Chapter 245: Liuhua
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Liuhua was carrying his bow and arrows, but there was a sword hanging under his waist.
Gu Shenwei looked at him. He was wondering how he had offended this marksman and how Liuhua managed to find him. Gu Shenwei said, "You have done a great job. Who will reward you, Shen Liang or Lady Meng?"
Liuhua snorted contemptuously. He appeared slightly agitated, but was trying to keep calm. He was different from his usual indifferent self. He said, "I'm not like you, who willingly plays the obedient lackey for the Tenth Young Master. I have no master and I work for myself."
"So you are a stray dog."
"Hm. You know, I always feel that your skill of speech is better than your swordcraft."
"Alright. Let's not talk nonsense. Why haven't you acted yet? You don't look like a killer."
In an instant, Liuhua stared straight at Slave Huan and his gaze was like a laser penetrating through the darkness. He said, "I can't vent my hatred by just killing you. I will let you know the reason."
"I'm all ears." He was willing to delay a bit. Maid Lotus would arrive any moment and only she could save him.
"I have always been protecting you." While replying, Liuhua gnashed his teeth as though he were chewing and swallowing his hatred.
"So you were the one who saved me at Governor's Mansion."
"That's correct."
"You were the one who killed Ye Silang at Rogue Forest."
"So you remembered."
Gu Shenwei had not forgotten. He felt uneasy when he fought against Ye Silang for the first time. Suddenly, a mysterious swordsman came out from nowhere and stabbed Ye Silang. The duel had to come to an end and the swordsman somewhat helped him out. However, he had never imagined that Liuhua was the one who helped him. How could Liuhua the Silencer have such superb swordcraft when he only has average machete skills?
Unless Maid Lotus...
Gu Shenwei realized something. His mind was in a whirl and had to lean against the wall just to stand.
"You have begun to understand." Liuhua was like a cat torturing its prey. He let out a cruel smile and his tone sounded desperate as though he wanted to rip open Gu Shenwei's chest to see his broken heart.
"You are the one who killed Maid Lotus's Master." Gu Shenwei's voice became hoarse. He seemed to have exhausted all his strength when he tried to say those few words.
It happened during the time when the disciples of Barren Sect stole the Wayless Qigong. There were many cases of death in South City and the earliest incident was the death of Maid Lotus's Master, Wu Ling. He was killed at the brothel as the sword pierced through his eyes. Gu Shenwei felt that it was similar to Death Scripture's swordcraft. After the incident, Liuhua tried to push the blame to New Moon Hall and Barren Sect.
"That old, lewd, shameless thing. He should have died earlier. I regret not killing him earlier." Liuhua was still resentful even though it had been so long.
Gu Shenwei was silent for a while. He had to gradually digest the facts thrown out by Liuhua.
"So you have been in love with her."
There were signs of it. Maid Lotus brought Liuhua over when the relationship of Slave Huan and Wildhorse broke down and were in a disadvantageous position. He should have known then. However, Liuhua attempted to assasinate Maid Lotus. No one would have believed that both of them had an affair.
"I love her and will love her forever. I wouldn't have protected you if it weren't for her request." Liuhua said resentfully.
Gu Shenwei couldn't stand any longer and his mind was in a whirl. The chill that would occur after practicing Internal Strength came earlier than expected, so he had to sit down slowly.
He was not only jealous, but was also greatly disappointed. The only person which he thought was credible also had secrets. Maid Lotus and Liuhua must have had a close relationship, if not, Maid Lotus wouldn't have taught Liuhua the Death Scripture swordcraft so easily. It should be a secret between the two of them.
However, he himself was not truthful towards Maid Lotus either. He hid many secrets from her, but Maid Lotus appeared not to mind.
"You must be thinking that 'Maid Lotus loved me so much that she got Liuhua to protect me', right?" Liuhua teased sarcastically. He wanted to savor this taste of revenge and victory, hence he approached Slave Huan so to see Slave Huan's expression clearly.
Gu Shenwei didn't know how he should think about it. Maid Lotus occasionally treated Gu Shenwei as a lover instead of a partner, but such a feeling was fleeting. Now, it seemed more like a... conspiracy for Maid Lotus to protect Slave Huan.
"I hope you don't overthink." Slave Huan didn't speak, so Liuhua continued talking. When taking revenge, insulting the other party was more effective than fighting and bloodshed. Hence, Liuhua wanted to make use of this opportunity to insult Slave Huan. "She said that darkness is a friend of the weak. You hid behind Tenth Young Master, Maid Lotus hid behind you and I hid behind Maid Lotus. In order not to arouse the suspicion of others, we planned an assasination together. Hm, shooting her was the most difficult decision in my life. Now, as long as you die, no one will discover our true motive."
"Wayless Qigong," Gu Shenwei muttered. It was Wayless Qigong. All the conspiracies and tricks were designed for it.
"She has already gotten hold of it. Hence, you are useless." Liuhua drew out his sword. Death Scripture swordcraft was the most appropriate method to kill Slave Huan with as he was the one who first discovered this set of kung fu. It seemed all too appropriate.
"Why didn't she kill me personally?" Gu Shenwei asked coldly. After he calmed down, he realized the truth, which he knew all along. No one in the world was trustworthy. His initial feeling towards Maid Lotus was accurate. It was probably the reason why he had not spoken much to her.
"She has a strange idea. She wanted you to..."
Just when he started speaking, Liuhua's body was lifted up strangely as though someone had tickled him. However, he didn't laugh. He slowly turned around and knelt down slowly.
Maid Lotus was standing behind him and was holding onto a sword. She had that usual indifferent look and said, "You shouldn't be here."
Liuhua was speechless and did not have the strength to change his facial expression. He had a confused and sad gaze as his death was imminent. The memories that came to his mind were related to the young girl who had killed him. When he was bullied and ostracized in Carvewood Academy, she was the only one who befriended him secretly and suggested to him that he should master archery. Since then, he decided to follow her willingly and hid behind her quietly.
This was a difficult path, which was filled with pain and jealousy. The weaker students were bullied by the killer mentor and the stronger students. None could escape. Although he could endure the torture that was imposed on him, he couldn't stand anyone insulting Maid Lotus. Hatred was his driving force and he spent more effort to improve on his archery skills until the apprentice's slaughter.
Everyone said that "Liuhua the Silencer" killed people for the sake of his own hatred, but no one understood that he killed people for Maid Lotus.
Then, Slave Huan appeared. Liuhua believed that she had worked out a wonderful plan, but he couldn't accept that both of them were getting closer and closer. From her silent gaze at Slave Huan, Liuhua saw a familiar thing. It was the same subtle emotion that he had when he looked at her.
Jealousy was stronger than hatred. He had to use a strong will to repress his impulse to shoot Slave Huan whenever he followed the ignorant Slave Huan. It was against his will to perform this task, which was to protect Slave Huan.
Now that everything was over, he finally failed to hold back and stood in front of her. It was probably his mistake. Liuhua's gaze became dull and lifeless. He had experienced taking revenge through the use of words and could no longer kill people.
Maid Lotus carried Liuhua's corpse out from piles of arrows and threw it out. It was a vast abyss outside. As Liuhua was a Golden Roc killer, he would share the same fate.
Gu Shenwei was looking at her while Maid Lotus was doing these things. As Liuhua only said a few words, he was still perplexed and confused.
"Liuhua likes you very much."
"We don't accept male disciples."
"So you joined Barren Sect." Gu Shenwei gradually understood the entire development.
"Mama Xue likes me," Maid Lotus replied indifferently as though their relationship hadn't change.
However, the Barren Sect was annihilated."
"Barren Sect was just a branch of New Moon Hall."
Gu Shenwei laughed bitterly, "What a surprise. So you were a disciple of New Moon Hall. They accepted you so easily?"
"Mama Xue injected Peripheral Force into my Yinbai acupoint so the manager knew as soon as he touched it."
The word "Yinbai" was not only a pun, but it was also an unimportant acupoint, which was located the toes. Mama Xue hid the Peripheral Force there as she trusted Maid Lotus.
"Is that woman the manager?"
"Yes."
There was a tall woman who once injected evil energy into Shangguan Ru and others. Slave Huan and Maid Lotus were spared as they had Peripheral Force in their bodies. Gu Shenwei felt silly as he had not realized such an obvious fact earlier. He said, "You have been waiting for Tenth Young Master to fall ill, waiting for her to steal Wayless Qigong and waiting for her to ask for your help."
"No, she will ask you for help."
"Oh, then I will ask you for help."
"Yes."
Gu Shenwei let out another bitter laugh. He made use of Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus was making use of him. His heart ached painfully. He suddenly realized why the death of Master Yu had a huge impact on Shangguan Ru. This was how it felt to be betrayed.
After a long while, he said slowly, "However, you tried to kill Tenth Young Master on several occasions."
"I have to put on an act. Liuhua is always neaby, and he will help whenever necessary. Luckily, his help is not needed. I also know that you don't want to kill Shangguan Ru at all."
Gu Shenwei remained silent as it was unnecessary to say more. Initially, he didn't intend to let Maid Lotus know of the truth, and now, Gu Shenwei was even more reluctant to tell her truth. He wanted Shangguan Ru to die, however he didn't want to kill her directly. He wanted to "conceal" the truth and make Shangguan Ru die from qigong deviation. He didn't expect that Shangguan Ru would give him the correct version of the seventh chapter. Maid Lotus gave him the wrong version and Gu Shenwei himself was the one undergoing qigong deviation.
Maid Lotus brought over two steamed buns and placed them on the floor. She then wiped them on Slave Huan's forehead and pressed them against his lower abdomen. She said, "You should eat something. It will be more painful in the future."
Even though he knew that it was useless, Gu Shenwei couldn't help, but asked, "Since you have gotten the Wayless Qigong, why don't you escape and return to New Moon Hall to get credit?"
"There is still unfinished business."
Gu Shenwei admired Maid Lotus's calmness, but it became the root of his hatred. He said, "You want to see me die from qigong deviation?"
"Yes."
"In that case, why did you give me Wayless Qigong to dispel Peripheral Force?"
"Peripheral Force was given to you by someone else. I want to make you undergo qigong deviation myself."
"Why?"
"Because of Slave Yao."