Fairness

Just after the sky began to brighten, Gu Shenwei quietly got up and left his room. The harsh, fresh air outside gave him a jolt.

Golden Peng Fortress was like a wild beast whose fur blended with the plants and trees. As it crouched in sleep, its killing intent vanished. For a moment, Gu Shenwei almost felt as though he were the master of the Stone Fortress.

Gu Shenwei shook his head, casting off the illusion. Though he could neither see nor hear them, he knew vigilant night guards were hidden nearby. If he dared to wander about, he would draw the beast's claws.

He ran toward the school. As Shangguan Ru's attendant, he was allowed to walk this route. It was a little early, but the young night guards who saw him would probably think he was a slave eager to curry favor with his master.

The school entrance was deserted.

Gu Shenwei listened in every direction. If something major had happened outside the fortress, perhaps it would have caused a stir inside.

Everything was normal, so normal it made him uneasy. Then footsteps rang out.

Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi came running. They were alone; Shangguan Fei and the other personal attendants were nowhere to be seen. It was still too early, and they were all curled up in their warm beds, reluctant to get up.

Both girls looked solemn, and seemed to have been awake all night, just like Gu Shenwei. They ran past him without a word or glance.

Gu Shenwei took off after Shangguan Ru. Only by following this young mistress could he move freely around the fortress. Shangguan Yushi turned and glared at him, but did not stop the slave from following.

In the distance, Gu Shenwei saw the fortress gates shut tight. Yet as the three of them drew near, the gates slowly swung open. It confirmed his suspicion: the fortress had many unseen guards, and no matter how the Twins carried on, eyes were always watching them.

The gates swung wider and wider, gradually revealing the square outside.

Gu Shenwei saw the banners carried by Marshal Yang, hanging limply as if frozen stiff.

Then he saw a second spear.

The sun was rising, yet the world before him was pitch-black. He seemed to be back on the night his family was slaughtered, trapped in a dream. His legs moved of their own accord, forcing him to run toward the beast that had swallowed most of his life.

Marshal Yang's head had been impaled on his own spear, just like his younger brother Yang Zheng had died.

There were no bodies on the ground, and the two monks were gone as well. Whether they were alive or dead was unknown. Yesterday's snowfall had frozen into hard chunks, leaving no trace of a struggle, as if the spear bearing a head had stood there ever since Golden Peng Fortress was built.

The three youths stopped on the stone steps before the gate. None of them wanted to take another step. Their heavy breathing after the run said more than words could.

Strangely, the two girls were as shocked and disheartened as Gu Shenwei, as if the dead challenger had fought for their sake.

As a slave eager to curry favor with his master, Gu Shenwei ought to have said something to lift Shangguan Ru's spirits. But he could not utter a word. He even felt a fierce hatred for the two people standing in front of him.

The Shangguan Family were his enemies. Every person surnamed Shangguan was one of them.

A while later, more people came running. Shangguan Fei had brought Qing Nu and the other attendants.

Qing Nu clapped his hands. "Well, no need to worry now. This is how it was always going to end. I knew it all along. What else could happen when some crazy old man dared challenge Golden Peng Fortress?"

Shangguan Fei had run too hard. He braced his hands on his knees and panted for a while before straightening up. "That's it? I thought we might get to see Green Face."

The Green Face Assassin was a legendary figure in Golden Peng Fortress. Even the Unrivaled King's own son could not verify the truth of the legend until he was worthy of the title Young Master.

Aside from the three youths who had arrived first, no one else felt disappointed by Marshal Yang's death. Their only real regret was that they had not seen the killing.

As the youths continued pointing and whispering, Shangguan Ru suddenly turned around, rudely shoved through the crowd behind her, and strode back into the fortress. Shangguan Yushi followed close behind. Gu Shenwei hesitated for only a moment before they left him behind, and he had no choice but to fall in with the other attendants.

Shangguan Fei had not finished commenting, but following his sister was already a habit. He swept a bewildered glance inside and outside the fortress, then turned and went after Shangguan Ru.

The attendants could tell their masters were in a bad mood, so they all wisely kept quiet. They did not even dare to get too close. Shangguan Fei was one thing, but Shangguan Ru could be ruthless with her servants.

The group crossed nearly half the Stone Fortress. They did not go to the school, but instead came to Moon Holding Courtyard, where the Shangguan Descendants trained in martial arts.

Moon Holding Courtyard stood in East Fortress, facing Star Picking Courtyard, the school, from a distance. It was a separate compound, unconnected to the other courtyards in East Fortress. Only those surnamed Shangguan were allowed inside. Naturally, their training was nothing like that of the selected assassin apprentices.

When they arrived, most of the attendants had to stay outside. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Once inside Moon Holding Courtyard, Shangguan Ru would have to find someone else to vent her anger on.

But Shangguan Ru had barely set foot on the steps when she turned around and glared angrily at the attendants. "Can't our Shangguan Family have a fair contest just once? Did he have to be killed when no one was around?"

No one dared answer that question. Besides, most of them did not think it needed answering. This was Golden Peng Fortress, where "fairness" had never mattered.

"He was killed either way. What difference does it make how?" Shangguan Fei said with a shrug, baffled by his sister's anger.

Shangguan Ru was clearly dissatisfied with that answer. Qing Nu, with his wealth of experience, cleared his throat and spoke up. "Actually, it was quite fair."

"How was it fair?" Shangguan Ru demanded. Her tone was so aggressive that if Qing Nu failed to answer properly, she seemed ready to hit him.

"We're Golden Peng Fortress. We train assassins, and assassination is what we're good at. Everyone knows that, and Marshal Yang was no exception. When he came to challenge us, he must have been prepared for every kind of assassination technique. That's why I say it was fair. We of Golden Peng Fortress don't pretend to be an upright sect to the world, then scheme behind everyone's backs. We're 'upright and aboveboard' assassins. If he challenged us openly, we accepted. If he tried to ambush us in secret, we accepted that too. The choice was his. He died because his skills were inferior and he couldn't withstand Golden Peng Fortress's assassination techniques. It was all perfectly fair."

To Qing Nu, these words were nothing more than the same old wisdom Golden Peng Fortress had repeated for years, with a little polishing. But to these youths, still learning how the world worked, they were a brilliant and profound lesson—especially to those burdened by troubled thoughts.

Gu Shenwei had been in low spirits. Standing among the crowd, he had once again felt he was at the end of his road. But Qing Nu's words were like a sudden infusion of enlightenment, jolting him awake.

He had heard similar words before, back at the crossroads where he had been taken captive and enslaved. Assassin Ye Sheng had mocked the Tianshan Swordsman he had ambushed: "You're always like this. 'I should have known,' you say, but you never take precautions."

Qing Nu and Ye Sheng were right. A whole new world rose before Gu Shenwei's eyes. The Gu Family's martial arts were indeed powerful, but they could not counter Golden Peng Fortress's assassination techniques. To avenge himself, learning profound martial arts was nowhere near enough. He also had to learn to be an assassin and understand everything about assassins.

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated. The Gu Family had been wiped out because they had failed to "know their enemy."

When Xue Niang had trained him as an assassin apprentice, Gu Shenwei had only intended to use it to gain access to the upper ranks of Golden Peng Fortress, just as he was now doing his best to please the Twins.

Suddenly, he saw another possibility. Getting close to the masters of the fortress might let him kill one or two of them at most, but sooner or later he would be found out. If he could understand how Golden Peng Fortress operated and learn every method the assassins used, then even if his real identity were exposed, he would have no fear. He could still face them head-on and take his revenge from the outside.

Gu Shenwei was not the only one Qing Nu had convinced. Shangguan Ru lifted her chin slightly and thought it over. Though she was the Unrivaled King's daughter, she still had to accept, little by little, the idea that "assassination is fairness." Then she turned to her older cousin, Shangguan Yushi.

Shangguan Yushi looked back at her cousin. They understood each other without a word, reading their thoughts in each other's eyes.

Shangguan Yushi suddenly smiled slyly. "I want to be one."

"So do I."

"Let's go now."

Shangguan Ru nodded firmly, took her cousin's hand, and ran toward the nearby entrance to East Fortress.

Qing Nu was bewildered. Only after the two girls had run a few steps did he suddenly understand: the two young mistresses meant to break into East Fortress and learn to be assassins.

East Fortress was a vital part of Golden Peng Fortress, guarded almost as heavily as the inner residence. Only assassins and assassin apprentices were allowed inside. Qing Nu hurriedly called out, "Young Master, you can't go!"

Before the words were out of his mouth, three or four figures darted past him to chase after Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi.

Marshal Yang's death, along with Qing Nu's words, had rekindled the youths' fantasies about assassins. But now they imagined someone very different: not the assassins they often saw around the fortress, like Ye Sheng, who had been killed so easily by a challenger, but the true assassins, who never revealed their identities and lived only in legends.

Qing Nu was frantic. Though he was only in his thirties, he knew no martial arts and could not catch the energetic youths. Nor could he shout at them, since Shangguan Fei, the young master, was among those who had gone after them.

Gu Shenwei was among them too. The instant Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi spoke, he had guessed their plan, because it was exactly the same as his own. To learn the true face of an assassin, he was willing to pay any price.

The entrance to East Fortress was usually kept shut, but that could not stop the Ninth Young Master. Shangguan Ru did not break stride as she pounded hard on the door. The thumping sounded urgent, as though someone else had come to challenge them.

The main doors did not open, but a small inset door creaked ajar. A gloomy voice came from within. "What is it?"

"The King Lord has given an order."

Shangguan Ru's disappointment had already vanished. Now she lied as easily as if she had plucked the words from thin air.

King Lord was the title used by people in the fortress to show respect for the Unrivaled King. The man inside was clearly startled by the words, but did not quite believe them. He hesitated.

In that brief moment, Shangguan Ru and Shangguan Yushi had already pushed together against the door, trying to force their way in. Shangguan Fei, Gu Shenwei, and two pageboys had caught up behind them.

Qing Nu was still anxiously trying to talk them out of it. He had never imagined that his defense of Golden Peng assassins would have such consequences.

The man inside realized something was wrong and immediately tried to slam the door shut. The two girls outside were no match for his strength. Shangguan Yushi shouted, "This is the Ninth Young Master! Don't hurt her!"

The guard knew perfectly well who the Ninth Young Master was. He immediately eased off, afraid of accidentally pinching the King Lord's beloved daughter.

But while he wavered, the people outside worked together. Four fresh reinforcements had arrived in time, and without a word, they all shoved against the door.

The gap widened a little more. Shangguan Ru slipped inside. The guard cried out in alarm, no longer able to keep the door under control. In an instant, the other five youths had all slipped in after her.

By the time Qing Nu arrived with the other attendants, the small door had already shut again. All he could do was sigh and pray that the two young mistresses would not cause too much trouble inside, and that they would not be hurt in the slightest.