Chapter 38 : Chapter 38
Chapter 38: Deathsworn Prepared Fifteen Years in Advance
He had risked his life every step of the way, only to nearly be cut down as a traitor in the end. If this grievance could not be aired, then where was justice to be found?
Luo Tong’s old face flushed red with embarrassment, to the point of extremity.
“This… this man spent the whole journey picking fights with one person after another, chattering like a talkative fool. How… how was anyone supposed to suspect otherwise?”
Chen Guan answered casually, “You said it yourselves. They were deathsworn.”
“Deathsworn are killing machines selected from thousands upon thousands and trained with painstaking care.”
“Have you ever seen such a stupid deathsworn, one who picked quarrels everywhere the moment he showed up, practically afraid people would not notice something was wrong with him?”
“Uh!!!”
The moment those words were spoken, Luo Li understood at once.
“Of course!”
“Deathsworn are all elites chosen one in ten thousand. Whether it is concealment, assassination, or disguise, they undergo the harshest and cruelest training.”
“Their only purpose for existing is to complete their mission. How could they possibly act so ostentatiously and deliberately try to expose themselves the moment they appeared?”
But then—how had Chen Guan known that in the first place?
One after another, the others turned toward him in shock.
They truly had not expected that he had already discovered who the mole was.
Luo Tong was especially shaken. He had spent fifty years honing his craft, yet he had failed to notice that there was anything wrong with this group, while this young man had long since been planning every move, and had already understood the identities of these people completely.
Very clearly, the ones he had sent away earlier were likely traitors as well.
Chen Guan swept a glance across them, then could not help curling his lip.
In truth, he had only known that Li Fei was suspicious. He had not known who the mole was among their own group.
The reason he had directly declared that Li Fei and the others were already dead had been precisely to observe the expressions on everyone’s faces and use that to determine who the mole might be.
Unexpectedly, he had really seen something amiss on Zhang Yuan’s face.
After a full week of repeated observation, he had finally confirmed that Zhang Yuan was the traitor. Even he himself had found that surprising. He had suspected everyone at one point or another—everyone except this man.
Yet it had been him in the end.
On second thought, that was only natural. He was a deathsworn, after all. How could such a person be so easily discovered?
Seeing Chen Guan’s calm expression, the others finally let out a breath of relief.
If not for Chen Guan, they would very likely all have been ruined by these people.
Wiping his tears and snot, Liu Shuo said, “This is a habit I’ve had since I was young. I hate evil and can’t stand injustice. Whenever I see something unfair, I just can’t help saying a few extra words!”
Then he suddenly seemed to remember something and slapped his thigh.
“Right! Now that you mention it, I’ve remembered too!”
“I never meant to target Chen Guan at the start. It was Li Fei and that Cheng Yu, along with a few other old fellows! They kept muttering in my ear, saying things like how Escort Master Chen was disrespecting us old hands and puffing himself up!”
“That’s why I…”
“Uh!!!”
“Luo Tong’s old face instantly turned black as soot.”
He glared fiercely at Liu Shuo. “Why didn’t you say that earlier?!”
“I…” Liu Shuo wiped another layer of cold sweat from his forehead. “How was I supposed to know that was what he was after?!”
“We Escort Masters make our living on the edge of the blade. Who would have thought… who would have thought someone would willingly become another man’s dog and serve as a deathsworn?”
The moment he said that, everyone fell into doubt again.
That was right. The profession of the Escort Master might be dangerous, but it was also honorable. It valued trust and righteousness, and people respected it.
How could anyone debase himself so far as to become one of those deathsworn who could never show their faces in the light?
Chen Guan still wore that same calm expression, though his gaze brushed across Luo Li without drawing attention to itself.
Luo Li caught that glance. Her eyes flickered, and she quickly turned her head away, pretending not to notice.
It was almost as though… she was deliberately hiding something.
Luo Tong seemed to recall something. He stepped forward and said to Chen Guan with grave formality, “Escort Master Chen, could we… speak a few words in private?”
Chen Guan glanced at him, then drove the horse-cleaving saber into the ground with a dull thud.
After that, he turned to Luo Li and said, “Hold onto it. Don’t let go. If your life gets taken, don’t blame me.”
“Oh…”
Luo Li obediently stepped forward and clutched the hilt of the horse-cleaving saber as though she were embracing a lifeline.
Seeing that no one pressed her with questions, she inexplicably let out a small breath of relief.
Liu Shuo kicked away the lump of Zhang Yuan’s corpse that still wore an open-eyed expression of disbelief, then stood guard at the side with lingering fear on his face.
Another Escort Master, Zhao Ren, who had always been a man of few words, heard Chen Guan say that deathsworn were usually quiet. Afraid that he too might fall under suspicion, he unexpectedly took the initiative to chat with Liu Shuo.
…
Luo Tong brought Chen Guan to one side, lowered his voice, and immediately said, “Escort Master Chen, I suddenly remembered something.”
“This Zhang Yuan, and Li Fei, as well as quite a few others, all arrived in Pingyang Commandery from elsewhere around fifteen years ago.”
“And it was only after they arrived in Pingyang Commandery that they gradually built up their reputations.”
“If Li Fei was one of the deathsworn, and Zhang Yuan was one as well, then… among the batch that came with them back then, I’m afraid… not a single one is clean!”
Chen Guan frowned, as though turning something over in his mind.
“You mean… fifteen years ago? Give me an exact time.”
Luo Tong thought carefully for a moment.
Then he gave a precise answer. “It should have been around fifteen years ago, give or take. They arrived in Pingyang Commandery one after another, around fifty of them in all.”
“It’s just that in these past years quite a number have died on missions… Of the twenty-four who came out with us this time, at least fifteen belonged to that same group of out-of-town Escort Masters from back then!”
His voice turned dry as he asked, “Do you think these men were deathsworn from the very beginning, or did they later betray us and become blades in someone else’s hand?”
This piece of information was something even Chen Guan had not known.
By reflex, he looked toward the distance, where Luo Li’s large eyes were still darting all about. His expression darkened at once.
If it was the latter—if these men had defected midway or been suborned into becoming deathsworn—then that was one thing.
But if it was the former… if a batch of deathsworn had infiltrated the Escort Guild from the very beginning, and the timing happened to coincide exactly with this little girl’s age—fifteen years ago…
And most importantly, those Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes had clearly been hired out.
Damn it all, this escort is going to cost me dearly.
Chen Guan cursed inwardly.
He had originally thought he was merely escorting some ordinary young lady of a wealthy household, a job that promised rich profits. Instead, it was beginning to look as though he would take a terrible loss.
If his suspicion was correct, then these deathsworn had lain in wait around Luo Li for fifteen whole years.
He looked at Luo Tong.
Clearly, this old man had already guessed that Luo Li’s identity was no simple matter either.
For deathsworn to lurk around her for a full fifteen years, preparing only for this one chance to take her life—
and for them to even bring in the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes as a second layer of insurance—
the power and resolve behind this could never belong to the affairs of some ordinary rich young lady.
This girl was very likely the illegitimate daughter of some royal nobleman or great aristocrat of Great Zhou.
Because only those princes and magnates who held power over the court could afford such an outrageous price—training up a batch of deathsworn and then letting them lie in wait for over a decade for the sake of a single assassination.
Luo Tong’s old eyes were full of complexity and struggle as he said hoarsely, “I truly never expected that this job… would be so thorny.”
Chen Guan at least knew that Luo Li’s uncle was some high-ranking official in Shangjing City. But she was only a niece—did that really warrant an assassination attempt of this scale?
After thinking it over and getting nowhere, he cast the matter aside and said, “Old Master Luo, this escort is indeed far from ordinary. And I can already feel it—this is only the beginning.”
“Alas!” Luo Tong let out a heavy sigh.
Once an Escort Master accepted a job, it was no different from signing away life and death.
No matter how difficult the mission, no matter how powerful the enemy, he had no choice but to walk it to the end.