Death Scripture

Gu Shenwei had lots of things to do today. He could only handle them one by one.

He rapidly rode back to Jade City and went directly to the Kun Society to report to Shangguan Ru. After that, he had a private conversation with Maid Lotus.

When he told her everything about the side effect of practicing the swordcraft recorded in the Death Scripture, Maid Lotus was shocked, but still optimistic. “Wayless Book, Wayless Book, we can save ourselves, if we manage to get the book. Wayless Qigong may even help us get rid of Mama Xue’s Peripheral Force,” she said excitedly.

“Oh, yes! Why hadn’t I thought of it?” Gu Shenwei exclaimed, when he remembered that Mama Xue had also injected Peripheral Force into Maid Lotus and given her only three years to live.

The Internal Strength technique depicted in Wayless Book was the basis for the swordcraft recorded in Death Scripture. In the meantime, it also seemed to be of great importance to the other kung fu skills.

Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus guessed that the Barren Sect’s qigong and the qigong technique that the Golden Roc Fort taught its killers were both derived from Wayless Qigong, but the Barren Sect did not have a complete copy of Wayless Book. They believed that this was why the sect was so keen on stealing the book.

Kang Wenhui, Managing Master of the Barren Sect, had once told them that there were only two ways to remove Mama Xue’s Peripheral Force from their bodies. The first one was that Mama Xue herself removed the force from them, which was impossible since she was dead. The second one was mastering the Barren Sect’s qigong. Once their own Internal Strength was stronger that Mama Xue’s, they would be able to drive Mama Xue’s Peripheral Force out of their bodies.

They thought that if they guessed right, by mastering Wayless Qigong, they would be able to get rid of the Peripheral Force, which put heavy pressure on them. This thought thrilled them.

They knew where Wayless Book was. In fact, it was not a written text. It was stored in a man’s brain, and the man was the temple guard of Six Kills Temple. Gu Shenwei had met him once. If they want to get Wayless Book, they had to find a way to make the temple guard recite the book to them.

The teenagers were eager to return to the fort to get Wayless Book, but as Master Ru’s killers, they could not return to the fort before Master Ru’s one-year probationary period concluded. They felt anxious since they would be killed by the Peripheral Force inside their bodies before Master Ru’s trial period was over.

Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus forced themselves to calm down. They kept telling themselves that they still had enough time to figure out a solution. After a while, Gu Shenwei decided to leave for Bodhi Garden, and Maid Lotus promised him that she would try to persuade Master Ru to come back to Golden Roc Fort once she got a chance.

Upon realizing that Wayless Qigong might be able to cure his qigong deviation, Gu Shenwei was overjoyed. A few months ago, he had thought that he could at most kill a few young masters of the Shangguan family, but now he believed that he would have ample time to totally destroy the Golden Roc Fort.

“Golden Roc Fort murdered my entire family, so I have to make the whole Shangguan family pay with their lives. I’ll kill them all.” Gu Shenwei walked out of the gate, deeply absorbed in thought. Xu Xiaoyi, who had waited outside the Kun Society for the killer for a long time, hurriedly came to him.

“Brother Huan, help me. I’m worried to death,” the boy said anxiously.

“What happened?”

“I’m worried about my sister. Since she entered Bodhi Garden, she’s never contacted me.”

“Don’t worry. Perhaps she’s just too busy,” Gu Shenwei replied. He had met Xu Yanwei on the first night of the welcoming party for Master Wei.

“No, no, I don’t feel quite right. Brother Huan, didn’t you ask her to collect information for you? She promised me that she would come to the city gate to give me a letter or tell me some information every three days. However, she’s never showed up or sent anyone to deliver a letter to me in the past 10 days.”

Gu Shenwei did not know what Xu Yanwei had been doing recently, but he could hear the sounds of revelry inside Bodhi Garden every night. He thought that she might be alright, so he promised Xu Xiaoyi. “Well, I’ll go to Bodhi Garden to look for her.”

Xu Xiaoyi still looked nervous, which aroused Gu Shenwei’ suspicion. “Xu Xiaoyi and his sister are very crafty. Are they plotting something behind me again?” Gu Shenwei wondered. “Xiaoyi, what’re you worrying about?” he asked.

“Alas, it’s my fault. I failed to dissuade her from doing that. Brother Huan, you know it. My sister is best at… that thing,” Xu Xiaoyi said, his hands trembling.

Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei realized what made Xu Xiaoyi feel so uneasy. Xu Yanwei was good at playing a masochist. She had been forced by Pot-bellied Buddha to sleep with some sadists to make money. This was the main reason behind the siblings’ decision to kill their own father.

“She wants to leave with Master Wei so badly. She said she would get the opportunity to go to the Central Plain at all costs. I’m afraid that she… tried too hard. Or, some young master got excessively abusive when he got drunk. Such accidents happened before. Most prostitutes of Pot-bellied Buddha died because of these accidents. You know, there are many weird guys in Jade City, and the young masters in North City love to try all kinds of new tricks…”

“I’ll find your sister. I promise,” Gu Shenwei interrupted Xu Xiaoyi. He had occasionally heard women screaming during the past days in Bodhi Garden, but he had not heard of any accident yet.

After saying goodbye to Xu Xiaoyi, Gu Shenwei rode to Bodhi Garden. Before he went to find Xu Yanwei, he had to pay Wei Lingmiao a visit.

When Gu Shenwei saw Master Wei, the young master and several of his friends were talking about the political situation in Western Region. They all lay down on couches, and each of them was accompanied by two beautiful maids. A young master could rest his head on the lap of a maid while asking the other one to feed him food and drinks. When Wei Lingmiao and his friends sat up and spoke in turn, Gu Shenwei quickly scanned across the scene. He found out that Meng Mingshi was not here. He guessed that was probably because the Fifth Young Master Meng was not interested in such a complicated and boring topic. He also looked at the maids carefully but did not find Xu Yanwei.

The moment Wei Lingmiao spotted the killer, he just smiled at him while lying on the couch. When it was Master Wei’s turn to speak, he sat up and said, “The kingdoms in the Western Region will never unite together. They can only depend on big countries to ensure their own safety. Now that Norland splits, the Central Plain will become the greatest power in Western Region.”

Gu Shenwei had once heard a professional counselor analyse the political situation in Weastern Region. He was amazed to discover that the young masters here had similar views. “Maybe these young masters aren’t as stupid as I thought,” he thought to himself.

After Wei Lingmiao’s friends departed in the late afternoon, Master Wei ordered all the servants to leave the room and then invited the killer in. “I hope you’re not sickened after hearing such a long and boring conversation. Those guys were nobles exiled from their own kingdoms. They’re eager to reclaim their domains. I can’t refuse to talk to them,” Wei Lingmiao said after a big yawn.

Upon hearing that, Gu Shenwei just bowed to Master Wei slightly without saying a word. He was well aware that a professional killer should never pry into his client’s personal affairs.

“How are things going with you and that monk?”

“It’s alright.”

“What did I want you to do? Erm, let me think. Oh, yes, I want you to assassinate a person for me.”

“Master Wei, please tell me who you want to kill. I’m always ready.”

“Um, good. And I don’t want anyone to suspect that the person is murdered.”

“I see. I’ll make the person’s death look like an accident.”

“That’s good.”

With these words, Wei Lingmiao bent his right leg and then rested his right arm on his right knee. He gently shook a flagon in his hand and looked at the killer smilingly for a long time without saying a word.

Gu Shenwei stood beside him with his head down, waiting patiently for his order.

“Before you go to kill that person, I want you to do something else for me.”

“Please tell me what it is.”

“Go to talk with Commandant Zhong. You can believe his words. It’s not only his idea, but also what my father and I want you to do.”

Gu Shenwei’s sixth sense told him that Wei Lingmiao was brewing a plot, but he still promised to meet Zhong Heng without asking a question.

“Then you can create an ‘accident’ to kill him,” Wei Lingmiao said casually, as if he was joking.

“I see,” Gu Shenwei replied calmly. He was suspicious about Wei Lingmiao, but as a professional killer, he had to hide all his emotions and thoughts from others.

“Don’t you want to ask why I want to kill him?” Wei Lingmiao was a little bit surprised by the killer’s reaction.

“A killer will never ask his client such a question.”

“Do you think that it’s reasonable to kill him in exchange for a month’s delay in turning in the ‘Protective Talisman’?”

“I can also win your trust, so it’s a reasonable deal.”

Upon hearing that, Wei Lingmiao laughed and sat up on his couch. He slipped his feet into his shoes and scuffed to the killer to pat his shoulder. “You’ll get more trust. It’s not from me, but from a person who’s much more powerful than me.”

Gu Shenwei was bewildered by Wei Lingmiao excessively friendly attitude.“What does Wei Lingmiao want from me? Evidently, he doesn’t just intend to get close to Shangguan Ru through me. He seems to expect much more than that. Maybe Zhong Heng can tell me what this young master wants. Why does he send Commandant Zhong to talk with me on his behalf when he plans to kill the commandant? What did that cunning man do to offend Wei Lingmiao?”

After accepting the assassination task, Gu Shenwei told Wei Lingmiao that he wanted to meet Xu Yanwei. Upon hearing this request, Master Wei knitted his eyebrows. He thought for a long time and finally remembered who Xu Yanwei was. After knowing that the killer was the prostitute’s boss, he laughed again and walked out of the room while repeatedly saying, “What a perfect match!”

Not long after Wei Lingmiao’s departure, Xu Yanwei came into the room. She was unhurt but looked grumpy. “Why did you come here to find me? Now that Master Wei knows that you’re my boss, he probably won’t bring me to the Central Plain. All the prostitutes here work hard for the opportunity. Don’t hinder me.”

“I’ve never agreed to let you go.”

Upon hearing such a direct refusal, Xu Yanwei regretted being so rude. She always forgot that the youth was a ruthless killer who had mercilessly murdered his own Master Shifu. After realizing that she could not butt heads with this tough young killer, she immediately began to act in a gentle manner. “Mr. Huan, please let me go. What’s the point of keeping me here in South City? Xiaoyi can collect information for you in the city by himself. I’ve earned more than 10,000 taels of silver. I’ll leave all my money to you when I leave the city,” she approached the killer and said softly.

“I don’t want your money. I need your information now.”

“What do you want to know about Master Wei? Don’t tell me that you are interested in all his daily doings.”

“About three years ago, Golden Roc Fort assassinated a family whose surname was Gu. A young woman in the family was Wei Lingmiao’s fiancée. He was here in Jade City when his fiancée and her family got slaughtered. I want to know why he came here at that time.”

Xu Yanwei nodded and then repeated what the killer had just said to ensure that she got everything right. “Trust me. I’m sure that I can figure it out.”

“Be careful. Don’t arouse his suspicion.”

“Tut, who am I? Please rest assured.”

“Your brother is really worried about you.”

“Alas, what an impatient boy. Tell him to meet me at the city gate tomorrow.”

After talking with Xu Yanwei, Gu Shenwei went to say goodbye to Wei Lingmiao and then left Bodhi Garden. At night, he went to South City to make some arrangement. It was not an easy job to create a perfect accident to kill someone. People in this city enjoyed gossip and had a sharp nose for conspiracy. He had to make sure that every detail in the accident would withstand close analysis.

Gu Shenwei believed that the Governor of Jade City, namely Commandant Zhong’s direct supervisor and Wei Lingmiao’s father, would never make trouble for him because of Zhong Heng’s death, since Wei Lingmiao had implied that it was his father’s decision to kill Zhong Heng.

Personally, he felt reluctant to kill Commandant Zhong, as this shrewd man had taught him many useful things. Compared to Zhong Heng, he distrusted Wei Lingmiao and the Governor even more. He had a strong feeling that they must have something to do with his family’s death.