90 The Document Library (1/2)

Slave Huan was recognized by his peers as the top dog of the killer apprentices again, since he was the first one to find a client outside the fort by himself.

Before assassinating Pot-bellied Buddha, he had killed the horse-faced man with his mentor outside the fort. However, it was his mentor's secret plan and merely used his apprentice as a weapon, and no one in the fort knew it.

Unlike the secret assassination of the horse-faced man, the prince murder case drew everyone's attention. The apprentices did not care about the prince or Pot-bellied Buddha at all. They just wondered how Slave Huan, who had visited the city only twice, had found a client for himself without his mentor's help.

During his 10-day confinement, many killer apprentices, his friends and even some casual acquaintances, sneaked to his door to visit him. After warm greetings, they all asked him the same question through the door. ”How did you find the client?”

Gu Shenwei told all of them that it was just a coincidence. He said that he had spared Xu Xiaoyi's life before and this boy just had suddenly appeared in front of him, asking him to kill a person.

Gu Shenwei told the truth all the time, but this could not stop the rumours about him from getting more and more exaggerated. At last, Slave Huan was widely perceived as a know-it-all, who had many connections and resources in South City. No matter how many times he denied this rumor, the apprentices still firmly believed that he could introduce clients to them. Once they had chances to go to the city with their mentors, they would come to Slave Huan, asking him to introduce clients to them. They even told him that they just wanted to accumulate experience and did not mind how much they would earn.

After turning down a dozen of apprentices, Gu Shenwei finally dampened their enthusiasm.

On the last day of his confinement, Maid Lotus came to see him with two other apprentices. After a while, the two apprentices left, letting Maid Lotus and Slave Huan have a private conversation.

Gu Shenwei kept his promise and told Maid Lotus what Doctor Sun had said about the qigong deviation. According to the doctor, there were only two ways to cure this deviation, one was becoming Buddhist to read the Exorcism Manuscript in Four Truths Temple, and the other was going to the land of fragrance about 2,500 kilometers away to seek for treatment.

In his view, neither of these methods were feasible. Maid Lotus did not make any comments after hearing the doctor's suggestion. She could not stay here for a very long time, so she briefly informed Slave Huan of an important finding.

”We've found out who was behind Shangguan Yuxing.”

Shangguan Yuxing had hired some killer apprentices to kill Slave Huan during the monthly tests, but none of them had succeeded. After that, he had followed Slave Huan for many days and hired Cloud Panther, an important member of the Snow Mountain Gang to assassinate Slave Huan at the Giant Rock Cliff. Unfortunately, the giant red-crowned roc had suddenly appeared and killed both Shangguan Yuxing and Cloud Panther, and the latter's death had caused a series of assassinations afterwards.

”Who?” Gu Shenwei asked.

He had assumed that the person behind Shangguan Yuxing must have been Shangguan Yushi or Luo Ningcha, but Maid Lotus said something that was totally beyond his expectations.

”Someone in the Whiterobe Academy. His surname is Guo. Do you know who he is?”

”Mister Guo?”

Gu Shenwei was stunned and at the same time, very puzzled. He had met Mister Guo only twice, once in the torture chamber of Heart Cleansing Yard and once when he had been caught with Shangguan Ru in a room after they had stolen Black Jade Palm. Gu Shenwei was pretty sure that Mister Guo did not remember the slave boy in the torture chamber. As for the theft case, Mister Guo still had no reason to blame a young attendant who had just followed his master's order and had not even said a word during the whole process. He could not figure out why Mister Guo wanted him to die.

”Wildhorse has heard Shangguan Yuxing brag about how easy it is for the Whiterobe Academy to kill a killer apprentice.”

Given Maid Lotus' good people skills, Gu Shenwei was not surprised at all when hearing that she had contacted Wildhorse, their former enemy, to investigate the matter. He was just completely bewildered by the fact that it was Mister Guo who wanted to kill him.

”I heard that you're going to be sent to the Whiterobe Academy. Be careful.”

With these words, Maid Lotus left. Gu Shenwei racked his brain, but still failed to get the answer. He knew Mister Guo did not like Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi, but that could not explain why he took so much trouble to take his revenge on a humble slave boy.

That evening, Gu Shenwei was released from the confinement and returned to his mentor's yard. Tomorrow, he was going to work at the Whiterobe Academy. He felt unsettled and turned to his mentor for help.

Tie Hangfeng and his apprentice were not close, but after the murder case, the relationship between them improved a lot.

Gu Shenwei told his mentor the whole thing about Mister Guo and asked for his advice. Tie Hanfeng, who knew Slave Huan had helped Mama Xue stealing the wooden saber in Six Kill Temple, had some idea about this matter but he did not reply to his apprentice immediately. He went out to ask information from some of his friends in East Castle and returned at midnight.

”Mister Guo can't publicly announce that he wants to kill you, since the fort will never allow such private rivalries. That was why he took so much trouble to hire other apprentices to kill you in the monthly tests,” Tie Hanfeng explained.

Seeing the puzzled look on Slave Huan's face, he added, ”Do you remember the dog training theory I taught you? To pick out the fierce dogs and eliminate the weak ones, you have to encourage all the dogs to fight each other and bite each other when they're little. However, once you pick out the ones you want, you have to keep every dog on a leash and make them learn rules. Killer apprentices were just like those puppies. Now that the fort has already picked out the good ones, it'll ask you to follow the rules. Mister Guo knows the rules well, so he won't kill you directly in the mission. Likewise, you can't openly kill him. In this fort, you're only allowed to kill me to take my red belt and my waist token. If you succeed, it'll be a great honor for you. If you succeed of course, hah-hah.”

Gu Shenwei did not want to try it anymore. He knew he was no match for his mentor.

”As for the reason why he hates you so much, according to my survey, it's because of the wooden saber. At that time, he concentrated too much on Black Jade Palm and failed to notice that you gave him a fake wooden saber. You made him lose the lord's respect. That's why he wants to kill you.”

Gu Shenwei finally understood why Mister Guo hated him so much. He guessed that Shangguan Nu must have made up a story to explain to his father why the wooden saber had been broken. Given the bad relationship between Shangguan Nu and Mister Guo, he believed Shangguan Nu had not said any good words for Mister Guo.