Chapter 115: The Pouring Golds
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
A three-story soil-built pagoda was on the top of the hill. The soldiers, who were previously stationed here to guard the mountain pass, were now gone.
Gu Shenwei hid the women and elders who could not use kung fu inside the tower. The rest of the crew, about 30 men, picked up their bows and arrows, and prepared for a defensive battle.
There were plenty of gorgeously decorated weapons that were gifted to "Bighead Kingpin". Even the arrows were decorated with gold. The machetemen caressed the gilded arrows in their hands, and they were reluctant to shoot them.
There were also innumerable sabers and swords. Gu Shenwei tried serval swords, but none of them were easy to wield. Now he seemed to understand why Zhang Ji used to say that "There were no ordinary swords." These jewels-inlaid pieces of steel should be decorations on the wall, instead of being used to slay enemies. They were not swords at all.
The crew held their golden longbows, nervously watching over the enemies downhill.
Unexpectedly, the enemy stayed put until dawn. On the contrary, they were cleaning the battlefield. They tore apart the antler railings, and moved the fortifications to the north side of the mountain pass, clearing a path for the uphill people to "invite" them to escape southwards.
The fire on the other exit had been put out. More than 200 bandits showed up.
Gu Shenwei intended to launch another breakthrough before dawn. However, under the terror of the first breakthrough, Slave Qing, Meng Mingshi and the others vehemently disagreed. Plus the weakened strength of the crew, they just wanted to rest in this soil-made pagoda for a moment of peace.
Gu Shenwei was agitated. The longer they stayed here, the more dangerous the situation became. Upon seeing his enemies steadily growing in number, he even wanted to order the killers who were escorting Shangguan Ru to escape and to leave behind the other irrelevant members.
It turned out Gu Shenwei did not have to make this reluctant choice because Dao San had volunteered to break through the enemy's camps, so that they could ask for reinforcements from Iron Mountain. Other than this, he only requested for some wine to warm up.
There were wine sacs carried by the surviving machetemen. Dao San took one, readily poured wine into his mouth, and then cried out, "It's my turn," while falling backward to the ground. The crew was scared and they looked at each other. After a while, someone commented, "He's drunk."
Gu Shenwei was so incensed that he nearly killed Dao San. He now understood the meaning of Jiang Chenghai's nickname, which was "drunk after three cups of wine".
However quickly Dao San had gotten drunk, he became sober shortly afterwards. In less than half an hour, he agilely got up like nothing had happened, found a suit of silver armor, put it on, picked up a vast circular shield, and said farewell to the crowd. "Give me three days. When Iron Mountain's army arrives, it will be the time for those little thieves to flee."
More than 30 men fired arrows downhill to harass the enemies. It worked. The enemies were starting to collect the gilded arrows when Dao San charged on a horse with a loud roar.
Dozens of eyes were watching him. He broke into enemy's camp valiantly like a hero, but then he was surrounded. Finally, after serval roars, it quieted down.
This was a showdown with all weapons in sight, not an assassination. Killers were helpless in such a situation.
When the sky became much brighter, dozens of bandits downhill shouted in unison. "Only those from Golden Roc Fort are wanted, the others can get lost, now."
After having repeatedly shouted for a dozen times, all the people uphill had now clearly heard these words.
In the meantime, Meng Mingshi poked his head out of the pagoda, and listened. Upon hearing the truth, he leaped to Slave Huan, clutched the front clothes, and in a fury he said, "You lied, you f*cking lied to me. It's you Golden Roc Fort people that messed up. We have nothing to do with this."
Gu Shenwei pushed Fifth Young Master Meng away, in calmness he said, "This is their scheme of sowing dissent among us. When you go down there, they will kill you all."
Meng Mingshi paused to consider, and hesitated.
When it rains, it pours. Around 30 men arrived at the gentle slope on the other side of the mountain. They were not bandits, but the captives who fell to the enemy during yesterday's breakthrough. Some of them were machetemen of the Meng family.
Meng Mingshi made up his mind, raised his hand up high, and yelled. "I give in. Members of the Meng family, follow me. We don't have to die with those Golden Roc Fort people."
It never came to Gu Shenwei that there would be such a moronic person in the world. He warned, "Don't fall into their trap. You will all get killed down there."
The Meng family's people did not trust Slave Huan anymore. Machetemen dropped their longbow, and handymen walked out of the pagoda, approached their little master and said something in support of the decision to surrender.
Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi took out their sabers, accusing the Meng family of betrayal.
Gu Shenwei knew he could not convince Meng Mingshi. Hence he summoned the banner-carrying killer.
The banner-carrying killer muttered for a while, and then he surprisingly did not support Slave Huan. "I'm from Golden Roc Fort, I will stay. The others will decide for themselves."
Gu Shenwei was astonished. He thought that killers in Golden Roc Fort were all as good as Tie Hanfeng, who could always see through the enemy's plots. However, he now had realized that, among killers, there were excellent and poor insightfulness, just like the range of proficiency in machete skills.
Gu Shenwei barred the two Shangguan masters' sabers, and said to the traitors, "You can leave. But remember this, they will kill you all. This isn't an ordinary robbery, and those bandits won't leave survivors."
Who cared about the words of a 16-year-old juvenile killer? The Meng family's people followed their little master down the gentle slope. Slave Qing watched them in tears, regretting that he had not turned to other families earlier.
There was only one Meng family member who stayed. Fang Wenshi followed the surrendering group for a few steps, but then turned around, shook his head and sighed. Nobody knew what was in his mind.
There were 15 men left on the hilltop, and more than 30 horses and camels.
A voice came from the camp downhill. "It's her, the shorty dressed in men's clothing, Shangguan Ru of the Shangguan family. And those five youngsters are apprentices. They are the ones you want."
It was Meng Mingshi, pointing to the crowd on the hilltop and yelling. Not only had he surrendered, but also wanted to win some merit.
Shangguan Yushi turned livid. She shot a gilded arrow, which was caught in front of the Fifth Young Master Meng, by the hand of a woman in a dark robe.
"F*cking traitor!" Shangguan Ru yelled in rage.
The women in dark robe spoke in a voice that sounded like the screeching of metal pieces being scraped against each other, which was so harsh that everyone on hilltop heard it loud and clear. "Go south. People from Golden Roc Fort, go south. Or, go to hell by sunset."
Slave Qing sat on the ground, and muttered, "Why go south? Why go south?"
The banner-carrying killer sighed, and said, "Seems like we will have to go south and see what we can do."
Gu Shenwei shook his head, and said, "No, we're not heading south. Get ready my friends, we have to break through them before sunset."
"With these people? There's hundreds of them down there." The banner-carrying killer could not believe what the young leader just said.
Gu Shenwei did not know what was right. It was his intuition that told him that breaking through was the only right option.
"Bandits love treasures. Throw them away. And when the enemies were fighting for them, we will break through."
"What if we fail?" Slave Qing was shivering as he asked. He did not even care about those treasures now.
"Then you will die here," Gu Shenwei answered. He did not understand why they could not figure out such a simple thing.
He didn't want to die, he wanted vengeance. However, the killer training had unconsciously reformed his thinking. He saw death as an ordinary and random affair. And by practicing through the Nameless Swordbook, this thought was pushed to the extreme.
Slave Qing was struck with panic, for he was not a killer.
Maid Little Sui, who had not said much on the trip, came up with an idea. "I was given to 'Bighead Kingpin', does this mean that I'm not a Golden Roc Fort's people?"
The crowd turned their head around to look at her. For the first time, Little Sui demonstrated her bravery and firmness, meeting dozens of eyes without fear. She was getting more and more convinced that it made sense. Although she was not yet in Bighead Kingpin's place, she was an Iron Mountain's people the moment she went out of Golden Roc Fort. Besides, these killers only cared for the Tenth Young Master, and none of them would care about protecting a maid.
Gu Shenwei had no intention of keeping Little Sui. It was even better to lose a burden. All he wanted was to keep Shangguan Ru alive so that he could stand a chance of killing the Tenth Young Master.
However, those bandits downhill had made their move before Gu Shenwei could make his reply.
One after another, the heads of the Meng family's people were thrown to the hilltop. They rolled around on the ground.
The enemy was making a demonstration in Golden Roc Fort's fashion.
The face of Little Sui turned from pale to flush with red, and back from flushed to pale. She could not help it as she gasped with fear, and collapsed into Fang Wenshi's arms.
"Good point, little hero. Breaking through in the chaos created by golds and silvers, bravo." Fang Wenshi looked over the steep slope, held Little Sui tightly, and was not interested in the heads scattered on the ground.
Gu Shenwei checked every head, and said, "Fifth Young Master Meng is alive."
"What a shame." Shangguan Ru sounded calm, perhaps too calm to hide her panic.
Gu Shenwei used to think that the Shangguan family trained their children in an advanced and stricter method. Now it seemed he had overrated them.
This day passed extremely slowly. More and more roving bandits gathered on both sides of the mountain pass. The dark robed woman had either slain the bandits nearby, or forced them here to besiege the people from Golden Roc Fort.
The group of 15 was preparing stealthily. Slave Qing and the other three handymen armored up, and kept asking for blessings from Buddha. Little Sui had not talked about her "identity" anymore. The armor was too weighty for her to put on, so Fang Wenshi volunteered to help. He mounted on the horse after getting armored, and Little Sui sat behind him with a shield on her back.
The killers though, were lightly armed, and only took round shields, which would be dumped after reaching the enemy's camps.
At high noon, they launched the breakthrough.
Gu Shenwei had made countless decisions in his life. This was definitely not the best one, but it did work.
Numerous golds, silvers, and jewels rolled downhill, and coins were pouring down like rain. The moment those bandits saw this dream-like scene, they immediately dropped their bows and arrows and scrambled toward it like maniacs.
More than 20 dark robed women yelled to berate them, but these frenzied men were unstoppable.
There were always two sides of a coin. Although the bandits gave up their defenses, they also congested the narrow mountain passage.
The stormtroopers hit the wall of people, and the killers dismounted and stepped onto the backs of the enemies. Several armored men fell into the crowd, and the bandits started to snatch their golden helmets and silver armors.
The dark robed women brought out their shiny steel needles onto their fingertips, and started to chase after their prey.
Gu Shenwei had told the five brown-belt assassins that their life was dependent not only on their sabers, but also on the safety of the Tenth Young Master. However, things quickly went out of control, and they were too focused on killing enemies and couldn't spare any effort to protect someone else.
Even Gu Shenwei himself had lost sight of his protection target. His last glimpse of Shangguan Ru was the camel driver leaping over Shangguan Ru's head as he adeptly chopped off a dark robed woman's head.