Chapter 178: Synergy
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
It turned out to be a false alarm for Gu Shenwei. Shangguan Fei had become clever and had not exposed Slave Huan. His gaze flitted away from Slave Huan and said, “Your killers have ulterior motives. That Tuo Nengya wanted to kill me.”
Shangguan Ru remained as still as a statue, looking dejected as though she had not heard what her brother had said.
Shangguan Fei stopped talking and pricked up his ears to listen. The fight outside had ended very quickly. Suddenly, the door swung open revealing a young killer kneeling on one leg at the doorstep. He said, “Ninth Young Master, we have killed sixteen people but seven ran away. We are in pursuit.”
There was a small flaw in this tremendous victory. Shangguan Fei’s face sank and he unsheathed his saber. He asked, “Where is Tuo Nengya?”
“He… He escaped.”
Tuo Nengya was an old and experienced old macheteman. Once he saw killers in black robe, he knew that something was not right. He had secretly set up a formation to counter them. However, the killers were more capable than the machetemen. After the first attack, the formation had crumbled. In order to preserve time, six machetemen protected Boss Tuo by escaping into the maze of nearby streets and lanes. As they were familiar with the streets of South City and the young killers could not catch up with them.
Shangguan Fei chopped off the young killer’s left hand using his saber. Lifting his head, he commanded coldly, “I want to see Tuo Nengya’s head before dusk. If not, I will kill you.”
“Yes”, the young killer replied as he retreated in pain.
Shangguan Fei’s good mood was ruined. His sister had become lifeless like a zombie. He was uninterested in torturing her any further. “Bring Tenth Young Master to North City. If she is hurt, all of you will die.” He instructed.
Shangguan Ru’s seven killers knelt on one leg and accepted Ninth Young Master’s orders respectfully. Then, they got up. Maid Lotus supported Shangguan Ru and two other killers carried Master Yu’s corpse as they left.
This was the sorrow of Tenth Young Master and the young killers’ bitter defeat.
When Gu Shenwei brushed past Shangguan Fei, both of them looked into each other’s eyes and understood each other’s mind. Since Ninth Young Master had gotten ahold of incriminating information against Slave Huan, it would not do to be duplicitous. This was one of the reasons why Shangguan Fei didn’t betray him immediately.
Gu Shenwei could not remember how many masters he had vowed to, but none of them had been sincere. He firmly remembered what Mister Zhang Ji had taught him: The slave is the most ideal betrayer.
Shangguan Fei always thought that he knew what slaves were thinking about, but it was merely indulging the delusion he had whenever he suffered a setback.
Shangguan Fei was delighted to see the other black-robed killers retreating. He was alone in the house, enjoying his victory when he raised his head and saw a young woman standing at the top of the stairs. She eyes were round and fearful. She trembled as if quivering under Shangguan Fei’s intense gaze.
Xu Yanwei, who had been standing upstairs, heard everything. She was attracted to the cruelty and ruthlessness of the youth. He was younger than her brother but it was inconsequential to her. The capability of a man was not related to his age.
Xu Yanwei beckoned Shangguan Fei invitingly. Dazed yet excited, he hesitated for a second before climbing up the stairs. Xu Xiaoyi leaped like a rabbit past Ninth Young Master and escaped the building.
The war which had lasted for many days and had caused hundreds of deaths finally ended in an unexpected manner.
Tenth Young Master Shangguan Ru was depressed. By participating in the kidnapping in North City, it had directly involved Stone Castle and she was placed under house arrest in the North City residence.
Meng Mingshi had not only lost his money, his machetemen and his lover, but also had to “thank” Golden Roc Fort Ninth Young Master for saving his life. He was also similarly depressed and fell seriously ill resulting in him being bedridden for months.
The undistinguished Ninth Young Master suddenly became the biggest winner. The Kun Society disintegrated and became an empty shell. Shangguan Fei kept its name so as to control the terrorities and merchants that Kun Society once owned. Horned Dragon Society came under the same master. Till now, it was the first time that most people realized Shangguan Fei was one of the founders of Horned Dragon Society.
Since then, Shangguan Fei made use of Horned Dragon Society to attract children of wealthy families from the North City and recruited many protectors and merchants into Kun Society. He controlled those machetemen and killers with a firm hand and he became a formidable force in Jade City. This was beyond the expectations of Lady Meng and the Supreme King, attracting the attention of his brothers.
It was a sweeping victory except for one flaw. Old macheteman Tuo Nengya remained missing. He had blended into South City like a piece of mud and had yet to reveal himself.
Shangguan Fei personally killed the killer but it was a futile effort. Even though those six machetemen who accompanied Boss Tuo during his escape had gotten captured, the person that Shangguan Fei wanted to catch still remained missing. Because of this, Shangguan Fei was furious and did not dare to visit South City for a long time.
Not only had two leaders of the societies been defeated by Shangguan Fei, one young killer had also been defeated by Shangguan Fei. This fact had remained unknown to everyone. Gu Shenwei’s efforts to build a strong independent force were in vain. Not only had he spent a large amount of Tie Hanfeng’s inheritance, he had also become Ninth Young Master’s pawn.
His only achievement was that his swordcraft had been improved, but his sword was broken into several pieces. Tofool others, he kept up a pretence by leaving his broken sword in its scabbard.
The members of Shangguan family always exceed his expectations, Gu Shenwei reflected deeply. On many occasions, he had paid a price because he had underestimated his enemies.
The only reliable thing he had was his sword; it had never once failed him.
Shangguan Ru seemed unable to return back to her old self. She hid herself in the room and refused to meet anyone. She would occasionally regain her energy and summon her seven killers. She often talked about regrouping but could not produce any concrete and detailed plans.
Taking advantage of Shangguan Ru’s fleeting enthusiasm, Gu Shenwei requested to return to South City to gather some information. When he was permitted to return, he went and took Maid Lotus with him.
Shangguan Ru was absent-minded, but Wildhorse and the others understood that Slave Huan and Maid Lotus intended to abandon Tenth Young Master. It was tantamount to betrayal.
The fact is, Gu Shenwei had paid a discreet visit to Shangguan Fei and proved his loyalty to Shangguan Fei. Shangguan Ru might have risen again, but Gu Shenwei did not want to place his bets on one person.
Betrayal was common in Golden Roc Fort so Gu Shenwei was not ashamed of his behavior. On the other hand, the Shangguan family required all of their killers to be loyal to them percisely because loyalty was extremely rare to find.
According to the principles of Golden Roc Fort, if the slaves did not pledge their loyalty to their masters on their own accord, they would be forced to do so.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus returned back to South City. First, they went to Blacksmith Village to fix their sword. Then, they rented two apartments at the backyard of Southwall Tavern. Although Shopkeeper Lyu had pledged his allegiance to Shangguan Fei, he did not dare to offend the two young killers. He had already made up his mind to never participate in a fight between killers.
The Xu siblings were the only brothel owners in South City that didn’t side with any party. Both of them still relied on the protection of Slave Huan and Shangguan Fei acquiesced to it.
Five days later, the new sword was sent back. Xu Xiaoyi had also returned with the information that Brother Huan requested.
Gu Shenwei had not returned to South City to rebuild Kun Society nor to serve Ninth and Tenth Young Master. He had another motive.
Even after the war between the two societies, a few doubts remained. Although others had seemed to bury them at the back of their minds, Gu Shenwei could not forget them. The assassin that assasinated Ye Siliang at Rogue Forest had not been found and the mystery of how Immortal Peng had Xu Xiaoyi to relay the message had yet to be explained.
Both Ye Siliang and Chu Yangjun had been apprentices of Immortal Peng, but they had not received any assistance from their master.
According to Xu Xiaoyi’s information, Immortal Peng was an eccentric person. Everyone in South City knew about him, but no one knew about his background exactly. The information seemed contradictory. Just in his age alone, there was no consensus; it ranged from sixty to two hundred.
Hope Alley had been established around the same time as the birth of Immortal Peng. Ever since he was born, he had never left that place. Some said that Immortal Peng was a foreigner. He had come to Jade City and established Hope Alley.
Immortal Peng’s occupation was fortune telling, but he seldom showed up in person. Joy Pavilion had numerous bizarre characters. Every day, there were countless people who received the guidance of Immortal Peng and miraculously gained the ability to fortune tell. They would then ascend to the third level and serve those who came to have their fortune told. However, their words did not come from them. It came from Immortal Peng. Once that day ended, their temporary powers were lost and a new batch of people would gain this fleeting power.
Few knew that Immortal Peng knew kung fu, and fewer knew that he was the master of Ye Siliang and Chu Yangjun. Gu Shenwei had suspected but ultimately made the wrong guess.
Xu Xiaoyi had gone upstairs, but he had not seen Immortal Peng in person. However, just like other people, he was awed by the fortune-telling experience. He said, “Immortal Peng is a living immortal as he knows everything. He could even remind you of events that you have completely forgotten.”
“Is that so? What did he say about my past?”, Gu Shenwei asked in disbelief. Gu Shenwei would only be impressed if Immortal Peng knew his real identity.
“Er… Immortal Peng didn’t talk about your past. He mentioned about my past and your future.”
“Did he say if I would kill those two swordsmen?”
“Immortal Peng would not have been so explicit. He said, ‘In terms of swordscraft, you will lose. However, in terms of killing, you will win.’ He even said, ‘Relentlessness beats sentimentality. With emotions, you can learn faster but take a longer time to master. Without emotions …’ “
Because of the delay, Xu Xiaoyi could not recall the original words. He said, “But he was very accurate when he mentioned about my past. He said that I was born with an ability to subdue and end an elder’s life.”
Gu Shenwei sent Xu Xiaoyi away and started to discuss Immortal Peng with Maid Lotus, who had emerged out from nowhere.
“Is Immortal Peng the assasin in Rogue Forest? He doesn’t seem to care about the lives of his apprentices and seems to be counting on me to kill them off.”
Gu Shenwei raised his speculation. As swordcraft was his most reliable method of taking revenge, he would need to know more details about the other swordcraft master.
“I feel that he wants you to pay him to visit.”
Maid Lotus felt that something was amiss and Slave Huan was going to fall into yet another trap.
Gu Shenwei could have ignored Immortal Peng completely. At his present level of swordcraft, it was impossible for him to kill off all his enemies. However, it was possible to kill off some key enemies secretly.
Immortal Peng did not interfere with the youths’ plan for revenge. In fact, this mysterious fortune teller was likely using the war to meet his own ends. Once both of his apprentices died, the matter would be over.
There was no need for Gu Shenwei to seek trouble. That night, he put on a black coat and covered his face. As he proceeded to Hope Alley, his mind was occupied by one thought.
(Seeking for collection and recommendation)
