Chapter 312: Starting a war
Chapter 312: Starting a war
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Fang Wenshi was wary about New Moon Hall's proposal to work together, "New Moon Hall? Sounds familiar, where are they from?"
Fang Wenshi was in the Iron Mountain Camp when Golden Roc Fort and Bighead Kingpin declared war on New Moon Hall, but he could not remember much until Gu Shenwei mentioned the vicious women who looked like black birds. He shuddered as the color drained from his face. "Those women are even more vicious than the Golden Roc Fort killers..."
Fang Wenshi swiveled around, remarking, "I think it's better to stay away from them."
"How could they defeat Golden Roc Fort if they are less vicious than killers?"
Fang Wenshi turned toward Dragon King, "Are you thinking about revenge again, Dragon King?"
Gu Shenwei shook his head but he was lying. Hatred was already a part of him, and it would never diminish. His experiences after returning to Jade City only made his hatred grow. "You said it yourself, countless people die in a power struggle. I am only trying to help the Great Snowmountain to find the sharpest saber."
"I'm afraid this saber might be too sharp." Fang Wenshi screwed up his face. "Hegemony is a great cause to undertake in a long time. But you would need at least three to five years to establish your grounding. Now, if you really want to make it big, you will need about seven to eight years or even ten years. Of course, you are still young, there is no need to rush into things..."
Gu Shenwei silenced the military counselor's doubts with his reply,"I'm afraid if we don't work with New Moon Hall, the Great Snowmountain will have yet another strong enemy."
Fang Wenshi shuddered again, he could never see these demonic female killers as part of the conquering strategies that he'd studied. "I suppose... that is the only way out. But you must promise that they will operate in secret, Dragon King. If they show up in public, I am afraid the Great Snowmountain will lose the support of the Central Plain as well."
Fang Wenshi had experienced firsthand how the Barren Sect women killed people at night and were appropriately terrified of them. However, after seeing Maid Lotus in the morning the next day, he was stunned into silence. How could this quiet and demure girl who smiled warmly be one of those women killers?
Fang Wenshi could not recognize Maid Lotus even though they had met before. He was at a loss for words, but every misgivings of his vanished when he met her. He then remembered his status as the military counselor of the Great Snowmountain, and coughed slightly, before solemnly welcoming the messenger from New Moon Hall.
The Xu siblings still recognized Maid Lotus and were shocked at her change. They were not aware of the feud between Dragon King and Maid Lotus and had assumed that she was in hiding, only to have returned again, so they were very friendly toward her.
Xu Yanwei tried to reiterate the idea of saving Shangguan Ru to Maid Lotus when Dragon King was not paying attention, but unknownst to her, her actions were having the opposite effect instead.
Gu Shenwei had planned to observe for a few more days and wait for his injuries to recover fully before launching a counterattack toward the enemy, but something unexpected happened and kickstart the war in advance.
He did not consume the pills given by Maid Lotus but took an antidote prescription from Doctor Sun to remove the remaining poison, he also used his Internal Strength to slowly dissolve the tangled state of his Dantian.
Just when he was halfway through fully restoring his kung fu, both Xu Xiaoyi and Lin Xiaoshan simultaneously brought back a piece of news: Monk Lianye was dead.
Lianye had died three days ago. He was tracking Shangguan Hong at that time, and Gu Shenwei thought that the monk was not in danger. He even reminded him not to return so soon.
The monk had three major wounds on his back. His corpse had been thrown into the frozen border river in between the North and South Cities and was accidentally discovered by someone three days later.
Two monks from the Four Truths Temple was killed one after another had shocked the entire city. But this time around, few assumed that Dragon King was the murderer. It was evident from the wounds on the monk's body that this was not Dragon King's style, and there was no Black Blood Flag or Red Raven Flag around the scene.
But the Great Snowmountain was deeply embroiled for what happened next.
Initially, several assassinations in Tianshan Sect had happened in a single night. Even a few senior members who were always hidden in secret had not been spared. Mr. Hong who had no kung fu skills managed to dodge a bullet because he was being closely protected.
Following this, the target turned to the military counselor of the Great Snowmountain afterward.
Fang Wenshi followed a regular routine in his daily life. He would wake up and enjoy a wonderful meal, before heading to North City, accompanied by 10 guards. Even though he had not taken breakfast for a few years, his lifestyle demands had not changed.
The residence of the Special Emissary from the Central Plains was where the peace negotiations were held. It had now reached the critical juncture: whether the Great Snowmountain should withdraw from the west of Jade City, where should they withdraw to, etc. Neither side could manage to convince the other.
Fang Wenshi thought that the odds were in his favor, firstly due to the public support from the Special Emissary from the Central Plains, and secondly, that campground had originally belonged to the Gu family's manor. Now that the Gu family was all dead, and Yang Huan was the son of the Gu family's close friend who sought to avenge the Gu family, the land should naturally fall into Yang Huan, Dragon King's possession as he had the right to it.
He hoped to propose the second reason the next day but was kidnapped not long after he left North City.
The 10 guards should not be blamed as they were conscientious and almost never leave the military counselor alone. However, they had no choice but to obey when the military counselor was insisted on visiting a confidante.
The short intimacy between Fang Wenshi and Xu Yanwei had ended long ago. After enduring a dull and insipid life for more than 20 years, he was in need of someone's consolation and even his willpower could not tame down this intense fire within him. He could only pretend to refuse as he gave in to his desires.
Prostitutes are heartless, this simple yet rustic truth was confirmed again by Fang Wenshi himself.
The guards waited till evening until they felt that the military counselor had spent far too much time inside. Once they barged in, they only saw the prostitute tied to the bed and a few items of clothing scattered around, the military counselor nowhere to be seen.
The prostitute must have been bought off. But she could only provide very little information. Some unassuming men in black had left her with about 100 taels of silver. She was not even sure how many of them were there.
The body of the military counselor did not appear, nor did the kidnapper made any demands. Dragon King led a total of 50 machetemen from Tianshan Sect and 15 swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain and swept through all the villages of the machetemen on the outskirts of North and South Cities late that night.
Gu Shenwei had collected intelligence beforehand so the goal of this night attack was clear. More than 30 members of Wildhorse gang were killed. Among them, three were disciples from Joy Pavilion.
Gu Shenwei believed that the Wildhorse gang must be behind the assassinations of the members of Tianshan Sect, and the kidnapping of the military counselor of the Great Snowmountain. This was because only the Wildhorse gang was not bound by the agreement of the peace negotiations in Jade City, and dared to challenge Dragon King.
The Central Plain laid no restrictions on Wildhorse and the Governor did not admit the links between Norland and Wildhorse. This meant that the guarantee of Dragon King's safety by the two countries was meaningless.
Gu Shenwei could only rely on his own strength to fight against Wildhorse.
Just like the apprentice killings years ago, the leaders remained unchanged, but the grounds for battle had changed from East Castle to Jade City below the mountain.
Furthermore, not even the Supreme King could stop the fight between the two of them this time.
The assassinations that occurred between two sides carried on for nearly 10 days and killings happened every night. Most of it occurred in remote areas near the edge of South City, resembling half of a bloodied necklace wrapped around the chest of Jade City.
The Residence of Dragon King was located at the westernmost part of South City and happened to be part of the half chain of killings, but it was never attacked.
Five top assassins who were killed in the Residence of Dragon King had made Wildhorse wary of the traps within. His strategy was clear; to eradicate the Tianshan Sect and strike a deadly blow when Dragon King was left high and dry.
Gu Shenwei's plan was to draw the snake out of its hole and lure the enemy deep into the trap. His secret weapon was New Moon Hall. Maid Lotus and her people did not partake the first 10 days of assassinations as they were still hidden away. Gu Shenwei hoped to draw Wildhorse out by carefully exposing his weakness.
News of the deterioration of the Dragon King's machete skills had begun to spread among a small group of people.
Gu Shenwei did not make it up. His kung fu was recovering slowly, but it was far from being fully recovered. Therefore, his machete skills were truly not as exquisite as before.
But as far as the machetemen and swordsmen who were with Dragon King could tell, Dragon King was still invincible. He seldom needed more than 10 strokes to kill people and he had a strange habit of destroying the corpses either by burning or chopping them up in order to get rid of all traces.
However not all corpses were destroyed, and one or two people managed to escape after sustaining injuries. From there, the real experts realized the problem: Dragon King's machete skills had not slowed, but the control of strength was no longer as precise. The wounds were either too deep or too shallow, which indicated that there was something wrong in his control of Internal Strength.
Fang Wenshi was released after being kidnapped for three days. He was disheveled and barefooted on the snow as he ran back to the Residence of Dragon King.
The kidnapper turned out to be Wildhorse indeed. Fang Wenshi brought a word to Dragon King from Wildhorse, "Hand over the secret manuscript of Immortal Peng."
No threats or trades, just a simple sentence. Wildhorse had been influenced by Joy Pavilion into believing that the machete skills of Dragon King were unique from the rest due to the fact that he had stolen a secret manuscript from Immortal Peng.
The release of Fang Wenshi had no effect on the battle between the two of them. Wildhorse had spared Fang Wenshi's life simply because the military counselor of the Great Snowmountain did not know kung fu, and therefore, did not pose a threat to him.
Gu Shenwei was only concerned about one thing. Fang Wenshi knew about New Moon Hall's involvement, and his plan of luring the enemy would be spoiled if this was leaked.
Fang Wenshi swore to the skies that he was loyal to Dragon King throughout his ordeal. Perhaps such a resolute image was unlike himself, he added, "I begged for mercy. The saber was against my neck, and I don't know any kung fu, but I did not speak carelessly. It's true."
The next day, after most of the shock had dissipated, Fang Wenshi admitted to Dragon King that he had been too frightened during that time that he did not even remember New Moon Hall's involvement, so naturally, it was impossible for him to spill the beans.
With the peace negotiations suspended, Fang Wenshi did not leave the Residence of Dragon King for more than 10 days.
At first, the residents of Jade City were frightened and kept vigilant for any mishaps, but after three to five days, they realized that the Great Snowmountain and Wildhorse gang were skilled killers and unnecessary killings or injuries seldom happened. No one tried to take advantage of the situation as well, hence most people felt at ease.
This war in the city ended on the 13th day, with the final battle taking place at the Residence of Dragon King. Maid Lotus appeared with a group of female killers and this quickly became the most sensational news in Jade City, even overtaking the incident of the Dragon King imposter.
It was through this battle that Gu Shenwei realized their divergence was more prominent than ever. After three years of not seeing Maid Lotus, the girl who practiced Death Scripture with him, he noticed that they no longer arrived at the same end by different means, rather, their methods seemed to be diverging further and further.