204 The Village (2/2)

The two killers standing watch outside the village shifted slightly, as if breathing sighs of relief.

”Ahhhh-” A heart-rending scream pierced the night sky and the chirping of insects fell silent at that moment, but quickly resumed. However, those killers froze in their place, without moving.

The whole village heard the screams and a few houses lit up, but the lights were put out shortly after. However, someone ran out, boldly shouting: ”What on earth is happening? Who was shouting?”

Gu Shenwei looked at those two killers who were on watch, thinking how if he had been in their place, he would have run away long ago.

The men on watch finally came to their senses. They prepared to retreat but it was too late.

That villager who had run out to investigate the scream was carrying an assortment of weapons in his hands. And as he shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran to catch up with the killers. From two neighboring houses, men rushed out and blocked the killers' escape path. Three of the killers had escaped.

”Catch them alive.” Someone ordered.

The killers pulled out their sabers without a word, preparing to defend themselves to the end.

The two killers who were responsible for intercepting the villagers had already been cut off. Weapons clashed and not long later, someone yelled: ”They are down!”

The two killers on watch pulled out their knives preparing to attack. They wanted to clear a path to escape but only after trading three blows, the two began to stumble like a pair of drunkards. They fell down onto the floor helplessly.

”How many have you caught?”

”Four. I killed five.”

”Okay. Get ready to depart immediately. We will use them in the sacrificial ritual to Long Feidu.”

This was a well-designed trap. The robbers had not numbered only five but ten. They brought out horses from the houses and prepared to leave the village.

However, as the robbers were tending to their horses, Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus returned quickly to report the Tenth Young Master: ”Kun Society and the Horned Dragon Society have been deceived. There were no 500,000 taels of silver at all. That robber pretended to leak the ”secret” in order to bait us.”

”Who could it be?” Shangguan Ru was a little surprised. Her biggest rival was her brother Shangguan Fei but the person who set this trap could not possibly be him.

Gu Shenwei thought for a moment. He had seen something that prompted him to make a guess. ”It must be the swordsman from the Great Snow Mountain.”

Those robbers were equipped with long and broad big swords. Gu Shenwei had seen them before and knew that they were the signature of the Great Snow Mountain tribe, especially ”Long Feidu” whom the robbers had talked about. He was the swordsman who had previously died in the T-junction.

”Snow Mountain?” Shangguan Ru was even more surprised. Those boorish and arrogant swordsmen had never been good at conspiracy. Designing such an ingenious trap truly exceeded her expectations.

There was not much time left. Gu Shenwei knew the destination that the swordsmen had in mind. They were headed for the T-junction to worship Long Feidu. They would soon be riding by on their horses, towards the place of ambush prepared for them.

”What should I do? They are coming. They are coming straight away.” Gu Shenwei knew what the Tenth Young Master meant. Should he save the nine killers? They the core of Shangguan Fei's power.

Shangguan Ru made a decisive choice. ”The Great Snow Mountain is Golden Roc Fort's enemy. We cannot let them succeed in their conspiracy. How many people do they have? How strong are they?”

”About 25. Their strength is unknown.” Gu Shenwei recalled meeting the swordsman from the Great Snow Mountain, Long Feidu, two years ago and remembered feeling that something was not quite right. ”They have knockout powder. We must be careful.”

The whole thing appeared very strange to Gu Shenwei. The swordsmen from the Great Snow Mountain not only crafted an elaborate plan but they also used knockout powder. These were two things that they thought beneath them.

But Shangguan Ru did not have time to consider these things. She ordered them to prepare the ambush immediately. Her target was about over 20 men. To the eight killers, this proved a challenge.

The galloping sounds approached. The swordsmen from the Great Snow Mountain, holding their captive, reached the destination. At about four o'clock in the morning, they entered the place of ambush. The horses trotted onwards, their riders oblivious to the ambush awaiting them.

With a loud crash, several huge boulders fell from the sky. The team of machetemen was thrown into disarray. Horses neighed and men screamed. These sounds of distress were punctuated by a sharp cry of pain. Someone had been hit by a boulder.

Only one killer was on the cliff monitoring the ambush. The other eight were hidden below the cliff.

Liuhua was the first to attack. She fired three shots in succession and three men fell.

The swordsmen reacted surprisingly quickly and quickly regrouped into their formation. They slapped their horses and retreated from onslaught of arrows. However, merely ten over steps away, they were hit by an attack from the side.

Two killers rushed out and jumped over the head of the swordsman leading the charge. Two heads rolled.

The killers continued running, their legs pumping furiously. The swordsmen were consumed with rage and they turned their horses to chase after the killers.

This was the killers' strategy all along: to overwhelm the enemy even though they were outnumbered. They would kill and then withdraw in order to provoke the remaining machetemen to chase after them. Thus, they would lure the machetemen to the next place of ambush.

The killers' plan was unfolding without a hitch when they heard a plaintive voice muttering weakly from the rubble. ”Please save me; I am the Ninth Young Master, Shangguan Fei.”

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