Chapter 78: The Duel
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Aardwolf, the former leader of the Snow Mountain Gang, had been murdered by another gang on the fifth day of the apprentice slaughter. Gu Shenwei had already devised a detailed plan to wipe out the Snow Mountain Gang, but time was not on his side.
Without a leader, the Snow Mountain Gang became engulfed in chaos for the next three days. There was internal strife which resulted in the death of one-third of the gang members. This went on until Wildhorse suddenly showed up.
Gu Shenwei met this young man with a strange appearance once. As a martial arts practitioner, his body was well built. The only thing that stood out about him was his looks which always attracted unwanted attention from other people. He has eyes that were quite far apart and a flat nose, which made his eyes look even further apart. Overall, he looks like someone dimwitted.
However, this superficial impression was a serious mistake.
Wildhorse was a profound martial arts practitioner. Even though he was not the most powerful person in the gang, he had great patience and a calm personality, which made up for his lack of skills in wielding the machete.
Liuhua the Silencer often work alone, while the Tattooed Arm Gang members often carried out assassinations in small teams. But Wildhorse was different from them. Like a smart assassin in Golden Roc Fort, he had always gathered a few people before carrying out the assassination. A lot of small gangs had been wiped out by him.
He also had a mystical ability that made all his subordinates regard him as if he was a god. Even after his followers succeeded in cornering the target gang, they would still leave the honor of killing the last person to him. They insisted every time. So, even the young masters envied him.
The slaughter lasted over a month. About 600 apprentices of the current year and several hundreds more from last year joined the battle. There were over 1,000 young men between the age of 10 to 18 years old. In the end, the remaining 200 survivors became exhausted and tired of the killing. The Shangguan family members, who secretly incited the battle between the apprentices, were also agitated, as the slaughter was unexpectedly bloody this time.
Just as the war was coming to a halt, Wildhorse informed the apprentices that he wanted to confront Slave Huan publicly. No matter which side won, their gangs would stop assassinating each other and neither side would retaliate.
Currently, the Snow Mountain Gang and the Tattooed Arm Gang were the two biggest gangs. Both gangs were left with about 30 to 40 core members. Most apprentices who were affiliated with neither gang chose to join one of the two gangs, except for people who work alone like Liuhua. Some apprentices even joined both gangs at the same time, which made it very convenient to pass along messages.
Gu Shenwei was faced with a difficult decision.
If he refused the duel with Wildhorse, he would be charged with the crime of "murder". Everyone had hoped to stop the fighting. Even his supporters hoped that he would accept the challenge.
Even if he accepted it, he did not have the confidence to win against Wildhorse. If he failed, it would mean certain death. He had only killed someone insignificant from the Shangguan family —Shangguan Yuxing, in his entire life. His revenge would end before it even started.
Maid Lotus was the only person that had publicly stated that she does not support the duel. She said, "We're killers, who have never tried to kill our enemies in a duel. It could be a trap."
Over the last month, Slave Huan and Maid Lotus could probably call each other "friends". Slave Huan has been recognized as the leader of the Tattooed Arm Gang by its members and Maid Lotus happened to be his most important and helpful assistant.
Gu Shenwei was surprised to see that the silent girl, Maid Lotus, being this popular among the apprentices. In fact, she was more like the anchor than Gu Shenwei to the gang members. Without her help, the Tattooed Arm Gang would have disbanded, because the members had served different masters when they were slaves.
Instead of relying on her beauty, Maid Lotus convinced people that she is capable of using her good observational skills and analysis skills. She could often persuade the members to work together with a few words. She also told them to put aside their differences and work together, if they wanted to survive the slaughter.
Therefore, her attitude had a considerable amount of influence on the gang member's morale.
This was the first time that Gu Shenwei had to assume the role of a "leader". Before the age of 14, he had been protected by his father and brothers who had good kung fu. He had always played the role of the innocent and naughty young master. He did not have the experience of managing others, outside of lecturing his own disobedient servants. Gu Shenwei knew, that once he gained enough power and fame, he would have to bear an unshrinkable responsibility.
Unfortunately, both the rival—Snow Mountain Gang, and his gang— the Tattooed Arm Gang, would become his enemies in the future if he continued down the path of revenge.
Gu Shenwei accepted the battle.
Being safe meant being timid. Considering that every step that is taken down the path of revenge was going to be dangerous anyway, why shouldn't he risk his life this time?
The duel would be held in three days at the ruins of Woodensaber Alley.
After the date of the battle was decided, the number of assassinations in East Castle reduced rapidly. There were only a few cases that occured within these 3 days. One accident came close to cancelling the battle, though.
No one knew why Liuhua the Silencer decided to show up at this moment. A few days ago, he had rarely murdered anyone. When the two biggest gangs decided on a temporary truce, he attempted to assassinate one of the leading members in the Tattooed Arm Gang.
His target, Maid Lotus.
It was widely speculated that Liuhua did not want the assassinations to come to a halt. He was once a nobody, but gained fame through his skill with arrows and the bodies that he left in his wake. Liu Hua enjoyed killing people while hiding in the shadows, which was why he wanted to disrupt the peace talks between the two gangs.
Slave Huan and Wildhorse were the leaders of their respective gangs. If Liu Hua killed both of them, it would have been easy to spark a war. However, they were very well protected, so the plan would be difficult to carry out. Therefore, he decided to murder Maid Lotus, the spiritual leader of the Tattooed Arm Gang, whose kung fu was weaker.
This was another stereotype in the East Castle. Just like how people thought that the bow and arrow were weaker than the saber, it was widely believed that females would be inadequate killers.
There were less than 100 female apprentices in the beginning in East Castle. Over the one-month slaughter, only a dozen of them survived. Their death rate was much higher than that of male apprentices.
Liuhua had been lurking on the yard wall, wearing a grey cape which was covered in a layer of dust. It seemed as if he had merged into the surroundings. He waited for an indiscriminate amount of time, starving. He drank some water only when he was thirsty. Finally, his target appeared alone.
Maid Lotus' yard had been closely guarded. On that night, she came out of her room and was going to meet the Snow Mountain Gang members, in order to discuss the details of the duel. She would have met the gang members waiting outside the yard just by taking a dozen steps more.
Liuhua strictly adhered to his own assassination principles. He waited for Maid Lotus patiently. When she was within 20 steps of him, Liuhua instantly shot two arrows at her. Both arrows successfully hit her, but he was unable to end her life with another arrow. Seven or eight guards rushed towards her to protect her. Seeing this, Liuhua made a tactical retreat using a pre-selected route.
This was the only time that Liuhua wasn't able to leave a mark in his victim's mouth.
The members of the Tattooed Arm Gang were furious. Gu Shenwei swore to avenge her. He then assassinated an important Snow Mountain Gang member after midnight.
Even though everyone knew that Liuhua was the one responsible for this, they still regard this as a sign of his loyalty towards the Snow Mountain Gang.
Even though it would be quite hard for a leader to keep a clear mind in this critical moment, Wildhorse still managed to show his unusual ability to control every detail of the situation. Not only did he quell the voice of revenge, but also sent all of his subordinates to capture Liuhua, in order to prove that he was not the mastermind behind the attempted murder.
Gu Shenwei was ashamed of his inability to do anything. The battle had not started yet, but he had lost to Wildhorse in terms of leadership and decisiveness.
Before things spiral more out of control, Maid Lotus woke up. She was shot twice, one close to her heart and the other her left arm. Her reaction time was faster than what the assassin had anticipated which allowed her to avoid getting shot in her vital body parts.
People in the East Castle only had the most common medicine for wounds, much less being able to visit a doctor. After being injured by Liuhua, Maid Lotus was unconscious for a day. However, she was able to wake up miraculously. The first thing she said after opening her eyes was, "Don't be fooled. This has nothing to do with the Snow Mountain Gang. This war should stop."
It was this incident that made Gu Shenwei trust Maid Lotus completely. Before this, he had always suspected and disliked her. But now, those feelings had completely vanished.
When they first met, Maid Lotus' indifferent attitude had made an impression in Gu Shenwei's mind. He had been threatened, humiliated, but never had he been disregarded like this. When both of them worked as slaves, they met each other every day. Her indifference towards him had deeply hurt his self-esteem.
Now, it all disappeared.
The duel between Slave Huan and Wildhorse was held on time. Maid Lotus insisted that she attend their duel despite her injuries. She was the most important assistant to the gang leader, so she had a responsibility to protect him from all the traps that were deployed by their enemies.
Everything went well. All members of the two gangs turned up. No one was allowed to ask for a leave. Everyone wore black clothes and black veils and brought no weapons. Each gang had a head count to make sure that there were no hidden killers. The Snow Mountain Gang had 108 members and the Tattooed Arm Gang had 89 people. Except for the missing Liuhua, there were 193 apprentices who survived in the East Castle.
Liuhua still hadn't been found yet. The two gangs searched the whole East Castle twice, but they were still unable to track him down. The only thing that the people could believe was that he had jumped off of Reincarnation Cliff. This was a very common occurence. In the last month, a dozen of apprentices who were unable to withstand the pressure, committed suicide.
The killer apprentices gathered in Woodensaber Alley. Tension, vigilance, and joy permeated the air. The one-month nightmare would come to the end regardless of who wins.
The battle between killers did not naturally consist of face-to-face saber moves. Slave Huan and Wildhorse would enter the ruins which consisted of 17 dilapidated yards. They would attempt to assassinate each other using the cover of debris, weeds, and deadwood. There was no time limit. It could take a few minutes or even a few days.
Gu Shenwei had already formulated a plan. After Maid Lotus woke up, they discussed it with each other. Both of them thought it was possible.
Wildhorse was a hunter. When there were a lot of people around, he would always encircle and wipe out his enemies. He would patiently track the enemy and set up traps in advance, when he was acting alone. Maid Lotus remembered Wildhorse's every assassination attempt. Thus, she drew a conclusion, which happened to coincide with Gu Shenwei's plan.
After entering the ruins, Gu Shenwei would consciously search for the traps that had been set by Wildhorse. He could not use any skills and had to rely on his experience and intuition. After this, he would set up his own traps, in order to attract Wildhorse's attention. Then, he would move back along the road, so that he could ambush Wildhorse at a predetermined spot.
Maid Lotus and he agreed that the whole slaughter would end with several cuts. To live or die, it depended solely on who would be fooled first.