Chapter 247: At the Same Time
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The team of three killers thought that this mission would be unfruitful. If Slave Huan and Maid Lotus had not suicided off the cliff, they would be hiding in an unknown place within Jade City. It was impossible that they were still in the Stone Castle, where there were surveillance round the clock and no place for them to hide.
The team, however, had spent an entire night searching East Castle for a killer named Liuhua. The last area they had not searched was Reincarnation Cliff, after searching which they knew they would probably face reprimand because it was likely that Liuhua had also suicided off the cliff, meaning that they would return empty-handed.
They first checked Reincarnation Cliff and Giant Rock Cliff, within which they combed through every single possible hiding spot. They did not do things half-heartedly despite it being a pointless mission.
Finally, they searched the Arrow Tower.
As per their usual practice, one killer guarded the door while the other two entered the tower. They found nothing except dust on the ground floor, and subsequently climbed the stairs in a single file to reach one of the upper floors.
Slave Huan was sitting beneath a road-facing window and smiling at them.
The killers were startled and pulled their sabers out in unison. “Where’s Maid Lotus?”, one of them questioned.
“Behind you.”
Before Gu Shenwei had completed his answer, one of the killers’ face had already stiffened. Just as the other killer turned his head, his expressions froze as well.
Maid Lotus disappeared for a while but quickly returned to the upper floor. Right as she did so, the two killers collapsed and tumbled to the bottom of the tower.
Maid Lotus’ concealment ability was all along better than Gu Shenwei’s. To most people, she was merely a rather outstanding female killer. Few knew that her swordcraft was of the highest level. The three killers were caught completely off guard and assassinated.
“We have to find another place.”
As Maid Lotus carried Gu Shenwei on to her back, she caught a glance of the saber and two swords leaning against a wall. She took the sword carved with the word “Yun”, which she had given to Slave Huan, and left the other weapons where they were. She knew that there was no need to destroy the evidence – they would be quickly and completely exposed now that the three killers were dead.
Gu Shenwei took a final look at his saber and sword.
As it was currently daytime, they would not able to elude the guards in the castle no matter how good their Lightness Skills were. Maid Lotus thus chose a dangerous route. She walked towards the south along the edge of the peak, of which there were several sections which they needed to climb the cliff walls to pass through. There was a moment when Gu Shenwei thought about dragging her off the cliff and dying together, but it was nothing more than a passing thought, for he still needed her to take revenge on his behalf.
The southeastern section of Stone Castle was relatively desolate and contained several portions of wasteland. From here, Maid Lotus turned to travel towards the west. The southwestern section was where the compound inhabited by the servants was, and the large number of people there meant that the duo would be more likely to be seen. Maid Lotus snappily lowered Slave Huan on to the ground and the duo proceeded shoulder to shoulder. As they had put on the killers’ black clothes, nobody dared to check on them or recognized these two seemingly ordinary killers.
When they reached the western side of the cliff, Maid Lotus raised Gu Shenwei on to her back once again and took a turn towards the north. Gu Shenwei finally understood what her destination was.
The duo had taken a huge detour from the easternmost Reincarnation Cliff to the westernmost Ghost Cliff.
The place contained symbolic meaning for both of them. Firewood Yard was only a wall away from here, while Slave Yao, who suffered from qigong deviation, had died here and his body was thrown off the cliff.
Gu Shenwei had taken great pains to purge the Peripheral Forces from his body. Despite being afraid of death, he seemed completely indifferent now that death was at hand, and even felt considerably more relaxed and easy.
Maid Lotus was a little exhausted from the non-stop journeying. Gu Shenwei saw as a layer of fine sweat seeped out from her neck when he suddenly suffered from a prankish impulse. Just as she stepped on to the ground of Ghost Cliff, he gently kissed her on the neck.
As if she was the one who suffered a qigong deviation, Maid Lotus reacted like she had been sneak attacked by a snake. She instantly flung the youth on to the ground and pulled out her sword. “You…”
“I couldn’t control myself, but you don’t have to spare my life for that.”
Maid Lotus had a frosty look on her face. “It would be useless even if I do, for I cannot resolve your qigong deviation.”
Gu Shenwei walked to the edge of the cliff with his back facing Maid Lotus, and smiled as he peered at the cloudy mist in the distance. Having received special training in Carvewood Academy, Maid Lotus was certainly not sensitive to physical contact with the opposite sex. What her reaction did reveal was her true feelings toward him.
She remained silent behind him, but when she opened her mouth once again, she was ablaze with anger, unlike her usual calm and collected demeanor. “I shall go kill Luo Ningcha.”
Gu Shenwei turned around in surprise, and could not understand where her abrupt anger came from.
“She killed Maid Cui. I cannot let her off just like that.”
Maid Lotus offered a completely unnecessary explanation and subsequently ran off without waiting for Gu Shenwei’s response. She leaped on to the roof of Firewood Yard and made her way towards the Eighth Young Master’s forecourt to perform a kill in broad daylight.
Gu Shenwei could only roughly understand what was weighing on her mind, but he had no time to ponder over it. He took out the Wayless Book the moment she disappeared. The seventh chapter, which Shangguan Ru had sent, was still intact. He carefully read through it and memorized an outline.
There would probably be a chance to save himself if he practiced it for the coming month or so. Gu Shenwei’s heart began to palpitate. He would have calmly accepted his fate if he had no choices to make. But he did not want to sit and await death, seeing as there was a possibility to live on.
Maid Lotus was at ease about leaving him alone on Ghost Cliff because she was certain that he would not dare to seek help from people in the castle, and furthermore, because he did not have the Internal Strength to run away.
After deliberating for a while over whether to begin practice or to find an escape route, Gu Shenwei decided on the former. Running away would be futile if the qigong deviation truly could not be resolved any further. He could only rely on himself as there was nobody to trust.
While this was going on, the Supreme King Shangguan Fa was filled with wrath and bewilderment as he observed the corpses of the three killers which had been sent to him.
Slave Huan and Maid Lotus were two names he was not too familiar with. These insignificant youths had actually been hiding in Stone Castle all this time while a large group of killers was turning Jade City upside down in search of them. Golden Roc Fort became something of a laughingstock at once.
Shangguan Fa suspected that there remained incompetent subordinates in the castle. For a simple manhunt like this, it was only on the seventh day that a clue was accidentally found. He had, in recent years, distributed his power to many people, and now realized what a big mistake this was. The people whom he entrusted his power to used their allocation of power to fight with each other instead of augmenting the influence of Golden Roc Fort.
“This policy should end, for there’s nobody worthy of trust,” he thought. He could clearly see through the plot by Shen Liang and Lady Meng, and there was still time to salvage everything. There was nothing too regrettable about the fact that his weak and incapable sons had died. The prophecy of “The King of the Cross” would eventually be realized anyway.
He carefully examined for some time the fatal wounds on the three corpses, and even touched them with his own finger. The swordcraft of the two runaway killers had surpassed his expectations, and even seemed a little similar to that found in the legendary Dajue Book of Swordcraft.
“Within the next two hours, I want to see these two people. Alive.”
After the Supreme King gave his instructions, the panicky crowd of killers and counselors bowed in compliance and exited the hall. They proceeded to direct orders to their subordinates as fast as they could. Many of them had not shaken off the habits developed during the internal strife and thought that this was yet another competition to see who could find the two escaped killers first.
This was a moment which required swift and ruthless action. Shangguan Fa’s priority was to deal with a most blatantly guilty person, whereas the powers of Shen Liang and Lady Meng could be sorted out later on.
The novelty which Luo Ningcha had brought had already faded, and the Supreme King was sick of her wilful arrogance, flamboyance, and stupidity. It was she who brought the two killers into Stone Castle, and it was at her place where he was subjected to an assassination attempt. According to Shen Liang’s explanation, the assassin was definitely one of the two killers.
Miss Luo was just a woman, and she no longer had the backing of Bighead Kingpin or the concern of Eighth Young Master. The Supreme King decided to personally settle this matter as a means of giving preferential treatment to the beauty.
Meanwhile, with Gu Shenwei to her north and the Supreme King to her south, Luo Ningcha was pacing back and forth anxiously in the court of the Eighth Young Master. She had been cursing “Ungrateful fools!” for three successive days since the escape of Slave Huan and Maid Lotus. Every servant in the residence was punished for this matter, and was told to slap each other’s cheeks until they bled.
When her fury finally subsided, fear took its place.
There were two bad omens. The first was the escape of the dowry servants she had brought in, while the second was the fact that the Supreme King had not visited for seven days already. She had sent people to check on the situation in the Inner Residence, but they could not even get through the entrance. The women who had once turned to her side would, at this delicate moment, rather be flies on the wall than precipitately offer help to the Eighth Young Mistress.
She once again felt that her world was on the verge of collapse, and was extremely terrified. She was terrified of death, terrified of not being anyone’s pet, terrified of being despised, and terrified of being neglected by the lowliest of persons. She once had a powerful father and a set of multi-layered veils, and cherished the memory of these like a baby cherished her mother’s embrace.
“Things would have been fine if Slave Huan is still around. He would always provide me with good ideas.” Luo Ningcha’s thoughts began to drift before she remembered that Slave Huan was the main cause of this disaster.
She forced herself to calm down, and told herself that she had to be self-reliant as there was nobody she could trust.
“Slave Huan would say, “Miss Luo, you aren’t completely done for. The baby in your womb is the child of the Supreme King and will arrive at the right time. Several sons of the Supreme King have already died. Can there be any better present or sign of your loyalty?””
Even Luo Ningcha was annoyed by her own foolishness. It had taken her a full seven days to understand such a simple matter, while the rest of the time had been wasted on anger and fear.
“That’s right, I have the Lord’s child.” Luo Ningcha became relaxed at once. It was, without a doubt, a son this time. She wanted to report this piece of good news to the Lord. She would protect the child with her own life and ensure that no woman from the Inner Residence ever touch him. Every meal she ate would have to be sampled for safety first. She would double the number of guards protecting the court, and bar everyone except her personal maids and the Lord from entering the backcourt. Even a physician would have to sign a death-as-punishment liability agreement before being allowed to enter.
It was her son who would be the future Supreme King.
While Luo Ningcha was in an euphoria, someone else was distressedly praying to the heavens.
Shangguan Ru had been counting the days. Seven days were sufficient for Slave Huan and Maid Lotus to have escaped from the boundaries of Golden Roc Fort, yet unexpectedly, they remained in the Stone Castle. This was a risky plan but also a clever trick. It was definitely an idea which Slave Huan came up with.
She tightened her clothes and picked up her saber. She was not praying for the two killers to escape safely, but for herself to have the strength to protect them.
When she turned around, she saw her mother standing in the doorway with a sorrowful expression which made her shudder.
“Don’t you want your own life anymore?”
“Mother.” Shangguan Ru acknowledged heartfeltly. She walked over to her mother, hoping that her words would be able to convince the latter. “This is something I must do.”
“We all have things we must do.”
Lady Meng’s heartache was no less severe than her daughter’s. Many years of painstaking anticipation had evaporated in one day. The twins were supposed to be her aides and shields, but instead, they became burdens and threats. In the end, she had no one she could trust.
Before Shangguan Ru understood her mother’s meaning, she felt somebody press a finger below her ribs. The figure of her mother gradually faded into the darkness. The gods had answered her prayers in an unexpected way.
Shangguan Ru collapsed into the arms of an assassin in black, who took away her saber and handed it to Lady Meng.
This was the first time Lady Meng held one of the Stone Castle’s standard weapons. It was heavy just like her heart was, and ice cold just like her heart was as well.
This was her “Tenth Young Master”. Or at least, she used to be but no longer would be.
