Death Scripture Chapter 58

Chapter 58: The Plan

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Among the four, only Shangguan Fei had entered Six Kills Temple, where the people in Golden Roc Fort had offered sacrifices to their ancestors. One of its rules was that no woman was allowed, which offended both Shangguan Fei and Shangguan Yushi, and they solidified their resolve to steal sothing from the temple.

Shangguan Fei sketched the outline of the temple in accordance with his mory. The main hall laid north near the cliff, sitting on a grand groundmass, and people could see it from many locations in Golden Roc Fort. At a hundred feet away from the hall, there was an arc stone wall which was high and wide enough to separate the hall and the Inner Residence.

The north-south rectangular main hall was different from ordinary temples. Its north side as well as half of the east and west sides hugged the cliff, and its windows were three ters high from the ground so that the sun could shed light on the ancestors’ paintings on the opposite wall.

Six Kills Temple kept a lot of priests, who were called Sacred Master, in Golden Roc Fort. Rumor has it that they were once master-like killers, yet they gave up killing for a variety of reasons. They swore to protect the temple and have never stepped beyond the stone wall for their whole life.

“I’ve seen them. They’re just so weak old n. There’s nothing to fear.”

Shangguan Fei said lightly. He did not take the rumors seriously, while the other three thought the opposite, especially Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi. Although they had never entered Six Kills Temple, they had more knowledge than Shangguan Fei.

“Nonsense, they’re kung fu masters. Master Liu’s killer ntor is a Sacred Master. His ntor is one of the fort’s best killers of this century. Only several killers can surpass him in the number of kills,” Shangguan Yushi refuted.

Shangguan Fei could not deny that. Master Liu, who had a mustache, was their training tutor in the Moonhold Academy, and his words were trustworthy.

In Golden Roc Fort, a killer was judged by the number of his kills. Master Liu’s killer ntor, who was among the top ten killers of this century, was apparently not a “weak old man”. Even though he was old now, he could easily defeat a few teenagers.

“The Red Bat Lady, how did she sneak into the palace? Apparently, her kung fu wasn’t the best because she was forced to commit suicide in the end,” Shangguan Ru asked.

Unfortunately, Gu Shenwei did not know the answer. Back then the Gu family cared more about Gu Lun’s future, so they did not know much about the details. He pondered for a while and said, “It’s knockout powder I guess. It’s said that every ti she sneaked into the palace the people there slept more soundly than usual.”

“Knockout powder!”

Three youngsters of the Shangguan family exclaid simultaneously, and their eyes glead. Knockout powder was a unique art in Golden Roc Fort, and they had been familiar with it since childhood.

This reminded Gu Shenwei of that swordsman nad Long Feidu from the Great Snowmountain. A Golden Roc Fort killer had used so knockout powder on the swordsman and killed him easily. “That unlucky man thought the killer used so rcy Powder on him, but the killer denied it. According to the killer, Golden Roc Fort has stopped using rcy Powder now, so what kind of knockout powder do the killers use now?”

“We really could use so rcy Powder,” Gu Shenwei suggested.

Hearing that, the other three teenagers looked confused. “What kind of stuff is it?” Shangguan Fei asked.

Gu Shenwei did not know what rcy Powder was either. He assud that it used to be an exclusive knockout powder of Golden Roc Fort, but it was banned for so reason. Seeing their reaction, he was surprised and thought, “It seems that Golden Roc Fort did ban it. The fort really kept its promise. That’s not its style at all.”

“Uh, it’s a kind of knockout powder. It’s said to be very effective.”

“We might not have rcy Powder, but we could get so of ‘that’,” Shangguan Yushi said as she narrowed her eyes.

Sobody in Golden Roc Fort had produced a replacent of rcy Powder, yet nobody talked about it. And Gu Shenwei just nodded his head without asking further as he pretended to be aware of the truth.

They sent Shangguan Fei to “get so of that”. He was assigned to simple jobs because his kung fu was the worst among the four.

Using only knockout powder was far from enough. The gate of Six Kills Temple was usually closed, and nobody could go inside without a Sacred Master. Therefore, the biggest problem was figuring out how they could obtain the key. After a long discussion, the four could not co up with a solution so they moved on to talk about what they were going to steal.

Shangguan Fei described all the treasures in Six Kills Temple to the other three teenagers, but he had never ntioned a wooden saber. Gu Shenwei could not ask him directly. He guessed that Mama Xue might have known about so secrets that even the Shangguan family had not known.

Toward evening, Shangguan Ru finally decided on the target of their action: a palm carved out of a piece of pure dark jade.

There was no specific reason to choose the enshrined Black Jade Palm, of which Shangguan Ru had heard about a long ti ago. She wanted to see it in spite of being a woman.

At last, Shangguan Ru made everyone swore an oath: Never tell anyone a word about this task.

She wanted this mission to be carried out. She did not want another false “assassination”. That was a thod which the adults had used to keep the children happy.

Gu Shenwei swore like this, “If I talked, cursed be my family, and I shall be condemned to hell where I’ll et a violent end.”

The Gu family had their “violent ends” already. As for Gu Shenwei himself, he did not care about how he would et his end. He only wanted revenge.

When the four were about to leave Kun Yard after the discussion, Shangguan Yushi suddenly thought of sothing. “Ah, I almost forgot. That burden of yours, it’s not easy for you to get rid of that guy. You need to go through the Inner Residence to get inside Six Kills Temple.”

“That ‘Shadow Guard’.”

Shangguan Ru gnashed her teeth as if she had the sa degree of hatred as Gu Shenwei.

“For and my brother, father had arranged a bodyguard who’s at your age. He always hides in the dark and never shows up easily. He knows all about what we did, and then reports every small detail to father. The last ti when we failed to escape was because of him reporting our secrets. I hate him so much,” Shangguan Ru explained.

Gu Shenwei now knew. The Shadow Guard was the one who forbade him from entering Shangguan Ru’s residence during the day, and was also the ard teenager that attacked him at night. He had also found out the reason why Shangguan Ru easily forgave his “betrayal” because she found a scapegoat, the Shadow Guard.

“Maybe now he’s hiding nearby,” Shangguan Fei whispered.

“No, I told mum to ask him to keep a hundred paces away from , otherwise I’ll kill him. He can’t be in this yard now.”

Judging by Shangguan Ru’s countenance, she was not kidding.

Shangguan Yushi pulled Shangguan Ru’s hand and said, “I’ll take care of it. Trust .”

The eting was over before she could tell everyone about the solution.

In two consecutive days, the four were discussing the details of the plan. It was not as easy as it looked. The only advantage was that the three masters were born in Stone Castle, which saved them the effort of conducting a preliminary investigation.

Shangguan Ru did not like this and thought that the plan was not practical enough. “How did the Red Bat Lady get the info about the palace? She couldn’t have asked around inside.”

“No, of course not. Uh, there must’ve been a spouse who helped her.”

“Ha, then you’re our hidden traitor!” Shangguan Ru exclaid while pointing at her brother.

Shangguan Fei flushed and quickly denied it, his arm wavered between the two girls, then he finally pointed at Slave Huan and said, “He’s the hidden traitor. Let him play the hidden traitor.”

Thereafter, Slave Huan, who knew the least about Golden Roc Fort among them, beca the “hidden traitor”.

In the following day, the twin finally went to school, leaving Gu Shenwei so ti to et Mama Xue.

Mama Xue had her cold and stiff look again, and there was no way to tell her feelings. Sohow Gu Shenwei thought she was a little too hasty. After he had reported the latest developnts, she offered so advice.

“It’s pretty easy actually. The twins can lightly sneak into Stone Castle because they’re familiar with the guards. Even if they were recognized, those guards might not utter a single word. The key though, is how you can enter Six Kills Temple. Hmm—look, you…”

It seed like Mama Xue knew more about Six Kills Temple than Shangguan Fei did. The tricky part was, according to the rules, Mama Xue was a woman and would not have an opportunity to go anywhere near the main hall.

Gu Shenwei thought that it was too risky. However, he could not think of a better idea. They planned to use knockout powder to steal the gate key, but they did not know who had the key, and it was impossible for them to knock out dozens of Sacred Masters at the sa ti.

In the afternoon, Gu Shenwei told the other three Mama Xue’s idea, and it was well-received, especially by Shangguan Ru. She praised Slave Huan and wondered why she had never thought of this idea.

There was a prominent outthrust with a sharp angle near the east side of Six Kills Temple, which was opposite to the windows on the east wall. If a piece of rope could connect both ends, those with good lightness skill could climb over the rope and reach the windows.

Gu Shenwei gave the credit of “rembering the outthrust” to Shangguan Fei, and no one suspected Gu Shenwei.

The twins had sobody transport the tools here, including two flying claws and ropes that were 10 ters long. To ensure that the rope was long enough, they tied it together with another piece of rope.

Slave Huan spent the whole afternoon practicing on how to precisely throw the flying claws at a distant target.

Shangguan Ru suggested moving at that night, yet compromised to wait for another night.

Back at his residence, Gu Shenwei thought about the plan over and over again. With the twins, this plan could work out just fine. Even in the worst case scenario, they would not be killed if they were caught. He was not worried about how to steal the wooden saber, but rather what to do after obtaining it.

“Mama Xue. Mama Xue,” Gu Shenwei repeated her na in his mind. He wanted both her head and the secret inside it. If the wooden saber did matter that much to her, it might also be helpful with the overall course of vengeance.

But the truth was, either killing her or getting the secret was impossible to achieve.

On the following day, the four discussed the details incessantly until they nailed down everything.

“Have you found out that being a thief is quite the sa as being a killer?”

Shangguan Yushi asked while they were taking a rest.

“Yep, similar in every part, except for the final target. One is for the object, the other is for human lives.”

Shangguan Ru felt the sa way, and thought this ga beca more aningful than before.

At midnight, according to the appointed ti, Gu Shenwei slunk to Shangguan Ru’s yard and gently knocked on the window, which was then instantly pushed open. The other three, all wearing black suits and masks, filed out.

Shangguan Yushi, who was the tallest, frowned because they forgot to prepare a suit for Slave Huan, leaving him still looking like a slave.

Gu Shenwei assigned several wooden sabers to the others, making this ga look as realistic as they had wanted it to be. Besides, he took this saber for a particular reason: to replace his targeted wooden saber in Six Kills Temple with this one.

Furthermore, he ca up with an idea to use this opportunity to uncover the secrets of Mama Xue. This could be a perilous ga and it was 100 tis more real than the three masters’ ga. Once things went south, he could not expect rcy from any of them.