A large-scale riot of unknown cause broke out in the Golden Roc Fort’s camp late in the night. The shouting lasted for about two hours, and the citizens in the surrounding area could hear them clearly, but none of them dared to venture forth to witness the commotion that night.
Early on the next morning, some curious citizens finally plucked up their courage and headed for the campsite, hoping to find out what had happened last night. However, they only found it deserted when they arrived there. Dozens of corpses were left behind, and they all belonged to defenseless slaves in the camp.
The killers and machetemen had broken camp in a haste and left behind a large number of valuable items, to the benefit of the local good-for-nothings. Very soon, citizens from the surrounding area, regardless of age or gender, were hurrying over to get their share of the spoils. When the soldiers from the city arrived at the scene, even most of the corpses had been stripped of their clothing.
Most people heard a whisper that it was the Dragon King who had killed the children of the Supreme King and sparked the panic within the camp last night, but another rumor had it that it was the killers of the Golden Roc Fort who had secretly executed their own young master and killed their slaves to conceal the truth.
No matter what it was, everyone believed the Shangguan twins to be dead by now, and that the Great Snowmountain and the Golden Roc Fort had renewed their war with each other. As for the Stone Kingdom, now it had no choice but to join the side of the Great Snowmountain.
In fact, both the twins and Shangguan Hong were still very much alive and hiding in the city. Gu Shenwei was still undecided on how to handle them; there had been too many unexpected accidents lately which disrupted his plans.
The first surprise for him was Zhang Ji. He racked his brain but still failed to figure out how did the tutor, who had obscured his talents for so many years in the fort, get to take part in such a secretive mission and even set him up.
The second person who surprised him was the Third Young Master, Shangguan Yun. The last time Gu Shenwei had met him, he was imprisoned in the dungeon, and even attempted to take his father’s life. “Why had his fortunes reversed all of a sudden, and why was he the only child still favored by the Supreme King? He was even representing the Golden Roc Fort in the Xiaowan Kingdom,” Gu Shenwei thought perplexedly.
The note from Zhang Ji, which had been passed to him via Shangguan Hong, had already given an obvious hint that no matter how the Dragon King handled the twins, the Golden Roc Fort would come up with an excuse to renew its war with the Great Snowmountain. As such, his best option was still to kill the three siblings to fulfill his vow of revenge against the entire Shangguan Family.
His hatred was thus being used against him.
Even though it was a critical moment for him, Gu Shenwei still decided to use some of his precious time on a visit to Nengjue Temple. He wanted to pay Master Fayan a visit; he did not like the monk, but he needed the monk’s advice. He wanted to have a clear picture of how big the ambition of the Supreme King actually was.
“I’m extremely grateful for your returning of the personnel file, Dragon King,” said Fayan. He knew nothing about the happenings of the past two days, and his expression was still as sorrowful as before.
Gu Shenwei had just paid a heavy price for underestimating his opponent, and did not want to make the same mistake again. Therefore his attitude toward the monk had become extremely sincere now. “The personnel file belongs to this fine temple, and it’s only right for it to return to its original owner,” he said.
Fayan nodded with a smile on his face but did not reply; Gu Shenwei remained silent as well. They faced each other in this manner for about 30 minutes before the monk finally broke the silence. The monk somehow knew what Gu Shenwei wanted to know without evening talking to him and explained explicitly, “There are two mountain passes outside Jade City. The one in the west leads to Shu-lik, and the other one in the south to the Xiaoyao Lake. Once the Golden Roc Fort captures these two places, half of the territories in Western Region will belong to the Shangguan family. With such a large piece of land, the Golden Roc Fort will rise to become a power worthy of comparison with the other big nations.”
Finally, he could sort through the mess of thoughts in his mind and fish out some leads from them. He had made a mistake which nearly no one could have avoided: that of overconfidence. He had thought of himself as the biggest opponent of his enemy.
When in fact, to both Zhang Ji and the Supreme King, he was just a killer who did not know his place and who was causing a nuisance far away from the heart of the Golden Roc Fort. Shangguan Fa’s reaction had been weak thus far because he had greater ambitions in mind and was not willing to reveal his true strength at such an early stage.
Gu Shenwei had always thought of the Golden Roc Fort as a huge, immovable force, but it was, in fact, more like a sleeping beast; although frequently caught napping, it would not be willing to be continually attacked without fighting back, and when it did, it could easily tear the instigator to shreds.
As Gu Shenwei was getting ready to take his leave, Fayan said, “I hope that you can bring that lady over for a visit before you leave, Dragon King.”
Gu Shenwei bowed and acknowledged the monk’s request before walking into the royal palace directly from a side gate of Nengjue Temple.
The three Shangguan siblings were facing each other silently in an isolated room; they had not spoken to each other since meeting.
Gu Shenwei faced them as he spoke, “I want to bring all three of you back to Jade City. Since everyone says that I’ve killed you, I want to show them that all of you are alive.”
Shangguan Ru cast her gaze sideways and her twin brother let out a sigh of relief slowly. Only Shangguan Hong replied, “What’s the point? I estimate that most of the people from the Great Snowmountain would already be dead by the time we arrive back at Jade City. If you’re asking me, why not let’s do it this way: let me go, and I shall sneak back and tell everyone there the truth. This might still allow us to salvage the situation.”
Shangguan Hong was still under the impression that Zhang Ji wanted him to pass the kit to the Dragon King as the tutor had some cunning plan to save him. As such, he preferred not to be seen working together with the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei looked at Master Hong, who was completely unaware that he was being made use of. He despised Shangguan Hong’s foolishness and yet could empathize with him at the same time. “You’re just like the two of them: wanted by the Supreme King. If I let you go, you’ll be killed even before walking out of the desert.”
Shangguan Hong laughed drily and did not really believe the Dragon King’s words. “I’m just a scapegoat. If the Ninth Young Master survives, I’ll be targeted, but if everyone believes him to be dead, naturally I would be fine. The Lord has no reason to kill me now, and he may not even know that I’m still alive.”
“Have you divulged that secret to Zhang Ji?”
The expression of Shangguan Hong changed as Gu Shenwei’s question took him by surprise. He quickly glanced at the twins before replying, “What’re we talking about this for? Er, Zhang Ji… he knows everything; nobody can fool him.”
“In this way, the Supreme King knows about it too. And it’s because of this secret that he wants all of you dead.”
Shangguan Hong was agape with shock. He did not understand the intentions of the Dragon King. “Impossible, impossible, how could Zhang Ji even get an audience with the lord?”, he asked.
Comparably, the twins were in even greater shock, especially Shangguan Fei. He still could not figure out why his father intended to kill him, and could not think of any other reason other than his own cowardice, nor did he dare to ask. He leaped up from his seat the moment he heard that it could be linked to Shangguan Hong. “It’s you! What secret is it? Why? You’ve offended Father, haven’t you? But how could it have links to me?” he questioned.
Shangguan Hong had no counter for Shangguan Fei’s continuous stream of questions and hurriedly waved his hand, replying, “Don’t spout nonsense, the Dragon King’s… trying to drive a wedge between us. Don’t believe him.”
“I’m trying to drive a wedge between you three?”, Gu Shenwei countered coldly. He took out the note from Zhang Ji and showed it to the three Shangguan siblings.
“Third Brother?” Shangguan Ru asked. She was confused; when they had set off from Jade City, Shangguan Yun was still imprisoned in the dungeon, and there were no signs of any impending release for him.
“The Xiaowan Kingdom?” Shangguan Fei was even more bewildered than his sister. “When did Father take an interest in the Xiaowan Kingdom?”, he continued asking.
“Third Young Master? Zhang Ji…”, Shangguan Hong said, particularly unable to fathom the tutor’s intentions.
Gu Shenwei had no other direct evidence besides the note, but he could already deduce most of the conspiracy from the facts laid out in front of him. “This is Zhang Ji’s cunning plot, the person he really hopes to assist is Shangguan Yun; supporting Shangguan Hong was just a way of getting Shangguan Yun out of the dungeon, am I right?”
The twins knew nothing about this and did not even understand what the Dragon King meant by saying Zhang Ji had ‘supported’ Shangguan Hong. As such, they turned to their half-brother, who was turning paler by the minute.
“Yes… yes, but Zhang Ji said that only by releasing Shangguan Yun… would the various powers in the fort balance out and that this would be beneficial to me. How could it…”
Shangguan Fei flew into a rage and rushed up to Shangguan Hong, saying, “So you’ve been harboring a plot all this while. How could I not have seen through it? To think that I even treated you as a confidant!”
Shangguan Hong’s face turned from pale white to peach red as he stood up as well. “Confidant? I’m your elder brother, not your most trusted slave from the Stone Castle!” he exclaimed.
Both of them stared angrily at each other, seemingly about to come to blows at any instant. Gu Shenwei had to forcibly suppress his urge to kill both of them as he mocked coldly , “Don’t be hasty. When the Supreme King hears the news that any of you are still alive, he’ll send killers after you three.”
Upon hearing that, the two half-brothers returned to their respective seats, still angry with each other. Shangguan Fei continued to question his elder half-brother in the tone of a master addressing his slave, “Speak, what secret does Zhang Ji tell to our father? Why did it cause Father to be so angry that he would want even me and my sister dead?”
Shangguan Hong turned his head away and his lips remained tightly sealed. His face, though, was as red as when he spoke to Shangguan Fei earlier.
“Stop asking,” interrupted Shangguan Ru. She had been living in the Inner Residence and could roughly guess what Shangguan Hong’s ‘secret’ was. “The end result will be the same even if we know what it is,” she continued.
“No. I want to know what it is,” replied Shangguan Fei. Even though he was cowardly, he was not afraid of Shangguan Hong and was determined to find out the truth.
Shangguan Hong continued ignoring him and turned to the Dragon King, “Did Zhang Ji really divulge the secret to the Lord?”
“Think about it. First, he made use of you and Lady Meng to get Shangguan Yun out. Next, he would have to get rid of potential challengers for Shangguan Yun, and what better way to do that than leverage on your secret? You should have understood this the moment you knew the Supreme King wanted all three of you dead.”
Shangguan Hong grew even redder. It was not that he did not have his suspicions, but he could not believe that Zhang Ji could have betrayed him. Now that it was already a fact that the Third Young Master had become the Prince Consort of Xiaowan Kingdom and obviously the heir apparent of the Supreme King, what further use could he, an illegitimate son, be of?
“How could this be?”, said Shangguan Hong, irritated. He was restless and tried to speak a few times but ended up holding himself back. “Is there a need to tell them?” he finally asked.
“What secret is it exactly?”, Shangguan Fei asked. He was close to flying into a violent rage, which was something rare for him.
“They’ll get to know it sooner or later. Since all of you are on the same boat now, it’s best to be honest with each other,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Then you… you tell them since you know everything,” replied Shangguan Hong as he hung his head. He had still not recovered from the blow of Zhang Ji’s betrayal.
Shangguan Ru’s expression had turned somber and once had wanted to leave before returning to her seat again. She hung her head as well.
Only Shangguan Fei was waiting impatiently for the Dragon King to divulge the secret. Most importantly, he wanted to know whether there was any way to salvage his diminished reputation in the eyes of his father.
“Shangguan Hong had an affair with Lady Meng,” said Gu Shenwei bluntly. He had known about this secret long ago but did not expect for it to become a deadly weapon in Zhang Ji’s hands.
“In the past, the deadliest weapon was a counselor,” recalled Gu Shenwei as he thought about his previous discussions with the tutor. Now, this old but deadly weapon was about to be ‘unsheathed’ again.
Shangguan Fei was stunned. He did not seem to understand the Dragon King’s words and furrowed his eyebrows together like a confused student trying hard to process new information.
He turned his head and carefully took a measure of the uneasy and bashful Shangguan Hong. Suddenly, he drew his saber and rushed toward his elder half-brother with only murder on his mind. His speed was so great that not only was Shangguan Hong unable to counter, even Gu Shenwei felt that it was hard for him to interfere.
