Death Sutra Chapter 17

Chapter 17  True Words

The distance between the small yard and Ghost Yard was only about several dozens of steps. Gu Shenwei moved forward with his back pressed against the wall. Before taking a step, he would listen and check the surroundings, as if he was on the edge of a cliff.

Even so, he had still underestimated the heavy guard of Golden Roc Castle. He had just taken about 10 steps when he was captured and lifted by the neck.

The night watchman was like a ghost, always hiding near humans and appearing in the most unexpected situations. No matter how careful you were, it would be useless.

Although Gu Shenwei was caught suddenly, he was not nervous. He calmly spoke in a low voice; “Let me go.”

This night watchman was not the person from before. He was a little surprised by Gu Shenwei’s calmness. Although his face was covered by black cloth, his eyes lessened in their killing intent.

“You broke the curfew.”

“I came out to do something.”

“What is it?”

“I……” Gu Shenwei couldn’t make up a reasonable lie in a short time.

“I let him out.” Suddenly, Servant Yao’s voice rang out. Gu Shenwei had thought that nobody had noticed him, but in fact, he had been tracked a long time ago.

The night watchman also hadn’t realized that there was somebody else following behind. Obviously he was astonished; he dropped Gu Shenwei and his right hand went to the hilt of his sabre and  his left pressed on the sheath.  

“Who?”

“Servant Yao from the eighth young lord’s yard.” Servant Yao sounded calmer than Gu Shenwei; his words even held impatience and reprimand.

 “You broke the curfew too.”

“Curfew or not curfew, I don’t care. I forgot something in the eighth young lord’s yard. I asked Servant Huan to bring it back for me, what’s wrong with it?”

Gu Shenwei didn’t expect Servant Yao to appear suddenly and, moreover,  even cover for him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit grateful in his heart. But with Servant Yao’s identity and status, it probably was not easy to convince the night watchman.

As expected, the night watchman didn’t take Servant Yao’s explanation seriously, “follow me to see the sabrelord on duty.”

Sabrelords were the leaders of Golden Roc Castle killers, and there were more than a dozen of them. Once a person had faced a sabrelord, the violation of curfew would be recorded on a file, and then,  would be punished accordingly.

It was not a serious disciplinary violation to only sneak out of the yard at night, but Gu Shenwei was still holding the stolen door key in his hands. This was an unforgivable sin and he would probably be thrown into the Ghost Yard.

Gu Shenwei actually looked forward to being locked in the Ghost Yard so he could look for the whereabouts of his elder sister, but Servant Yao didn’t think so.

“You must be killer Liu Xuan, right? We are all servants of the eighth young lord, why must we undermine each other’s efforts? Is it worthwhile to blow up this situation when the eighth mistress has not been in a good mood recently?”

Both Gu Shenwei and Liu Xuan were surprised that Servant Yao was able to call out the night watchman’s name. The night watchman was wearing black clothes and his face was masked. The main purpose of dressing like this was not to be recognized.

“You, how did you recognize me?”

“Well, take it easy. You were working as a guard in eighth young lord’s yard several days ago. When I was following Xue Niang to practise kung fu, I saw you hanging around there. We’re serving the same lord, we should help each other, right?”

Rolling his eyes, night watchman Liu Xuan hesitated a bit. The purpose of hiding their identity was to enforce rules impartially, but now that he had been recognized, being impartial was a bit difficult. Not to mention, violating the curfew was not a big deal and he would not be awarded by seizing somebody.

“Both of you go back immediately; you’re not allowed to come out again.”

“But I want to bring that thing back now.”

“That is also not okay. Go back, you go to the eighth young lord’s yard everyday, so there’s no hurry.”

“All right,” Servant Yao said while shrugging his shoulders like he was unhappy. “tomorrow then.” He changed his tone and said discontentedly to Servant Huan, “Why aren’t you going back quickly? It is really troublesome to let you do something.”

Gu Shenwei vaguely sounded an agreement and hurried back to the small courtyard with his hanging head low. The night watchman Liu Xuan was momentarily stunned because he had been recognized, but sooner or later he would understand that Servant Yao was bluffing because one didn’t have to follow someone he sent out even if he really needed to bring something back. However, as long as they passed this hurdle, it was unnecessary for Liu Xuan to seize the two young servants.

After they went back to the small courtyard, Servant Yao grabbed the key to lock the door and quietly put the key back in Servant Ji’s room. He then led Servant Huan outside of the west door. This was where the two of them practised martial arts, and it was the quietest place.

“You are so bold, daring to randomly break in here.” Servant Yao whispered as he let out a long breath.

“Thank you. It was lucky that you knew that killer.”

“Shhh, that was a coincidence, I didn’t know him at first, but recognized him after he held the sabre. Everyone has their own habit of holding a sabre. This guy Liu Xuan’s kung fu is not high, but he likes showing off. He will lift his right hand up and shake it before holding his sabre. He is lucky; if he had encountered a real master, he could have died when he shakes his hand. ”   

Servant Yao had only learnt kung fu for more than half a month and had zero combat experience, so Gu Shenwei was shocked that he had subtly observed so much and could say such meaningful words. Gu Shenwei then came to understand that, these words must have been said by Xue Niang, and Servant Yao was just regurgitating what he had learnt. Gu Shenwei would have believed him if he hadn’t known Servant Yao inside out.

However, Gu Shenwei’s gratitude was genuine.

His impression on Servant Yao improved a lot; he even wanted to reveal some truths to Servant Yao in order to gain his help.

Gu Shenwei was born into a rich family and had many servants around. He had always felt that he was popular among the servants, but, once he, himself, became a servant, he found that all the previous feelings were just illusions. He didn’t even know how to survive among servants, not to mention, making good connections with others.

He had stayed in Golden Roc Castle for almost a month, but had only heard a little news. Those barbarian teenagers, who couldn’t even speak the language of Central Plains fluently had brought back much more varieties of gossip than him. As for Servant Yao, he was a spy master. In terms of his familiarity with Golden Roc Castle, he was even better than an old servant who had been staying here for more than a decade.

If he could have such an assistant, he could save a lot of effort to find his elder sister or to get revenge later.

“Servant Yao, I have something to tell you. Your body is in danger and I can help you.”

Gu Shenwei decided to tell Servant Yao about Qi deviation, and he had not been lying about being able to help him. Yesterday he had finally broken through the first level of yang energy and mastered the first level of yin energy.

Although he had trained carelessly in the past 10 years, under his father’s instructions he had formed a solid foundation. Once he had made up his mind, it was easy for him to breakthrough.

Yin energy could not improve the practitioner’s internal Qi, but it could help the practitioner exert greater control over yang energy. If yang energy was the key to increasing internal energy, yin energy was control over internal energy.

He had already reached the first level of yin energy, so Gu Shenwei believed that he was able to help Servant Yao suppress his yang energy and alleviate, or even, stop him from Qi deviation.

Servant Yao tutted and shook his head while his face wearing a smile, as if Servant Huan was a child saying something stupid.

“I’m telling you the truth. You practised balanced power too fast and is in danger of Qi deviation.” Gu Shenwei finally said the truth.

If it wasn’t because he was afraid of waking the others, Servant Yao would have laughed out loudly. He still couldn’t help, but laugh. With his right hand holding onto Servant Huan’s shoulder, he laughed for a while before finally saying something when Servant Huan had an angry expression.

“I’m not looking down on you, but you really aren’t good at playing tricks. Every time I see you lie, I want to laugh. Hehe, but this is one of your good points. Sometimes being naive will make people like you more, so don’t lose it.”

Gu Shenwei’s face flushed red. He temporarily dispelled the idea of helping suppress Servant Yao’s yang energy and said, “Well, you did me a big favor. I think I have to pay you back, so tell me what you want.”

Servant Yao’s hand was still pressing on his shoulder. “I said it before, I know you have secrets.”

“I can’t say anything about this.”

“It doesn’t matter, and I also don’t want to know, but if I tell someone else you have internal energy and have a manual with you, your secrets will not be kept anymore.”

Gu Shenwei pushed away Servant Yao’s hand and became wary.

In Golden Roc Castle it was not surprising if a servant knew kung fu, but it would be different if the kung fu mastered by the servant was internal energy. There were plenty of kung fu manuals for fist techniques, sabremanship, and swordmanship in the world, but internal Qi manuals were very rare. Generally, each internal Qi manual was the key secret of a sect and it was not to be passed to others who were not a member of the sect. Therefore, it was highly recognizable.

In the eyes of experts, balanced power was the symbol of the Gu family from Central Plains; it was even more reliable than his surname.

“What do you really want?”

Servant Yao walked closer. He was a little shorter than Servant Huan, but his flickering smile made him look 10 years older than Gu Shenwei. “I have always liked you.”

“Mnn.” Gu Shenwei absolutely didn’t feel the same.

“I want you to also like me.”

“Mnn?” Gu Shenwei took a step back. He began to feel that Servant Yao was speaking weirdly.

“You still don’t understand?”

“Understand what?”

“Hey hey, I don’t want to make it difficult for you. Once, after you have served that killer, do the same thing once with me. I should be more to your taste than that guy.”

 Gu Shenwei finally understood what Servant Yao said. Han Shiqi was one of his most hated enemies and also the most disgusting one he knew. He had seen Servant Qi and Servant Xie’s experiences. Although it had already been more than a dozen days, the two brothers still avoided mentioning it. Sometimes Servant Xie would even awaken during the night and shout in horror.

Gu Shenwei couldn’t imagine what Han Shiqi did to them, but he knew that it must have been something very sick. And now, Servant Yao even asked him to do the same thing!

The favorable impression and trust he had on Servant Yao in his heart disappeared completely.

He was challenged but couldn’t fight back; even though he was full of anger, he had to resist the urge. Gu Shenwei deeply felt the pain of being a weak. Within his short 14 years, even putting all the humiliation together couldn’t scratch surface of what he suffered now.

Gu Shenwei totally abandoned the idea of saving Servant Yao.

“Go to hell.” He said, then turned and walked back to the small courtyard.

Servant Yao watched Servant Huan’s back while leaning against a wall. He didn’t put Servant Huan’s threat to mind; after all, he held the teenager’s secret. All he had to do was wait patiently.

“You will come and beg me.”

Servant Yao murmured. Suddenly a burst of cold wind blew, and an ambiguous shriek originated from the cliff where they dropped the dead. It was like a combined sound of the wind, a beast, and ghosts. Servant Yao’s hair stood up. He quickly rushed back to the small courtyard and closed the door while secretly cursing in his heart. Why didn’t Golden Roc Castle lock the door for sending off the dead?.

Chapter end