Swear an Oath

Gu Shenwei—whose new name was now "Huan Nu"—was assigned to care for his first dying man, a young man in his twenties with three deep gashes across his chest. He lay quietly on the earthen bed as if he felt nothing, neither moaning nor making requests. Apart from his faint breathing, he might as well have been dead.

"Care" was an exaggeration. It meant watching his life ebb away bit by bit and, at most, pouring him a bowl of water.

Not burying the wounded alive was the only mercy Golden Peng Fortress showed them.

The boys had spent only one night in the fortress. They had barely had time to get used to their own names before they were sent to stand beside a dying man. Amid the heavy stench of blood, they began their lives in their new "home."

Only one person was needed to care for a dying man, but these were the "off-season" days, and this was the only wounded man in the courtyard. So Han Jinu ordered everyone to come and "get used to it," as he put it. He himself stood far away by the doorway, covering his nose.

"This is what happens when you want to be a killer."

Han Jinu sounded gleeful at the man's misfortune, but the dying man on the bed showed no reaction.

"His name is Xie Nu. He came into the fortress with me. Look, now he's lying there waiting to die, while I stand here watching him meet his end. Heh. If you want to be a killer, try again in your next life."

The young man called Xie Nu did not argue. Perhaps he had not even heard Han Jinu. Instead, Yao Nu (Lin Yang) summoned his courage, raised his head, and said:

"But if you become a real killer, you can make something of yourself, can't you?"

That made Han Jinu angry. "Right, make something of yourself. Go on, all of you, become killers. Whoever lives longer than me in East Fortress, I'll bow down to him. Just look at yourselves. You want to be killers? Hmph."

Han Jinu raised the Rosewood Cane in his hand, but he did not want to go near a corpse, so he turned on his heel and left. In his eyes, Xie Nu on the bed was already dead.

Xie Nu died that evening. The boys were deeply unwilling, but with the Rosewood Cane threatening them, they could only carry the body together, pass through the west gate, and throw it off the cliff.

"This is the final resting place of all the servants of Golden Peng Fortress. It's called Ghost Cry Cliff. Listen—can you hear strange noises below? They sound just like the groans of the dead."

Yao Nu was scaring everyone again. The boys turned and ran, scrambling over one another. Han Jinu, standing just inside the west courtyard gate, snorted. It was hard to tell whether he found them amusing or contemptible.

Gu Shenwei ran with the others. He had been here the night before and had truly heard screams coming from below the cliff.

Not long afterward, the boys learned from Han Jinu that the cliff outside the west gate really was called Ghost Cry Cliff. Yao Nu had not made up the story. As for how he knew, he did not say, and no one else could guess.

Ghost Cry Cliff was a triangular platform. In the middle were the remains of a stone dais. It was said that in the old days, the dead were piled on the dais and cremated. That was how Kindling Courtyard got its name. Since Golden Peng Fortress had changed its customs, the dais had gradually crumbled. Now only a few broken stones remained, still marked with black scorch stains.

For the next several days, the boys watched someone die every day, then threw the body down Ghost Cry Cliff. Most of the dead were young people who had entered East Fortress as apprentices, dreaming of becoming killers, only to be ruthlessly eliminated.

Golden Peng Fortress was divided into a number of relatively independent areas. East Fortress was where killers were trained, while the West Fortress courtyards held all sorts of miscellaneous yards, such as Kindling Courtyard, which was specifically for the dying.

Knowing that few lived and many died, people still rushed headlong into East Fortress. The boys found it hard to understand. Most of them thought like Han Jinu: better to stay quietly in the west courtyard, living as a servant, than to die as a killer.

The ambitious Yao Nu seemed to have other ideas. He repeatedly hinted that he had what it took to become a killer, but he knew no martial arts, and his physique was no better than anyone else's. So no one took him seriously.

Gu Shenwei had also seriously considered whether he should try to get into East Fortress. The killers of Golden Peng Fortress had wiped out the Gu Family. If he learned to be a killer here and then took his revenge, it was an extremely tempting idea—the perfect plan in his mind. Unfortunately, it would not be easy to pull off.

First, time was short. The young master of the Gu Family might be recognized at any moment, so he had to hurry and take his revenge.

Second, the training in East Fortress was brutal and bloody. Very few made it through alive, and he was afraid he would die there before he could avenge his family.

Third, and most realistically, without someone to recommend him, a low-ranking servant like him had no chance of entering East Fortress.

Gu Shenwei sought guidance from the Divine Will once more, but got nothing.

Ever since he had entered Golden Peng Fortress, it was as if the Divine Will had been shut out. He was now helpless. He could neither find his sister nor take revenge. Forget wiping out the entire Shangguan family—he could not even catch sight of a single corner of Shangguan Nu's clothes.

He was truly afraid he would be stuck carrying corpses in Kindling Courtyard for the rest of his life.

He was not alone. All the boys felt forgotten, as if Golden Peng Fortress had never intended to take these ten children who had come as part of the dowry seriously. Like the dying men who came in one after another, they would waste away in this ill-omened courtyard until death came for them.

On the fifth day after entering the fortress, the boys finally got a glimmer of hope.

Xue Niang, a servant woman at Miss Luo Ningcha's side, came.

Although the boys had never once received a kind word from Xue Niang, and every one of them had suffered from her "Iron Fingers," when they saw her now, they felt as if a family member had come to rescue them from their misery.

That afternoon, Xue Niang pushed open the door and spoke as briefly as ever. "Come with me."

The boys, who were cleaning the dead man's room, could barely hold back their cheers. But Han Jinu stood by the door, and they did not dare show their excitement. His Rosewood Cane was no joke.

"Who are you?"

Han Jinu stared in surprise at the unfamiliar middle-aged woman. She walked so quietly that he had not heard a single footstep, which displeased him greatly.

"I'm Miss Ningcha's wet nurse."

Han Jinu frowned. He had never heard of a "Miss Ningcha" in the fortress, and this woman was as flat as a coffin. She did not look like anyone's wet nurse, either.

"What miss?"

Xue Niang jabbed a finger at him. Han Jinu's face reddened, he let out a muffled groan, and dropped onto the threshold.

"Let's go."

Xue Niang turned and walked toward the courtyard gate. The boys hurried after her. Only Yao Nu thought ahead: he helped Han Jinu up and quietly told him who their visitor was.

They went out the east gate, through narrow lanes, and turned this way and that as Xue Niang led the ten boys to Eighth Young Master Shangguan Nu's residence. The residences of the Golden Peng Fortress lords were clustered in North Fortress, far from Kindling Courtyard. There were countless branching paths along the way. Gu Shenwei watched carefully but remembered only six or seven out of every ten. It was no small feat for Xue Niang, who had only recently entered the fortress, to find her way around.

The Eighth Young Master's residence faced south, with two courtyards. It was not especially large, but was exceptionally quiet and elegant. It was hard to imagine that its master was a killer.

Xue Niang pointed to the open space in front of the main hall and ordered, "Kneel."

Everyone obeyed. Gu Shenwei hesitated for a moment.

He had long since resolved to take revenge by any means necessary. If revenge was within reach, there was nothing he could not endure. With that thought, he quickly bent his knees and hit the ground at the same time as the others.

Xue Niang still glanced at him. She had not noticed the boy's momentary hesitation; it was his straight back that caught her attention.

Beside the boys, the ten young women who had come as part of the dowry, along with several personal maids, were already kneeling. Their faces were uneasy, as if something serious had happened.

The hall doors stood open. A translucent screen at the entrance showed the silhouette of a slender figure.

"Is everyone here?"

"Yes, Miss."

The Great Head God's daughter did not like being called a young madam. Her personal servants still called her Miss, and from then on, everyone who had come with her in the dowry was to call her Miss as well.

"Have them swear an oath one by one."

It was indeed the voice Gu Shenwei remembered as belonging to the Great Head God's daughter. There was no blushing happiness in it, no bridal shyness—only a fury she could barely control.

"I, Xue Niang, swear to Heaven that in this life I will be loyal only to Miss Luo Ningcha, daughter of the Iron Mountain Great Head God. I will take my master's surname, Luo, and never change it. If I break this oath, may Heaven strike me with thunder and lightning. May I fall into the eighteenth level of hell after death, never to be reborn."

Yao Nu was the first to follow, speaking with such heartfelt conviction that if Gu Shenwei had not known him, he would have thought Yao Nu had been with Miss for years.

Yao Nu had a way of finding things out. For instance, he knew about Ghost Cry Cliff. That showed his way of dealing with people worked in Golden Peng Fortress.

Gu Shenwei needed to understand the enemy's lair, so he imitated Yao Nu and spoke second. He had only just gotten a new name, and now he had to change his surname too. As he swore aloud, he repeated to himself again and again: I am Gu Shenwei.

The boys who were not good at speaking Central Plains Chinese had more trouble. Yao Nu volunteered to translate, and the boys stumbled through each line after him, yet all managed to complete their oaths.

No one understood why the Great Head God's daughter had suddenly arranged this oath-taking.

After they had finished, Miss asked from behind the screen:

"Xue Niang, who do you think is suitable?"

"Everything else is secondary. The important thing is that the person be quick-witted. I think he's suitable."

She was pointing at Yao Nu. He reacted at once, shuffled forward on his knees, and kowtowed. "This humble servant is willing to brave fire and water for Miss."

Miss did not say what he was suited for. She only said, "Him, then," and the inexplicable display of loyalty came to an end.

Afterward, another maid escorted the boys back to Kindling Courtyard. Yao Nu was kept behind alone and did not return until dusk.

As Han Jinu locked the courtyard gate, he muttered complaints under his breath. He had already learned who Xue Niang was and did not dare challenge her directly, so he criticized her by attacking someone else. In his eyes, those ten boys "belonged" in his sphere of influence. Xue Niang and the Eighth Young Madam stepping in was a breach of the rules and a grab at his interests.

Yao Nu took the scolding in stride. Back in the bedroom shared by the ten boys, he kicked off his shoes and hopped onto the earthen bed. He sighed with ease, lay on his back, and said nothing for a long while.

Everyone knew his nature. Sooner or later, he would start bragging about the special treatment he had received from Miss.

"Starting tomorrow, I won't be helping you take care of the dead anymore." At last, Yao Nu spoke as if he had suddenly remembered something unimportant, tossing the words out casually.

"Why? Are you leaving here?" someone asked curiously. In Golden Peng Fortress, Central Plains Chinese was the common language. The Hu boys had learned some over the past few days and could manage a halting conversation.

"Xue Niang is going to teach me martial arts. After a while, I'll become a killer."

His words shocked everyone. Yao Nu had already shown his interest in becoming a killer, but no one had expected luck to fall into his lap so soon.

"Can you do it?" Qi Nu asked in clumsy Central Plains Chinese. He and his younger brother, Xie Nu, had joined the sworn brotherhood, but they had never forgotten Yao Nu's betrayal.

In truth, everyone had the same question. The first corpse they had sent off had been an apprentice killer eliminated from East Fortress. With Yao Nu's thin frame, he probably would not last a day before they carried him back to Kindling Courtyard.

"What do you know?" Yao Nu scoffed. "Killers are people too. There are all kinds, high and low, and they have their own ties and obligations. For ordinary people, going in means certain death. But I was recommended by the Eighth Young Master and the Eighth Young Madam. Who would dare lay a hand on me?"

No one could refute him. They knew nothing about Golden Peng Fortress and had no idea how things really worked inside.

Gu Shenwei, however, was moved by what he said.

He did not want to waste time learning how to become a killer. But if he could also win the master's favor and get a recommendation, wouldn't that give him a chance to get close to Shangguan Nu?