248 Up and Down (2/2)

”Your younger brother...” Gu Shenwei wanted to tell her about Xu Xiaoyi's whereabouts so that the siblings could reunite, but it was too late. The assassins in black came pouring out of Firewood Yard one after another.

They were not in a hurry to catch their prey. Instead, they fanned out and surrounded the youth.

”Is Miss Ru dead?”

”Not yet, but her injury is serious.” Xu Yanwei's voice began to quiver. She had already exhausted her courage, and was thereby frightened out of her wits, like a mouse among a destruction of cats, as she faced the dozens of killers who remained in grave silence.

”Go find her. If she isn't dead, beg her to protect you. And remember this: she needs you.”

Xu Yanwei did not know whether she would remain alive to see the mistress, or even why she ran all the way here only to cause trouble for herself. She walked towards the people in black with her body as if already fallen into pieces, such that before every step she took, she had to reassemble her limbs, bones, and viscera.

Treating the frightened girl as if she was invisible, the killers watched apathetically as she walked towards them with her body tottering and close to collapse. But when she reached the gate of Firewood Yard, one of them pressed on her shoulders, causing her body to buckle and fall on to him at once.

Gu Shenwei took backward steps until he neared the edge of the cliff, while at the same time, more and more killers continued to join the surround. He had never seen so many men in black appear together like this before. Every one of them kept silent, as if their sole purpose for being here was to form a human wall.

Blademaster Shen Liang walked out from among the crowd with a smile on his face. This was his victory. The impact of Slave Huan's arrival was greater than he had imagined. The wrath of the Supreme King would deal a heavy blow to Lady Meng, who was so greedy that she wanted to concentrate all power in her hands. She absolutely would not have thought that she would fall out of favor because of a young killer.

Gu Shenwei was slightly disappointed that Shangguan Fa did not show up in person. Moreover, he thought that Shen Liang would say a few words, whether to reprimand or to humiliate him, but instead nothing was heard. The veteran blademaster would by no means waste his breath on an ordinary killer.

Gu Shenwei had several things to talk about himself - his real identity, his deepest hatred, and to curse viciously, as was a common thing to do. But his many years of training as a killer eventually prevailed. Spreading his arms, he decided that he had no need to speak.

Speaking might make one feel cathartic, but the satisfaction it provided was illusory and unreal. Even if he verbally vilified Golden Roc Fort and the Shangguan family with all the righteous indignation in the world, his words would just be empty rhetoric with no effect whatsoever.

There was nothing strange about the fact that some people succeeded at taking revenge while others failed.

Within the six great divisions in the wheel of karma, there was never enough to kill, and also never enough to hate. He considered himself to have done something world breaking by destroying the enemy who killed his family, but it was in actual fact nothing more than a regular activity in Golden Roc Fort, and it left no impression on the Supreme King at all.

He raised his head and looked at Maid Lotus who was hiding in the tree above. This peculiar girl had pulled out all the stops to make him undergo qigong deviation and die, yet at the final moment staked everything on a ”Huan” sword to preserve the last vestiges of his life. This showed that hatred was just one of the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures, and that even the strongest of hatreds could not control a person's entire heart. There would always be other emotions hiding in the recesses of one's heart which could surge up powerfully at any given time.

He subsequently lowered his head and looked towards the bottom of the cliff, only to see two men in black clinging on to the cliff wall. The killers had to set up an escape-proof net because the Supreme King wanted to catch him alive.

Once they realized they had been discovered, the two killers leaped back on to the top of the cliff and grabbed hold of the resistance-less youth.

Maid Lotus swooped down from the tree unhesitatingly the moment she turned her head and saw what was going on.

With two clean strikes of her sword, Maid Lotus performed her first openly-seen killings. This was also the first time the swordcraft from Death Scripture was witnessed by living but unknowing people. Her name would be forever remembered by every Golden Roc killer from this moment onwards.

The smile disappeared from Shen Liang's face. He certainly had to comply with the Lord's orders to capture the youth alive. Nine out of ten times, the two highly-experienced killers who hid on the cliff wall would have done the job. But with this girl and this swordcraft...

Maid Lotus pulled the ”Huan” sword out of the ground using her left hand and looked at the youth who was standing by the cliff. This was not her ideal ending, but an even better one than that.

There was a smile on Gu Shenwei's face. At this point, he felt that this was the final smile of his life, and that no person or thing would interest him henceforth.

Aside from the Wayless Book in his arms and the Death Scripture in his heart, he possessed nothing in Stone Castle and therefore had nothing to lose. Furthermore, he had nothing left to want from people and therefore had no more debts to repay.

The youth inclined his body and fell into the abyss.

The ”Huan” sword in Maid Lotus' hand had been an inch away from his body but did not pierce into him after all. A moment later, she too made the jump.

”No!” Shen Liang bellowed.

The crowd of killers did not remain expressionless this time. Having failed to complete their Lord's orders for a live capture, an ominous panic began to grow in their and the blademaster's hearts.

They ran towards the edge of the cliff, when all of a sudden, a gale began to sweep up sand and stones all around them. Everyone halted their footsteps involuntarily and used their hands to protect their eyes as they witnessed an unbelievable sight: a giant black bird soared high into the sky and entered the clouds, and on its back kneeling on one leg was the youth, expressionless.

Many years later, people would still remember this scene, and would even consider it to be an omen of all turbulent events and killings. At this time, however, it was only a fleeting spectacle, and the killers standing at the back did not even get to see it for themselves.

”Look, there's a rope!” A killer exclaimed.

Indeed, a fine rope was tied around the tree next to the cliff, while its other end dangled towards the bottom of the cliff.

The two young killers had escaped from Stone Castle, one after the other.

(End of Volume I)

I want to thank every book pal, for it is your clicks, recommendations, and reviews which have enabled the continued writing of this novel.

A special shoutout to those who have cast evaluation votes. Your support has comforted me during times when the numbers remained bleak.

Finally, I want to thank those who have helped to promote this novel in forums. The only way I can repay you is to continue writing, whether the novel receives an A rating or otherwise.

Because a promise is often the beginning of a lie, I shall not make any. What I can say, however, is that I shall begin work on Volume II today.