439 Faking Death (1/2)

Gu Shenwei knew that his actions would be opposed by Zhong Heng and Fang Wenshi.

Sending spies to the Central Plains was a reasonable move. However, the Dragon King's motive was not about bulling others, but revenge.

He had promised the Military Counsellor that he would pursue hegemony with all his heart, and up until this day, he had fulfilled his promise. Meeting the disciples of the Shangguan family, he maintained a calm exterior. Even if he was accompanied by the Supreme King's son, he could not hurt him.

However, deep in his heart, his hatred still existed. It was not something that he could simply remove if he wanted to.

Hatred was like a banyan tree. The seed had been planted in Gu Shenwei's body. He nurtured that little thing with everything inside him. In a short time, the tree had grown to the sky, entangling him with many drooping air roots and strangling its enthusiastic host.

Gu Shenwei did not resist. He let himself be swallowed up by hatred, because he drew from its strength. He needed that after his family was massacred.

Practising ”Death Scripture” entwined him with his hatred. Perhaps only Maid Lotus could understand Gu Shenwei's state.

Gu Shenwei never really gave up on revenge. As he got older, he felt that there must have been some kind of catch about his family's destruction. Golden Roc Fort must have been hired to do the killings by someone else. The employer must have come from the Central Plain, the greatest suspect being Wei Song.

However, one thing befuddled him: The Gu and Wei family had almost intermarried. Even if Wei Song had abandoned the Gu family and lost some power, he could have easily just withdrawn from the family. Why did he have to kill people?

He wanted to know why.

Wei Song was in the Western Region, but Gu Shenwei did not feel as urgent as before. One day, he would interrogate the enemy personally. Right now, he wanted to start from the Central Plain to understand the truth of the falling out between the Gu and Wei families.

So, he needed to send someone to the Central Plain.

This person had to be sufficiently loyal and trustworthy. More importantly, he needed to be able to endure the loneliness of being far away from home and not reveal his identity because of homesickness.

Gu Shenwei had been secretly observing, and knew that the swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain were all loyal. However, they were simple-minded with a distinctive personality. They could not accomplish the task of gathering information. Other people were even more unsuitable. The Xu Shi siblings could not endure loneliness. Zhong Heng and the others would only oppose the Dragon King's actions.

Lin Xiaoshan was the perfect candidate. He had lived in Jade City and knew the ways of life there. His loyalty to the Dragon King had already been severely tested. The only problem lie in whether he would be content to vanish into the Western regions and end all contact with everyone, including Lao Hong, a blacksmith who was like a father to him.

His love of Jiang solved the last problem.

Gu Shenwei once asked Lin Xiaoshan if Lao Hong and Jiang were ever in danger at the same time, who would he save first. Lin Xiaoshan chose Jiang, because he said Jiang needed more help.

From then on, Gu Shenwei forged a new plan.

The first problem was how to persuade Jiang.

Jiang liked Lin Xiaoshan. However, the will of the tribe had too much of an effect on her. Refusing to marry the Dragon King was unthinkable. Only Gu Shenwei could trick her.

”I need you to disappear. This is very important to me and the entire army. You probably also know that the residents of the Xiaoyao Lake and Five countries are strongly guarded against the Great Snowmountain. You are the focal point of the dispute. Without you, there would be no conflict,” said Gu Shenwei to Jiang.

Much of this was true, so Jiang agreed. She was not stupid -- she knew how important the Dragon King's grace was to her. Making her vanish did not require a complicated plan. She knelt down, hoping to repay the king one day.

”Look towards Lin Xiaoshan. This will be my reward,” said Gu Shenwei.

The second question was how to make Jiang vanish without a trace.

More than a year ago, Gu Shenwei was returning to Jade City when he met an opponent. When he was caught, he swallowed poison. The effect was considerable. Maid Lotus had scoffed at the medicine, claiming that New Moon Hall had a better substitute.

Maid Lotus went to summon the disciples from the same clan in Jade City. She left behind a large amounts of pills, including the substitute.

Jiang followed the Dragon King's orders and swallowed the medicine at midnight. She quietly ”died”, and fresh blood flowed out of the corner of her mouth. She looked like she had been killed by some heavy-handed means.

The danger still existed.

No one knew how the shocked the assassin who had gone to kill Jiang was. The person that he wanted to kill was already dead. He must have checked carefully and been convinced, because normally he would have even stabbed the person again. In that case, Jiang would have really died.

The assassin was eager to escape, so did not attack a second time. When he died under the sword of the Dragon King, no one knew that Jiang had actually been ”dead” for more than an hour.

To Lin Xiaoshan, Gu Shenwei did not reveal a single word. One, he was afraid of leaving behind any tracks. Secondly, he was scared that Jiang really had died, which would only irritate Lin Xiaoshan.

The specially-made pills of New Moon Hall lived up to their name. Jiang faked death for three days. Even the slave girl who dressed her up in the undertaker's clothes did not discover the truth.

When she was placed into the coffin, Gu Shenwei switched the corpse for a beam of wood that night. Jiang, who finally awakened, changed into men's clothes and accompanied the Dragon King as one of the guard troops of the savages.

This was the stage when it was easiest to make mistakes, but Jiang completed her task perfectly. She was a girl of the Great Snowmountain. She was not coquettish, like most women, and played the part of a man well.

The most important thing was that no one doubted Jiang's murder, so naturally, no one looked for any clues.