Maid Lotus had been quickly taken off the suspect list. The prostitute had seen a "long-haired ghost" who was very likely female, while several other people had seen Maid Lotus bumping into and nearly fighting against said "ghost". Therefore it was impossible for her to have been Wu Ling's murderer.
As a matter of fact, the killers waiting outside had initially suspected Maid Lotus when they were unable to catch the assassin. They quickly realized though, that this was false.
In Golden Roc Fort, most apprentices would not grieve when their mentors were killed.
Mentors, in general, did not treat their apprentices as humans. During times of relative peace and little carnage, those with many apprentices would force them to engage in fights to the death, so as to quickly eliminate the weaker ones. Cases of torturing or raping their apprentices were even more common. The mentors not only received no punishment but would brag about their deeds among themselves.
An important step in developing cold-blooded killers was to incite hatred in their hearts.
Not only were there witnesses that verified Maid Lotus did not kill Wu Ling, but she had no need to deny it if she did. Rather, she would have blatantly publicized it, for she could then inherit her mentor's red belt and officially become a killer.
Gu Shenwei had another doubt: Maid Lotus secretly passed the Death Scripture to other people.
This idea was also swiftly debunked. Only four Dragon Year apprentices had remained in South City. Liuhua had attempted to assassinate Maid Lotus before, during the time Wildhorse was the leader of the rival side, and hence Maid Lotus was irreconcilable enemies with them. Even if she did divulge the Death Scripture , it would not have been to them.
Maid Lotus had the same suspicion against Gu Shenwei, and had also debunked it by the same reasoning.
They calmed down and began to search for hidden traces and clues together. This rare alone time allowed them to revert to a past when they helped and inspired each other.
It was possible that a portion of the Death Scripture 's swordcraft remained in New Moon Hall - the New Moon Hall was formerly a part of Golden Roc Fort, which the scripture was closely connected with.
As the Four Truths Temple possessed fragments of the Death Scripture , it could also have kept a portion of the swordcraft. Furthermore, since the scripture imparted by Master Tiger Monk could diminish a person's desire to kill, it suggested that he had a deep understanding of swordcraft.
While Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus were mulling over the conspiracy of the monk and the swordcraft, the killers in the other room were thinking about how to cover up this humiliating fiasco.
The Golden Roc Fort sent people to continue the interrogations overnight. In the early hours of the morning, Mister Guo of the Whiterobe Academy appeared with an order from the lord to gather all of South City's strength to hunt down the disciples of New Moon Hall and Barren Sect. The cautious plan of luring the snakes out of their holes was abandoned; Golden Roc Fort was ready to take a lot of lives.
Wu Ling's death was only one of many assassinations that took place on the same night. While the killers were gathered in the brothel searching for clues regarding the assassin, more assassinations were taking place elsewhere.
Seven spies of the Golden Roc Fort were assassinated, while four killers, including Wu Ling, met their end. There were also several plots that failed. Wildhorse was able to turn on his assassin, thus becoming the fort's only victory of the night. This also revealed to Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus that they were the only two whose killing desires were weakened after studying the Exorcism Manuscript.
As more and more news arrived, everyone finally understood that this was not an isolated case. New Moon Hall and Barren Sect were declaring war on Golden Roc Fort by this method - the battle between them now extended from the desert to Jade City.
As soon as the sun rose, the streets of South City became unusually crowded. A countless number of machete-wielding men were hired to search for suspicious women. Brothels, big and small, were the worst hit - those which had little connections or weak backing were immediately destroyed.
By that evening, the Golden Roc Fort killers and hired machetemen had killed over a hundred people. Although some of the victims had concealed steel needles and demonstrated remarkable skill in their resistance, the majority were innocent souls.
The subsequent investigation showed that the results of the machetemen were extremely poor even though they were the largest group and killed the most people. They slaughtered indiscriminately and purposelessly, and some even used the opportunity to settle personal grudges. By contrast, the Golden Roc Fort killers were adequately prepared and had a clear purpose.
Once the mass retaliation began, the four brown-belt assassins who served as bait were completely forgotten. They had become of little value because the enemies had shown no interest in them.
The four youths were placed in an obscure yard and left to themselves while their mentors were taken away to participate in the hunt. Although Tie Hanfeng was heavily displeased by his apprentice's form over the past two days, he warned the latter not to act presumptuously. The matter had already escalated into a battle between two large factions, and was not something which a young and alias-less killer could solve on his own.
Gu Shenwei waited conscientiously for two days, but subsequently decided to resume the investigation when he could no longer endure the torment of waiting. He had a different idea - if New Moon Hall was indeed a strong force, he could secretly assist them. The fiercer the fight between the two factions, the better it would be for the revenge.
The four youths publicly broke up over this matter.
Wildhorse and Liuhua haughtily rejected Slave Huan's request. Liuhua's reason was simple and frank, "You aren't the leader now." Wildhorse simply stared grimly at him with contempt-filled eyes.
Gu Shenwei's only accomplice was Maid Lotus.
The first clue was the audacious macheteman. Gu Shenwei did not want to alert the snake, but now that the snakes were dancing manically, it was no longer important to be covert.
However, he soon discovered that the macheteman had disappeared. The latter's residence had a new occupant who had just moved in and did not know anything about the previous occupant.
The second clue was the long iron nail, which Gu Shenwei had kept even though Tie Hanfeng paid no attention to it. The only thing he could do now was to bring it to a blacksmith.
It was already noon, but there were few people on the streets. Not many dared to seek fun in South City during these terrible times. The only people around were machetemen whose expressions gave away their ill intent. They leered at Maid Lotus and only moved away resentfully when they saw the saber below her waist.
The peak of the massacre had already passed. Reverting to the primary nature of killers, Golden Roc Fort, New Moon Hall, and Barren Sect only carried out activities during nighttime. Over the past two nights, the opposing sides had caused damage to each other, with Golden Roc Fort taking a slight upper hand.
There were almost as many blacksmiths who came to Jade City to a seek a living as there were machetemen. Most of them were gathered in the southeastern suburbs, where they had formed their own village. Earthen walls were built around it so that the knocking noises which continued round the clock would not disturb their neighbors too much.
Since the war began, there were only a few trades in Jade City which continued to flourish, one of which was blacksmithing. Long before the duo reached the village, the clanking noises could already be heard ceaselessly.
Gu Shenwei soon realized that it would not be easy to find out the origin of the nail here. The two sides of the street were filled with blacksmith shops big and small, totaling, by estimation, sixty or seventy shops. Once the blacksmiths heard that the two youths, who looked mature beyond their ages, were not here for business but to ask for information, they became unwilling to talk.
In the end, the duo found and entered what seemed to be the largest shop. Instead of saying anything, they stood guard at the door and flashed their sabers, causing other visitors to keep away.
The blacksmiths in the shop stopped their work and looked at the youths who came with seemingly bad intent. One of them placed his hammer down, wiped his hands on his apron, and sized up the two incomers while measuring some weights. "Please wait a second."
He shouldered past the duo and left the shop, but shortly returned with a burly man dressed in a robe.
Gu Shenwei was able to guess the identity of the man even though he did not know his name and Tie Hanfeng had not introduced him. This was, in all likelihood, the Protector of the blacksmith trade.
"I'm Du Qi. May I know what business the two of you are here for?" The Protector gave a fist salute before he swept a glance at the sabers attached to the duo's waists.
"We're here to ask about something, but nobody seems to speak much."
Du Qi laughed scornfully for a second. "You two are apprentices from the fort, right? Didn't you learn the rules before coming out?"
He took off his robe to reveal black clothes and a red belt. It turned out that he, like Tie Hanfeng, was a Golden Roc Fort killer. Judging from appearance, he was in the prime of his life, and was probably still working for a Young Master.
Gu Shenwei realized he had got into trouble once again. There was surely a reason why Tie Hanfeng, who was hostile with eight or nine out of every ten people, had never introduced the Protector to him.
"We're carrying out orders." He maintained his composure and replied. From his experience, he knew to remain firm and not cower in this kind of situation.
Du Qi revealed an expression of doubt. "Do you have a waist token for this engagement?"
Anyone sent out to do work on behalf of the Golden Roc Fort would have a special waist token which was unmistakable.
Gu Shenwei had a brown-belt assassin's waist token which he could use to deceive most people, but which a genuine killer would easily discern. Therefore, instead of reaching his hand into his pocket, he held his sword firmly and replied "No".
In the past few days, Gu Shenwei had been hesitant while killing people and his saber skills had greatly weakened, but he had not reached a state where he was completely unable to wield his weapon. And judging from Du Qi's walking posture, he was certainly not a fighter on the level of Tie Hanfeng.
Du Qi kept a straight face before he suddenly started laughing. "The two of you serve the Tenth Young Master, right?"
Gu Shenwei gave an indefinite answer.
"What do you want to ask?"
"Who made this nail?" Gu Shenwei took out the large iron nail that resembled a spearhead.
Du Qi frowned as he looked at the object, before he told one of the blacksmiths, "Go ask."
The blacksmith took a trip outside and soon brought back an answer, "Mr. Hong".
The latter's shop was pitifully small, and was sandwiched between the two adjacent shops to the extent that it had barely enough space to turn one's body. It was very difficult for visitors to find the shop without getting directions.
Mr. Hong was a short and stout old man with a slightly hunched back. He had an expressionless and stubborn look, and completely ignored the Protector Du Qi and the people accompanying him.
"He might be difficult to deal with, but his craftsmanship is first class," Du Qi reminded the duo. Instead of going inside or leaving the scene, he simply remained outside the shop.
"Is this nail your creation?" Gu Shenwei asked.
"No idea." Mr. Hong shouted in a coarse and frighteningly loud voice, as if the enquirer was a young brat who came to cause trouble.
Even the Protector Du Qi's attitude was not as odious as this. Gu Shenwei flinched for a moment and grasped his sword handle.
Maid Lotus, who had remained silent, began to speak. "We want to make two swords."
It was only now that Mr. Hong stopped what he was busy with, and passed the unfinished hammer to an apprentice who was standing nervously by his side. "What kind of sword?"
Maid Lotus drew her saber. "I want something as long as this but a little slimmer, made using the best iron."
Mr. Hong took a glimpse at the saber. "Got it. Two swords will be a hundred taels of silver. Pay now, and collect the swords in half a month."
A hundred taels of silver were enough to buy an entire rack of normal swords. Gu Shenwei did not understand Maid Lotus' intention, but nevertheless, he fished out a piece of gold that was equivalent to the price.
Maid Lotus took the gold piece but did not hand it immediately to Mr. Hong. "Carve the sword shafts with the names 'Huan' and 'Yun'."
Maid Lotus was her slave name, while her real name was Huo Yun.
Gu Shenwei was astonished and dumbstruck by her bold and sudden manner of speaking.
However, she remained poker-faced. "Now, tell me who made the nail, and what is it used for?"
Mr. Hong took a look at the shiny gold piece and licked his lips. "It's the rule that I cannot reveal who I made it for. Neither do I know what it's used for. However, if I were to guess according to the client's demands, it's probably used to build a very tall frame or to climb mountains. You know, a nail in the ground every few steps."
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