no one had been through here in a long time.
It was around noon when a horse carriage suddenly appeared on the road. It was an old carriage pulled by a skinny horse. The driver was an old sallowfaced man, and there was only one passenger, a down-and-out looking middle-aged man of letters around thirty wearing shabby clothes.
The carriage moved slowly.
The man of letters was asleep.
Not longer after the carriage appeared on the road, the man of letters woke up with a start from his slumber.
Because for whatever reason, the carriage had suddenly stopped.
The man of letters sat up in his seat and rubbed his drowsy eyelids and stuck his head out to the driver and asked, “Why aren’t we going?”
The sallowfaced driver seemed not to hear, leisurely taking his pipe from his belt and loading it with tobacco, lighting it, and slowly taking a drag. As he smoked he cocked his head and sized the man of letters up out of the corner of his eye, a mysterious smile emerging on his face.
The man of letters looked irritated. “I’ve already doubled your fare and drinking money, what’s the meaning of you stopping here like this?”
The driver still didn’t utter a sound, as if smoking were more important than anything else, and he would not open his mouth before his craving was sated.
The man of letters suddenly fumed, “Drive, where are your manners?”
This time the driver reacted. He calmly and unhurriedly took away his pipe and blew out a long, big cloud of smoke, then with that mysterious smile he coughed lightly and took his time saying, “That depends what kind of client I’m handling. If I come upon with manners I have manners, if I come upon one without manners, I don’t have manners!”
The man of letters’ face went green and he pointed, “Oh alright! You’re actually lecturing me! Then let me ask you, when I hired your carriage, doubled your fare, gave you more drinking money, when… when did I lose my manners?”
The driver knocked his pipe bowl clean and stuck it back in his belt and said indifferently, “When I say manners, the manners I’m talking about, you, sir, ought to know,”
The man of letters said, “What manners do you mean?”
The driver coughed again. “Sister, if you really had manners, you ought to take those silver drafts worth 10,000 taels of gold out right now and divide it in half just like that!”
※ ※ ※
Sister As You Wish was thoroughly dumbstruck.
Who was this guy?
She nearly didn’t believe her own ears. She was sure her disguise was flawless, and she had never noticed anyone following her. Had this guy just fallen out of the sky or something?
However, this woman had seen it all. Though this guy had unexpectedly shown up, it didn’t scare her.
She composed herself and fixed her eyes on him. “Friend, what path are you on?”2
Smiling, the man said, “That’s better. I, Tong Dabiao, have always heard that Sister As You Wish was a straightforward person. Seeing you today I can see that the rumors are true. Sister, have you ever heard anyone mention my name?”
Sister As You Wish’s gaze shifted slightly. “So it’s renowned One Dose Doctor, Great Xia Tong?”
One Dose Doctor said, “You flatter me.”
Sister As You Wish suddenly sighed gently. “Since even you know about this, Great Xia Tong, what else is there for me to say?”
Saying that, she reached into her robe and took out a small tabby-silk package, opened it, and took out five silver draft notes and handed them over.
One Dose Doctor didn’t expect this woman to really do it with such alacrity. He reached out and took the silver drafts, examined them and saw there was nothing amiss, and he couldn’t help but be elated.
Sister As You Wish had been forced to hand over 5,000 taels of gold without seeming the least bit pained by it. Now, she used a doctored rag and wiped her disguise make-up off, returning to her real face. She looked up and smiled, “There’s no villages up ahead and no inns back the way we came. Are you just going to up and leave and leave your servant all alone out here?”
Now it was One Dose Doctor’s turn to be dumbstruck!
※ ※ ※
One Dose Doctor stared blankly, as if he had suddenly been struck by lightning.
He’d heard all about this woman’s seductive exploits and knew this woman was a charmer, a natural born femme fatale, but he never imagined this woman would be so achingly beautiful.
He’d seen a lot of striking women, but never one who stirred him as much as this one did.
His heart suddenly started beating rapidly.
Sister As You Wish seemed a bit embarrassed by the way he was looking at her, her cheeks reddening slightly, wanting to speak but hesitating.
One Dose Doctor’s heart beat faster.
Flames of desire burned in his eyes.
Sister As You Wish suddenly averted her gaze and lowered her head bashfully. Her actions showed she knew what this One Dose Doctor was thinking.
Similarly, One Dose Doctor also knew that this woman had seen through him.
This raised his courage.
Between men and women there was no moment more exciting than this one.
He began to wear a faint, lewd smile and slowly leaned toward the carriage compartment
That contorted face unexpectedly made one think of a ferocious, ravenous wolf. Tormented by the flames of desire, men often turned into wild animals.
Men before Sister As You Wish became a wild animal among wild animals.
She kept shrinking back.
When a man turned into a wild animal, she turned into a pitiful lamb
This was one of her secrets for controlling men.
Men all wished for a capable and experienced housewife to take care of the family, but in the bedroom it was the exact opposite. In the bedroom, what most easily garnered a man’s affection was a weak, delicate woman.
One Dose Doctor’s hands were slightly trembling, his voice quavering a bit.
He pressed close toward her and in a low, hoarse voice, said, “Of course I wouldn’t leave you here all alone. As long as you’re happy, from here on wherever you want to go I will go with you…”
Sister As You Wish whispered, “Really?”
One Dose Doctor said quickly, “Of course really.”
Sister As You Wish said, “You men all say one thing and mean another, there’s not a one of you who is truly dependable. I’ve been taken in too many times already, I don’t believe you!”
One Dose Doctor got closer, and voice quavering, said, “I can swear on it.”
As he spoke, his hand sounded out and rested on her shoulder.
She didn’t resist, didn’t pull back.
One Dose Doctor’s breathing suddenly quickened.
Sister As You Wish hung her head. “Go drive the carriage. When we get to the city there will still be time to talk about it.”
One Dose Doctor said, “I, I—”
His hand moved down her shoulder, his body pressing closer.
Sister As You Wish pushed him away gently. “Not in this place…”
He suddenly embraced her, panting, “Here is perfect, it’s just deserted countryside, no one around, nothing to worry about at all, we can do whatever we like.”
The carriage door curtain was let down.
The skinny horse leisurely nipped at the roadside grass. Though the carriage remained in its original position, the carriage compartment rocked gently, as if they were trundling over a bumpy road.
※ ※ ※
Suddenly, everything stopped.
The door curtain opened again.
A gray figure flew out of the carriage compartment and smacked down into the thick growth of roadside grass.
The one cast out of the carriage was none other than One Dose Doctor.
Though this One Dose Doctor was proficient in medicine, there was no immortal elixir or miracle drug that could save his life now.
Then Sister As You Wish appeared, wearing One Dose Doctor’s clothes, her face made up to resemble his.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and climbed into the driver’s seat in front.
Now she had to drive the carriage herself.
Just then, two people suddenly appeared running down the road.
They were the Twin Treasures of Yunmeng brothers.
The brothers were moving extraordinarily fast and were close by in the blink of an eye.
Big Treasure said, “That’s it exactly, that’s the horse carriage.”
Second Treasure said, “Yep, that’s the driver, I recognize him. I remember he was drinking with us yesterday evening in that little shop.”
Sister As You Wish sized them up briefly and knew why they had come.
Big Treasure looked up and asked, “Hey, driver, let me ask you, is your carriage coming from Sesame Town?
Sister As You Wish said, “Yes.”
Second Treasure said, “Where’d that fake scholar go who was riding with you?”
Sister As You Wish was surprised and pretended not to understand. “Fake scholar? What fake scholar?”
Big Treasure said, “He was dressed up like a man but was actually a woman, us brothers were really clear on that.”
Second Treasure said, “That woman can’t fool us brothers for a second.”
Sister As You Wish said, “There was really something like that?”
Big Treasure said, “How could it not be real? That woman’s awful as hell. Last night that woman was with a man surnamed Sheng in an inn and took off all her clothes and started fighting on the bed, constantly hollering out Big Brother have mercy on me, causing us brothers to nearly go down and help her out. Later we realized she was just playing a trick, because in the end she won. Those pleas for mercy were all fake.”
Second Brother said, “You see how awful that woman is!”
Despite the face that Sister As You Wish was a woman who didn’t know what shame was, her face right now was red all the way to her ears.
She forced herself to remain calm and asked, “What are you looking for this woman for?”
Second Treasure said, “At first we thought she and that man were going to deliver 4,000 taels of gold to the Good Faith Escort Agency of Zhenjiang, but this morning we were chatting with someone and learned this is not the road to Zhenjiang.”
Big Treasure said, “The person said you couldn’t get there from here, it just takes you farther and farther away from Zhenjiang.”
Second Treasure said, “We waited a long time before finally realizing that Sheng guy was dead. You can see this woman is definitely not a goodhearted person.”
Big Treasure said, “So we have to find this woman and teach her a good lesson!”
Sister As You Wish understood everything now.
Turns out that kid, the Killer Star never believed all along that her and Dagger Within a Smile would really deliver the 4,000 taels of gold to the Good Faith Escort Agency, so he had troops planted ahead waiting to spy on them just in case.
This move was really a huge surprise to her.
For the time being she very much felt she was in a predicament.
She knew there was something off about these buffoonish brothers, but they very much so kept their promises. Once they promised to do something, no matter how difficult it was, even if it cost them their lives, they would carry it out as agreed. Now these treasured things had identified this carriage as the one that she had been riding in. It would not be easy to send them on their way.
Handling men was her specialty, but she didn’t know what to do with these brothers.
Second Treasure seemed to suddenly think of something. He raised his hand and called out, “Not right, not right!”
Big Treasure looked over. “What’s not right?”
Second Treasure said, “This guy ought to answer us, let’s ask him again.”
Big Treasure said, “Where were we at just now with our questioning?”
Second Treasure said, “It was I who asked it. I asked: where did that fake scholar go who was riding with you?”
Big Treasure said, “Ask him again!”
Second Treasure sure enough did ask again. “Where did that fake scholar go who was riding with you?”
Sister As You Wish suddenly had an idea.
She felt that leaving these brothers alive would be a problem sooner or later, it was better to go all the way with it, finish these brothers off without further ado, and be done with them once and for all!
However, she knew the brothers’ martial arts was not weak. If things turned openly hostile, she was definitely no match for them.
So she decided to split the brothers up, wait till they were alone and deal with them individually.
Once she’d made up her mind, she immediately pointed to the woods in the distance. “He went in the woods over there. He left not long ago, he said his stomach was upset. One of you hurry over and keep an eye on him. If he sees that you’re looking for him he won’t come back.”
As expected, the brothers fell for it.
Second Treasure said, “I’ll go!”
Saying that, he turned and ran over toward the woods.
Sister As You Wish secretly gathered her power and waited.
She waited till Second Treasure vanished into the woods, then suddenly turned around and pounced down from the carriage seat, her finger aimed at Big Treasure’s vital acupoint on the back of his head.
She struck with incomparable speed!
Big Treasure watched blankly as Second Treasure entered the woods, not on guard at all.
By the time he heard a whoosh of wind behind his head, Sister As You Wish’s finger was already touching his skin. Even if he wanted to dodge it would be too late.
Big Treasure had no intention of dodging.
Because he didn’t even know someone was attacking him.
But the strange thing was, Big Treasure did not go down because of Sister As You Wish’s finger strike.
The one who went down, on the contrary, was Sister As You Wish herself!
