Death Sutra Chapter 25

Editors: Cypress Venus Trap, Lygnaw

Chapter 25  Exposed

It was not easy to find out who had returned the white silk. Gu Shenwei had very little contact with the other five teenagers, moreover, he could not have a direct confrontation and could only observe and analyze secretly.

Servant Lei, Servant Zhao, and Servant San were the first ones to be ruled out because they were the underlings of Servant Ji but sought refuge with Servant Yao later. It seemed impossible for Servant Yao to hand such an important item to those three for protection.

The ones left were Servant Xin and Servant Qian, the two of them were Servant Yao's loyal followers when he was still alive. Servant Xin was timid and, was scared enough to piss his pants when he was in Xi Xin Yuan. If he was the one who had kept the white silk, he would have confessed about it at that time itself.

In this way, Servant Qian was the most probable suspect.

Servant Qian was the same age as Gu Shenwei. He was a relatively precocious, restrained teenager and always flattered just right, enough to let the other person be happy, but at the same time did not let himself look too groveling.

The more Gu Shenwei thought, the more he came to believe that Servant Qian was the one who had returned the white silk. The only problem was that Gu Shenwei had no direct evidence, so he could not go and show his hand, especially when it was not good for both of them, at the moment. Gu Shenwei didn’t want to, and, he had to, yet, find a way to kill another person. Since Servant Qian had not revealed the secret of white silk openly, he might as well wait and see.

Due to this, Gu Shenwei had a ball of anxiety in his heart. Servant Qian didn't recognize characters so he would not know what was written on the white silk and Servant Yao was probably not the type of person to tell him. But, after all, he had mastered a secret, as for how long he would keep it, no one could guarantee.

Gu Shenwei continued observing Servant Qian secretly until he was interrupted by the unexpected.

It had almost been a month since Ji Xin Yuan was reopened, perhaps the Miss thought that the disturbance had settled down so she asked the teenagers to bow to her as was done previously.

This time it was still Xue Niang who took the six teenagers away, the new overseer was tactful, not only did he not block the way, but, also behaved humbly towards the eighth mistress's wet nurse.

In the eighth young lord's courtyard, the teenagers, together with the other servants, experienced storm-like curses, accusations and tearful complaints.

Big Head God's daughter was affected by Han Shiqi's death. Servant Qi and Servant Xie were brought in by her, in the end, it had occurred due to her oversight; the cause of the assassination was so vulgar, that it was as if the Miss had deliberately sacrificed her own underlings to please a killer under her husband.

Of course this was not the fact, but it didn't affect the spreading rumors.

The Miss thought that she herself was being treated very unjustly, especially when her husband Shangguan Nu appeared to be distant from her and believed the robber's daughter had brought bad luck.

The Miss, while being seated behind the screen, complained through tears, accusing everyone of being ungrateful, and even claimed that she would return to her father's place tomorrow and let Big Head God punish all the people here.

Xue Niang and several other close maidservants tried their best to persuade the Miss.

Gu Shenwei looked at the ground, disapproving the Miss's claim in his mind: it has been more than a month since the assassination had happened, if she could not leave at that time, then she could also not go away now, not to mention that this is Golden Roc Castle, even Big Head God's daughter could not come and go as she pleased.

This is a spoiled, foolish woman, not even worth one over ten thousandth of his elder sister, Gu Shenwei judged Luo Ningcha secretly in his heart.

On that day, after all the servants had repeated the oath of being loyal to the Miss, the others could leave, but Gu Shenwei was designated to stay.

The one who gave the order was Xue Niang.

Gu Shenwei was not too surprised, he had been expecting this day since a long time ago. Xue Niang had once admitted that she had taught internal energy to Servant Yao and took all the responsibility of causing Servant Yao's Qi deviation. There must have been be a reason for her to do so.

After others had scattered, Gu Shenwei followed Xue Niang to the backyard, and entered the room for the first time.

A thick screen had already been placed in a wing-room and the Miss was sitting behind it. There were no maidservants except the blind, tongueless young girl staying around to serve the Miss. She was the best servant to keep a secret, as she could listen but could not speak, look, or write.

The Miss didn't think it was a problem to have cruelly treated the maidservant and then accept her as a confidant.

Xue Niang ordered Servant Huan to kneel down and then said to the Miss behind the screen: "it was him."

The Miss behind the screen kept silent for a while as if she was looking carefully at the teenager in front of her; even though they were separated by a screen and she could only see a vague figure.

"Was it really him who killed that madman?". The Miss already could not remember the teenager who had once practised kung fu in the yard, and only had an impression of his insane laughter.

Although Gu Shenwei was prepared, he was still surprised by the Miss's words. He must not confess that he had killed Servant Yao, "It was not me, I……"

Xue Niang kicked him at the lower flank, her toe was as hard as her finger, Gu Shenwei felt his internal Qi suddenly being blocked and could not finish his words.

"Shut up", Xue Niang ordered coldly, then softened her tone and said to the Miss behind the screen, "it was him, I am sure."

"He even made that madman's death look like an accident?" The Miss's voice didn't have any annoyance or accusation, instead, it was filled with a little curiosity.

"He is a little clever."

"Sinister and ruthless", Without even a trace of emotions, the Miss slowly dropped the word one by one, as if the one that was kneeling in front of the screen was a ferocious wild dog who was fed and dominated by her.

"Right, sinister and ruthless, he is exactly the one Miss wants."

No one spoke in the room for a while. Gu Shenwei thought quickly, why does the Miss want a sinister and ruthless person? What I can get from it?

"Then him." The Miss finally said, "but you have to make sure that he's loyal."

Big Head God's daughter was not an idiot, the servants' oaths could only please her but would not gain her full trust.

"That is easy." Xue Niang answered confidently, then she turned to ask Gu Shenwei.

"Servant Huan, tell your original name."

"Yang Huan."

"Hmm, you were called Yang Huang, then you were renamed Servant Huan after entering the castle, what a coincidence."

"Yes, coincidence, but this is my real name."

"Where did you live originally?"

"Shu Le City, my previous lord was surnamed Lin……"

Xue Niang kicked at his lower flank again, "You dare to lie in front of me, speak, what's your relationship with the Gu family from Central Plains?"

Gu Shenwei's heart missed a beat, he was seen through.

It must be the balanced power he taught Servant Yao that revealed the secret, but why didn't Xue Niang report it to the eighth young lord Shangguang Nu if she clearly knew his relationship with the Gu family……

Many things were mixed up in Gu Shenwei's mind, like the ever-changing clouds, he had to make a decision immediately – a bold decision.

"Forgive me Miss, forgive me Xue Niang, little servant was lying, little servant is compelled……"

"Less nonsense, tell the truth."

"Little servant is indeed called Yang Huan, my father is Yang Zheng, he was a kung fu instructor of Gu family."

"A kung fu instructor's son could learn the inherited martial arts of Gu family?"

"Fa……", although he had thought of his way of speaking and acting should match a servant son's identity and had changed the way of calling himself, he almost blurted out his real father's name, "family inherited martial arts could be learnt; little servant's father had a very good relationship with lord Gu Lun. Namely they were lord and servant, actually they were brothers, so lord Gu Lun made an exception for littler servant's father to learn the family inherited internal energy as well as the two superbness of sabresmanship and spearsmanship. Father also taught me some secretly, but it was very little and little servant could not master it."

"Now that seems to be the true words, I want to see how much you have learnt."

Xue Niang pressed her rigid palm on Gu Shenwei's neck, a bunch of hot internal Qi violently broke into Gu Shenwei's body and rushed in every direction, quickly reaching his dantian.

Gu Shenwei's internal Qi was low, he had just reached the first level of yin and yang energy and was not able to control them willingly. Once suppressed, his internal Qi resisted automatically without its master's control, revealing how much he had learnt.

Compared to Xue Niang's internal Qi, it was too weak, like a cup of water that was poured towards roaring flames.

Gu Shenwei felt his whole body shudder suddenly and his dantian seemed to have exploded in an instant; he fainted before even realizing anything.

When he woke up, he happened to hear the Miss ask curiously:

"Is he dead?"

"No, he didn't lie this time, he had indeed only scratched the surface of it, Servant Yao was really blind to find such a smatterer to teach himself internal energy."

Gu Shenwei rested for a bit and flushed.

"Speak, what is your purpose for sneaking into Golden Roc Castle?"

"I want to avenge my father." Gu Shenwei pulled himself up and deliberately said with a voice filled with grief, which was not difficult for him as he was speaking about his real father Gu Lun, however, the listeners were unaware of his intentions and would naturally believe that he was talking about Yang Zheng.

"It was the eighth young lord who had killed your father."

Xue Niang's voice was cold and didn't contain any feelings and upon hearing this, the Miss behind the screen suddenly gave a short laugh, as if she had heard a joke, but was bashful to laugh out.

"No, my father was killed outside the manor, it was a killer who killed him, and the killer is……under the eighth young lord."

"You might as well get your revenge on my husband, so I can go back to Iron Mountain." The Miss said sadly.

"Miss! Hold back on what you say, you are a member of Shangguan family now and that it will not change for your whole life, never mention about returning to Iron Mountain."

Xue Niang's tone was very harsh, as if she was scolding a naive little girl, which was totally different from her usual respectful attitude but, there were not too many outsiders here, so she didn't have to particularly care about the status difference between a lord and a servant.

The Miss also didn't take Xue Niang as an average maidservant, she snorted with dissatisfaction, surprisingly not breaking out. Instead, she said in a low voice:

"You don't have to remind me, of course I know."

Xue Niang then turned to Servant Huan, "If I hear you babbling around, I'll throw you off the cliff alive."

"No, little servant hasn't heard anything, little servant is always loyal to Miss and Xue Niang,  may the heaven witness."

The series of 'little servant' had destroyed the last trace of Gu Shenwei's self-esteem in his heart and from then on, the 'young lord of Gu family' had nothing to do with him and he could never be the young lord of the Gu family again.

There was no need to choose, if he kept being the young lord of Gu family, he would not be able to find the whereabouts of his elder sister, and also would not be able to avenge the dead.

"Humph, even if you train for a hundred years, you still won't amount to the eighth young lord's finger just by yourself. Who was the killer who killed your father? Was it Han Shiqi?"

"No, little servant still doesn't know who the enemy was."

Xue Niang walked around Gu Shenwei two times, observing carefully, like a shrewd businessman checking the goods he would buy.

"It is not impossible for you to take revenge, but you have to stop for now and you're not allowed to act alone, you're also not allowed to investigate secretly, if you perform well, Miss will naturally reward you, do you understand?"

"Understood, little servant would like to go through boiling water and fire for Miss and Xue Niang without any hesitation."

"From now on, you'll replace Servant Yao's position to learn martial arts under me. I will send you to east castle to be a disciple one month later, you will become a Golden Roc killer, if you can't make it, you'd better kill yourself. If you dare to be disloyal or, even a little bit, disobedient, you will follow your father's fate. Remember, if Xue Niang wants to kill someone, she doesn't need to plot, or snitch."

Chapter end