Chapter 173: Flames
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The Shangguan family had two grown-up masters, one of whom was conferred the title "Young Master". However, their situations were as different as heaven and earth. As the Kun-Horned Dragon war raged on, the Ninth Young Master Shangguan Fei was nearly forgotten.
He controlled the least territory and had recruited barely a few machetemen. The only consolation was that his eleven killers were all alive and kicking, whereas three of his younger sister Shangguan Ru's killers had perished.
The decision to hold the negotiations on Shangguan Fei's territory received the approval of both sides. Shangguan Ru trusted her elder brother while Meng Mingshi had a rather good opinion of the Ninth Young Master.
During the negotiations, each side would send forth one person who was not allowed to carry weapons. The other machetemen could only keep guard at both ends of the lane. Shangguan Fei would also dispatch three killers to guarantee the negotiators' safety.
Gu Shenwei should have thought about this sooner, but he had been preoccupied with thinking about how to kill the swordsman Ye Silang that he overlooked the most obvious fact. It was only when the commandant reminded him that he finally understood.
Fifth Young Master wanted this assassination to proceed seamlessly, and thus would not only send forth his best swordsman but also make sure that the three overlooking killers stood by and did nothing.
Shangguan Ru thought that the assassination would take place on the way to the negotiations because she overly trusted her elder brother and never imagined he would "betray" her.
This was the first time Gu Shenwei conscientiously examined the relationship between the twins. He discovered that while they remained friendly on the outside, they had long become divided at heart. The animosity between them had been growing since the game of "stealing" the Black Jade Palm a year back.
At that time, four "raiders" were trapped in a house by Mister Guo. To save Slave Huan and Master Yu, Shangguan Ru falsely placed a knife at her elder brother's throat. Though she did not go through with it, Shangguan Fei was nonetheless scared out of his wits.
Since then, Shangguan Fei no longer clung on to his younger sister and Master Yu. Shangguan Ru was not only unaware of it but felt pleased.
But nobody imagined that Shangguan Fei's resentment would continue to grow in the dark to the extent that he viewed his younger sister as an enemy.
This was like an intricate spider web in which the tug of any thread would shake the entire situation. Gu Shenwei was merely a tiny insect stuck on it, but his position just so happened to be in the way of the masters, and as a result, his life and death became pivotal to the whole affair.
No matter how many people would die, this was all a game to the Shangguan family. The Supreme King was using this method to train his children; the principle behind it was the same as having the apprentices kill each other, except that this time, the players themselves were not at risk, and instead it would be a bunch of nobodies who paid with their lives.
Gu Shenwei pondered alone for some time to comprehend the rules of this game. The names of and relationships among Shangguan Fei, Shangguan Ru, Meng Mingshi, and Shangguan Yushi flew about in his mind.
When he heard a noise from outside, he opened the door and went out to take a look. Tenth Young Master was standing in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by four lantern-carrying servants, while a continuous stream of messengers entered through the gate to report the circumstances to her.
"It has begun!" Shangguan Ru lifted her head high and spoke excitedly to Slave Huan. "Let's go and watch the fun together."
The lantern-carrying slaves walked in front while Gu Shenwei walked alongside Shangguan Ru, further escorted by a dozen or so attendants. The Tenth Young Master had not deliberately increased her number of servants, but people from the Inner Residence of Stone Castle had unknowingly come to North City in quick succession. She had become accustomed to seeing them whenever she opened her eyes.
The group arrived at a tower next to a border wall of North City. Slave Huan followed Shangguan Ru upstairs while the attendants kept guard below.
There were many people gathered upstairs already. With the south-facing windows left wide open, many people complained of the cold and instructed their servants to bring them thicker coats and hand warmers.
Shangguan Ru's arrival caused a minor stir. Her acquaintances came over to offer greetings, while several strangers asked others to help introduce. Gu Shenwei saw Shangguan Fei walk over to his younger sister and whisper a few sentences to her ear, and they laughed at the same time in a manner no different from regular siblings. Fifth Young Master Meng was also present, but with a grim face, he pretended not to see her and did not come forth to greet.
The place was filled with the noble children of North City, or otherwise their personal servants, who carried lanterns, kept watching on their masters' actions, and performed errands for them.
"Look, there's movement!" Someone shouted. Everyone hastily clustered by the window and peered towards South City, which was across a river.
It was Horned Dragon Society's stronghold on the other side. There was a faint flickering of flames in the surrounding streets, and suddenly, yelling noises that became increasingly high-pitched, loud, and confusing were heard. They were followed by noises of weapons colliding, curses, commands, and strange cries.
Kun Society's great counteroffensive at the eleventh hour was taking place under the eyes of the many nobles.
"It sounds intense but we can't see anything," someone grumbled.
"You'll be able to see clearly in a while," Shangguan Ru replied brusquely.
The first stage of the battle was disadvantageous to Kun Society. There was practically no movement within Horned Dragon Society's stronghold as all of the fighting took place outside its perimeters. This meant that the offensive was not going well, thereby explaining the Tenth Young Master's irritation.
Fifth Young Master Meng was chatting and laughing together with several Horned Dragon Society members. They were discussing some licentious topics and deliberately speaking loudly, as if they were not concerned about the life-and-death brawl in South City.
From across the river, a small group of people ran on to the frozen riverway, raised their heads, and shouted up towards the tower. "The enemy has been defeated. We pursued them and destroyed fourteen of their units!"
Fifth Young Master Meng's attendants stuck their heads out of the window and waved their lanterns at the people below, who quickly retreated.
This slightly shook the spirits of the watching crowd. Somebody who had no regard for the Tenth Young Master's feelings commented loudly in disappointment, "Surely it can't end so soon? All that waiting seems a little not worth it now."
"Don't blame Horned Dragon Society. We complied with the rules and half of our machetemen didn't even get involved," Meng Mingshi replied in a surprisingly dejected tone, drawing the "coordinated" laughs of many people.
Gu Shenwei, carrying a lantern, stood behind Shangguan Ru. He could see that she remained calm, perhaps predicting that the machetemen of Horned Dragon Society were about to fall into the trap.
Indeed, less than fifteen minutes later, the shouting noises from below began to abate. The attention of the people in the tower had turned towards their discussions before someone suddenly pointed out of the window and exclaimed, "Eek, there's a fire! Look, where's that?"
It was Horned Dragon Society's stronghold. The fire was premeditated and had been set off simultaneously from a dozen or so places surrounding the camp. The fiery blazes quickly joined together and lit up the entire street as bright as day.
"Now, everyone can see clearly," Shangguan Ru said languidly in a tone Gu Shenwei had never heard her use before.
The observers stared with their mouths open. The design of the fire was totally ingenious. Horned Dragon Society was trapped on three sides, leaving only a narrow opening for them to escape. The machetemen of Kun Society had long regrouped and arranged themselves neatly into a compact formation to massacre the panic-stricken machetemen of Horned Dragon Society as they fled.
The neat rows of glimmers from the machetes could be distinctly seen even from up in the tower. Not to mention the motionless corpses, the trails of gushing blood, and the flying heads.
As they witnessed this hell-like scene, everyone in the room lost their wits, yet were too fascinated to take their eyes off it. Some were even so afraid of missing out on small details that they tried to wrench the window bars out. More people simply uttered meaningless noises, unable to verbalize their shock and excitement.
Shangguan Ru revealed a smile on her face as she shot a glance across the room at the ghastly pale-faced Meng Mingshi. As a child of the Shangguan family, she had witnessed murder scenes since young, and thus looked down upon these noble masters who were fussing over nothing much at all.
She turned and said softly to Slave Huan, "The old macheteman you recruited has been truly worth the money. This was his plan after all. I guess Wildhorse is alright."
Gu Shenwei bowed to express his admiration and did not reveal any doubt regarding Wildhorse's matter. Things had gone as he expected. There was only one thing he could not understand - how did Shangguan Yushi organize the counteroffensive without any information of it leaking out? Looking at Fifth Young Master Meng, he seemed to be caught completely unaware, thereby allowing Kun Society's fire offensive to disarray his forces completely.
Gu Shenwei had long become uninterested in killing scenes and thus did not look across the river. Instead, he spent the time observing the Ninth Young Master Shangguan Fei.
The latter was astutely positioned between Fifth Young Master Meng and Shangguan Ru, while slightly closer to his younger sister. Appearing perfectly calm and collected, he would smile at his younger sister and also nod indicatively at Meng Mingshi every so often.
Although Gu Shenwei could only observe from the back, he was able to gauge that the Ninth Young Master was very different from a few months ago. At that time, the latter required Slave Huan's assistance to stab a saber into his elder brother's body. But now, he even seemed bored by the blazing massacre.
This affirmed Gu Shenwei's belief that the Ninth Young Master was siding with Horned Dragon Society, and that Ye Silang would make an appearance at the negotiation venue.
As the massacre continued for an extensive period of time, it became insipid even to the most curious onlookers. Horned Dragon Society's defeat was inevitable. By daybreak, their stronghold in South City would be reduced to ruins, and few of their expensively-recruited machetemen would survive.
Shangguan Ru bade her elder brother farewell and was the first person to go downstairs. She did not need to watch the outcome play out, having achieved her objective already.
As she walked on the wide and tidy streets of North City, she began to contemplate other matters. "Maybe there isn't a mole. No information leaked out during the assassination of the Machete God either. Horned Dragon Society was using him as a bait and kept waiting for us to make a move."
"That makes sense, Tenth Young Master," Gu Shenwei replied without attempting to convince Shangguan Ru. He had no evidence at hand, and baseless conjectures would only make him seem overly suspicious and jealous.
After thinking for a little longer, Shangguan Ru too began to feel that there remained some things she could not explain. She put on a smiling face and discarded her worries. "In any case, things are about to end. I'll properly deal with the little fella of the Meng family during the second round of negotiations. Hmph, let's see how Horned Dragon Society goes around 'begging' for help."
"Tenth Young Master, tell me what instructions you have for the second round of negotiations so that I may propose the demands tomorrow."
"Mm, it's simple actually. The negotiation venue will remain the same, while the time is up to you all to decide. When the time comes, I'll go to South City, and so will my elder brother. This is all that old macheteman's plan. He says I should pull my brother towards Kun Society to pressure Horned Dragon Society together, and only afterward settle our differences in private. I feel that this idea is quite brilliant. With age does comes rich experience indeed. Although he formerly served my elder brother, he has been rather loyal to me."
Amidst her enthusiasm, Shangguan Ru spoke on and on, and even began to predict the future of Kun Society. "After Eighth Brother wipes out the evil women in the desert, Mother will no longer have to worry about my safety. When the time comes, we'll be able to expand our power outwards. The world is so big, yet how few places have I visited?"
Gu Shenwei would occasionally put in a word to make Shangguan Ru feel even happier. His thoughts were, however, preoccupied with the next day's affairs, which he was determined not to ask her for help upon.
He conceived of another way to help himself. It was similar to the plan sometime back in which he followed a rope and climbed towards Six Kills Temple. He would fall into a bottomless abyss if he showed the least bit of carelessness or if the wind blew a little too strongly.