Chapter 67: The Apprentice
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Everyone had their own worries. Once others mentioned something related to it, it would arouse their suspicions, as if they could imagine the whole big tree through a green leaf.
So did Bighead Kingpin's daughter.
Gu Shenwei only answered Miss Luo with one sentence, when facing her threaten. Then his life was spared, at least, temporarily.
"I don't dare to tell Miss' secret, unless standing in front of Bighead Kingpin."
Miss Luo was irritated again when she heard Gu Shenwei mention Bighead Kingpin. After a moment of silence, she rushed out from behind the screen and picked up things around her to hit Slave Huan while cursing him.
Kneeling on the ground, Gu Shenwei easily dodged most of the things that Miss Luo threw at him. Occasionally, one of the things Miss Luo threw out would hit him, but it did not hurt. He paid more attention to Miss Luo's words, because he wanted to find some clues about her secret.
This may be regarded as their first "meeting". Gu Shenwei only saw a furious woman in a black veil. Although she was in an extreme anger, Miss Luo still protected her face, which only her husband could see.
Under the most vicious curse, Slave Huan was driven out. Also, Maid Lotus was not called in by Miss Luo. Hence, they concluded that Luo Ningcha would not kill them temporarily.
After experiencing an extremely stressful day yesterday, Gu Shenwei thought today's event was more like a farce.
"If Miss Luo asked me how to get rid of us, I would suggest her to show her face to me to get an excuse for executing me. Although the people in the fort often laugh at this habit of her, they won't object it if she wants to kill me for this reason. As for Maid Lotus, she can accuse this slave girl of discussing her appearance in public. It's easy for Miss Luo. She just needs to find a 'witness' to frame Maid Lotus." Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
Gu Shenwei just thought about it for a second. He would not give the advice to Miss Luo. This woman only became wise, due to her husband's hidden fury. In most cases, she was a stupid and vicious woman. Thanks to Bighead Kingpin's prestige, she could survive in Golden Roc Fort.
Actually, the person that Gu Shenwei worried about was Maid Lotus. She seemed to believe Slave Huan knew about Miss Luo's secret, but wouldn't share it with her, so she treated him indifferently again.
They probably would never become partners, let alone good friends, who could have a heart-to-heart talk. Some people may be wary of others at their first meeting, but they distrusted each other from the get-go even if they did not know why.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus had been imprisoned for more than three days. Finally, Gu Shenwei could not stand and fell to sleep on a brick bed. But Maid Lotus did not even close her eyes. Except that her face became paler with each passing day, despite that she did not seem sleepy at all.
She only sneakingly used the potty when during Gu Shenwei's thunder-like snores. Gu Shenwei knew this and always made his snore louder on purpose.
On the fourth day, Shangguan Nu came to the jail, since he had decided how to deal with the two slaves. On seeing them in the same room, he was surprised, because he never thought to imprison the young male servant and the maidservant together.
"Follow me."
He commanded them without any emotion as usual.
The two exhausted slaves obediently followed their master and finally arrived at a detached yard in West Castle.
Six or seven men in black had already been waiting here. Some of them were red-belt killers and others were yellow-belt servants. As soon as seeing the Eighth Young Master, they all bowed to him.
In the west of the yard, a pillar was erected. A strong man with a full beard was tied on it. His eyes widened and his muscles strong and toned. Near him was a long sword stabbed into the ground.
Shangguan Nu ordered a servant to give them two Golden Roc Fort sabers. He looked at the confused slaves and said, "Kill him."
Maid Lotus picked up a saber without any hesitation. Gu Shenwei took the other one.
A killer ran over to untie the bearded man, and then quickly retreated to his original position.
After the bearded man got rid of the chain, the first thing he did was to grab the giant sword, inserted in the ground. He roared and staggeringly rushed to the ten enemies in front of him. He ran with a limp indicating that one of his legs was broken.
This was the first time that Gu Shenwei held a saber made in Golden Roc Fort. He could feel the unmatched weight, compared with its slender body. His killing desire raised all of a sudden.
Simultaneously, the young boy and girl moved and stabbed the curly-bearded man in totally different movements. Slave Huan directly attacked the enemy's vital part in the abdomen, while Maid Lotus swiftly jumped, skimmed over the man, and stuck his heart from the back. Although she moved at the further distance than Gu Shenwei, Maid Luo killed the man with him at the same time.
The curly-bearded man apparently had consumed all his energy in yelling. During the fight with two teenagers, he was too weak to exchange any moves with them. He kneeled down and died with both hands placed on the shaft of the giant sword.
Another swordsman from the Great Snowmountain died. This time Gu Shenwei even did not care about his name. Compared with killers in Golden Roc Fort, they were like clumsy bears and were driven into a corner by wasps.
The two young slaves, who would become killers in the future, not only killed their enemy with one strike, but also retreated safely. The frozen looks on their faces were telling the others that they were accustomed to the smell of blood and death.
This was a test. Shangguan Nu did not intend to examine their kung fu skills. He just wanted to know whether they have the basic quality of a killer—cold blood.
Many people were highly skilled at kung fu. They even could easily beat 10 enemies by themselves, however, at the crucial moment, they would hesitate to kill enemies. Contrarily, others came to the other extreme. They were crazy about blood and killed people just for fun, regardless of the bad outcomes of slaughtering people.
The assassins nodded together, who were satisfied with the two teenagers' performance. But Shangguan Nu did not say anything yet or made any suggestion.
However, Slave Huan and Maid Lotus were freed. That afternoon, they were sent to Carvewood Academy in East Castle. Maid Lotus gained her identity as a killer apprentice again, while Gu Shenwei, who had made great efforts over the last year, finally realized his dream.
Shangguan Nu let them off for some reason. He said, "Someone told me that you'll become excellent killers, so I forgive you. Go to East Castle and then come to visit me alive as killers."
However, the Eighth Young Master did not tell Slave Huan and Maid Lotus who had spoken for them. Gu Shenwei first precluded Luo Ningcha. It was kind of her to spare his life, let alone to help him.
This time, Shangguan Nu did not ask them to return to his residence every night. He permitted them to stay in East Castle, like other apprentices.
Before Gu Shenwei left, he wanted to say goodbye to Shangguan Ru. He recently heard that she had officially entered Six Kills Temple and had been acknowledged as the tenth "son" of the Supreme King.
Shangguan Nu denied it. "You don't need to do it," he said.
Gu Shenwei had entered East Castle hundreds of times, when he accompanied with Shangguan Ru. But this time, he felt it was the very first time he had come to the mysterious castle and became very excited and anxious, unlike a calm apprentice. One day, he would become the most excellent killer and obtain the confidential information of Golden Roc Fort. At present, the black-masked assassins were his most valued opponents. Only when he was more powerful than them, Gu Shenwei could call himself the Shangguan family's enemy.
Maid Lotus directly went back to Carvewood Academy. But Slave Huan needed to register again. The registrar, who he had met last time, unpleasantly wrote down his name. Only becoming a killer in the future, Gu Shenwei could be called Yang Huan. Now, as an apprentice, his name was still Slave Huan.
To the left of his name on the pamphlet, the note "The one had learned Internal Strength from other schools" was circled. Gu Shenwei did not expect this sentence would bring him a lot of trouble and even almost destroy his killer career.
It was not a good time when Gu Shenwei entered East Castle, since the ten-month killer apprentice training would end soon. Then, all the apprentices would come to Pyrowork Academy and continued studying more advanced kung fu skills. Also, they would have their own Master Shifu, who lived with them and taught them more practical skills. Most importantly, apprentices would have a fight competition every month. During the fight, they could bring the real saber and kill their opponents. It was said that over a half of the killer apprentices would lose their lives in the competition.
Most apprentices felt very excited about the cruel fight.
Gu Shenwei soon found that Maid Lotus and he were exceptions, because most of the young apprentices were not the slaves serving in Golden Roc Fort. Some of them, who did not speak Central Plains Chinese fluently, came from different counties in Western Region. They were willing to become a killer and even risked their lives.
Hu Shining, who worked in Carvewood Academy as the training tutor, had met Slave Huan once. He seemed to have a good impression on this slave. On the second day that Gu Shenwei had entered the yard, Hu Shining once talked to him and suggested he should stay in Carvewood Academy for the next 10-month training with the new apprentices. He said, "You should stay here, because you have some fatal shortcomings in kung fu. It's a better choice for you, instead of staying in Pyrowork Academy."
Gu Shenwei coldly refused him. Although he had not been trained over the last 10 months, Gu Shenwei did not think he had any fatal shortcomings. Now, his Yin and Yang Strength had arrived at the third level, so his Internal Strength was higher than the most apprentices in Carvewood Academy. It was enough to make up for the weakness in kung fu skills.
Hu Shining left disappointedly. Gu Shenwei would regret his rude behavior someday. Perhaps since having been in Golden Roc Fort for a long time, he instinctively misunderstood people's kindness as evil intentions.
Hu Shining was right. Compared with the apprentices, who had been strictly trained, Slave Huan's kung fu had a serious defect. Especially, in the killer mentors' eyes, his Internal Strength from other schools was an irretrievable mistake.
A few days later, the killer apprentices came to Pyrowork Academy in the eastern East Castle, which was smaller than Carvewood Academy. Almost 100 killer mentors waited there and prepared to select their apprentices. After finishing the selection, they would bring the new apprentices to their yard and come back to attend the fight-until-the-end competition every month.
Gu Shenwei soon realized what the training tutor Hu Shining had said was true. The killer mentors had learned the basic information about the apprentices, so the selection ended very quickly in the morning.
At last, more than 30 apprentices remained for some reasons. Gu Shenwei was one of them.
The fate had played a joke with him and then a bigger one. A yellow-belt overseer in Pyrowork Academy took the responsibility to govern these killer apprentices, who were on the edge of elimination.
He said, "Don't worry. Some killer mentors still didn't come to choose their apprentices yet. They'll take you away in the next few days."
He first comforted them and then added, "Anyway, you have nothing to do now. Just stay here and work, like carrying the dead bodies..."
Gu Shenwei found he had wasted too much time and energy, because now he started to do the same thing that he did, when he arrived at the Golden Roc Fort. The fate played a cruel trick on him.