บท 34: Xuanji
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
This was a disappointing and embarrassing moment for the Shangguan twins. As children of the Supreme King, they seemed to be the "face" of Golden Roc Fort and yet they stood there without their father and brothers present.
Shangguan Fei looked nervous and Shangguan Ru bit her lips. Her cheeks blushed as red as precious rubies and an irresistible flame of anger burned in her wide black eyes.
Gu Shenwei even momentarily thought that she would rush forward to rebuke the killers and fight Marshal Yang, who had just killed nine people in succession.
The sound of drum beats kept coming from the fort, alternating between fast and slow.
Normally, this would sound like the signal of an attack, but for the Golden Roc Fort killers, it had a different meaning.
The dozen or so killers in the front kept backing away cautiously. They did not turn around to move toward Golden Roc Fort until they were over 20 steps away from Marshal Yang.
The killers were about to retreat.
Marshal Yang just looked at them with no intention to stop them. Such pawns had never been his target, instead, the nine dead bodies lying before him were his name card to be shown to the Supreme King.
Golden Roc Fort had its "Two Rules for Killers", and Marshal Yang also had his own rules.
The killers moved steadily and unflustered. This, however, would not comfort the frustrated teenagers. The twins just watched in astonishment as their killers backed off. They looked back at the fort, expecting more powerful reinforcements to replace these disappointing killers. They still had the blademasters, young masters, and black-masked assassins. Golden Roc Fort had not shown its full strength.
But only one more person appeared while the regular drumbeats continued to order everyone to retreat.
Slave Qing sighed silently and stepped forward, "Masters, let's go back and leave it to the Young Masters."
The twins were still too young to be called "Young Masters".
Shangguan Ru ignored him and stubbornly stared at Marshal Yang in the distance. She looked as if she could kill him with her eyes. Shangguan Fei turned halfway and saw his younger sister standing still, so he turned back, also refusing to leave.
Slave Qing produced a forced smile and shook his head. The killers were about to enter the fort's castle, which was dangerous for the group of children, who could not help. So, he looked to Shangguan Yushi for help.
Normally, Shangguan Yushi was the most audacious one, who often egged the twins on to be mischievous. But, at this critical moment, she matured. She put her hands gently on her cousin's shoulders and whispered into her ear.
Whatever she said was very effective and Shangguan Ru's anger slightly cooled as she turned around to walk into the fort.
Now that the "Ninth Young Master" no longer insisted on staying, all of the other teenagers felt relieved and hurried back to Stone Castle. They had come to see the fun, but the situation turned out to be a bit dangerous.
The killers sprinted in behind them and the thick wooden door slowly closed.
"Cough, cough!" Slave Qing wanted to say something to comfort the twins. They walked on in a dead silence and no one said a word along the way.
Shangguan Ru, however, had no interest in the nonsense of slaves, so she suddenly ran toward the Inner Residence. She wanted to ask her father why, as the Supreme King and the one who made everyone in the Western Region tremble at hearing his name, he would suffer such shame instead of sending his strongest subordinate to kill the challenger with one blow.
Shangguan Yushi, Shangguan Fei, and their young personal attendants followed her closely. Slave Qing could not do anything but shake his head and dismiss the rest, who likely would not work for the rest of the day.
Gu Shenwei managed to control his inner joy and excitement with the greatest perseverance, but he could not control his steps. Unconsciously, he had already started running.
Elderly Zhang was not there. He seldom went back to the stone house except for when he would be going to sleep. That weird old man would rather stay with horses than communicate with people.
Gu Shenwei had been pacing back and forth, alone in the house, too excited to sit still. His emotions, which had been hidden for too long, poured out now.
He practiced his family's unique knife and spear skills and attempted to practice his Yin and Yang Strength, neither of which lasted for very long. Various ideas swarmed into his mind, preventing him from thinking clearly.
From Marshal Yang, he vaguely comprehended many subtleties of the Gu family's Kung Fu as well as a vision of his revenge. He wanted to verify the power of the unique knife and spear skills of the Gu family immediately. Then he could plan a perfect escape to join Marshal Yang.
The Kung Fu master, Marshal Yang, continued standing outside the fort apparently waiting to enter.
However, he did not attempt anything since he was inside Golden Roc Fort, where he had to be particularly careful. Even minor negligence could cause him to die before meeting with Marshal Yang.
He had to hide his true emotions as soon as he possibly could, but what he could not understand was why the people around him were not panicking. Marshal Yang, who had killed nine of their killers in a row continued standing outside the fort, shouldn't the people in the fort feel a sense of urgency?
Elderly Zhang had devoted himself to taking care of the horses and acted as if he had never heard of the challenger. Gu Shenwei could not help mentioning the battle outside during dinner, to which Elderly Zhang just replied with a grunt and continued eating as if the death of several killers was not as important to him as the few pieces of meat in his bowl.
After dinner, Gu Shenwei went to Mama Xue to report the situation of the day as usual. She already knew about the details of the challenge and even knew Marshal Yang. "That old guy hasn't been around for a long time."
This was the only comment Mama Xue made about the challenger. As usual, she was more concerned about the behavior of the twins. She was dissatisfied with Gu Shenwei since he failed to garner more favor from the twins.
"You have to work even harder. Didn't you learn any tricks about flattery from Slave Yao? Use them all! The Miss has great expectations for you."
The Miss again. Gu Shenwei knew well that her trick was to be "the fox assuming the majesty of a tiger". He had not seen the Miss in months. He wondered whether Luo Ningcha still remembered a man named Slave Huan.
"I've been working very hard." Gu Shenwei argued in a low voice. He could not control his temperament because of the arrival of Marshal Yang.
Mama Xue looked at him in surprise and then suddenly understood. "I almost forgot, Marshal Yang seems to be Yang Zheng's brother. I wonder why you didn't go out to him, or..."
Gu Shenwei's heartbeat raced suddenly. He had forgotten that he had to be Yang Zheng's son since he told Mama Xue and the Miss that that was his background. So how could he explain that he had never heard of Marshal Yang before the extermination of his family?
"I... I've never heard my father mention my uncle."
Gu Shenwei decided to tell the truth. Mama Xue doubted his words, and she would be more suspicious if he kept piling up the lies.
"How did the brothers get on with each other? Since they had little communication, why did Marshal Yang seek revenge for his brother?"
"Marshal... Uncle probably wants revenge for the Gu family instead of my father. He saw him fighting and he used only the traditional Kung Fu of the Gu family, which he was more adept at than my father."
Mama Xue stared at Slave Huan, hoping to find the trace of a lie on his face. Soon afterward, she changed her mind. The real identity of the teenager was not important. As long as she could control him for her own purposes, it did not matter even if he had been an illegitimate son of the Supreme King.
"How is your practice of Internal Strength?"
Mama Xue suddenly changed the subject, catching Gu Shenwei off guard. Mama Xue had been teaching him boxing and kicking skills and had not asked him about his Yin and Yang Strength for a long time.
"Just... not bad."
"Is there anything wrong with it?"
"No, nothing. Why?"
"I don't want you to fall into Qigong Deviation like Slave Yao."
"Well, I'm fine. I think I won't."
"Are you sure? Press on the Xuanji acupoint in your chest, do you feel anything?"
Mama Xue asked him this strange question in an easy way and Gu Shenwei pressed on his Xuanji acupoint with his right thumb.
A hot current ran straight from Gu Shenwei's Xuanji acupoint to his Dantian. He felt like he had inadvertently swallowed a mouthful of extremely hot pepper, making him feel hot from his throat all the way into his stomach.
The feeling came on suddenly. Gu Shenwei recalled a situation from a few months ago when Mama Xue pricked major acupoints on his body with her iron-like fingers to help him improve his Internal Strength.
He cried out and almost fell down. However, he managed to keep his legs, but his face had turned pale. "What, what have you done to me?"
There was no expression on the sallow face of Mama Xue. "Well, it's about time."
"What? About time?" asked Gu Shenwei, voice trembling. He thought he had cheated Mama Xue, but it turned out that he had unconsciously fallen into her trap.
"Did you think that you were the only one that could push others into Qigong Deviation?"
Mama Xue's words hit Gu Shenwei like a pot of cold water. He directed his strength secretly and found nothing abnormal. However, the hot current that seemed to come from nowhere had been real. Mama Xue's words were not an empty threat.
"Mama Xue, I... I have always been loyal and obedient. Also, the twins trust me very much."
Gu Shenwei said these words naturally as he dropped to his knees, which was a response that Slave Yao used. That pointy-faced teenager had died from ignorance about Internal Strength, but he could have been a master to Gu Shenwei in other respects.
"Far from enough. You have to be as close to the two children as possible until they trust that they can say anything to you."
"But, but..."
Gu Shenwei did not know how to explain the fact that he was a low-level attendant who did not even have access to the Inner Residence. This would make it impossible for the twins to treat him like a friend even if he was strong in Kung Fu.
"There are always ways as long as you try."
Mama Xue said coldly, waving her hand, indicating it was time for Slave Huan to leave. When he moved back toward the door, she said casually, "You don't need to worry about Qigong Deviation. It won't happen for a few months."
"Yes, thank you, Mama Xue."
The excitement caused by the arrival of Marshal Yang had almost disappeared completely. However, things were not dire. Marshal Yang's Yin and Yang Strength seemed to be stronger than his father Gu Lun's. As long as he could manage to meet with Marshal Yang, he should be able to redirect his Internal Strength in the right way.
"Marshal Yang...
"Why isn't there a tense atmosphere in the fort, except for the dozens of teenagers who had watched the battle?"
Gu Shenwei had just learned about a bad thing and he really did not want to be entangled with bad luck, so he suppressed the ominous premonition.
However, he could not sleep that night. He kept running his Internal Breath to find signs of Qigong Deviation and kept thinking about Marshal Yang outside the fort. Sometimes he heard screams and he even thought that Marshal Yang had fought his way into the fort. He listened carefully but everything would fall silent again.
บท 35: Fairness
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
At dawn, Gu Shenwei woke up and quietly walked out of the room. The rough and fresh air outside was refreshing.
Golden Roc Fort was like a camouflaged beast hidden in the grass. Its killing intent disappeared while it slumbered, which made Gu Shenwei feel like he owned Stone Castle.
Gu Shenwei shook his head to remove the illusion. Although he could not see or hear anything, he knew that a vigilant night watchman would be hidden somewhere in the vicinity, and if he went off the deep end, he might be exposed to the beast's claws.
He ran to the school. As an attendant of Shangguan Ru, he had access to this path. Although it was somewhat early, the night watchman who would see him might consider him a servitor who was eager to please his master.
There was no one at the entrance.
Gu Shenwei listened in all directions, thinking that there might be some reaction in the fort if something important had happened outside the fort.
Everything was so normal that he felt uneasy. Then, footsteps were heard.
It was Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi, no Shangguan Fei or other young personal attendants. It was still too early for them to get up from their warm beds.
Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi looked very serious and seemed to have been sleepless all night, just as Gu Shenwei was. They ran by Gu Shenwei without taking notice of or greeting him.
Gu Shenwei ran after Shangguan Ru, following whom allowed him to move freely in the fort. Shangguan Yushi turned her head and glared at him, but she did not forbid the attendant to follow them.
Gu Shenwei saw the gate closed in the distance, but when the three came closer, the gate slowly opened. This further confirmed Gu Shenwei's conjecture that there were many invisible guards in the fort, so the twins could not escape from their watching eyes whatever they tried.
The gate of the fort opened wider and wider, gradually revealing the square outside.
Gu Shenwei saw the banner carried by Marshal Yang, drooping coldly and hanging as if frozen.
Then he saw a second flagpole.
The sun was rising, but the world was dark in front of him. He seemed to be returning to the night of his family's massacre. As in a dream, his legs swung involuntarily and he had to run toward the monster that had swallowed most of his life.
Marshal Yang's head was on the tip of his own lance, the same way that his younger brother, Yang Zheng, had died.
There were no corpses on the ground. The two monks had disappeared and no one knew whether they were dead or alive. The snowfall yesterday has frozen into hard snowballs, and there was no trace of fighting, as if the lance with a head on its tip had been there ever since the founding of Golden Roc Fort.
The three teenagers stopped on the stone steps in front of the gate, not daring to go any further. The heavy breath that followed running had replaced all words.
It was strange that the two young girls were as shocked and lost as Gu Shenwei, as if the dead had fought to the death for them.
As an attendant who was eager to please the masters, Gu Shenwei thought he should say something to comfort Shangguan Ru. However, he could not say a word and even felt a fierce hatred for the two standing in front of him.
The Shangguans were his enemies, and no Shangguan was an exception.
After a while, Shangguan Fei followed with Slave Qing and other attendants.
"Well, there is nothing to worry about now. This is the end which I expected. What can a mad old man expect if he dares to challenge Golden Roc Fort?" said Slave Qing, clapping his hands.
Shangguan Fei had been in such a hurry that he was now gasping with his hand on his knees before getting up. "That's all? I thought I could see the black-masked assassin."
The black-masked assassin was a legend of Golden Roc Fort. Even the Supreme King's own sons could not verify its authenticity before being entitled to be called Young Masters.
No one, except for the first three teenagers, was disappointed with the death of Marshal Yang. The only thing they were not satisfied with was that they had missed the killing.
While the teenagers were making comments, Shangguan Ru suddenly turned around, rudely pushed away the crowd behind her, and strode toward the fort. Shangguan Yushi followed her and Gu Shenwei hesitated for a moment and was left far behind. He could only join the other attendants.
Although Shangguan Fei had not commented enough, he absentmindedly glimpsed at the inside and outside of the fort and turned around to chase Shangguan Ru, as following this younger sister had become a habit of his.
The attendants, feeling that their masters were in a bad mood, became silent and even feared getting too close to the masters. Shangguan Fei was relatively kind, but Shangguan Ru might do anything to the attendants.
The teenagers walked past nearly half of Stone Castle and stopped at Moonhold Academy, where the children of the Shangguan Family learned Kung Fu, instead of the school.
Moonhold Academy was located in East Castle, which was opposite Star Picking Academy, the school, but it was a standalone academy unconnected with any other academy in East Castle. Only the Shangguans had access to it, so their training mode was naturally different from that of the selected killer-apprentices.
At this point, most of the attendants could only stay outside. Everyone was relieved because Shangguan Ru could only find someone else to vent her anger on.
But Shangguan Ru turned around with one foot already stepping on the stage. Looking angrily at the attendants, she said, "Can our family compete with people on fair ground? Is a raid the only way we can kill him?"
No one dared to answer this question, and most people felt it unnecessary to answer it. This was Golden Roc Fort, where there had never been "fairness".
"Anyway, he was killed. Is there anything different about the process?" said Shangguan Fei, shrugging his shoulders and feeling puzzled by her sister's anger.
Shangguan Ru was obviously dissatisfied with the answer. Then the veteran Slave Qing coughed and said, "It was fair, in fact."
"How was it fair?" Shangguan Ru said in an aggressive voice as if she would hit Slave Qing once his answer inevitably disappointed her.
"This is Golden Roc Fort, where we train killers skilled at assassination. Everyone knows this well, including this Marshal Yang. He had come to challenge, so he must have been ready to deal with various means of assassination. That's why I said it was fair. Golden Roc Fort doesn't pretend to be decent while playing tricks in the background. Instead, we're straightforward killers. If he comes for an open challenge, we accept, and if he comes secretly, we also accept. It's all about his own choice. Now that he is dead, he is proven inferior to our assassination skills. So everything was fair."
For Slave Qing, this was nothing but a cliché of Golden Roc Fort. He just modified it a little. However, for those unsophisticated teenagers, it was just like a wonderful and profound lesson of life, especially for some of them whose minds were heavily burdened.
Gu Shenwei had been in a low mood, feeling desperate again when walking in the crowd. But these words of Slave Qing suddenly enlightened and awakened him.
He had heard similar words when he was captured as a slave at the T-junction. He remembered that the killer, Ye Sheng, scoffed at the swordsman from the Great Snowmountain who was trapped by him, saying, "You're always like this, saying you 'should have thought of this', but fail to prepare yourself."
The words of Slave Qing and Ye Sheng did make sense. A new world emerged before Gu Shenwei's eyes. Although the Gu family's Kung Fu was powerful, it had failed to thwart the assassination from Golden Roc Fort. To avenge his family, he needed to learn everything about killers in addition to high skills of Kung Fu.
"Know the enemy and know yourself well, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat." The Gu family had suffered a massacre simply because they had failed to know their enemy.
When Mama Xue trained him to be a killer-apprentice, Gu Shenwei was thinking of accessing the upper level of Golden Roc Fort. Now he was trying to please the twins for the same reason.
Suddenly, he found another possibility—he could only kill a couple of people even if he could get closer to the owner of the fort and sooner or later he would give himself away. But if he could get an insight into the operation of Golden Roc Fort as well as all tricks of the killers, he would not be afraid even if his true identity was exposed, and he could still avenge his family from the outside.
It was not only Gu Shenwei who was persuaded by Slave Qing. Shangguan Ru slightly raised her head and was also thinking. Even though she was the daughter of the Supreme King, she still had to accept the truth that "assassination is fair". She turned to her cousin, Shangguan Yushi.
Shangguan Yushi also looked at her younger cousin. The cousins had a consonance and understood each other from their eyes.
Shangguan Yushi suddenly smiled slyly. "I want to be that."
"Me too."
"Let's go now."
Shangguan Ru nodded firmly and held her cousin's hand, and then the cousins ran toward East Castle.
Slave Qing was confused by their words. After they had run away for a while, he suddenly understood that the two Misses were planning to break into East Castle and learn to be killers.
East Castle, as a place of strategic importance, had the strictest of guards, second only to the Inner Residence. Only killers and killer-apprentices had access to it, so Slave Qing called out in a hurry, "Stop, masters."
Before his voice had died away, three or four people jumped out to chase after Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi.
The death of Marshal Yang and the words of Slave Qing rekindled the teenagers' illusions about killers. Only the targets had changed from killers like Ye Sheng, who could often be seen in the fort and were easily killed by challengers, to those legendary killers who never revealed their identities.
Slave Qing was flustered and exasperated. Although he was only about 30 years old, he did not know Kung Fu, so he could not catch those energetic teenagers. Even worse, he could not scold them because Shangguan Fei was among them.
And Gu Shenwei was also among them. Once Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi started to talk, he had guessed their idea because it was exactly the same as his. In order to find out the true colors of the killers, he was willing to pay all costs.
The portal to East Castle was always closed, but it could not stop Shangguan Ru. She started to knock on the door heavily before she stopped running. The knocks were so heavy and urgent as if someone had come to challenge again.
The gate was still closed, but a small door on the gate opened a crack, and a deep voice was heard. "What is it?"
"The Lord has orders."
Shangguan Ru told an off-hand lie immediately as her frustration had been swept away.
"Lord" was the honorific for the Supreme King, so the man inside was obviously taken aback when hearing it. He seemed to be in doubt and hesitated for a moment.
Using such a moment, Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi had already pushed the door together, trying to force an entry, and then Shangguan Fei, Gu Shenwei, and two young personal attendants followed.
Slave Qing was still anxiously trying to persuade them behind them. He never expected that his explanation for Golden Roc killers could lead to such a consequence.
Finding it unusual, the man inside immediately closed the door by force. The two girls outside were not as powerful as him, so Shangguan Yushi cried out, "This is Master Ru. You don't dare hurt her!"
The watchman certainly knew who Master Ru was, so he reduced his force to avoid hurting the cherished daughter of the Lord.
While he was worrying, the people outside were making concerted efforts. Four teenagers joined the two girls in time to push the door by force together.
The crack became bigger. Shangguan Ru snuck in and the watchman yelled. He was a bit distracted and the other five teenagers also managed to go inside just a moment after.
When Slave Qing arrived with other attendants, the small door had been closed again. Slave Qing could do nothing but sigh and pray that the two masters would not stir up further trouble or get hurt inside.
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