299 Snores (2/2)

”Yes. Dragon King, please ask. I won't hide anything.”

”What did you see on the night when Master Lianhua was killed?”

”I ... I saw Dragon King fighting with Master Lianye.”

”Before that.”

”I was sleeping at that time, so I didn't know anything.”

Gu Shenwei pressed the Five Peaks Saber against the monk's sturdy chest. ”It seemed like you didn't have a regular snoring pattern. You were snoring really loudly the other time. However, you weren't snoring this time round.”

The monk's face changed, ”I ... I ... Is it ... I don't even know when I snore.”

”Master Lianye was grief-stricken when Master Lianhua was killed. He must have made a lot of noise then. Didn't that rouse you up?”

”I didn't know. I was sleeping soundly.”

”There are many kinds of machete skills. I can kill people in one blow or hundreds of blows. All of these are considered to be top machete techniques. Which one do you prefer?”

The monk did not understand what Gu Shenwei meant initially. He soon realized what Gu Shenwei meant by using multiple blows. It was used to torture a person instead of killing him. His face turned green as he started sweating profusely. He could not imagine how many blows his fat body had to undertake. ”Don't, Dragon King, don't, I ... I will tell you the truth.”

”I want the real truth.”

”Yes, the real truth. That day ... that afternoon, Liu Qi came to me and gave me 20 silver taels. He wanted me to put something into both monks' food. I refused, but he pressured me. He said that it wasn't poison and wasn't deadly. Never did I thought that the drug would cause Master Lianye to lose his sight temporarily and Master Lianhua to be assassinated. If I knew that this would harm someone's life, I would have never done such a wicked thing. As a monk ...”

Gu Shenwei interrupted him, ”who is Liu Qi?”

”He ... he...” The fat monk was trying to think of a way that best describes Liu Qi's origins. He finally decided to use a simple method. He said, ”He was a slave from the castle. His name was Slave Qing. Dragon King would probably know him.”

Gu Shenwei definitely knew Slave Qing.

Slave Qing used to be a companion for the twins. He then came down from the mountain to serve as a butler for Ninth Young Master, Shangguan Fei.

Gu Shenwei was extremely startled. Why would Shangguan Fei kill Master Lianhua, and tried to push the blame onto Dragon King? It didn't benefit him.

”What did you know about Master Lianhua preaching to the machetemen at South City?”

”I really didn't know about this. The two masters were only staying here temporarily and didn't really talk to me.”

Recognising the hidden meaning in the monk's words, Gu Shenwei raised his head and asked, ”What did you hear?”

”Regarding this, there was once when I heard Master Lianye sobbing hard. He said that he had caused harm to Master Lianhua and would punish himself by committing suicide. Master Lianhua didn't allow it and even reprimanded him. Really, that's all. Dragon King, that's all I know.”

Gu Shenwei spared the abbot's life. As Great Snowmountain was currently in the middle of a peace negotiation, killing someone now would give Golden Roc Fort a cause for objection.

There was not enough time to find Slave Qing. Gu Shenwei returned to the Residence of Dragon King and pondered what Lianye had done to implicate Master Lianhua.

It was already late at night. Other than Jiang, there was someone else in his room.

Xu Yanwei was determined to pester Dragon King. She did not persuade him to do something directly. However, as long as she found a chance, she would beat around the bush and mention Shangguan Ru. Gu Shenwei once forbade Xu Yanwei from entering his room. Her ability to please people was further honed after serving Luo Ningcha for a few years, hence Dragon King's orders were often not executed.

This was the case tonight.

Once Jiang noticed Dragon King, she stood up immediately and spoke fearfully, ”Dragon King, it was my fault. I shouldn't have let Sister Xu come in ...”

Xu Yanwei smiled and said cheerfully, ”Don't blame her. I insisted on coming in. She wasn't as strong as me so she was unable to stop me.”

Xu Yanwei might be slightly older, but she was as petite as her brother. All her strength would not even measure up to an arm strength of a girl from Great Snowmountain.

Gu Shenwei did not bother entertaining her, nor did he drive her out. He removed his cape and passed it to Jiang. He then leaped onto the bed and closed his eyes.

”Would you like to enter Stone Castle, Jiang?” Xu Yanwei took the Great Snow Mountain girl by the arm and continued chatting.

”I had never thought about it.” Jiang lowered her voice.

”Just look for me if you want to enter Stone Castle. I can guarantee that you can enter and leave the castle safely. You can even bring someone out. Nobody will suspect anything ...”

Jumping off the bed, Gu Shenwei carried Xu Yanwei from the small bed and threw her out of the room.

”That person weighs about the same as me.” Xu Yanwei kindly reminded him from the outside. ”And she knows how to leap onto roofs and vault over walls, so you won't have to carry her.”

Gu Shenwei blew the lights out and slept. Jiang helped tuck his blanket corners and went back to sit on her small bed before lying down to sleep.

The next morning, Gu Shenwei brought ten swordsmen, ten machetemen, along with Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong to the Rouge Forest.

The spectacular occasion had reminded him of the duel that he had with Sword Sacrificer Ye Silang a few years back. That match was fought according to the ways of killers. The entire forest was the fighting ground. Today, he would be following the rules, which were laid out by the machetemen and would battle it out, face to face against a strong rival in a small arena.

Gu Shenwei did not sleep much last night, but he was quite refreshed. He had thought through several important matters and that gave him much more confidence in today's match.