Chapter 58: The Plan
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Among the four, only Shangguan Fei had entered Six Kills Temple, where the people in Golden Roc Fort had offered sacrifices to their ancestors. One of its rules was that no woman was allowed, which offended both Shangguan Fei and Shangguan Yushi, and they solidified their resolve to steal something from the temple.
Shangguan Fei sketched the outline of the temple in accordance with his memory. The main hall laid north near the cliff, sitting on a grand groundmass, and people could see it from many locations in Golden Roc Fort. At a hundred feet away from the hall, there was an arc stone wall which was high and wide enough to separate the hall and the Inner Residence.
The north-south rectangular main hall was different from ordinary temples. Its north side as well as half of the east and west sides hugged the cliff, and its windows were three meters high from the ground so that the sun could shed light on the ancestors' paintings on the opposite wall.
Six Kills Temple kept a lot of priests, who were called Sacred Master, in Golden Roc Fort. Rumor has it that they were once master-like killers, yet they gave up killing for a variety of reasons. They swore to protect the temple and have never stepped beyond the stone wall for their whole life.
"I've seen them. They're just some weak old men. There's nothing to fear."
Shangguan Fei said lightly. He did not take the rumors seriously, while the other three thought the opposite, especially Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi. Although they had never entered Six Kills Temple, they had more knowledge than Shangguan Fei.
"Nonsense, they're kung fu masters. Master Liu's killer mentor is a Sacred Master. His mentor is one of the fort's best killers of this century. Only several killers can surpass him in the number of kills," Shangguan Yushi refuted.
Shangguan Fei could not deny that. Master Liu, who had a mustache, was their training tutor in the Moonhold Academy, and his words were trustworthy.
In Golden Roc Fort, a killer was judged by the number of his kills. Master Liu's killer mentor, who was among the top ten killers of this century, was apparently not a "weak old man". Even though he was old now, he could easily defeat a few teenagers.
"The Red Bat Lady, how did she sneak into the palace? Apparently, her kung fu wasn't the best because she was forced to commit suicide in the end," Shangguan Ru asked.
Unfortunately, Gu Shenwei did not know the answer. Back then the Gu family cared more about Gu Lun's future, so they did not know much about the details. He pondered for a while and said, "It's knockout powder I guess. It's said that every time she sneaked into the palace the people there slept more soundly than usual."
"Knockout powder!"
Three youngsters of the Shangguan family exclaimed simultaneously, and their eyes gleamed. Knockout powder was a unique art in Golden Roc Fort, and they had been familiar with it since childhood.
This reminded Gu Shenwei of that swordsman named Long Feidu from the Great Snowmountain. A Golden Roc Fort killer had used some knockout powder on the swordsman and killed him easily. "That unlucky man thought the killer used some Mercy Powder on him, but the killer denied it. According to the killer, Golden Roc Fort has stopped using Mercy Powder now, so what kind of knockout powder do the killers use now?"
"We really could use some Mercy Powder," Gu Shenwei suggested.
Hearing that, the other three teenagers looked confused. "What kind of stuff is it?" Shangguan Fei asked.
Gu Shenwei did not know what Mercy Powder was either. He assumed that it used to be an exclusive knockout powder of Golden Roc Fort, but it was banned for some reason. Seeing their reaction, he was surprised and thought, "It seems that Golden Roc Fort did ban it. The fort really kept its promise. That's not its style at all."
"Uh, it's a kind of knockout powder. It's said to be very effective."
"We might not have Mercy Powder, but we could get some of 'that'," Shangguan Yushi said as she narrowed her eyes.
Somebody in Golden Roc Fort had produced a replacement of Mercy Powder, yet nobody talked about it. And Gu Shenwei just nodded his head without asking further as he pretended to be aware of the truth.
They sent Shangguan Fei to "get some of that". He was assigned to simple jobs because his kung fu was the worst among the four.
Using only knockout powder was far from enough. The gate of Six Kills Temple was usually closed, and nobody could go inside without a Sacred Master. Therefore, the biggest problem was figuring out how they could obtain the key. After a long discussion, the four could not come up with a solution so they moved on to talk about what they were going to steal.
Shangguan Fei described all the treasures in Six Kills Temple to the other three teenagers, but he had never mentioned a wooden saber. Gu Shenwei could not ask him directly. He guessed that Mama Xue might have known about some secrets that even the Shangguan family had not known.
Toward evening, Shangguan Ru finally decided on the target of their action: a palm carved out of a piece of pure dark jade.
There was no specific reason to choose the enshrined Black Jade Palm, of which Shangguan Ru had heard about a long time ago. She wanted to see it in spite of being a woman.
At last, Shangguan Ru made everyone swore an oath: Never tell anyone a word about this task.
She wanted this mission to be carried out. She did not want another false "assassination". That was a method which the adults had used to keep the children happy.
Gu Shenwei swore like this, "If I talked, cursed be my family, and I shall be condemned to hell where I'll meet a violent end."
The Gu family had their "violent ends" already. As for Gu Shenwei himself, he did not care about how he would meet his end. He only wanted revenge.
When the four were about to leave Kun Yard after the discussion, Shangguan Yushi suddenly thought of something. "Ah, I almost forgot. That burden of yours, it's not easy for you to get rid of that guy. You need to go through the Inner Residence to get inside Six Kills Temple."
"That 'Shadow Guard'."
Shangguan Ru gnashed her teeth as if she had the same degree of hatred as Gu Shenwei.
"For me and my brother, father had arranged a bodyguard who's at your age. He always hides in the dark and never shows up easily. He knows all about what we did, and then reports every small detail to father. The last time when we failed to escape was because of him reporting our secrets. I hate him so much," Shangguan Ru explained.
Gu Shenwei now knew. The Shadow Guard was the one who forbade him from entering Shangguan Ru's residence during the day, and was also the armed teenager that attacked him at night. He had also found out the reason why Shangguan Ru easily forgave his "betrayal" because she found a scapegoat, the Shadow Guard.
"Maybe now he's hiding nearby," Shangguan Fei whispered.
"No, I told mum to ask him to keep a hundred paces away from me, otherwise I'll kill him. He can't be in this yard now."
Judging by Shangguan Ru's countenance, she was not kidding.
Shangguan Yushi pulled Shangguan Ru's hand and said, "I'll take care of it. Trust me."
The meeting was over before she could tell everyone about the solution.
In two consecutive days, the four were discussing the details of the plan. It was not as easy as it looked. The only advantage was that the three masters were born in Stone Castle, which saved them the effort of conducting a preliminary investigation.
Shangguan Ru did not like this and thought that the plan was not practical enough. "How did the Red Bat Lady get the info about the palace? She couldn't have asked around inside."
"No, of course not. Uh, there must've been a spouse who helped her."
"Ha, then you're our hidden traitor!" Shangguan Ru exclaimed while pointing at her brother.
Shangguan Fei flushed and quickly denied it, his arm wavered between the two girls, then he finally pointed at Slave Huan and said, "He's the hidden traitor. Let him play the hidden traitor."
Thereafter, Slave Huan, who knew the least about Golden Roc Fort among them, became the "hidden traitor".
In the following day, the twin finally went to school, leaving Gu Shenwei some time to meet Mama Xue.
Mama Xue had her cold and stiff look again, and there was no way to tell her feelings. Somehow Gu Shenwei thought she was a little too hasty. After he had reported the latest developments, she offered some advice.
"It's pretty easy actually. The twins can lightly sneak into Stone Castle because they're familiar with the guards. Even if they were recognized, those guards might not utter a single word. The key though, is how you can enter Six Kills Temple. Hmm—look, you..."
It seemed like Mama Xue knew more about Six Kills Temple than Shangguan Fei did. The tricky part was, according to the rules, Mama Xue was a woman and would not have an opportunity to go anywhere near the main hall.
Gu Shenwei thought that it was too risky. However, he could not think of a better idea. They planned to use knockout powder to steal the gate key, but they did not know who had the key, and it was impossible for them to knock out dozens of Sacred Masters at the same time.
In the afternoon, Gu Shenwei told the other three Mama Xue's idea, and it was well-received, especially by Shangguan Ru. She praised Slave Huan and wondered why she had never thought of this idea.
There was a prominent outthrust with a sharp angle near the east side of Six Kills Temple, which was opposite to the windows on the east wall. If a piece of rope could connect both ends, those with good lightness skill could climb over the rope and reach the windows.
Gu Shenwei gave the credit of "remembering the outthrust" to Shangguan Fei, and no one suspected Gu Shenwei.
The twins had somebody transport the tools here, including two flying claws and ropes that were 10 meters long. To ensure that the rope was long enough, they tied it together with another piece of rope.
Slave Huan spent the whole afternoon practicing on how to precisely throw the flying claws at a distant target.
Shangguan Ru suggested moving at that night, yet compromised to wait for another night.
Back at his residence, Gu Shenwei thought about the plan over and over again. With the twins, this plan could work out just fine. Even in the worst case scenario, they would not be killed if they were caught. He was not worried about how to steal the wooden saber, but rather what to do after obtaining it.
"Mama Xue. Mama Xue," Gu Shenwei repeated her name in his mind. He wanted both her head and the secret inside it. If the wooden saber did matter that much to her, it might also be helpful with the overall course of vengeance.
But the truth was, either killing her or getting the secret was impossible to achieve.
On the following day, the four discussed the details incessantly until they nailed down everything.
"Have you found out that being a thief is quite the same as being a killer?"
Shangguan Yushi asked while they were taking a rest.
"Yep, similar in every part, except for the final target. One is for the object, the other is for human lives."
Shangguan Ru felt the same way, and thought this game became more meaningful than before.
At midnight, according to the appointed time, Gu Shenwei slunk to Shangguan Ru's yard and gently knocked on the window, which was then instantly pushed open. The other three, all wearing black suits and masks, filed out.
Shangguan Yushi, who was the tallest, frowned because they forgot to prepare a suit for Slave Huan, leaving him still looking like a slave.
Gu Shenwei assigned several wooden sabers to the others, making this game look as realistic as they had wanted it to be. Besides, he took this saber for a particular reason: to replace his targeted wooden saber in Six Kills Temple with this one.
Furthermore, he came up with an idea to use this opportunity to uncover the secrets of Mama Xue. This could be a perilous game and it was 100 times more real than the three masters' game. Once things went south, he could not expect mercy from any of them.