Death Scripture

After remembering the scene when he had met Gu Shenwei in Tongtian Pass, Shangguan Nu connected that he was the little slave who had caused him to get his hand chopped off.

“He said that he was the son of Yang Zheng, the servant of the Gu family. But I’m sure that he’s not the son of a servant,” Shangguan Nu had reported to King Rizhu after he had fled to Norland.

“At that time, he was already the Dragon King,” replied King Rizhu.

“No, he hasn’t changed. When he first the joined the Golden Roc Fort, he pretended to be obedient, but his eyes and actions were suspicious. I should have suspected him at the time. But I never thought…” Shangguan Nu trailed off.

“There were so many things that you missed,” King Rizhu responded in disdain and thought to himself, “A man’s first betrayal can be forgiven. But if he betrays over and over again, then he is a man without honor. Shangguan Nu is an underdog. He is an almost useless man, so he does not deserve my respect.”

King Rizhu could not make his conclusion based only upon a traitor’s words. Therefore, he decided to meet the Dragon King first to figure out whether or not he was Gu Lun’s son. Everything went as expected, except that the Dragon King had stolen his Flame Foal. He had no other choice but to get straight to the point.

He was really fond of that horse.

“What do you want, to avenge your family or to dominate the Western Region?” he had asked Gu Shenwei.

King Rizhu asked bluntly, as he was tired of talking in circles. Gu Shenwei was overwhelmed by his anger and hatred, which made it difficult for him to focus on King Rizhu’s question.

His inner hatred had never lessened. He had been forcing himself to oppress it all this time, but every once in awhile, he would be overpowered by it, like now. Killing the Lord of Norland became an irresistible temptation for him. He even imagined the ecstatic scene after he killed his foe. A voice deep inside of him kept urging him to take revenge now.

“Give me his skull,” Gu Shenwei said calmly, without a shiver in his voice. At last, he had overcome the temptation of hatred. After a fierce battle in his mind, he was exhausted, as if he had just fought ten top masters, one after the other.

The Dragon King’s emotions had softened, and King Rizhu noticed. He regarded it as a good opportunity to make peace with the Dragon King. He replied, “Of course, I will. It is useless to me now. I take no pleasure in torturing a dead man.”

“So you did not hire the Golden Roc Fort?” Gu Shenwei asked.

“Believe it or not, I did not kill him. I did intend to kill Gu Lun and even worked out a plan, but the Golden Roc Fort took actions before I did. They did not kill your family for revenge. Avengers want to watch their foes die slowly, and they enjoy torturing them as they die. However, paid killers only care about the results instead of process.”

Although Gu Shenwei was an avenger, he only cared about results. Even so, King Rizhu’s words made sense. After all, most common avengers had the same thoughts as King Rizhu, but killers were an exception.

Simpleminded as King Rizhu looked, he was actually better at leading a person’s thoughts than the cunning Wei Song. He had never mentioned the Central Plain, but he still managed to attribute Gu Lun’s death to the people there. Apart from King Rizhu, the Minister of the Central Plain (who’d had conflicts of interest with Gu Lun) was also a suspect in his death.

“Wasn’t Wei Song’s son involved in that assassination?” King Rizhu suggested, as he had heard this from Shangguan Nu. He did not give any more hints, though, leaving the rest for the Dragon King to consider.

“How did Gu Lun, my father… kill your son?” asked Gu Shenwei.

According to the well-known story, the Imperial Guard from the Central Plain had assassinated King Rizhu’s son as ruthless assassins were known to do. But Gu Shenwei could hardly believe this. He remembered his father as an honorable man confident in his martial arts skills, who would never resort to an assassination.

King Rizhu hated Gu Lun. When he reflected upon his son’s death, his rage overcame him. However, he quickly composed himself. He lowered his head, lost in thought. After awhile, he began to tell what he knew.

“I know what others say happened. Out of their respect to me, many witnesses claimed that Gu Lun led a raid to kill my son. But in fact— ” King Rizhu sighed with a pause, as if he was unwilling to continue. “Those rumors are not true. My son was an excellent rider and archer, but he was not a good swordsman. If a man wanted to kill my son, he would not need a sneak attack.”

Belittling his dead son and defending his foe was against King Rizhu’s conscience. He took the wine bottle with his hands, poured a bowl of wine for himself, and then swallowed the wine in one gulp. Then, he proceeded to tell his story in a more emotionless manner, as if it didn’t involve him at all.

The rumor was that the incident was caused by a woman, who had almost married King Rizhu’s son. However, King Rizhu’s story was different from that rumor. According to him, the Seventh Prince of the Central Plain had never even dated her. He was a Prince who had been held hostage for years in Norland. Aware of his status there, he always kept a low profile and never made any trouble. It was impossible for him to provoke a Prince in Norland.

King Rizhu had investigated their relationship. It turned out that his future daughter-in-law was a virgin, and had never even met the Seventh Prince.

So, he had to admit that his son was the instigator of the whole thing.

Like most men in Norland, King Rizhu’s son loved bragging after drinking. That day, he had been overly excited and loud. After talking about war and horses, he led the conversation to his fiancée. He praised her beauty, and then declared that he had slept with her sister and personal maid.

“Women in her family are as tough as mares. Common men cannot satisfy their needs in bed,” he’d said.

It was still a mystery why King Rizhu’s son had publically humiliated his fiancée’s family. Perhaps he had lied because he had drank too much, which was common among young men in Norland. Some of them even bragged that they had sex with their father’s favorite concubine just to show off their sexual prowess.

People usually laughed about these kinds of things. However, the Seventh Prince of the Central Plain could not understand their humor, even though he had lived in Norland for years. He responded by scoffing, which started the entire incident.

When King Rizhu’s son heard this, he saw the expression of the Seventh Prince so he decided to tease him. He said to the Seventh Prince, “Your Highness, tell us about the women of the Central Plain. I heard that the emperor of the Central Plain has thousands of women. How many of them have you slept with? I almost forgot that you came to Norland as a teen. Perhaps you have not even seen your birth mother’s breast, and only your nanny’s nipples.”

King Rizhu’s son was amused by his joke. Still, he was not satisfied after having a laugh, so he continued, “Little boy, do not get impatient. I will take you to my fiancee’s house tomorrow and find a pretty little female slave. After I fuck her, I will leave her to you.”

The men in Norland usually talked freely after drinking, but King Rizhu’s son had crossed the line. King Rizhu basically repeated his son’s exact words to the Seventh Prince. He said shaking his head, “He was an outstanding, fearless soldier who never feared death. I had worried that he would get himself in trouble with his mouth. But no matter what he said, he bore no ill will.”

The son of King Rizhu saw it as just a joke, but the Seventh Prince could not control his anger. He jumped on King Rizhu’s son for humiliating him.

Although King Rizhu’s son staggered drunkenly, he could still fight. To his surprise, the Seventh Prince knew some kung fu. They fought each other, before finally being stopped by the crowd. The Seventh Prince was beaten black and blue, while his opponent only got a few scratches on his chest.

“You scratched me. That’s what women usually do,” King Rizhu’s son said with a sly smile.”It seems that you are not interested in women. Do you have a crush on me? I will introduce…” he continued to tease.

At that moment, Gu Lun stood up. He asked King Rizhu’s son to apologize to the Seventh Prince, or they would hold a kung fu competition with the loser making an apology.

Gu Lun was less than forty at the time, but he was calm and sophisticated. He proposed a competition to both uphold his master’s respect as well as not offend the royalty of Norland. He was also supposed to fight a bodyguard sent by King Rizhu’s son.

However, King Rizhu’s son had drank so much that he misunderstood Gu Lun. He thought that the Imperial Guard was challenging him to a duel. Feeling insulted, he immediately drew his saber and ran towards Gu Lun.

It was not a competition, and no one used sneak attacks or tricks. Gu Lun kept dodging without taking out his saber in the beginning. But soon, the Seventh Prince urged him to pull his saber and fight back. So he did, and stabbed the King Rizhu’s son.

King Rizhu’s injured son was taken home, and died a couple of days later.

“Gu Lun was a master. Knowing that he could easily defeat my son, he could have chosen to keep my son alive. Instead my son died in front of me. Before he died, he stared at me, coughing up blood. Although he could not say a word, I knew what he was thinking. I held him tight in my arms and swore to avenge him. He was my son, so I could not allow him to die at another’s hands. At last, I ended his pain forever myself,” King Rizhu recalled sadly.

The more calm that King Rizhu became, the deeper his hatred towards Gu Lun also became.

Gu Shenwei was speechless.. He had heard many things that he had not known before, the most shocking being that King Rizhu had killed his own son himself.

However, he realized that something was wrong. Gu Shenwei knew his father’s machete techniques very well. “He had many techniques to kill his opponents, but nobody could survive several days without speaking a word after being struck by him,” he mused.

“Was the saber sprinkled with poison?” Gu Shenwei asked.

King Rizhu gnashed his teeth, and admitted it reluctantly with a nod.

“It was not my father’s doing. He was ignorant of how to use poison. You said that he could easily defeat your son, so he had no reason to poison him. Besides, his intial target was your son’s guard,” said Gu Shenwei.

After pausing for a while, King Rizhu opened his mouth, “I invited many famous doctors from Norland, the Central Plain and the Western Region in other people’s names. They did not know my son. After examing the body, they all said that my son had died from poisoning. In fact, I had guessed this before inviting them. I had kept my son’s corpse for about six months. The third day after his death, his wound began to swell, and the seventh day the wound festered and broke,” he recalled.

Gu Shenwei did not know whether he should trust King Rizhu, but he believed his father. He said, “My father would never poison anyone.”

“Perhaps you are right,” King Rizhu said in a low voice, as if he were exhausted. “Your father stabbed my son, and the Seventh Prince wanted my son dead. They were both my foes and now they’re dead. However, they did not die in front of me or at my hands,” he continued.

“The competition was unexpected. You need to apply the poison to a saber beforehand,” Gu Shenwei said, continuing to defend his father.

“Perhaps he had prepared the saber and the poison beforehand? As for the accident, my dead son always got himself into trouble with his big mouth,” replied King Rizhu.

King Rizhu said impatiently as he rose, “Enough! That’s how my son died. Now my two foes are dead. Although I am not satisfied with the results, I can’t do anything to change it. I will not blame their offspring for what they did. You know the way to my encampment. I am waiting for your visit, and bring my horse with you. Flame Foal is more important to me than my son. After I get my horse back, we can talk about something else.”

King Rizhu strode off, leaving Gu Shenwei to his thoughts: “Something he mentioned is wrong, but I do not know what it is.”

Maid Lotus was eavesdropping on their conversation. She showed up behind Gu Shenwei and whispered to him, “The wound began to swell three days after death, and broke open after seven days. It seems to be the New Moon Hall’s doing.”