Death Sutra

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

The long-acc.u.mulating flood of emotions had burst through the dam, wiping away everything in its path with devastating force.

Gu Shenwei felt that he was both the flood and a victim of the flood. The body in his arms was struggling but it was nothing compared to his desire and soon they merged and fell headfirst into the flood together.

The solid logical line of defense built by his reason over the years had been destroyed. He didn"t want to think or even dare to think because he knew what the results of reasoning would be. At this moment, his instincts had prevailed, and he deliberately filled his mind with blankness, leaving no room for reason.

Gu Shenwei wasn"t a desireless ascetic monk, and he had experienced most of the pleasures a woman could offer a man. In all of his short-term relationships, he had always resided on the dominant side. He had never been as completely lost in desire as he was now. There was no so-called feeling of domination, or even a feeling of joy. Everything came naturally and fell into place without instruction.

It was a wonderful journey into the bottomless abyss, where death went hand in hand with revelry, and the end gazed at the beginning.

The two had lost the will to control themselves, and only external forces could separate them at this point.

And a very small external force indeed came. It was merely the faint sound of the curtain lifting, but this was the trigger for his reason to finally turn the tide.

Gu Shenwei took two steps back. Everything his emotions had destroyed was rebuilt in an instant, and not even a speck of dust was reduced.

Shangguan Ru remained where she was, her lips fiery-hot and the burning sensation spreading throughout her whole body. Her reasoning, which had never been strong, had not fully taken back command yet.

Azheba awkwardly stood in the doorway with mixed feelings. He knew it would be like this, but he still did not want to know about it, or at least not see it personally. "I, uh… I"ll come back later."

"No, it"s just… What can I do for you?" In his world of reason, Gu Shenwei was lucky to have such an intruder.

"Nothing… Actually…" Azheba was at a loss as to what he should say. His eyes felt like a burning piece of charcoal that he had tried to throw away but just remained stuck to his hand. In the end, he looked at the Dragon King again and finally calmed down. "Well, the chiliarchs are ent.i.tled to come up with a candidate and we are fighting over it. I"m wondering if the Dragon King has any suggestions."

Before Gu Shenwei had walked into the tent, Shangguan Ru and the officers were actually having a heated discussion about it. He had been asked to give advice but he had quickly forgotten all about it later.

"Four candidates will be put forward by the generals who are above the captains. Will Commandant Gulun be one of the candidates?"

"That"s the news we are waiting for. I think so. He"s a deputy commandant, and one of the most qualified successors."

"Then just select a candidate with the fewest supporters. That way, it"ll be easier to reach a compromise between the officers, and he also won"t pose a threat to Gulun."

"That"s probably the best solution. Thank you, Dragon King, and uh, Instructor Shangguan.

Shangguan Ru blankly looked at Azheba and, quite unlike herself, remained silent.

Fl.u.s.tered, Azheba walked outside. As he was holding the entry flap of the door, he hesitated a moment, and was just about put it down when Gu Shenwei said, "Please leave it up for me."

Azheba blushed and hurried to hang the flap up. Then he awkwardly nodded towards the inside before turning around and hurriedly striding away. This perplexed Red Bat, who couldn"t help turn and look inside.

This time, it was Gu Shenwei"s turn to feel embarra.s.sed. He gripped his saber hilt and loosened his left hand three times but still couldn"t find the right words to say.

Shangguan Ru revealed a sly smile. "It"s no use. The rumor will spread faster than the election of the commandant, and you can"t deny it either."

Gu Shenwei was a bit regretful that he had Azheba hang the flap up because he didn"t expect Shangguan Ru to start discussing the matter now. "Azheba seems tight-lipped…" As soon as he blurted it out, Gu Shenwei knew this was not her point at all and that he was just avoiding the topic. "Let"s just forget about it."

"Why?" Shangguan Ru"s cheeks showed a layer of pink, which had nothing to do with shyness but was rather an embodiment of her stubborn personality.

"Why?" Gu Shenwei really didn"t want to answer this question but he had to, so he kept his voice down and said, "Because I have a queen. Because… you caused the death of the two rocs and killed my family for the second time."

For a moment, that long tamed anger and hatred violently surged, almost as powerfully as the l.u.s.t that had just calmed.

Shangguan Ru stepped back in fear. She knew that every word the Dragon King had said was true, but he had controlled his hatred so well that she gradually began to ignore the true color of his feelings. And when it finally appeared, it was a hundred times more terrible than she could have ever imagined.

"Drink! Drink! Eat meat! Eat meat!" Old Man Mu"s voice came from afar, and once again, the external force broke apart the dilemma that could not end on its own.

Old Man Mu was carrying a big wine-jar in each hand that were so large they made it look like three Old Man Mus were walking side by side. Right behind him, Shangguan Fei was holding several large pieces of skewered barbecued meat and happily walked into the tent. Old Man Mu called to the guards outside. "Let"s eat together. We"ve been hungry all day. We"d have to keep starving if it weren"t for my quick hands."

Red Bat looked at the instructor worriedly but didn"t enter the tent with five guards until Shangguan Ru waved at her.

Shangguan Fei warily watched the dripping fat off of the roast. "It"s too bad. Even the servants in the camp are not working anymore. If you ask me, I"d say that even if the Commandant is dead, the rest of the men are still alive. If they all starved, who"s going to fight?"

Someone kicked Shangguan Fei"s left leg in the crook and he almost fell. He stumbled until he found a firm footing again, but he was already stained with grease. He turned his head and looked at Old Man Mu in amazement but dared not to scold him. "What? You said the Commandant was a fool just now…"

At the suggestion of Old Man Mu, Shangguan Fei finally noticed that something wasn"t right with her sister. Her eyes seemed to be welling up with tears. "Ehh, why are you…"

"Let"s drink and eat meat, regardless of the others." Shangguan Ru loudly interrupted her brother, demanding, "Get me a bowl, a big one."

It was a very lively little party. In order to not disturb the nearby soldiers who were still mourning, they didn"t make a noise. Only Old Man Mu did not care who toasted to the good girl, and he forced Shangguan Fei to perform the toast dance, and praised Red Bat for her beauty whenever he had a chance. "I don"t get it. What"s wrong with the men of the Norland? If I were a dozen years younger, hehe, you"d have to have the good girl come after me to avenge you."

Red Bat obviously didn"t care much for Old Man Mu flirtatious comments. She was a concubine of the n.o.ble family back at the Land of Fragrance. Following her master"s orders to serve men was a part of her job. It was only after joining the army that she broke away from her former lowly status but she was willing to cooperate with Old Man Mu to fix the atmosphere in the tent. "How do you know that there are no men of the Norland who like me?"

Gu Shenwei ate a few small pieces of meat but drank no wine. He had quickly broken free of the complicated emotional disturbance and redoubled his efforts towards the current situation at hand. He had made several a.s.sa.s.sination plans but the death of the Commandant had disrupted their deployments. If the candidate announced that tomorrow morning was not to his liking, it would be useless no matter how many a.s.sa.s.sination plans he had made.

Liman came at dusk and ate a bit of meat with them. Everyone knew that he had something to say so Old Man Mu took Shangguan Fei with him and wandered off again. Red Bat and the other men continued to keep watch outside the tent.

"Have Azheba and the other officers already chosen a candidate?" asked Shangguan Ru. She had drunk lots of wine but only eaten a few pieces of meat. After getting slightly intoxicated, her mind was actually more clear and rational than before.

"Not yet, but the main tent has already decided on their four candidates, whom include both Commandant Gulun and Captain Wucuo. The compet.i.tion among the chiliarchs is very fierce. There are many centurions who feel that they have rendered great service and should express their opinions. In other words, it"s a mess. I don"t think that the result will come out before the kings enter the camp at the second night watch period."

Gu Shenwei knew that Liman"s purpose here was not simply to report the results so he carefully observed his expression. Azheba seemed tight-lipped, and Liman didn"t seem to know it. So he asked, "How"s the investigation into the mole going?"

Liman looked up at the Dragon King in surprise because the other side had guessed what was on his mind. "That"s the most troublesome thing."

"What happened?" Shangguan Ru was also very concerned about this matter.

Liman looked out of the tent. Shangguan Ru called out, "Red Bat, could you please help us light the lamp."

Red Bat came inside to light the lamp and lowered the door flap on her way out.

Liman lowered his voice, "From the morning of the day before yesterday to last night, the Commandant met with a total of fifteen groups of men. Two officers and I investigated each group and found that the meetings were basically about military affairs. It"s already confirmed so there"s no doubt about that. But there"s one meeting yesterday afternoon. Four generals met the Commandant but n.o.body knows what they talked about and we can"t verify it either."

"So you think the people who instigated the Commandant to leave the camp and leak the information are likely to be the four generals?" asked Shangguan Ru.

"Hmm." Liman seemed to have a secret sorrow that was too embarra.s.sing to mention so he hadn"t said a word in a long while.

"Commandant Gulun is one of the four generals," Gu Shenwei guessed.

Liman nodded, feeling sad. "You know, we should have thought of that. One of Gulun"s responsibility is to lead the guards. Azheba asked him, he also said that he was a victim of the fraud. Protective measures were carefully planned but the tent he protected is empty."

"Could there be a misunderstanding?" Shangguan Ru thought that it was too soon to a.s.sume that Gulun was the mole.

Liman let out a long sigh. "Both Azheba and I hope that this was a misunderstanding. We tracked down all the guards of all the shifts in the past two days to make sure there were no omissions. We are pretty sure there are only these fifteen shifts of people and for each shift, there are at least two witnesses. Only Gulun …"

"Who are the other three generals?"

"To tell you the truth, I am now completely bewildered. The other three are all captains, one of whom is Wucuo. And it couldn"t be more coincidental. These four men are exactly the four candidates the generals have just decided."

Even Shangguan Ru felt that the situation was suspicious by now. "But, how come… Wucuo is a man of King Riyao"s and Gulun has always been inclined towards Prince Duodun. Instead of allies, they behave more like enemies …"

Gu Shenwei felt that everything was clear now. "That"s it. Tuosai isn"t aware that he"s on the way to death and that the one will give him a ride is exactly Wucuo."

"They were all bought over by King Shengri?" Although Liman had discovered out the truth, he could not believe it.

"King Shengri is good at both bribing and threatening." Gu Shenwei had no doubts about it.

"What should we do now?"

"Let"s see if the chiliarchs can come up with a capable candidate." Gu Shenwei turned to Shangguan Ru, which was the first time he looked at her since dinner. "Did Wild Horse come to you?"

Han Fen was very loyal to Lotus but she would not lie. She said Wild Horse would win over Shangguan Ru for King Shengri and this probably had already happened. Shangguan Ru hadn"t mentioned it yet, so Gu Shenwei could only ask her directly.