Chapter 205: Fraud
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The stone on Shangguan Fei's legs wasn't heavy. He could have pushed it away if he was calmer and had a higher pain threshold.
Three killers removed the stone and Shangguan Ru helped to sloppily bandage her brother's wound. Liuhua went to fetch the horse which was hidden in the nearby valley and supported Ninth Young Master up onto the horse.
"I'll stay. All of you should go," Gu Shenwei said. They needed one person to stop the possible pursuit by the soldiers.
"No, we shall all go together," Shangguan Ru replied. She was even more determined than Slave Huan.
"Hurry up. We can't stay here as Fourth Brother will catch up to us anytime," Shangguan Fei said. He was more anxious than anyone else as he wanted to rush back to Stone Castle.
Maid Lotus looked at Slave Huan and said, "Let's go. He knows what he is doing. He'll be fine." Both Maid Lotus and Liuhua headed to the east while protecting the twins.
Gu Shenwei looked to the west and saw a Young Master. He could kill him and he would likely not receive any punishment.
After waiting for such a long time, he could finally take revenge!
He left the horse to graze the field and stained himself with some blood from a corpse. Then, he lay beside another corpse and covered his face. He was holding onto his sword and stared at the sky. His mind was blank until he heard rapid clattering of horses.
Dozens of well-dressed people arrived at the scene. Some of them had large swords. The rest not only had large swords with them, they were also equipped with a saber.
A man jumped off the horse and said gruffly, "Shangguan Ru. Please explain what's going on. The Great Snowmountain isn't easily deceived."
A cold voice spoke disdainfully. He felt that it was easy to fool the Great Snowmountain. He said, "Can't all of you see that I've lost a few men? This is done by a top killer. If it wasn't for your mistake, Stone Castle won't have been alerted. If all of you had listened to me, there won't have been an accident."
"No", another voice retorted. He said,"Even though the killers had their faces covered, I feel that they're very young and there's another girl with them. They're as young as Shangguan Fei's killers."
Shangguan Fei's killers had died among a heap of rocks and they were the four masked "corpses". A swordsman walked over, pulled off a mask and said, "All of them are children. What happened? How did they die?"
A swordsman who had fled back to the village made some strange noises in surprise and said, "This is weird. When I left, none of them were dead."
"When you fled," the gruff voice said while emphasizing on the correction. It was shameful for a swordsman of Great Snowmountain to flee for his life.
Shangguan Ruo scorned coldly. Even though their clan was almost wiped out, they were still bickering over such trivial matter. They might even start a brawl among themselves and some might just lose their life. The enemies need not lift their fingers to kill them off.
He urged his horse closer to check on these corpses. Indeed, these killers had died not long ago. He said, "These're Shangguan Fei's killers." He finally understood. "The twins came here before and they managed to catch..."
The "corpse" was alive.
The horse let out a warm damp breath. Gu Shenwei seemed dazed, but he wasn't using his eyes to locate the most important enemy.
The key of 29 Styles of Swordsmanship was to stab at the same target from different angles. Even though Gu Shenwei was lying on the ground and his target was far from him, it didn't affect his attack manoeuvre.
He attacked quickly. He couldn't even get a good look at Fourth Young Master Shangguan Ruo.
After the attack, Gu Shenwei headed straight for his horse. Just when he was making his escape, he felt that someone was chasing him.
Gu Shenwei was guarded against this assasin as every Young Master of the Shangguan Family had one black-masked assasin protecting him.
Gu Shenwei needed more time. This was one of the minor holes in the swordscraft of Death Scripture . After one attack, he had to regain his Internal Breath. If his next opponent was weak, there wouldn't be any problem. If his opponent was strong, he had to let his Internal Breath complete one grand circulation before attacking again.
He didn't continue running forward. When he jumped, he left behind some space. He returned back to his original position just when his toes made contact with the ground.
Gu Shenwei brushed past the black-masked assassin. That emotionless mask resembled the Grim Reaper.
No one had the time to attack.
Shangguan Ruo was sitting on his horse motionlessly. He looked indifferent and it seemed as if he was detached from the world. He seemed uninterested the fight happening before him.
Several killers and swordsmen had yet to recover from that "fake corpse" incident. They held on to their weapons but they had yet to pull it out.
The fight happened too fast. In the still background, they were the only ones moving around. They exchanged blows but no one could get a good look at it.
The youth leapt forward, then one drop of blood fell to the ground. A moment later, the killers and swordsmen had just pulled out their weapons.
The youth leapt forward again and there were two more drops of blood on the ground. The killers' and swordsmen's horses raised their front foot.
The youth jumped onto the horse, which was grazing. There were three drops of blood on the ground. The black-masked assassin fell forward just like an unstable wooden stick. The Great Snowmountain swordsmen shouted. Those who were nimble had thrown out their throwing knives at Gu Shenwei.
Gu Shenwei lied flat on the horse's back and galloped away.
Both the killers and the swordsmen looked at Shangguan Ruo and waited for his instructions. It was after when the youth made his escape that they realised the motionless Golden Roc Fort Fourth Young Master was dead.
Gu Shenwei's only regret was that he didn't cut off his head.
He caught up to Shangguan Ru and the others at the mountain pass.
"Is it successful?" Shangguan Ru asked.
"Yes," Gu Shenwei nodded.
"I'll explain everything to Stone Castle."
"Ok!"
Gu Shenwei had personally killed a Young Master. Tenth Young Master was the only one who could resolve this matter. Even though the killers had lost their respect for Tenth Young Master, she was still the favorite child of Supreme King.
The four of them travelled for days and they returned back to Jade City after two days. They realized that there were rumors spreading all around Jade City.
The whole city heard that the twins of Stone Castle were ambushed by Great Snowmountain swordsmen and were killed. The Supreme King was furious and was gathering all his killers to attack Great Snowmountain.
The twins survived. Many people were shocked and some were greatly disappointed.
Lady Meng immediately sent her men down the mountain to inquire about the situation. She sent Doctor Sun from North City to treat Shangguan Fei's legs. She rejected her son's request to return back to the castle because it was a crucial period. Even if he broke both of his legs, he couldn't return home before the end of his trial period.
The loyal servants wouldn't deliver the bad news hence Lady Meng wasn't able to learn about the real status of the twins, let alone knowing that her son had lost his fighting spirit.
Shangguan Fei isolated himself in his North City residence. The first thing he did when he recovered was to send Slave Qing to make peace with his younger sister. He was willing to give up all his terrority and join Kun Society. In return, he wanted his sister to protect him.
Shangguan Fei had lost eight killers. The only surviving killer was the one who guarded Jade City. He was worried that he would be assassinated as his ruthless brothers were capable of doing anything. He would rather give up everything as this would prove that he had given up on the contest for power.
On the surface, Shangguan Ru's state seemed to be better as she did not look frightened. However, the daughter of Supreme King had become sick of killing people. Only three killers knew about it and they would not reveal this secret.
She stayed in South City and sent envoys to Stone Castle. She bore all responsibilities including the killing of Fourth Young Master.
Her intention was to protect Slave Huan. As a result, she had built up an unprecedented reputation.
"'The battle for the throne' has begun," the residents of Jade City whispered excitedly. Everyone wanted to converse with older citizens as they wanted to know the details of the previous war.
The incumbent Supreme King was a tough character when he was young. All those who went through the previous war supported this ruthless Young Master. In order to be the Supreme King, he had to be cruel towards his family. Tenth Young Master had a good start and she could be the first female ruler of the Fort.
Those who were insightful disdained these ignorant comments. They shared their views to those who were genuinely interested. They said, "It's too early to start the war. The incumbent king is wealthy and young. Who dares to challenge him? Who has the capability to fight for the throne? It's even more ridiculous for a female to be the Supreme King. Even if the Supreme King will allow it, thousands of killers won't agree to it. Look, this accidental event won't lead to a war. Fourth Young Master had died in vain."
This minority was certainly correct. The so-called "battle for the throne" didn't occur. As Fourth Young Master was Lady Meng's rival, his death would greatly weaken First Young Master's influence and he would not be able to counterattack.
Lady Meng hoped that the twins could launch a large-scale revenge. However, Shangguan Fei isolated himself in his room and no one could fathom Shangguan Ru's thoughts.
Tenth Young Master took over her brother's terrority. Kun Society and Horned Dragon Society merged once again, however, it didn't seem as impressive as it looked. This meant that she had to look after 1.15 million taels.
The three killers helped her carry out her duties. Gu Shenwei leveraged on Tenth Young Master "remaining authority" and brought twenty of the best machetemen with him to cover all of the strongholds in South City that belonged to the Young Masters.
Even though these strongholds technically belonged to the twins, they were controlled by the other Young Masters. They not only refused to hand over their control of the strongholds, but they also refused to pay the monthly salary in advance.
On every occasion, Gu Shenwei would bring an extra blade and would place it on the supervisor's table. He patiently explained Tenth Young Master's order to the supervisor, "Either you die or you hand the stronghold over to me."
The first to surrender was the stronghold of Fourth Young Master. As their master had died, those who survived did not need to stay any longer. After withdrawing from the stronghold, they joined Kun Society and the remaining taels were handed over to Gu Shenwei.
The strongholds of the other Young Masters took a tougher stance and they resisted fiercely. Things went smoothly when Gu Shenwei killed a supervisor.
Before anyone could detect the change in Tenth Young Master, Gu Shenwei wanted to make use of the opportunity to expand his influence by using Kun Society as leverage. He remembered Wildhorse's plan, which was to build a team of machetemen and he planned to execute it. Once Kun Society managed to accumulate 1.15 million taels, he had formulated some ideas on how to spend the money.
He was ready to confront the money collector.