Pledging Brotherhood

"The two of them tried to escape, but I caught them. And him, he wanted to escape too."

The sharp-faced youth pointed at Gu Shenwei.

Other bandits who heard the commotion rushed in, holding torches. However, seeing that Xue Niang had already gained control of the situation, they didn't intervene.

Gu Shenwei had once sworn to himself that he would resort to any means necessary for revenge. Yet, now, he didn't even know what "any means necessary" entailed.

Therefore, faced with the sharp-faced youth's false accusation, he hesitated for a moment but didn't refute it, indicating his unwillingness to betray the two brothers.

Xue Niang snorted. Without asking any questions, she tossed the brothers in her hands upward. Then, she simultaneously pressed a palm onto their backs. The two youths made no sound and landed on the straw mats, their lives uncertain.

The sharp-faced youth's eyes gleamed. The spectacle of punishing others, even if he wasn't the one doing it, always excited him.

Xue Niang walked to Gu Shenwei in two steps. Without a word, she swiftly poked his left and right shoulders with two lightning-fast fingers.

Gu Shenwei, who had been sitting on the straw mat, fell backward. He felt a pain that pierced to the bone. His arms immediately became useless. Large beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. A cry of pain escaped his lips, but he quickly suppressed it.

The sharp-faced youth's cheeks flushed with excitement, and he was almost about to cheer.

Xue Niang then walked to the sharp-faced youth. The youth knelt on the straw mat, anticipating something, and said urgently, "Xue Niang, please rest assured, I..."

Xue Niang raised her arm and slapped him. The force of the blow was so great that the sharp-faced youth tumbled head over heels, landing heavily. He, too, lay motionless, his life uncertain.

"A snitching little bastard."

Xue Niang threw this statement down and turned to leave. Although she hated informers, she still assigned a subordinate to guard the tent.

The two brothers and the sharp-faced youth were not dead. They woke up in the early morning. Although Gu Shenwei's shoulders still ached, it no longer affected his movement.

The other youths tried to avoid contact with, or even looking at, these four. They didn't know what had happened and just wanted to stay out of it.

A clear handprint was left on the sharp-faced youth's face. He covered his face, looking bewildered. Seeing the two brothers and Gu Shenwei walking towards him together, he scrambled to sit up.

"Alas, I was trying to help you. You couldn't escape anyway, you would have only been caught and killed."

"I had no choice. We are purchased slaves. Being loyal to our master is our duty. You could have exposed me too."

The brothers spoke a few words in their native tongue. The sharp-faced youth's face turned pale and then flushed. He replied a few words. At this moment, Xue Niang entered again.

Everyone had already experienced the prowess of this gaunt woman, and no one dared to act presumptuously in front of her. They could only retreat to their original places.

Throughout the morning, the ten youths cleaned various incense burners outside the tents. As noon approached, an event occurred that made Gu Shenwei almost forget how detestable the sharp-faced youth was.

The Great Head God had returned at some point. He strode into his daughter's tent, his face ashen. This was the look he only had when he was about to kill someone.

The prohibition against men seeing his daughter naturally did not apply to him.

Everyone felt a tense atmosphere, like the calm before a storm. They scrubbed the bronze vessels with more effort while straining their ears to listen. It was on this day, the sixth day of their being part of the dowry, that the youths heard the young lady's voice for the first time.

"No, I won't marry him!"

Her voice was extremely clear, like the first sip of ice water on a scorching summer day. It was nothing like her burly father's. Yet, it was firm and unyielding, a tone that others could never adopt in the Great Head God's presence.

The Great Head God's voice, on the contrary, lowered, as if he were pleading earnestly. But it only elicited a more furious declaration from his daughter:

"I won't marry a cripple, Father. Call off the engagement."

The Great Head God's voice was barely audible. No one knew what the young lady said next, but then a beast-like roar erupted from the tent. The bandit leader, with his unusually large physique, finally lost his temper and revealed his true nature.

"You will marry whether you want to or not! You will marry even if you die! Damn your mother!"

The only reply to her father's threat was the young lady's unwilling sobs.

The Great Head God bent down and walked out of the tent, standing at the entrance. He let out another roar towards the sky, then headed for the main tent. With every step, he seemed to be trying to stomp a hole in the ground. Everyone along the way, whether they were high-ranking chiefs or lowly servants, scurried far away. Not a single person dared to step forward to mediate.

The Great Head God, holding his iron spear, wanted to vent his anger on someone. But his gaze swept across the area, and there was not a soul in sight. So, he held the spear across his chest and roared:

"Shangguan Fa, damn your mother! If you kill the wrong person, just kill again. Why did you chop off my son-in-law's hand? I, I..."

Even as the leader of a bandit gang that roamed the Western Regions, he could only issue empty threats to the Unrivaled King. He actually had no choice.

"Who is Gu Shenwei? Bring that brat here, and I'll stab him a hundred times!"

The Great Head God's eyes were red as if they were about to bleed.

Gu Shenwei suddenly heard his name. He was both startled and terrified. A surge of heat rushed to his head, almost making him faint. In that instant, he knew who his enemy was.

Flying Eagle was right. It was the Golden Peng Fortress that had annihilated the Gu Family, and the one who carried out the act was the Great Head God's future son-in-law!

Heaven has eyes, and the gods protect him. He was bought by the Great Head God, and he would be close to his enemy alongside his enemy's fiancée.

The Great Head God ultimately found no opportunity to kill someone to vent his anger, but the fury of the father and daughter filled the entire camp, making everyone feel uneasy. The first to suffer misfortune was a purchased virgin.

The Great Head God's surname was Luo, and the young lady's surname was naturally Luo. Her name was peculiar: "Ningcha." The Great Head God prohibited any man from looking at his daughter, but he was not particular about her name. The bandits often mentioned it, and he didn't mind.

However, Miss Luo Ningcha herself did mind, especially when she was angry.

That virgin girl caused trouble over this matter. She was from the mountains, and no one understood the dialect she spoke. She tried hard to adapt to the new environment and diligently learned the common language. One of the first words she learned was "Ningcha." Unfortunately, she never understood the meaning of these two characters, nor did she know that it was the young lady's given name.

The day after the father and daughter quarreled, the virgin girl quietly recited the few Central Plains phrases she had learned repeatedly. On the nth time she said "Ningcha," she sighed inexplicably. The young lady overheard her.

Few people learned the specifics of what happened next. Gu Shenwei, like the other youths, was working outside the tent when he heard screams from inside.

The screams continued unabated. After a while, the punished virgin girl was carried out. Her face was covered in blood, and she was almost unrecognizable.

Her eyes and tongue were gone.

Gu Shenwei didn't know what others were thinking, but he was filled with righteous indignation. Miss Luo Ningcha was truly vicious, no different from her father who slaughtered innocents.

However, his righteous indignation was just that. Even without a family feud, even if he were still the young master of the Gu Family, Gu Shenwei wouldn't dare to stand up for the little girl.

The girl didn't die. Just two days later, she returned to the young lady's tent, unable to speak or see, with only her ears still functional, yet still expected to serve the cruel mistress.

As for why Luo Ningcha kept this mute, blind slave girl, perhaps only she herself knew the reason.

Every time Gu Shenwei saw the blind, speechless girl fumbling in and out of the tent, a chill would spread from the depths of his heart to every hair on his body. He felt both pity and fear, and he believed the other youths felt the same.

Perhaps the girl's tragic fate reminded the youths of the necessity of unity. On the third day after the incident, the sharp-faced youth actually extended an olive branch, wanting to reconcile with Gu Shenwei and the pair of brothers who wanted to escape.

"I've come to apologize. I hope you can forgive my actions that night. We live in the same tent, eat the same food, and serve the same master. We should support each other, like brothers."

As the sharp-faced youth spoke, he touched the handprint still visible on his cheek, his expression appearing very sincere. He had the ability to change his facial features at will, so quickly it was as if two different people were present.

He apologized in two languages. Gu Shenwei and the brothers exchanged glances and nodded together, indicating their forgiveness for the sharp-faced youth's betrayal.

They all had more important secrets, and the sharp-faced youth's little trick didn't concern them much.

But the sharp-faced youth's schemes weren't just about reconciliation. That evening, when all ten youths returned to the tent to rest, he cleared his throat and spoke in a very formal tone.

He first spoke in two dialects of the Western Regions, only using the Central Plains dialect at the end:

"Since everyone agrees, we shall formally become sworn brothers, sharing fortune and hardship from now on."

He scanned everyone with a feigned air of authority. Seeing no objections, he continued in three languages:

"I, Lin Yang, from this day forward, consider everyone in this tent my brothers. If I have food, they will not go hungry. If I have clothes, they will not go cold. If I achieve success, I will surely help my brothers rise to prominence."

No one raised any objections. It wasn't because they had truly developed brotherly affection, but rather because they couldn't understand each other's languages, didn't know what others were thinking, and no one dared to be the first to speak. Moreover, they were in the Iron Mountain Great Head God's camp, and the father and daughter were both in a foul mood, ready to find an excuse to kill at any moment. No one wanted to start an argument at this time.

The tent fell silent for a moment, then one youth spoke first, stammering a string of words in his native tongue, likely a declaration of allegiance, as Lin Yang, the sharp-faced youth, appeared very satisfied.

The youths took turns swearing oaths, some reluctantly, some enthusiastically. Even the brothers, who had been betrayed by Lin Yang, swore their oaths, though their words were brief and lacked sincerity.

The eight youths all spoke in Western Regions dialects, and Gu Shenwei couldn't understand a single word, not even their names. When it was finally his turn, he hesitated for a moment before saying coldly:

"I, Yang Huan, swear brotherhood with everyone. May those who play dirty tricks behind our backs be struck by lightning and die."

This was hardly a sincere oath. Gu Shenwei hadn't even used his real name.

If it were a few days earlier, the young master of the Gu Family would have enthusiastically participated in the swearing-in ceremony, taking everyone's words at face value. Now, he swore with a lie, and he knew all too well that not a single word of the ten oaths was true.

Lin Yang knew this too, but he was satisfied. He couldn't rush things; he had to take it one step at a time. Once they entered Golden Peng Fortress, he would slowly bring this small group under his firm control. The young lady was the nominal master, but he intended to be the true leader.

Five days after the ten youths became sworn brothers, the young lady Luo Ningcha, unable to defy her father's wishes, dressed in her finest attire, preparing to marry into Golden Peng Fortress. It was also on this day that Gu Shenwei first met Shangguan Nu, the Gu Family's enemy.