Chapter 230: Trapped
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Once Slave Xin opened the door, Gu Shenwei woke up.
Slave Xin felt that he had gained Slave Huan’s understanding and he wouldn’t be disturbed by “evil spirits”. He had recovered as his complexion improved, though he seemed fl.u.s.tered this time. He said, “Bad news. Bad news.”
Gu Shenwei sat up awkwardly while holding onto his sword shaft.
“Heart… Heart Cleansing Yard has surrounded… surrounded us”, Slave Xin said. He was hardly able to handle such a crisis, and his body was trembling like a sieve. When he finally calmed down, Slave Huan had disappeared.
Slave Xin’s description was exaggerated. There were ten torturers from Heart Cleansing Yard, who were wearing yellow belts, standing politely at the door of the courtyard. They requested to meet Yang Huan and Maid Lotus was dealing with them.
Gu Shenwei didn’t know exactly which matter had gone wrong. Once he stepped out from the door, one torturer pointed at him and said, “Yang Huan has come. Please come with us.”
“What’s the matter?”
“You will know once we get there”, the torturer said. It was the tradition of Heart Cleansing Yard whereby the person involved won’t be informed of the agenda beforehand. It would make the person involved feel uneasy as he speculated about the agenda.
Gu Shenwei had much to speculate about so he was unwilling to head for Heart Cleansing Yard. He said, “Wait a minute. Let me ask Miss about this.”
“It’s not necessary”, the torturer said harshly, “I will let others notify Eighth Young Mistress.”
“I’m sorry. I am responsible for protecting the safety of Miss, so I can’t leave my post.”
Ten torturers held onto their swords simultaneously. They were ordered to bring Yang Huan back, by hook or by crook. In their opinion, this matter was a breeze and was being overdone.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus also held onto their swords.
“Who are the ones quarrelling so loudly early in the morning?” Xu Yanwei asked as she walked out. She stood naturally in between the two parties.
Her current name was Maid Wan. The torturers did not recognize her and shouted, “Go away.”
Xu Yanwei laughed at the torturers and said gently, “Please move to one side.”
The smile stunned all of the torturers. They had a mind to escort her back and torture her.
However, they lowered their head and moved to one side obediently.
Not only the torturers, both Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus stepped aside as well. Luo Ningcha, who was covered in her veil came out and the Tenth Young Master Shangguan Ru was guiding her.
“Who are these people? Why are they standing at the door?” Luo Ningcha asked as she was not used to people getting in her way.
“We are from Heart Cleansing Yard…”, a torturer said. Then Xu Yanwei interrupted, “How dare you. Miss didn’t ask you anything so why are you responding?”
The torturer flinched and was embarra.s.sed.
Xu Yanwei turned to Luo Ningcha and said, “Miss, they claimed that they are from Heart Cleansing Yard but they didn’t know what items to cleanse here.”
“Then, you should ask them. This house is too old. They can cleanse whatever they want after I move out two days from now.”
Xu Yanwei smiled in acknowledgement. However, when she turned back, she appeared indifferent. She said coldly, “Miss said that you can come over two days later and cleanse whatever you want.”
“We are not here to cleanse things, but to make arrests!” one tortured shouted as he could no longer tolerate any further nonsense. He took a step forward and drew his saber midway. In Golden Roc Fort, few dared to disrespect Heart Cleansing Yard.
It just so happened that there were two bold masters standing in front of him.
“They want to kill me!”, Luo Ningcha exclaimed. She faltered back and several maids went up to support her. Shangguan Ru shouted, “Who dares to disrespect Eighth Sister-in-law?” as she went up to the rude torturer and placed her saber at his neck.
The torturer suddenly realized that he had overdone it when Shangguan Ru threatened him. He was hesitating on how to deal with the situation. His companions reacted quickly and made him kneel on the floor. They said, “Zhang You, you must be crazy. How could you draw your sword out in front of Tenth Young Master and Eighth Young Mistress?”
The situation became slightly chaotic. Maid Lotus made a signal and Gu Shenwei went back into the courtyard while the group of women blocked the doorway.
The torturers left crestfallen. After a while, the torturer who had drawn his sword came back. He asked for forgiveness by kneeling on the ground. He was forgiven in the evening.
When Shangguan Ru learned in advance that Heart Cleansing Yard was coming to arrest Slave Huan, she came early in the morning to stop them. Even though she and Eighth Young Mistress were enemies, both of them worked together on this matter.
Shen Liang fearlessly sent men to arrest Slave Huan as he had captured Chu Nanping.
Shangguan Ru only had a rough grasp of the situation. She had seen that soft-looking boy and had a deep impression of him. She said, “Chu Nanping was captured yesterday night at Hope Alley. I heard that Chu Nanping had admitted to the a.s.sa.s.sination of Meng Mingxian.”
Chu Nanping didn’t heed Gu Shenwei’s advice, which was to stay in North City. He missed the real long sword and the acquaintances at Joy Pavilion. This was why he was caught.
Gu Shenwei knew Chu Nanping wouldn’t betray him, but his greatest flaw was that he couldn’t lie. He would only either answer questions truthfully or not answer at all. He would divulge secrets in front of the old sly Shen Liang. Gu Shenwei was more worried about Xu Xiaoyi as he was unable to withstand the torture of Heart Cleansing Yard. However, according to Shangguan Ru, he wasn’t captured. Even though he didn’t know kung fu, he was very clever and he would have found a hiding spot.
Shangguan Ru asked Slave Huan secretly whether he got Chu Nanping to kill Meng Mingxian and Gu Shenwei acknowledged. After thinking for some time, she said, “You have gotten into big trouble. The Mengs will take revenge. I will plead with Second Brother and you should stay by Eighth Young Mistress’ side. She will protect you.”
Shangguan Ru didn’t ask Slave Huan for the reason as she probably felt that this was another thing Slave Huan wanted to do for himself.
Gu Shenwei naturally wouldn’t expose his plans. He just felt that the world was changing too fast. He was forcing Luo Ningcha to hand over the planks last night, and now he had to seek protection from her.
People in Stone Castle fought fiercely among one another because of Slave Huan.
Shen Liang wanted to capture Slave Huan so as to please the Mengs and to push the blame to Tenth Young Master. As Kun Society had seized half of South City’s territory, Shangguan Ru’s brothers started to view her as their enemy.
In contrast, Lady Meng naturally hoped that her daughter wouldn’t be involved in the fight. Although she didn’t openly express her stance, she let Shangguan Ru deal with the threat by herself.
As the current Stone Castle chief was Second Young Master Shangguan Tian, both Shen Liang and Shangguan Ru lobbied him. He didn’t want to offend any party, so he had been perfunctory for three days and finally said, “It will be best to have a witness for this matter.”
Shangguan Ru had the upper hand. Although Chu Nanping admitted to the a.s.sa.s.sination, he didn’t reveal who the mastermind was and even the most seasoned torturer couldn’t sound him out.
During the three days that Shangguan Tian was hesitating, it was the best time for Shen Liang to act. He just had to capture Slave Huan as he wasn’t afraid that Slave Huan wouldn’t admit to the a.s.sa.s.sination. Against his expectations however, the biggest obstacle would be Eighth Young Mistress. He wanted to tell that stupid woman that everything he did was for her husband, Shangguan Nu. If she was rational, she would hand Slave Huan over.
Luo Ningcha had a simple plan. As Slave Huan and Maid Lotus were returned back to her, anyone who wanted to arrest them would have to get past her even if they used Shangguan Nu as an excuse.
Furthermore, she was proud that she had the ability to protect a killer. Everytime she saw Slave Huan, she would remind him, “You have created a lot of trouble for me. Do you know how many people I’ve had to offend in order to protect you?”
Gu Shenwei tried to recall his vows. He would modify and exaggerate his vows and then swore on them. Luo Ningcha liked it. She even made the maid write his vows down on several occasions and made Slave Huan acknowledge by fixing his thumbprint on it.
Gu Shenwei was trapped in Eighth Young Master’s residence and didn’t dare to step out of the door. Shen Liang had mobilized all his men to capture Slave Huan once he made an appearance.
Having such authority, Luo Ningcha was satisfied and became greedy. She said, “When my husband returns, I will make him present these women to the Lord. Unlike the Procuress of Meng family, I wouldn’t be doing such things. With my a.s.sistance, my husband will become Iron Mountain’s leader and the Supreme King. Till then, no one will dare despise me. Slave Huan. Since you are so free, you can help me think of several strategies so that I can keep them for later.”
In fact, Gu Shenwei did not have the time to help Miss to think of strategies as he had a lot to think about for himself. The first thing was whether he should save Chu Nanping. He discussed with Maid Lotus and both of them felt that they shouldn’t act rashly. Shen Liang might have laid a trap, and was waiting for Slave Huan to jump in.
The second matter was about practicing Wayless Qigong.
Although there were some words missing on the last plank, it didn’t affect the initial practice. Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus had started practicing but Gu Shenwei had not even started.
His Yin and Yang Strength became his stumbling block.
Gu Shenwei was rejected when he was sent to East Castle for the first time as the Internal Strength which he practiced was in conflict with Golden Roc Fort Internal Strength. Wayless Book was the origin of Stone Castle kungfu and was naturally more overbearing. From the very start, it emphasized that the pract.i.tioners had to disperse all other Internal Strength before learning the one from Wayless Book, if not it would be life-threatening.
Now that there were dangers everywhere, Gu Shenwei didn’t dare to disperse his Internal Strength. In addition, he had another secret, that he hoped to take revenge for the Gus before Supreme King recovered his skills. As he could not master Wayless Qigong in a few days, he was reluctant to give this opportunity up.
This was tormenting. With the close monitoring of Heart Cleansing Yard, Gu Shenwei couldn’t move around much within Stone Castle, let alone lure Supreme King to leave.
The major event that Gu Shenwei had long awaited happened at the end of July. Overnight, there was a great s.h.i.+ft in influence in Stone Castle. Gu Shenwei realized that all troubles and conspiracies could be resolved by this major event.
Iron Mountain Camp was attacked by Central Plain. n.o.body could believe when the news came until messengers rushed into Jade City one by one. Everyone finally accepted the fact that war had broken out.
Slave Huan’s matter had become insignificant. No one came to arrest him and he didn’t need anyone to protect him.
The former enemies, Shen Liang and Luo Ningcha became allies. The fate of Bighead Kingpin and Shangguan Nu directly affected their fate in Stone Castle.
Unfortunately, before the allies had the time to exchange ideas, there was a piece of news that shocked the whole of Jade City. Golden Roc Fort’s Eighth Young Master Shangguan Nu had betrayed his father-in-law and sought refuge in Central Plain.
Luo Ningcha couldn’t believe that her husband killed her father and Bighead Kingpin would die.
This was a heaven-sent opportunity for Gu Shenwei.