365 The Hidden Traitor (1/2)

Chapter 365: The Hidden Traitor

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Long Haiying was tall and sturdy; he even kept getting bigger after age 30. Now, he was 56 and looked roughly the same size of two swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain put together.

He was widely-known for his bravery and reckless behavior. Once, he had rushed into a crowd of 100 enemies and slaughtered half of them before scaring the other half away.

”I have a son.” Long Haiying started with this sentence when he went to confess his crime to the Dragon King.

The reason he betrayed the Dragon King was just that he wanted to leave his son a strong and prosperous Greatsword Peak. To achieve that goal, he needed to remove two obstacles.

The first one was the Luoshen Peak and its chief, Long Qinying. As the eldest tribal chief in the entire Great Snowmountain, Long Qinying enjoyed high prestige among the locals.

The other one was the Danduo Peak, who had the most men in the Great Snowmountain. Its tribal chief, Long Xiaoshi, had long been venerated as a leader of the swordsmen and his status was second only to the Dragon King.

Among the five peaks, the Greatsword Peak was not the weakest one, but it could only be considered to be average. In the foreseeable future, it was impossible for the Greatsword Peak to surpass the two powerful tribes unless the two peaks declined by their own doing.

In the Dragon King's army, the Greatsword Peak still could not compete with the Danduo Peak and the Luoshen Peak. The former had the most swordsmen in the army and the latter had mobilized all the young men of the tribe to join the army, while on the other hand, Long Haiying had only taken half of his swordsmen to join the expedition and left the other half with his son in the Greatsword Peak of the Great Snowmountain.

”I don't know what happened. It must have been a devil who put this idea into my mind. I think that even if this army is wiped out and even if I die, my son with the young swordsmen that I've left with him will still be able to outshine the other four tribes in strength and thus the Greatsword Peak will become the strongest force in the Great Snowmountain.”

Long Haiying admitted that he was the hidden traitor. However, he did not look or sound regretful, as if he had just made a small mistake.

Gu Shenwei had already roughly guessed what was on Long Haiying's mind. He kept calm and quiet and even gazed at the sturdy swordsman with a little respect.

”I've never thought of betraying you, Dragon King. You saved the Great Snowmountain. You're our guide and our leader. Even when the Greatsword Peak becomes the strongest tribe in the Great Snowmountain, we'll still be loyal to you.”

With these words, Long Haiying untied his heavy sword and went down on one knee. ”I've committed an unforgivable crime. Please kill me with my sword, Dragon King. It's my own idea and has nothing to do with the others,” he said while holding his sword up high with both hands.

It took a lot of nerve for Long Haiying to make such a request. Based on the Great Snowmountain's tradition, killing a swordsman with his own sword was a supreme insult to him.

Beyond the tribal chief's expectations, the Dragon King declined to receive his sword. He kept waiting for a while before lifting up his head. His face blushed, and his eyes were full of sorrow and disappointment. ”Isn't it enough to make up for the things I've done wrong?” asked Long Haiying.

”More than a thousand soldiers died because of you,” Gu Shenwei said in a harsh tone. Long Haiying was old enough to be his grandfather, but he could not forgive this man just because of his old age. ”The Great Snowmountain has the bravest young men in the world, but has always suffered the fate of being bullied by foreign tribes. Why? It's because of constant internal struggles,” added Gu Shenwei.

Long Haiying placed his other knee on the ground and kowtowed to the Dragon King, while holding his heavy sword with both hands. ”Please punish me any way you like, Dragon King. I'll accept it without complaint,” Long Haiying said in a trembling voice.

Gu Shenwei took one step backward and said, ”Since you've no regrets about it, tell me the whole truth. Don't put the blame on some evil spirit. Let me know who gave you this piece of advice.”

Gu Shenwei knew his swordsmen well. He believed that Long Haiying himself could never think of colluding with the Golden Roc Fort no matter how much he wanted to help his son.

Upon hearing the Dragon King's demand, Long Haiying was shivering all over. In his eyes, betraying another person was worse than death, even if this person had once deceived him.

Gu Shenwei refused to back down. His army could not afford another serious setback caused by betrayal, since they would have to undergo all sorts of hardships and danger in the near future.

”Lu, Lu Huan.”

Long Haiying seemed to have exhausted all his strength to utter that name. After saying it, his whole head sank down between his broad shoulders.

Gu Shenwei felt that his heart had just skipped a beat when he heard the name. Lu Huan was not a swordsman but a macheteman under the command of Tuo Nengya.

”Someone outside the Greatsword Peak was also involved in the betrayal. This is the worst possible outcome,” Gu Shenwei sighed in his heart and then he thought of Zhong Heng's words, ”'Looking for the truth' and 'solving the problem' are completely different concepts.”

”Stand up,” Gu Shenwei commanded.

Long Haiying managed to get up, his body still shaking.

”I want someone to attack the Golden Roc Fort's army in the southeast. By doing so, we can delude our enemies into believing that we're advancing toward the southeast and gain more time for our main body to retreat southward,” said Gu Shenwei.

Long Haiying's gaze brightened at these words. He stopped shivering and doubtfully looked at the Dragon King for a moment. After that, he knelt again and said, ”I'll never forget your kindness, Dragon King.”

Long Haiying was a typical swordsman and not good at expressing his gratitude with words.

He knew that the Dragon King was planning to sacrifice his life to save his and the Greatsword Peak's reputation.

The Dragon King could not execute a tribal leader without announcing his crime. Given that, if Gu Shenwei directly executed Long Haiying, everyone would know the tribal leader's wrong deeds and keep cursing him for years after his death. The Greatsword Peak would also be disgraced by his conduct.

However, if Long Haiying ended up dying on the battlefield, he would be remembered as a martyr instead of a traitor.

”Don't take too many people with you,” said Gu Shenwei. He had to send some innocent soldiers to accompany Long Haiying on this mission while knowing for sure that they would never be able to come back alive.