Death Scripture

Shangguan Yun felt that he had made himself absolutely clear, and was surprised by the conditions that the killer had raised.

“I’ve already said that Wayless Qigong is a technique that should never be learnt. I love my sister, and I do not wish for her to suffer an early death.”

Before Gu Shenwei could use any one of his hundreds of reasons to convince Shangguan Yun, his sister interrupted him. “It’s ok, Third Elder Brother, I will think of a way to bring Parro down the mountain. You don’t have to teach me the Wayless Qigong technique.”

“Other than causing the person to lose his strength and become feeble from time to time, are there any more hidden risks in learning Wayless Qigong?” Gu Shenwei had great need for the Wayless Book and could not allow this opportunity to slip from his hands. He looked at the Tenth Young Master, knowing that she thought his urgent requests for her brother to teach her the technique was out of concern. She had not realized that she was being made use of.

“There are no other risks. But this alone risks your life.”

“So if one were to take precautions, would it not be fine?”

“No no, it’s not as simple as you think. Whoever learns Wayless Qigong has practiced it frequently, killing countless people and making many enemies. No matter how many precautions you take, there is always going to be something you overlook.”

“But the Supreme King remains fine,” said Gu Shenwei after a moment of silence. He did not want to mention this, as risked showing others he knew the Lord’s weakness.

Shangguan Yun also became silent. Evidently, this piece of news was not totally unexpected to him. He finally said, “So, he has finally come to this.”

“Yes, I just came from his place.”

“Mother mentioned that Father was training in some special technique, so this was it?” Shangguan Ru felt it odd that she knew less than Slave Huan, even though she was the Supreme King’s daughter.

Shangguan Yun’s flicked to his sister as he said, “He has been practicing it for many years now. The Supreme King has the privilege of learning it because only he has the privilege of the tightest security. So, it’s all up to you to decide.”

Shangguan Ru was a little indecisive and swept her eyes across Slave Huan’s face before making up her mind. “I will help Parro leave without, no questions asked, but I also wish to learn Wayless Qigong.”

Shangguan Yun laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “Fine, I will teach you, but you have to swear an oath that you will never pass it on to anyone else – especially the killer beside you.”

Shangguan Ru nodded and said, “I swear.”

Gu Shenwei realized that he had been too hasty and Shangguan Yun had seen through his motives. Instead of trying to justify himself, he asked, “If the Wayless Qigong technique is the privilege of the Supreme King, how did you come to learn it?”

Shangguan Yun lifted his chin slightly and for the first time, looked as how a master should. “I never said that I knew Wayless Qigong. And you had better act as a real killer – turn around, don’t ask any questions. Don’t even think about it.”

Gu Shenwei obeyed, and turned to face the cell door.

A rustling sound came from behind him, as if something was scraping the stone wall, sharp and piercing. Gu Shenwei thought to himself – He cannot possibly be carving the entire Wayless Book on the stone wall, right? It would take more than all night, and even so, Tenth Young Master could not manage to memorize all of it.

However, the rustling sound quickly stopped, after ten or so words were carved. Shangguan Yun asked, “Have you remembered it?”

“I remember.”

There was the sound of rubbing, and finally Shangguan Yun warned his younger sister, “Be wary of this killer, he is no simpleton.”

Shangguan Ru knocked on the door. Gu Shenwei turned around and fixed his eyes on Shangguan Yun, anger flaring as he thought of this Third Young Master who had grown up amongst killers yet despised them.

“Assure me that Parro will be fine,” said Shangguan Yun softly. He looked stern and even more like the Supreme King at his prime.

Gu Shenwei was at a loss for words for a while. He realized then that Shangguan Yun knew that his sister would not be able to accomplish the rescue mission by herself, and that he was trusting the killer to get it done.

“She will be fine,” said Gu Shenwei flatly, “but I cannot guarantee anything.”

On their way back, Shangguan Ru was silent, as if deep in thought. Upon reaching the Eighth Young Master’s front yard, she asked, “What’s your plan?”

“At the moment, I have none.”

“You must have come up with one,” she replied, as a smile creeping across her tense face.

“One has to deliberate on this. Slowly.”

“Do you need me to spell it out for you? I’m learning the Wayless Qigong technique for you. No matter what Third Elder Brother said, I will definitely teach it to you – after all, you are my ‘disciple’.”

It had been a while since they had addressed each other as master and disciple. Gu Shenwei was familiar with Shangguan Ru’s behavior and laughed as he said, “To be honest, I really do need to learn Wayless Qigong. The Peripheral Force still remains in my body and it won’t be long before it erupts.”

“Can the Wayless Qigong technique cure you?”

“Yes,” said Gu Shenwei resolutely, even though as he himself was not certain. He and Maid Lotus had guessed that it would cure him, but neither of them knew just how it would work out.

“That’s what I thought. That book… anyway, it’s pointless to speak of it, I shall tell you about it in a few days’ time.”

As they were conversing in the room, Maid Lotus knocked on the door from the outside. “Tenth Young Master, Miss would like to invite you back to rest.”

Shangguan Ru mischievously stuck out her tongue. “Eighth Sister-in-law is so strict. I’ll take my leave but you need to think of an idea quickly. The most important thing is that we rescue Parro,” she said.

It would be no easy task to sneak Parro out of the Castle, as she was the concubine of the Supreme King and living in the Inner Residence. Gu Shenwei recalled that there had been an incident when two slaves had tried to sneak out of the Stone Castle by hiding in water barrels, but they were quickly caught.

But he was more concerned about the Wayless Book. It seemed like Shangguan Yun had not actually learnt the technique and had only given his sister some clues. If those clues were identical to the clues he already knew, he would wind up on the losing end of the deal.

Gu Shenwei let his mind wander, and it was when he was about to doze off when he came up with a plan for the rescue.

Shangguan Ru came knocking on his door early the next day morning. She had also come up with a plan, but abandoned it once she had heard Slave Huan’s. “Your plan is more reliable, but more difficult to carry out. It’s a miracle that Eighth Sister-in-law agreed to take me in, I don’t think she will agree to take part in this.”

“I’ll convince her, you go get Lady Meng’s help.”

“Mother would definitely help. She can’t wait to rid of a few more women in the Inner Residence.”

Gu Shenwei did not point out to her that if Luo Ningcha’s intelligence was correct, Lady Meng herself had brought in a substantial number of women into the Inner Residence.

As predicted, it took much effort to convince Luo Ningcha to participate in their plan. She had grown tired of doing things for Slave Huan – she felt that she did not get anything in return. However, at the moment, she could come up with anything for Slave Huan to do to repay her, other than some impractical assassination requests. Gu Shenwei simply concealed Lady Meng’s important role in his plan from her, saying “Miss, think about it, as a lady of the Inner Residence, if Parro were to go missing, Lady Meng would naturally lose face…”

Luo Ningcha seemed swayed by his statement. However, something had been preoccupying her thoughts and she laid it out to him. “Slave Huan, how is it that lately you have always been involved with women lately? If it’s not sending women to me, it’s trying to sneak other women away? Don’t forget that you have sworn an oath of loyalty to me. I haven’t even won yet, so you shouldn’t be caught up in your own matters right now.”

Every time Luo Ningcha self-righteously requested something of him, Gu Shenwei felt a surge of anger rising within him. However, it a went away quickly. He knew that this woman did not have long to act high and mighty. In fact, she probably even had less time than the three-year time limit of his own qigong deviation.

Gu Shenwei casually rattled off a few oaths. In the end, he won over the support of Miss Luo.

“I do want to see what this parrot or mynah looks like, for so many men to be fighting over her.”

In comparison, it was much easier to win over Lady Meng. Shangguan Ru hid the fact that she had wanted to help her Third Elder Brother and that he had told her about the ‘reward’ beforehand. Rather, she described it as purely a transactional deal, and this easily earned her mother’s understanding.

Once they had enlisted the help of Lady Meng, it became much easier for Gu Shenwei to carry out his plan.

Slave Huan and Maid Lotus were summoned back to the Castle, under the pretense that Luo Ningcha was returning the favor after receiving gifts from her father. Ten carts of gifts were prepared and it seemed like all was going according to plan. The Eighth Young Mistress had not learnt her lesson, and prepared to send four maids to the Bighead Kingpin – those she had sent previously had ended up being killed by her father.

The night the gifts left the Castle, a minor incident occurred in the Inner Residence. A concubine of the Lord committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. As it was customary to not gossip about such personal issues of the Inner Residence, most people did not even know the name of the deceased concubine.

Once the gifts passed through the gates of the East Castle, Slave Huan and Maid Lotus would have completed their task. They passed on the responsibility of escorting the gifts back to the Iron Mountain to the fifty machetemen sent by the Kun Society.

The day after the suicide, people in Hope Alley began to notice that Madman Wu, who was always seen wandering around the streets, had gone missing. He did not appear for the next few days. Everyone said “He’s dead” when asked, and some claimed that he had shown signs of approaching death. The mystery of his absent corpse matched his mysterious nature when he was still alive.

Gu Shenwei’s small residence at the North City became occupied once more when Xu Xiaoyi and Chu Nanping moved in. The neighbours only saw the two children going in and out of the residence and no one knew if there was anyone else who lived there as well.

Of all the people involved in the rescue, only Gu Shenwei had never laid eyes on Parro. He did not visit her, even when she insisted on thanking her rescuer personally. He only wished for the mission to be completed and for Shangguan Yun’s information on the Wayless Qigong technique to be of value.

Since he had already left the Castle, Gu Shenwei also had to attend to another matter. It was time for the Kun Society to give their ‘Protective Talisman’, and he was in charge of handing over the silver. The responsibility made him a little more proactive.

The Kun Society was gaining momentum, but the hundreds of machetemen under their hire was no small burden. Even after the accountants had made preparations, there were only 900 thousand taels of silver in their coffers. If would be no easy task to gather one million and 150 thousand taels of silver.

Gu Shenwei took a banknote equivalent to 800 thousand taels of silver with him, claiming that he could convince the governor to accept a smaller tribute.

But even before he went to see the governor, he went around to understand more about the situation within the city. It seemed like the deaths of Wei Lingmiao and Meng Mingxian was still the subject of gossip on the streets, and as his expectation proved, more people were beginning to link both cases together. Only this time, what was on everyone’s mind was not friendship, but revenge.

The Meng Family did not comment on this issue, and this only affirmed the beliefs of the people.

Because of that, Gu Shenwei felt confident to win the trust of Wei Song, even before meeting. Never would he have anticipated that someone had already interfered in this matter, and was waiting for the killer to fall into the trap.