Chapter 297: A Precious Weapon
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei regretted having this talk with Xu Yanwei in front of Xu Xiaoyi, Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong.
Upon hearing his sister’s words, Xu Xiaoyi slightly curled his lips and nodded his head, while thinking, “It looks like even the Dragon King can’t rise above ordinary desires.”
Chu Nanping remained unmoved by Xu Yanwei’s words, but he could not help frowning in bewilderment.
Tie Linglong gazed at the Dragon King and opened her mouth, seemingly wishing to say something, but in the next minute, she somehow changed her mind and did not utter a single word.
“Are you really going to tell that to Miss Ru?” Xu Yanwei asked in a trembling voice.
“Yes,” replied Gu Shenwei, coldly and assertively. “Now that you work for the Golden Roc Fort, I don’t want to see you anymore.”
Xu Yanwei was about to take her leave in a fit of anger, but she quickly changed her mind before she made any move. She put on a frightened face and placed her hand on her chest, as if she was too scared to stand steadily. “Dragon King, I’ve sworn to take you as my master. How can I betray you? Besides, my brother still works for you. How can I leave like this? If you don’t want to help Miss. Ru, I won’t force you to do it. I don’t care about it very much. After all, it’s none of my business,” said Xu Yanwei, in a soft voice.
Gu Shenwei was pretty that Xu Yanwei was lying, but he could not kick her out in front of her brother. “Alright, you can stay here. Don’t go back to the Stone Castle anymore,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Great,” Xu Yanwei clapped her hands and said. “I’ll stay here. Dragon King, you’ve no idea how difficult it is to serve the Eighth Young Mistress. I’ve had enough of it.”
“Uhm.” Gu Shenwei did not want to talk about Luo Ningcha. He knew how cantankerous the woman was. He assumed that she must have become even more bad-tempered after surviving the assassination attempt by Maid Lotus three years ago.
Xu Yanwei took off her cloak and threw it to her brother while saying, “Give me the best room.” After that, she turned around to look at Chu Nanping and said smilingly, “Little Chu, you’re still so good-looking. Sigh, women like me are going to lose our jobs.”
Chu Nanping moved his lips but failed to utter a word, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Right at this moment, he found out that Tie Linglong was looking at him angrily, and his face instantly became redder.
Soon enough, Gu Shenwei discovered that it was a mistake to let Xu Yanwei stay inside his residence.
In less than half a day, all the people in his residence, including his machetemen, swordsmen and even handymen, heard the story about him and his childhood sweetheart in the Stone Castle, but he could not find any evidence that Xu Yanwei was deliberately spreading the rumor.
Tie Linglong took all this very seriously and she seemed to feel that she was obligated to take care of the Dragon King’s emotional needs. She was dressed in an outfit meant for combat all day long and stayed with him almost all the time, with a polished saber in her hand. It looked as if she was ready to perform a task at any minute. Every time she discovered that the Dragon King appeared to be in a good mood, she would say with infinite care, “The Great Snowmountain has a vast expanse of land. It’s not a difficult thing for us to hide a person inside the mountain…”
Gu Shenwei had no choice but to forbid her from entering his room again.
Xu Xiaoyi was smart and diplomatic and never mentioned Shangguan Ru in front of the Dragon King during the whole day. Chu Nanping was extremely confused in the first place and spent quite a long time thinking about this thing. In the end, he believed that he figured it out and asked the Dragon King, “Dragon King, you’re planning to continue your Emotionless Swordsmanship practice, aren’t you? That Miss Ru is the one you intend to kill for the mastery of the sword technique, isn’t she? “
Thrilled at the thought of being able to continue practicing Emotionless Swordsmanship techniques, Chu Nanping cast a meaningful glance at Xu Xiaoyi. Xu Xiaoyi swiftly ran away, as he knew that he was the one that Chu Nanping wanted to kill to master Emotionless Swordsmanship.
Gu Shenwei had enough of it and decide to prohibit everyone from entering his room except his military counselor.
To keep the Dragon King fully briefed on the negotiating process, Fang Wenshi had to report to his lord everyday after he returned from his meetings. This evening, he was exceptionally talkative. He started with his political analysis and then he began to talk about the past kings and lords, telling the Dragon King how their lechery had ruined their futures. Fang Wenshi talked in such a roundabout way for a long time, trying to make his view amply clear to his lord, which was women were the root of all troubles.
Gu Shenwei treated all of them coldly, believing that they would quickly forget about this rumor. Contrary to his expectation, everyone thought that he must have put on such a cold face to hide his worries, since they had never seen him being so moody in the past.
Gu Shenwei was adept at scheming, but not good at coping with the emotional stuff. He even had a sneaking suspicion that Xu Yanwei had already been bribed by Lady Meng and had come here to lure him into a trap.
Shangguan Hong had told him that the Golden Roc Fort planned to use Shangguan Ru’s marriage to strengthen its relationship with the Meng family and in the meantime it also intended to use her as a bait to lure him into a trap. Gu Shenwei believed Shangguan Hong’s words, but by far he had not divulged this piece of information to anyone else.
The next morning, Gu Shenwei woke up, feeling confident that nobody would talk about Shangguan Ru again. He believed that what he had done yesterday had already expressed his stand clearly. However, the moment he got up, he discovered that some people were standing in front of his door.
They were the elderly tribal chief, Long Qinying, 20 swordsmen and 10 girls from the Great Snowmountain. Gu Shenwei invited them to come into his room, but they refused. Given that, he could only have a talk with them while standing together with them in front of his room.
“Dragon King, we don’t mean to offend you, but we have to ask you a question,” A young swordsman in his 20s spoke on behalf of these people. While he was saying this, he appeared very nervous and his hand kept stroking his sword shaft restlessly.
“Alright, go ahead and ask me,” said Gu Shenwei. Every time he talked with the people from the Great Snowmountain, he had to be extra careful, trying to appear approachable as well as authoritative.
“Well, it’s just that we heard a rumor. It’s said that you fell in love with a girl from the Golden Roc Fort and are planning to snatch her from the fort and elope with her,” said the young swordsman.
“It must be Xu Yanwei who made up this story and started this rumor,” Gu Shenwei thought with anger, but as he had to control his temper in front of his people, he just solemnly said, “That’s not true. I swear to the Empyrean that I’ll spend my whole life destroying the Golden Roc Fort.”
Everybody looked delighted upon hearing the Dragon King’s reply, but they did not leave right after this. “Here’s another thing. We hope you’ll gratify a wish of the Empyrean’s people,” said the young swordsman.
“What’s that?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“We hope you can let Jiang stay inside your bedroom, as she’s designated by the Empyrean to be your servant.”
When the young swordsman was saying this, Jiang was hiding behind the crowd, her face turning scarlet with embarrassment.
“I see. I’ll let Jiang stay inside my bedroom,” Gu Shenwei immediately promised them, as he thought, “People from the Great Snowmountain are simple and honest and have a strong faith in the Empyrean. Before coming to Jade City, they must have performed some ceremony to appoint Jiang as my servant. I’d better not argue with them over this matter.”
The crowd was satisfied with the Dragon King’s reply. When they took their leave, they even slightly bowed to their lord, appearing more respectful than before.
Jiang was left behind by the crowd. She lowered her head and nervously wrung her hands together, her face still red.
Gu Shenwei could predict that she would never become a qualified maid, since girls from the Great Snowmountain did not know how to work as one. Although all the tribes in the mountain regarded women as inferior to men, no one, not even their tribal chiefs, kept a maid at home. Women from the Great Snowmountain were brave and hardworking. They knew how to hunt, how to build a house and how to graze and butcher their cattle, but none of them knew how to serve another person.
“You can clean the room first,” said Gu Shenwei.
He tried his best to be nice to Jiang, but the girl was still startled upon hearing him speaking to her. She clumsily used her sleeve to wipe a table in the room, but she overexerted and accidentally smashed a vase.
Embarrassed by her own clumsiness, Jiang was about to cry. Gu Shenwei immediately comforted her by saying, “Relax, it’s not a big deal. Just throw those broken pieces away.”
Gu Shenwei decided to leave Jiang alone, giving her some time to get familiar with her new job. He summoned Chu Nanping, Tie Linglong and a macheteman, prepared to set off on a mission. Before his departure, he told Xu Xiaoyi, “Keep an eye on your sister. If she continues to spread rumors about me, I’ll cut her tongue out.”
The four mounted their horses, galloped through South City and stopped at the Rouge Forest on the eastern outskirts of Jade City. This place was a regular haunt for masterless machetemen, but Gu Shenwei had not come here for them. He was looking for Wildhorse and the disciples of the Joy Pavilion.
According to intelligence provided by Xu Xiaoyi, some suspicious-looking people had suddenly appeared at this place and they looked like disciples of the Joy Pavilion.
Gu Shenwei wanted to check out the real situation by himself.
The moment he arrived at the Rouge Forest, he was amazed. “I’ve never seen so many wandering machetemen here before, and the Golden Roc Fort has just hired lots of them. How come there are still so many here? Have all the machetemen in Western Region come to Jade City recently?”
Gu Shenwei brought a Tianshan Sect macheteman named Lin Xiaoshan with him. This man was a few years his senior and muscular as a leopard, but because he had a round face like a baby, he did not look very mature.
Lin Xiaoshan was also greatly surprised by the number of the machetemen in the Rouge Forest and exclaimed, “Why are there so many machetemen here?”
“Don’t you know the reason? You’re from the Tianshan Sect,” said Gu Shenwei. He thought that the Tianshan Sect must have known the reason as it was a semi-public guild of the machetemen in Jade City.
“I’ll ask around to figure out what happened.”
With these words, Lin Xiaoshan dismounted from his horse and walked into the forest. After a while, he returned and said, “Some rich men from North City organized a Machete God Contest here. Today is the opening day of the contest.”
Gu Shenwei still remembered the previous Machete God Contest, which had been held a few years ago. That contest was a part of the gang war between the Kun Society and the Horned Dragon Society, and the previous Machete God ended up being killed by Maid Lotus.
“What about the organizers’ background?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“Curiously enough, they’re just a bunch of retired machetemen. I haven’t seen them for years and I haven’t heard anyone or any organization support them. It seems to be a pure kung fu contest. The winner will win the title of ‘Machete God’ and a precious weapon.”
“What weapon?” asked Tie Linglong, her eyes brightened with excitement. She had long wished to replace her ordinary saber with a precious weapon like the Five Peaks Saber.
“Melon-hilted Scimitar. Just like the Dragon King’s saber and sword, it’s also made by the famous Shu-lik blacksmith, Daga.”
Daga was one of the most well-known blacksmiths in the Western Region. Every weapon he crafted after he entered his 40s was of extraordinary quality.
Upon hearing Lin Xiaoshan’s reply, Gu Shenwei felt intrigued. “Before the Supreme King and I signed the truce agreement, quite a lot of people in Jade City put bounty on my head. Someone even offered a reward of 200,000 taels of silver for my Five Peaks Saber and Dragon Head Sword. I used to think that this person must have some connection with the Blacksmith Village, but Mr. Hong swore to me that this incident had nothing to do with the Blacksmith Village and the Tianshan Sect.”
The four of them walked into the Rouge Forest after leaving their horses outside of it.
Gu Shenwei was wearing a cloak but he did not use any make-up to change his looks. Despite that the Dragon King had already become a household name in Jade City by now, only a few people in the city had met him before. He was not worried that he was going to be recognized here.
There were several stages set up in an open space inside the forest, which were about 2 meters in height. Crowds of machetemen and ordinary people gathered around the stages, enthusiastically watching the fights on the them.
Several machetemen paced around the area and invited the other machetemen to partake in the contest, like peddlers crying their wares. “Melon-hilted Scimitar, you must’ve heard of it. It’s a precious scimitar made by Daga. It can effortlessly cut through metal and a strand a hair would be sliced into two just being blown across its sharp edge. This precious scimitar together with 3,000 taels of silver will be awarded to the Machete God. Come here and sign up for the contest quickly. Once you become the Machete God, you’ll become a household name.”
When Gu Shenwei brushed past a middle-aged macheteman who was advertising the contest, the man recognized the Dragon King at first glance. He suddenly stopped peddling and shouted excitedly, “The Dragon King! The Dragon King has come to attend our Machete God Contest!”
Upon hearing this, all the contestants on the stages simultaneously stopped fighting and everyone at the scene shifted their gaze toward Gu Shenwei.
