Chapter 95: A Big Fire
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Liuhua the Silencer concealed himself well. Gu Shenwei had not noticed any suspicious signs like a bump in the snow until he suddenly felt a shiver down his spine. He immediately looked back and saw that Liuhua was lying on his stomach in the snow, camouflaged in his snow-white clothing and aiming a short bow at Gu Shenwei.
He was only 20 steps away, which was within Liuhua's shooting range. At such a distance, Liuhua would not miss any target.
Gu Shenwei knelt on the snowy ground and kept his upper body low, his left hand propping himself against the ground and his right hand gripping a saber. He stared at Liuhua for a while. Although they belonged to the same side, Gu Shenwei could still feel the intense killing intent radiating from Liuhua. He suddenly felt much pressured, which was even more uncomfortable than when he was having a duel with Wildhorse in the ruins of Woodensaber Alley.
"It's a trap. Don't move!" Gu Shenwei mouthed the message. However, he still clenched the saber in his right hand and did not dare to relax for even a moment.
Liuhua remained silent, so Gu Shenwei did not know whether he understood him or not.
In Gu Shenwei's memory, the apprentice never spoke. He was not a member of the Snow Mountain Gang and had not cut off his tongue like Wildhorse and the others. He was more like a loner who had lost his ability to speak long ago.
Gu Shenwei slowly unclenched the hilt and crawled toward Liuhua.
Opposite him, Liuhua did not loosen the bowstring, neither did his hostility increase. However, he seemed to be irritated by something when Gu Shenwei was 10 steps away. His killing intent suddenly rose, and he took a shot and was ready for the second.
Luckily, 10 steps were not the best shooting range for an archer. Since he had been prepared for it, Gu Shenwei narrowly dodged the deadly arrow.
The moment he sensed Liuhua's killing intent surge, Gu Shenwei sprang to the right to avoid the attack. He then leaped forward again like a nimble cat and pounced at Liuhua.
Liuhua had no chance to fire the second shot, and close quarters combat had always been his weakness.
Gu Shenwei raised his hilt and forcibly hit Liuhua on his head. Liuhua shook his head, yet, the killing intent in his eyes did not fade. Gu Shenwei punched him and finally knocked him out.
If he had a choice, Gu Shenwei would like to kill the guy right on the spot because he hated the archer's eyes and arrows. He acted like an unsociable child, who always spoiled everyone's mood at the most inappropriate moment.
But Gu Shenwei did not kill him. Their fight had already drawn the others' attention. Several spots in the distance were quickly approaching him from the wilderness behind the gathering place of the Ten-Dragon Gang.
Gu Shenwei waved his hand, signaling he was not an enemy. He did not care whether someone from the Ten-Dragon Gang noticed him or not. After all, it was a trap, and they knew long ago that killers were waiting in ambush for them.
Like a little angry lioness, Shangguan Yushi glared at him from under the crack of the black mask. She stood in front of Slave Huan with her hand holding an unsheathed narrow saber and said coldly, "It's not that I intended to kill you. Now you're courting death by yourself."
"There's a trap in the yard," said Gu Shenwei as he rose to his feet. Meanwhile, he kept his right hand close to the saber hilt, since he did not want to be killed by Shangguan Yushi like this.
"I know... "
"No, that was a wrong message. Nobody is hiding in the wine jars. They are all filled with strong liquor and can be ignited right away. It's the Ten-Dragon Gang that wants to attack with fire."
Shangguan Yushi glanced back at a slim apprentice in black suit. It was Maid Lotus.
"It was my fault. I gave the wrong information, but there's still time to correct it," said Gu Shenwei.
Shangguan Yushi said with a sneer, "Well, Slave Huan. You're really trying hard to take all the credits."
Gu Shenwei did not refute her, as he did not care about Master Yu's thoughts and believed Maid Lotus would not be instigated that easily.
"Go and check," Shangguan Yushi ordered.
Behind her, Wildhorse followed the order and moved out. His physique was as perfect as a leopard's, enabling Gu Shenwei to recognize him even when he was wearing night suits.
Wildhorse crouched down and quickly approached the yard as if he was gliding on the snow.
"He's made great progress in kung fu," Gu Shenwei thought.
When Shangguan Yushi realized she was standing upright and could easily expose herself, she anxiously knelt on one knee and stared at Slave Huan, thinking the slave was trying his best to mess with her first mission.
Gu Shenwei also went down on one knee. He ignored Master Yu but stared at the Ten-Dragon Gang's gathering place. Again he felt the weakness of his speculation. That was definitely a trap, but it might be more covert and sophisticated than he had imagined.
Wildhorse disappeared into the night, and no more sound came from the gathering place. The killer apprentices knelt on the snow like a group of stone pillars.
Suddenly, the yard was engulfed in flames, which danced like red blades and shot high into the air. No matter how capable the people in it were, they would not be able to survive.
"Besiege it. Kill them all," Shangguan Yushi instantly issued an order and then shot a harsh glare at Slave Huan.
That Gu Shenwei came forward to expose the trap at the eleventh hour annoyed her. She thought he did it on purpose to make her command of the first assassination imperfect. Now that the assassination had turned into an encirclement, he should be much satisfied.
Gu Shenwei did not have time to figure out Master Yu's thoughts. He also unsheathed his saber and dashed toward the burning yard. He was a future killer, so he did not want to stand by once the killing began.
The apprentices immediately moved out, scattering to occupy advantageous positions and relaying the siege order to the others.
A few people managed to ran out of the yard. They were in the dark about the trap and were doomed to be the sacrifices. Several insiders had hidden under the yard wall and immediately ran toward the direction of the city after lighting the fire.
But they made a grave mistake.
Wildhorse was not trapped in the big fire. Instead, he intercepted and killed the escapees one after another. Only two were alive when the other apprentices arrived.
"Spare one! Spare one!" Gu Shenwei shouted. He wanted to keep one alive to bring down Mister Guo.
Shangguan Yushi misunderstood Slave Huan. She did not expect a spy in Golden Roc Fort was behind all this, and Maid Lotus had not mentioned it either when instilling the message to her. Therefore, she thought Slave Huan was meddling again and insisted the order. "Kill them all!"
It was already a failure that they had not wiped out all the enemies quietly, how could they keep one alive? Leaving no survivors was an assassination principle of Golden Roc Fort, and Shangguan Yushi decided to adhere to it.
"What an idiot!" Gu Shenwei could not help cursing.
In the blink of an eye, the last two escapees were killed by hidden guards on the trees and snowy ground. The two attackers initially thought they might not have a chance to make a move during the assassination, but now the prey was running to them, and they had also heard the leader's order, so they naturally would not let them go.
There were still people in the yard. Several unwitting "leaders" and 12 guards turned into burning men. Their piercing shrieks sounded particularly shocking in the quiet winter. The apprentices were equipped with bows and arrows, and although they were not as skillful as Liuhua, it was still effortless for them to shoot down the dying, burning men from afar.
Six corpses were laid outside the yard. Gu Shenwei went to check them one by one. He found Dragon Tooth and Elderly Dragon's son, but Elderly Dragon was not there. As one of the insiders, he would definitely not stay in the yard and wait for death.
The assassination ended in less than a quarter of an hour. Not a single target had escaped, but the results were not satisfactory.
The Ten-Dragon Gang was small and weak and exterminating its leaders was regarded as nothing difficult. The primary purpose of the mission was to teach the apprentices how to perform a perfect assassination. However, it had to be hastily finished due to the big fire.
The apprentices retreated in order, and even the most picky killer mentor would not be able to find a problem, so the backup killers did not show up.
After they returned to the temporary hideout in the city, the first order Shangguan Yushi issued was to kill Slave Huan. "Kill him now!" She had held back her anger all along, and now she could finally vent her malice.
Gu Shenwei stood in the doorway and had long prepared for Master Yu's fury. Holding his saber hilt, he said, "I saved all of your lives."
Several apprentices followed her order and were ready to take action, but they put away their sabers when seeing Wildhorse did not intend to make a move. Meanwhile, Maid Lotus and others just gripped their sabers with no intention to kill at all.
Shangguan Yushi tore the black veil off her face, revealing her countenance as cold as the chilly winter outside. "You're the investigator. You should have known all of this a long time ago. Why didn't you tell us until the last moment? Did you think everyone would feel more grateful to you this way?"
"I couldn't figure everything out in advance. Don't you understand that it's just my own guesswork? There's a spy in the castle. He revealed the action plan and wanted all of us to die!"
Shangguan Yushi was just too mad with Slave Huan, but she was not stupid. She understood the rough idea right away after hearing what he said. However, she continued, "Even if there is a spy, it must be you. You want to play both sides."
Gripping his saber tight, Gu Shenwei said slowly, "You know the spy can't be me."
Shangguan Yushi stared at the person she hated the most, the person who competed against her for Shangguan Ru, the person who had killed her elder brother, and hesitated whether she should take this chance to kill him or not. Although it was not entirely justifiable, she could still find an excuse. She glanced at the people on both sides and eventually changed her mind. Apparently, these apprentices had been convinced by Slave Huan, so they probably would not kill him for her, which increased her resentment toward Slave Huan.
"Someone will find out if you were the spy or not. But you claimed there's a spy in the castle. Do you have any evidence?"
"Elderly Dragon's still alive. He was definitely not in the yard. Find him, and the truth will come to light. The morning is about to dawn, so we have to find him before others do."
The apprentices brought back six heads, all of which appeared to be young, so none of them could be the over-60-year-old Elderly Dragon. As the most crucial insider, the schemer might also be looking for him.
Shangguan Yushi almost blurted out, "Where should we go?" But she immediately swallowed her doubts as she did not want to expose her weakness in front of the apprentices.
Luckily, South City was not new to Shangguan Yushi. She ordered the apprentices to dress like ordinary people and sent them to contact the spies that Golden Roc Fort had stationed in several spots of the city. These people were all local bullies and good at finding people.
She left Slave Huan behind without assigning any task to him.
Gu Shenwei requested to join them. "Let me go with you. I know some people there and can help you find him."
He exaggerated it a little bit. Actually, the only person he knew was his Master Shifu.
Shangguan Yushi thought for a while and agreed.
Shortly after he left the hideout, Gu Shenwei noticed an apprentice was tracking him. He thought Master Yu had underestimated him, as he had experienced the cruelest slaughter among apprentices and getting rid of the stalkers was one of the fundamental skills he had to acquire.
Gu Shenwei broke away from the stalker after randomly making a detour in five streets. But he did not go to look for his Master Shifu in Southwall Tavern right away. Instead, he needed to look for Xu Xiaoyi and his elder sister and ask them about the truth. He had helped them a lot, and now it was time for them to pay him back.