205 A Second Duel (1/2)
Shangguan Ru did not understand how this could have happened.
She had seen countless bloody scenes in Stone Castle and had never felt afraid. She even felt some enthusiasm towards violence. Before she had even learnt how to speak, she had already been in her mother's arms clapping and laughing at the killers. This pleased her father greatly. He had joked that this must be the real child of the Supreme King.
She had killed people. She would stand on the stairs and watch as the flames engulfed the Horned Dragon Society. She had witnessed people getting their heads cut off and had felt nothing in her heart.
However, she couldn't even bring herself to kill a swordsman from the Great Snow Mountain that she didn't even know.
Every single one of her blows missed the vital areas of her victims. She couldn't bear to see a living creature lose its vitality and life force.
When Master Yu had died, he had taken not only the friendship between them but also her ruthlessness with him .
Now that her brother, Shangguan Fei, had appeared amidst the rubble, she felt extremely flustered. He was the last person she had wanted to see, especially since they were engaged in a life-and-death battle. She could feel the killers' expectations of her and she didn't know if she could meet those expectations.
The stones that fell from the cliff hurt several people and the remaining swordsmen were in disarray after their team was diminished by half. They stopped running after the killers. The remaining five to six swordsmen fled on their horses and the killers stopped chasing after them.
The sky was brightening and Shangguan Fei's desperate pleas continued. ”Sister, is that you? Come and save me! I am buried by the rubble. My legs...”
Shangguan Ru kept her sword. She felt very conflicted. She had to decide whether she was going to kill him. She felt a great irritation in her heart. If it weren't for her emotional turmoil, she would have discovered the danger behind her.
She felt that something was amiss. Holding her blade, she turned around and saw one of her killers coming after her with a saber.
This killer was one of her most trusted subordinates and he currently wanted to kill this unworthy master.
Shangguan Ru's heart was like a heavy stone that dragged her down into the abyss. Although she still had time to block with her sword, her hands were frozen.
At that very moment, she didn't think of her parents, Master Yu, Slave Huan, and those people who were close to her. She didn't even think of the good or bad times. The only thing on her mind was that death would be so terrible.
Death had passed her like it did the swordsman.
The killer who was determined to kill his master raised his saber high. However, his waist suddenly shuddered and he fell sharply. An arrow had plunged through his back and came out his chest.
Liuhua came over from afar. He still carried a bow.
Her brother's cries for help still rang in her ears but, she heard nothing. What had happened was completely incomprehensible. She could only watch.
Slave Huan rushed forward and whispered something that she was not able to understand. ”Wildhorse wants to kill you.”
Had Wildhorse really betrayed her? Shangguan Ru turned her head to look at the odd-looking killer. He had once been loyal to Master Yu and had been forgiven by Shangguan Ru for killing other killers. Was he really going to kill his master?
Wildhorse pulled off his mask. There was anger and confusion evident across his face. He gripped his sword and glanced at Liuhua and Shangguan Ru.
He was angry that he had been betrayed by Slave Huan. The original plan was to use this opportunity to kill Shangguan Ru and send the loot to the swordsmen from the Great Snow Mountain. Because of this, they had let several people go so they could kill them afterwards as targets of ”revenge”. As for Shangguan Fei, he was an unexpected prize. Yes, they had plans of dealing with Slave Huan after everything was over but never had they expected that Slave Huan would have acted first.
What he didn't understand was why Liuhua had chosen to support Slave Huan. Wildhorse himself was the real leader of the killers. He was also much more powerful than his opponents. Liuhua had personally promised him that he would support him at the last moment, however, that turned out to be a lie. He had never been betrayed before so this act of betrayal caused him much pain.
He could have pretended that he knew nothing about what was going on but his expression betrayed his thoughts.
In this moment of indecision, Maid Lotus had already killed another killer and only one killer remained. He prepared to escape but was shot by Liuhua. He fell amongst the corpses.
Wildhorse was left to Slave Huan. They had an unfinished duel to settle.
Wildhorse raised his head. He would not flinch nor escape and he wouldn't feel guilty about the plot. He had never regarded anyone as his master in his heart and Master Yu was no exception.
Even if he could speak, he would not expose Slave Huan's motives at this time. It was this slave who had betrayed everybody and what Wildhorse wanted to do now was kill Slave Huan.
He had his chance. In the monthly test, he had dealt Slave Huan a blow with his dagger. If he had delivered a more powerful blow, he would have been able to save himself from this duel, however, Wildhorse was not exactly regretful. He gripped his dagger and walked towards his enemy.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus had talked and decided that Wildhorse was a greater threat than Shangguan Ru. The Snow Mountain Gang's plan to exterminate the Tattooed Arm Gang had never changed and no matter how much Wildhorse apologized, they felt that he would strike and sabotage their interests eventually.
On the surface, the two seemed nonchalant about Wildhorse's actions but secretly, they had already decided to strike before he did.
Liuhua was a wildcard. This marksman would be a great ally to whoever whom he had decided to support. The reason that Maid Lotus had been able to win him over was simple. Because the Snow Mountain Gang was already very powerful, Liuhua would not have made a discernible impact even if he had joined the gang. However, things would be different if he were to join the weak Tattooed Arm Gang. He would be seen as a prized ally.