329 Suing for Peace (1/2)

Chapter 329: Suing for Peace

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Gu Shenwei sat on horseback at a small mound as he gazed far ahead in the direction of the desert. Behind him, the 10 teams were forming up and leaving Shuangquan Village in a long procession. It was the first day of their journey to the Stone Kingdom.

Suddenly, the children who had been running and giggling beside him stopped playing and pointed their fingers at the sky while shouting, ”Eagle! There's an eagle!”

Gu Shenwei looked up and saw a black eagle flying unsteadily above in the sky. It looked as if it was about to lose its balance and fall to the ground at any minute.

”It's injured,” said some child.

”No, it has been entangled by a snake,” said an elderly man. He was the most experienced guide in this village and would be leading the teams across the desert.

Upon hearing the elderly man's words, the children all looked up while shading their eyes with their hands. They quickly spotted a colorful snake in the eagle's beak. The snake refused to give in to the bird and tightly wrapped itself around the eagle's body.

During such a life-and-death struggle, the victory would always belong to the one who was more persistent.

”It's not a good omen,” the guide muttered to himself. ”We shouldn't take this route during this season.”

”Omens themselves are neutral; one man's meat is another man's poison,” Gu Shenwei said while watching the eagle fighting the snake.

The guide was deeply impressed by the Dragon King's words and bowed to him while saying, ”You're right, Dragon King. Let's hope that it's a good omen for us.”

Before the outcome of their fight was decided, the eagle had flown away from the scene with the snake in its beak.

The team dispatched by the Golden Roc Fort took its position at the head of the procession and was leading the other teams out of the village. Gu Shenwei did not see anyone who looked like Shangguan Ru in the team. He thought that she must have disguised herself.

After the Golden Roc Fort's team came the Special Emissary from the Central Plains and his entourage. The Special Envoy warmly greeted the Dragon King, while Zhong Heng, who was also on the Special Envoy's team, just slightly nodded to the youth without saying a word.

Behind them were several merchant caravans, followed by monks from the Four Truths Temple. All of the monks traveled by foot with big bags on their backs. They had come to Shuangquan Villiage together with the Golden Roc Fort's team, but surprisingly, they did not team up today.

Amongst them was an elderly monk who was thin but looked hale and hearty. He walked with his fellow monks while carrying a package on his back. According to the news that Gu Shenwei had gotten beforehand, this monk was named Fayan and he was the Master Shifu of Lianhua, Lianxin and Lianye. Gu Shenwei was not sure whether this monk joined this journey on purpose or by accident.

Unlike the other monks, who deliberately ignored the Dragon King, Fayan, a total stranger to the young man, nodded to him while walking past.

At the end of the procession, was the Great Snowmountain's team led by Lin Xiaoshan, which consisted of more than 30 people. Guan Shang had used some make-up to change her looks, allowing herself to blend in with the crowd.

Maid Lotus was the last to leave the village. She rode up to Gu Shenwei saying, ”Many people in the six caravans have suspicious backgrounds, but none of them look like killers from the Golden Roc Fort.”

”The Supreme King won't send any killers to assassinate me here. He'll never want to bear the blame for breaching the truce agreement,” said Gu Shenwei.

”No matter whom he has sent here, we won't have enough manpower to cope with them,” said Maid Lotus.

Among the 30 team members of the Great Snowmountain, only three people had great kung fu. Compared to the Golden Roc Fort, the Dragon King did have a rather weak team here.

”Given that, we can only strike first to gain the initiative,” said Gu Shenwei.

Upon hearing this, Maid Lotus smiled, since this was exactly what she was thinking about. She quickly determined the first target and said, ”We can start with that small caravan. It has only 15 people, and they look more anxious than the others.”

Gu Shenwei agreed since he himself had also noticed this strange team. Although all the members of the team were dressed in long robes like ordinary businessmen, their riding posture, their strong and steady hands and the looks on their faces clearly indicated that they were not common people. ”Let's act tonight,” said Gu Shenwei.

It was winter. When night fell, it was particularly cold and quiet in the desert. The 10 teams pitched camp together for the night and the tents of the Golden Roc Fort's team occupied nearly half of the camp ground.

Toward midnight, Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus sneaked out of their tent and went to meet with Guan Shang, who had been keeping watch on the small caravan for them all this while in the northeastern corner of the camp. When they arrived, Guan Shang nodded to them, signifying that everything was alright and there was no trap.

After having fulfilled her responsibilities, Guan Shang retreated to her own tent, leaving matters to the two killers.

The 15 members of the small caravan were split evenly into three tents. Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus intended to use knockout powder on them before sneaking into their tents to cut off their heads.

Before they took action, they spent a little bit of time observing their target out of habit. What happened next proved that this was prudent.

Fourteen people crept out of the three tents in groups of two or three, their faces concealed. They nodded to one another and then headed for the southeastern corner of the camp.

That corner was occupied by the Great Snowmountain's team. It seemed that these masked men also planned to launch an attack tonight.

Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus exchanged a knowing look with each other and then took a detour to the southeastern corner, preparing to block and eliminate their enemies when they retreated from that place.

To their great surprise, when they arrived, they discovered that the target of the 14 masked men was not the Great Snowmountain's team but the monks from Four Truths Temple.

The 12 monks, who were planning to meditate through the night, did not need too much space. Therefore, they had pitched only two tents.

The masked men left two men standing guard outside each tent, and then the rest of them split into two teams and rushed into the two respective tents. This was an amateur assassination technqiue which could only succeed when used on ordinary victims. Against the 12 highly skilled monks, it was akin to courting their own death.

The fight in the tents had lasted for a very short period of time before the defeated masked men dashed out of the tents and fled.

Upon hearing the noises from the fight, the people in the neighboring tents woke up with a start and ran out to check the situation. Such chaos happened to provide coverage for the masked men.