Chapter 61: The Ritual
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The four "great thieves" were trapped in the room, knowing little about the great disturbance they had brought to Golden Rock Fort.
The first one who came to explain the situation to them was Aunt Tong, a stunning middle-aged woman. As a maidservant brought by Lady Meng from her parents' home, she was much favored in Golden Rock Fort.
She arrived in a hurry shortly after Mister Guo's left, shouting as she came in, "My little Masters!"
Nevertheless, the twins beamed with joy after seeing her. They rushed toward her and led her by the arm, like two spoiled children. The Shadow Guard hesitated and pretended he had not seen her presence. He was ordered to keep the four from getting out, not to prevent others from getting in.
"Aunt Tong, I need your support," Shangguan Ru said to her. "What the hell was wrong with Mister Guo! He snuck into my room and scared me. Besides, he imprisoned us and instructed my Shadow Guard to watch over us, how dare he? Am I not from the Shangguan family?"
Aunt Tong held the twins by the hands with a mixed feeling. "Don't tell me. You should know you've caused a lot of trouble."
"We've done nothing but play around in Six Kills Temple and take back a little souvenir. What's the big deal?"
Shangguan Ru reacted so fast in finding excuses for everything that Shangguan Fei could hardly chime in.
"Both of you should know Six Kills Temple is unavailable to us," Aunt Tong replied, "especially... to women."
"My mother asked me to be a self-made man. Besides, what's wrong with women? Anyway, I've gone inside. There're quite a few forbidden places in Stone Castle, but none of them can keep me out."
The more Shangguan Ru spoke, the angrier she became. Aunt Tong repeatedly shook her head and said, "Six Kills Temple is different from the other places with which you can easily deal. Unluckily, Mister Guo was on duty tonight, and he… alas. Come over here and listen to me… "
After hearing the whisper from Aunt Tong, Shangguan Ru released her arm and said while stamping her foot, "It was me who had broken into Six Kills Temple. Why should we blame a slave?"
Gu Shenwei stood in a corner, holding his tongue all along. He raised his head upon hearing Shangguan Ru's words and realized that Aunt Tong wanted to put the blame on him. He was a slave as well as a man, which might minimize the trouble.
Aunt Tong had not expected that Shangguan Ru would speak her idea aloud. She shook her head faster and said with a sigh, "Lady Meng is on the way to see the Lord, hoping she can arrive earlier than Whiterobe Academy. She let me tell you two to behave yourselves and not act up any more."
"What else can we do with a bladed man watching us?"
Shangguan Ru said defiantly.
"Aunt Tong, will it be all right if we return the Black Jade Palm and the wooden saber back?"
Shangguan Fei, a timorous boy, was anxious and fearful, because he was not favored by their father as much as his younger sister.
"Take it easy. No one can lay even a finger on you as long as Lady Meng is with you."
Aunt Tong slightly comforted the twins and hurried away.
Gu Shenwei had been observing everything from aside. He discovered that Aunt Tong had never talked with Shangguan Yushi, who appeared to be nervous in her presence from the beginning to the end. Aunt Tong's last sentence "No one can lay even a finger on you" particularly disturbed him. He knew Shangguan Yushi and him were not included in "you".
Shangguan Yushi seemed to have figured out something, and she looked round at Slave Huan. For that instant, the two enemies' hearts linked together and they suddenly understood each other, despite their cut-throat competition for Shangguan Ru.
"You betrayed us, didn't you? You are conspiring, I know it."
Shangguan Yushi stepped forward and harshly said this to Slave Huan all at once.
Gu Shenwei didn't know her exact plan, but he cooperated with her right away. "I had no right to enter Whiterobe Academy at all. How could I snitch on you? I'm afraid someone is playing a double game."
"Me?" Shangguan Yushi asked.
She quickly held up her wooden saber and swung it at Slave Huan's head.
Confused, Shangguan Fei hastily moved away and cried out angrily, "At this critical moment, you shouldn't fight!"
However, Shangguan Ru caught the hint from her cousin sister. She said, waving her hands, "Are you done? Get out if you want to fight!"
Although Shangguan Yushi was play acting, she chopped as hard as she could, as if she intended to make the play battle into a real battle. As for Gu Shenwei, without any arms, he leaped aside and ran outside following Shangguan Ru's words. He was chased by Shangguan Yushi, who was brandishing a wooden saber at him.
However, the armed teenager pulled out half of his saber and said to them, "Don't move!" He could let somebody in but nobody out.
Gu Shenwei was caught in a dilemma and had to turn around to face Shangguan Yushi's attack. He evaded her attack. Both of them were moving nearer to the armed teenager.
"Don't move!"
Again, the armed teenager loudly said, and he drew out the remaining half of his saber.
Shangguan Ru was extremely mad and rushed into the two fighters exactly when Gu Shenwei lost his balance and fell toward the armed teenager. Startled a bit, the armed teenager started to strike the reckless Slave Huan.
Having been learning martial arts from childhood, the armed teenager understood that in a war there was no objection to deceit. But after all, he was inexperienced in real battle and gave himself away by that momentary startle.
It was the third time for Shangguan Ru to eject the unknown knockout powder from her fingers.
As a result, the armed teenager lost all his strength and was stopped halfway from his strike, falling to the ground with the saber slipping out of his hand. He had fallen into his master's trap once again.
The play battle ended, the girls and the slave stopped their fighting. Shanggaun Fei knew nothing about what was happening. He looked at them, puzzled.
"I'm sure this guard sold us out," Shangguan Yushi said.
Shangguan Ru agreed with her. She took out a small iron box from her right sleeve and threw it on the ground. She said complacently to the guard, "You've probably forgotten that this powder contains three doses."
"Kill him," Shangguan Yushi said, picking up the saber.
Shangguan Ru stared at her cousin in astonishment and stepped backward. All she planned to do was bring the Shadow Guard under her control, but killing him was never in her plan.
None of them got Master Yu's point except Gu Shenwei. Lady Meng intended to sacrifice the insignificant ones to save the twins. Such being the case, they would better worsen the situation and bind them together.
Thinking of this, Gu Shenwei begun to admire Shangguan Yushi to an extent.
Facing the threat of death, the armed teenager did not beg for mercy or showed any fear, still struggling to stand up.
"He complied with Mister Guo's order and made himself an enemy of both Lady Meng as well as you," Shangguan Yushi added. "For that, he's no longer your Shadow Guard. We can't let him go and make us an achievement he can take credit for."
"Are you serious?" Shangguan Fei asked.
He looked pale and seemed to be even more terrified than the endangered Shadow Guard.
The armed teenager would soon be free from the powder and Mister Guo would come back at any time. The chance was transient.
Shangguan Yushi handed the saber to her cousin sister.
Shanggaun Ru took it and pressed it against the armed teenager on the chest. She did not like this guard. He had ruined her plans many times, and what he had done tonight annoyed her badly…
She pushed the saber into the chest and pulled it out. Hereto, he had not made any sound but covered his wound with his hand, from which the blood was gushing out.
In her eyes, confusion shined, but soon it was replaced by determination. She gave the saber back to her cousin sister.
Shangguan Yushi then stabbed the armed teenager on another shoulder. By doing so, he could attack no more even if the powder became less effective.
She turned back and said to Shangguan Fei, "It's your turn."
"My turn? For what?"
"Stab him, and then everyone will know the result of betraying the Shangguan family."
Shangguan Fei violently shook his head, and kept retreating until he plunked himself down on the bed.
The armed teenager could not cover his wounds any more, which left his clothes drenched in blood. But he looked neither scared nor afraid, but ashamed.
One of the Two Commandments of a Killer in Golden Roc Fort was defeating your enemy by hook or by crook. The armed teenager had been trapped twice, he felt as shameful as a top student failing a vital exam.
"Coward! I thought you were a son of the Shangguan family," Shangguan Yushi scornfully said to Shangguan Fei.
She stopped urging him, gripped the saber, and turned to Shangguan Ru. "Let's do it together."
Shangguan Ru became more resolute after seeing Master Yu's disdain for her brother. Biting her lips, she nodded her head heavily and held her cousin's hands. They pointed the saber at the armed teenager's heart.
All of a sudden, Gu Shenwei walked over to them and participated by putting his hands on Shanggaun Ru's. He then stuck the saber deeply into the heart before Shangguan Yushi could react.
The armed teenager gasped his last breath with his head titled to one side.
He was killed by the three of them all at once.
That night, no one had wanted to kill anyone, it just happened. The armed teenager became a nameless victim.
The clasped hands, the saber, the flowing blood, and the lost life, all those elements constituted an evil ritual. Shangguan Ru, Shangguan Yushi, and Gu Shenwei came into a profound alignment, while Shangguan Fei, who was too frightened to say no, became an outsider and collapsed on the bed.
It was the first time for Shangguan Ru to kill a human being. Panicked as she looked, her big dark eyes shone brightly with great energy and joy, which clearly proved herself as Supreme King's descendant.
Gu Shenwei joined in the ritual at the last moment. Strange to say, he could guess every idea of Shuangguan Yushi then. As if they had been friends for years, they two could draw a complex conclusion from each other's subtle movements.
"Throw him out!"
Shangguan Yushi commanded him. The better they knew each other, the more they hated each other.
Gu Shenwei had been used to dealing with the dead, so he was calm. He kept himself from thinking how unfair it was for the armed teenager. After all, it was not him who made the decision.
He grasped the armed teenager by the hands and was about to drag him out when someone stepped in.
It was Mister Guo, who appeared soundlessly as usual, and no one in that room heard his footsteps.
When he saw the scene there, his rigid, humble smile abruptly vanished and his true colors of malice appeared. But instantly, he put on that smile again.
"Ugh, what a ruthless way. Your Highness, you should be careful with them."
There were eight Young Masters in Golden Roc Fort in total, but only the eldest son of Supreme King was called without an ordinal.
The Young Master, a tall and well-built man with a pair of striking eye bags, which almost covered half of his face, appeared from the doorway. He did not look much like a junior of the Shangguan family.
"Lord orders Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Fei to go to Six Kills Temple and confess their sins. Other accomplices must offer their heads as sacrifices."
His cold voice showed he had little feelings toward his younger brother and sister. He even did not spare a glance at the dead body on the ground, as if it were only a normal decoration of the room.