238 Dagger (1/2)

Chapter 238: Dagger

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

The seventh chapter of Wayless Book had two versions. Gu Shenwei's heart was racing. He asked about the origins of the text while he pretended to be concerned about Shangguan Ru's safety.

”Alright, it's okay to tell you,” Shangguan Ru said. She could not dissuade Slave Huan and had to say the truth, ”The text on Eighth Sister-in-law's plank was relatively short and Fifteenth Sacred Master was responsible for reciting it. Mother pressured him a little bit...”

Gu Shenwei suddenly realized that there was a special method to preserve the Wayless Book. A temple guard had to memorize the entire content and fifteen sacred masters would memorize different parts of the book to prevent any error and forgetfulness. They would check against one another annually. The temple guard would never casually leak out the contents and it was even more difficult to get the sacred masters to reveal them. However was still possible to make them reveal the contents by pressuring one of these masters, especially the last master. Hence, the ”little pressure” applied by Lady Meng seemed to be effective.

”Did the Sacred Master recite the text to you?”

”No. After mother obtained the text, she handed it over to me,” Shangguan Ru answered. She stared into Gu Shenwei's eyes and looked slightly confused. Slave Huan should be thrilled since he had received the text.

Gu Shenwei then revealed a warm smile and said, ”This is great. I'm finally not restrained by the Missus. She can keep that plank.”

Shangguan Ru smiled. This was what she expected. She said, ”Eighth Sister-in-law is too petty. She wants to get hold of everything.” She paused and asked again, ”Was my father really in her...room that night?”

”It's better for you to feign ignorance.”

Shangguan Ru kicked the boulder angrily and appeared to be in pain. Different people had different impressions of the Supreme King. In Shangguan Ru's eyes, he was a strict but loving father. Few dared to gossip about the Supreme King in front of her. However, her father suddenly changed. Her third brother was the first to tell her about how unacceptable their father was. Then, it was followed by the incident concerning Eighth Sister-in-law.

Since the death of Master Yu, Shangguan Ru's world was gradually collapsing, but it was far from over.

”Killers are always like this,” Gu Shenwei said. He could not think of any words to comfort her. Suddenly, without rhyme or reason, he thought of the crippled killer Tie Hanfeng and started talking about his past. He finally said, ”Forgetfulness is a type of ruthlessness, and promiscuousness is also ruthlessness.”

Shangguan Ru felt that it was extremely unacceptable to kill people. However, she could come to terms with it. Little did she know, that was just the tip of the iceberg. There were too many unacceptable things that were beyond her imagination. She was disappointed, but she quickly detached herself away from it. She was unable to think so much as she was only fourteen.

”Hey, could you teach me swordcraft?” Shangguan Ru asked in order to change the subject so she could get rid of such meaningless thoughts. As if she was surrounded by a sea of evil, she hoped to isolate herself on a lonely island and stay like this forever.

”Swordcraft?” Gu Shenwei asked. Shangguan Ru changed the topic of conversation too abruptly and Gu Shenwei could not keep up with her.

”Didn't you learn swordcraft at Joy Pavilion?”

”Those things,” Gu Shenwei said contemptuously, ”Alright, I'll teach you.”

There was a conflict between Emotionless Swordsmanship and swordcraft of Death Scripture. Gu Shenwei had not practiced Emotionless Swordsmanship for a long time. He used a wooden saber in place of a real sword and taught Shangguan Ru move by move.

Emotionless Swordsmanship appeared to be flamboyant without the cooperation of Secrets of Love. They seemed to be having fun, and they weren't bothered by it.

Gu Shenwei didn't practice Wayless Qigong that night. Instead, he was comparing the contents between the two versions of the seventh chapter of Wayless Book.

It was indeed different. Most of the contents were the same, but there were some keywords, which were completely the opposite. One wrote ”Congealing Qi,” and the other wrote ”Dispelling Qi.” One wrote ”From Yin to Yang,” and the other wrote, ”From Yang to Yin.” It was obvious that it was not an act of negligence, but rather, it was a deliberate forgery.

Although Gu Shenwei had a few suspects in mind, he calmly reconsidered all the possibilities.

The first suspects were the temple guard and the sacred masters. They had no reason to forge the contents as they knew if someone were to overhear any of the contents, they would just silence the person. There was no need to complicate things.

The second suspect was Maid Lotus; however, she had no reason to do it. She had numerous chances and methods to kill Slave Huan. Hence, she did not need to come up with a set of fake Internal Strength. Furthermore, she was suspended in the air while memorizing the content. It would be difficult for her to change the words within.

The next suspect was Shangguan Ru. However, she knew that Slave Huan had lost all his skills and could easily kill him.

The last suspects were Lady Meng and the Fifteenth Sacred Master. One of them must be the one who forged the contents. If the culprit was Lady Meng, she would first harm her daughter then Slave Huan. Therefore, Lady Meng was less likely to be the culprit. As for that Sacred Master, he was likely to forge the contents as he was pressured to say them, but he didn't want to break his oath.

Thus, Shangguan Ru was the only victim.

Gu Shenwei hid both versions and didn't mention about them to Maid Lotus. He hesitated whether to tell Shangguan Ru the truth. At this moment, he did not understand the hidden meaning behind the hesitation. A few days later, he realized that he had unconsciously changed.

Both of them continued to practice their swordcraft at the Giant Rock Cliff. Even though they knew the swordcraft was not very powerful, they still practiced diligently.

That afternoon, the autumn chill damaged a few fallen leaves. Shangguan Ru practiced slightly harder and her cheeks were flushed. Her mood was good and she had a naughty and dazzling smile on her face as though she could hum a tune at any moment.