Death Sutra

Chapter 387: Waking from a Dream

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

This dream was going on for far too long. When she was half-awake, reality and illusion were perfectly combined. The dividing line between them was completely blurred. Shangguan Ru gradually lost her ability to distinguish them. Everything in her mind seemed to be real and credible.

Even when the sense of heaviness subsided and the light became glaring, she did not regain consciousness immediately. She looked at the unfamiliar maid, “Go on then.”

“Yes, master…” The maid was a slave of the Land of Fragrance. She had never dared to say “no” to her master, but she was frightened by the expression of her new master and rushed out for help.

Maid Lotus’ reaction was better. She had remained silent in her semi-comatose state. After she regaining consciousness, she still did not speak. For a long time, the maid beside her was not aware that her master was gathering herself. She also never realized that she was in danger.

This was the second time that Maid Lotus had been drugged in the Land of Fragrance. As a disciple of New Moon Hall, she was furious. New Moon Hall was renowned for its secret techniques and pharmacy. However, she had been drugged with some third-rate intoxicating fragrance from a remote area.

The killing intent had been brewing in her heart for a long time. Her fingers were eager to kill, even when she was feeling like treading a path in the dark and gloomy night. However, there was always a thick layer of invisible netting binding her whole body, keeping her from doing what she wanted.

Now, the net had disappeared. Maid Lotus did not even realize that she had already come back to the real world. She was still following the path in her dream and did not hesitate to attack.

The clueless waitress suffered Maid Lotus’ blade right in her chest. Before her thoughts could catch up with the fact that she had been stabbed, she had already fallen to the ground and died.

When Gu Shenwei walked into the tent, the first thing he saw was the body on the ground.

Maid Lotus did not seem to know him. Her whole body was filled with killing intent. It almost blew up the tent into pieces. Her right hand fumbled at her waist, searching for her own sword.

In face of a sudden challenge, Gu Shenwei naturally responded by holding the hilt. His body was like a taut bow which could shoot out a deadly arrow at any moment.

Maid Lotus finally gained conscious and gently let out a sigh of relief. Her killing intent quickly dissipated and then disappeared, “What happened?”

“You were drugged with Indra fragrance. You have been in a coma for more than half a month. Now, you are all right.”

Maid Lotus quickly accepted Gu Shenwei’s statement. She lowered her head and thought for a while. Then she looked up and said,”Old Man Mu is still alive. I let you down.”

“He wo’t live for long.” After a pause, Gu Shenwei added, “You brought me a country.”

If he had not found out that Maid Lotus and Shangguan Ru were to be burned to death as a sacrifice, Gu Shenwei would not have made up his mind to attack and occupy the Land of Fragrance. To some extent, it was true that these two women “brought” him a country.

Maid Lotus got back her own sword. After two days of rest, she returned to normal. She began to follow Dragon King and took on the responsibility of imperial bodyguard.

Gu Shenwei had to admit that he was relieved. He still kept the habits of a killer. He was often overly concerned about what was behind his back. Even when he was at the center of the Great Snowmountain military camp, surrounded by the most loyal warriors, he still couldn’t sleep at ease.

Warriors and killers are two kinds of people, the former would never understand the latter’s instinctive suspiciousness.

The presence of Maid Lotus relieved most of the tension, so much so that Gu Shenwei sometimes had to remind himself not to trust this woman completely.

This was the reason why killers were destined for loneliness. They couldn’t trust anyone, but they were always in need of someone to watch their backs.

Maid Lotus was not interested in the fate of the Land of Fragrance, but she took the heir of the fragrance-making High Priest and several disciples. She acquired the formulas of Indra fragrance and other fragrance drugs. She intended to make them and integrate them with New Moon Hall’s pharmacy.

Shangguan Ru’s recovery took much longer. After five days, she completely returned to the real world. During that time, she seemed to regard the people around her as the same person. She kept making the same request, “Go on then.”

Her dream had been interrupted at the most critical moment. She tried her best to return to her dream and continue it.

Shangguan Fei had visited his younger sister once but he was not recognized by her at all. So he left and searched for the Dragon King, “My sister has probably lost her mind, Dragon King… Can you take a look at her? Maybe she’ll get better when she sees you. ”

Gu Shenwei had never visited Shangguan Ru because he couldn’t think of any reason. Unlike Maid Lotus, Shangguan Ru was not only the daughter of the enemy but also useless to the cause of the Great Snowmountain.

He set high standards for all the warriors, so he had to be restrained by even higher standards.

At the request of Shangguan Fei, Gu Shenwei went to visit her.

Shangguan Ru seemed to be all right, but she looked defenseless like a child. The melancholy and maturity of her face since she turned fourteen had disappeared without a trace.

She recognized Gu Shenwei, but did not regard him as the Dragon King, ” Slave Huan.” She whispered as if they were hiding in the Stone Castle playing old tricks, “He will tell the secret. Listen carefully. ”

“Who is he?” Gu Shenwei also lowered his voice to play along with her eccentric behavior.

“It’s him, but he always stopped halfway, Slave Huan, figure out some way.” The second half of the sentence was accompanied by a hint of command. Shangguan Ru regarded herself as the Tenth Young Master again.

Faint flames of fury sprang to Gu Shenwei’s heart. The name of Slave Huan and the life in Golden Roc Fort were memories that he wanted to forget but could never quite erase. Sometimes, he felt that the hatred that experience brought to him even exceeded the calamity of his family’s annihilation.

“Don’t listen to him.” Gu Shenwei repressed his anger and said patiently, “If you don’t listen, he will continue to speak.”

This was an obviously unreasonable strategy. However, Shangguan Ru believed it to be true. “Yes, I don’t listen, he will say it…”

She opened her mouth and yawned widely. Although she had been half asleep, she never really slept. “I have to sleep. Slave Huan, tell me a story.”

“Yeah.” Before Gu Shenwei could come up with a story, Shangguan Ru had already fallen soundly asleep.

This was the fifth night after taking the antidote. The next morning, she would wake up normally, only vaguely remembering what happened. She would not be able to tell if they were true or not. However, there was one thing she would know soon: Old Man Mu was killing innocent people in her name.

The Great Snowmountain troops should have set out five days ago, but they made no move because of Old Man Mu.

On the first night, Old Man Mu killed a peripheral sentinel.

He had changed his techniques and had stopped taking out the bleeding heart. The dead body was unharmed, without even a drop of blood. It was like a fatal disease outbreak, a natural death.

Old Man Mu did not want to be an unknown killer. After killing the sentinel, he yelled at the top of his voice in the wilderness and woke up the entire camp.

“Nine hundred and ninety-nine! Listen up, Dragon King! Old Man Mu will kill nine hundred and ninety-nine people in your army! Today is the first one, the last one will be you. Haha, don’t blame me, it’s all on Shangguan Ru. That silly girl should never have saved me. I am good at repaying evil for good. If you want to be free, you have to … ”

Old Man Mu made a long speech excitedly. His voice could not be traced, and finally stopped at dawn.

Gu Shenwei ordered the defensive circle to tighten and increase patrols day and night. He was preparing to leave the Land of Fragrance.

The marching speed on the first day was very slow, only a dozen miles per day. The capital of the Land of Fragrance was still visible if anyone looked back.

Gu Shenwei set many traps outside the camp, waiting for Old Man Mu to walk right them.

But Old Man Mu was like a smart and flexible rat. He managed to avoid the traps and entered the military camp. Three machetemen and three swordsmen were killed without a sound.

After leaving the military camp, Old Man Mu began to show off again. He did not know that Shangguan Ru was still in a semi-conscious state, and he intended to let her hear his words.

“Good girl, now you must regret saving me. Let me tell you, Old Man Mu may not always take revenge, but I will always return every favor. The people I killed are all on you. Haha, feel the pain, cry me a river! If you want to be free, want to be happy forever, just be an evil person like me.”

On the second day, Gu Shenwei decided to suspend the march. Old Man Mu had already made a huge impact on his army. Both the slave soldiers and the captives were watching how the Dragon King and the warriors from the Great Snowmountain would respond. Swordsmen and machetemen were outraged and eager to seek revenge on this old devil.

It was because of these delays that the Great Snowmountain army took in a group of nobles.

Around a thousand nobles had suffered five days of forest life. In order to snatch dry provisions, many people were killed on the first day. As days passed, more and more people got lost in the forest and could not find their way out.

Only less than two hundred people survived to escape the forest. They joined the Great Snowmountain army with resentment. Nevertheless, they pledged loyalty to the Dragon King.

Most people couldn’t understand the intention of the Dragon King. The vows of these people were not trustworthy at all. They could betray him at any moment. It was better to kill them all and save further troubles.

Gu Shenwei insisted on keeping them and added them into the savage guard troops.

Only Tuo Nengya could understand the Dragon King’s. “This is a needle stuck in Dragon King’s leg. In this way, he will always stay alert.”

Nonetheless, many people could not understand. However, the warriors respected the Dragon King and did not question his decision.

Tuo Nengya was only partially correct about Gu Shenwei’s intention. Actually, it had become another of his habits. The people around him almost all had reasons to hate him, such as Xu Yanwei, Xu Xiaoyi, Chu Nanping, Tie Linglong, Shangguan Fei, Shangguan Hong, and so forth.

Surrounded by more than a hundred resentful noble guard troops, Gu Shen maintained almost complete isolation. Even the black-masked assassin could not achieve that.

There was also a practical use of the nobles. Gu Shenwei intended to use them to set an indiscoverable trap for Old Man Mu.

On the third day, Maid Lotus was completely awake and immediately joined the hunt.

After waiting for another two days, the Dragon King suddenly announced that several nobles had colluded with enemies. They had planned to assassinate the Dragon King and hand over the most important secret of the Land of Fragrance.

Under normal circumstances, Old Man Mu would not rescue anybody. However, this rescue would strike a heavy blow to the Dragon King, and obtain vital secrets at the same time.

Gu Shenwei hoped to lure him into the trap since this secret was appealing enough. He spread a few strange rumours, claiming that the kung fu High Priest had eight chapters of Wayless Book in his memory.