403 Wrongful Murder (1/2)

Three people were about to arrive. Gu Shenwei still harboured some doubts, but there was little time left. The three horses passed in a flash, he had no time to ponder about it. Years as a killer had developed in him a habit of planning carefully before acting but having no hesitation when it came time to strike.

In terms of procedure, this was a perfect assassination with nothing for him to worry about.

Gu Shenwei struck first. He swept past one of the riders with his saber outstretched. The rider's head fell to the ground like a ripe fruit falling from its tree.

The other person had not even realized what had happened before Maid Lotus struck. His head flew into the air as blood from his neck wound spurted a few feet high.

The sole rider was left completely shocked. It was unbelievable to be ambushed so close to home, and his two companions had died so strangely that he was even more puzzled. Even so, he did not speed up to escape or shout for help. It seemed that he was not afraid. He held the reins of his mount and looked around as if what had happened was merely a childish prank.

This man did not behave like a killer; his actions showed that he did not even have basic jianghu experience.

The doubt in Gu Shenwei's mind suddenly heightened and he could not tamp it down any longer.

What happened next took no time at all. Gu Shenwei pounced on the third knight just as Maid Lotus struck. However, he changed his mind at the very last minute and did not strike with his saber. Instead, he squatted on the horse and held his target by the neck.

The horse raised its front hooves and whinnied.

”Who are you?” Gu Shenwei asked softly, close to the rider's ear.

The rider was finally shook out of his daze but he was now overwhelmed by fear and could not say a word; he could only let out guttural sounds.

Gu Shenwei tapped the back of the rider's head with the hilt of his saber. The threat seemed to infuse some energy back into the rider and he finally spoke. ”I, I, I am Starlet,” he said.

”Who were the other two men?”

”Seven, Seventh Master and Yue'er.”

Maid Lotus had carefully examined the two corpses on the ground. She shook her head at Gu Shenwei, signifying that neither of them were Golden Roc killers.

Gu Shenwei relaxed his arm which held the neck of Starlet, ”What are you doing, returning back here at night?”

”The Old Master sent a messenger to inform Seventh Master that the honored guest had arrived in the village and that he should return to the village immediately.”

Gu Shenwei finally realized that he had committed a grave error.

After careful consideration, he realized that there was no direct evidence that the fat chief was harboring any evil intention. It was just a deduction he made, based on what he understood about human nature. This tactic was time-tested, but today it had failed.

The customs of the Wushan tribe might be entirely different from that of Jade City.

Gu Shenwei jumped off the horse and thought about how to make up for his mistake: The fat chief had many children and grandchildren, but he seemed to love them all. He would not be indifferent to the inexplicable death of ”Seventh Master”.

He raised his head and then looked at Maid Lotus. They had the same idea about what to do next.

Gu Shenwei hesitated for a moment, but immediately reminded himself, ”You are the Dragon King and there are 10,000 soldiers of the Great Snowmountain behind you.”

He sheathed his saber and said to Starlet, ”It is a misunderstanding, so you don't have to be afraid.”

”Right,” Starlet replied. He was still dazed. ”Misunderstanding, it's a mis...”

A sword struck Starlet's left ear. His body straightened momentarily before slowly collapsing onto his horse. He died without understanding why, just like his two companions.

The whinny of the horse drew the attention of people of the village and a group of passers-by came running over. Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus jumped up to a cliff, the height of three people, and snuck back to their residences in the village.

”This doesn't prove anything. The people of Gulping Wind Gorge may have other plots that we don't know about.”

Maid Lotus said it as an encouragement.

However, it made Gu Shenwei vigilant again. He suspected that he had inadvertently shown a little weakness which lead to Maid Lotus sympathizing with him. He considered it as a fatal flaw for somebody like himself who wanted to compete for hegemony in the Western Region.

”Maybe. But this is not important now. In a few days, the vanguard of Long Fanyun will occupy this area once. The passage of Wushan shouldn't be in the hands of outsiders.”

Gu Shenwei was speaking about his plans in advance. Maid Lotus seemed to understand his intention, so she bowed respectfully towards him and withdrew from the room.

This was the distance Gu Shenwei kept between them deliberately: He needed Maid Lotus, because her kung fu and status could not be replaced by anyone, but he did not want to get too close to her.

He suddenly remembered Shangguan Ru, who was walking on an opposite path. They had become more and more unfamiliar with each other, but there was something similar about them: They had both been hurt deeply by betrayal and then buried their inner feelings using different methods.

Gu Shenwei had made few mistakes when trying to uncover plots but this was not the first time that he killed a person wrongly.

When he had fled from the Golden Roc Fort, he had encountered several crises. At that time, he was required to make a quick decision whether to kill or not. In all cases, he chose the former.

Most of the time, his choices were correct. There were several times in which he would never even need to review whether those choices had been right or wrong. However, there were also two occurances when there was clear evidence that he had killed the person wrongly. The dead were just ordinary people and had nothing to do with Golden Roc Fort.

If he chose to kill, there was always a possibility that it would be a mistake, but it would not be a fatal one. If he chose not to kill; there was still a 50-50 chance that it would be mistake, only that this time, if it was, he would end up dead --this was the difference between the two options.

Shangguan Ru told him about how Old Man Mu classified villians: Low-class evildoers tended to fabricate reasons for their deeds while the average ones were forced by reasons provided by others to justify their actions. The ones good at doing evil deeds created reasons and the top-level evildoers did not need any reasons.

Old Man Mu thought that he was a top-level evildoer and he regarded Gu Shenwei as one of average class.

Gu Shenwei felt that Old Man Mu thought too highly of him. He was a junior evildoer and simply faking an excuse to get peace of mind after committing wrongful murder.