Chapter 368: Sacrifice

For as many centuries back as the people of the Land of Fragrance could remember, their country had never been invaded. The castle walls of the capital, which were full of vines and in a state of disrepair, were proof of this.

There weren’t many citizens living in the city; Shili Molo seemed to not have lied. The entire population of the country amounted to only a few thousand people. What was strange was that Gu Shenwei noticed, while observing from the shadows, that the women walking on the streets of the city seemed to attach much importance to their waist sashes. The beauty of theirs was comparable to that of the 10 tribal chiefs who he had met with earlier – this was strikingly dissimilar from the simple waist sashes that the women at the riverside wore.

From the perspective of a killer, the interior layout of the city was a paradise for assassins. Its streets were narrow and winding, and there was luxuriant vegetation growing everywhere. The entire city seemed to be cloaked with a colorful cape and it would be easy to hide an army of a few hundred people inside it.

Gu Shenwei did not notice anyone carrying weapons openly in the city. In fact, he had not even seen any athletic looking males in the city but his suspicious nature kicked in. He continued observing the city from the shadows for a short while and quickly returned to his camp.

“The women at the river are either poor or forced to take part in the trysts. However, the first theory looks plausible on paper, but it doesn’t make sense that they don’t accept payment for their ‘services’. It could be the second theory, as they are unwilling to dress up or simply want to avoid detection. If it were so, then why do the messengers intend to keep a huge, foreign military presence in their land? Supplying food and water for 2000 people is no small matter…” , Gu Shenwei thought.

The doubts kept growing in his mind and he summoned the chiefs of the five peaks along with Tuo Nengya for a discussion.

The others did not think that there was any conspiracy and focused more of their attention as to whether the romantic encounters were moral or not. They were a little embarrassed about their actions as they had tried kept the trysts a secret from the Dragon King until now, when he found out about them by himself.

“I guess it’s part of the local customs. It isn’t strange actually, judging from the fewer number of males compared to females in this city,” observed Long Xiaoshi, the chief of Danduo Peak. He had heard rumors of the trysts much earlier before, but he was not too bothered by them. “All of us did not report to the Dragon King before not because of any particular reason but because… you, Dragon King… this… you’re a little too young for us to be discussing such matters with you.”

Gu Shenwei turned to the young chief of Canopy Peak, Long Fanyun, next. He was the most ardent supporter of the Dragon King, but was blushing terribly now. It was evident that he had experienced the tenderness of the women as well. He was getting incredibly uneasy as he felt the Dragon King’s gaze fall on him. He coughed a few times and said, “It has been an extremely tough few months for everyone… the people here are not even armed… how big a danger can the women pose…”

His voice grew increasingly softer until in the end all that came out from him were incoherent mutterings.

Even Tuo Nengya, who was experienced, did not think it was a big deal. “Think about it. A big group of men who were first trapped in a valley covered in ice and snow, then made to trek through the wilderness for months – it’s a miracle that they haven’t rushed into the city and taken the women by force. I believe it’s a sign that they have already tried hard to control their urges. If the Dragon King doesn’t like the men to partake in such affairs, we will issue warnings to them. After which, we should try to leave this place quickly.”

“There’s no need for that. Maybe I’ve thought too much. All of you don’t have to say anything to the men upon returning to your respective tents.”

The meeting was thus dismissed. Gradually, Gu Shenwei came to understand why his views were different from the others: upon arriving at the Land of Fragrance, he had spent all his time with the savages, whereas the swordsmen and machete men had daily interactions with the residents of the city which was their source of food. As such, they had got used to the cultured and refined natives and naturally would be unwary of them.

He did not want to seem as being too harsh without clear evidence backing up his theory. As such, he did not summon any of his common soldiers for questioning again. Instead, he requested for Shangguan Hong to come – he wanted to find out what the motives of the women were.

Shangguan Hong was not in the least bashful. He openly admitted to being part of the trysts, “I didn’t start it. Half of the camp have already done it while the other half is queuing up for a try.”

He offered a simple explanation as to the motives of the women. “Look at the men in this land – all of them are wearing make up, and the fragrance emitted by them is even stronger than that of the noble women of Jade City. They are just particularly lacking in masculinity. Then look at us – a group of tough men. Of course we would be attractive to the ladies.”

All of the soldiers believed the locals were weak and harmless. Even Shangguan Hong, who was usually timid and had an inferiority complex, was full of confidence now.

“They didn’t want anything? And they didn’t make any request either?”, questioned Gu Shenwei. He still could not believe it. Even though the theory that the women were acting as per their local customs could explain away many of his doubts, he was still pretty sure it was more plausible that they were trying to gain some sort of benefit.

Shangguan Hong carefully re-collected his adventures for a while before replying, “No. Actually… hehe… we didn’t spend too much effort on talking.”

Aside from the Dragon King, Shangguan Fei was the only other person who felt that there was something peculiar about the entire matter. He came looking for the Dragon King after Shangguan Hong had left – he had something to tell. “There’s definitely something fishy. I made contact with one of the women upon your orders, Dragon King. To be honest, it’s not my cup of tea and the woman did not seem to be enjoying it either. If she wasn’t forced to do it, I might as well be blind.”

With this, Gu Shenwei sneaked into the capital of the Land of Fragrance for the second time to gather intelligence. This time round, he followed a woman who was returning from the river.

The woman parted ways with the swordsman who she just had a tryst with and stopped smiling after she thought there was nobody else around her. She walked with her head looking down and there was not even a little bit of joy in her expression. Shangguan Fei was spot on. This woman also did not seem to be acting on her own accord. Furthermore, she seemed to have completed a task she was not willing to undertake.

Only Shangguan Fei, who was also an unwilling participant in the trysts, could have noticed this. All of the other men were blinded by their excitement.

She did not enter the city from the main gate but took the long way around instead and went into the southern part of the city from a crack in the city walls. There were many people coming and going from the same spot as the woman did, and Gu Shenwei waited till it was dark before sneaking into the capital.

There was flora growing all over the Land of Fragrance except this corner of the city. It was full of crude and simply built houses. The division of wealth in this country was as similar to that of Jade City, where the rich stayed in North City while the poor squeezed themselves into South City.

It was extremely crowded in the area of the poor in South City. Gu Shenwei roughly estimated that there were four to five thousand people there. Evidently, when Shili Molo claimed that the population of this country did not even amount to 6000 citizens, he had not included these people in his calculations.

Gu Shenwei still decided not to travel too deep inside the city. He secretly went around South City before returning to his camp.

He had previously sent out scouts in the east and north directions and he decided to send out other reconnaissance teams in the directions as well. He wanted to find out how many more people this country was hiding from him.

When he arrived back at his tent, someone was already waiting there for him without having been summoned.

The person was not a warrior under his command but was capable of much ‘damage’ as well.

She was an extremely beautiful woman and she stood in front of his bed, smiling gently at him. She only had an extremely thin and translucent yarn dress on, and her long hair, which hung down to her waist, was the only thing on her that could serve to cover her up.

They were not in the main tent used for discussion pertaining to matters of the military, but Gu Shenwei’s resting quarters. As there were times when he would have to channel his internal energy in privacy to fight off the chills in his body, he forbade anyone else to enter, even when there was nothing wrong with him.

Someone from his inner circle had sent one of the women at the river side to him in a bid to remove his suspicions.

The woman spoke a few words to him softly in an extremely gentle and intimate voice. It did not matter whether one was familiar with the local language; if one were a man, one would understand what she was getting at.

Even so, she explained herself further. Her hands brushed her thin dress over her shoulders and it cascaded slowly down her body to the ground, lying in a pile at her feet.

Since she was so direct, Gu Shenwei did not wish to beat around the bush as well –

He slowly drew the Five Peaks Saber, purposely grinding the blade on the inner walls of its scabbard, creating a slight but piercing sound.

The woman’s smile froze. She seemed to be in disbelief that her move had failed to work, and it spurred her on. She lifted her feet from the dress on the ground and twirled around, her hair moving along with her. She then slid across to the Dragon King as if she was walking on ice.

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Her throat was moving towards the sharp end of the Five Peaks Saber, and it was only three to four inches away from the blade.

Gu Shenwei stared directly into her eyes, his expression cold, not wanting her to have a chance to feel lucky or misunderstand him. “I know you can interpret Central Plains Chinese and very possibly speak it. I shall give you a suggestion – it’s best to start speaking now.”

The woman gradually wiped the smile from her face. There was an instance where she seemed to not have given up and wished to continue her attempts in charming the Dragon King. She even puffed her chest up, wishing to counter the cold glare of the blade with her limitless tenderness. In the end, she gave up at the very last minute, her heels raising then falling back to the floor again.

“You’re not a man,” she said. Indeed, she knew how to speak Central Plains Chinese. Even though there was resentment in her tone and her accent made it sound stiff, it was still easily understandable.

“It’s not important,” Gu Shenwei replied, his saber still not moving away from her throat.

There were many different kinds of threats in the world, and there were many myriad ways of duelling. Gu Shenwei was only skilled with the saber and the sword, and it was the only way he knew how to handle his problems.

“What do you wish to know?”

Gu Shenwei immediately spotted his opponent’s trick. While she had seemed to acknowledge defeat, she still made no attempt to cover herself up and instead nonchalantly swept her long hair back with her hands, exposing even more of herself to him.

She was still trying to turn the tables against him.

“Who let you in?”

“He did not introduce himself, but I heard everyone calling him ‘Master Hong’,” she replied, not shy to betray the men of the foreign army.

“Are you residing in South or North City?”

The woman was a little surprised to hear his question. She hesitated for a while before replying, “I live in Back City, which is probably the South City you are talking about.”

She was a poor person.

“Who sent you here?”

“Master.”

He reached the saber forward another two inches. Its pointed edge was now resting on the skin covering her throat.

“I can’t say the Master’s name,” she immediately said, visibly in a state of panic.

“You can’t or don’t want to say it?”

“I… we are forbidden to speak his name,” she replied, getting increasingly panicky. Still, she refused to say her master’s name, as if there was some sort of mysterious enchantment preventing her from doing so.

“Shili Molo,” Gu Shenwei suggested. It was the only name he knew among all the people in this land.

She took a step back and glanced to her sides. She seemed to be even more afraid of the name than the blade right in front of her. She nervously nodded in acknowledgement.

Gu Shenwei sheathed the saber, grabbed one of his long robes and tossed it to her.

For the next three days, the beauty stayed in the Dragon King’s tent and did not take even a step out of it. The Dragon King himself ventured out very rarely as well. The soldiers from the Great Snow Mountain grinned to themselves as they knew about it; they felt that he Dragon King was more personable now.

Gu Shenwei did not punish Shangguan Hong for sending the beauty to his tent without permission. Publicly he seemed to have dropped his suspicions but he did not lay a finger on the woman throughout the three days. Instead, he raised a lot of questions, trying as best he could to understand the inner workings of the Land of Fragrance.

She was just a slave who was not acting on her own volition and extremely afraid of her master. As such, there were many things which she could not speak about, but she still managed to divulge huge amounts of valuable intelligence to him.

On the morning of the fourth day, he instructed Shangguan Fei to protect the woman in his tent, while he led 10 of the conscripted savages out of camp in the name of a hunting trip.

The ruling class of the Land of Fragrance were known as ‘Master Citizens’. It was the day when an imporant ritual was to be held and more than half of the residents of the city would be going to the altar situated in the southeast of the outskirts of the city. It was a prime opportunity to observe how the country worked.

Gu Shenwei instructed the savages to hide amongst the bushes a few miles away from the altar before advancing stealthily on his own. He lay hidden on the top of a mound and peeped ahead.

The altar was a huge piece of architecture and its base was in the shape of a square which gradually shrank in size as it rose up. Its top was a platform only about ten feet wide and the entire structure was about 35 metres high.

The area around the altar was surrounded by citizens of the Land of Fragrance. It was possible to determine their social class from the position they were standing at and the quality of their waist sashes: the inner rings of the crowd were of higher social standing, and they were standing and swaying sideways rhythmically while singing softly; the other rings were filled with slaves wearing simple waist sashes prostrate on the ground. They looked like fallen stone sculptures because they did not move even by a bit.

All together, there were about more than 10000 slaves and their masters.

Huge amounts of firewood were already stacked on top of the platform. It was said that five people would be offered to the deities as sacrifices today.

Unexpectedly, the cultured and refined people of the Land of Fragrance were practicing life sacrifices.

10 women supported the five sacrificial lambs slowly up the altar. They stopped after every step up the stairs to the platform, their movements solemn.

The sacrificial lambs were also young women dressed in long robes. They wore extremely exquisite waist sashes and seemed to have taken knockout powder; even though they willingly moved up the steps with their assistants, their heads were hanging listlessly to a side.

Upon reaching the top platform, the five women turned around, readying themselves to be burnt alive.

Gu Shenwei was in for a shock.

Even though he was a distance away, he could recognize Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus were among the five women!