Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
A lamp’s oil running out was just a normal occurrence, but it became the cause for a lot of suspicion as well as a lot of arguments between a couple of servants.
“Someone living in another courtyard must have needed more oil so they took the oil here away.”
“Why would they take just the oil? Wouldn’t it be easier to just take the lamp?”
“They’re all weird people and their thoughts are… ”
“Shh… Do you want to die?”
“Look, do you see this? There are traces of smoke on the wall. Someone must have lit the lamp in this room to read the patterns.”
“Impossible. I don’t know anything about kung fu, but I still know these patterns are defective. If I were in charge, I would have had all of them removed.”
“Should we report this then?”
“I think so.”
“Even a dead body is not a big deal, not to mention the oil in a lamp running out. Go ahead and report it if you want to make a contribution. I’d like to see how you’ll reply when the steward asks you questions.”
After discussing it for quite a while, those servants reached an agreement: they would refuel the lamp, resume their work, and never mention this again. And they certainly wouldn’t report this to their superior, as nobody had ever required them to report everything.
Then, those servants scattered. It was at this moment that Gu Shenwei realized how huge of a mistake he had made. He had left many traces in more than a couple of stone chambers, all of which was more than enough for an experienced Green-faced killer to use to track him down.
Fortunately…
He had to rid of his obsession; besides, it had been a long time since he had last taken a break or eaten food. His strength was declining. Even if he managed to instantly master all the moves on the wall, he still wouldn’t be able to break through a siege of Green-faced killers.
Gu Shenwei moved to a stone chamber that those servants had just cleaned. He forced himself to ignore the patterns on the wall, and instead sat down in a corner and concentrated on circulating his Qi to regain his strength.
I’ll have plenty of time to do this in the future, he thought. I’ll eventually take Golden Roc Castle and by then, I’ll be able to research these kung fu moves whenever I want. Besides, he had already memorized dozens of sword moves from at least ten cultivation methods. If he kept reading and memorizing more moves, he might end up failing to absorb any of them.
But the moves on the wall tempted him like how a table full of delicious food with tantalizing aroma tempted a starving person. There were several occasions where Gu Shenwei stood up, planning on continuing to read those patterns, but every time, he eventually managed to stop himself from doing so.
More and more Green-faced killers came to practice kung fu, and they came in groups of three or five. In different courtyards, they imitated the kung fu of the Dragon King and that of the Central-Plains swordsman, discussing solutions to both forms. If they encountered any difficulties, then they would go read the patterns on the wall, trying to find an answer.
They were also obsessed and failed to discover the eavesdropper next door.
After eavesdropping in on a couple conversations, Gu Shenwei drew a conclusion: these Green-faced killers had already formulated a certain number of plans to defeat powerful opponents. Though all of these plans involved assassination, they were trying to minimize the importance of assassination skills in these plans. They were not there yet, but they were close.
Night fell. The Green-faced killers’ discussions became more and more intense. Two of them were even killed, indicating the failure of two of their solutions.
Gu Shenwei sneaked to the place where he and Old Man Mu had parted ways two days ago, but Old Man Mu was no longer there.
Old Man Mu was not a killer, and he was certainly not an obedient subordinate, which was why he had obviously run out of patience and gone somewhere else. Gu Shenwei didn’t try to find him and instead continued walking along the foot of the walls of the inner chamber, planning to steal the birds in the main hall by himself.
In the middle of his walk over, his calm broke, as he felt uneasy. It was as if he had made a huge mistake in leaving those stone chambers, as if the patterns inside were about to be destroyed at any moment.
He had to remind himself again and again that leaving the stone castle unharmed was the most important thing, and that he was the Dragon King, the supreme commander of hundreds of thousands of troops.
He had already been gone from the camp for two days and three nights. This absence may have already caused dire consequences…
After thinking about this, he even felt that it was unnecessary to steal the birds, and that immediately leaving was the top priority.
There was also another issue on his mind. The original manuscript of the Death Sutra was in a random outcrop near Reincarnation Cliff, and it had been several years since he had been there, so it was a secret that only he knew about. Originally he had planned on going there and retrieving the sutra, but now, after he thought about it again, he believed that it would be better to keep it under the enemy’s nose. Particularly because he couldn’t find a better place to store it at the moment anyway.
This night, Gu Shenwei was destined to not be in a killer’s mindset. While climbing up a stone wall, he even accidentally knocked a small stone fall to the ground, causing a distinct sound to be heard. Fortunately, he was in a remote corner and there were no common killers or Green-faced killers hiding nearby.
At last, Gu Shenwei decided to abort the mission. Golden Roc Castle’s lack of killers was merely a semblance. They had to be guarding their important areas even more heavily than before, and the main hall was probably one of those areas. Given the current state he was in, he would be walking into a trap if he tried to steal the birds.
Gu Shenwei secretly pleaded for the golden-crowned rocs’ forgiveness, as they would have to stay around their foe for a few more days.
Not long after he started retracing his steps, Gu Shenwei found that something was wrong. The route he had chosen was far away from the important areas of Golden Roc Castle, and there had been no guards nearby at all. But now, not even an hour after his journey, he found traces of a hidden sentry – a pile of snow that originally hadn’t been there.
He observed for a while and saw the pile of snow move. As expected, there was a guard.
Gu Shenwei didn’t think that this was a coincidence. Golden Roc Castle was not the kind of organization that would react dramatically. Even if they found intruders, they would only react quietly.
Gu Shenwei left the patterns in the stone chambers behind, the Death Sutra at Reincarnation Cliff, as well as the giant rocs in the main hall. He regained the absolute composure that killers should always have, gave up his former route, and tried to find another way downhill.
The third night-watch had passed, but Gu Shenwei was still stuck in the inner chamber in the northern part of the castle.
A lot of hidden sentries suddenly showed up, guarding almost all of the important places. Gu Shenwei constantly had to stay hidden in a position for a long time before he could find a chance to progress a dozen steps forwards.
Finally, he approached the southernmost wall near the inner chamber only to find that this was the most heavily guarded area, to the point where there was no way he could leave the castle from here. Thus, he had no choice but to hide behind a tree, merging into the rock besides him. Breathing gently and slowly, he waited patiently.
It would be even more dangerous after daybreak, so Gu Shenwei decided to rush out of the unfamiliar inner chamber when dawn broke. Then, he would make some noise in the west side of the castle where many members of the Shangguan family as well as a lot of common servants lived, and where it would be easier for him to create chaos.
The more chaotic the situation was, the better the chance of him getting out of here were.
By no means would Fang Wenshi be happy about his plan. Gu Shenwei inexplicably thought of the military counselor, but tossed this thought out right away.
He felt waves of coldness rise from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. Though he was a killer with powerful internal energy, his cold tolerance had plummeted since he had neither drunk any water nor eaten any food for almost three days. His momentary obsession had brought him a lot of trouble.
Golden Roc Castle did “move.” Though most of the killers had joined the Heavenly Mountain Sect in the city, those who stayed were all elite members. They had a wider range of detection and were also more sensitive to small changes in their surroundings. Those who thought that the stone castle had let down its guard would find that they were terribly wrong.
Gu Shenwei knew Golden Roc Castle well, and he wouldn’t make this kind of amateurish mistake, so the one who created chaos with dauntless courage was also not him.
Suddenly, a big fire broke out somewhere in the west side of the castle, and soon, someone screamed in panic.
The situation had become chaotic, but Gu Shenwei hadn’t yet found the chance to flee. The hidden sentries in the inner chamber stayed still. They had received rigorous training and wouldn’t move an inch even if the fire spread to their sides.
If Old Man Mu was the one who had created the chaos, then he was really audacious. The fire in the west side of the castle hadn’t abated yet when another fire broke out on the east side as well.
Before long, a third and fourth fire was also set. Gu Shenwei couldn’t gauge the distance, but he clearly knew that Old Man Mu couldn’t have set these fires this quickly even if he still had his former strength.
Golden Roc Castle was indeed under attack.
A piercing whistle was heard. Those in charge of different areas of the castle finally realized that these fires were not just an enemy’s tactic to divert their attention, and that there were more than one or two enemies. So, they issued an order to fight back.
There were more hidden sentries in the inner chamber than the ones that Gu Shenwei had discovered. Under the light of the fire, he saw at least twenty figures rush out of nearby places. They leaped onto the top of the walls and split up, heading for different areas to fight their enemies.
This was his best and maybe also his only chance. Gu Shenwei was just about to take action when he suddenly paused – several figures leaped into the inner chamber from the south side, each with a saber or a sword in one hand and something that looked like a head in the other.
It seemed like they no longer had any intention of staying out of other people’s sight, since they unceremoniously dumped those heads and started striding forward.
More hidden sentries showed themselves. The eight intruders hadn’t walked far when a dozen people surrounded them. A fight immediately started. Nobody asked any questions.
The first moves of the hidden sentries were, without exception, sneak attacks. Gu Shenwei didn’t even seen the reaction of those intruders when he abruptly realized that someone had also launched a sneak attack on him.
He didn’t know when, but two hidden sentries had discovered him and even managed to sneak up on him, arriving at a position less than ten steps away from him. They launched an attack from his two sides at the same time.
By the time Gu Shenwei became vigilant, two narrow sabers had were already approaching him. The only thing he could do was perform the new move he had learned not long ago. Prostrate, he pushed against the ground with his right hand, horizontally moving three feet backwards. Then, he pushed heavily on the ground again, somersaulting into the air like a giant round stone roller thrown upwards.
At the same time, he whipped out the Five Peaks Saber with his left hand, tightly holding it with a reverse grip. The back of the saber was pressed against his forearm with a length of the blade more than a feet long stretching out past that. He then launched an attack in all directions as he somersaulted in mid-air.
The attacker on his left side instantly received several saber blows, blood gushing out of his wounds. The attacker on his right side was also stabbed in the heart before he could see how his opponent had made this weird move.
“Unique King, show yourself and die!” a sonorous voice called out.
It was no longer necessary to hide. Gu Shenwei stood up and saw that more intruders were still leaping into the inner chamber. The total number had increased from eight to almost thirty. The first batch of hidden sentries of Golden Roc Castle, who had been trying to intercept the intruders, had been wiped out.
Those intruders also discovered the Dragon King at this point. Two of them immediately ran up to him.
Gu Shenwei masked himself. He had already noticed that these people were not his subordinates.
The two intruders were also masked. Upon seeing the bodies on the ground, they were involuntarily stunned and didn’t launch an attack right away. One of them said in a whisper, “Reincarnation Cliff.”
This was clearly a secret signal, and Gu Shenwei had to give an accurate answer.
“Groaning Ghost Cliff,” he replied.
Reincarnation Cliff was in the east while Groaning Ghost Cliff was in the west. They were opposite each other with a long distance in between.
The two intruders quickly retreated to their original position. Unexpectedly, Gu Shenwei had guessed correctly. He knew that only one person could think of this secret signal.
“The Waning Moon Hall is here. Show yourself, Unique King!” a female voice yelled and with that, another batch of people leaped into the inner chamber.
The total number of intruders had reached fifty, even sixty now. There were both men and women. After separating into several groups, they started advancing towards the depths of the inner chamber, each watching each other’s back.
A figure that Gu Shenwei was familiar with appeared.
Standing on the top of a wall, Lotus was the only one who wasn’t masked. The moon shed a soft glow on her icy face.
