284 Tianji (2/2)

”You haven't said anything yet.”

The female chief nodded at her subordinates and the nine of them entered the iron gate and closed it from the inside. The Dragon King and the chief were left outside.

”My name is Guan Shang, the Shang in a businessman.” The female chief revealed her name as the first step to win the trust of the Dragon King. She then briefly summarized the experiences of what Tenth Young Master Shangguan Ru had been through in the past three years.

Lady Meng had confiscated her daughter's saber, placed her under house arrest and forced her to wear women's clothing, but she could never give up the ”Tenth Young Master” in her heart.

Shangguan Ru's kung fu, ambition and intelligence exceeded Shangguan Fei's. Lady Meng had high hopes for her. She hoped that her daughter could, not only be independent, but also to help her brother in winning the position of the Supreme King. Unfortunately, after the death of Shangguan Yushi, she had changed to a completely different person, and she was no longer as ruthless as she once was. She was even willing to betray her own family for the sake of a slave.

The cowardly personality of Shangguan Fei really disappointed Lady Meng. All his intelligence and wisdom seemed to have disappeared after he had schemed to kill Master Yu. He took refuge in North City and entrusted all his affairs to others. In the long run, his influence would only be limited to the Kun Society of South City. In comparison to his surviving brothers, he couldn't even protect himself, let alone have a chance to compete for the throne.

There were fewer and fewer people who Lady Meng could trust and rely on. She had to consider grooming her daughter again.

After Shangguan Ru was placed under house arrest for a year, Lady Meng released her secretly. Almost no one in Stone Castle knew about this, let alone any outsiders.

Shangguan Ru was only fifteen years old that year, and it was possible to remodel her.

This was a very secretive plan. Even the Lord was unaware of this.

Before her release and the maturation of the twins, Lady Meng had started to implement these plans.

On the surface, Lady Meng had an ordinary relationship with her family. However, in the eyes of Patriarch Meng Yuzun, this distant niece was closer than his own daughter. He knew very well that it would be a great help to the Meng family if Lady Meng was in power in Stone Castle.

Meng Yuzun had been acquiring suitable girls from the Western Region. Some of them had been trained and were given by Lady Meng to the Supreme King. The rest remained in North City and were secretly trained as killers.

This team of female killers had begun to take shape when Shangguan Ru was released. After two years, she became the leader of the team and named it ”Tianji Society”.

It was more difficult for women to train with sabers. Even though they were supported by strong Internal Strength, they were still inferior to men who started at the same time. Under the advice of Shangguan Ru, they focused on practicing the bow and arrow in order to make up for their own shortcomings.

”We all swore allegiance to the Tenth Young Master.” Guan Shang was full of respect when she mentioned the Tenth Young Master. ”We do not accept the command of anyone aside from the Tenth Young Master and Lady Meng. Even the Lord couldn't order us directly.”

Gu Shenwei was very surprised. Shangguan Ru had lost her killing desire three years ago and was no longer suitable to become a killer. However, she had received more than ten years of education for males. With such ambitious aspirations, it was very likely for her to restore her old self with the help of her mother.

He remembered that glimpse in front of Four Truths Temple. Shangguan Ru was riding on a glorious steed in women's clothing. She hadn't expressed any tinge of coyness.

”Is she here?”

”No, the Tenth Young Master would only come once in three to five days. But, she ordered me to help the Dragon King at all costs.”

”Had Lady Meng allowed the Tenth Young Master to do so?”

Guan Shang was silent for a while, then she said, ”Lady Meng did not know about the order given by the Tenth Young Master, and would not know about it in the future as well.”

Gu Shenwei still couldn't quite believe Guan Shang's story. In the end, the short sword was the one which touched him. No one should know about the story of Shangguan Ru giving away the sword.

There were many caves in the artificial mountain. There were countless crisscrossed paths, which led to different rooms, and some of the rooms were quite spacious. As he passed by, Gu Shenwei saw many women and girls who were practicing their sabers and shooting arrows.

The Meng family must have spent a lot of effort on creating this secret base, and they were certainly unwilling to use this just to protect the Dragon King. Gu Shenwei could not help but think about exactly how much control Shangguan Ru had of this place.

The room that was assigned to him for resting in was a stone room. There were no windows because it was deep underground. There was an iron grid on the door panel for easy ventilation, but it looked similar to a cell.

The door of the ”cell” was not locked so Gu Shenwei could enter and exit freely. However, the paths were too complicated. It was easy to get lost without a guide, therefore he rarely went out.

It was difficult to tell the time as he was living in a place where there was no daylight. Gu Shenwei waited for Shangguan Ru, but she never came.

”The lord suspected that there was a traitor in the fort, so he was conducting a thorough investigation. The Tenth Young Master was unable to go down the mountain for a while.” Guan Shang came every day. She answered every one of his questions and also brought news from the outside at the same time.

Cases of the Dragon King's imposter killing people and placing flags were continually emerging. Golden Roc Fort was exhausted, but they had only killed a few nobodies. Most people still thought that the Dragon King was the mastermind. No one believed that he was fighting alone.

Through Lady Meng, the Tianji Society had very accurate and timely sources of information in Stone Castle. All traces of the Dragon King had disappeared in these few days. The Supreme King was puzzled and had sent more Golden Roc killers to search the city. The safest place within the entire Jade City was probably the underground of Bodhi Garden.

The female killers of Tianji Society were very interested in the Dragon King. Even though Gu Shenwei had lived there for less than a day, he found that people were often peeking at him. To these women who had been receiving secret training, the Dragon King was a legendary figure because only the greatest killer had the ability to escape from dozens of arrest attempts from the Golden Roc Fort.

On the third day or so, there was finally a courageous female archer who quietly approached the Dragon King's room. She first gave the Dragon King some small gifts and fine snacks, and slowly began to talk to him.

Almost overnight, Gu Shenwei found himself becoming a story-telling grandfather and was forced to recall his training and escape career to a group of ten to fifteen-year-old girls. There were occasional, exaggerated cheers.

Unknowingly, the girls began to ask for pointers on machete skills. Among all of their naive questions, there were a few which had great insights and Gu Shenwei was surprised by these questions.

However, he still believed that these people would not become qualified killers. He also believed that the Tianji Society was a team that belonged to Shangguan Ru. These women, like Shangguan Ru, lacked ruthless killing desires.

Maid Lotus was a real female killer.

Gu Shenwei suddenly thought of her. It was also because of the image of Maid Lotus that he could see the flaws in Guan Shang's story.