Chapter 148: The Master
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Shangguan Chui’s death brought on a series of repercussions.
Second Young Master Shangguan Tian was hurriedly called for by Stone Castle. He was asked to assist his father in the stead of the big brother. He was, after all, someone of Lady Meng’s camp and his objective of returning home was to pay homage to the “highly esteemed Mother”. He had also asked his wife to take home the message that he had absolutely no intentions of vying for the position of “King”.
The fourth, fifth and seventh Young Master, who were loyal to their big brother Shangguan Chui were highly anxious at this point in time. To alleviate their anxieties, Supreme King increased the subordinate killers and assassins assigned to protect his sons. They were sent separately to Norland and Shu-lik, the two main camps. He specially treated the kings of these two countries to ensure their safety.
Other several Young Masters again expressed their sincerity towards Lady Meng, and even Eighth Young Mistress Luo Ningcha could not refrain from giving gifts of atonement to her mother-in-law. She admitted that she was nosy and had misunderstood Lady Meng’s good intentions. After the incident, in private, she summoned Slave Huan and snapped at him.
Gu Shenwei had to persuade Miss that Lady Meng was only using Shangguan Hong and his mother, and actually had no real feelings towards them. Madam Yang was aware of this and would thank Miss for her timely help. Since now she gained a higher position because of his son, she would still be useful to Miss.
On the day of the slaughter, the saber awarding ceremony of the twins went on as usual. Shangguan Ru followed his brother, stepping into the Six Kills Temple formally for the first time. They paid their respects to the ancestors.
Even if Lady Meng won a complete victory, Shangguan Ru would fail to obtain the title of Young Master. Though the Barren Sect was extinguished, the war with New Moon Hall would still have to go on. Supreme King did not want to give the world any cause for gossip at this point in time.
A total of 20 brown-belt assassins were awarded the red-belt, becoming official assassins. With Slave Huan who finished his apprenticeship earlier, there were a total of 21 people. One more person, however, was added to the original crew, and that was Maid Lotus. Just as Gu Shenwei predicted, Maid Lotus’ efforts in the final moment were decisive and won Lady Meng’s favor, earning a place for herself as a killer.
When the killers were assigned, Shangguan Ru customarily took the ten best assassins for herself, including Slave Huan, Maid Lotus, Wildhorse, and Liuhua. Shangguan Fei was left with 11 killers, and she only had advantages by the number of the killers.
After the saber-awarding ceremony of the twins, on the seventh day, Golden Roc Fort organized a reincarnation ritual. Almost every killer who remained in the fort witnessed the ceremony. For many young killers, this was the first time that they had seen the Lord in person.
Supreme King had been missing in the grudge between his wife and son. This had aroused much gossip behind his back. Going public at this time squashed much of the gossips. However, no one knew how Lady Meng obtained the full support of the Lord, to the extent of gaining the Golden Roc seal and the Six Kill Saber.
There were 11 killers under Shangguan Chui. One held the head, ten held his corpse, and they sent their master to the Reincarnation Cliff. Putting the corpse on a pre-arranged pile of wood, they formed a circle, kneeling on the ground. One flung a torch into the woodpile and it turned into a raging fire.
“The soul rises to the Ninth Heaven, and the spirit falls to the Ninth Abyss. The living suffer in grief, and the dead settle in peace.” The 11 killers chanted scriptures of the afterlife repeatedly.
Around the Reincarnation Cliff, hundreds of killers, forming a huddled mass of black, solemnly stood together chanting in low voices. Their voices enjoined with each other producing a sorrowful lament.
The cremation of the corpse had been done. The vestiges of firewood, bone, and ashes were thrown off the cliff.
11 killers unsheathed their sabers. They broke the blades, and flung the broken blades and scabbards away together. Then, other 11 killers walked to chop their heads off and threw them off the cliff. The ceremony ended.
Gu Shenwei stood in the crowds, watching an expressionless Supreme King in the distance. He wished he could transform into a little bug and fly into the heart of the Lord to see what that man, the man who struck terror in the whole Western Region, was thinking about. Did he really kill his own brother for the sake of winning the title of king? Did he really not care about the death of his eldest son at all?
Shangguan Hong, with his newly gained status, stood behind Shangguan Fa. He twitched uneasily. He was older than the twins by several years, but had to wait for some time before he could gain the title of “Young Master”. Because of this, his heart was filled with trepidation for he had not the least confidence in his new position.
Gu Shenwei thought that Shangguan Hong would not be the favorite son of the Supreme King. This could, however, save his life.
The internal feud in the Shangguan family would soon be forgotten by everyone. And even for those who remembered, their memories would soon be forced into oblivion by time, everything would proceed as planned as if even a single drop of blood had not been shed in Stone Castle.
On the day of the reincarnation ritual, Shangguan Ru summoned his own ten killers in Kun Yard for the first time.
Apart from the title of “Young Master”, this small organization was akin to that of Shangguan Fei. Shangguan Yushi was appointed as the military counselor. This title was selected by Shangguan Ru and did not exist in Stone Castle. Master Ru grasped his sword, standing beside the Tenth Young Master. She was clad in masculine garments and wore a stone-cold expression. She would never go back to a life of being a woman and never would she get married.
Killers were the core personnel around Young Master. But that was not all. Usually, more machetemen were summoned to Jade City so as to establish an outer organization. This task fell to Slave Huan’s hands and for this; he gained the sinecure post of the Manager of the Outer Hall. This was also a title that Shangguan Ru came up temporarily with.
In fact, there were early signs. During the assassination of the Ten-Dragon gang, Gu Shenwei had been assigned the role of covering the bases for intelligence. He entered the city the most number of times and had learned the most from Tie Hanfeng. It was almost as if someone had already planned well a year ago.
Gu Shenwei could not help but doubt Shangguan Yushi. His separation from the Tenth Young Master would be in line with her wishes.
Actually, this too coincided with Gu Shenwei’s intentions. The conflict between Shangguan Chui and Lady Meng made him understand that a person who was highly skilled in kung fu might not be the most powerful party. A woman who had not any skill at all could also win over the hearts of people in a masterstroke.
Sooner or later, Gu Shenwei would break off openly with Golden Roc Fort. As he could not single-handedly confront the world’s largest killer organization, he had to start establishing his own strength now.
Of course, such a matter cannot be executed in public, but helping the Tenth Young Master build a team of machetemen was a great opportunity.
Almost as if to test the abilities of Slave Huan, Shangguan Yushi sent him into the city alone. Although there was someone to take the baton from him in the city, all responsibilities lay on Slave Huan alone.
Gu Shenwei brought a blade and a knife down the mountain with him. In his arms was the waist token of a killer.
He first went to the South City to look for someone called Bigmouth Liu. After waiting for a day, someone finally brought the weapons that he had left at North City to the South City. The aura of the “Manager of the Outer Hall” had yet to shine beyond Golden Roc Fort.
Bigmouth Liu’s mouth was anything but crooked. At 30 over years of age, he could be considered handsome. Only, his gaze looked somehow off; one eye was almost always closed, carrying an off-handed nonchalance.
Bigmouth Liu was highly interested in the internal feud that has just died down in Stone Castle. He pursued this young master of the hall relentlessly, hoping to tease some information out of him. But he failed. And after which, he relentlessly explained the situation.
Forming the organization of the machetemen required money. Machetemen killed for money so the more the money was, the better the machetemen. This was not a problem at all, since Gu Shenwei had collected a slip of note. He was able to collect 20,000 taels of silver in one of the betting arenas. This would be enough for a while. According to Bigmouth Liu’s estimation, the money would suffice for 50 to 100 machetemen.
Second, there must be a vision. Machetemen from the South City were a lot, and one could get a macheteman from any muddy ditch. However, a good macheteman was not easily distinguishable from an ordinary one. Hence, whether the silver was spent worthily on one would depend on the recruiter’s capabilities. On this point, Bigmouth Liu kept silent but a look of obvious suspicion appeared on his face.
Indeed, Gu Shenwei was only a boy of 16 years. Nobody has heard of the things he had done in the Stone Fort. Even though the brown-belt assassin had raised a storm in the South City, it was almost completely forgotten by now.
Following such, there must be a house dedicated to raising machetemen. The house would not lack in accountants, clerks, servants, and et cetera.
Gu Shenwei remembered that Zhang Ji had once said these things were first managed by Young Master himself to hone his leadership abilities. Later, it became a formality and was passed to a subordinate.
Hence, Gu Shenwei did not despise the tediousness of these matters. Spending three full days, he had Bigmouth Liu accompanied to have withdrawn the taels of silvers to rent a house and look for servants. Soon, other miscellaneous matters other than the hiring of machetemen were completed in advance.
The house was located in the southwest of South City. It was not far from the Southwall Tavern and Pleasure Alley. It had three entrances, ten over rooms, and was situated in a rather hidden and easily defensible location.
Bigmouth Liu naturally became the butler. This was a great opportunity that he had clinched. However, he would be happier if he could do things for the Ninth Master Shangguan Fei.
Afterward, Gu Shenwei did not go hiring machetemen immediately. He had his private affairs to attend to first.
On the fourth afternoon after entering the city, Gu Shenwei brought a knife and sword. On horseback, he went to the Pleasure Alley to visit the siblings of the Xu.
Xu Xiaoyi looked awkward when he opened the door. Gu Shenwei did not say anything. He walked into the building and Xu Xiaoyi called her sister.
Yu Yanwei was sleeping and was very unhappy to be awakened by her brother. Hearing that the “Mr. Huan” had come, her mood soured further. And after dragging her feet for a long while, she walked out of the bedroom and stood upstairs. “Hey, isn’t this the master of my house? You must have come to collect money. But too bad, someone took them away. Don’t blame us. You weren’t here, and we couldn’t offend those people.”
Xu Xiaoyi’s face deepened with embarrassment. After muttering a long time, he said: “It’s Shopkeeper Lyu of the Southwall Tavern. Brother Huan, you know after Old Master Tie’s death, his business has gone into Shopkeeper Lyu’s hands.”
Gu Shenwei’s purpose in coming here was to know more about whom Master Shifu’s inheritance went to, and thus he nodded, saying, “Follow me.”
“What for?” Xiaoyi asked, widening his eyes.
“To take back the money.”
“This, this… I can’t help.”
Gu Shenwei’s fist clenched around the hilt of his knife and Xu Xiaoyi immediately changed his mind. “Yes, yes, we can’t let Brother Huan go alone. You’re now a killer and you must need a servant, right?”
Upstairs, Xu Yanwei snorted, and said, “If my younger brother so loses a piece of flesh…”
Gu Shenwei raised his head, and said blandly, “No matter how many parts your brother is chopped into, I will bring every single piece of him back.”
Xu Yanwei’s face turned ashen pale, and she ran back into the room and never came out again.
Xu Xiaoyi interjected. “She’s just that. Just like a prostitute, she pleases whoever’s a real master. It won’t end in violence, right? Shopkeeper Lyu’s someone from Golden Roc Fort too. You’re family.”
Gu Shenwei did not reply. He was thankful to Master Tiefeng. The lame man brought him to know the South City and its many ins and outs, and know many big or small Protectors. So he knew that the Lyu Shopkeeper was not someone from the Golden Roc Fort. He owned a tavern and a bank of money and paid money to Golden Roc Fort and the Meng clan every month. It was purely for business.
Gu Shenwei had to get money back for the Xu Shi siblings. This was his brothel now. Additionally, he would take back Tie Hanfeng’s money, which was obtained by the master and the disciple together, and amounted to 100,000 taels. That was almost enough to form a small army.
