248 Up and Down (1/2)

Chapter 248: Up and Down

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Standing by the edge of Ghost Cliff, Gu Shenwei managed to get his head together with much difficulty and began to practice the seventh chapter of Wayless Qigong.

The chill within his body, nevertheless, did not abate as a result. Instead, the rapid circulation of Genuine Qi in his meridians caused a frigid pain. Gu Shenwei clenched his teeth and endured for some time, but was finally unable to hold on any longer and fell headlong on the ground.

When he woke up, he saw Maid Lotus kneeling beside him while wiping sweat off him using a silk handkerchief. Her hair was somewhat messy and she looked deeply concerned, as if she was in as much pain as him.

”I'll let you die now if you beg me to,” Maid Lotus said in a soft and soothing voice. Her other hand was clutching her sword shaft.

Gu Shenwei felt that his nasal passages were finally clear once again. He forcefully inhaled the chilly air of the peak such that his chest began to undulate violently. However, his mind was still in a numb and dazed state, and thereby the girl in front of him was a stranger. He gawked at her and understood neither the reason why she was sad nor the meaning of her words.

As his memory gradually recovered, the young girl's face turned indifferent, as if the earlier scene was just his hallucination. He would ”rather die” than beg her for anything.

”Have you killed her?”

Maid Lotus took out Luo Ningcha's ring and tossed it off the cliff. ”She was struck by my throwing knife. It now depends on her luck.”

This was the reason why concealed weapons and crossbows were not valued by killers. Because of their long distance, it was impossible to tell whether the target stayed alive or died. Accidents happened all the time. But there were too many guards beside Luo Ningcha, and thus Maid Lotus did not want to take the risk of rushing in.

Gu Shenwei was unconcerned about that woman's death or otherwise. The chill was becoming increasingly severe, and a giant block of ice seemed to have formed in his abdomen. He tried to conceal his pain but his body began to tremble involuntarily. He had suffered a qigong deviation because of his inverse practice of the seventh chapter of Wayless Qigong. He subsequently sought to rectify this through the standard practice, but the result was contrary to what he wanted.

Maid Lotus hesitated for a while before she held him in her arms. She knew very little kung fu and did not know how to transmit Internal Breath to relieve his pain, and thereby could only use her body temperature to help reduce his chill.

A solitary deep horn was heard. As the Golden Roc killers mostly communicated through whistles, this was the first time Gu Shenwei heard a sound like this in Stone Castle.

”They're coming.” Maid Lotus turned her head towards the castle.

What the two young killers did not know was that the horn was Stone Castle's highest level alert. This was the first time it had been sounded in the castle since Shangguan Fa became the Supreme King. Even the black-masked assassins who were hiding in the deepest places were summoned towards the designated location to await orders.

”I'm sorry, I may not be able to withstand the qigong deviation.” Gu Shenwei too looked towards the castle, his emotions stirring. For no reason, he thought back to a day three years ago when he was riding a pony near his manor, so excitedly chasing after the hares and birds that he forgot the time. As the sun began to set, he peered at the silhouette of his manor and felt that his home was distant and unreal. Yet, his heart was filled with a strange sense of affinity as a result.

”Nobody can kill you except me.” Maid Lotus' tone became cold and flat, and she seemed to have made up her mind. She drew the Golden Roc Fort saber and threw it off the cliff. Next, she pulled out Gu Shenwei's ”Yun” sword and stuck it in the ground. ”This is for killing you.” Finally, she grasped her own ”Huan” sword. ”And this is for killing them and myself.”

A large group of killers would be surging towards them any time now. They had nowhere left to run.

”It isn't worth it to die like this after all that trouble stealing Wayless Book.”

”I've delivered it already. Sooner or later, New Moon Hall will invade Stone Castle to take revenge for me as well as for you.”

Gu Shenwei's enemy was not Golden Roc Fort, but he did not say anything further. This was a delicate moment when there was no enmity, and instead only an inexplicable compassion and a tacit understanding, between the killing side and the killed one.

The Golden Roc killers did not immediately arrive, and thus Maid Lotus had time to shift Gu Shenwei under a tree beside which she guarded. She suddenly asked without cause, ”Why are you called Gu Shenwei? It's such an odd name.”

Gu Shenwei remained dazed for some time as he thought, before replying, ”It came from a line in an ancient text. 'A gentleman should be cautious of doing (shen wei) good, for doing good naturally garners fame, which naturally creates personal benefits, which naturally causes disputes.'”

”'Do good with caution'? It turns out that your father intended for you to never do good things from the time he came up with this name.”

Gu Shenwei laughed and did not explain further that the meaning of the line was not what she thought it was. As a matter of fact, he did not quite like the name himself, but his father considered it to be highly appropriate.

”How about yourself? What's the saying behind the name 'Huo Yun'?”

”Nothing. It's a very common name.”

The duo was chatting casually when the gate of Firewood Yard suddenly opened, and out ran someone who looked in all directions but did not see the two killers behind the tree and thus had no choice but to shout loudly, ”Yang Huan! Are you here?”

Surprisingly, it was Xu Yanwei. Gu Shenwei had initially intended to secretly send her to Stone Castle to meet Xu Xiaoyi but eventually forgot about it.

”I'm over here.”

Gu Shenwei stood up and waved his hands while Maid Lotus leaped up the tree and hid. As before, she was responsible for covertly protecting Gu Shenwei when he was meeting someone.

Xu Yanwei frantically hurried over, and did not stop to knock the dust off when she fell down on the way. She reached the tree in a few steps and handed a cloth bundle to Gu Shenwei, her cheeks flushed and her breathing difficult. ”Tenth Young Master gives this to you and Maid Lotus.”

Gu Shenwei opened the bundle astoundedly. Inside were two sets of black clothes, a waist token with the highest-level inscription ”Du”, and a few disguise tools. ”She... how did you know I'm here?”

Xu Yanwei shook her head and inhaled a deep breath before explaining incoherently, ”Tenth Young Master passed these to me last night. She said that you two might still be in Stone Castle, but because she was being watched closely, that I should hand them to you on her behalf. Everyone has been talking about you two since the attack on her. I heard the killers saying that they're ready to surround Firewood Yard, and so quickly ran here with her waist token in hopes that I'm still in time.”

Gu Shenwei was a little touched. She was undoubtedly taking a bold risk to run here at this critical point in time, and it was extremely rare for her to do something like this, even if her actions would come to nothing for it was impossible to deceive the killers or to save his life.

As he neared death, he became somewhat more emotional than usual.