Death Scripture

The first to react was an old man with a long beard that was in a white robe. He took out his long chain as he shouted at Gu Shenwei, looking agitated. “You killed the Immortal!”

Gu Shenwei convinced himself that he was mostly right to have wanted to stay at the Pavilion. He had not come out empty-handed from his deal with the Immortal. His ability to channel the Internal Breath and the Lightness Skill had both increased greatly, further increasing his confidence in the sword craft that he learned from the Death Scripture.

Self-confidence was the the most important pre-requisite to kill in one blow.

“He is a fake immortal,” said Gu Shenwei as he walked up to the screen, looking at its contents. “These so-called 64 methods of training are not even the equal of a single supreme technique.”

He knocked the screen down with force, smashing it into pieces.

This act enraged the other disciples and soon enough, they drew out their weapons. Although the Immortal was dead, they were still living under the illusion that everything he said was the truth.

Gu Shenwei stood tall and faced all of them with his sword drawn. Even though he had come up with a plan to kill the Immortal, he was not sure as to how he would deal with all these highly skilled disciples.

At this point in time, he had only thought about killing. He had been caught in the Immortal’s web of deceit for more than a hundred days. Now that he had snapped out of his funk, he wanted to kill to satiate his anger.

“He is right,” said someone from the crowd. It turned out that the youth had his own supporters.

It was none other than Tuo Nengya. There were still some remnants of his disguise on his face. He stepped forward and spoke up for Gu Shenwei, “The Immortal was deceiving all of us all this while. We do not need his advice to learn all these kung fu.”

“Both of you know nothing,” said the old man in the white robe. He was even more agitated than before. “So what if he deceived us? It was his way of getting us to concentrate on our training. Without his aid, how could we have learned more complex kung fu techniques?”

Everyone who fell for the Immortal’s hypnosis had their own reasons to believe him, and they would not be swayed easily.

Tuo Nengya had left his signature twin scimitars behind when he went undercover in the Joy Pavilion. He drew his machete and prompted Gu Shenwei to escape. “Leave, what are you still staying behind for?” he said to the youth.

Gu Shenwei walked towards the edge of the window. He did not understand why Tuo Nengya wanted to help him, but it was the right moment for him to escape. The disciples were still in a state of shock and disarray. If he continued to stay, he could have to deal with all of them at the same time.

The old man’s long chain flew towards Gu Shenwei. It was the same exact move which the old man had used to snatch his sword away before. However, he was no longer the killer that came a few months ago. Even though the level of his sword craft had not improved much, his reaction time and agility was much better. Furthermore, his action of walking towards the window was just a feint.

He could not leave the Pavilion before destroying the copy of the Death Scripture that he had given to the Immortal.

Gu Shenwei did not jump out of the window as the long chain drew nearer to him. Instead, he took a huge step back and landed on the soft couch. He snatched the dwarf’s body away from Chu Nanping and lifted it up, shouting, “No one is to come near me!”

Even though the Immortal was dead, his sacred standing in their hearts was not diminished. They gave off cries of alarm and were unsure of the youth’s intentions. They took one step forward and two steps backwards in unison, worried that the youth would desecrate the Immortal’s corpse.

Gu Shenwei shifted towards the window again, throwing a glance at Tuo Nengya, hinting at him that they should leave together.

Tuo Nengya moved towards the window as well.

“Leave the Immortal’s body behind!” someone shouted in grief and indignation.

As he lifted the corpse with one hand, his other hand was already searching the body. Soon, he found what he was looking for. The Death Scripture was too important to the Immortal and it did not take a genius to guess that he would have carried it with himself.

“You can have it back,” said Gu Shenwei as he tossed the corpse towards the disciples.

He then leapt out of the window along with Tuo Nengya. They landed on the high wall, and went over it into the peach forest. They only stopped after running for several miles, leaving the peach forest behind them.

They were surrounded by the wilderness now. They had to make a big cirle around before they could return to Jade City.

All the denizens of the Joy Pavilion were mourning the passing of the Immortal, with the exception of one person. He remained in close pursuit of Gu Shenwei.

Gu Shenwei was a little surprised to see Chu Nanping. He told the boy, “You are a ‘heartless person’, therefore there is no need for you to exact revenge on the behalf of the Immortal.”

Chu Nanping looked as callous as usual. He replied, “I’m not here for revenge.”

“What are you here for then?”

“We have not completed our mastery of the Heartless Swords technique.”

To Gu Shenwei who is now free from the Immortal’s influence, Chu Nanping is now just a child and had no right to rebuke him. He unsheathed his sword and looked coldly at Chu Nanping’s short figure. “I already have my own set of sword craft. It allows me to kill, and I do not have the need to continue learning whatever heartless or emotional sword craft. Find your own private place to continue practicing. If you have yet to free yourself from the Immortal’s lies after a few years, come find me to take revenge on his behalf. Better yet, if you are already of clear mind, you can also look for me to seek justice for your brother’s death. I’ll be ready for you.”

Chu Nanping remained silent and looked at Gu Shenwei without flinching. It was as if he could not understand the words of an adult. When he finally spoke, he stuck to the same topic. “We’ll soon be learning the fifth stage – within three days, I’ll be sure to kill someone that ‘I do not wish to kill’.”

“Then go, and return after you have done so.”

Chu Nanping nodded solemnly and walked back towards the peach forest.

Gu Shenwei did not care who the boy wanted to kill. He only wanted to get rid of Chu Nanping.

He turned his attention to Tuo Nengya. “You saved my life, but I have nothing to repay you with,” said Gu Shenwei bluntly to the old macheteman. He was a killer, and did not know how to show his gratitude.

“Hey, even if I had not stepped out, you would have been able to escape on your own. That lot would have come to their senses after a while. I followed you out for another reason.” Tuo Nengya understood the mentality of a killer and played down his role in the escape.

“You still wish to take revenge for the Eldest Young Master.”

“It’s my duty. I was so close to paying off my debt to him, but then he was found murdered. I don’t have any another choice, other than to avenge him.”

“Are you aware that I also contributed to his death?”

“I’ll pick someone my own size. You are just a killer, a knife for hire if you will. Why would I seek revenge from a mercenary?”

“The Ninth Young Master is no ‘soft target’ as well.”

“Who I get my revenge from is my own business. Tell the Tenth Young Master that I mean her no harm. If she wishes to revive the Kun Society, I can help her. My contacts with machetemen do not amount to only the 20 or so which I brought previously.”

“You do not need get involved in the matters of the Ninth and Tenth Young Master.” Gu Shenwei held onto his sword shaft as he retreated. He had many reasons to wish for the twins to not fight amongst themselves.

“You don’t command me. If you wish to stop me, now is the time to do so.” The old macheteman replied, his hand on the hilt of his machete as well.

Gu Shenwei continued retreating. He left Tuo Nengya with a few parting words as he turned and returned to Jade City. “Next time then. You better have more men with you.”

When he was sure that he was alone, Gu Shenwei took out the stack of paper that he had retrieved from the Immortal’s corpse. It was indeed his copy of the Death Scripture Just as he was about to tear it into pieces, he noticed that there were some tiny scribblings on the white spaces of the notes.

It seemed that Immortal Peng had made his own notations on some parts of the Scripture.

It was getting darker and harder for him to read. Reluctantly, Gu Shenwei kept the notes again.

As he walked down the dirty streets of the South City, Gu Shenwei felt that it was ages ago since he first went to the Pavilion. He had wasted a few months of his precious time and was not any closer to getting his revenge. However, he bizarrely ended up with a dead ‘immortal’ on his hands. He had once thought highly of his own willpower, and would never have thought that he had to rely on the Peripheral Force in his body to keep him from acting under the influence of the Immortal’s hypnosis.

As the time limit of three years draws closer, he realised that his plan of exterminating the entire Golden Roc Fort was impossible now. He should have killed off a few masters of the Shangguan Family before he would die from qigong deviation. Top on his list was Shangguan Nu, the Eighth Young Master who was still at the border of the desert, busy plotting the fall of the New Moon Hall.

He did not find Maid Lotus in her room at the backyard of the Southwall Tavern. It was not their rendezvous day, so she must have remained by Shangguan Ru’s side.

As he could not get to Maid Lotus, he went into the tavern to look for the manager. Shopkeeper Lyu was extremely surprised to see Yang Huan, and hid his hand with the missing finger behind his back while he welcomed this harbinger of doom awkwardly.

Gu Shenwei managed to get the news from the past few months from the manager.

He came to know that Shangguan Ru had requested for the reins of Kun Society back from her brother.

Not long after Slave Huan had left for Hope Alley, Shangguan Ru paid a visit to her twin brother along with six killers. Shangguan Fei was prepared for it, and mobilised all of his killers, along with 50 or so machetemen from the South City. Even though no one present was armed, Shangguan Fei had made a bigger show of force.

Everyone in the City thought that another mass brawl would break out. The commandant stood guard outside the residence of the Ninth Young Master, along with about a hundred of his soldiers and guards from the Stone Castle, to maintain order in case anything happened.

To everyone’s surprise, Shangguan Ru did not lose her temper. She treated her brother with respect, as she would to a true power in the City. She requested for the Kun Society in exchange for all the territories she held.

Even though the territories were only hers in name, as they were bequeathed to her by their elder brothers, the income generated from them was substantial. It was many times more than the money that was given by the merchants under the protection of the Kun Society.

Shangguan Fei agreed, and a deal was struck.

Shangguan Ru entered the South City that very day, and spent the next few days visiting the merchants under the Kun Society’s protection. Amongst them was the Southwall Tavern.

“The Tenth Young Master is a good person who understands the issues of us businessmen. She was extremely courteous to me and even suggested that I contribute less every month, as long as I keep business coming her way. Of course, I agreed. She is a far-sighted person and the Kun Society’s territory will definitely grow under her command,” he told Yang Huan.

This was just wishful thinking on his part. In reality, the Kun Society’s territory was diminishing everyday. This happened as the Ninth Young Master had directed all profitable ventures towards the Horned Dragon Society, cannibalising his sister’s share of the spoils.

“The Horned Dragon Society is growing stronger. As businessmen, we cannot afford to not partner up with them. Honestly speaking, I have frequently received advice to switch sides…”

Gu Shenwei hurried to the stronghold of the Kun Society upon hearing this.

Shangguan Ru was dictating something to two secretaries in the hall as he entered. She broke out into a grin upon seeing Slave Huan. It was as if he was by her side all along for these few months, and had came back to report to her after completing a mission.

She had changed a little since their last meeting in the forest. A lot of the childishness was gone from her face, and those jet black pupils of hers contained neither innocence nor curiosity. They were replaced by a scrutinizing look.

She had also seemed to have become less trusting.

After she sent the secretaries away, she spoke to him. “Are you cured of your sickness now?”

“More or less,” he replied. The two Peripheral Forces still remained in his body and he was not sure what condition he was in.

“Can you start working again?”

“Yes.”

“Are you aware of Kun Society’s present situation?”

“I’m aware of it, yes.”

“How do you envision our future to be like?”

“We need to draw the snake out of its hiding place.”

Shangguan Ru brightened up and broke into a smile as she heard his reply. “I know that waiting for you to return was the right decision.”

Gu Shenwei understood what Shangguan Ru’s was thinking. She did not forget about Master Yu’s death, and was willing to present herself as weak to the public to draw Shangguan Fei to the South City.

The end of the was between the twins was still nowhere in sight. Gu Shenwei came up with an idea on his way to see Shangguan Ru. Rather than allowing Shangguan Fei to blackmail him, he thought it would be a better idea to get rid of him first. “Have you made up your mind?” he asked Shangguan Ru.

She nodded, and it was the first time he had seen the desire to kill in her eyes.