Chapter 917: Climbing

In knee-deep snow, Shangguan Hong raised his head and looked at the entrance of the dark cave, waves of horror flooding through him. “I think that this is it. Maybe it has frozen over.”

A couple of years ago, Shangguan Hong accidentally learned a secret from Madam Meng. There was a secret passage from the stone castle that connected vertically to a river at the bottom of the cliff. It served the purpose of providing access to water in an emergency.

During the past two days, Shangguan Hong had searched more than half of the river valley until he finally found it. The entrance was about ten to twelve meters above the frozen surface of the river. It didn’t seem large, but it was actually larger than a regular water tank. The perfectly round shape seemed to be suggesting that it was a man-made cave.

In order to find it, Shangguan Hong had raised his head so frequently that he felt like his neck was about to break off.

Looking in the direction of the mountaintop from the bottom of the cliff, he couldn’t see the top of the cliff. He suspected that this cliff was more than three thousand meters high. When the thought of climbing up this cliff along such a narrow passage struck him, Shangguan Hong felt chills run down his spine, and he secretly prayed that the Dragon King wouldn’t pick him to do this task.

Gu Shenwei hadn’t brought many people here. There were only eight people in total. Apart from him, there were Shangguan Hong, Old Man Mu, and five killers trained by Hu Shining.

Old Man Mu was also looking up, thinking that there must be a reason why the Dragon King had brought him here, given his petite figure. So he took the initiative and said, “Judging from the size of the opening, I think that I’ll fit in the passage quite easily. But just for the record, it seems like this passage hasn’t been used for years, so there might be plenty of snakes, mice, and bugs in there. If I accidentally scream, that doesn’t mean that I’m a coward, and it certainly doesn’t mean that I’m trying to alert anybody at the top of the mountain.”

Gu Shenwei took a few steps backwards to get a better view of the cliff. “Not every part of this passage was dug out.”

“That’s true. Part of it was built from earth on the side of the cliff. I guessed this long ago. The Unique King is not an immortal. How else could he have dug such a long tunnel? But it’s been so many years that I think that the earth has turned into rock.” Old Man Mu had quick reflexes.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Old Man Mu nodded. Suddenly he understood. “Are you asking me to go up there and check?”

“You have good lightness skills.”

“Thank you, Dragon King,” Old Man Mu said, putting on a wry face. “But I’ve never practiced any hole-digging skills. And it’s a hole so deep that even its bottom can’t be seen.”

“Most of this passage should be built with earth. There’s no need to dig. You can also climb up along its outside.”

“That’s also very dangerous. If I fall, my body won’t be able to stay intact.”

Gu Shenwei had no intention of trying to persuade him with comforting words. He produced a coil of ropes and two long, thick iron nails before putting them in Old Man Mu’s hands. “Are you ready?”

Old Man Mu was very resigned. “Dragon King, let me get this straight. If anything happens to me, you can’t forget about me when you’re rewarding your subordinates in the future. You must appoint me to a certain position, even if it’s just a posthumous one. With regards to the bonus… Alas, since I’ve barely done any good deeds in my life, you can just hand out the money to the poor. However, you must make sure that they’re informed about whose money that they’re-”

Knowing that Old Man Mu was not going to finish his nagging anytime soon, Gu Shenwei grabbed him with both hands and abruptly threw him up.

Old Man Mu was still yelling even in mid-air, but he easily leaped above the entrance to the passage and thrust the iron nails in his hands into the side of the cliff with great force. “Eek, it’s really not stone.”

Old Man Mu hung onto the side of the cliff. Several small stones fell down from the entrance to the passage. Shangguan Hong picked up one of them, ground it into power with his fingers, and excitedly said, “The Dragon King’s guess was right. Look, it’s already hardened.”

Old Man Mu obliquely slung the rope across his shoulders and started climbing upwards with an iron nail in each hand. Occasionally, when the terrain allowed for leaping, he used his lightness skills to leap upwards. From the bottom, he soon became a small black spot.

Before long, the black spot gradually grew bigger. Old Man Mu had come down. He didn’t jumped down to the ground immediately – which was a very wise choice – but talked as he hung above them. “I found something, but I have to tell the Dragon King first.”

“Go ahead.”

“The hole is very clean, and there’s an iron chain in it. I can use it to climb up-”

“Don’t touch it,” Gu Shenwei ordered. He was afraid that people up there might be alerted.

“Oh.” Old Man Mu started climbing upwards again.

When Old Man Mu was about to disappear from view, Gu Shenwei said to Shangguan Hong and the five killers, “You guys stay here. Don’t move, and don’t let anyone approach either.”

After hearing that he didn’t have to take any risks tonight, Shangguan Hong was greatly relieved. He hurriedly said, “Yes, Dragon King. We won’t move a single step.”

Gu Shenwei could also use lightness skills to leap up directly, but he still chose to climb upwards on his hands and feet, taking advantage of those cracks in the side of the cliff. It was an old habit of his.

Old Man Mu had left a lot of dents on the inside surface of the passage, which spared Gu Shenwei a lot of work.

If the Barren Sect had known the existence of this passage back then, they wouldn’t have had to prepare such a large amount of iron nails.

After climbing up about a hundred meters or so, Gu Shenwei saw a large dent. Apparently, it had existed for a very long time. There was the length of iron chain that Old Man Mu had mentioned could be seen. Gu Shenwei stretched out his hand, gently stroked it, and found that there was no rust on it, which suggested that Golden Roc Castle had been maintaining this passage all along.

As he climbed higher and higher, the wind became stronger and stronger. Gu Shenwei became cautious, and made sure that Old Man Mu at a distance from which he could vaguely see him. And he tried not to leap.

After about four hours, Gu Shenwei raised his head and saw something sticking out of the edge of the cliff. He speculated that Golden Roc Castle was right up there.

Crouching in a shallow dent, Old Man Mu said in a muted voice to the Dragon King who was beneath his feet, “This is the end. The rest of the passage really was dug through the rocks. What does the Dragon King plan to do next?” He had known that the Dragon King had been following him for a long time now.

“We wait until dark and then circle around it,” said Gu Shenwei. Using Old Man Mu as the vanguard was the riskiest part of this operation. He had always considered this former devil somewhat untrustworthy, but he didn’t have many choices.

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Having already fastened one end of the rope to his waist, Old Man Mu tossed the other end of it to the Dragon King. “Heh-heh, we’re two… heroes tied to the same rope.”

Gu Shenwei fastened the rope around him and then found a where he could lodge his feet. Standing with his back against the surface of the passage, he pricked up his ears and listened carefully, but all he could hear was the howl of the wind.

Old Man Mu fixed the Dragon King with a stare and a half smile on his face. “Was it in Golden Roc Castle where the Dragon King got the Death Sutra?”

“Hmm.”

“Even the most well-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. God has his own plans. The Dragon King easily found the secret that the Shangguan family failed to find despite the fact that they have been in Golden Roc Castle for almost a hundred years. Alas, what else can I say?”

“You’re unconvinced?”

“How dare I?” Old Man Mu widened his eyes with a hurt expression. “The point I’ve been trying to make is that the Dragon King is very lucky. You’ve cheated death so many times, which mostly should be attributed to the Death Sutra Swordsmanship.”

Gu Shenwei did not reply.

But Old Man Mu was unwilling to take the hint and shut up. He turned his head aside and looked at the sun, half of which had set. “We are in the northeastern part of the Golden Roc Castle. Is the Dragon King familiar with this area?”

The northeastern part was within the inner chamber. Gu Shenwei had barely been here. “Kind of,” he said.

“And what we will do after getting up there, the Dragon King has it all planned out, right?” After a while, Old Man Mu asked a question before answering it himself. “Of course. The Dragon King never fights a battle without making preparations in advance.”

After staying silent for a while, Old Man Mu seemed to have suddenly thought of something. “There’s a very small question that I’ve always been meaning to ask the Dragon King.”

“Hmm.”

“You told me that there were several ways to practice the Death Sutra. Indeed, the Dragon King and Lotus learned the same swordsmanship, but when you two perform it, your swordsmanship is entirely different from hers. Under normal circumstances, your two’s swordsmanship is opposite in nature, like fire and water. However, when you’re fighting with a common enemy, you two can cooperate with each other in a ‘saber-sword-cooperation’ like way – it’s really very strange. Is there any secret to it?”

“Are you very interested in the Death Sutra?”

“Heh-heh. I’m just curious. The Dragon King knows that I like researching into martial arts. How could I be uninterested in a kung fu as advanced and profound as the Death Sutra?”

“There’s no secret,” said Gu Shenwei. Even he himself hadn’t figured out why he could perform the “saber-sword cooperation” with Lotus. “I just trust this swordsmanship.”

Old Man Mu was very satisfied with this somewhat perfunctory reply and nodded repeatedly. “I’m afraid that trusting the swordsmanship is the most difficult part of cultivating the Death Sutra. Er, has the Dragon King ever thought about… adopting two cultivation methods concurrently and performing ‘saber-sword cooperation’ on your own? Just like Little Chu. Wouldn’t that make you more powerful?”

Gu Shenwei was stunned. He had never thought about this before. “While we might be able to multitask, we can only ever hold one belief at a time. Adopting two cultivation methods is synonymous with having faith in neither of them.”

“That makes sense.” As it gradually grew dark. Old Man Mu had completely merged into the side of the cliff, and his existence could only be confirmed by the rope and his voice. “But now that there are many ways to practice the Death Sutra, maybe two of them can really be adopted concurrently.”

Gu Shenwei kept silent and then said coldly, “Forget about it.”

“About what?” Old Man Mu asked in surprise. “About adopting two cultivation methods concurrently? That was just a random thought of mine… ”

“You’ll never get the Death Sutra.”

“Heh-heh, the Dragon King always thinks of me as a greedy person, but I was just curious. Really. But… both Shangguan Hong and Wild Horse are very despicable people. Why do they get to learn the Death Sutra?”

“You want to take Lotus’ side?”

“That vicious woman?” Having learned his lessons, Old Man Mu became indignant at hearing Lotus’ name. “I won’t take the Death Sutra from her even if she kneels down, begging me to.”

“The Death Sutra that Wild Horse and the others have learned is incomplete and probably dangerous to themselves.”

“It’s so very like something that Lotus would do. Like I said, we should never touch anything that she offers. She’s a very shrewd and secretive woman who will never make a deal where she loses out.”

Gu Shenwei agreed with Old Man Mu on this, but he had never figured out why Lotus had “sent” Han Fen to him.

It was completely dark and the moon was very bright. Gu Shenwei pulled on the rope and signaled Old Man Mu to follow him. He had chosen a safe route which would enable them to detour around the obstacle above them, and then they would be able to climb up to the mountaintop from the other side.

Gu Shenwei had returned to Golden Roc Castle once again. By moonlight, he saw a wilderness. There was only an isolated stone house on the brink of the precipice, and the towering stone wall was more than a hundred steps away.

He had no impression of this place.

The two untied the knots of the rope and sneaked forward along a path covered by compact snow. Old Man Mu finally became quiet.

There was a closed door in the wall. Gu Shenwei didn’t try to open it, but instead crawled along the foot of the stone wall. Old Man Mu wasn’t as cautious as Gu Shenwei. He leaped out two times and reached the top of the wall.

On the other side of the wall, there was a narrow alley, on both sides of which were some small separate dwellings with courtyards, which were very similar to the dwellings of those killer mentors living in the East Castle.

There were no lamps, but Gu Shenwei could feel that many of those dwellings were occupied.

It suddenly dawned on Gu Shenwei that this was the area where the Green-faced killers lived.