120 The Mud Hu (1/2)

Only a whistleblower was not enough, the black-robed women's whereabouts needed to be revealed. Gu Shenwei passed this task to Maid Lotus.

Although Maid Lotus was close to Slave Huan, Shangguan Yushi still tried to win her over. Actually, other than Slave Huan, Shangguan Yushi was her greatest ambition of all the Dragon Year apprentices.

The trick indeed worked. At the third watch that night, two Shangguan masters came unexpectedly. Maid Lotus woke up the three youngsters from outside the tent.

Gu Shenwei was pretending to sleep, so he immediately rose up when Maid Lotus's voice came. Then he got dressed while watching the two others. As usual, Liuhua was clothed during sleep, so he jumped straight out of bed already holding his bow in hand; Wildhorse took his time getting dressed, and shot a glance at Slave Huan, his wide apart eyes showing a trace of blankness.

The whistleblower was Wildhorse.

Gu Shenwei was a bit disappointed. Though they used to be mortal enemies, and there were even scars left by Wildhorse's saber on his chest, this sensible boy held excellent machete skills and natural charisma. Gu Shenwei was originally planning to turn him into an ally.

Shangguan Ru was dressed in all black with a piece of black cloth mask hanging around her neck. She was gripping her saber hilt as she mysteriously announced she had a mission. She requested all brown-belt assassins, wearing a look as of to say that he who declined was a traitor.

Nobody objected, not even Gu Shenwei. He knew Shangguan Ru hated so-called discretion. In the meantime, Shangguan Yushi, who was more mature than six months ago, had been watching Slave Huan. Now she could read emotions hidden in the eyes.

The six youngsters set off before dawn.

In addition, Shangguan Ru had left a letter for Bighead Kingpin, thanking him for his warm hospitality, and asking him to have Slave Qing and others safely returned to Golden Roc Fort. Furthermore, they had ”borrowed” six camels, along with plenty of supplies.

Nevertheless, Gu Shenwei doubled the water sack. He originally planned to have Shangguan Yushi charged with ”luring the master to risks”. But in distrust of Bighead Kingpin, he then decided to urge Shangguan Ru back to Jade City when they set foot in the desert.

It was quiet in the Iron Mountain camp, and the guard minions bowed in amazement to the Tenth Young Master. The bandits were straight, so they asked, ”Tenth Young Master, where are you going?”

”I'm going hunting,” Shangguan Ru answered with a smile. It was the moment she had been waiting for: To hunt down evil black-robed women in command of formidable killers. It was once an assassination game, now it finally came true.

Shangguan Ru could not hold her excitement. She held the rein with her left hand, and her right hand held the saber. She looked serious, but a smile flashed on her face. She reacted to even the slightest blow of wind. But for the principle of silence, she should have been jabbering all time.

Gu Shenwei looked at her from behind, and was reminded of himself two years ago: He was just like Shangguan Ru at 14, seeing the whole world like a playground. He would only care about his own happiness, and his father and elder brothers would solve every problem for him.

But on the road to kill, nostalgia felt so out of place. Gu Shenwei soon cleared his mind.

The six of them had entered the desert that evening. To keep away from spies from Iron Mountain, they had moved toward the east for some time, and then turned south.

The black-robed women had once tried to force them into the southern desert. Now that ”the guests” had arrived, ”the hosts” had to hide from being discovered.

Finally, Shangguan Ru's facade failed. She put up tents with the teenagers, and helped prepare the banquet on the ground. They drank half the wine they brought in one meal, and their laughter drifted miles away.

In the end, she listened to Shangguan Yushi advice of not starting a campfire. Actually, drinking in the moonlight added much to the passion of drinking.

The next day, the desert showed its hot burning power, and the pleasure of the assassination gradually abated. Even Shangguan Ru grew discouraged. By afternoon, she even stopped holding onto her saber hilt.

Gu Shenwei once suspected that Bighead Kingpin was in some way connected to black-robed women. His suspicion lessened now since they hadn't been following or set up all this time. Probably no one except Bighead Kingpin himself knew that the tenth young master was in danger.

On the third day, the six-person squad met with such a sandstorm that they began to stray. Not to mention the direction, they couldn't even see each other clearly. Yet, they had to keep going in case the overwhelming dust buried them. The storm was so intense, it could have buried a camel in an instant.

It had been a fateful sandstorm. It finally abated at dusk and stopped embarrassing the six pale-faced teenagers.

They had lost their way. For they were supposed to see the ”three dead trees”, a sign of where the women resided. However, they were merely looking at the boundless dunes. There was nothing in sight except endless yellow sand.

Moreover, only Gu Shenwei noticed another consequence of the sandstorm, that was they were completely traceless now. If Bighead Kingpin had had them followed, by now he must have lost them.

They also ran out of wine. Thus, Shangguan Ru had a few mouthfuls of bland water, and soon went to bed.

Shangguan Yushi sent four brown-belt assassins to explore in different directions, also without success.

On the fourth day, the six of them continued toward the south. They couldn't see the pass where they came from, and they were clueless about how far they had gone astray. They only knew that if they went south, they would reach another mountain, then if they went along the foothill in the west, they would reach the Jade City border.

It fit well with Gu Shenwei's plan, compared with Bighead Kingpin, he was more keen to get rid of the black-robed women now.