الشطرنج الخالد - Book 03 Chapter 103

Gu Hai’s words startled all the dragons. You are innocent? The observing cultivators also opened their eyes wide.

You are innocent? Then, what’s going on with the one thousand five hundred dragon skeletons below? How do you explain that? Did they all commit suicide?

You are innocent? Who are you fooling?!

“Crown Prince, he is lying. He was impersonating you!” Leader Bai said with hatred and sorrow.

Gu Hai smiled faintly and said, “You need evidence to convict a thief. This white dragon, you claimed that I impersonated Crown Prince Ao Sheng. However, you could not provide evidence when I asked for it. Are you saying that my Elite Hall can be vilified with just your words?”

“Humph! Gu Hai, it is useless no matter how you argue this. Didn’t you do so much just to make us think that you are the crown prince? Do you think that everyone is blind?” Leader Bai said while glaring.

“I am I. I did not say that I was Crown Prince Ao Sheng. If you all thought that I was Crown Prince Ao Sheng, that is due to your own stupidity. You misunderstood, and you want to blame me for it? You want me to pay the price for your stupidity?” Gu Hai looked at the dragons coldly.

“What did you say?”

“Roar! Roar!”

The dragons roared in fury, looking like they wanted to tear Gu Hai apart. How dare you call us stupid?!

Gu Hai looked at the dragons coldly, not showing any fear. Fog crept up. The dragons only roared, but no one dared to barge in. After all, the ritual array below was indeed horrifying. Furthermore, there was the mountain of bones proving that, so no one dared to barge in.

“You say that we are stupid, mistaking you for the crown prince? Isn’t that the result of your doings? You even said that there are more than ten thousand dragons hidden in the surrounding sea? You were misdirecting us on purpose! You were impersonating the crown prince!” Leader Bai shouted while glaring.

However, Gu Hai sneered, “Everyone here has a good memory. Help me recall what happened then. What did I say? You said you saw more than ten thousand dragons hiding at the bottom of the sea; I did not say that. I never claimed that. Help me recall. What exactly did I say? Anyone?”

When Gu Hai asked that, Ao Sheng looked at a black dragon.

That black dragon’s expression turned stiff as it said, “Back then, he said, ‘Haha! Royal Brother, your subordinate is rather humorous. Indeed, I am alone. I did not bring anyone. How about some of you come over and give it a try?’”

After the black dragon said that, the dragons were silent.

At that time, we thought you were being sarcastic. We only believed that you were the crown prince after seeing dragons appear in the surrounding seas, more than ten thousand dragons hiding there.

“White Dragon, did you hear that? I said that I was alone, but you refused to believe me. You were stupid and misunderstood. Who can you blame? I told you the truth, but you insisted on letting your imaginations run wild. Now, you want to blame me for that? How laughable!” Gu Hai shouted coldly.

The dragons felt stifled, like they swallowed another dead rat. Why did this happen again?

“Then what’s going on with the surrounding sea? What’s up with the more than ten thousand dragon figures?” Leader Bai asked coldly.

“What does that have to do with me?” Gu Hai laughed.

“Huh?” This response made the dragons pause.

Indeed, Gu Hai never mentioned the sea. They were the ones who connected the dots in their minds. Right now, Gu Hai appeared clean. There was nothing incriminating him.

“You also called Ao Shun Royal Brother!” Leader Bai snarled.

“Indeed, I can call him Brother Wang; I can also call him Brother Li or Brother Zhao. What’s wrong? How is my address for him any of your business?” Gu Hai said coldly.

[TL Note: Brother Wang/Royal Brother is a wordplay that does not translate into English well. The character for Wang means king. At the same time, it is also a common family name, so the raws here can have two meanings.]

The white dragon’s face flushed red from being stifled. Brother Wang? Wang, as in the family name Wang and not king or royal?

“You even mentioned Royal Father and brothers!” the white dragon said, feeling upset.

“How is that your business?” Gu Hai said coldly.

“You!” The white dragon felt extremely frustrated, nearly vomiting blood in anger.

“Crown Prince! Crown Prince! He even imitated your voice. That is definitely true. Everyone heard it!” the blue dragon leader called out.

“That’s right. Crown Prince, he imitated your voice at that time. That’s why we got fooled!” the dragons said with certainty.

The dragons immediately looked at Gu Hai with righteous indignation.

“Haha! Hahahahaha!” Gu Hai’s guffaw suddenly interrupted the dragons.

“Imitating a voice is a crime? Haha! How laughable! Can’t a voice be the same? Do you believe that I can find one hundred voices from my Han Royal Dynasty citizens that are the same as Crown Prince Ao Sheng’s? I was imitating my citizens; how am I imitating Crown Prince Ao Sheng? I am at fault just for using a similar voice?” Gu Hai said coldly.

The dragons: “…”

They had seen shameless people before but not one this shameless.

The dragons crumbled mentally. Can you be any more shameless?

The countless cultivators in the surroundings goggled. This Gu Hai did this too cleanly. To think that he could render the dragons speechless.

——

At Sima Changkong’s location:

“Milord, why did Gu Hai do it so cleanly? He did do it, but because he did it cleanly, he did not?” one of Sima Changkong’s subordinates said in disdain.

However, Sima Changkong showed a faint smile and said, “This is where Gu Hai’s brilliance lies. Indeed, sometimes, when one makes up one’s mind about something, there is no need for any further reason, just like the current Crown Prince Ao Sheng. If he says that you are guilty, then you are guilty. However, Gu Hai needs to present himself as innocent at this point.”

“Why?”

“This is where Gu Hai’s brilliance lies. When he scared Ao Shun earlier, he never left behind any evidence. What an excellent plan! Even if someone digs this matter out later, Gu Hai can still hold the upper hand. However, he did not expect this time to arrive so soon.

“Why does Gu Hai need to present himself as innocent?

“The dragons are allies with the Qian Heavenly Dynasty, and Gu Hai is the Qian Heavenly Dynasty’s Elite Hall Master.

“More accurately, they are comrades, different from enemies.

“If the two were enemies, Ao Sheng wouldn’t need a reason to capture Gu Hai. However, if Ao Sheng dealt with Gu Hai lawlessly as a comrade, what would the other people of the Qian Heavenly Dynasty think?

“Indeed, Gu Hai soiled Ao Sheng’s reputation by masquerading as Ao Sheng. Ao Sheng has the right to deal with him. However, what if Gu Hai was not masquerading as Ao Sheng? At the very least, if there is no evidence of Gu Hai masquerading as Ao Sheng, what excuse would Ao Sheng have? Could he just take his stupid subordinates’ words as evidence?”

“Huh?”

“This Gu Hai is a slippery one,” Sima Changkong said with a frown.

“So, Gu Hai will be fine?”

“That might not be the case. Ao Sheng will not easily leave this matter lying.” Sima Changkong appeared somewhat worried.

——

Far away, Gu Hai looked at Crown Prince Ao Sheng and said, “Alright, Crown Prince Ao Sheng. These dragons should be the sin dragons of your dragon race, right? According to the rules set by your dragon race and the Qian Heavenly Dynasty, they are not to go elsewhere without permission. Nevertheless, they came all the way to my Nine-Five Island. That is a major offense. Furthermore, they betrayed the Qian Heavenly Dynasty, partaking in a rebellion. As this is a dragon race matter, it is not convenient for me to interfere, so I’ll leave it to Crown Prince Ao Sheng to deal with.”

“You!” The dragons glared at Gu Hai.

“Ha! What a sharp tongue! That’s fine. I will not pursue the matter of you impersonating me. However, what about my royal brother?” Ao Sheng said indifferently.

The moment Ao Sheng spoke, the dragons turned quiet.

“Ensnaring Performance, Miao Chen, bring Ao Shun out!” Gu Hai said.

Creak!

The Soaring Palace Hall’s doors opened.

Miao Chen walked out with a complicated expression, bringing Ao Shun out.

At this moment, Ao Shun had already lost all his previous sharpness. He appeared to be in a sorry state, his hair messy. His eyes were flushed red as if he wanted to eat someone alive.

“Gu Hai! You cheat! You cheat! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! Hah!” Ao Shun roared sorrowfully.

Ao Shun has been tricked by Dugu Qiubai at the Heptagold Sect, scared into fleeing. That had been a great humiliation for him. Now, he had brought a dragon army with him, planning to wipe away his past humiliation.

However, Ao Shun never expected to get tricked by Gu Hai again. Previously, he only fled from Gu Hai after getting scared. This time was even more embarrassing. He had held the absolute advantage, an undefeatable position with a force that could completely crush Nine-Five Island. To think that he accomplished nothing.

He was a Heavenly Palace Realm expert, but Gu Hai tricked him into sealing his own cultivation with a few words before surrendering himself to capture. The shadow in Ao Shun’s heart grew significantly.

This was no longer a problem of embarrassment or being smart enough. This was simply stupidity, possibly worse.

How was Ao Shun going to find a good standing among the dragons and rule them? How were the female dragons going to look at him? He was simply the shame of the entire dragon race.

If it were Ao Sheng, Ao Shun would have accepted it. In strength and faction, he could not compare. However, it was Gu Hai, a Golden Core Realm cultivator, an ant. He got defeated and taken captive by an ant?

“I’ll kill you! Kill you!” Ao Shun roared at Gu Hai in grief and hatred.

“Master, Ao Shun is going mad. He keeps shouting that he will kill you. We can’t stop him,” Ensnaring Performance said bitterly.

“Right now, Ao Shun is blinded by anger. The blow you dealt him was too great,” Miao Chen said bitterly.

Miao Chen could not compare to Ao Shun. However, Gu Hai managed to get Ao Shun to seal his own cultivation and surrender himself for capture. Miao Chen had never seen such a strange thing before.

“Ao Shun, look who is here!” Gu Hai shouted.

As expected, when this great enemy of Ao Shun’s shouted, he startled Ao Shun to his senses, causing him to look up and over.

Ao Shun saw a group of dragons gathered around a flying ship—and Ao Sheng standing on it.

“Ao Sheng?” Ao Shun’s thoughts immediately became much clearer.

“Royal Brother, how have you been?!” Ao Sheng asked with a bitter smile.

Ao Sheng knew what happened and felt extremely speechless about this. His elder brother was mentally weak, but Ao Sheng had not expected it to sink to such a level.

“Ao Sheng? Humph! There’s no need for you to act hypocritically!” Ao Shun’s face sank.

Then, Ao Shun turned his head and looked at the Soaring Palace Hall’s plaza. When he saw the mountain of dragon bones, he inhaled sharply and showed a ferocious expression.

“My subordinates! My subordinates! You killed them all? All of them?!” Ao Shun showed a frosty expression as he stared at Gu Hai.

“These were sin dragons who betrayed the Qian Heavenly Dynasty and the dragon race. They tried to kill me, the Elite Hall Master. I have the authority to execute all of them, including you,” Gu Hai said coldly.

“Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!” Ao Shun’s eyes turned bloodshot as he stared at Gu Hai. Overwhelming hatred flashed in his eyes.

“Bring Royal Brother back,” Ao Sheng said to the white dragon leader.

“Wait!” Gu Hai suddenly called out.

“Huh?” Ao Sheng looked at Gu Hai.

“Crown Prince Ao Sheng, Ao Shun betrayed the Qian Heavenly Dynasty and led dragons over to my place to cause trouble. As a result, I captured him. On account of Crown Prince Ao Sheng’s face, I can hand Ao Shun over to you. However, I hope that this matter will come to an end here and that the dragon race will not pursue this,” Gu Hai said seriously as he looked at Ao Sheng.

Ao Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly and revealed a faint smile. “Stop pursuing this? Haha! I can stop pursuing this, but I can’t speak for others.”

“Oh? So, Crown Prince Ao Sheng means that if Ao Shun brings dragons to cause trouble at my Nine-Five Island again, you are not going to care?” Gu Hai asked indifferently.

“That’s right!” Ao Sheng replied indifferently.

“Crown Prince Ao Sheng, please take back what you just said and restrain the dragons; stop them from repeatedly coming to my Nine-Five Island to cause trouble,” Gu Hai said seriously.

Ao Sheng narrowed his eyes and showed a cold smile. “How laughable! What are you? You want me to take back what I said? My not pursuing you for killing my dragons is already the limit, yet you want to order me to do things for you?”

“Roar!”

The dragons roared and ferociously looked at Gu Hai.

“Humph! Gu Hai, just wait for your death!” Ao Shun sneered at a suitable moment.

A terrible atmosphere spread through the Han Royal Dynasty. Countless officials appeared horrified. While their emperor could scare Ao Shun once, there would not be a second time.

The countless cultivators in the surroundings also opened their eyes wide.

“The Han Royal Dynasty has thoroughly offended the dragon race. It’s over!”

“Indeed. Ao Shun is sure to exact revenge. There is no way for Gu Hai to handle that!”

“Crown Prince Ao Sheng is clearly covering for Ao Shun, covering for the dragon race!”

“Indeed. What is the Han Royal Dynasty next to the dragons? Why should the dragons give it face?”

Countless cultivators felt that it was over for Gu Hai. Some found it unfortunate, and some felt worried.

Gu Hai looked at Crown Prince Ao Sheng and suddenly smiled faintly. “Alright. Since Crown Prince Ao Sheng put it this way, that means that there’s no more negotiation.”

“Huh?” Ao Sheng gave Gu Hai a confused look.

“Miao Chen, Ensnaring Performance, keep an eye on Ao Shun; we are not giving him to them. If anyone dares to act rashly, immediately kill Ao Shun!” Gu Hai ordered with a cold glint in his eyes.

“How dare you?!”

“How audacious!”

“You bastard!”

“How bold of you!”

The dragons immediately roared while glaring.

Gu Hai showed a ferocious expression as he looked coldly at Ao Sheng. “While you think that I am easy to bully, I find you laughable. Crown Prince Ao Sheng, do you want Ao Shun to die?”