The trackers behind Han Fen were three children. They seemed to take this action as a rare experience and all looked very attentive and cautious. They carefully chose the route and covered one another while sneaking behind Han Fen, handling all the details professionally.
However, they were still children, and at this age, they should devote most of their energies to practicing kung fu and strengthening killing intent rather than participating in actual assassination missions.
One child had succeeded in killing the innkeeper last night, but that man was just an ordinary person, who did not know any Kung Fu. Tonight, these children’s target was a disciple of the New Moon Hall.
Han Fen still quietly crouched on the roof and attentively looked at the ancestral shrine across the street, seemingly oblivious to the approaching danger.
Upon seeing that, Gu Shenwei thought to himself, “In many ways, Han Fen doesn’t look like a professional killer. She laughs a lot and is very excitable, curious and extremely ticklish. In Golden Roc Fort, these defects would be considered fatal, and she would be dismissed as an unqualified apprentice.”
That said, he had to admit that he did not know much about the Kung Fu style of the New Moon Hall. He was familiar with only two New Moon Hall disciples—Maid Lotus and Guan Shang, but these two women were actually trained by the Golden Roc Fort and thus were not much influenced by the New Moon Hall.
Han Fen was going to show him how a real disciple of the New Moon Hall dealt with her trackers.
The three young assassins quickly took up their positions. One was under the eaves. Another one was lying in wait on the right side of the house, preparing to block and kill the target once she fled. As this place was relatively spacious, it was the best escape route the target could choose. The last child was slowly approaching Han Fen from behind.
The last child was probably the top dog of the bunch, since it was a common rule that the most skilled killer of the team would be positioned nearest to the target. This child seemed a little supercilious, as he got too close to his target now.
When he came within seven steps of Han Fen, she still remained still.
The young assassin held his saber, which had been drawn out a long time ago, gently leaped up and came at his target, like a fox quietly pouncing on a gopher.
The next moment, he froze.
From this moment on, the three young assassins kept making mistakes, showing their immaturity.
A professional killer would always retreat after giving a blow to his or her target regardless of the outcome and would never stay there in a trance even if something unexpected happened.
As for the other killers assisting in the mission, they should immediately tense up when some accident happened, as their enemies were probably lying in ambush somewhere nearby.
Nevertheless, the two young assassins assisting in this mission looked confused and hesitant at this moment, and one of them even raised up its head to peep at the dazed young killer behind Han Fen.
Suddenly, another Han Fen popped out. She swiftly jumped on and off the roof, brushing past the three young assassins one by one. While she was moving around, she kept tilting her body and changing direction for every step she took. For on-lookers, it looked like that she was about to fall to the ground at any minute.
She carried only a broken sword with herself and did not hold any weapon in hand. However, this did not prevent her from killing anyone.
Gu Shenwei watched the whole process from afar. He felt that it looked somewhat like a mime and puppet show, which was quick, dull, and even a little bit boring. With the quiet night as its backdrop and the moonlight as its lighting, it even looked quite weird.
Soon enough, Han Fen finished killing the three children and began to collect their dead bodies. She removed the black clothes that she had left on the roof and revealed a hole there. She threw the corpses down into the house one by one through the hole, while rhythmically shaking her head. It looked as if she was humming a lullaby to them.
This was what was called a “cicada shell trick”. Han Fen had dug a hole in the part of the roof, where she had stayed. After that, she managed to get out of her outfit and quietly jump down into the room below through the hole. This process could be likened to the skin shedding process of a cicada, and after her departure, her outfit remained in one piece like an old cicada shell. She was so versed in the use of this skill that even Gu Shenwei was unable to detect any flaw throughout the entire process.
Both the Golden Roc Fort and the New Moon Hall would force their apprentices or disciples to handle corpses during their training as a way of helping them get used to dead bodies. Han Fen seemed to be exceptionally well-trained in this aspect. Every time she held a corpse, she looked as if she had just received a long-expected new toy.
After she fit everything in, she waved to the Dragon King.
He had stayed too long in the same place, so it was natural for Han Fen to spot him.
“How long have you been here?” asked Han Fen, in a low voice. She sounded somewhat excited as if the Dragon King had come up here to play with her.
“Not very long,” replied Gu Shenwei.
“Hee-hee, Don’t you feel a little bit cold?”
“No.”
“I had only a bowl of cold rice for the afternoon. Now I feel as if my stomach was filled with ice cubes.”
Worrying that Han Fen was going to ramble on and on like this for a long time, Gu Shenwei hurriedly raised a question.
“Did those three children come out of the shrine?”
“Yeah, probably. They might’ve sneaked out of the shrine during the day when I was sleeping,” replied Han Fen.
“Are they all dead?”
“Not yet, but they will be dead very soon. They’re poisoned by me and will die within half an hour.”
“I need someone alive.”
“No problem. When someone comes out of the shrine again, I’ll capture him or her alive for you.”
“No need. You can just bring one of the three children back to life.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
With these words, Han Fen went down into the house through the hole in the roof. Gu Shenwei spent some time searching the surroundings before entering the house. He had stayed here for a long time and was sure that there was no ambush. However, he could not help doing so, as this was one of his old habits.
Upon getting into the dark room through the hole, he was shocked by two unexpected facts.
Firstly, it was not an empty room. A middle-aged couple was sleeping so soundly in bed that even a deafening thunder could not wake them up. Obviously, they must have been fed with some knockout powder.
Secondly, Han Fen had not yet saved any young assassin’s life. She managed to make the three of them sit on chairs side by side and unmasked all of them. She carefully observed each one of them and then frowned, hesitant to make a decision. Upon seeing the Dragon King, she hurriedly asked, “Which one to save? This one looks honest, this one is pretty and this one is also quite cute. Alas, it’s so difficult.”
“If you don’t get started as soon as possible, you won’t be able to save anyone of them. How could Maid Lotus tolerate such a disciple and even send her to protect me?” Gu Shenwei mocked in his heart and then pointed at the child nearest to himself.
Upon seeing that, Han Fen felt much relieved. She applied something to the boy’s nose with flickering fingers, stuffed a pill into his mouth and then massaged his jaw and throat to help him swallow the pill. Halfway through the process, she suddenly thought of something and asked, “To what extent do you want him to recover?”
“As long as he can speak,” replied Gu Shenwei.
“What? Oh, no. I’ve just wasted a Hundred-herbs Pill. I’ve done too much for him. He’ll be alive for another two or three days. Is that alright?”
“That’s alright.”
After getting her work done, Han Fen drew aside and then stared straight at the Dragon King as if he were a statue on display.
“You get out and continue to keep watch on the enemies. Alert me as soon as you find something unusual.” Gu Shenwei gave orders to Han Fen directly, as this was the most effective way to communicate with her.
Han Fen nodded solemnly. After that, she jumped onto the beam and then out of the room.
The room was dark, and Gu Shenwei could only vaguely see things inside it. He made a tour of the room to make sure that this was not a trap and the couple in the bed were just common people.
The next moment, when the young assassin woke up, he was startled to see his partners lying deathly still beside him. After that, he was even more shocked to see the person standing in front of him.
“What’s your name?” asked Gu Shenwei, in a calm tone.
“Ban Tu,” replied the boy.
“Do you know who I am?”
“You’re the Dragon King.”
“And you were a beggar in a small town before meeting me.”
The boy nodded.
Gu Shenwei could hardly remember Ban Tu’s face, but he clearly remembered this name. This boy had been apprenticed to him three years ago, and now he was about 11 or 12 years old.
“What makes you betray me?”
“I want to become a real killer, and only the Golden Roc Fort can make my dream come true.”
Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei could not help sighing in his heart, “It was I who inspired this child to try to become a killer, but now this thing is used against me.”“Who told you this?” asked Gu Shenwei.
When he was expecting the boy to tell him that it was Hu Shining, the retired training tutor of the Carvewood Academy in the Golden Roc Fort, the boy surprised him. “He, He’s the best killer in the entire world. You can’t turn us into real killers, Dragon King. You’ve just received a few years’ training in the Stone Castle, and all you’ve mastered is no more than a superficial knowledge of assassination. Only he can help us become professional killers.”
Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei thought to himself, “This child is pretty straightforward and assertive. It sounds like he even has the courage to look down upon me now.
“Although he’s just a boy of about 10, it’s still impressive that this man was able to convert him so completely.” With this in mind, he could not help admiring this mysterious man for his ability. “Who’s this man?” asked Gu Shenwei.
“He…” Ban Tu stuttered. He was not trying to conceal anything from the Dragon King. It was just that he also felt bewildered.
Upon seeing that, Gu Shenwei added, “Shangguan Jianyi?”
“Yes, Shangguan Jianyi. He’s the best killer in the entire world, but you, who have thousands of soldiers now, have already lost all your killer instincts. You even dare not to face off against a real killer now. Killing is a disease. If one wants to become a top-notch killer, he or she has to become desperately ill first. Once you cure your own disease, you won’t be a killer any more,” said Ban Tu.
“What a strange theory. It sounds somewhat similar to the doctrine of the New Moon Hall—To get strong, one has to get crazy first. A child like Ban Tu could never think of such a thing by himself, so he must’ve learned it from someone else. It looks like that this ‘Shangguan Jianyi’ really put a lot of effort into converting these children.
“Besides, what the boy has said must be intended for me. Whichever of them woke up would tell me the same thing,” thought Gu Shenwei.
“Where’s he?” he asked Ban Tu.
“I’ll never tell you,” Ban Tu said assertively, “Killers kill people and are always ready to be killed. I’m not afraid to die.”
“What about the others? Hu Shining, Chu Nanping and the other apprentices,” asked Gu Shenwei.
“They’re too stupid to become real killers. They’re going to rot in jail,” replied Ban Tu.
Upon hearing that, he knew that he could not get any information out of this boy anymore. Ban Tu had already been totally converted by his enemy. He took out a pill and made the boy swallow it, while saying, “Well, as you’re not afraid.” Soon enough, he saw the boy close his eyes again.
He thought that he had collected enough information. Now he knew where he should go to find his enemy. This enemy made use of a young apprentice to deliver a message to him and invite him to go into the ancestral shrine.
He went out to the roof and said to Han Fen, “Give me your sword.”
Han Fen immediately handed Maid Lotus’ sword to him. Gu Shenwei did not draw the sword out. He just glanced at the sword hilt under the moonlight and then returned it to Han Fen.
“You and I will break into the ancestral shrine together, and you just have to protect me from behind,” said Gu Shenwei.
“Great,” replied Han Fen.
If it had been someone else, he or she would have challenged this hasty decision of the Dragon King. However, Han Fen did not appear confused by the sudden decision in the least bit and accepted his order without any hesitation. After keeping watch on the ancestral shrine for nearly two months, she felt bored and had an overwhelming urge to fight.
The two of them set off for the ancestral shrine one after the other, leaving the three corpses behind in the house, which would come as a shock to the couple when they woke up the next morning.
The enemy knew the Dragon King very well. When the others firmly believed that the Dragon King was a man who would never yield to an impulse, he passed on a provocative message to him through the apprentice: Let’s duke it out as professional killers.
Gu Shenwei decided to accept the challenge not just because he was seized with a sudden impulse but also because now he was confident that he could defeat this enemy.
He was also certain that the enemy was not Shangguan Jianyi.
This enemy had revealed his real identity to him through the sentence “Killing is a disease”. Gu Shenwei was sure that this sentence was from that person. Back then, when he had first heard of this strange theory, that person had still been locked up in the dungeon and felt happy for Shangguan Ru upon hearing that she had cured her “disease”. He was 100-percent sure that at that time, this person would have never wanted to become “desperately ill”.
Now, Gu Shenwei also realized what the queen’s deepest secret was. That woman had fallen in love with this man from the Golden Roc Fort and seriously believed that he would help her out.
Shangguan Yun, the Third Young Master of the Golden Roc Fort and the King of Xiaowan, had left his troops behind and come all the way to challenge the Dragon King to a fight.