Death Scripture

In fact, Shangguan Ru had made her move before Slave Huan’s return, and she had already tried all sorts of methods to entice her twin brother to enter the South City.

Her first option was to make use of Xu Yanwei, who Shangguan Fei was very fond of. As she was also under the protection of Slave Huan, she would be the perfect person to serve as a bridge between both camps and for convincing him to enter the South City.

However, she quickly killed off the idea because Xu Yanwei had informed her that the Ninth Young Master had already replaced her with another woman. Xu Yanwei was devastated as she had, yet again, failed in her lifelong mission to marry into a rich family.

Next, Shangguan Ru had come up with the idea of bribing Slave Qing, who was always by her brother’s side. This also came to naught because Slave Qing had also lost the trust of Shangguan Fei and she sounded even more resentful than Xu Yanwei. Shangguan Ru came to understand that Slave Qing had not even seen her master for as much as five days.

It seemed that the only person who the Ninth Young Master really trusted now was Guan Houlin, his huge military counselor. However, Shangguan Ru doubted that he could be bribed as he had just been promoted and was now in his master’s good books.

She had considered kidnapping him as he could be frequently seen flaunting his authority at the South City, and his kung fu was ordinary. After some consideration, she decided against carrying out this plan because she was worried that it would scare off Shangguan Fei and drive him deeper into hiding.

Shangguan Fei was no fool and he did not let his guard down, even when his twin sister continued to display her weakness in public after her return to the Kun Society. He was not only worried about her, but also had to contend with the missing Tuo Nengya. He would never be able to rest in peace as long as the old macheteman was still alive.

The last plan she had thought about was exactly the same as the kidnapping of Meng Mingshi. She considered striking directly at her brother in the North City. However, the level of precautions he took was much more than Meng Mingshi. His residence was crawling with security, and the city guards were also keeping a close eye on her. They would openly monitor her movements whenever she entered the North City.

Shangguan Ru was becoming impatient. The death of Master Yu and the terrible losses inflicted upon the Kun Society had greatly impacted her. She wanted, not only to get her revenge, but also to deal a fatal blow to her brother.

“What about Fifth Young Master Meng? Perhaps we could join forces with him. Doesn’t he want revenge as well?” Gu Shenwei suggested.

Although he had not considered the animosity between Meng Mingshi and Master Ru, to his surprise, she was not angry that he had harbored such a thought. In truth, she had also considered it. “It won’t work, as the Meng Family has forbidden him… from getting involved in the matters of my family anymore.”

Gu Shenwei thought that the Meng Family were right to issue the order to their Fifth Young Master because Meng Mingshi would have ended up as a pawn regardless of which side he joined. Such a situation would not be beneficial to the Meng Family, regardless of which of the twins was the final victor.

At the moment, all the paths available to them seemed to be filled with roadblocks.

Gu Shenwei changed the subject by passing a message to his master. “Tuo Nengya said that he remains loyal to you.”

She did not show any expression upon receiving this piece of news. Gu Shenwei knew that she had learnt how to hide her real feelings from others. “It’s pointless talk. He would have been better to the Kun Society if he was dead.”

Shangguan Fei would let his guard down at least a little if he knew that Tuo Nengya was dead, thought Gu Shenwei as he observed her eyes. He wanted to know if she was joking or hinting for him to act. “It’s not impossible for him to be dead,” he said.

“Do you know where he is hiding?”

“When we last met, he was hiding in the Joy Pavilion. Now that his cover has been blown, he can only be hiding amongst the machetemen.”

Shangguan Ru gave a faint smile as she heard what he said. She replied, “Then let him remain in hiding. He might be useful, but let’s not get him involved unless if it is necessary.”

She was concerned about Tuo Nengya’s motives. He wanted to avenge the Eldest Young Master’s death, and the act of her joining forces with him would be bigger than her conflict with her twin brother. It would arouse the displeasure of many within the Stone Castle, including her own mother.

Finally, he came to the part about how he had killed the Immortal. The Kun Society had ears everywhere, and Shangguan Ru had already knew about it. She advised Slave Huan, “You should also go into hiding. I heard that many people are looking to avenge the Immortal’s death. It’s funny. I had always thought of the Immortal as an extraordinary existence, but to think that he was actually so mediocre.”

That night, as Gu Shenwei was sleeping peacefully at the base of the Kun Society, the news of his exploits had spread across much of Jade City. He had made history, and everyone was talking about how an ordinary killer like Yang Huan had done the impossible.

Fame was the bane of killers, and Gu Shenwei felt that he had become too famous overnight.

On the morning of the next day, he began to examine Immortal Peng’s notations on the Death Scripture manual. After he had finished doing so, he kept a few pages which he thought were worthy of further examination in his clothes and burnt the rest.

From his notes, it seemed that the Immortal was well aware of the presence of the Death Scripture, as he had called it the Maha Bodhi scripture or the Dajue Book of Swordcraft. He seemed to have a thorough understanding of its contents as well.

There were many ways of learning the Death Scripture, which had been proven by both Maid Lotus and Gu Shenwei. After when he finished his reading of the Death Scripture, Immortal Peng was inspired by it to come up with his lies on the 64 different training methods for the Secrets of Love.

From his notes, he seemed to be extremely excited as he had written down much of his personal insights of the Scripture on the manual. He was so consumed by it that he even wrote down his feelings, such as: How do you explain the fact that there seems to be flaws in the technique? How?

Gu Shenwei knew that no matter what method that a practitioner of the Death Scripture chose to train in, he or she needed to improve his or her skill by killing. It was no wonder that the Immortal had not understood this secret of the technique, as he did not have the time to practice as much as Gu Shenwei did. The youth had spotted this ‘flaw’ in the Scripture as well, but he was proven wrong with time.

The Immortal had become a meaningless memory to Gu Shenwei, and he was sure that the people of the Joy Pavilion would soon come to their senses about having been living under a lie for all this time, and that they would thank him for saving them.

Now, the only thought on his mind was about how to deal with Shangguan Fei. He could feel that the Tenth Young Master was serious about getting her revenge. He decided to risk Lady Meng’s wrath and began to plot Shangguan Fei’s death. He did not like the fact that the Ninth Young Master could blackmail him if he wanted to. After his experience with Mama Xue, he did not want something similar to happen again.

Gu Shenwei felt that he knew what Shangguan Ru was really thinking about, so he decided to act before she had issued any orders to her killers.

First, he went to visit Maid Lotus at her room at the Southwall Tavern. She was waiting for him. She had been monitoring the movements of the Horned Dragon Society since the night before, and had just concluded her surveillance.

They did not talk much. She warned him that there were still bound to be admirers of Immortal Peng in the South City, despite the fact that the denizens of the Hope Alley had little contact with the outside world. This was because Immortal Peng was not a hermit who lived in complete seclusion. She told him that he had a new nickname – the ‘Immortal’s Murderer’, and it did not bode well for his safety.

Everyone in the tavern recognised him as he entered. They all looked at him strangely, either with fright, vengefulness or admiration. Those from the last group had apparently transferred their admiration for the Immortal onto him.

Gu Shenwei admitted to himself that he had killed the Immortal out of a moment of impulse. Before the fateful encounter at the Pavilion, he had planned to kill the Immortal in secret, without anyone noticing.

Shopkeeper Lyu actions betrayed the fact that he already knew of the Immortal’s death. He spoke nervously to Yang Huan, “Manager Yang, Mr. Huan, let’s talk in private.”

He led Yang Huan into a room full of weapons and brought out a plate stacked with about 400 taels of silver, saying, “This is with the compliments of the house.”

Gu Shenwei did not receive the gift. Shopkeeper Lyu’s face turned more pale under his glare, and could not speak properly. It was only after a while, and with some effort, that Shopkeeper Lyu managed to explain the reason for this gift. “Or how about a drink in the backyard? Since you have a room there, I can send some counterjumpers to serve you.”

“Speak your mind. Are you afraid that someone will damage your tavern while looking for me to avenge the Immortal’s death?”

The shopkeeper scratched his ears nervously and laughed, trying to cajole the killer. “No, no, who would have dared to seek revenge from you in the South City? But, but…”

“But what?”

“But the citizens of South City had put considerable faith in the Immortal, not including me of course. Now that you have killed him…”

Gu Shenwei understood what the shopkeeper was getting at. “Fine, I’ll not disrupt your business. Just make sure you keep an eye on my money.” There was still over 10 thousand taels of silver from Tie Hanfeng’s inheritance that was being kept in the Tavern.

Shopkeeper Lyu felt as though a heavy burden was lifted from his chest. He kept saying “No problem” to the killer.

Gu Shenwei felt that it would be more prudent to take precautions for a sneak attack rather than regretting about his own actions. Now that he needed to behave cautiously, he obtained a cape from the room in the backyard and put it on before leaving the Tavern.

He circled the streets and arrived at Pleasure Alley.

As he walked into the brothel, Xu Xiaoyi thought at first that it was just another customer. When he realised it has Brother Huan who had been gone for such a long while, he felt taken aback and pleasantly surprised at the same time. He hurriedly came towards Yang Huan and shut the door behind them. It looked like he was not accepting any more visitors for his sister.

“Did you really kill the Immortal?”

“He isn’t immortal.”

“But his fortune telling… is really pretty accurate.”

“Well, he could not fortell his own death at my hands.”

“This, this… was because immortals never tell their own fortune. Or perhaps, he did, and since he was immortal, he could have used his ‘death’ at your hands to take his rightful place in the heavens.”

Gu Shenwei knew with complete certainty that the Immortal had not faced his death as calmly as the child suggested. “Never mind him. Get your sister to come down.”

Xu Yanwei was already stretching lazily upstairs. Ever since she knew that her new master did not lust for her, she stopped pretending to be demure in front of him. She ocassionally behaved as if nobody was watching her, showing behavior that would not be acceptable in front of a customer.

“Oh, I’m too lazy to walk down the stairs. Speak if you have anything to say, I can hear you just fine.”

There was no one else in the building because the siblings had not kept any maids or elderly servants in their service. They had made a decision to not unnecessarily spend money. Before their deal of three years with the killer expired, they wanted to save up enough money so that they could leave this undesirable place for good afterwards.

“What’s going on between you and the Ninth Young Master?”

“You can’t blame me, I have used all of the tricks at my disposal. Even so, he has given me up for someone else, what can I possibly do about it?”

“So, who is his new favorite girl?”

Xu Yanwei rested her elbows on the raling and it was hard to discern whether she was smiling or not. She sighed deeply and replied, “I do not know who she is, but I did keep something from the Tenth Young Master. I felt that, as a young woman, she should not hear about such things. The Ninth Young Master-”

She dragged the last word, without continuing further. She had wanted to add some theatrical quality to her speech, but after noticing that the killer was unmoved, she kept talking. “He’s changed his tastes, and does not favor women anymore. He likes… well, you know what I mean.”

“Are you sure?” Gu Shenwei was a little shocked. The first possible person he thought of was the military counselor, Guan Houlin, but quickly decided that it was unlikely as he did not seem to be into such things.

“What haven’t I seen before? I knew it the first time I had slept with him. Hey, hey, he has me to thank for teaching him about the joys of intercourse. If I had not let him feel completely relaxed during our sessions, he would never have realised his true inclinations. You don’t have to be pertubed. Eight or nine out of ten men who come from rich families in the North City have such a liking. Sigh, now you know about how hard my job is. Not only do I have to compete with women, but with men as well.”

Gu Shenwei was sure that Lady Meng would not have thanked Xu Yanwei if she had known about this.