Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei sat on horseback at a small mound as he gazed far ahead in the direction of the desert. Behind him, the 10 teams were forming up and leaving Shuangquan Village in a long procession. It was the first day of their journey to the Stone Kingdom.
Suddenly, the children who had been running and giggling beside him stopped playing and pointed their fingers at the sky while shouting, “Eagle! There’s an eagle!”
Gu Shenwei looked up and saw a black eagle flying unsteadily above in the sky. It looked as if it was about to lose its balance and fall to the ground at any minute.
“It’s injured,” said some child.
“No, it has been entangled by a snake,” said an elderly man. He was the most experienced guide in this village and would be leading the teams across the desert.
Upon hearing the elderly man’s words, the children all looked up while shading their eyes with their hands. They quickly spotted a colorful snake in the eagle’s beak. The snake refused to give in to the bird and tightly wrapped itself around the eagle’s body.
During such a life-and-death struggle, the victory would always belong to the one who was more persistent.
“It’s not a good omen,” the guide muttered to himself. “We shouldn’t take this route during this season.”
“Omens themselves are neutral; one man’s meat is another man’s poison,” Gu Shenwei said while watching the eagle fighting the snake.
The guide was deeply impressed by the Dragon King’s words and bowed to him while saying, “You’re right, Dragon King. Let’s hope that it’s a good omen for us.”
Before the outcome of their fight was decided, the eagle had flown away from the scene with the snake in its beak.
The team dispatched by the Golden Roc Fort took its position at the head of the procession and was leading the other teams out of the village. Gu Shenwei did not see anyone who looked like Shangguan Ru in the team. He thought that she must have disguised herself.
After the Golden Roc Fort’s team came the Special Emissary from the Central Plains and his entourage. The Special Envoy warmly greeted the Dragon King, while Zhong Heng, who was also on the Special Envoy’s team, just slightly nodded to the youth without saying a word.
Behind them were several merchant caravans, followed by monks from the Four Truths Temple. All of the monks traveled by foot with big bags on their backs. They had come to Shuangquan Villiage together with the Golden Roc Fort’s team, but surprisingly, they did not team up today.
Amongst them was an elderly monk who was thin but looked hale and hearty. He walked with his fellow monks while carrying a package on his back. According to the news that Gu Shenwei had gotten beforehand, this monk was named Fayan and he was the Master Shifu of Lianhua, Lianxin and Lianye. Gu Shenwei was not sure whether this monk joined this journey on purpose or by accident.
Unlike the other monks, who deliberately ignored the Dragon King, Fayan, a total stranger to the young man, nodded to him while walking past.
At the end of the procession, was the Great Snowmountain’s team led by Lin Xiaoshan, which consisted of more than 30 people. Guan Shang had used some make-up to change her looks, allowing herself to blend in with the crowd.
Maid Lotus was the last to leave the village. She rode up to Gu Shenwei saying, “Many people in the six caravans have suspicious backgrounds, but none of them look like killers from the Golden Roc Fort.”
“The Supreme King won’t send any killers to assassinate me here. He’ll never want to bear the blame for breaching the truce agreement,” said Gu Shenwei.
“No matter whom he has sent here, we won’t have enough manpower to cope with them,” said Maid Lotus.
Among the 30 team members of the Great Snowmountain, only three people had great kung fu. Compared to the Golden Roc Fort, the Dragon King did have a rather weak team here.
“Given that, we can only strike first to gain the initiative,” said Gu Shenwei.
Upon hearing this, Maid Lotus smiled, since this was exactly what she was thinking about. She quickly determined the first target and said, “We can start with that small caravan. It has only 15 people, and they look more anxious than the others.”
Gu Shenwei agreed since he himself had also noticed this strange team. Although all the members of the team were dressed in long robes like ordinary businessmen, their riding posture, their strong and steady hands and the looks on their faces clearly indicated that they were not common people. “Let’s act tonight,” said Gu Shenwei.
It was winter. When night fell, it was particularly cold and quiet in the desert. The 10 teams pitched camp together for the night and the tents of the Golden Roc Fort’s team occupied nearly half of the camp ground.
Toward midnight, Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus sneaked out of their tent and went to meet with Guan Shang, who had been keeping watch on the small caravan for them all this while in the northeastern corner of the camp. When they arrived, Guan Shang nodded to them, signifying that everything was alright and there was no trap.
After having fulfilled her responsibilities, Guan Shang retreated to her own tent, leaving matters to the two killers.
The 15 members of the small caravan were split evenly into three tents. Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus intended to use knockout powder on them before sneaking into their tents to cut off their heads.
Before they took action, they spent a little bit of time observing their target out of habit. What happened next proved that this was prudent.
Fourteen people crept out of the three tents in groups of two or three, their faces concealed. They nodded to one another and then headed for the southeastern corner of the camp.
That corner was occupied by the Great Snowmountain’s team. It seemed that these masked men also planned to launch an attack tonight.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus exchanged a knowing look with each other and then took a detour to the southeastern corner, preparing to block and eliminate their enemies when they retreated from that place.
To their great surprise, when they arrived, they discovered that the target of the 14 masked men was not the Great Snowmountain’s team but the monks from Four Truths Temple.
The 12 monks, who were planning to meditate through the night, did not need too much space. Therefore, they had pitched only two tents.
The masked men left two men standing guard outside each tent, and then the rest of them split into two teams and rushed into the two respective tents. This was an amateur assassination technqiue which could only succeed when used on ordinary victims. Against the 12 highly skilled monks, it was akin to courting their own death.
The fight in the tents had lasted for a very short period of time before the defeated masked men dashed out of the tents and fled.
Upon hearing the noises from the fight, the people in the neighboring tents woke up with a start and ran out to check the situation. Such chaos happened to provide coverage for the masked men.
At this moment, the middle-aged monk named Lianqing stepped out of his tent and said in a loud voice, “Don’t panic. It’s just a group of hooligans sneaking into our tents. We’ve already defeated them and driven them away. Everybody in our tents is fine.”
The chaos quickly died down before reaching a climax, but no one in the camp actually believed Lianqing’s explanation. As they were in an uninhabited desert now and with a Golden Roc flag fluttering over their camp, everyone was clear that no hooligan would dare to approach and that it must have been some people inside the camp who had attacked the monks. However, as Lianqing had made it very clear that the monks did not want to track down the intruders, nobody wished to trouble himself.
The moment the masked men had broken into the monks’ tents, Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus had sneaked back to the northeastern corner of the camp to hide, waiting for the masked men to come back. About one hour later, the masked men returned to their tents. Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus could hear them discussing together in whispers.
“I’ve never expected the monks to have such great kung fu.”
“What can we do now? How about turning back? We’re only one day’s journey away from the village.”
“But we’ve received the money. How can we report back to our client without getting the thing.”
“Let’s wait for another opportunity. We’ve been too hasty this time. The Golden Roc Fort, the Dragon King, the monks and Zhuang Qiang, no one in this camp is easy to deal with. Once they fight against one another, we’ll get a chance to acquire the thing in the chaos.”
“Yeah, that’s right. We don’t need to exert ourselves.”
…
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus gave up their attempt to kill the masked men and returned to their tent. Guan Shang was there, waiting for them. “After your departure, two batches of people successively came here to spy on us. Both left this place quickly. It’s probably because they found out that you had left this tent,” Guan Shang said in a low voice.
“I know who’s hired by the Golden Roc Fort to kill me—Zhuang Qiang. I killed his brother, Zhuang Heng,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Long Machete God” Zhuang Heng, leader of a small gang of bandits, had fallen under Gu Shenwei’s saber two years ago.
His brother, Zhuang Qiang, who was also a leader of a bandit gang, had once openly claimed that he would have avenged Zhuang Heng’s death by killing Yang Huan. However, Gu Shenwei had never encountered the bandit during the past few years and neither had he heard any information about this man after becoming the Dragon King.
“Zhuang Qiang is not a first-rate kung fu master. His sabers skills are noticeably inferior to his brother,” added Maid Lotus. As Managing Master of the New Moon Hall, she knew many kung fu masters in Western Region.
“That’s why he waited until today. He only dares to take his revenge on me when he’s backed by a powerful person,” said Gu Shenwei.
Both Maid Lotus and he were more interested in Zhuang Qiang and did not care much about the fight between the masked men and the monks.
The next morning, the 10 teams continued to travel together. Lin Xiaoshan, who knew many machetemen in this procession, spent the whole day collecting information upon the orders of the Dragon King but he still failed to find any clue about the whereabouts of Zhuang Qiang.
In the evening, when the teams pitched camp, Shangguan Hong came to visit Gu Shenwei.
He was sent here by Shangguan Fei. Although he hated this job, he dared not reject the Ninth Young Master. “Dragon King, the Ninth Young Master is looking forward to your response. His offer to you is still valid,” said Shangguan Hong.
“Tell him that I’m still thinking about it,” replied Gu Shenwei.
“We don’t have much time left. Er, I mean, this is what the Ninth Young Master said to me. Once we arrive in the Stone Kingdom, you’ll have little choice,” said Shangguan Hong.
“I know.” Gu Shenwei still refused to give a clear answer.
After delivering the message to the Dragon King, Shangguan Hong heaved a sigh of relief, and then he looked at the Dragon King while saying, “To be honest, I’m very grateful to you. I told you all my important secrets, and you’ve kept them for me all this while, even when you were being pushed so hard by Lady Meng. You really saved my life.”
“I’m always cautious in my speech,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Yes, and you always keep your promises. Dragon King, please tell me the truth. Do you really want to kill everyone in the Shangguan family… including me?” asked Shangguan Hong.
“As long as the truce agreement is valid, I won’t kill anyone from the Golden Roc Fort,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Yes, but everyone knows that the so-called peace talks are just a cover. The lord agreed to a cease-fire because he wants to make a good impression on the countries of Western Region. As such, the Ninth Young Master can successfully marry the princess. As for you, the Dragon King, you just use the peace talks as a ploy to gain time and advantage. You intend to accumulate strength and launch a counterattack on the Golden Roc Fort. Am I right?” asked Shangguan Hong.
“If you think that you already know everything, why bother to ask?” replied Gu Shenwei.
“It’s just that I don’t believe you really want to kill all members of the Shangguan family. At least, I know that you can’t kill someone in our family,” Shangguan Hong smiled knowingly at the Dragon King and said. “I hope that I can also become a person that you’re unwilling to kill.”
“What happened in the Stone Castle? What makes you guys, sons of the Supreme King, suddenly become so eager to betray the Golden Roc Fort?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“Nothing happened. Everything has not changed.” Shangguan Hong appeared somewhat irritated and said, “I’m still the same old me, except for my given name, which has been changed from Hongye to Hong. Zhang Ji has been working hard for the past three years but still failed to build me up. To be honest, I’m tired of all this, especially that old woman, who treats me like a slave, yells at me and even forces me to serve her son.”
Shangguan Hong breathed a long sigh and continued, “I don’t even have the chance to take an oath of loyalty to the Supreme King. How can I betray him? I just want to… find my own way out.”
“I’m always ready to offer you such a way,” Gu Shenwei replied in a calm tone as if he was talking to a desperate fugitive.
Shangguan Hong’s face lit up, and he hurriedly added, “I’m also willing to work for you. To show my sincerity, I can give you a piece of information now. The Ninth Young Master plans to trap you in this desert tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
With these words, Shangguan Hong excused himself.
Gu Shenwei was deeply perplexed at why Shangguan Hong and Shangguan Fei, sons of the Supreme King, feared him so such. “These two young masters are guarded by lots of professional killers and machetemen, but both of them seem to firmly believe that they’ll be assassinated during this journey. They even kept imploring me to be gracious to them. What a strange thing.”
Bound by the terms of the truce agreement, the Dragon King could not assassinate anyone from the Golden Roc Fort during this competition to win the princess’ favor. This was a fact known to all.
Given that, it seemed very ridiculous that these two young masters of the Shangguan Family dreaded him so much.
The piece of information that Shangguan Hong had leaked to the Dragon King quickly proved to be true. The next day, the Great Snowmountain’s team did run into trouble.
