929 The Entrance (2/2)
”Kind of,” Gu Shenwei replied. Though his tone was bland, Du Jian felt like he was colluding with her in speaking inauspicious words.
”But there aren't any shiny things here. Actually there's also a similar place in the Waning Moon Hall, and I used to play there a lot. It's very interesting. Do you know what we played there, Dragon King?”
”I don't.”
”Ha-ha, we each brought one type of knockout powder and a dagger. The one who made it to the other end alive won. I always won. Once, I even walked out with four kinds of knockout powder and six daggers. Hall Leader Han even praised me. Alas, I was carried away and let out a few laughs before the Hall Leader then took a dislike to me.”
”Han Wuxian didn't allow you to laugh?”
”Um,” Han Fen replied in an aggrieved tone. ”She said that laughing was an advanced secret art that we shouldn't use arbitrarily, and that my laugh was silly and a humiliation for the Waning Moon Hall.”
Han Fen suddenly burst into laughter, as if she was purposefully protesting against the absent Han Wuxian. But her laugh just startled Du Jian and his guard, who then whipped out their sabers at the same time.
At this moment, when they were next to a torch, Han Fen stopped laughing, turned around, and looked at them in confusion before nervously asking in a muted voice, ”What did you find?”
Du Jian was embarrassed and annoyed. He was the one who should be asking this question. He answered, ”Nothing.” And then, he and the guard awkwardly sheathed their sabers.
But Han Fen became interested in him, so she let the Dragon King pull ahead of her as she fell back to walk side by side with Du Jian, staring at him. Even when they entered the dark, Du Jian could feel her eyes still staring at him, so he asked in an unfriendly tone, ”What're you doing?”
”Are you guys also killers?”
”Of course.”
”You don't seem like killers.”
”What makes you say that?”
”Uh. I don't know the specific reason, but I just feel that you two don't seem like killers.”
Du Jian became more annoyed. He knew why he didn't look like a killer. Compared to the Dragon King who was quietly walking in front of them, he didn't have a single trait that was similar to a killer. Even the guard beside him, who had been a Golden Roc killer several months ago, was imagining things like him.
It's not my fault,' Du Jian thought. The Unique King wanted the Heavenly Mountain Sect to be a normal sect, so all of their assassination methods had been abandoned. It had been less than a year, but all of the killers' skills had become rusty. Du Jian suspected that Golden Roc Castle would even have to hire outside killers if they wanted to assassinate someone.
But under no circumstances would he ever tell anybody these thoughts, especially the Dragon King. All of his complaints were expressed with an inexplicable snort.
Han Fen ran up to the Dragon King. ”If I had known that we were coming to this maze, I would have brought the kid with me. He likes playing the most.”
Gu Shenwei had handed Shangguan Cheng over to Han Fen on a whim, but it turned out that that had been a good decision. The two had quickly become playmates. Shangguan Cheng would rather stay with this ”weird elder sister” than return to his mother's camp.
Luo Ningcha's enthusiasm for her son had already disappeared, and it was very likely that she wouldn't think of him until the fight for the title of the Unique King started.
Gu Shenwei casually replied with an ”Um” sound, and then he suddenly stopped. Han Fen automatically shut up. She could tell when she could speak, and when she should be on her guard.
Even Du Jian and his guard sensed some kind of danger. Their vestigial killer instincts revived in this familiar life-and-death situation.
Standing in the dark, the four people breathed in an extremely slow and gentle manner, trying to sort through the various faint odors in the air.
The Dragon King's figure suddenly appeared behind them. He had brought back a torch. Both Du Jian and the guard were startled and horrified, since neither of them knew when the Dragon King had moved behind them.
Not far away in front of them, the corridor branched off to the right, and the strange smell was coming from there as well.
Han Fen's voice came from the depths of the branching corridor. Nobody knew when she had run forward. ”Come here. There are so many bodies.”
The branching road led them to a spacious hall. The torch in Gu Shenwei's hand was the only source of light.
Seven or eight corpses were on the ground, giving off the smell of blood that killers were familiar with.
Han Fen took the Dragon King's torch and lit the torches fixed on the walls.
Even more bodies were seen, numbering at least twenty. Du Jian involuntarily gave out an exclamation of fear. He was not afraid of corpses, but half of the dead people were the Heavenly Mountain Sect's sabersmen who had been sent here by him.
Both Gu Shenwei and Han Fen's attention were drawn by another scene in the hall.
Two giant birds were standing in the innermost part of the hall. Their wings were drooping and their faces seemed to be tired, which made them look senile. Only the golden feathers on the tops of their heads had remained unchanged.
Unexpectedly, the giant rocs which were supposed to have been burnt in that fire had been moved to the underground maze in the Bodhi Garden.
Han Fen looked at them in awe. ”I can tell that they were the Devil Bird's parents at first sight. The Master Commander must have wanted to give them to the Dragon King as gifts.”