Chapter 96: The Rescue
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
When he entered the house, Gu Shenwei felt that something was wrong. When he did not find any signs of living people both upstairs and downstairs, he was panicking as he rapidly searched the whole place again.
The Xu siblings had escaped, and all of the valuable items were taken away. There was only the saber which he had used before and it was placed on the extinguished stove.
Gu Shenwei sat down in disppointment, wondering where the sister and brother could have escaped to. They would be easily discovered in the city and there were either high mountains or the Gobi desert around the city. In this season, leaving the city would be suicidal, and the nearest populated place was several days’ walk away.
Then he realized that he was wrong again. The one in the cape was not a sentry of the Golden Roc Fort.
Gu Shenwei sprung to his feet and ran out of the house. He wanted to find someone to clarify one thing and to find a horse. He ran towards the Southwall Tavern, where he could ask the manager even if Tie Hanfeng was absent.
As soon as he passed the gap in the city wall, Gu Shenwei saw his Master Shifu walking out of the tavern.
Tie Hanfeng came to his apprentice and asked, “What’s going on? Everything is a mess out here.”
The fire outside the city and the fact that the killer apprentices were searching for Elderly Dragon everywhere had been spread throughout the city. It was natural for such a well-informed person like Tie Hanfeng to hear of such things.
“It’s an emergency, I need a horse.”
Tie Hanfeng believed his apprentice and turn to the tavern. He came back after a while, followed by two sleepy counterjumpers who was leading two horses.
“Will you go with me?”
“Sure.”
Thinking that it might be better, Gu Shenwei mounted the horse and asked, “Which way leads to Stone Kingdom?”
“There are only two ways from Jade City, one eastward, the other westward. Stone Kingdom is in the south, so they could have gone either way.”
Gu Shenwei contemplated for a while, then he suddenly had an inspiration, “Let’s go west.”
He remembered that short sword. The handle had fallen into the stove and the sword tip was pointed towards the west, which must have been a message that Xu Xiaoyi had left behind for him.
They rode straight to the road on the west. Tie Hanfeng finally had the chance to ask Gu Shenwei, “What are you going to do?”
“I will rescue them,” Gu Shenwei answered and spurred on the horse harder.
Tie Hanfeng frowned. He did not like to “rescue” because he thought the duty of a killer was to kill.
Any moving object would be easily found in the vast expanse of wild grasslands. When the sun was high in the sky, Gu Shenwei saw a slow-moving carriage that was accompanied by a knight. The knight was wearing a black cape and it stood out even though the cape was supposed to be inconspicious.
Hearing the clip – clop of the two horses, the carriage stopped by the road side with the knight standing guard in front of it. Gu Shenwei and Tie Hanfeng approached the carriage and, when the curtain on the carriage was raised, they saw the Xun sister and brother.
Xu Xiaoyi lowered his head with a slightly flushed expression. Xu Yanwei was surprised and angry, “Why is it always you? Do we owe you money?”
Upon seeing them, Tie Hanfeng frowned a little. But he paid more attention to the knight, who’s obviously hiding a sharp scimitar underneath the cape.
“You owe me your two lives,” said Gu Shenwei coldly, “so I can’t let them be taken away by others.”
“It was your decision to save us. We didn’t ask you.” Xu Yan replied rigidly.
“So what about this time? The second prince wants to kill you, and I’ll never help you unless you ask for it.”
While Xu Yanwei was bewildered, Xu Xiaoyi spoke first, “Brother Huan, the second prince is taking us to Stone Kingdom, not killing us.”
The knight, who had kept his silence until now, said, “My mission is to escort Miss Xu and Mr. Xu to Stone Kingdom and I never had the intention of killing them.”
Gu Shenwei simply ignored his words. Although the Xu sister and brother had been making a living in South City and knew more about the ways of the world, they were far less perceptive than him in front of a real conspiracy.
“Just think about it. The second prince had killed his brother, which we all know, and so do the insiders of Golden Roc Fort, the Meng Family and the commandant. But you two are different because you are not only insiders, but also living proofs. Of all the insiders, you are the only ones who have seen Guard Ju commit murder and know that “Master Mi” is the second prince. Think about it. It is neither necessary nor useful for the second prince to kill me, but will he keep both of you alive? As soon as you leave the territory of the Golden Roc Fort, this guard who claimed to ‘have no intention of killing’ will surely destroy the proofs.”
The coachman carefully looked back. He took this job because of the generousness of the employer, but he did not want to be killed.
Looking puzzled, the Xu sister and brother turned toward the knight together. The knight raised his hood and revealed his firm face of a fourty-year old man, “His Majesty missed Miss Xu very much and just wants to meet you soon. I can guarantee your safety, Miss Xu, please don’t worry.”
Gu Shenwei turned his horse around and said, “I’ve said enough. The choice is up to you.”
Xu Yan bowed her head in silence, and Xu Xiaoyi shouted, “Turn around, turn around, we’re not going to Stone Kingdom.”
The coachman had been waiting for such words, however, he had to wait for the knight’s instruction.
“How about you, Miss Xu?” asked the knight.
Feeling perplexed and alarmed, Xu Yanwei thought hard about her decision. Finally, she sighed and said, “Let’s return to South City first, we’re not in a hurry to go to Stone Kingdom.”
After a moment of silence, the knight took off his cape and drew out his scimitar. “So I have no choice.”
“Are you really killing us!” Xu Xiaoyi exclaimed. Both the sister and the brother wanted to temporarily return to the city and they just wanted to see the knight’s reaction. They just didn’t expect that he would really do it.
“I had to accomplish my mission. I won’t ask about your background, and you need not say anything. Just bring it on.”
The last sentence was for Gu Shenwei and Tie Hanfeng. The knight had guessed where they were from and did not want to bear the blame of killing the killers of the Golden Roc Fort.
Gu Shenwei had no intention of accepting the challenge, instead, he rode back to keep a distance away from the knight, “We don’t need to fight because no one asked me this time. I won’t interfere in someone else’s matter.”
The scimitar knight paused for a moment. He thought that the siblings would not let go of their only saviors unless they really wanted to die.
Xu Xiaoyi was the first one to speak. “Brother Huan, help us, please, I’m begging you! Why did I leave behind the saber? I wanted you to catch up with us.” He had been suspicious of leaving Jade City to go to Stone Kingdom, but he had to follow his sister, who had insisted on leaving.
Gu Shenwei looked at Xu Yanwei and waited for her reply.
Xu Yanwei’s face changed so fast that she looked as if she was possessed by Slave Yao. Her sudden obsequious smile could even fascinate a 15-year-old teenager, “What else can I do in such a situation? Please help us, my good brother, our lives and everything else will be yours from now on.”
The scimitar knight snorted and dismounted his horse, “Well, no more nonsense. Let’s see who can save and who can kill.”
Gu Shenwei also dismounted his horse and drew out his saber. From the side, Tie Hanfeng rushed forward at a speed that was even faster than a horse’s gallop. He snatched Gu Shenwei’s saber and said to him, “Come on, brat, you are no match for him.”
He turned to the siblings in the carriage and said, “It’s my apprentice who rescued you. I’m just helping him, not you.” Then he approached the scimitar knight, limping with the saber in hand, looking more like a desperate gangster than a Kung Fu master.
Just one move of the scimitar knight was enough for Gu Shenwei to see that he was no match for the knight. The knight moved and slashed at such a fast speed that Gu Shenwei could hardly see a sign of his attacks. He perfectly concealed his killing intent until the last moment.
Gu Shenwei was shocked, thinking that it was fortunate to have Master Shifu come along for the rescue.
Gu Shenwei had only seen Master Shifu kill a person once. That time was when the opponent was just a guard with an ordinary Kung Fu foundation. But this time, the opponent was a real master.
While Gu Shenwei was talking to the sister and brother, the scimitar knight and Tie Hanfeng had already probed each other in secret. Now they both showed no mercy.
A real master will usually kill someone with only one move, which Gu Shenwei had seen in person. Now that his Fung Fu had improved, he was even more astonished at the moves. Just like an opera fan watching the performance of a famous actor or a monk listening to the preachings of a dignitary, every slight turn of the toes or every slight movement of the shoulder would lead to an epiphany.
However, in the eyes of the Xu siblings, there was nothing more than cruelty in this fight. The scimitar came from above and slashed down. The cripple responded by leaning his body in a manner that seemed as if he was falling down, slashing horizontally with a seemingly weak strike, and then immediately backed up awkwardly. It looked very ridiculous.
Of course, Tie Hanfeng had slashed with a lot of force, but that the force was heavily concentrated on the enemy which left only a little momentum remaining after the slash, making his move seem weak.
This is the ultimate realm for the master of a saber. Tie Hanfeng had not been hiding anything from the apprentice, but it could not be shown unless he encountered a powerful opponent.
Gu Shenwei was both surprised and delighted. Even a lame killer of Golden Roc Fort had such amazing saber skills. When could he become powerful enough to take revenge for his family?
The knight dropped his scimitar and put his left hand on his right ribs. There was not much bleeding, but the saber had deeply penetrated his body and had destroyed the important organs that were vital for his life.
“Great skill.”
After saying these words, the knight sat on the snow with his body swaying slightly as if he was going to fall down, but in the end, he only bowed his head and died like an old monk in the middle of meditation.
Tie Hanfeng went behind the knight, cut off his head and showed it to the Xu sister and brother, whose faces turned as white as snow. When she recalled the scene of killing that she had personally seen last time, Xu Yanwei immediately said, “No.”
Tie Hanfeng threw away the head and returned the saber to his apprentice, “This is the result of an idiot who picked a place for killing. Remember, kill your target wherever and whenever possible. Never waste a chance.”
“Yes, master”
Gu Shenwei responded respectfully. He felt that it was becoming more and more necessary to learn all that he can from his Master Shifu.
Gu Shenwei and Tie Hanfeng led the way, and the carriage, which had turned around, followed them at quite a distance. The coachman had decided to stay as far as possible away from the cripple.
“The little whore looks pretty, but pay attention, a price should be paid for a good deed,” said Tie Hanfeng after a while, still feeling puzzled by his apprentice’s motivation for rescuing the siblings.
“Good deeds are like business, there will be a return from your investment only when you are paid.”
Tie Hanfeng looked at his apprentice with a subtle expression, “Yes, just like business. You need to be capable of taking both the capital and the interest, otherwise, you will suffer a total loss.”
Gu Shenwei smiled knowingly, “No, I won’t, I promise.”
Tie Hanfeng had also done good deeds to this apprentice, and Gu Shenwei knew that he must agree when Tie Hanfeng asked for the return from his investments.
Although Jade City seemed to be close enough that they would arrive by noon, it was actually still far away. Tie Hanfeng suddenly thought of something and asked, “Are you looking for Elderly Dragon?”
“Yeah.”
“He was killed this morning, his corpse is still warm and fresh!”
Gu Shenwei had guessed that this might be the case, but he was still a little disappointed. He could have taken this opportunity to retaliate against Mr. Guo. He looked back at the carriage and suddenly had an idea that might draw the snake out of its hole, and, possibly, make the Xu sister and brother repay some of their “debt”.
