Chapter 509: Entering the Camp

Security in the Golden Roc army camp was extremely tight, and it would not be an easy task to sneak in.

All this while, the Dragon army had been focused on self-preservation and trying to prevent assassins of the Golden Roc Fort from infiltrating into its ranks, and Gu Shenwei had never attempted to send any of his people into the enemy camp to carry out assassinations. He was clear that the disparity between his army and the enemy in terms of assassination ability was even greater than that of military capability.

Shangguan Jianyi had not used this fact as a reason to let his guard down. He always had at least 50 killers encircling him, forming a three to five layer thick barrier around him which covered a radius of roughly 60 meters. Only those with permission could pass through said barrier.

He never worried about being assassinated, but since the Supreme King sent him huge numbers of assassins, he felt that he might as well make use of them. They were guards of honor as well as a status symbol that represented his importance to the Supreme King. He had 100 killers dispatched to his army, a number that was unprecedented in previous expeditions.

Killers were uninterested in being in the front line, no matter whether it was before or during a battle. Or rather, they presented themselves as such—it was as if they were competing amongst themselves to see who was the hardest. Even the officers in the Golden Roc army did not dare venture near them, and when the soldiers had no choice but to approach them, they did so cautiously, as if they wished they could strip to prove that they were unarmed.

Undoubtedly, the killers were a special bunch inside the military camp. The biggest contribution they could give was to ensure that everything remained peaceful. They took no part in military affairs and were instead judged by how safe Commander Yi remained.

Thus, Gu Shenwei had not faced any obstacle upon entering the gate of the Golden Roc army camp yesterday evening, but after entering the camp, he soon met with layer after layer of questioning by the killers.

“Who goes there?” asked a killer.

“The messenger of the Cloud King,” replied Gu Shenwei.

After traveling with the unit of female archers for some time, Gu Shenwei had found the high-ranking military officers recommended by Shangguan Ru very reliable. He left them a map with detailed directions and synchronized his daily route with them. After which, he set off with Old Man Mu to find out what the situation was in the enemy camp first. During this journey, he seized the chance to catch Shangguan Yun’s messengers and thus could masquerade as a messenger to enter the Golden Roc army camp.

Back in the valley, Shangguan Yun had turned the tables against the Dragon King’s subordinates and taken control over Wu Zongheng’s army secretly, and Maid Lotus had tried to assassinate Shangguan Yun. Gu Shenwei had watched these things happen but never intervened, as he had been looking for bigger fish.

Afterwards Maid Lotus destroyed Shangguan Yun’s trap and intended for it to remind the Dragon King not to fall for the enemy’s tricks, but there was an unexpected side effect—realizing that his plan would fail, Shangguan Yun sent out two messengers at the very last minute to claim credit from Shangguan Jianyi.

As such, Gu Shenwei, who had been thinking about how to sneak into the enemy camp all this while, finally got his chance.

The messengers crossed the estuary in the wee hours of morning and they took the long way round to avoid detection by the Dragon army. Beyond their expectation, they were ambushed midway and one of them was killed on the spot while the other taken captive by Old Man Mu. The Dragon King needed this captive to provide him with some useful information.

Now, Old Man Mu refused to kill anyone and only agreed to help the Dragon King interrogate the captive. “I’ve sworn to the good girl that I’ll never kill again. Even if anyone tries to bully me, I can only teach him or her a lesson lightly. Don’t give me that look. I’ll never lie again after being reborn. I’m telling the truth, and my oath stands true as well.”

Gu Shenwei did not believe Old Man Mu in the least, but he had tested the latter and found that he had indeed not regained all of his powers. It was also very possible that he could never return to being a kung fu master ever again, and if he still dared to behave as domineeringly as before, he would not last more than three days.

The current Old Man Mu was not only tasked to protect the Dragon King, but in reality he was under the younger man’s protection as well. He had enemies all over Western Region, and if they heard that he was less powerful now, they would gladly take turns to have their revenge.

As such, when Old Man Mu was tasked to seize and torture the captive, even though the second task was also his hobby, he had to apologize before acting to keep up with his current act of being humble and thankful. “Young brother, I’m going to dismember you alive not out of pleasure but because it’s my task. I don’t have a choice. I feel your pain, and if I can, I’ll make it quicker to allow you to die more comfortably.”

Old Man Mu, who was only slightly taller than 90 centimeters, already looked like a demon, scaring the captive badly even before the torture began. When the captive heard him say about ‘feeling his pain’, he noticed that the old man’s eyes shone brightly. It was then that the captive realized his pain would bring his captor great pleasure.

“Please No! I’ll tell you everything,” the captive pleaded.

As such, Gu Shenwei got the intelligence he wanted, but Old Man Mu was only slightly pleased; the torture was stopped just when it barely began. He had no choice but to had over the captive to the Dragon King regrettably and witness the former getting killed after divulging all the useful information. To him, it felt as if a delicious dish was being thrown away.

“I want to confess, Dragon King.”

“Oh?”

“I didn’t control my demonic thoughts just now and kept picturing gory scenes. Sigh, I beg of you not to give me such tasks in the future. I’m afraid that I’ll succumb to my desires.”

The incident was actually Gu Shenwei’s test of Old Man Mu’s desire to change. He had seen the scary look in Old Man Mu’s eyes along with the captive, and it was enough for him to confirm that the old devil had been pretending all the while since emerging from the ground—his real goal must be trying to regain his powers.

Perhaps, he was still eyeing Wayless Qigong.

Gu Shenwei knew how far and long he could make use of Old Man Mu.

Old Man Mu’s distinctive features were too obvious and could not be disguised. Therefore, Gu Shenwei had to dress up as a messenger on his own and entered the Golden Roc army camp alone. He was searched thoroughly by the killers; any flaw in his disguise could lead to his death.

“Present your waist token and tablet,” asked a killer.

The waist token was the symbol of the Golden Roc Fort, while the tablet served as a travel document in the Golden Roc army. Gu Shenwei presented both of them.

He was stopped after taking another 10 steps. A few killers pulled him back and kept taking measure of him; he felt as if their gaze could pierce through his clothes. “Show us your weapon.”

Gu Shenwei drew out a dagger. He had left his saber and sword under Old Man Mu’s care and had only the dagger with him.

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There was a blademaster present at the third pass. This time round, the check was even more thorough, especially that of the letter he showed to them. The killers only returned it back to him after repeated verifications that the seal on it was from the Third Young Master himself.

Gu Shenwei strode forth, before the blademaster suddenly asked him, “There are usually two of you. How come it’s only one messenger this time?”

“We met with an ambush by the Dragon army and Zhao Biao was killed,” replied Gu Shenwei.

Zhao Biao was a killer from the Golden Roc Fort, and the blademaster was slightly shocked to hear the news. “Zhao Biao was killed, but you managed to survive?”

“I was luckier. Their first target was him, and I didn’t stop but urged my horse on. It kept me alive.”

Gu Shenwei did not explain further. The blademaster would understand that experienced skirmishers always picked off the strongest targets first.

The blademaster still seemed a little suspicious. “Since you fled so quickly, how did you know Zhao Biao was killed?”

“I guessed. How could he have survived after falling into the hands of the Dragon army? The Cloud King… Third Young Master values this letter very much, and if you want to know the details of the ambush, send someone to pass it to Commander Yi first,” replied Gu Shenwei, faking irritation and anxiety. He had also purposely addressed Shangguan Yun vaguely. He had known from the captive that the trusted followers of Shangguan Yun addressed him as the ‘Cloud King’, and also that they knew it was still better to call him ‘Third Young Master’ in the presence of other people from the Golden Roc Fort.

The blademaster grunted. It was unclear whether he was dissatisfied with the messenger’s attitude or thought little of the ‘Cloud King’. “Go deliver your letter,” he replied.

It was not the first time Gu Shenwei was deep behind enemy lines. Earlier on, when he was still receiving training in the Golden Roc Fort, he had used the same tactic during the incident of apprentices fighting amongst each other, but now, it was much harder to complete his task.

The path to Shangguan Jianyi did not get any smoother after Gu Shenwei had received the blademaster’s approval to proceed; he went through another four obstacles. At last, an advisor from the Whiterobe Academy requested the letter and inspected it visually before personally sending it into the main tent. The ‘messenger’ could only wait outside, surrounded by guards and killers. Even though he was only separated from Commander Yi by a tent, he could not move an inch.

It was not the best opportunity for an assassination, and Gu Shenwei could only wait patiently. If the letter managed to arouse the interest of Shangguan Jianyi, it was possible that he would summon the messenger for a few words with him.

It was soon proved that Shangguan Jianyi thought little of his nephew. The advisor walked back out and passed an acknowledgement message to Gu Shenwei before waving his hand at the ‘messenger’, telling him, “Commander Yi received the letter. You may leave now.”

The ‘messenger’ had nowhere to go. The decisive battle was taking place tomorrow and he definitely could not return back to the Third Young Master by following the estuary, but it was pointless to tell that to the advisor. As such, Gu Shenwei obeyed the order and left, only explaining the situation to an officer after he had left the protective ring surrounding the commander.

“Stay behind. Tomorrow’s battle will be the type that will only happen once a century, and rarely will there be a war of such scale in Western Region. I’ll assign you to Commander Yi’s guard unit, so that you’ll be able to witness the victorious sight of the Golden Roc army achieving complete victory. You may even receive some award for the victory without actually taking part in the battle, haha.”

The officer was being tactful. He could not differentiate between the many factions of people from the Golden Roc Fort, and felt that it would be prudent to treat the Third Young Master’s ‘messenger’ as a killer. Besides, this person had passed the various tests and it would not be his responsibility should the ‘messenger’ turn out to be an enemy.

In this way, Gu Shenwei remained behind in the enemy camp. During noon on the next day, he was wearing the armor of the Golden Roc army and standing 20 steps behind Shangguan Jianyi on the battlefield.

It was an interesting thing to be observing a life and death battle from the enemy’s perspective.

Gu Shenwei increasingly agreed with Dugu Xian’s view that it would be impossible to defeat an enemy with larger amount of troops unless they made mistakes.

The fearsome Dragon army was holding on to a slight advantage on the battlefield, but they kept sustaining losses, and even if each of its soldiers could take on two enemy combatants at the same time, it would lose the war of attrition.

Even so, the Golden Roc army made a few mistakes. Shangguan Jianyi had expected a surprise attack from the estuary, but he had grossly underestimated the strength of the Dragon army. Also, Shangguan Yun’s letter had made him lower his guard and his spearmen were conscripted servants from various nations in Western Region. Naturally, their morale and combat power were very weak.

It would be a grave mistake.

He even less expected that the enemy leader would be standing near him at this crucial moment, and that the Dragon King could assassinate him by rushing up a few steps.

This was a fatal mistake.

Suddenly, on the estuary, thousands of arrows rained downed upon the spearmen like a storm. They had nothing to shield themselves with and could only watch the arrows flying toward them or choose to flee.

They were forcibly conscripted, their homelands had fallen into the hands of a foreign power, and they were far from home. They were under the impression that it was a battle that they would surely win, and there was only a logical choice open to them when faced with the threat of death.

The high-ranking military officers leading them ordered them to attack, but they were standing at the bottom of a slope which was steep in some areas. As such, it was suicidal to try to charge up toward the enemy, especially when they were all archers.

The spearmen on the right flank of the Golden Roc army were the first to rout, while those that held the line mostly perished under the torrent of arrows.

Shangguan Jianyi still had an option. If he could withdraw his troops to draw the female archers down from high ground, he could smash them with a round of cavalry charge. He believed that the flaws of the female enemy combatants would be exposed in close combat.

The assassination took place at this instant from someone hiding inside a wine barrel. It was placed with the other barrels not far behind Commander Yi; the high-ranking military officers who had been withdrawn from battle after making a positive contribution on the battlefield could receive a bowl of good wine from Shangguan Jianyi.

The barrel split open into many pieces and a short, old man leaped out of it.

The killers were not in position and the guards were panicking. They drew their weapons in a flurry and charged toward the assassin who had suddenly appeared.

Gu Shenwei was also among the guards and drew the scimitar he was given. He had a chance to reach Shangguan Jianyi before anyone else when charging toward Old Man Mu.