Chapter 201: Betrayal
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There were a series of misfortunate events. Joy Pavilion claimed that the Tenth Young Master had killed someone without rhyme or reason. They had no idea who the rescuer was. He was highly skilled but he was so timid that he dared not show up.
"I have no grudges against Joy Pavilion. Why would I want to kill Tang Ji?" Shangguan Ru asked angrily. She hated being framed. It was second only to being betrayed.
"Aren't you the Tenth Young Master? When the killer ran away, he said, 'Get your revenge from the Tenth Young Master.'"
"You people from Kun Society want to occupy Hope Alley. So you're attacking Joy Pavilion first, isn't that right?"
"We could, but we would never do that for fear of the consequences."
...
Many people huddled together in Joy Pavilion, criticizing Shangguan Ru. Gu Shenwei felt that with the dwarf Immortal Peng's death, the personalities of the disciples seemed to have changed. The white-robed Immortal Peng seemed to have lost the ability to control their minds.
Shangguan Ru blushed and waved her saber. "So what if it's me? If you want revenge, come and get it from me."
The disciples of Joy Pavilion eagerly prepared for attack again. That Madman Wu who had once attacked spoke from behind the tree again. "They didn't kill anyone. I saw everything. I've been following them. Let them go." That voice was pleading.
Gu Shenwei and Shangguan Ru looked at each other again. Both of them were experts in light work kung fu and like killers, were vigilant. Yet, they had not realised that they had been followed.
"Madman Wu, don't you understand? The Tenth Young Master had sent men to assassinate Tang Ji. These two had definitely come to check out the situation."
Madman Wu did not seem to understand. He kept repeating: "Let them go."
The people of Joy Pavilion were befuddled. They simply had to convince Madman Wu. If not, they could simply argue indefinitely.
Gu Shenwei did not intend to listen to this nonsense in such times of danger. He grasped Shangguan Ru's hand firmly and jumped onto the nearest peach tree with his light work kung fu, out through the hole created by Madman Wu.
Shangguan Ru threw a tantrum and wanted to argue her ground. However, she was pulled away from the scene quickly by Slave Huan.
Behind them, the voices of the disciples of Joy Pavilion rose and fell in anguish. After a while, the two had run out far and stepped onto firm ground again. They left the peach trees like a whisp of smoke.
"What on earth went on back there?" Shangguan Ru asked, panting.
"A bunch of madmen."
"Haha."
"That could have been a trap laid by someone."
Shangguan Ru did not laugh. Someone had posed as one of the Tenth Young Master's killers and assassinated Tang Ji. That person did this to provoke a fight between the Tenth Young Master and Joy Pavilion. Clearly, whoever did this wanted to use Joy Pavilion for his agenda.
Shangguan Ru knew clearly in her heart who the culprit was.
"So it seems someone must have been following us all this while."
Gu Shenwei nodded.
If this hadn't been a trap but simply a misunderstanding, then that fight would have been humorous. Shangguan Ru tried to force a laughter, wanting to express how she was not afraid of anything.
Something however, was approaching them speedily, counterattacking with sword and dagger at the same time.
It was two leaves in the scattered moonlight. The two could faintly see the silhouette of the leaves.
Someone walked out from behind the tree. He walked up to the youth without the sound of footsteps. It was as if he was floating on grass.
The two leaves that had been hit flew up again and returned to this person's hands.
"Those machete skills aren't bad. Your sword craft is first-rate." That sounded like Madman Wu. His voice still sounded a little timid.
One leaf was almost cleaved into half and the other was entirely intact. Gu Shenwei had struck too quickly. The force of his weapon had retracted from one of the leaves too quickly and thus did not cause any damage.
This person was above 30 years of age. He was dressed in white overalls and looked slightly similar to the new Immortal Peng of Joy Pavilion. Only, he had no facial hair on his chin and his face was ghostly pale as if it had not seen the sunlight before. Even the moonlight seemed dimmer in comparison. His white robes were dirty and it appeared as though they had not been washed in a very long time.
Madman Wu did not give off dangerous vibes. However, Gu Shenwei still maintained his vigilance. "Mister, are you also a disciple of Joy Pavilion?"
Gu Shenwei did not remember seeing this person. However, even if the disciples of Joy Pavilion had described him, Gu Shenwei would not be able to recognize him.
"Perhaps." The white-robed man answered absent-mindedly as if he had not understood a single word of what the other party was saying. He kept staring at Shangguan Ru. "Are you a master of the Shangguan family?"
"Yes. Who are you?" Shangguan Ru was not as wary as Gu Shenwei. She had good feelings about this strange man who had just appeared. After all, this person had once spoken up for her.
"Then you know Master Yun?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then can you help me ask him if Parro is still alive? I won't be alive much longer. I want to see him before I die."
"Parro? Like the bird? Who on earth are you?"
Shangguan Ru threw forth a series of questions but that man in white had already turned around and left. He looked as ethereal as when he had appeared.
Gu Shenwei did not let Shangguan Ru catch up with him. There had to be a limit to risk taking. It's best to keep a distance with the men of Joy Pavilion.
"Who is Master Yun?" The Shangguan family had so many disciples. Gu Shenwei had not heard of many of them.
"That's my Third Brother." Shangguan Gu's voice became as weak as the white-robed man's. "He was locked up by my father for many years."
Gu Shenwei had discovered long ago that there was a strange master in the Shangguan family. That had to be the third Young Master Shangguan Yun. The Shangguan Family revolved around Lady Meng and was divided into two major factions. Only this Third Young Master did not belong to any faction. He was also the least known.
Tie Hanfeng was the subordinate killer of the Third Young Master. However, that he was "borrowed" caused the Eighth Young Master much anger. Tie Hanfeng never spoke about his former master.
Shangguan Yun was only an unremarkable name on the hit list. Apart from this, he was of no interest to Gu Shenwei. It was rather, Madman Wu who sparked his interest.
Afterwards, he asked to learn more about this person from Chu Nanping.
Madman Wu was originally named Wu Shengqing. He was in his thirties and was once a disciple of Immortal Peng. He had turned half mad very long ago. From morning till night he had been roaming about in Hope Alley. His mind would turn from clarity in one moment to confusion the other. He had only survived until now on the food given to him by kind souls.
Chu Nanping knew all this. However, he was never a curious person and he had never cared about Madman Wu's background.
Now that matters have gone so far, Gu Shenwei did not plan to investigate further. He did not have the time.
The men of Joy Pavilion did not come to take revenge. They did not wish to leave Hope Alley.
That night, he escorted Shangguan Ru back to Kun Society. On the way, the two scarcely mentioned Joy Pavilion. Shangguan Ru realised that it was her brother's scheming plot and thus she did not want to discuss it anymore.
Gu Shenwei returned to his own room. There were several killers waiting for him. Only one had not returned from his vigil.
"Someone is causing trouble. Our plan has failed and we must think of a new one." Gu Shenwei said.
In this very evening, Shangguan Ru should have died before his eyes.
This was Wildhorse's idea. Slave Huan would lead the Tenth Young Master to Hope Alley. He and Liuhua would kill a random person from Joy Pavilion. Tang Ji's kung fu was the lousiest and he was unlucky. This would anger the disciples of Immortal Peng and provoke them into killing Shangguan Ru.
Thereafter, the killers would seek "revenge" for their master. Later, they would get the chance to return to their former master.
Under usual circumstances, killers have to die for their masters. However, Shangguan Ru had not attained the title of "master". Thus, she did not have such a privilege.
However, this was still a dangerous plan and even if it succeeded, the killers could be killed by Lady Meng's wrath. Even so, they did not wish to continue serving a weak master. Kun Society was weak and Shangguan Ru did not have the will to fight at all. She would be killed by the Ninth Young Master and the killers under her authority would still be dead when that happened.
After thinking coldly and dispassionately through their options, they decided to take a risk.
The person who was most at risk was Slave Huan. If his master had died, he would have had to assume responsibility that he could not escape from because he was always by her side. In reality, Gu Shenwei accepted this role with the only caveat being Wildhorse and the other men would have to assassinate Shangguan Fei next.
Wildhorse had agreed. As long as he did not have to be the one killing, he was willing to cooperate. This was a form of revenge for Master Yu.
After the death of the twins, Gu Shenwei could escape to his former master, Shangguan Nu, to seek shelter and protection.
Gu Shenwei was willing to walk this tightrope for revenge. However, the incident that happened next made him think of a better plan. Coming to think of it, he realised that he had been a little impatient and had lost his level-headedness.
The killers had landed themselves in a quandary. If they had wanted to continue to assassinate their master, they could lose their footing. Hence, they wished to give up. However, no one dared to be the first to raise this up for fear of being suspected of wanting to tell the secret.
In the end, Liuhua broke the stalemate. "Wait. There must be an opportunity. Everyone must swear to keep this a secret. There're seven of us here. Whoever tells the secret would be the mastermind and the other six would have to concede."
Liuhua's suggestion was accepted.
After the gathering had ended, Maid Lotus returned alone. "Wildhorse suspects you."
Gu Shenwei knew that of course. He was regarded as Shangguan Ru's confidante and he was always with her. It would seem as if he had wished to sabotage the killers' plan. "Even if this plan succeeds, he would doubt me."
Killers were not credible. This was the conclusion that Gu Shenwei drew after becoming a killer. They had learnt too many dirty tricks and unscrupulous theories in Stone Castle. One day, they could be using it on their masters. Golden Roc Fort had thus come up with a strict rule: killers had to be loyal to their masters on the pain of death.
"Let's start now? I'm confident of pulling Liuhua over to our side."
Liuhua had once tried to assassinate Maid Lotus but Gu Shenwei firmly believed still in Maid Lotus' abilities. The current problem did not lie in Wildhorse alone. They had to kill all four men in Wildhorse's faction at the same time.
"It's the only way."
That could be the only way for now. The two were very clear that at this moment, Wildhorse was executing his plans to eliminate his enemies. He might also be contemplating getting Liuhua over to his side.
This was the principle of the killers. Even if the plan to kill Tenth Young Master had succeeded tonight, both parties would still have had to think of a way to silence those who knew about the plan.
This could not be what Tie Hanfeng meant by "safe killing". Not a single word could be leaked about the matter before it happened and not a single suspicion raised after it had transpired. Hence, both sides would have wanted to wait for the best opportunity to direct the suspicion to someone else.
In the morning of the second day, the Tenth Young Master got out of bed. She had no idea that the trouble of yesterday was an act of betrayal by all of her own killers. On the contrary, she felt that she had already escaped from her troubles and sadness and was ready to rally her house again for another fight.
"You must destroy Kun Society and let Shangguan Fei go running back to Stone Castle to complain to Mother," she said to herself.
As usual, the killers prepared their scheme. However, they no longer believed that this little girl could be a ruthless commander-in-chief.
If the commander-in-chief showed any mercy, her subordinate killers would be in danger.
Very quickly, the killers would get a great opportunity. This would allow them to kill their master and their accomplices at the same time.
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