181 Back to the For (1/2)

”This is so unlike me,” the young killer's inner voice reminded himself. He had never been so careless that he had broken into an unknown place, without even knowing whether the people within were his friends or foes. Neither had he been so gullible that he had regarded every word that others had said as goodwill.

After Immortal Peng had said, ”I can,” Gu Shenwei immediately asked, ”But, do you have some conditions?”

”There is no condition. I can dispel the Peripheral Force and guide you on your swordcraft in order to develop and promote Emotionless Swords, Murderous Swords and Fatal Swords. I only want to see the results.”

Although Gu Shenwei heard a young man's voice, he somehow pictured a greedy old man in his mind. The old man seemed to be dazed yet passionate and his saliva was dripping out from his mouth. His long bony hand was slowly stretching out ...

Gu Shenwei retreated to the window. Between thirty to forty grotesque people turned to look at him, but no one stopped him.

Fear surged like spring water. The killer shouted as he jumped out of the small window. He fell onto a pile of residual snow, rolled over and got up. Then, he ran for his life.

”He will be back,” a white-robed elder said coldly.

”He will be back,” the Uglies repeated. Then, everyone in the room coldly repeated these words, but in completely different tones.

Gu Shenwei jumped onto the wall of Hope Alley. He met Maid Lotus soon afterwards. Both of them didn't say anything and continued to run together until they returned to the apartment, which they had rented from Southwall Tavern. Gu Shenwei took off his black mask, gasped for breath and shook his head hard. It seemed that he finally got rid of the dirty things that were attached to him. He then said, ”That guy, that Immortal Peng, seemed to know about the Death Scripture.”

The Death Scripture was said to be brought up from a deep abyss by a golden-crowned roc, but the disciples of Barren Sect had never heard of this story. Gu Shenwei always believed that this was a secret that would never be revealed, however Immortal Peng had seen through the killer's swordcraft.

At the moment when Gu Shenwei had thrown himself at the screen, but was blocked, he had seen something behind the screen. He didn't pay attention to it back then. He finally realized that it was a head with its hair that loosely hung down. The crown of the head could be seen.

If he didn't recognize it wrongly, it looked like Ye Silang.

He had brought Ye Silang's skull back to Kun Society, but he didn't pay attention to it. He didn't realize that Immortal Peng had gotten hold of it.

There was a fatal sword wound that had been left behind by Maid Lotus. At that time, both of them were careless as they had not followed their usual practice of destroying the wound. Hence, Immortal Peng must have detected something.

Immortal Peng sacrificed two disciples because he probably wanted to find out about what type of swordcraft that the killer was using. Gu Shenwei shuddered at the thought of it and was in a daze for some time before recovering.

”You are a little strange.” Maid Lotus observed Slave Huan for a while and was surprised by Slave Huan's expression.

”It's not me, it's Joy Pavilion and those people.”

Gu Shenwei narrated his experience, especially the strange feeling at that time, ”I seemed ... to be under some sort of control and I involuntarily relaxed my vigilance.

”It sounds like some kind of evil secrets. Is New Moon Hall behind this?”

The women in New Moon Hall specialized in evil secrets and Gu Shenwei had experienced it before. However, Immortal Peng didn't seem to specialize in such arts. Gu Shenwei replied, ”It is highly unlikely. Immortal Peng lived in Jade City for many years and was reputable. if he was from New Moon Hall, then the Stone Castle would know about it.”

This was something that both of them didn't know. Gu Shenwei decided not to go to Hope Alley again. Xu Xiaoyi's initial reminder about the strange people there was right. Although Immortal Peng knew about the Death Scripture, it seemed that he wouldn't leak it out easily.

Both of them returned to North City at dawn. Shangguan Ru hadn't recovered from the shock and didn't even come out from the house to listen to Slave Huan's report.

Gu Shenwei spent a few days doing nothing. On one hand, he was pondering about Immortal Peng's intentions while on the other hand, he was thinking about how to pull Shangguan Ru together without arousing Shangguan Fei's antipathy. He could not afford to lose his backer.

Towards the end of February, the Stone Castle sent men to summon Slave Huan back. This gave him an opportunity to change the situation.

The siege campaign by the coalition of Eighth Young Master Shangguan Nu and Bighead Kingpin had proceeded smoothly. After a long period of planning and reconnaissance, they had sent many troops into Gobi Desert and had finally found several important strongholds of New Moon Hall after the new year. They had killed many enemies and had captured some alive. The prisoners of war were brought back to Golden Roc Fort.

One of the prisoners looked similar to a mysterious woman, just like the one that Slave Huan had described. Hence, Slave Huan was summoned back to the Castle to identify her.

Tenth Young Master Shangguan Ru and other killers' chests were once secretly fingered by a mysterious woman from New Moon Hall, thus causing all of them to black out. Although they sought treatment at Four Truths Temple and there was no relapse, no one was sure that they had completely recovered. They needed to find her as she was the one who could completely cure them. It would be very useful if this prisoner was the mysterious woman.

There were twenty female prisoners and they were imprisoned at Heart Cleansing Yard. They were of different ages, mostly naked and scarred. It was obvious that they had been tortured and their gazes seemed lifeless. They didn't look like human beings. However, some tried to hold their heads high and looked at those people who were alive with a strong gaze, as though they were hungry wolves.

These women were indeed disciples of New Moon Hall. Gu Shenwei could recognize them when he saw their gaze. Although they learnt from the same master, the disciples of Barren Sect seemed more normal. The disciples of New Moon Hall were like strange creatures who had never interacted with other human beings from a young age and their gazes were different from those of ordinary people.

The torturer in Heart Cleansing Yard didn't give any hints. Gu Shenwei soon found the woman he wanted to identify.