Editor: Rams, Nyxnox
Chapter 95 Big Fire
Mouth Sealing Liuhua hid very well. Gu Shenwei hadn"t found any suspicious signs like a b.u.mp in the snow until he suddenly felt his back grow cold. He turned around to look behind him and saw that Liuhua was lying down on the snow on his stomach, camouflaged in his snow-coloured clothing as he held his short bow that was aimed at Gu Shenwei.
Much to his dismay, Gu Shenwei realized that he was within twenty steps of Liuhua"s shooting range. This was Liuhua"s territory, and he would not miss any target at this range.
Gu Shenwei knelt on the cold snowy ground and pulled his body down, his left hand propping himself against the ground and his right hand gripping his sabre. He stared at masked Liuhua for a while. Even if they were on the same side, he could still feel the killing aura radiating from Liuhua. The pressure Gu Shenwei felt suddenly doubled, which was even more uncomfortable than when he duelled with Wild Horse in the ruins of the wooden sabre alley.
"Trap, do not make a move." Gu Shenwei used his lips to silently mouth a message to him. However, he still gripped his sabre with his right hand and didn"t dare to relax for even a moment.
Liuhua didn"t say anything, so Gu Shenwei didn"t know if he understood him.
From Gu Shenwei"s personal experience, this disciple had never spoken before. He was not a member of the Snow Mountain gang. Unlike Wild Horse and the others who had cut their tongues themselves to silence themselves, he was similar to a loner who had lost his ability to speak far too long ago.
Gu Shenwei slowly loosed his grip of the sabre hilt, crawling forward, he approached Liuhua step by step.
Liuhua didn"t loosen the bowstring but his hostility did not increase significantly either. However, when Gu Shenwei entered the range of ten steps, his killing aura surged as if something had touched him. He fired his arrow and immediately put a second arrow on the string.
Ten steps was no longer the ideal range for an archer to shoot, but if he was not well prepared, it would still be difficult for Gu Shenwei to avoid a fatal shot.
At the moment when Liuhua"s killing aura surged, Gu Shenwei jumped to the right to avoid the attack. He leapt forward again, like a nimble cat, and fell directly onto Liuhua"s body.
Liuhua didn"t have the chance to shoot twice, and close quarter combat had always been his weakness.
Gu Shenwei raised the sabre hilt high and forcefully hit Liuhua"s head. Liuhua shook his head, the killing aura in his eyes not diminishing at all, so Gu Shenwei punched him, finally knocking him out.
If Gu Shenwei had a choice, he really wanted to kill this guy right now. Both Liuhua"s eyes and arrows made people sick. He was like an alienated kid that always jumped out to destroy everyone"s interests at an inopportune time.
But Gu Shenwei didn"t kill him. The two"s fight had already aroused enough attention. Several spots in the distance were quickly approaching from the wilderness behind the gathering place of the Ten Dragons Gang.
Gu Shenwei waved his hand, showing that he was not an enemy. As for whether someone from the Ten Dragons Gang noticed him or not was not important. After all, it was a trap and they knew long ago that killers were lurking outside.
Shangguan Yushi was like a little angry lioness. Her exposed eyes aggressively glared out from under the crack of the black mask. She stood in front of Servant Huan with her hand holding an unsheathed narrow sabre. She even forgot to lower her body, "You came here to court death by yourself,. It"s not that I intended to kill you."
"There"s a trap in the yard." Gu Shenwei also stood up. His right hand was not far from the sabre hilt; he didn"t want to be killed by Shangguan Yushi like this.
"I know…"
"No, that was a mistake. There is no one hiding in the wine jars. They are all filled with spirits, and can be ignited right away. The ones who want to attack with fire are the Ten Dragons Gang."
Shangguan Yushi glanced back at a slim blacked clothed disciple, it was Lotus.
"It was my fault. I reported incorrect information, but there"s still time to correct it."
Shangguan Yushi coldly sneered, "Servant Huan, in order to grab the credits, you really had thought hard, huh."
Gu Shenwei didn’t refute. He didn"t care about Yu Gongzi"s thoughts and Lotus also wasn"t that easy to instigate.
"You go check."Shangguan Yushi ordered.
Behind her, Wild Horse followed the order and moved out. His body shape was as perfect as a leopard, allowing Gu Shenwei to recognize him even when he was wearing night clothes.
Wild Horse crouched and quickly approached the yard as if he were gliding on the snow.
Wild Horse"s kung fu has apparently improved, Gu Shenwei thought.
Shangguan Yushi soon realized that she was standing there and could easily expose herself, so she anxiously knelt with one leg and stared at Servant Huan, thinking that this servant was trying his best to ruin her first mission.
Gu Shenwei also knelt down on one leg. He ignored Yu Gongzi, looked at the gathering place of the Ten Dragons Gang, and once again felt the weakness of his speculation. There must be a trap, but it might be more subtle than he originally thought.
The night swallowed up Wild Horse and no more sounds came from the gathering place. Over a dozen killer"s disciples were kneeling down on the snowy ground like a group of stone pillars.
Suddenly, the yard was bathed in fire, the flames surrounding it in mere moments. The inferno reached unimaginable heights as it swayed like a group of red sabres. Even if the people inside had wings it would be impossible for them to fly out.
"Surround the perimeter. You"re not allowed to let anyone escape."
Shangguan Yushi quickly issued an order and then shot a sharp look at Servant Huan. This servant must have intentionally revealed the trap moments before the mission began so that her command of the first mission wouldn"t be perfect. Now that the a.s.sa.s.sination had turned into an encirclement, he should be satisfied.
Gu Shenwei had neither the time nor the motivation to ponder what Yu Gongzi was thinking. He also drew his sabre and dashed out towards the yard engulfed in fire. He was a future killer and never wanted to stand idly by when the killing began.
The disciples all moved out right away, scattering to occupy advantageous positions and organizing themselves for the siege.
A few people ran out of the yard. These people were all destined to be the confused sacrifices. Several insiders had hidden under the yard wall and immediately ran towards the direction of the city after lighting the fire.
This was a serious mistake.
Wild Horse was not trapped in the fire. He was instead intercepting and killing the escapees one by one. Only two people remained when the other disciples arrived.
"Keep one alive! Keep one alive!" Gu Shenwei yelled, he wanted to keep one alive to bring down Mr. Guo.
Shangguan Yushi misunderstood Servant Huan. She hadn"t expected this was all caused by a spy in Golden Roc Castle and Lotus didn"t mention it when instilling her the message, so she felt again that this was Servant Huan"s meddling.
Not wiping out all the enemies quietly was already a failure, how could it be possible to keep someone alive? This was an a.s.sa.s.sination principle of Golden Roc Castle and Shangguan Yushi decided to adhere to it.
"Idiot!" Gu Shenwei couldn"t help but curse.
The last two escapees were killed in the blink of an eye. The ones that made the attack were hidden sentries on the tree and snowy ground. These two disciples originally thought that they might not have a chance to make a move during this a.s.sa.s.sination, but now the prey was running to them and they also heard the killing lord"s order, so they naturally wouldn’t let them go.
There were still people in the courtyard. Several unknown "leaders" and twelve guardsmen turned into burning men. Their shrieks in the quiet winter night were particularly shocking. The disciples had brought a bow and arrow with them and although they were not as skilful as Liuhua, it was still very easy for them to shoot down the dying burning men from afar.
Outside the yard laid six corpses, which Gu Shenwei checked one by one. He found Dragon Teeth and Old Dragon Head"s son, but Old Dragon Head was not here. He was an insider and would definitely not stay in the yard and wait for death.
The mission ended in less than a quarter of an hour. None of the targets had escaped but the results were not satisfactory.
The Ten Dragons Gang was small and vulnerable and wiping out the leaders of the gang was thought to be a natural matter. The main purpose of the mission was to train the disciples on how to perform a perfect a.s.sa.s.sination. However in reality, the a.s.sa.s.sination could only be hastily finished due to the big fire.
The retreat of the killer disciples was finally in order, and even the most picky killer Master wouldn"t be able to find a problem, so the backup killers didn"t show up.
The first order Shangguan Yushi had issued was to kill Servant Huan after they arrived at the temporary hidden place in the city. When they arrived, she yelled out, "Now!" She had held back her anger the way back and it had finally broken out.
Gu Shenwei stood in the doorway, long prepared for Yu Gongzi"s anger. Holding his sabre hilt, he said, "I saved all of your lives."
Several disciples followed the order, making a gesture of moving forward, but put away their sabres when they saw that Wild Horse didn"t intend to make a move. Lotus and several others just gripped their sabres and didn’t move at all.
Shangguan Yushi tore the black cloth off of her face, revealing a countenance as cold as the unforgiving winter outside. "You"re the detective, you should have known all of this a long time ago. Why did you keep it to yourself until the last moment? Did you think that everyone would feel more grateful to you this way?"
"I couldn"t figure everything out in advance. My plan was all based on my own guesswork. Don’t you understand? There"s a spy in the castle. It was he who revealed the mission plan and wanted all of us to die!"
Shangguan Yushi wasn"t stupid; she was just too angry with Servant Huan and had lost her mind. She understood most of the facts right away after hearing what he said, "Even if there is a spy, it must be you. You want to play both sides."
Gu Shenwei gripped the sabre and slowly enumerated, "You know that the spy can"t be me."
Shangguan Yushi stared at the person she hated the most, the person who competed against her for Shangguan Ru, the person who killed her elder brother, and became hesitant about whether to take this chance to kill him or not. Although it was not perfectly justifiable, she could still find an excuse. She glanced at both sides and in the end, changed her mind. These disciples had apparently already believed Servant Huan"s words, so they probably wouldn"t kill him for her, which increased her resentment towards Servant Huan.
"Someone will naturally find out if it was you or not. But you, you said there"s a spy in the castle. Do you have any evidence?"
"Old Dragon Head didn"t die, he was definitely not in the yard. Find him and everything will become clear. The sky is going to be bright soon, so we have to find him before others do."
The disciples had brought back six heads, all of which appeared to be too young so none of them could be the over sixty years old Old Dragon Head. He was the most important insider, and the one who had hatched the plot was probably also looking for him.
Shangguan Yushi almost asked out aloud "where to find him". Luckily, she held herself back before she blurted it out. She couldn"t reveal anymore weaknesses in front the disciples.
Shangguan Yushi wasn"t ignorant of southern Jade City. She immediately ordered the disciples to wear ordinary clothes and instructed them to contact the spies of Golden Roc Castle at several places of the southern Jade City. Those people were local bullies who had lived in the southern Jade City for many years and finding people was their strong point.
She kept Servant Huan aside and didn"t a.s.sign any tasks to him.
Gu Shenwei voluntarily asked, "Let me go too, I know someone. They can help find Old Dragon Head faster."
He exaggerated a bit as, in fact he only knew his Master.
Shangguan Yushi thought for a bit, and then agreed.
As soon as Gu Shenwei left the hidden place, he realized that someone was tracking him. He thought that Yu Gongzi was really looking down upon him. He had survived the cruelest slaughter between disciples and escaping from their tracking was one of the most crucial skills required to survive.
After randomly circling around five streets, Gu Shenwei had ditched his tail, but he didn"t go to the southwall tavern to see if his Master was there right away. Instead, he decided to find the siblings of the Xu family first. He had paid enough, and now it was time for him to collect on their debt.