Chapter 155: To Yield
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei went to the Southwall Tavern three times in a row before holding Master Shifu's money firmly in his hands. He thus added a large source of income to the Kun Society.
This time, Gu Shenwei went alone. The new shopkeeper received the teen warmly and after some pleasantries, expressed that he wasn't familiar yet with the shop's operations. About the money of Tie Hanfeng, he had to consult the old shopkeeper and ask Gu Shenwei to come again another evening to resolve this matter when there weren't so many guests in the shop.
The second time, Gu Shenwei went alone again. However, Maid Lotus and four other killers followed him in the dark. Machetemen gathered in the streets outside the tavern, awaiting their orders while drinking.
The new shopkeeper was even more polite than before. However, after much toasting and pandering which went on for about half an hour, he admitted sheepishly that the old shopkeeper had left the tavern to tend to urgent matters. He had not seen him, and implored Master Yang to wait another day.
Gu Shenwei accepted this explanation. He left the tavern but did not retrieve his sword. That two watchmen was also not in sight. The streets were covered with a pall of darkness, and in the distance, there were sounds of a drunkard's wretching. When he turned around, the door of the tavern had already been locked firmly from the inside.
The next moment, one couldn't say for sure how many youths jumped out from different directions. They were all masked, carrying weapons of different varieties. They spoke not a word and rushed at the teen standing at the door. Their murderous postures towards a fellow killer showed that this was not a friendly battle at all.
A fist was also a weapon. Gu Shenwei did not stay put at the door. He rushed into the thickness of the action instead, using his fists to strike out at any person or thing he bumped into.
He liked to fight. After doing so many tasks for the money, and demanding, collecting and counting money, he's finally gotten to chance to vent his anger. But the price for venting his anger was high, and after he'd smashed the jaws of two machetemen, he was struck by a knife in the back.
As a killer, defence has always been his weakness. After honing his swordcraft skills using the Death Scriptures , attacking without defense had even become his prowess and signature trait.
Hence, if it weren't for the timely rescue of Maid Lotus and the others, Gu Shenwei might have died with his enemies.
That blow from the killer's knife altered the situation in their favor. And they certainly expected help to arrive on Gu Shenwei's side. More machetemen emerged from the darkness. Their footsteps melted the snow on the ground.
The five killers fought, retreating as they did at the same time. At the gap in the city's walls, they were wholly surrounded.
Gu Shenwei took out a cow's horn from his bosom. He blew a signal of distress. The cow's horn was one of the necessary items of Tuo Nengya and he had taught the teenage chief how to use it.
The 50 machetemen put down their wine cups. In the blink of an eye, they had lined up neatly on the city streets. In small running steps, they reached the gap in the city wall in no time, and shouting in unison, joined the battle group.
Tuo Nengya had once claimed that the formation of 50 machetemen was simply unparalleled in Golden Roc Fort. He wasn't bragging. Rows of sabers flashed, and fresh blood spewed everywhere. Limbs were flailing in the air and terrible screams punctuated the night sky continuously, spreading all the way to North City.
As long as someone gave the green light, machetemen could too, kill.
The killing spree was like a barrel of fine wine and all the people who gathered nearby were drunk in the scene. The injured machetemen did not retreat as a result, but become more fired up to kill. This was a battle wherein it was difficult to distinguish who was friend or foe. Participants only had a single thought- to cut down anything that was moving.
Before rushing to the opening in the city wall, the formation had been cut to half, and almost 200 people had been thrown into disorder.
The massacre aroused the fearlessness of the groups, which left as fast as it came. Many realized at the same time how senseless it was to fight so hard. They threw their knives and ran, cursing their enemies and master in their hearts at the same time.
Gu Shenwei was carried back to his residence. In the scuffle of the crowd, there was no place even for the most powerful macheteskills. Morning the next day, Gu Shenwei was however, already able to walk. Apart from a minor scar on his face, there was no visible injury on his body.
Maid Lotus and four other killers were also wounded, but not seriously. There were seven killers who were killed, and 30 others who were injured. Casualties on the enemy's side were even greater. About twenty were dead and countless others injured.
Tuo Nengya visited the young chief on his own. He solemnly made his request: "If fights in the future are going to be like this, I'll need to increase manpower. A defence of knives isn't everything. To protect the merchants all over in the South City, this measure is wholly inadequate."
Tuo Nengya was an old fox, he was keenly aware that this ambush could only be the beginning of a more cruel fight. Once you've entered into the thick of a zero-sum war, stakeholders armed with the financial resources would become the most crucial battlefield.
Just as residents of the South City were busying with stocking on goods for the new year, Kun Society and the Horned Dragon Society had begun their fight for territory. The rules of goodwill between machetemen had been broken and the dead became a daily sight. But even if corpses became a sight people got used to, fear never failed to strike their hearts still. No one could be assured that they would not see a street devoid of carnage when they pushed open their doors in the morning.
You could only hire machetemen when you've got money. More machetemen meant higher chances of winning. On this point, the Kun Society was at a clear disadvantage. Hence, Tie Hanfeng's hundreds of thousands of taels became crucial at this time.
Gu Shenwei went to the Southwall Tavern the third time. The shopkeeper and his counterjumpers were all missing. Gu Shenwei first went to the house that stored weapons to look for his own sword. Later, he ordered machetemen to seal up all the articles in the store, especially the most precious wines.
He treated the tavern as his base camp. And he scheduled for a public auction three days later of all the fine wines. He let this news be spread, and if Shopkeeper Lyu did not tend to his matter, this would well be South City's last batch of fine wine in a few years. This news caused the prices of wine to skyrocket and many came to buy the precious wines in advance.
On the night before the auction, Shopkeeper Lyu, who was enjoying himself in the North City showed up. His customary expression of calmness had vanished. In tears, he complained that he had been cheated. The new shopkeeper was a villain and had used the Southwall Tavern to harm its most important customer.
Gu Shenwei felt there was no need to call Shopkeeper Lyu's bluff. He thus came up with conditions promptly. Shopkeeper Lyu agreed to each and everyone of them. Thereafter, Southwall Tavern would only accept the protection of Kun Society. All of its possessions would also be guarded by the Tenth Young Master. Whereas in the past it would pay Stone Castle and the Meng family, from now on it would only pay a single party.
Southwall Tavern was forced to choose between two powerful parties. This brought a series of repercussions. Merchants in the South City had always paid several parties at once. They were unhappy with Kun Society's adamant attitude. Hence, they imitated Blacksmith Village by sending a representative to exert pressure on all protectors of the city, no matter how big or small. The protectors in turn selected their own representative, and expressed concerns towards the several powerful merchants of Jade City. South City was in disarray that's for sure, but it was still a fertile ground for business. If merchants felt their safety compromised, the reputation of Jade City could be severely affected.
Less than two months after his independence, the Tenth Young Master had caused such a big stir in the South City. Whether the Supreme King was happy or angry about this, no one knew. He sent for Second Young Master and the Meng family, as well as several influential men, and had a private discussion. Later, he announced that Second Young Master was just a child playing and no one needed to get worried, as long as no one was killed in the process.
It was precisely these words that caused the machetemen of South City to die, their blood flowing like a river. That's because the "lives" in the words of these powerful men did not include that of the machetemen who were wandering here.
Golden Roc Fort and the Meng family still established several unwritten regulations. The key members of Kun Society and the Horned Dragon Society remained at the North City. They did not engage in the killings down in the South City. The killing was only limited to men who carried knives, and nobody was allowed to harass the merchants. The merchants themselves chose their own guards, and could not, at the same time, engage in the ongoing struggle between the two societies. As for the tragedy that happened with an attempted assassination of a killer in Southwall Tavern, they could only have themselves to blame.
Tuo Nengya was right. The war quickly turned into a fight in the favor of the merchants.
The enormous value of the old machetemen had been brought into full play. In terms of gaining the trust of the merchants, Tuo Nengya, who always carried two scimitars under his belt, was more professional than anyone else. No matter how fast Gu Shenwei and his group of young killers killed, their young faces still failed to reassure the old merchants.
Under the banner of the Golden Roc Fort, Tuo Nengya patiently explained to the merchants thus: "Kun Society was an organisation of the Tenth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort. It will exist today and will continue to exist in the future. This was the bread-and-butter of Golden Roc Fort, but what about the Horned Dragon Society? It was just a plaything that a group of playboys came up with. Even if it had won this time, no one knows when it might dissipate when the boys are tired of it. And as stakeholders who are prepared to stay in the South City for the long haul, which party would you choose to be your protector?"
With this reasoning, the Ninth Young Master Shangguan Fei was deliberately left out. It seemed that the only representative of Golden Roc Fort was Shangguan Ru.
Tuo Nengya persuaded many people but words were not enough. Gu Shenwei hired many more machetemen. Shangguan Ru sent all his killers to South City, and even let Shangguan Yushi to helm the force. Together with Slave Huan, they took care of the killers and the machetemen. When they clashed with Horned Dragon Society, there were bloody incidents almost everyday. This reminded the young killers of the slaughters they engaged in as apprentices and many were excited.
Together with Master Yu, there was a total of 21 killers. They formed five small teams and went hunting for a famous macheteman from the Horned Dragon Society. Very soon, the machetemen of the South City passed the title of the "Machete of Blood" to the young killers.
Gu Shenwei lived a double life. In the morning, he oversaw the machetemen. In the night, he became a killer. He preferred the latter and hence gradually, handed most of the machetemen's affairs to Tuo Nengya.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus were a team. They made use of this rare opportunity to practice their sword craft. Even though they argued more and more over the intricacies of details in the Death Scriptures, this did not affect their own progress at all.
Gu Shenwei grew increasingly familiar with finding the enemy's inner flowing energy (qi). From being blindfolded at the start to deliberately obscuring his sight, he could rise up seeing others in this vision. The key thing was that he was no longer at the stage of the "merging of all forces" or at the bottleneck in training his Internal Strength. He felt his swordscraft could be limitless and everytime he killed someone, he could improve one step further.
Lotus Maid had reached her limit in increasing her killing intent. It reached a point where she had to train to hide such intent. Before her opponents felt the piercing of an electrifying amber sword, they have felt a swelling killing intent hit them into submission. This happened almost instantaneously after she drew her sword. They neither cried nor resisted.
The two young killers grew up quietly. Every time after they've killed people, they had to learn how to hide their wounds. In this way, when everyone's attention was focused on the great Kun Qiu war, only a few noticed the pair's transformation.
Finally, one day, Gu Shenwei and Lotus Maid realized that killing normal machetemen had become meaningless. They needed stronger opponents.
This opportunity presented itself unexpectedly after a strange case of murder. In fact, one of the Western region's most famous swordsman, Sword Sacrificer Ye Silang issued an open challenge to the killer Yang Huan.