Chapter 102: Roc's Coming
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The killers felt no sense of comfort in this deep, dark night.
The two threw the body down the cliff then, just as they prepared to depart, they both sensed danger in the air. The sensitivity to traps was in the killers' nature, which made them consider everything as hostile, including the snecks and the trees.
However, luckily for them, they were not the target. Moreover, this was also not the most intense hunting ground, but they still caused alarm through their behavior.
Like a puff of smoke, an assassin in black stood up in the snecks. "Tell me your name."
This was the critical moment. These two teenagers had become colder and colder as they studied the Nameless Swordbook, and they reached tacit cooperation during many assassinations. When this moment arrived, they quickly reacted together. It looked like they had practiced it before as they instinctively leaped into the trap.
Maid Lotus stabbed the speaker to death and moved swiftly - like a bat chasing its food.
Gu Shenwei rushed to the nearby thickets, slightly later than Maid Lotus, and managed to stab another killer.
The two apprentices' ruthlessness surprised the others. They all appeared at once, drawing their sabers.
The killers were used to finishing their tasks without a single battle or making any sound. They waved their sabers silently.
In this horrible dark night, one could neither see any man - except a few moving ghosts - nor hear the sound of weapons crashing or peoples' steps. Just a thud indicated a man falling.
Their battles finished soon after.
There were only ten assassins in black remaining; six were killed. They formed a line to block the exit of Woodensaber Alley.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus were trapped.
Maid Lotus' saber was broken, with only half of it left. She did not foresee that one of the assassins wore a breastplate, which protected him from being stabbed in the heart.
Gu Shenwei's hands were empty. Due to the fact that he scratched his wrist when cutting an enemy's neck, he was forced to abandon the saber.
Now they could not alter the situation. The ten assassins were terribly annoyed and shocked. Where did these two apprentices with such weird saber skills coming from? As a result, they stopped in case they killed some of the Shangguan family's offspring - those who were raised painstakingly and secretly by Supreme King.
After a while, a killer asked, "Who really are you?"
The two stayed silent. Not far from them, there were two bodies with sabers in their hands. If they could grab them, then they might be able to fight back.
"Kill them all."
"Arrest them."
As the assassins discorded, they completely ignored Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus. Seizing this opportunity, the surrounded teenagers abruptly rushed toward the dagger on the floor.
The assassins moved almost at the same time, with each teenager having two assassins sent after them. With six assassins remaining, they stayed behind as backup just in case the former ones failed.
Gu Shenwei grasped his saber, but he could not execute any techniques. All he could do was avoid the attacks by tumbling. If this kept up, he would reach the end of the cliff in a few steps.
Maid Lotus performed her lightness skill better than him. She reached the saber earlier but facing two enemy sabers, she could not do anything but retreat, moving closer to the cliff.
Gu Shenwei prepared to endure one cut so that he could stand up and fight back when suddenly, the "Will of the Divine" appeared and interfered with this incident - something he had forgotten from a long time ago.
A cloud darker than the night flew above and covered the sky.
A giant body landed in front of them, its sickle-like beak waving above everyone's head, searching for and harvesting its favorite food.
The scream could be heard from Woodensaber Alley in the depths of the Inner Residence. Supreme King, who was lying next to his lover, woke up in fright.
The giant red-crowned roc appeared and before it completely landed on the ground, it already killed two of the killers who were surrounding Gu Shenwei.
The other killers were stunned; they were waiting for the beast all this time, but when it finally arrived they could not find any hunting net or rope nearby.
Maid Lotus finally saw an opportunity to counterattack, so she struck one killer and moved closer to Gu Shenwei, standing with him. She knew that the roc was his friend.
Gu Shenwei regained his footing. Astonished, he looked at the fledgling that he had been missing all this time.
In its childhood, it was glabrous and wrinkled, devouring food like a tiger. When it grew up, it became ferocious with its neck shrunk and its shoulders shrugged all the time. Now it was two heads higher than Gu Shenwei. It stood with its shoulders back and chest out, and its crimson feathers bristled like a solid wall. It was truly a roc now.
The giant, red-crowned roc stepped toward the rest of the killers with its back facing the teenagers.
The killers were frightened, yet for the fame of Golden Roc Fort, they did not retreat.
The roc did not give them chance to retreat, either. It spread its wings and flew up about six meters high, hovering above them. After several screams, the killers lost their eyes. They dropped their daggers, covered their faces with both hands, and screamed. From another angle, they looked like strays who had slowly been trekking for a long time, or tipplers who had drunk so much that they could barely control their bodies and staggered forward. They were seemed summoned by the fate, which led them to the abyss.
The two teenagers had toughened their hearts through many killings, yet witnessing this scene, they stood transfixed with fright, completely forgetting to react.
In the blink of an eye, the roc finished its slaughter. It folded its wings and faced the boy whose life it had just saved.
It looked even stronger than its parents: those golden-crowned rocs. It stretched its spindly neck freely, seemingly showing how nutritious those corpses were that Gu Shenwei threw out in these past months.
The only thing unusual was the feathers on its head and eyeballs. They were all crimson, sparkling even in the deep dark night. If the golden-crowned roc was the prideful king, then this one must be the devil descending to earth.
It only restrained its murderous intent when it sat next to this familiar boy. Tilting its head and sizing up Gu Shenwei, like the squab it used to be, it wanted to peck at his insteps again.
"We have to move quickly."
Maid Lotus reminded Gu Shenwei, who was almost deaf now. He looked up and observed the roc, unable to restrain himself with wild joy. "Is this really the squab that I raised up?"
The roc jumped by his side and sniffed him with its beak rubbing his body.
Maid Lotus stepped backward and reminded him again. "If you stay here a second longer, then the roc will also be in danger."
Her words drew Gu Shenwei's senses back from the excitement of reunion. He hugged the roc hurriedly and pushed it to the edge of the cliff. "Go, leave this place and never come back."
The roc understood how serious the situation was. It jumped at full tilt and flew upward again. Like a gust of wind, it dashed into the cloud and disappeared.
The two teenagers hastily dropped the corpses down the cliff; the wounds and cuts, which were not caused by the roc, would raise doubts. They quickly hid in the Woodensaber Alley.
This was a remote location as anyone who heard the scream would take some time to find this place. The moment they found the shelter, countless men arrived and reached the cliff. Thus, they grabbed the opportunity and left soon after, missing the later scene.
The next day, they heard a rumor. Supreme King thought this incident was unbelievable, for the killers there barely used the tool they prepared. In addition, they were foolish enough to fight with the roc openly. Shangguan Fa was so annoyed that he arrested the counselors who organized this mission, sent them into the Heart Cleansing Yard, and interrogated them with torture.
These counselors included Mister Guo, more or less comforting Gu Shenwei. This was the prelude to his vengeance.
This incident dwarfed the influence of the dead killer in the black market. The investigators even blamed the dead one for this failed mission. They thought he over drank and ran to the cliff, which shocked the roc.
Supreme King felt disgraced. He forbade anyone from mentioning the roc anymore. Yet he still arranged men on the tower and equipped them with the strong bows and crossbows, which should be operated by several men. The arrows were connected with the ropes, so once anyone saw the roc they could shoot it down immediately.
Shangguan Fa now changed his mind: he wanted the roc, dead or alive.
The number of guards patrolling the border of the fort was increased. Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus had to abandon the assassinations. The magical thing was, the giant red-crowned roc seemed had vanished without any trace. In these three months, after claiming so many lives, it seemed to only have wanted to see its old acquaintance.
The battle with the killers proved the effectiveness of swordplay, but it exposed another problem as well. When Maid Lotus stabbed the chest of her opponent, who at that time was wearing a breastplate, her strength failed to pierce through, thusly breaking the dagger. She almost died.
This led them to the flaw of this swordplay which Gu Shenwei originally considered. What if the enemies were wearing an entire set of armor, and were invulnerable? According to the sword book, when the practicer reached a level of Internal Strength, with the help of a unique method, they could break through anything. However, Internal Strength was precisely these two's weakness.
Finally, they both agreed that an extremely sharp sword was necessary if they wanted to inherit this art.
But in Golden Roc Fort the dagger-users could hardly find a chance to forge a sword.
After several days, when the summer came, Gu Shenwei discovered that he was sixteen years old. It left him with less than two years to the day of his doom. The approaching death terrified him. He used to think he did not care about his own life, not to mention the direction of "self-deconstruction" in the book. Yet he still imagined often what would he do if he could live a longer, and more normal life.
In this period, he thought that he had achieved the highest level of the swordcraft. Considered his short life, he thought of many assassination plans, with targets including Shangguan Nu, Shangguan Fa, Shangguan Chui, Shangguan Yushi, Shangguan Fei, and Mister Guo. The last one was Shangguan Ru.
He considered these plans every day. But even if he had planned them well, the image of the ghost-like black-masked assassin would appear in his mind.
He could not ensure his victory once he faced this assassin. This was a heavy blow to his mind.
However, the mixture of the swordcraft and saber skills was useful and made Gu Shenwei's life much easier. His victory in the next monthly test was remarkable, making him the outstanding one again. He was looking forward to the second competition with Wildhorse, but normally competitors would not be arranged in the same team again.
As for what Tie Hanfeng did when he found out Slave Huan's weak point in the counterattack in the rear of the flank, this time, he lost his temper in a period, and accept his apprentice's change again. He did not ask Slave Huan to increase the killing intent anymore, yet he was still unsatisfied with the drifting skills.
After several tests, Tie Hanfeng had to admit that this saber skill his apprentice "comprehended on his own" was effective, so did Gu Shenwei. His kung fu was still significantly weaker than his Master Shifu since he could not beat him down even with pure swordcraft.
Internal Strength was the most important thing to worry about. If one had issues in this area, no matter how fierce the skill was, one would reach their limitation soon.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus were eager to practice the new swordcraft they invented, to ensure that their weakness would be neutralized. Luckily, after the roc vanished, a fresh batch of apprentices came to the Pyrowork Academy a month later. Hundreds of teenagers with murderous hearts appeared in their vision.