Chapter 80: The Difficulty of Traveling (I)
The deputy general Zhahe who followed Wuluo Suchile and his close soldiers were all from the Nanyan tribe. They had always held an iron-blooded character of preferring to die in battle rather than surrender. If Suchile had not fallen into the hands of the Qi people, they should have been destroyed together.
Zah had never felt the golden knife in his hand so heavy. It pressed down on him so much that he could hardly lift his wrist. His face was solemn, and under the watchful eyes of the Qi captain Duan Rong who was nearby, he slowly put the knife down.
"Zah!"
Zhaher's arms trembled as he heard Suchile shouting. He looked up suddenly and saw the prince was tied up with a long whip, crawling on the ground, and the masked young Qi man was holding the whip handle on horseback.
"You are a warrior of the Nanyan tribe! You are my deputy general! If you put down your sword today, will these Qi people let me go?" Su Qile glared at him in the dust, "Pick up your sword! A Danqiu man should not fear death! I have suffered such a great humiliation today, and I have no face to return to the royal court to see my father!"
"I only hope that my death today will allow the Danqiu cavalry to break through the gates of the Great Qi Kingdom!"
Su Qile came here to take advantage of Aduorong's death to launch an uprising. His original intention was to test Qi's bottom line and explore Yongzhou's defense. The advisers around him knew Song Song very well and were sure that Song Song would never dare to start a war easily, so Su Qile only brought the advance troops. However, he was not unprepared. His generals were leading troops at Juhan Pass. If Yang Tianzhe's sudden rebel army had not intervened, he would not have been trapped.
The garrison at Juhan Pass was worried that Yang Tianzhe would conspire with the Yongzhou army to besiege Suchile, so they did not dare to move forward. Suchile also did not know that Qin Jixun had an aide, which made Qin and Wei, who had always been controlled by Song Song, dare to take the risk of gambling with Song Song's life and take the initiative.
Su Qile was young and frivolous after all. He planned to use it on Song Song, but Song Song died in his tent.
"prince!"
Zah shouted, his eyes red, and raised his sword to pierce the chest of a Qi soldier, "My Danqiu warriors! Do not surrender!"
Ni Su felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder, and her forehead was covered with sweat. She leaned in the arms of the man behind her. The sound of fighting continued in her ears, and the flags swayed wildly in the wind.
The eyes under Xu Hexue's mask glared at Suchile below. He exerted a little force with his wrist and squeezed his legs against the horse's belly, and the white horse immediately galloped forward.
Zah wanted to cut off the whip, but he was blocked by layer upon layer of human walls. Suchile was dragged along, with half of his face scratched by the coarse dust.
Qin Jixun just rushed into the formation on horseback. The white horse brushed past him and the whip was thrown into his hand. He subconsciously grabbed it. When he looked back, he saw bloodstains on the snow-white horse's back.
Blood was still dripping from the sleeves of the masked young man. Qin Jixun's heart skipped a beat, but he saw the young man raise his sword and neatly break the black armor of the Hu man.
"Duan Rong! Protect Master Ni and the others and rush out!"
Qin Jixun gave the order immediately.
"Kill the men of Da Qi!"
Wei Dechang followed closely on horseback, knife in hand, shouting loudly.
The soldiers of the Great Qi rushed to the valley shouting, dispersing the neatly arranged black clouds. The Hu cavalry fell off their horses one by one, and the shouting between the two armies shook the sky.
Xu Hexue rushed out of the army on horseback. He was almost covered in blood, the blood of the Hu people and his own blood. His vermilion robe became darker because of the blood stains. There were blood beads on his pale neck, which slid down his collar along the blue veins.
Smoke and dust rolled behind me, the sounds of fighting on the battlefield became farther and farther away, and the sound of galloping horses became clearer and clearer.
"Ni Su."
He called out to the person in his arms, his voice tense.
"Um."
Ni Su's reaction was slow, but she responded to him subconsciously.
Perhaps it was the cold wind that caused her ears to hurt, her consciousness became increasingly unclear. She barely raised her eyes in his arms, only to see the clear sunlight falling on his mask, emitting a cold light.
"I'm really fine, so don't blame yourself in your heart. I came here to make you feel better, but I also came here as a Qi person."
In order to take back the initiative from Suchile and to protect Yang Tianzhe and his rebel army legitimately, the only way is to kill Song Song with the help of Suchile. And the only person who can kill Song Song in Suchile's tent is Xu Hexue.
But only Ni Su knew the pain Xu Hexue had to endure because of this.
She also knew that if she lost this opportunity and Song Song did not die, the lives of Qin Jixun and Wei Dechang would not be saved.
"But you still... suffered."
Ni Su's lips trembled in pain, and she moved her fingers slightly, wanting to touch his arm, but she couldn't lift it.
The blood almost soaked the wrist guards that held his sleeves together. Without looking, she knew there must be cracks and scratches underneath. Although he did not use any magic to kill Suchile, the sandstorm that made it almost impossible to see was caused by the magic he cast to cover himself.
Because of her presence, he would not take the greater risk of being discovered as a ghost, but this could not save him from the punishment of Youdu.
Xu Hexue was very silent, with the wind blowing around them. He lowered his eyes and found that she was leaning on his chest with her eyes closed.
He instinctively raised his hand, and his cold fingers felt her warm breath.
The blood-stained sword shattered into dust and merged into his body bit by bit. He moved his knuckles slowly, and the eyes under the mask looked at her.
Slowly,
He brought his arms together and wrapped them around her waist.
She was unconscious and didn't know that he was holding her so tightly, nor could she hear the whistling wind over the plain.
Xu Hexue lowered his head and buried it in her neck.
It's like holding a treasure that is unique in the world.
The white horse galloped freely, breathing happily, its silver-grey mane flying in disarray.
There were very few soldiers left in the Qin Army's camp. Fan Jiang was chatting with the cook beside the fire where they were stewing meat when he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves. He turned his head and saw a white horse rushing into the camp. He looked closely at the two people on the horse's back and immediately stood up with his crutches, "Young Master!"
Fan Jiang hurried over and found that Ni Su's face was covered with blood and she was unconscious. He was shocked and asked anxiously, "Miss Ni, what happened?"
"She hurt her shoulder."
Xu Hexue got off the horse first, then carried Ni Su down and walked quickly into the tent.
"Old Ma, help me boil some hot water!"
Fan Jiang turned around and shouted to the cook who was looking around not far away.
Qingqiong was dozing off in the tent. He was startled awake when he heard the sound of the tent curtain being lifted. When he looked up, he saw Xu Hexue carrying Ni Su in and putting her on the bamboo bed inside.
"Miss Ni..."
Qingqiong stood up quickly.
Fan Jiang came in with a doctor on crutches. The doctor looked at the woman on the bamboo bed and said cautiously, "She has to take off her clothes to see her wound. I...I don't want to offend this young lady..."
Xu Hexue clearly felt the scratch on his knee. He endured the pain calmly, sat down on the edge of the bed, took off his mask, revealing a pale face.
"Bring me your medicine box."
Xu Hexue's voice was filled with the hoarseness of endurance.
The doctor quickly handed Qingqiong the medicine box he had prepared and said, "First check if it's a scratch. Treat the scratch first. If the tendons and bones are damaged, it will take some time to recover. I'll write a prescription later..."
"Well, let's go out first."
Fan Jiang exchanged a glance with the medical worker, then waved to Qing Qiong who had put away the medicine box.
The tent became quiet for a moment. Xu Hexue took off his wrist guard, and the pain from the wound caused by the friction of the clothes only eased a little. The light was still on in the tent, which was turned on by Ni Su before she left.
Xu Hexue stretched out his hand, and his fingertips just touched her collar. He paused, and seeing that her brows were still furrowed in her sleep, he tore open half of her collar with his fingertips trembling.
There was a glaring bruise on her originally fair and smooth shoulder. The bright candlelight shone on the fine hair by her ear, which brushed lightly along the side of her neck and gently rubbed her collarbone, making the blood vessels under the thin skin on her neck more fragile.
On top of the bruises, the scrapes were even worse.
Xu Hexue took out the medicine bottle and used a bamboo stick to gently apply the ointment on her wound. Perhaps the ointment was too cold, and her shoulders trembled in her drowsiness.
"pain……"
She whispered.
It's not just the pain of abrasions, more of the pain of bruises and sprains.
Tears unconsciously seeped out of the corners of her red eyes. Xu Hexue tightened his fingers that were pinching the bamboo strips. He applied the ointment more gently and suddenly leaned over.
The smell of ointment was close, her neck and shoulders were like delicate jade, and the large bruises and scrapes were quite shocking.
Xu Hexue blew gently.
The cool wind brushed against Ni Su's shoulders, and she couldn't help but shudder, half-opening her eyes with difficulty. The candlelight was bright, and his pale cheek was so close.
"Xu Ziling."
The dust was floating in the air, and she called out slowly.
Xu Hexue paused, raised her eyes, and opened her blood-red lips slightly: "Does it hurt?"
"Um."
Ni Su didn't know why her nose suddenly felt sore. She grabbed his bloody sleeve with the hand that she could still raise, feeling a little aggrieved, but quickly closed her eyes again.
She was only awake for a brief moment, but her fingers never let go of his sleeves.
When Fan Jiang and Qingqiong came into the tent again, Xu Hexue had already tidied up Ni Su's clothes. He soaked the towel with the hot water brought by Qingqiong and slowly wiped the waxy and mottled makeup and blood stains on her face.
Her fingers wouldn't loosen, so he could only sit on the edge of the bed and not go anywhere.
Occasionally, when he heard her mumbling in her sleep, he would raise his eyes and stare at her for a long while.
"General Xu, have some tea."
Qingqiong brought hot tea boiled with reed flower dew. When Xu Hexue reached out to take it, he realized the wound half exposed under his sleeve. Qingqiong immediately opened his dark eyes wide, "General Xu, how did you get injured..."
Can ghosts also be hurt by weapons?
"fine."
Xu Hexue lowered her eyes.
Qingqiong didn't dare to ask any more questions. He watched Xu Hexue take a few sips of tea and put it aside, still sitting quietly on the edge of the bed. He couldn't help but shift his gaze to the young woman on the bamboo bed.
"General Xu."
Qingqiong watched her holding Xu Hexue's sleeve tightly in her sleep, and the blood on her knuckles that was stained on the sleeve was also wiped clean by Xu Hexue.
He couldn't help but ask, "What do you think of Miss Ni in your heart?"
How to think of her?
When Xu Hexue was asked this, his gaze unconsciously fell on Ni Su's face. Her face had been wiped clean and her eyelids were slightly red.
She almost died under the horses' hooves.
There might still be a fierce battle going on in the valley at the end of the poplar forest, but it could not be heard from here. The candle flame flickered in the tent. Xu Hexue sat quietly in the warm yellow light, listening to her shallow breathing.
After a while, he spoke:
"I dare not destroy it."
