251 Third Year (1/2)

Chapter 251: Third Year

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Blademaster Shen Liang opened a corner of the drapes so that he could take a peep outside. He hoped with all his heart that three years of running about was henceforth over. In less than half a month, he would be able to return to Stone Castle where he could possibly regain the Lord's favor and trust.

Whenever he thought of the two young killers who escaped in front of his eyes, he would fly into a rage, of which some was directed at the escapees and himself, while a small portion was directed at the Lord. He had acted before Lady Meng did and surrounded the defecting killers with his men, yet the result was a total catastrophe.

Who would have thought that Slave Huan would fly away on a giant roc? This was totally beyond the scope of human control.

Perhaps he should have predicted that Maid Lotus would escape by jumping off the cliff. The area around the Ghost Cliff had been the Barren Sect disciples' secret route to reach the top of the mountain. Although the iron nails fixed into the cliff walls had long been removed, the holes remained. However, he never imagined that the young female killer's Lightness Skill would be good enough for her to slide down a rope and later to dig her fingers in the holes as she scaled down the mountain. By the time he realized what was going on, it was already too late.

The only remedial measures which Stone Castle could employ after the fact was to plug the nail holes and to set up an Arrow Tower on the Ghost Cliff.

In order to make up partially for his mistakes, Shen Liang had fastened a fine rope around his waist and personally went down the cliff wall to check that most of the nail holes had been filled with dirt. Although some could still be forcibly dug into, even a person with amazing Lightness Skill would be terrified by the risks. As long as the person took one uneven breath, he or she would fall and be smashed into pieces.

Therefore, between the two escapees, Shen Liang admired Maid Lotus more.

The female killer was not only decisive but also brave without being reckless. She had shrewdly decided not to Slave Huan, and descended the cliff alone at the last possible moment. Evidently, she felt that he was a burden who could very likely have caused both of them to die.

What Shen Liang could not understand was why she wanted to defect. A killer as outstanding as her would never be moved by love.

Furthermore, there had been no trace of her since her disappearance, unlike Slave Huan who went around killing people and even allowed his giant roc to leave a distinctive mark - that of the eyeless corpses - everywhere.

Shen Liang viewed Slave Huan's actions as an open challenge toward him and Golden Roc Fort. He had sent people to where the eyeless corpses were and had covered practically every country in the Western Region, yet after dispatching teams upon teams of killers, the youth would somehow manage to slip away every single time.

hen Liang had a feeling that Maid Lotus was hiding beside Slave Huan, and that as long as the latter fell into the trap today, he would be able to dispose of both defected killers.

It was currently the early hours of the morning. The camp was extremely quiet, such that the footsteps and the swaying of the weapons of the patrolling soldiers were clearly audible. Everything was proceeding normally. What even the soldiers did not know was that in this tent were hidden the best killers of Golden Roc Fort.

Shen Liang lowered the drapes and turned his head back to look at the three distressed people.

One of them was an old man with a dark face, thick arms, and a slightly hunched back. He was one of the most famous blacksmiths in Shu-lik, and was especially skilled at making swords. The other two people were his young disciples. They were bashful and uneasy to the extent that they did not even dare to raise their heads and take a glimpse of the killer standing in the doorway.

In a letter, Slave Huan had brazenly demanded Shu-lik's military camp to hand the blacksmith over to him. Shen Liang had thought, at one point, that this was a trap, until he personally read the letter that was worded brusquely and arrogantly:

Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks hereby orders every one of you to retreat three hundred miles within five days while leaving behind Daga the blacksmith.

Although there was no signature or Slave Huan's name on the letter, Shen Liang knew it was written by him. News of the unrest on the Great Snowmountain had long reached Golden Roc Fort.

Seven or eight months ago, the killer had fled into the Great Snowmountain and killed dozens of Danduo Peak's swordsmen with the assistance of a giant roc. He thereupon forced the chief, Long Xiaoshi, to make peace with the old enemy Luoshen Peak. Subsequently, a series of battles involving Greatsword Peak, Smallsword Peak, and Canopy Peak broke out. The intensity of these battles exceeded the results attained by Golden Roc Fort's many years of sowing discord.

The undercover Golden Roc killers either fled the Great Snowmountain or were killed. However, news of the conflicts continued ceaselessly and showed no sign of end. Shen Liang had made the prudent decision to remain as a bystander, but that was only until this ”Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks” suddenly popped up.

Shen Liang could not help but let out a disdainful snort. ”The defected killer and son of a servant dares to call himself a chief and leader. Slave Huan must have gone mad.”

Upon hearing the snort, the two blacksmith disciples startled up as if they had accidentally stepped on burning charcoal. They covertly gazed at their master for a moment before lowering their heads back down, afraid that an inappropriate expression in their eyes would invite death upon themselves or their master.

Twenty killers were hiding within the same small tent. Nonetheless, the blacksmith and his disciples did not see even the slightest trace of them.

The only killer who did not hide was Blademaster Shen Liang himself. He was certain that Slave Huan and Maid Lotus would arrive to perform a sneak raid. Both of them were killers trained by Golden Roc Fort after all. Even though they had defected, their behavioral patterns could not have deviated from that of killers.

Everything would end today.

Four days after the threat from the Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks, when the sun had just risen and the dewdrops had yet to evaporate, the guards spotted in the distance a knight slowly riding his way out of the pass of the Great Snowmountain. The strange thing was that their forward scouts and sentries did not provide a single notification.

As the news rapidly traveled up, more and more people gathered in front of the camp to get a view of the knight and his black horse.

”Is he the 'Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks'?” the general asked in astonishment. He felt that the Golden Roc killers had made a mountain out of a molehill and had wasted their efforts setting up an ambush. The person whom they wanted to kill was coming directly toward them alone.

”Could it be that everyone in the Great Snowmountain has died, leaving him to proclaim himself as king?” Laughter broke out when someone made this conjecture.

”But where are the scouts?” Someone else raised this cautious suspicion, but his voice was drowned out by the uproar around him.

A bodyguard soldier beside the general drew his bow and shot an arrow at the knight. The arrow scraped the knight's arm and landed on the ground, causing the knight to rein in his horse.

The laughter in the camp grew even louder. Most of it was to ridicule the soldier's archery technique.

Shen Liang was a little skeptical of the news, but when the noise outside became ever more clamorous, he felt obliged to come out and investigate. The killers remained lying in wait in their original positions, in case the enemy was just feinting to divert attention.