The Groom

Although they had sworn brotherhood halfheartedly, the ten boys had indeed grown much closer after that night, as if they had truly found a sense of belonging.

Gu Shenwei, too, thought the idea of swearing brotherhood had been a good one. He had no backing now, nor any martial arts manuals. He could no longer seek revenge openly and could only resort to underhanded methods. Having a group of brothers couldn't hurt.

Of course, he wouldn't reveal his secret. Like everyone else, he knew that in this little group, where wariness and exploitation lay hidden beneath the surface, the truth must never be spoken.

The next few days were the honeymoon period for the ten sworn brothers. They helped one another, learned each other's languages, and occasionally played a little joke. None of them could have foreseen what life would be like after entering Golden Peng Fortress.

On the morning of the young lady's wedding, the entire camp had been given a fresh new look. From Great Head God down to the lowliest underling, everyone had dressed in their finest for once, suppressing a good deal of their bandit air.

Nearly a thousand gang members, high and low alike, crowded along both sides of the road. They all wanted a look at what the groom looked like. He was Unrivaled King's son, a man who had always stood above the rest. Even the greatest bandit gang in the Western Regions rarely got a glimpse of him.

Gu Shenwei especially wanted to see him.

The story of Golden Peng Fortress's slaughter of the Gu Family in the Central Plains had already spread. The Shangguan Family had made no attempt to conceal it, and as more details emerged, the whole affair began to take shape before the boy's eyes.

This job—the Iron Mountain Gang called killing a "job"—had been personally overseen by Unrivaled King's Eighth Son, Shangguan Nu. He had commanded twenty killers and seventy swordsmen, and there was said to have been a "Green Face" assassin as well.

Swordsmen, killers, and assassins were different ranks of Golden Peng Fortress's members. Swordsmen were the lowest rank, usually hired from all over the Western Regions. Killers were trained by Golden Peng Fortress itself. Their martial arts were clearly a cut above, and they formed the fortress's core. Assassins were the most mysterious group of all. Some even disputed whether they existed. In any case, the legends claimed they were the most skilled, their identities concealed, and their faces often hidden behind black masks—hence the name "Green Face."

Twenty killers and seventy swordsmen made for a formidable force. Some even thought it was like using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.

As was Golden Peng Fortress's custom, the swordsmen handled scouting, keeping watch, guarding, and other such duties. They only took part in the killing when necessary; the most important assassination tasks were carried out by the killers.

It was these very swordsmen who had watched the estate from the hills behind it, crept inside by night to sound it out, and chased after the five people who had unexpectedly left. In the end, old retainer Yang Zheng had knocked them from their horses.

The twenty killers, perhaps joined by Young Master Shangguan Nu and that mysterious Green Face, had waited until everything was ready before slipping into the Gu Family estate under cover of darkness. First, they silently killed the guards on night watch. Then they went after the master of the estate, followed by the servants asleep in their beds.

The operation had been carefully prepared, so its execution went smoothly. No one resisted. By Golden Peng Fortress's standards, fighting an enemy head-on was the last resort. The best outcome was to meet no resistance at all.

The gold and silver treasures in the estate were swept away, then the place was burned to the ground. That was standard procedure for Golden Peng Fortress. They left behind anything too bulky to carry, for the sharp-nosed bandits to sniff out.

If all had gone well, the operation would have opened a brilliant future for Eighth Young Master Shangguan Nu.

It was the first task he had carried out independently. Success would have earned him the right to establish his own household and raise a force of his own. He would also have married the daughter of the greatest bandit gang in the Western Regions, gaining a rare guarantee that would strengthen both the family's power and his own position.

All of that had come to nothing because a fourteen-year-old boy had slipped through their fingers.

How that boy, Gu Shenwei, had escaped was a matter of much speculation. It seemed the estate's master, Gu Lun, had been as crafty as an old fox. He had sent out several groups in succession during the night, drawing the attention of the swordsmen on the perimeter. Only then had he sent one of his daughters and his youngest son fleeing for their lives.

Shangguan Nu had misjudged the situation. He sent only swordsmen to pursue them, and three of those swordsmen never returned. After the Gu Family estate had been wiped out, they discovered that two of the young masters were missing. Shangguan Nu promptly sent out killers, who returned with the head he wanted.

But it was the wrong head.

The head they had mistaken for the Gu Family's young master actually belonged to some nobody.

For this unforgivable blunder, Unrivaled King had chopped off one of the Eighth Son's hands, while Shangguan Nu had chopped off the hands of several swordsmen and killers.

Shangguan Nu's bright future had ended almost as soon as it began. Although Unrivaled King had not formally announced it, and never would, everyone was certain that Shangguan Nu would be in no position to establish his own household for a long time. His marriage to Great Head God's daughter had not been canceled, but it was no longer his marriage. It had become a purely political union, simply because Unrivaled King and Great Head God needed an alliance and neither had another child of marriageable age.

To Gu Shenwei's disappointment, the rumors rarely mentioned what had happened to Gu Family's young lady, Cuilan. People either assumed she was dead or didn't mention her at all.

As for the reason Golden Peng Fortress had wiped out the Gu Family, there were many explanations, so many that it was impossible to tell which were true: money, treasure, reputation, revenge, an old feud, repaying a favor, coming to someone's aid, and so on. In any case, it was hardly the first time Golden Peng Fortress had wiped out an entire household. It barely counted as an ordinary operation for them. If it hadn't involved the gang leader's daughter, the Iron Mountain Gang wouldn't even have taken an interest.

The most unbelievable part of the whole affair was the ending. It was said that Unrivaled King had issued a harsh order: Shangguan Nu had to bring back the right head within seven days.

Shangguan Nu had done it. Everyone who mentioned this brushed over it as if it were nothing. How far could a fourteen-year-old child run in the deserts of the Western Regions? That he had been caught in Golden Peng Fortress's pursuit was beyond doubt.

Gu Shenwei alone knew for certain that he was still alive.

As for how he had survived by chance until now, he had pieced together most of it. First, there had been Yang Zheng's plan. He had made the pageboy Mingxiang pose as the young master, then found another child to pose as the pageboy. That alone would not have been enough. Afterward, a string of coincidences had followed: Gu Shenwei had taken the wrong road; when he returned to the estate, bandits who didn't recognize him had abducted him; those bandits had then died at the hands of Snow Mountain Swordsman; and Great Head God had, by sheer chance, bought him among all the slaves.

These coincidences had kept Shangguan Nu from tracking down the one who had slipped through the net in time, leaving him no choice but to substitute someone else's head.

The head Shangguan Nu had brought back to Golden Peng Fortress must have been the wrong one again. But why had the mistake gone undetected this time?

Try as he might, Gu Shenwei couldn't figure it out.

Golden Peng Fortress's wedding procession had arrived.

Several dozen brightly dressed riders rode at the front in two neat ranks. There weren't many of them, but every one was striking in appearance, and all their horses were a deep vermilion. Their disciplined, perfectly synchronized movements alone outshone the disorderly bandits gathered along the road.

Behind them came a bridal sedan chair carried by eight men. Riding alongside it was the groom, Shangguan Nu.

Shangguan Nu was indeed dressed like a proper groom, but his face showed none of the happy smile expected of a newlywed. As cold and ruthless as ever, he paid no attention to the thousands of people pointing and praising him.

He looked like a newly appointed general inspecting his incompetent army.

He still wore a saber at his waist. Its pitch-black scabbard clashed with the rest of the wedding procession, making it especially conspicuous.

"The men of the Shangguan Family never part with their sabers until death," the crowd murmured, understanding and forgiving the groom's rudeness.

What everyone was more curious about was the groom's right hand—the one Unrivaled King had cut off.

Without the hand that held a saber, even a man of the Shangguan Family was a tiger with its claws and fangs pulled out.

Shangguan Nu's right arm was entirely hidden inside his long sleeve. The reins also disappeared into the sleeve, held by something unseen. From the outside, he looked no different from an ordinary man.

Anyone with the slightest manners would avoid staring at another person's flaws. Unfortunately, in the Iron Mountain Gang's camp, manners were rarer than kindness. After thousands of eyes had inspected the wedding procession and the groom from head to toe, they all fixed on the crippled hand hidden from view.

Shangguan Nu's expression grew even more rigid, as if he himself were part of the "Iron Mountain."

From a distance, Great Head God saw Shangguan Nu, and the smile on his face widened. The clouds in his heart dispersed. The man coming toward him was the real son of Unrivaled King, and from the way he looked now, who could see anything wrong with him? This young man was entirely worthy of his daughter. He opened his arms wide, ready to welcome his son-in-law.

Gu Shenwei saw his enemy too. The ten Boy and Girl Attendants and a group of gang leaders stood behind Great Head God. They could clearly see the groom dismount and bow to his father-in-law. Even when Great Head God helped his son-in-law back up and embraced him warmly, they caught sight of an iron hook protruding from his sleeve.

The iron hook flashed by.

Gu Shenwei found himself strangely calm, without the unease he had expected.

This was the enemy of the Gu Family. Perhaps this young man had personally killed Gu Lun and his wife, then chopped off their heads.

Gu Shenwei held a red gift box. He stood only a few steps from Shangguan Nu, and a sudden urge to leap at him welled up inside. His body tilted forward of its own accord.

A stern gaze shot his way.

Xue Niang was watching him, warning him with her eyes not to make a fool of himself in front of the groom.

Gu Shenwei snapped back to his senses and straightened up at once. His father had gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve his life; his master, Yang Zheng, and his sister had willingly sacrificed themselves to save him. He couldn't throw that life away so easily.

He would have his revenge, but Shangguan Nu was no longer his only target. The hatred of a whole family's extermination could only be repaid by wiping out a whole family.

He had Divine Will within him. He was bound to succeed.

The groom, Shangguan Nu, stood up and casually swept his gaze over the people behind his father-in-law. Great Head God's huge frame blocked many of them, but he still saw a crowd of grinning bandits. Their faces were vulgar, and even a full set of new clothes couldn't hide the filth about them.

Shangguan Nu felt a little disappointed. Was this the force he was supposed to win over? How could his father have taken a liking to such a rabble?

Gu Shenwei bravely met the gaze that swept toward him, but it gave him not the slightest notice.

From the moment he had decided to infiltrate Golden Peng Fortress, he had known he was taking a huge risk. Someone there was bound to recognize him. Perhaps Shangguan Nu had already made inquiries and learned what he looked like.

Now Shangguan Nu had failed to recognize him. He had passed the first test. But once inside the fortress, how long could he keep himself hidden?

Gu Shenwei knew that Divine Will had not left him much time for revenge. He had to act quickly.