293 Holding Position (2/2)

The second step was the start of the long process of peace negotiations. Some of the issues were rather perplexing:

Concerning the statuses of the Great Snowmountain and Dragon King, were they simply bandits or a force with rising influence?

What about the land which the Great Snowmountain were staked on, who did it really belong to? What made the situation even more complicated was that Shu-lik had claimed ownership as well.

Lastly, should Dragon King, along with his swordmen and machetemen, return to the Great Snowmountain?

Fang Wenshi argued and debated with all sides, talking more in those days than Chu Nanping had had for an entire year. That was how his reputation came about, other than ”Head-shaking Military Counselor”, another nickname for him was ”the quick-tongued Fang who talked like a continuous volley of arrows”.

Gu Shenwei let the military counselor handle the peace negotiations as he busied himself trying to establish a foothold in Jade City.

Although North City was safe, it was impossible for him to live there as no weapons were allowed in the city. It was very inconvenient for him to constantly hide his weapons everytime he entered. Moreover, he had also killed several assassins in the residence of the Special Emissary from the Central Plains the night Joy Pavilion caught fire. This had caused the wealthy merchants and nobles to be fearful and they did not want Dragon King as a neighbor.

Therefore, he bought a large mansion on the westernmost side of South City to establish himself. Soon, the residents of Jade City would refer to the mansion as the ”Residence of Dragon King”.

It was similar to the time when he set up Kun Society, just that everything now was done on a larger scale. The Great Snowmountain, however, had to minimize on recruiting machetemen as they still needed to provide for a troop of over 3000 men in the western border of Jade City and therefore did not have extra resources to spare.

Tianshan Sect had helped a lot during this period. This secret organization among the machetemen of South City were now somewhat public. Only Mr. Hong the blacksmith knew their leader. He lent several machetemen to Dragon King and said that remuneration could be worked out at a later time.

Along with that, a total of 20 young swordsmen and 10 young girls traveled all the way from the Great Snowmountain and arrive safely at Jade City just in time for the armistice truce to come into play. They were sent by Long Qinying, chief of Luoshen Peak to Gu Shenwei. The swordsmen would serve as guards and the young girls would wait on Dragon King.

Gu Shen Wei was held up by these trivial matters until Xu Xiaoyi came to rescue him.

Xu Xiaoyi had a prior agreement with Dragon King. He had immediately headed to Jade City to help Gu Shenwei out once he caught wind about the peace negotiations in Shu-lik City. Xu Xiaoyi managed to run the Residence of Dragon King smoothly and orderly thus freeing Gu Shenwei up to handle more pressing matters.

He was waiting for the Master of Xiaoyue Hall.

Among the various influences in Jade City, Gu Shenwei believed that New Moon Hall was the only ally that could fight against Golden Roc Fort. Their long-standing deep hatred, ruthless methods as well as their well-concealed identities would assist the Great Snowmountain as a reinforcement.

Gu Shenwei had struggled with accepting New Moon Hall as an ally because Maid Lotus was a disciple of New Moon Hall, and might be hiding somewhere in Jade City right now.

Gu Shenwei always felt conflicted when thinking about Maid Lotus. She was the one who had modified the seventh chapter of Wayless Book and caused him to suffer for more than half a year of qigong deviation. It was impossible to remove it entirely, not to mention that the condition continued to occur every one to three months.

A strong desire to kill would surface in his heart ever since he had endured the freezing pain that penetrated into his bones. At this time, he would be stroking the Dragon Head Sword instead of the Five Peaks Saber with his right hand.

But she was also the partner who he coordinated with the best.

Both Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong could fight alongside him, but neither of them was killers to begin with, and would never be in the future as well. There was no one to rely on but himself during crucial moments.

During times like these, he would miss that cold and indifferent girl.

Guan Shang, the female black-masked assassin had mentioned that she would convey Dragon King's wish to meet the Master of Xiaoyue Hall after seven days. But two weeks had passed since then, and there was still no sign of the Master and Guan Shang.

New Moon Hall truly seemed to prefer hiding behind the scenes.

Gu Shenwei could not just keep on waiting. He had already spent too much time meeting the main influences of Jade City while helping to expand Xu Xiaoyi's businesses. If not for the supplies that Golden Roc Fort had left behind at the Great Snowmountain camp, his money alone could not have even lasted a month.

No one was willing to openly support Dragon King since the situation was still hazy as the peace negotiations were still in process. Even Lyu Qiying, the manager of Southwall Tavern, would only agree to meet Gu Shenwei in utmost secrecy.

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However, no matter what, the Great Snowmountain would still survive this winter. Gu Shenwei believed that the following months would only consist of influences secretly pitting against each other, and there would be little opportunity to involve sabers. He would be able to come up with a solution to settle all the problems come next spring.

The residents of Jade City shared the same sentiments as well, and their topic for conversations quickly went back to fine wine and women. Therefore, when the news of Miss Ru from the Stone Castle was about to get married arrived, it immediately overtook the peace negotiations and became the hot topic.

Fang Wenshi came back with this piece of news and told Dragon King about it as a trivial matter.

”Miss Ru?” Initially, Gu Shenwei had no idea who she was.

”Shangguan Ru, she used to be known as the Tenth Young Master. If I recall, you used to be her killer in the past.”

”Yeah.” Gu Shenwei replied coldly, wishing to end this topic at once.

Fang Wenshi, however, clicked his tongue in amazement and continued, ”This is so unexpected. Really unexpected indeed. I would never have imagined that Supreme King would give Miss Ru's hand in marriage to Fifth Young Master Meng! They were like sworn enemies in the past! To think, sworn enemies will be married as husband and wife, haha, just the thought of it spells trouble!”