Chapter 229
Chapter 229 Trapped
Gu Shenwei woke up as soon as Servant Xin opened the door.
Since Servant Xin felt that he had obtained Servant Huan’s understanding and would not be infected by the ‘evil Qi’ from now on, the look on his face had improved greatly. But this time he was just as fl.u.s.tered and flurried again, saying “Bad news, bad news.”
Gu Shenwei bounced up from the bed, his hand already on the sword hilt.
“We, we are surrounded … surrounded by the Washing Heart Yard.” Servant Xin’s fragile heart couldn’t bear such a crisis, his body trembling uncontrollably. When he finally calmed down a bit, Servant Huan had disappeared.
Servant Xin’s description was too exaggerated. There were ten yellow-belted executioners in total from Washing Heart Yard, who were standing politely outside the gate and demanding to see the killer Yang Huan, and Lotus was negotiating with them.
Gu Shenwei didn’t know which matter of his had been exposed. As soon as he came out of the gate, an executioner pointed at him and said, “Yang Huan has come out. Now you must go with us.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll find out when you get there.” The Washing Heart Yard’s tradition was to never tell the cause in advance, leaving the ones to be interrogated nervously guessing it themselves.
Gu Shenwei had too many things to guess about, so he didn’t want to go to Washing Heart Yard. “Hold on, I’ll go and ask Miss.”
“No need,” the executioner said stiffly. “Let the others report this to the eighth young mistress.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m in charge of the Miss’s safety. I can’t leave without permission.”
The ten executioners held their saber hilt at once. They were ordered to bring Yang Huan back at all costs. In their view, the task was super easy, and this was like using a hammer to crack nuts.
Gu Shenwei and Lotus also gripped their narrow saber.
“Who is it, what’s all this noise in the early morning about?” Xu Yanwei walked out and naturally stood between the two groups of people.
Her present name was Wan Nü. The executioner, however, didn’t know her and snapped, “Get out of the way.”
Xu Yanwei smiled at the executioner and said with the gentlest voice, “Please move out of the way.”
Her smile made the ten executioners’ hearts leap. All of a sudden, they all had nearly the same idea that it would be wonderful to bring this woman back to ‘interrogate and torture’ for a while.
But they soon lowered their head and obediently stepped to the side.
It was not only them, Gu Shenwei and several others also made way. The veiled Luo Ningcha came out, and the one who guided the way for her was surprisingly the
Tenth Gongzi Shangguan Ru.
“Who are these people? And why are they standing at the door?” Luo Ningcha wasn’t used to people being in her way.
“We came from the Washing Heart Yard …” An executioner just said a few words before he was interrupted by Xu Yanwei. “Imprudent! Miss didn’t ask you. Why did you answer indiscriminately?”
The executioner blushed with anger but didn’t dare to break out right away.
Xu Yanwei then turned to Luo Ningcha, saying, “Miss, these people claim to have come from the Washing Heart Yard. No one knows what they want to wash here.”
“Just ask them. This house is too old, and I’ll move out in a couple of days. Then they can wash whatever they want.”
Xu Yanwei smilingly bowed, but when she turned around again, her voice was icy cold. “Miss said that you could come back to wash in a couple of days.”
“We are not here to wash anything; we are here to catch people.” One executioner couldn’t bear it anymore, and he took a step forward while half unsheathing his narrow saber. In Golden Roc Castle, very few people dared to disrespect Washing Heart Yard.
Unfortunately, they were faced with two bold lords.
“Someone wants to kill me!” Luo Ningcha cried out exaggeratedly, staggering backward. Several maidservants rushed forward to hold her. “Who dares to be rude to eighth sister-in-law!” Shangguan Ru had already jumped to that executioner and laid her narrow saber on his neck before she finished her words.
The executioner suddenly realized that he had gone too far and had been trapped by the other side. He was still hesitating about how to deal with it before he was forced to kneel down. His companions acted faster than him, and they held him on the shoulder and scolded, “Zhang You, are you mad? How dare you draw your saber in front of Tenth Gongzi and eighth young mistress.”
The scene became a little chaotic, and Lotus exchanged a glance with Gu Shenwei before both of them retreated to the yard, leaving a group of women to block the front door.
The ten executioners disgracefully withdrew. Not long after, the executioner who had drawn out his saber came alone and knelt at the door to ask for punishment. He was not forgiven until the evening.
Shangguan Ru had learned in advance that the Washing Heart Yard would come to arrest Servant Huan, so she had come early in the morning to stop it. Although she and her eighth sister-in-law were enemies, they had formed an alliance in this matter.
As for why Shen Liang had the audacity to send people to catch Servant Huan, it was because he had captured Chu Nanping.
Shangguan Ru only knew the general situation. She had met that pretty looking little boy and had been impressed
impressed with him. “He was caught last night at City View Alley. It was said he confessed to the a.s.sa.s.sination of Meng Mingxian.”
Chu Nanping didn’t listen to Gu Shenwei’s command to honestly stay in Northern Jade City. He missed his long sword, and also his acquaintance in the Essence Pavilion a little, resulting in him stepping into the snare himself.
Gu Shenwei knew Chu Nanping well. He would not betray him, but his biggest problem was that he would not lie. If anyone asked him anything, he either answered it honestly or kept his mouth shut. So he would easily expose himself in front of a sly old fish like Shen Liang. But what worried Gu Shenwei more was actually Xu Xiaoyi. That kid probably couldn’t stand the torture of Washing Heart Yard. But the news Shangguan Ru got said that Xu Xiaoyi hadn’t been captured. Although that kid didn’t know kung fu, he was very clever and had probably hidden himself somewhere.
Shangguan Ru privately asked Servant Huan if he had let Chu Nanping kill Meng Mingxian, and Gu Shenwei said yes. Shangguan Ru thought for a long time before saying, “You’ve caused a big trouble this time. The Meng family will seek revenge for sure. I’ll go ask second brother for a favor while you stay with eighth sister-in-law. She can protect you.”
Shangguan Ru didn’t ask why Servant Huan killed him, and perhaps in her mind, this was another thing Servant Huan had done for her.
Gu Shenwei naturally would not tell the truth, as he just felt that things had changed too fast. Last night he was still planning on coercing Luo Ningcha to hand over the board. In the blink of an eye, he had to rely on the protection of this insolent young mistress.
Around Servant Huan, people of various fractions in the castle launched a fierce infighting.
Shen Liang wanted to capture Servant Huan, both to please the Meng family and to follow the trail of clues to pin all the blame on Tenth Gongzi. The Kun Society had seized more than half of the territory of Southern Jade City, so Shangguan Ru, therefore, became a public enemy in the eyes of her brothers.
By contrast, Madam Meng naturally didn’t want her daughter to be implicated in this matter. But instead of speaking out, she let Shangguan Ru deal with the threat on her own.
The one in charge of the castle now was the second young lord Shangguan Tian. Shen Liang and Shangguan Ru had visited him in turn as lobbyists, but he didn’t want to offend either side. After beating around the bush for three days, he finally said, “You need an oral confession for this kind of matter.”
Thus Shangguan Ru temporarily had the upper hand. Although Chu Nanping had admitted to the murder, he refused
he refused to say a word about the mastermind behind the scene. Even the most experienced executioner couldn’t pry his mouth open.
The three days during which Shangguan Tian hesitated were supposed to a good time for Shen Liang to make a move. As long as he could seize Servant Huan, he wasn’t worried that the other side would remain silent. Shen Liang, however, had never imagined that the biggest obstacle ahead of him would be the eighth young mistress. He really wanted to tell this stupid woman that everything he had done was for her husband Shangguan Nu and that if she still had any sense, she should hand over Servant Huan herself.
Luo Ningcha’s mind, however, was very simple. Servant Huan and Lotus had just returned to her, and anyone who wanted to take them away was actually against her, and she would not let it happen no matter if the other side was under the banner of her husband Shangguan Nu or not.
And she was very proud of being able to protect the killer. She never forgot to remind Servant Huan about this every time she saw him, saying things like, “You always cause me trouble, do you know how many people I have offended to protect you?”
Gu Shenwei racked his brain to rearrange the oaths he had made before and offered them again after adding highly colored details. This was what Luo Ningcha liked. She was so content with the oaths that she even let the maidservants write some of them down and ordered Servant Huan to leave his fingerprint on them to guarantee their effectiveness.
Gu Shenwei was trapped in the eighth young lord’s courtyard now, and he couldn’t even leave the front door. Shen Liang had mobilized all his strength and would capture Servant Huan as soon as he showed up.
Luo Ningcha had tasted the intoxicating flavor of power, and her appet.i.te was starting to grow. “When my husband comes back, I’ll ask him to offer all these women to the King Lord. I will not do such things myself like that procuress of the Meng family. With my help, my husband will become the chief of Iron Mountain and the Unique King. By that time, who would dare look down on me? Servant Huan, since you are idle right now, go think of dozens of brilliant ideas for me. I’ll keep them for later.”
How could Gu Shenwei have time to come up with brilliant ideas for the Miss?! He had a lot of troubles to solve right now. The first was whether to save Chu Nanping or not. He had discussed it with Lotus, and both of them thought that they should not act rashly for the time being. Shen Liang might have set a trap and be waiting for Servant Huan to jump into it.
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The second was practicing the Daoless Divine Power.
Although the last piece of board was still missing, it didn’t affect the initial training. Shangguan Ru and Lotus had long started practicing, and only Gu Shenwei had trouble starting it.
The Balanced Power inside his body was the stumbling block.
The reason why Gu Shenwei was rejected when he was first sent to East Castle was because he had learned internal energy before, which would conflict with the internal energy of Golden Roc Castle. The Daoless Scroll was the source of the martial arts of the castle, so naturally, it would be more overbearing. In the first few paragraphs, it was repeatedly stressed that the pract.i.tioners who had learned internal energy of other sects must remove all of their internal energy before they practiced the divine power, or their lives might be in danger.
Now he was threatened by growing crises, how could Gu Shenwei dare to remove all of his internal energy? Besides, he had a secret, which was to avenge the Gu family before the Unique King regained his power. He couldn’t afford to give up this chance, because practicing the Daoless Divine Power wasn’t an easy matter that would become effective in one or two days.
It was really a kind of torture. Gu Shenwei couldn’t do anything under the surveillance of Washing Heart Yard, not to mention trying to lure the Unique King out of his hot chamber.
At the end of July, the big event Gu Shenwei had waited for so long finally took place. The power structure of the castle greatly changed overnight, and Gu Shenwei found that all his troubles and plots could be solved or realized by this event.
The Iron Mountain Camp had been attacked by the Central Plains. No one believed this news when it first came, and it was not until the messengers rode into Jade City one after another that everyone accepted the fact that war had really broken out.
All of a sudden, the matter of Servant Huan became insignificant. No one came to catch him anymore and nor did he need any protection.
Shen Liang and Luo Ningcha, who were enemies yesterday, suddenly became allies on the same boat. The fate of Big Head G.o.d and Shangguan Nu would directly influence their fate in the castle.
Unfortunately, this pair of allies had not even had time to exchange any information before news came from the frontline that shocked the whole Jade City. The eighth young lord of Golden Roc Castle had betrayed his father-in-law and joined the side of the Central Plains.
Luo Ningcha couldn’t believe that the man who had killed her father was her husband; she even refused to believe that Big Head G.o.d was dead.
For Gu Shenwei, this, however, was a Heaven-sent chance.