451 Confusion Settled (2/2)

”Shangguan Yun escaped anyway,” Gu Shenwei thought to himself.

Gu Shenwei didn't know why the Third Young Master of Golden Roc Fort had made this trap. ”He knew that it was impossible to kill me with this trap. Is it possible that he did it only to say those words to me? But those words are more like the usual last-minute artful talk that he makes up to obtain my trust,” he wondered.

He stopped guessing blindly, because some people appeared around him that would be able to give him answers.

The first one he thought of was Maid Lotus.

She ran out of the passage with a group of people, and caught up with Gu Shenwei. On the way to the capital, she told him what had happened to her.

Maid Lotus had followed Chipo, and then discovered a distinguished guest from Golden Roc Fort in the Royal Palace. Although she had never seen Shangguan Yun, she recognized him immediately and quickly figured out the truth. Ever since then, she started to follow Shangguan Yun.

She found that Shangguan Yun was a tough person to get close to, so she followed other attendants. Maid Lotus had seen Chipo set a trap to catch Chu Nanping at the ancestral shrine, but she didn't stop him.

There were too many people. To avoid being exposed, Maid Lotus had divided the disciples of New Moon Hall into two groups. A few, including Han Fen, were asked to remain in the town to keep watch on the situation inside. Meanwhile, she followed Shangguan Yun and left the capital with three disciples.

She had intended to assassinate Shangguan Yun along the way, but she couldn't find a good chance. It wasn't easy to assassinate a vigilant man like him. Having seen him and his people take a boat across Xiaoyao Lake and move southward to enter Wushan, Maid Lotus resolved to find out their final purpose first before taking the next step.

They had crossed Wushan, and then entered the Land of Fragrance separately.

During their three-day stay in the Land of Fragrance, Shangguan Yun had talked with his sister several times. Maid Lotus did not know the content of their conversations, as she had never gotten close enough to them.

Shangguan Yun's persuasion seemed to have failed, but he did not look disappointed on his way to the Hui Kingdom.

After tracing him for a long time, Maid Lotus gradually realized that she could never find an opportunity to assassinate a tough and cunning man like him. Instead, she realized that the enemy had begun to be aware that something was wrong.

One day, Maid Lotus had eavesdropped on one of Chipo's conversations with some others. In this conversation, they mentioned Shangguan Yun's plot against the Dragon King after his return to the Hui Kingdom. Besides that, they also vaguely expressed their fear of Maid Lotus. Upon hearing this, Maid Lotus came up with a good idea.

A disciple of New Moon Hall altered her appearance and pretended to be Maid Lotus. Then, this disciple was asked to assassinate Shangguan Yun with Maid Lotus' sword. In the end, she was ambushed and killed instead of the Managing Master.

Ever since then, Maid Lotus had been considered a ”dead person”. She came back and arrived at the Capital of the Hui Kingdom the day before Shangguan Yun. Next, she changed her identity and pretended to be Han Fen, aiming to make Shangguan Yun let down his guard.

Her plan almost succeeded. She found that Shangguan Yun's intention was not to kill the Dragon King. He gave the Dragon King a slap, and then fled. During the process, Maid Lotus had no chance to use her sword.

”Ah, Han Fen, no, you're Maid Lotus... you really fooled me,” Gu Shenwei said. He didn't recognize Maid Lotus until she reached the exit of the secret chamber. Before that, he had never suspected this crazy, but innocent girl.

”Han Fen is the one I trust the most in New Moon Hall. I know her very well,” Maid Lotus said.

After finishing her story, she walked into the camp of the Dragon Army with them, which startled the soldiers were because they thought that she was dead. Maid Lotus said coolly, ”I heard that you'll marry the Princess soon. Congratulations!”

”Thanks,” replied Gu Shenwei without another word. He sometimes wondered whether he had stayed in the Hui Kingdom for two months just to dodge that wedding. ”During that period, I received several letters from Zhong Heng. In those letters, he invited me to return to the Stone Kingdom, but I found all kinds of excuses to refuse. Although we didn't mention the Princess or the wedding ceremony, we both knew that was the reason for our correspondence,” Gu Shenwei thought to himself.

Chu Nanping was the second one who explained to the Dragon King. Because other people were still weak, he was the only one who could manage to talk.

According to Chu Nanping, Hu Shining had hidden in the remote mountains with his many apprentices immediately after Shu-lik was broken. Since then, he had sent disciples to collect information in the city every day. After hearing that the Dragon King was dead, he had asked the disciples to leave, but only a few kids actually did. Most of them were willing to be killers without a master instead of returning to their former lives.

Later, when he heard about the Dragon King's return to the Western Region, Hu Shining was overjoyed. He immediately asked his apprentices to pretend to be beggars and sent them to Xiaoyao Lake in groups.

Things happened as Gu Shenwei had predicted. Noticing that suspicious characters kept entering the capital of the Hui Kingdom, Hu Shining sent Chu Nanping to lure the enemies out. His plan failed, though. Those enemies had prepared in advance, so they surrounded them immediately.

Hu Shining only had about 40 subordinates, all around the age of ten. Given that, they were no match for Golden Roc killers. In the fight, most of them were caught alive, as ordered by Shangguan Yun. A few were killed, and Chu Nanping was the only one who managed to escape.

Later, those kids were locked up in the dungeon of the Royal Palace. Chu Nanping was also trapped and caught within a couple of days.

Before leaving the Hui Kingdom, Shangguan Yun spent three days chatting with each of them alone. After that, a couple of apprentices came onto his side. Many hadn't changed their minds, but their attitude toward the Third Young Master of Golden Roc Fort changed dramatically. Their fear turned to admiration and reverence.

Shangguan Yun knew that Chu Nanping had been a disciple of the Joy Pavilion. To get close to Chu Nanping, he told him that they had met each once before, when he was learning martial arts at the Joy Pavilion. But Chu Nanping didn't talk much about that meeting, acting as if he didn't care about it.

Chu Nanping was as cold and composed as before. After being rescued, he didn't seem very surprised, nor had joy appeared on his face at the sight of Gu Shenwei, even though they hadn't seen each other for days. He briefly told Gu Shenwei what he had undergone, and then asked, ”Did you force Tie Linglong to leave?”

”Yes,” said Gu Shenwei.

”But she didn't come back to Shu-lik,” said Chu Nanping.

Their conversation was over.

Hu Shining begged to meet the Dragon King to remind him of his duty. He said to Gu Shenwei anxiously, ”These kids have become a threat to us. After the Third Young Master's brainwashing, they have changed their minds, even though they don't speak it. Please find a way to solve this soon.”

Shangguan Yun hadn't killed all of them. Instead, he left most of them alive and brainwashed them. He wanted to see what decision the Dragon King would make: To kill them all or risk raising them, always being wary of their betrayal.

Gu Shenwei wouldn't kill them all. If he did, he would be the loser in this game with Shangguan Yun.

Shangguan Hong was the third one that the Dragon King questioned. Gu Shenwei captured him in the end. Before that, he had been caught by Shangguan Jianyi and the Third Young Master. None of them treated him as the son of the Supreme King.

Knowing the situation he was in, his face turned pale. He said with a fawning smile, ”Dragon King, it's useless to kill me. I'm nothing. Besides, the Third Young... Shangguan Yun asked me to tell you, 'The glorious era of killers has passed. From today on, no more assassinations. Let's fight in the battlefield, fair and square.'”