Chapter 246: Arrow Tower
Chapter 246: Arrow Tower
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The death of Slave Yao was the first death that Slave Huan caused in Stone Castle. Gu Shenwei had never forgotten that pointy-faced teenager, especially the scene where he died of qigong deviation.
Slave Yao was on the brink of death and was lying on his death bed. He was staring at Slave Huan, looking confused and puzzled. His face flushed, then subsided. His chest was heaving violently and both of his arms were shaking heavily. He was banging against his bed. Suddenly, he started to laugh hysterically.
Slave Yao was in delirium. His face would flush, then subside, then flush again. He would sometimes gather his strength to talk, but it was mostly nonsensical. He had forgotten about Golden Roc Fort and those people and things that he mentioned came from his past experience. He would boast for a while, then curse and then plead as though he were acting out a monologue while performing many roles.
"Slave Huan, you can't escape. I will be waiting for you in hell." Just before his death, Slave Yao gathered his last bit of strength to threaten Slave Huan. He was looking forward to it.
Gu Shenwei didn't know that the messenger sent by Slave Yao from hell would be Maid Lotus.
There were hints, but Gu Shenwei never noticed them.
Slave Yao liked to exaggerate and was proud that he would become a killer apprentice. He would show off every day when he returned home from Mama Xue's, but he didn't mention anything about Maid Lotus, who always practiced with him. He, who experienced puppy love, would regard her as a unique secret and was unwilling to share it with anyone else.
Although Maid Lotus wasn't an enthusiastic person, she had her own attractive side. She made many friends in Carvewood Academy. She brought in many apprentices from different backgrounds and formed the "Tattooed Arm Gang" then. However, she was jealous of Slave Huan when she first saw him. Gu Shenwei thought she wanted to be the only disciple of Mama Xue and he finally understood all the reasons.
In a moment, Gu Shenwei was no longer jealous, disappointed, resentful or sad.
Revenge was one of the most legitimate rights in the world. He sought revenge from Golden Roc Fort and killed countless people. It was natural for someone to seek revenge from him, and Maid Lotus was only the first.
"He is good at pleasing you." Gu Shenwei calmed down. Slave Yao had the ability to please anyone if he was willing to do so. Slave Yao was the only comfort for Maid Lotus, who just entered Stone Castle and lived under the oppression of Luo Ningcha and Mama Xue.
"Probably. I hardly even remember what he looked like." Maid Lotus didn't seem to be lying and there was no need for her to lie. She frowned slightly as she recalled, but finally shook her head. She said, "Now that I think about it, he seems average. Even if you didn't cause his death, he would probably die in Carvewood Academy in less than one month's time."
"But, you still wanted to avenge him." Gu Shenwei, who had known everything, became confused again. This was the first time he thought like a mature man, and knew that no one could fathom women's thoughts.
"A dead person is forgotten, but the hatred stays forever." Maid Lotus pressed against her heart, and said, "This is the true meaning of Death Scripture. You should understand."
Gu Shenwei definitely understood since he had some personal experience. The strongest enemy of hatred was time, as time could change anyone. Hatred was like an awkward boulder, which lay in the heart and could be eroded away. Maid Lotus couldn't even remember Slave Yao, so when did he ever remember his family clearly? The looks of his parents, brothers and sisters had long been blurred in three years time and turned into memory. It was the reason why his hatred was diminishing.
However, his hatred had yet faded away. It lasted for a long time because of the Death Scripture. It blocked the attack of time and allowed him to kill people without any burden in the name of hatred. It was only after he dispelled his Internal Strength and wasn't able to practice Death Scripture that his hatred weakened temporarily.
When the two unsuspecting youths decided to practice Death Scripture, they had fixated their hatred in their hearts and they could no longer resolve it.
Maid Lotus had figured it out earlier than Gu Shenwei, hence her thoughts became messier and contradictory.
Gu Shenwei looked at the girl in front of him and experienced a sudden telepathy with her. They always had great chemistry and could understand each other's intention even after they became enemies.
Neither of them spoke for a while. Maid Lotus jumped onto the bed, which faced the entrance and sat with her knees clasped. She looked at the night sky outside and seemed to have forgotten about Slave Huan, who was ten steps away from her.
"You must have put forth much effort to make me undergo qigong deviation." This was Gu Shenwei's heartfelt admiration. He had plotted many tricks, but none was comparable to this.
"This is nothing. If weren't for your Death Scripture, I couldn't plan out such plot with my superficial knowledge of Internal Strength."
"So is the Wayless Book entirely fake?"
"I had only modified the last chapter, but the rest was real. As obtaining the Wayless Qigong was my most important mission, I couldn't amend it casually."
"You bought an additional plank secretly and re-carved the modified seventh chapter?"
Maid Lotus nodded. She had hidden the correct chapter underneath her skirt and no one found out. She said, "Luo Ningcha startled me. That stupid woman snatched my plank away and almost foiled my plans."
"I didn't know that she would accidentally save my life. Ironically, I wanted the board back for myself."
Maid Lotus seemed unwilling to talk about this topic. However, after a while she took out a ring and waved it under the moonlight. She said, "She asked me to chop off your head."
Gu Shenwei smiled as he became relaxed. He said, "That woman, I knew she would be like this."
"But you still... went to bed with her."
Maid Lotus was still calm, but her voice changed slightly. This made Gu Shenwei suddenly feel that she was a cute young girl instead of a cold-blooded, cruel killer. He asked, "Are you jealous?"
"I'm not..." Maid Lotus denied too quickly. She felt that she was being untruthful. She then sneered and admitted to it. She said, "So what if I'm jealous? I will still kill you."
"So you have chosen the hardest and slowest method to kill me." Gu Shenwei didn't say "the most painful". Even though he became colder, he pretended to be indifferent. He said, "You still couldn't bear to kill me. You said that Death Scripture made you unable to forget hatred, but you didn't act according to what the book said, which was to kill me in one shot."
"Aren't you the same? There were several occasions that you could have killed Tenth Young Master, but you always find some excuse to miss the opportunity."
Both of them became silent as their chemistry vanished. They resumed talking after a long while.
"My real name is Gu Shenwei."
"I know that."
Gu Shenwei had talked nonsense during that time when Gu Shenwei fell into a coma due to his injury. Maid Lotus took care of him all night and heard everything.
"This is the dagger Shangguan Ru gave me." Gu Shenwei took out a dagger from a parcel beside him. He said, "It originally belonged to me as it was a gift from my father. Shangguan Nu killed my family and took this dagger away. He then gave it to Shangguan Ru."
Gu Shenwei recited this story in order to prove that it was impossible for him to like Shangguan Ru. Maid Lotus understood his intention, but wasn't touched. She said, "There is nothing wrong with liking someone. If you are able to toughen up and kill all the people who you loved, you will be victorious. You have failed, and I will not."
For a moment, Gu Shenwei wanted to plead with her. He even thought that the real reason behind all this trouble was for him to plead Maid Lotus for forgiveness and express his love for her. However, he didn't plead. As he had endured years of humiliation, he didn't want to lose his dignity at the last moment.
"New Moon Hall will destroy Golden Roc Fort?"
"Of course."
"When you kill Shangguan Fa and Shangguan Nu, please tell them my real name if possible. And Governor Wei Song. He is my enemy, but I don't know who is the mastermind."
Maid Lotus twisted her head as to look at Gu Shenwei and said, "I will kill all your enemies, and will find out who the mastermind is. Whenever I kill a person, I will tell him that you are the descendant of the Central Plain Gu Family, and you are the one who asked me to take revenge." Her voice was unprecedently gentle.
"Thank you."
"No, Thank you. After you die, I will need a new source of hatred so that the Death Scripture swordcraft won't be affected."
Gu Shenwei recalled the eleven-year-old Chu Nanping. He wanted to master Heartless Swords, but could not bear to kill the friends that he just made. The girl in front of him was the best candidate to practice Heartless Swords.
They stopped talking and moving. They allowed the night to settle in as though there were an iron wall separating them.
The chill in his body penetrated into his bones, and Gu Shenwei tried to remain silent. Maid Lotus wanted to watch him die of qigong deviation, but he didn't want to be like Slave Yao, who lost control.
A ray of sunshine of dawn shone past Maid Lotus's head and landed on Gu Shenwei. He didn't feel any warmth, but was moved by the scene before him. He couldn't help but said, "You are so beautiful."
Maid Lotus was enveloped in the ineffable light. She looked like the very first flower in the world, which was free from pollution. Even the air that she took in was the freshest.
Maid Lotus turned her head in amazement. With the change in the angle of the light, she returned to her usual appearance. She was still very beautiful, but she had lost that holiness, which others looked up to. She appeared slightly different, as if she had... cried.
There was no better chance than this. The estrangement between both of them disappeared completely. A sentence from the youth could possibly defeat the powers of Death Scripture and turn hate into love.
A dark cloud moved past and its shadow covered the entrance. Maid Lotus suddenly jumped off from the bed, as though she were ambushed. She pulled the bow as she was suddenly on high alert. After a long time, she was relieved. She became highly sensitive to her surroundings.
The opportunity had passed but Gu Shenwei had yet spoken. Death Scripture had little influence on him now and he could think clearly. He was tired of endless killing and was willing to pass this difficult task to others.
He would soon die of qigong deviation, but he was sympathetic and thankful towards the mastermind of this plot, Maid Lotus.
Maid Lotus grasped her sword shaft tightly and was suppressing her feelings. She was on the verge of collapse. She understood all Gu Shenwei's thoughts as though his mind were transparent. She then felt very proud. She not only wanted to kill the person whom she loved, but also to avenge him.
This pride made her push all reasons of hatred to the Death Scripture. She carefully avoided her true intention. Her hatred was caused by Slave Huan's delay in reciprocating her love.
A small group of killers approached Reincarnation Cliff early in the morning. Maid Lotus's facial expression changed and she said, "Foolish Liuhua. He had been followed."
Liuhua's whereabouts were revealed. Those killers who discovered him hadn't fully understand the importance of this incident.