Chapter 306: Missing
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Tie Linglong and Chu Nanping were already gone for four hours before Gu Shenwei knew that they were planning to break into the Golden Roc Fort. Xu Yanwei was full of confidence as she told him about her plan, "With my advice, nothing will happen to them. They'll even be able to bring back some...thing."
Gu Shenwei had underestimated her will and also her ability to convince other people. When he was not around, she used a variety of ways to bring everyone in the residence to her side. Even the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain, who hated the Golden Roc Fort to the core, were pitying Shangguan Ru, who was trapped in the Stone Castle, and felt that the Dragon King had a duty to rescue her after Xu Yanwei was done speaking to them.
Most of the people in the residence, however, kept their pity to themselves and did not dare to voice out their concerns to the Dragon King. As for Fang Wenshi, even though he had received some 'benefits' from Xu Yanwei, he felt that it was one of the perks of being a military counselor and that he did not owe her anything. He, too, did not speak to the Dragon King about advancing Xu Yanwei's cause.
Tie Linglong was the only one truly moved by Xu Yanwei.
She was 14, the age where girls like to fantasize the most, and her pity extended beyond Shangguan Ru to the Dragon King. "He never smiles and doesn't seem to be interested in women. I always thought that he must have someone close to his heart to be acting in this manner," she said to Xu Yanwei.
Xu Yanwei took the opportunity to drive her point through to the younger girl. "You're right. He grew up together with Miss Ru, and they're a perfect match for each other. They should've been a couple. It's a pity that fate makes a fool of us all. However, we can trick fate too. He wants to rescue her, but cannot do so due to his position as the leader of the Great Snowmountain and because of his pride. If we try to convince him, I believe he'll agree with us immediately."
Tie Linglong was young, but she was of a meticulous nature. "It's no good. I understand his behavior, the more someone tries to convince him otherwise, the more stubborn he gets. Once he makes up his mind, he won't go back against his word."
However, even as she understood the Dragon King's behavior, this little girl still oversimplified the problem and underestimated the risks involved with her plan. "If he doesn't want to go rescue her, why don't I go? I don't think he'll reject her if she's brought to him," said Tie Linglong.
If it were someone else hearing about such a plan, they would immediately feel that it was not the right solution. However, Xu Yanwei was already close to being driven mad by constantly thinking of any means to rescue Shangguan Ru, and she felt that it was the light at the end of the tunnel for her. The only question she had for the young girl was, "Is your kung fu up to it?"
Tie Linglong cocked her head proudly as she replied, "There are at least 80 people, if not 100, to have fallen under my saber. Only the Dragon King, and er, that monk, is more than a match for me. However, when I fought the monk, I was using a wooden saber. If I had a real one..."
Xu Yanwei believed her but felt that it was dangerous for the girl to venture into the fort alone. She came up with a solution, "Let's rope Little Chu in, his swordcraft is not too bad. And both of you will be able to look after each other."
Tie Linglong agreed that it was a sound idea.
Both of them went looking for Chu Nanping, but the youth was not interested in being part of the rescue mission. "I'm not going. She's the Dragon King's love, and why should we go rescue her if he hasn't requested for us to?"
Xu Yanwei began indoctrinating the swordsman. "He's too shy to speak up, but he secretly wishes for you to go. Case in point—he obviously knows what I'm here for, and I've made him angry a few times, but has he chased me away? This is his way of hinting. Having followed him for so long, you should understand how he hints. If you don't, he won't favor you or practice that 'Sentimental Sword Craft' with you."
"You mean 'Emotionless Swordsmanship'."
"Yes, that. So, are you in or out?"
Chu Nanping shook his head, not getting what Xu Yanwei was about.
This made Xu Yanwei mad, and Tie Linglong became angry as well. "Fine, I'll go mysel. Even if there's no one covering my back, I'll go. Even if I'm stabbed to death from the back, I'll not blame you," the young girl said.
Chu Nanping lowered his head and gazed at the long sword in his hand, while saying, "Fine, but first, we have to come up with a detailed plan."
The 'detailed plan' was finalized within 15 minutes. Xu Yanwei went through with the two youths on how they could sneak into the Stone Castle, avoid detection from the guards, sneak into the Inner Residence and find Miss Ru. She had thought about this for a long time and felt that it was foolproof.
Tie Linglong could not remember much of it, but Chu Nanping had memorized every word of what Xu Yanwei said with a serious look on his face. He could even recite Xu Yanwei's instructions out, earning her praise.
Just as the Dragon King was discussing with the others on how they should tackle the Meng family, his two young guards had left their post without instructions and were headed to the Golden Roc Fort.
Xu Yanwei had already prepared all the necessities for their journey. Both youths were dressed as killer apprentices and wore matching waist tokens. Just like this, they successfully entered North City and went up the mountain once they received their weapons at the north gate of the city.
Chu Nanping had gone into the Stone Castle once before but as a captive. As for Tie Linglong, she only had the chance to gaze at it from afar at the foot of the mountain. Both of them did not know the way up, but luckily for them, there was only one path leading toward the castle. They arrived at the stone bridge outside the castle about midnight and were stopped there by a group of guards.
They trusted in Xu Yanwei's plan and were therefore unafraid of what they were about to do. They felt that they had nothing to hide, and calmly displayed their waist tokens and were willingly interrogated and searched by the guards.
This was the first key factor as to why they could successfully sneak into the Stone Castle.
Luck was on their side as well, as a bunch of apprentices had indeed gone down the mountain that morning. As such, the guards did not pay extra attention to the youths.
The nature of the plan itself also worked in their favor, as it was simply crude. No one who wanted to sneak into the castle would come up with such a sloppy and brazen plan to dress as apprentices and hope to walk in. The guards did not believe that anyone would be so foolish to try and therefore were not suspicious of Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong.
Chu Nanping softly recited directions as per Xu Yanwei's roadmap, and Tie Linglong took charge of navigation. However, they became lost after walking past about eight crossings upon entering the castle.
Both of them had a small argument on how to proceed, and just at this time, a guard who had been in hiding showed up and ordered them back to East Castle. Tie Linglong insolently replied that she had orders to report to the Inner Residence.
The guard became flustered, as he had never encountered such a person before, who could still be indignant when obviously flouting the night curfew law. In a moment of muddle-headedness, he gave the young girl directions to the Inner Residence.
In this way, they managed to enter the Inner Residence, but all contact was lost with them afterward, and it was as if they had been swallowed by the fort.
Finally, Xu Yanwei grew uneasy after the two youths did not come back at the appointed time. She had no choice but to tell the truth to the Dragon King (albeit rather euphemistically). "I'm afraid that something has gone wrong, Dragon King. Little Chu and Little Lyu went to the Stone Castle to rescue Miss Ru, and have yet to return."
Tie Linglong's eyes were green, and thus Xu Yanwei called her 'Little Lyu'. (Lyu means green in Mandarin)
Gu Shenwei got a huge shock upon receiving the news. He knew that both of them acted on their own accord sometimes, but it did not cross his mind that they would dare to break into the Golden Roc Fort. "What's going on? Did you incite them into doing it?"
"No," Xu Yanwei denied immediately. "You're to blame, Dragon King. Since you've not made yourself clear at the beginning, they could have interpreted you wrongly and thought that you wanted them to go..."
At this moment, Gu Shenwei sincerely regretted having saved her life so many times a few years ago.
It was an extremely delicate situation for him. Both youths were his personal bodyguards, and if they were caught sneaking into Golden Roc Fort, it was as good as the Great Snowmountain signifying that they had every intention to rip the temporary cease-fire agreement into shreds.
Fang Wenshi was extremely irritated. He had no come back if the Golden Roc Fort wanted to seize the opportunity to cause trouble again. Not only would the hard work of the past few months be for naught, the Special Envoy from the Central Plain would also have doubts about the ability of the Dragon King to control the situation.
He found it surprising, however, that the Golden Roc Fort did not use this opportunity to immediately cancel the cease-fire deal. Everything went on as per usual, and it was as if nothing had happened.
Xu Xiaoyi only managed to hear about how 'two apprentices' went into the Stone Castle even after trying to gather information from everywhere and tried his best to guess and re-trace the steps of Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong. Surprisingly, he found out that no one from the Golden Roc Fort was punished due to this extraordinary lapse in security. It was as if no one from the castle had discovered them.
Fang Wenshi knew that there was something not quite right about the entire situation. "Not right, everything seems not right," he said, arms crossed behind his back and pacing back and forth in front of the Dragon King, his eyebrows furrowed together. "What is the Supreme King thinking about exactly?"
Xu Yanwei was extremely uneasy, but she was naturally optimistic. "Who knows, maybe Miss Ru is keeping them with her, and she's looking for an opportunity to bring them down the mountain?"
That being said, she herself could not have believed that this perfect ending would come true. She laughed drily and stood behind the chair, trying her best to avoid the Dragon King's line of sight.
Gu Shenwei had to try very hard to control his anger. "I've received news that Lady Meng used her daughter as bait, and set a trap for us. I believe Little Chu and Linglong are in her hands now."
"Oh, why didn't you say so earlier?" Xu Yanwei could not help but interrupt. "If I had known that it was a trap, I would not have got them to go in the fort."
This statement exposed her role in the entire incident, and she tried to cover up by deriding herself. She quickly snuck out of the room before the Dragon King got angry with her again, and it was only after a few days later when she dared to show her face.
"This time, we can only be passive," said the counselor. He turned his palms up and shook his head helplessly. "The Golden Roc Fort can take this as a chance to break off from the ceasefire agreement anytime they want. I don't have any more tricks up my sleeve."
"I'll rescue them," replied Gu Shenwei resolutely. "Continue with the negotiations, counselor, and leave such matters to me."
Fang Wenshi sighed, for there was nothing much he could do for such a rescue mission. "It would be best if we can rescue them, but if not, you have to think of a way to sever all connections to them."
Gu Shenwei understood what he meant and nodded.
On the third day after Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong had gone missing, Meng Yuzun sent a messenger to invite the Dragon King for a meeting. On the surface, it would be about the two million taels of silver, but Gu Shenwei was pretty certain that the fat man was acting at the behest of Lady Meng.
He did not trust Meng Yuzun, and therefore selected a brothel in South City as the meeting point.
Xiao Fengchai was their mutual acquaintance, and both parties trusted her. She was also willing to host the meeting.
As soon as the Dragon King's arrival was announced, Meng Yuzun personally went downstairs to receive the young man. He acted so warmly as if he was receiving an old friend in his own home. Any outsider who witnessed the scene would not have imagined that the two of them had faced off in Bodhi Garden previously.
They were ushered into an elegantly built study on the second story, and Xiao Fengchai tactfully retreated with her maids after paying her respects. Meng Yuzun dismissed all of his followers and stopped smiling after they left. He spoke as if he were confiding in the Dragon King, "My thanks for not killing me the last time around and not spreading the news about the Tianji Society; I'm extremely grateful to you."
Gu Shenwei was gripping the shaft of his saber with his right hand out of habit. He trusted Xiao Fengchai, but not to the extent where he could let his guard down. "Since you have no intention of harming me, Sir, I, too, have no intention of killing you."
Meng Yuzun sniggered as he replied, "Let's not be on ceremony here, Dragon King. You can address me as Old Meng."
Gu Shenwei nodded slightly but did not reply.
Meng Yuzun wiped away the sweat from his forehead. It was a sign of self-confidence and not anxiety. "Er, there aren't any outsiders here, so I'll be to the point. I have two people with me that the Dragon King might be interested in. My request, or rather Lady Meng's request, is very simple—all you have to do is to exchange the Dajue Book of Swordcraft for them. It'll be as if the entire incident did not happen, and the Supreme King would never know about it. Hur, hur, if it's up to me to decide, since you've already learned it, there's no point keeping it with you. It's an extremely good deal for you."
Meng Yuzun was all smiles as he waited for the Dragon King's reply. He was confident that victory was at hand.
Gu Shenwei remained expressionless and he pondered for a moment before replying. "My request is also very simple. Release the two of them, and I'll continue to keep Lady Meng's secret safe with me."
"Secret? What secret?" The smile was now gone from the fat man's face, and more beads of sweat started to form on it.
"Go ask Lady Meng."
Gu Shenwei started walking towards the door and paused at the doorstep before adding, "If I fail to receive the two million taels of silver tomorrow, I'll act myself after the deadline."
It was time to leverage on the secret that Shangguan Hong had divulged to him, and Gu Shenwei felt that he still had a chance to win.