Discarding the Corpse

The dagger stabbed upward, and he immediately twisted to dodge.

Gu Shenwei had practiced this move countless times. Now, facing the real thing, his heart was racing, but he felt his entire body stiffen, as if bewitched. His movements were so slow, like being trapped in a nightmare.

Blood surged uncontrollably to his head, and his limbs were far weaker than he wanted.

Finally, 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 body naked and trembling.

Xie Nu's panic, however, calmed Gu Shenwei. He broke free from the nightmare that had bound him, stood up immediately, turned, and leaped onto the bed with the agility of a seasoned master of light-body techniques.

He pressed down hard on a pillow. The person beneath seemed to struggle, yet also showed no reaction.

After a long while, Gu Shenwei realized he was pressing the pillow down with another person.

Qi Nu was also completely naked. Every muscle in his body strained, his face contorted, his eyeballs bulging as if about to pop out. He bit his lower lip so hard it began to bleed.

Gu Shenwei suddenly felt a pang of fear. He gently pushed Qi Nu, "It's done. He's dead."

Qi Nu was at the end of his strength, not as solid as he appeared. The slightest touch sent him slumping onto the bed. He opened his mouth blankly, repeating a word in his native tongue that made no sense to Gu Shenwei.

Han Shiqi was dead.

Gu Shenwei lifted the pillow. His enemy stared with wide-open eyes, unable to recognize anyone.

Han Shiqi was also naked. The grotesque thing between his legs lay limply to one side. Xie Nu, on the ground, rushed forward, a narrow single-edged saber in his hands, and swung it at that thing.

Gu Shenwei quickly jumped off the bed, stopping the impulsive Xie Nu in time. "Careful, don't spill too much blood."

Gu Shenwei crawled back under the bed and removed the dagger handle. Qi Nu and Xie Nu had also regained their senses. Together, they slowly lifted the corpse, pulling the dagger completely out of the bed slats, and then turned the body over.

Despite the many unexpected turns, this assassination was more perfect than imagined.

The small dagger had struck Han Shiqi directly in the heart. He died with little struggle and not much bleeding, leaving only a small stain on the bedding.

The candlelight flickered. The three youths silently gazed at the dead man, as if in mourning, or perhaps admiring a masterpiece.

After a while, they began their assigned tasks according to their prearranged plan.

Qi Nu and Xie Nu dressed. One went to scout the movements of others in the courtyard, while the other stayed with Gu Shenwei to collect Han Shiqi's belongings: a few sets of clothes, a narrow saber, a dagger, an assassin's waist token, four or five small bottles, a handkerchief, and other miscellaneous items.

The assassin's waist token was a piece of pale yellow miscellaneous jade, oval-shaped, engraved with a simple bird and the character "绝" (Jue, meaning "absolute" or "ultimate").

With this token, one could move freely in many parts of Golden Peng Fortress. Gu Shenwei wanted to keep it, but after a moment's hesitation, he gave up. He was just a youth; displaying an assassin's token would only attract more suspicion.

"You can take it. It's spoils of war."

Qi Nu tucked the dagger and small bottles into his embrace. According to their tribal tradition, all the belongings of the deceased belonged to the killer.

Gu Shenwei shook his head, tucked the waist token into the clothes, and rolled them into a ball. "Too dangerous. It's better not to keep his things."

"Keeping it here is dangerous. Fleeing won't be."

Qi Nu's tone was confident, as if he already had a plan. Gu Shenwei was about to ask about it when Xie Nu returned, nodding to the two of them, indicating that everything outside was normal and they should carry the body away.

The three of them lifted the corpse together, the brothers each carrying a leg, Gu Shenwei holding the head. They tiptoed towards Ghost Cry Cliff outside the west gate, the miscellaneous items piled on top of the body.

Xie Nu had already opened the courtyard gate, ensuring a clear path.

Gu Shenwei's biggest worry was the mysterious night watchman, but they were lucky tonight. No night watchman appeared until they had carried the body outside the gate. Ghost Cry Cliff was a sheer cliff, requiring no guard. Here, they were temporarily safe.

All the youths from Kindling Courtyard had carried corpses before, but Han Shiqi's felt heavier than any of them. Still ten steps from the cliff edge, Xie Nu was already struggling, his body involuntarily bending downwards.

Qi Nu and Gu Shenwei exchanged a look and slowly lowered the body together. They too felt utterly exhausted; they couldn't possibly walk the remaining few steps.

The body lay face up. The dagger remained in its chest, only a small part exposed, barely visible in the moonlight.

Stopping to rest was a mistake, Gu Shenwei thought. They should have disposed of the body quickly. Just as he was about to bend down to lift it for the final short stretch, the corpse suddenly reached out and grabbed his ankle!

The grip was incredibly strong, like an iron clamp.

The blood within Gu Shenwei went from boiling to ice-cold. In that instant, he even felt as if his soul had left his body.

Qi Nu and Xie Nu were momentarily stunned, then they both lunged onto Han Shiqi. The elder brother pulled out the dagger and stabbed wildly.

The corpse offered no resistance.

Gu Shenwei pushed Qi Nu away, forcefully pried open the hand gripping his ankle, and turned the body over to examine it closely.

It was still a corpse, though blood was now seeping from its lips. Why had it grabbed the killer's ankle? Had it come back to life when it grabbed him? Gu Shenwei couldn't tell.

His soul had returned to his body. During the brief time it was gone, it seemed to have been purified. Now, he was as calm as a coroner.

Gu Shenwei checked for breathing and felt around his chest. He almost wished Han Shiqi were still alive, so he could ask about his sister's whereabouts and why Golden Peng Fortress had massacred the Gu family.

"Is he really dead?" Xie Nu asked softly, his face pale, whiter than the moonlight.

"Yes."

The three had no strength left to lift the body. They pushed it, rolling it the remaining ten-plus steps, and sent the corpse and miscellaneous items tumbling down the cliff.

Whether Han Shiqi was alive or dead, he wasn't coming back.

"What next?"

Gu Shenwei asked. Qi Nu and Xie Nu had clearly thought further ahead and already had a plan for dealing with the aftermath.

Qi Nu's hands were covered in blood, and his expression was a mixture of panic and agitation. He seemed unapproachable, like a tinderbox ready to ignite.

"What? Next? We're escaping. You're coming with us."

"Escape? How can we escape? This is Golden Peng Fortress."

Qi Nu took a deep breath, calming his emotions, his complexion looking much better. "It's like this, every morning we have to fetch water. There are many wooden buckets there. The clean water is delivered from outside. As long as we have a chance, we can hide in a wooden bucket and escape."

Gu Shenwei had also done the work of carrying water, so he immediately understood Qi Nu's meaning. Golden Peng Fortress was located at the very peak and had no water source. Daily water was transported from below the mountain. The water carriers could not enter the fortress; the clean water was poured into a stone pool, and then carried back to the various courtyards by the servants within the fortress. Empty wooden buckets that were not in use were often piled up by the pool. These empty buckets might be taken away by the water carriers the next day.

The water pool was not unguarded, but there were still opportunities. Sometimes there were many servants fetching water, and the overseer couldn't keep track of them all. One could then hide inside an empty bucket and wait for the water carriers to arrive.

This seemed like a feasible plan.

But Gu Shenwei still shook his head. This was the second time he had refused an invitation to escape together. Qi Nu looked at him with a strange expression.

"I want to stay. My enemies are still here. I want revenge."

This was all Gu Shenwei could say. Even to a partner who had killed with him, he couldn't reveal his full thoughts. Half of it was due to caution, and half was due to guilt. He wanted to use the lives of the entire Shangguan family to avenge his parents and elder brother. This goal was too far-fetched; probably no one could understand it.

Qi Nu and Xie Nu accepted his explanation. In their eyes, revenge was more important than anything else. They had postponed their escape plan precisely because they wanted to kill the person who had insulted them.

The three youths returned to Kindling Courtyard. Gu Shenwei went back to his solitary room alone. Qi Nu and Xie Nu first tidied up Han Jinu's bed, trying their best not to make the small stain too obvious, and then also returned to their room to sleep. The other five youths were sleeping soundly; none of them envied the treatment of these two brothers.

Gu Shenwei closed his eyes. He had killed his first enemy, and a small piece of the heavy stone blocking his heart had shattered, letting in a sliver of light. He still had many things to think about, but sleepiness washed over him layer by layer along with that sliver of light. Before he could even sort out his thoughts, he fell into a deep sleep.

A sweetness he had never experienced before.

When he woke up in the morning, Gu Shenwei had almost forgotten everything from the night before. After a while, the joy of revenge gradually surged, permeating his every pore. Even the sunlight outside seemed brighter than usual.

He had already passed the three-day "period of warding off evil" and had to go with the youths to pay respects to the young lady. One doubt still lingered in his mind: why did Xue Niang admit to teaching internal energy to Yao Nu?

However, Xue Niang seemed to have forgotten about it. Her cold and stiff face revealed no clues.

Back in Kindling Courtyard, Han Jinu seemed somewhat anxious, constantly questioning Qi Nu and Xie Nu about where Third Brother had gone and why he had left without saying goodbye.

Qi Nu and Xie Nu were very composed, which Gu Shenwei greatly admired. The brothers casually explained that Third Brother had left that night. They had opened and locked the courtyard gate themselves, and since the courtyard overseer 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, he felt uneasy and thought about this matter all day.

By the afternoon, Han Jinu became even more distracted, absentmindedly supervising the youths' work. In the evening, he didn't call roll, locked the courtyard gate later than usual, and kept a candle lit in his room until the middle of the night before sleeping.

Therefore, Han Jinu did not discover the disappearance of Qi Nu and Xie Nu. The brothers had gone to fetch water in the afternoon and returned once. They went out a second time and never came back. This was a major dereliction of duty by the courtyard overseer.

Gu Shenwei breathed a sigh of relief for the Qi Nu brothers. The first step of their escape plan had gone smoothly.

The other five youths noticed the abnormality, but none of them paid much attention. They were newcomers and didn't know how to handle such matters, nor did they dare to remind Han Jinu, as the courtyard overseer was clearly in a bad mood.

Gu Shenwei silently prayed that the Qi Nu brothers would succeed in escaping.

For Golden Peng Fortress, it was a calm and uneventful night. The next morning, everything was exposed, stirring up quite a commotion.