Chapter 354: Old Man
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Shangguan Ru saw Wildhorse. Just as Gu Shenwei drew his sword out, Wildhorse appeared within mere steps of her. Although it was the darkest moment before dawn, she still managed to recognize the young man whose eyes were far apart under the moonlight.
Wildhorse did not wear a mask and was holding on to the saber at his waist. He took one look at Shangguan Ru and quickly turned to leave, his speed was so swift that Shangguan Ru was deeply shocked. She remembered that Wildhorse’s Lightness Skills were never this good years ago.
Dragon King managed to stab the unknown a.s.sa.s.sin and this had boosted everybody’s spirits. Only Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus understood that this move of his could not be used at any time. If the a.s.sa.s.sin changed the timing of his appearance, the outcome could likely be immediately reversed
Gu Shenwei hoped that the a.s.sa.s.sin was frightened enough by the overwhelming odds against him and retreat.
“He won’t dare to come again, he definitely won’t come again since Dragon King is around.” Shangguan Hong consciously took on his role as a bootlicker and was more excited than the rest because he strongly believed that the next target on the a.s.sa.s.sin’s list would be him. “Dragon King can kill him before he even strikes a blow next time.”
“It’s hard to say.” Gu Shenwei did not wish to give them false hope, so he said, “Let’s hurry and get on our way, it’s best if we can shake them off.”
He Sancai recovered from the shock and understood the real meaning behind what he saw just now. He knew that Dragon King was not the one who killed “Sand Devil” Zheng Tai, and the heart that was pierced on the tip of the sword gave him some hints and reminded him of something.
“Impossible, that’s impossible.” He Sancai muttered to himself, yet it seemed like he was trying to seek answers from anyone.
“What is impossible? Speak properly.” Shangguan Fei ordered impatiently, forgetting that the bandit was not his subordinate.
He Sancai was not bothered by the young master’s att.i.tude. He looked at Dragon King and Maid Lotus and said, “I was reminded of someone, but he… died many years ago, and was only active in the north when he was still alive. Why would he appear here?”
“Then he must have resurrected from the dead.” Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus shared a look with each other as they were reminded of Wildhorse who fled toward the north.
“Quickly say, who can it be?” Shangguan Fei was getting more and more impatient. He wanted to know everything about the background of the enemy right away.
“Old Man Mu.” He Sancai uttered this strange name. Seeing the puzzled expressions on everybody’s faces, he realized that he was the only one who knew about the man, so he added, “It was at least more than 10 years ago. Old Man Mu was active around the north of Tianshan and killed countless. He was very strange in his manner, and there was no clear purpose as to why he killed, sometimes he would secretly go and kill somebody if he heard that that person had great Kung Fu. It’s like he kills purely for fun. In short, he is evil…”
He Sancai did not manage to resist saying these words and only after he noticed that both Dragon King and Maid Lotus, who were considered evil by others, were not angry at what he said, he continued, “After that, he killed too many people and offended people from both the government and the gangs, so everybody ganged up and joined forces together to fight against him. About hundreds of men, who were all Kung Fu experts, surrounded him for more than two months and finally managed to kill him off. There was a lot of witnesses for this, so it can’t be wrong. Plus no one has seen him over the past 10 years.”
“Old Man Mu likes to dig out people’s hearts?” Shangguan Hong shuddered. He strongly believed that his initial judgment was correct, that the a.s.sa.s.sin was a ghost.
“That’s not certain, but Old Man Mu had vicious patterns of killing, and he was famous for it back then as well. His targets would always be dismembered somehow.”
“Did you take part in the encirclement back then?” Gu Shenwei needed to clarify this.
He Sancai turned red, he said, “Uh, no, I was still young at that time, and my Kung Fu was not as good back then, no one asks me to go.”
“More like you didn’t dare to go, yeah.” Shangguan Fei had a good eye for such things and guessed the truth correctly.
“I usually do business in the south of Tianshan and the matters in the north is not under me.” He Sancai quickly defended himself, but he blushed even harder.
“Hmph, what broken wood, he never dare to come to the territory of Golden Roc Fort at that time anyway…” Shangguan Fei spoke halfway, before sighing dejectedly. He could not return to his home even if he wanted to and could no longer enjoy the protection of the Stone Castle.
“How did Old Man Mu look like?” Maid Lotus finally spoke.
“It was said that he was a white-haired old man. I don’t exactly know how he looked like, but he seemed to have everything. Some even said that he has four arms,” He Sancai replied respectfully.
“And his height?” Maid Lotus asked again.
“Normal, he was definitely taller than me, but not particularly tall.”
“It’s not him.” Maid Lotus had chased the a.s.sa.s.sin for a while back there, and although she did not manage to capture it, she saw its shadow vaguely, “The Dragon King was right. The a.s.sa.s.sin is someone short, very short, like a child’s height.”
He Sancai breathed out a sigh of relief. He felt bad enough for being controlled by the two young devils and would never want to encounter the old devil, Old Man Mu, who had caused upheavals back then in the north and south of Tianshan. “Then that is great. Perhaps I recalled wrongly.”
“Perhaps it was his apprentice,” Shangguan Hong suggested.
“No matter who he is, it’s best for him to not appear again.” Gu Shenwei turned and got on his horse. For him, the most urgent thing right now was to rescue the thousands of people from the Great Snowmountain who were surrounded by Golden Roc Fort. In his eyes, getting themselves entangled with the jianghu people was a waste of time.
Everybody straddled their horses and continued on their way.
Zheng Tai, the only one who was able to recognize the roads had died. But thankfully, the route that followed was not difficult to make out. All they needed to do was to walk along the boundary line between the desert and Gobi.
They did not stop to rest all day as all they wanted was to ditch the unknown a.s.sa.s.sin off. No one complained though they were all tired. Even Shangguan Hong who had the weakest Kung Fu among them gritted his teeth and continued to hold on.
After nightfall, they could only slow down because more and more horses were starting to feel exhausted. After midnight, Gu Shenwei decided to stop and rest. Rus.h.i.+ng like this would only cause the animals to collapse sooner or later, which would only delay time even further.
“I can still persevere on.” Shangguan Hong panted. He would much rather die of fatigue on the road as soon as he thought about the devil who dug out hearts.
However, Gu Shenwei did not stop for him. While he ordered everybody to feed the horses, he took the opportunity and told Maid Lotus, “It’s time for us to work together again.” U.p..dated by BoxNo vel.com
Maid Lotus understood what he meant, so she disappeared when everybody was resting.
“Where’s Maid Lotus?” Shangguan Fei asked blankly.
Shangguan Ru understood Dragon King’s intentions better than her brother, so she warned in a low voice, “Don’t ask so much.”
It would be yet another agonizing night, and they had not slept for two days and two nights. It was still alright when they were riding on horses, but they could no longer hold on the moment they sat on the ground.
Shangguan Fei was the first to fell down and it shocked Shangguan Hong who was beside him. He thought that Shangguan Fei had died and was secretly happy but soon disappointed once he noticed that the Ninth Young Master was only sleeping.
Gu Shenwei ordered everyone to sleep and would stand guard by himself.
The last days of the winter still remained, and the nights of the desert were very cold. Not much heat could be felt even though they were next to the pile of fire.
Gu Shenwei held on to the Dragon Head Sword that he drew out. He felt that the cold could do some good and at least keep him awake.
Two hours pa.s.sed but the a.s.sa.s.sin had not yet appeared. Perhaps he was waiting for the early morning, or maybe he did not dare to come again after being injured. It could also be that he was sleeping peacefully knowing that his enemy was painfully worried.
Gu Shenwei disliked it the most when he was unable to be in control of a situation. But come to think of it, he was seldom in control as well.
He turned and looked at the four people sleeping soundly. Life was really unpredictable, of all people, he would never have imagined that he would be protecting his enemies.
“Seeking revenge itself cannot bear the weight of great responsibility.” The words of Master Fayan kept lingering in his mind.
In fact, Fang Wens.h.i.+ had also said something similar. One of his prerequisites for agreeing to become the military counselor of the Great Snowmountain was that Dragon King needed to give up on revenge and focus on hegemony instead.
“I must lose my revenge in order to avenge.”
It was something that was very difficult to think through. Gu Shenwei was especially afraid that the Death Scripture swordcraft would lose its power significantly the moment he lost his hatred.
He cleared his mind. At least, he did not need to kill the three people who carried the Shangguan surname right now, and this made him much more relaxed.
At this moment, Shangguan Ru was sleeping soundly and curled up like a baby.
Someone trotted his horse out of the desert and stopped several steps away from Gu Shenwei. He extended his arms to show that there was no malice.
Gu Shenwei had to give Maid Lotus some time to prepare, so he said to the person, “Long time no see, Wildhorse.”
The four people who were fast asleep immediately jumped up and drew their weapons out, Shangguan Fei was slightly dizzy and turned one round before facing the enemy.
It was indeed Wildhorse, his looks were so distinctive that it would be hard to mistake him for others.
Then, something strange happened. Wildhorse opened his mouth and spoke, “The Dajue Book of Swordcraft is indeed reputable.”
Wildhorse clearly only had half a tongue but the words spoken were articulated clearly and spread into the ears of all present. Only the voice sounded somewhat old and did not match Wildhorse’s age.
“Playing tricks here and there, are you ashamed to show your face, sir?” Gu Shenwei said coldly. He already realized that although the voice came from Wildhorse’s direction, it was not him who had spoken.
“Hehe, You got it right, Dragon King. I’m really ashamed to show my face to others. It’s a good thing that I have a mute disciple who’s willing to lend me this body of his.”
The cold winds, chilly moon, and the desolate desert further increased the creepiness felt by others when they heard these words. Shangguan Hong could not help but grunt and Shangguan Fei felt that the saber in his hands was as heavy as a boulder as well. So the two of them moved a few steps closer to the Dragon King.
“You were really lucky to survive, Old Man Mu. You were besieged by so many Kung Fu experts, yet they still failed to kill you.”
Gu Shenwei was just trying to make a guess, and the other party suddenly laughed spookily, “Old man here is not only lucky to survive, but my life is also very good as well! Not only did I not die, but I also managed to practice a set of divine kung fu.”
“A divine kung fu that makes you unable to show your face and allow me to stab your palm.”
“Don’t bother trying to agitate me, you’re still too young. I initially wanted to have some fun for a few days, but I changed my mind, I want your Dajue Book of Swordcraft. Give it up and I can let all of you die in a quicker manner.”
Indeed, Gu Shenwei did intend to stop wasting his effort. Maid Lotus should be in position by now, and he was ready to face the enemy as well.
Only the sound of wind could be heard in the area.
A horse brayed softly and broke the silence.
He Sancai suddenly leaped high in a graceful posture, far exceeding his usual skill. He looked up at the moon like a stocky wolf ready to howl.
But he did not make any noise. Something flew out of his body, it was about the size of a fist and the color was bright red.
It was his heart, held in a hand of a man smaller than him.
Old Man Mu had made his move, he should have been hiding behind Wildhorse but suddenly he attacked behind them. He should have appeared like any normal old man, but in reality, he was a dwarf!
Gu Shenwei’s sword struck toward the enemy as Wildhorse rode toward him. Shangguan Ru held her wooden saber and jumped into the air. Shangguan Fei was beyond petrified while Shangguan Hong fell to the ground holding his head.
Like a picture frozen in the air, only Maid Lotus’ sword could destroy this image now.