The dagger stabbed upward, then immediately twisted aside.
Gu Shenwei had practiced this move countless times. Now that the moment had come, his heart was pounding with desperate urgency, yet his muscles felt stiff all over. It was as if he'd fallen under a spell, moving as slowly as someone trapped in a nightmare.
The blood inside him rushed uncontrollably to his head. His limbs were far weaker than he'd hoped.
At last, he crawled out from under the bed and saw Xie Nu curled up on the floor, his face buried deep in his arms. His small, naked body trembled.
Xie Nu's terror steadied Gu Shenwei. He broke free of the nightmare that had bound him, sprang to his feet, turned, and leapt onto the bed, moving with the agility of a seasoned Lightness Skill master.
He pressed down on a pillow with all his strength. The person beneath it seemed to struggle, yet also seemed utterly still.
Only after a long while did Gu Shenwei realize that he and someone else were pressing down on the pillow together.
Qi Nu was naked too. Every muscle in his body strained with effort, twisting his face out of shape. His eyes bulged as if they might fall out, and his teeth were clamped so tightly on his lower lip that it had started to bleed.
Gu Shenwei suddenly felt a little afraid. He gave Qi Nu a gentle push. "All right. He's dead."
Qi Nu was already at the end of his strength. He wasn't as tough and unyielding as he looked; the slightest touch sent him toppling onto the bed. He opened his mouth in a daze and repeated a word in his own language, a word that meant nothing to Gu Shenwei.
Han Shiqi was dead.
Gu Shenwei lifted the pillow. His enemy stared wide-eyed, but no longer recognized anyone.
Han Shiqi was naked as well. The ugly thing between his legs drooped off to one side. Xie Nu rushed over from the floor, gripping a narrow single-edged saber in both hands, and swung it at the thing.
Gu Shenwei hurriedly jumped off the bed and stopped Xie Nu before his impulse could carry him away. "Careful. Don't make him bleed too much."
Gu Shenwei crawled back under the bed and removed the dagger's handle. By then, Qi Nu and Xie Nu had regained their senses. Together, they slowly lifted the corpse until they had pulled the dagger completely through the gap in the bed boards, then turned the body over.
Despite all the unexpected complications, the assassination had gone even better than they'd imagined.
The small dagger had struck Han Shiqi straight in the heart. He'd died with barely a struggle, and hardly any blood had spilled, leaving only a tiny stain on the bedding.
In the flickering candlelight, the three boys silently watched the dead man, as if mourning him—or admiring a masterpiece.
After a while, they set to work separately, following the tasks they'd agreed upon beforehand.
Qi Nu and Xie Nu dressed. One went outside to check on the others in the courtyard, while the other stayed behind to help Gu Shenwei gather Han Shiqi's belongings: a few garments, a Narrow Saber, a dagger, a killer's token, four or five small bottles, a handkerchief, and other odds and ends.
The killer's token was a piece of pale yellow, mottled jade, shaped like an oval. Carved on it was a simple bird and the character "Jue."
The token let its bearer go to many places inside Golden Peng Fortress. Gu Shenwei badly wanted to keep it, but after a moment's hesitation, he gave up. He was only a boy; flashing a killer's token would only arouse more suspicion.
"You can take it. It's a trophy."
Qi Nu tucked the dagger and small bottles into his clothes. According to his people's traditions, all of the dead man's belongings belonged to his killer.
Gu Shenwei shook his head, stuffed the token into the bundle of clothes, and rolled it all up. "Too dangerous. Better not keep any of his things."
"It's dangerous to stay here. That doesn't mean it's dangerous to escape."
Qi Nu sounded confident, as if he already had a plan. He'd never mentioned it before, and Gu Shenwei was about to ask him about it when Xie Nu returned. He nodded to them, signaling that all was quiet outside and they should carry out the body.
Together, the three of them carried the corpse. The brothers took a leg each while Gu Shenwei held the head. They crept toward Ghost Cry Cliff, outside the western gate, with the bundle of belongings piled on top of the body.
Xie Nu had already opened the courtyard gate to make sure they could pass without hindrance.
Gu Shenwei was most worried about the mysterious night watchman. But luck was with them that night. The watchman never appeared, even after they carried the body outside. Ghost Cry Cliff was a sheer drop that needed no guarding. For now, they were safe.
All the boys in Kindling Courtyard had carried corpses before, but Han Shiqi was heavier than any of them. They were still a dozen paces from the cliff when Xie Nu began to falter, his body bending forward despite himself.
Qi Nu and Gu Shenwei exchanged a look. They slowly set the corpse down. They, too, were exhausted, and couldn't take another step, not even those final few.
The corpse lay faceup, with the dagger still in its body. So little of it showed that it was almost invisible in the moonlight.
Stopping to rest was a mistake, Gu Shenwei thought. They should dispose of the body as quickly as possible. Just as he bent down to lift it and carry it the last short stretch, the corpse suddenly reached out and grabbed his ankle!
Its grip was as powerful as an iron shackle.
The blood inside Gu Shenwei went from boiling to ice-cold. For that instant, he even felt as though his soul had left his body.
Qi Nu and Xie Nu froze for a moment, then lunged at Han Shiqi's body together. The older brother pulled out the dagger and stabbed wildly with all his strength.
The corpse didn't fight back.
Gu Shenwei pushed Qi Nu aside, pried open the hand clamped around his ankle, and turned the body over for a careful look.
It was still a corpse. Blood had only begun to seep from the corner of its mouth. Gu Shenwei couldn't tell why it had grabbed its killer's ankle—or whether it had come back to life when it did so.
His soul had returned to his body. That brief departure seemed to have cleansed it, and now he was as calm as an official examining a corpse.
Gu Shenwei checked for breath, then felt around the man's chest. Part of him hoped Han Shiqi was still alive. Then he could ask about his sister's whereabouts—and why Golden Peng Fortress had slaughtered the Gu Family.
"Is he really dead?" Xie Nu asked softly, his face pallid, whiter than the moonlight.
"Yes."
The three of them no longer had the strength to lift the body, so they pushed and rolled it together for the last dozen paces, sending the corpse and its belongings tumbling over the cliff.
Whether Han Shiqi was dead or alive, he could never come back.
"What now?"
Gu Shenwei asked. Qi Nu and Xie Nu had clearly thought things through more than he had. They already had a plan for what to do afterward.
Qi Nu's hands were covered in blood. He looked both frightened and irritable, as though no one could afford to provoke him, and the slightest touch would set him off.
"Hmm? What now? We escape. You're coming with us."
"Escape? How? This is Golden Peng Fortress."
Qi Nu took a deep breath to calm himself. He looked much more composed. "Here's how. Every morning, we go to fetch water. There are lots of wooden barrels there, and the clean water is brought in from outside. When we get the chance, we can hide in one of the barrels and escape."
Gu Shenwei had carried water before, so he immediately understood Qi Nu's meaning. Golden Peng Fortress stood atop Jue Peak and had no source of water. Every day, water was brought up from the mountain. The water carriers weren't allowed inside the fortress. They poured the clean water into a stone cistern, and the servants then hauled it back to their various courtyards. There were often many empty barrels piled beside the cistern, temporarily out of use, and the water carriers might take them away the next day.
The cistern wasn't unguarded, but there were openings to exploit. Sometimes so many servants came to fetch water that the overseers couldn't keep an eye on them all. Someone might be able to slip into an empty barrel and wait for the water carriers to arrive.
It sounded like a workable plan.
But Gu Shenwei still shook his head. This was the second time he'd refused an invitation to escape with them, and Qi Nu gave him a strange look.
"I have to stay. My enemies are still here. I have to take revenge."
That was all Gu Shenwei could say. Even to the people who'd helped him kill someone, he couldn't reveal everything he was thinking. Partly, it was caution; partly, it was guilt. He intended to avenge his parents and elder brothers by taking the lives of the entire Shangguan family. The plan was so wildly impossible that no one could understand it.
Qi Nu and Xie Nu accepted his explanation. In their eyes, revenge was more important than anything else. They'd postponed their escape plan all this time because they wanted to kill the man who had humiliated them.
The three boys returned to Kindling Courtyard. Gu Shenwei went back alone to his room, where he lived by himself. Qi Nu and Xie Nu first went to tidy Han Jinu's bed, doing their best to make the small stain less noticeable. Then they returned to their room and went to sleep. The five boys there were sleeping soundly; none of them envied the brothers' special treatment.
Gu Shenwei closed his eyes. He'd killed his first enemy, and the boulder that had been lodged in his heart had crumbled a little, letting in a ray of light. He still had plenty to think about, but sleep came in waves through that sliver of light. Before he could sort out his thoughts, he fell into a deep sleep.
Sweeter than any he'd ever known.
When he got up in the morning, Gu Shenwei had almost forgotten everything that had happened the night before. After a while, though, the joy of revenge slowly swelled inside him, seeping into every pore. Even the sunlight outside seemed brighter than usual.
He'd completed three days of his "exorcism period," and now had to go with the boys to pay his respects to the young lady. One question still troubled him: why had Xue Niang admitted that she was the one who had taught Yao Nu Internal Force?
But Xue Niang seemed to have forgotten the matter. Her cold, rigid face gave him no clues.
Back in Kindling Courtyard, Han Jinu seemed restless. He kept asking Qi Nu and Xie Nu where Third Brother had gone, and why he'd left without saying goodbye.
Qi Nu and Xie Nu remained remarkably calm, much to Gu Shenwei's admiration. The brothers casually explained that Third Brother had left that very night, and that they'd opened and locked the courtyard gate themselves. Since the courtyard manager was already asleep, they hadn't disturbed him.
Han Jinu believed their story. Han Shiqi didn't always spend the night there, but for some reason, Han Jinu still couldn't settle down. He spent the whole day thinking about it.
By afternoon, Han Jinu had become even more distracted. He paid little attention while supervising the boys at work, and that evening he didn't take attendance. He locked the courtyard gate later than usual, then kept a candle burning in his room until he finally fell asleep after midnight.
As a result, Han Jinu never noticed that Qi Nu and Xie Nu had disappeared. The brothers went to fetch water in the afternoon and came back once. The second time they went out, they never returned. It was a serious dereliction of duty for the courtyard manager.
Gu Shenwei silently wished the brothers well. Their escape plan had gotten off to a smooth start.
For Golden Peng Fortress, it was an uneventful night. By the next morning, everything had come to light, setting off quite a commotion.
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