Chapter 403: Wrongful Murder
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Three people were about to arrive. Gu Shenwei still harboured some doubts, but there was little time left. The three horses pa.s.sed in a flash, he had no time to ponder about it. Years as a killer had developed in him a habit of planning carefully before acting but having no hesitation when it came time to strike.
In terms of procedure, this was a perfect a.s.sa.s.sination with nothing for him to worry about.
Gu Shenwei struck first. He swept past one of the riders with his saber outstretched. The rider’s head fell to the ground like a ripe fruit falling from its tree.
The other person had not even realized what had happened before Maid Lotus struck. His head flew into the air as blood from his neck wound spurted a few feet high.
The sole rider was left completely shocked. It was unbelievable to be ambushed so close to home, and his two companions had died so strangely that he was even more puzzled. Even so, he did not speed up to escape or shout for help. It seemed that he was not afraid. He held the reins of his mount and looked around as if what had happened was merely a childish prank.
This man did not behave like a killer; his actions showed that he did not even have basic jianghu experience.
The doubt in Gu Shenwei’s mind suddenly heightened and he could not tamp it down any longer.
What happened next took no time at all. Gu Shenwei pounced on the third knight just as Maid Lotus struck. However, he changed his mind at the very last minute and did not strike with his saber. Instead, he squatted on the horse and held his target by the neck.
The horse raised its front hooves and whinnied.
“Who are you?” Gu Shenwei asked softly, close to the rider’s ear.
The rider was finally shook out of his daze but he was now overwhelmed by fear and could not say a word; he could only let out guttural sounds.
Gu Shenwei tapped the back of the rider’s head with the hilt of his saber. The threat seemed to infuse some energy back into the rider and he finally spoke. “I, I, I am Starlet,” he said.
“Who were the other two men?”
“Seven, Seventh Master and Yue’er.”
Maid Lotus had carefully examined the two corpses on the ground. She shook her head at Gu Shenwei, signifying that neither of them were Golden Roc killers.
Gu Shenwei relaxed his arm which held the neck of Starlet, “What are you doing, returning back here at night?”
“The Old Master sent a messenger to inform Seventh Master that the honored guest had arrived in the village and that he should return to the village immediately.”
Gu Shenwei finally realized that he had committed a grave error.
After careful consideration, he realized that there was no direct evidence that the fat chief was harboring any evil intention. It was just a deduction he made, based on what he understood about human nature. This tactic was time-tested, but today it had failed.
The customs of the Wushan tribe might be entirely different from that of Jade City.
Gu Shenwei jumped off the horse and thought about how to make up for his mistake: The fat chief had many children and grandchildren, but he seemed to love them all. He would not be indifferent to the inexplicable death of “Seventh Master”.
He raised his head and then looked at Maid Lotus. They had the same idea about what to do next.
Gu Shenwei hesitated for a moment, but immediately reminded himself, “You are the Dragon King and there are 10,000 soldiers of the Great Snowmountain behind you.”
He sheathed his saber and said to Starlet, “It is a misunderstanding, so you don’t have to be afraid.”
“Right,” Starlet replied. He was still dazed. “Misunderstanding, it’s a mis…”
A sword struck Starlet’s left ear. His body straightened momentarily before slowly collapsing onto his horse. He died without understanding why, just like his two companions.
The whinny of the horse drew the attention of people of the village and a group of pa.s.sers-by came running over. Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus jumped up to a cliff, the height of three people, and snuck back to their residences in the village.
“This doesn’t prove anything. The people of Gulping Wind Gorge may have other plots that we don’t know about.”
Maid Lotus said it as an encouragement.
However, it made Gu Shenwei vigilant again. He suspected that he had inadvertently shown a little weakness which lead to Maid Lotus sympathizing with him. He considered it as a fatal flaw for somebody like himself who wanted to compete for hegemony in the Western Region.
“Maybe. But this is not important now. In a few days, the vanguard of Long Fanyun will occupy this area once. The pa.s.sage of Wushan shouldn’t be in the hands of outsiders.”
Gu Shenwei was speaking about his plans in advance. Maid Lotus seemed to understand his intention, so she bowed respectfully towards him and withdrew from the room.
This was the distance Gu Shenwei kept between them deliberately: He needed Maid Lotus, because her kung fu and status could not be replaced by anyone, but he did not want to get too close to her.
He suddenly remembered Shangguan Ru, who was walking on an opposite path. They had become more and more unfamiliar with each other, but there was something similar about them: They had both been hurt deeply by betrayal and then buried their inner feelings using different methods.
Gu Shenwei had made few mistakes when trying to uncover plots but this was not the first time that he killed a person wrongly.
When he had fled from the Golden Roc Fort, he had encountered several crises. At that time, he was required to make a quick decision whether to kill or not. In all cases, he chose the former.
Most of the time, his choices were correct. There were several times in which he would never even need to review whether those choices had been right or wrong. However, there were also two occurances when there was clear evidence that he had killed the person wrongly. The dead were just ordinary people and had nothing to do with Golden Roc Fort.
If he chose to kill, there was always a possibility that it would be a mistake, but it would not be a fatal one. If he chose not to kill; there was still a 50-50 chance that it would be mistake, only that this time, if it was, he would end up dead –this was the difference between the two options.
Shangguan Ru told him about how Old Man Mu cla.s.sified villians: Low-cla.s.s evildoers tended to fabricate reasons for their deeds while the average ones were forced by reasons provided by others to justify their actions. The ones good at doing evil deeds created reasons and the top-level evildoers did not need any reasons.
Old Man Mu thought that he was a top-level evildoer and he regarded Gu Shenwei as one of average cla.s.s.
Gu Shenwei felt that Old Man Mu thought too highly of him. He was a junior evildoer and simply faking an excuse to get peace of mind after committing wrongful murder.
Once his thoughts began down this path, it was difficult for him to compose himself. An image of an old monk now flashed across his mind. This monk also had a theory of good and evil.
Fayan Master of Four Truths Temple had once said to him: There were no real wicked people in this world. All wicked people needed to disguise themselves as good people, not for others to see, but to appease themselves.
Although the Old Man Mu and Fayan were not acquainted with each other, their theories about good and evil were similar in some way.
However, Old Man Mu had died. If not, Gu Shenwei thought that he could bring this devil who believed in “evil is freedom” to Fayan, so he could refute the old monk’s argument that “all people are good”.
Gu Shenwei only had time to ponder about it for a while before he was pulled back to reality by sounds from outside.
One son and two attendants of the fat chief had died near the village. The news was immediately spread throughout the village and many people got up and dressed once they heard it.
The whole village was in a state of grief and indignation. All the clansmen gathered outside the chief’s house to express their condolences and desire for revenge.
Most of the businessmen who were making a short stop in the village also came to express their condolences. A few shrewd people had a premonition that something bad was about to happen, so they urged their subordinates to set out early in the morning without having breakfast.
Everyone was guessing who the killer was. When Gu Shenwei was invited to see the fat chief, no one dared to make a sound.
The a.s.sa.s.sin who had killed the Seventh Master had superb machete skills; even inexperienced people could see that. As a result, everyone naturally thought that the Dragon King had done the deed.
The fat chief had drunk a lot of wine last night, but he did not show any signs of drunkenness now. He sat on a soft couch and held his head in his hands. Silent tears streaked across his face.
The maids were more careful than usual, keeping their breathing as quiet as they could.
The fat chief looked up at Gu Shenwei, “This was my son, he was killed by someone.”
Ha Chilie had arrived a little earlier than Gu Shenwei. He whispered with a serious expression, “It happened just now, when the sun had not yet risen.”
“Please accept my condolences. The killers must pay for their crimes, and revenge will be taken.”Gu Shenwei’s tone was calm, because he would not allow himself to be controlled by guilt.
“Revenge must be taken,” said the fat chief as he clenched his fleshy right fist, held it aloft, and pounded the empty air in front of him. “This is my favorite son and I wanted him to follow the Dragon King to advance his career, but…”
The fat chief took a deep breath and suppressed more tears before saying, “Everyone said that the men who killed my son were some first-cla.s.s experts, so I want to ask you to take a look at him for me. ”
The fat chief scooped up his dead son’s head in his hands and held it out, waiting for Gu Shenwei to receive it.
Gu Shenwei walked towards the chief, picked up the head carefully and then looked at it for a moment, “The cut of saber was smooth and they killed your son with one move. The a.s.sa.s.sin was indeed a master.”
The fat chief had been staring at Gu Shenwei intently and did not take back his son’s head immediately, “Some villains ran to me and said that the only masters in the village are the Dragon King and his female guard.”
“Someone is obviously sowing discord.” Gu Shenwei, who avoided looking at the eyes of the fat chief, sent the head back with his hands, looking neither surprised nor defensive.
“Yes.” The fat chief took the head and gently stroked the cheek of his son as if he were alive, “Why did you kill my son? There is no reason to do that at all. It must be the a.s.sa.s.sin who was sent by Golden Roc Fort. Gulping Wind Gorge has made friends with you, so the Supreme King wanted to threaten me in this way.”
The Supreme King was thousands of miles away and could not possibly know what had happened here. Gu Shenwei did not correct the chief’s mistake, simply nodded and said, “The people of Golden Roc Fort will regret this, I promise.”
“We will follow you and battle to the end with Golden Roc Fort even if there is only one person left!” The fat chief sweared in a harsh voice.
After returning back to the room, Gu Shenwei was still thinking about the actions and words of the fat chief. He felt that the chief seemed to see through everything.
Ha Chilie asked for a meeting.
The tall Ha Chilie looked embarra.s.sed in front of the Dragon King, as if he was unsure of his status and proximity to Gu Shenwei, “I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“I know I shouldn’t ask about this and I haven’t the right to ask.”
“It’s okay, speak.”
“Did you kill the Seventh Master?” Ha Chilie mustered up his courage and asked.
Gu Shenwei did not deny it immediately, but he was silent for a moment before saying, “What would you do if I did?”
Ha Chilie raised his head to look at Dragon King in surprise before lowering his eyes again. “I don’t know, but… I think I need a reason.”
Gu Shenwei raised his eyebrows. The reason he came up with could only convince himself, but it was useless in convincing others.
“I didn’t do it.” He said.
Ha Chilie heaved a sigh of relief, and his face turned from cloudy to sunny. “I knew it. You don’t need to make enemies. The Gulping Wind Gorge is trustworthy. I know the family very well and they are not sn.o.bs. It’s a pity that the Seventh Master died. He had hoped to make a career in the battlefield since he was a child. Although he joined the An Kingdom army and took part in the siege of the capital of Stone Kingdom, he had absolutely no intention to pledge loyalty to the Supreme King. The killers of Golden Roc are everywhere, I think, so we must all be careful, especially the chief. He may be the next target … ”
Ha Chilie wanted to carry on talking but Gu Shenwei interrupted him and asked with surprise, “Has the Seventh Son of the chief been besieging the capital of Stone Kingdom?”
“Yes. You didn’t know that? But I thought that you was unhappy with him for this reason.”
Ha Chilie had not heard the confession of the servant Starlet, so he did not know how important his words were.
The capital of Stone Kingdom was far away from Gulping Wind Gorge, and there was the vast Xiaoyao Lake in the middle. Even if the Seventh Master flew, it was not possible to get the news of Dragon King’s arrival in just two days and get back in time.
As a result, the so-called “distinguished guest” of Starlet was not the Dragon King, but someone else– a person who had been hidden by the fat chief and never introduced to the Dragon King.