CH 35.2

Chapter 35  Heavily Armed Part 2

Gu Yun’s heart became frightened and the feeling of creepiness and agitation crept in. She asked,

“How do you import a human soul into the swords?

Gu Yun’s eyes became bright with anticipation. Su Ling took a deep breath in and in a guttural voice replied,

“The soul enters the smelting furnace during recasting. The sword acquires the flesh and blood. Then, the energy of the spirit and blood of the mortal soul.”

Su Ling’s voice became quiet. On the grass, the always tranquil Chuxie shook feebly but quickly returned to its usual calmness.

Gu Yun stared at Su Ling surprised, “This is absurd! You just throw the human into the furnace? If it does not blend or fuse together, that sacrifice was in vain!” She had heard a lot of casting swords stories. That the sword master will use their own blood, but the Su Family actually put people into a furnace? This is so…

Su Ling shook his head. His muffled voice was very smooth. The story doesn’t sound like something shameful to hear but rather somewhat extremely painful,

“Not everyone was compatible with the ice refining and red blood was not as accommodating. Only a woman born of Yin (night) energy can be combined with hot red blood; on the other hand only the men born with very Yang (day) energy can be fused with the cold ice refining. By combining the extremely opposite energy, only then will there be enough power to merge the two swords together. These two people must also be blood relatives. In the Su household, of all people, only two of them met the requirements. ”

“Who ”

Gu Yun’s heart tightened.

“The Su Eldest Son’s pair of children.”

Upon hearing this, Bing Lian’s delicate voice of a little girl rang in her ear. Gu Yun asked in a shaky voice, “How old were they?”

A peculiar sinister and strange look suddenly came across his grim eyes. Under her steady gaze, Su Ling sighed and painfully replied,

“The son was thirteen years old. His daughter was eight years old.”

Thirteen years old! Eight years old!

“How can you bring two children into the smelting furnace?!”

She used to be a soldier and understood the need for sacrifice at that moment the need for but these were children!

In the face of Gu Yun’s question, Su Ling did not know how to respond to the killing of two children in exchange for the victory.

He said nothing. Gu Yun was full of anxiousness and quickly asked,

“And afterwards?”

“Afterwards-” Su Ling paused for a long time.

GuYun snorted with contempt, “afterwards the double sword merged. They slayed the demon. The emperor’s eldest son was not able to usurp the throne. All the people were saved. Except those two!”

He expected Gu Yun’s anger and had no excuse, “You’re right.” Everyone was saved, including them. (Editor’s Note: It may be “except them” to refer to the two sacrificed children or “including them” to refer to the many generations of the Su Family after this tragedy)

Why don’t you want me … …

Guarantee you, promise you … …

Oh I’m so tired  … …

….and that was all the sound of a Yin (sun) child, with her elegant and delicate voice, ethereal, trapped in an icy sword. She was actually just only an eight-year old child

“A thousand years-” she didn’t know what the child must have felt in a smelting furnace. How the fire burned. How painful it might have been. This soul had been trapped in the sword’s body for a millennium. With all the loneliness and fear, how many souls in the world can afford to do this?

Gu Yun lifted her body and her hand unconsciously touched Chuxie on the grass, Su ling’s shocked voice, “Do not touch!”

She held the blade at that moment and a white glow-rushed straight into her body through the palm straight to her heart. It was painful but GuYun did not let go for a long time. Just touching it. It was so painful like as if she was given the raging flame fused with the sword. Did she not already endure the millennium fire that burns bitterly?

A drop of tear fell from her face onto Chuxie’s burning hot blade. The tear completely dissipated and the burning feeling in her bitter heart disappeared and also the magical crimson sword slowly calmed. The scorching temperature gradually faded, leaving only the warm residual heat.

Su Ling was surprised that Gu Yun can even pick up Chuxie. No hostess had been able to pick up the sword for generations. Holding onto Chuxie and looking over her shoulder at him, the tears in her eyes had dispersed. Replaced, was a firm look, “We should  ind a way to break them free!”

He embraced her thin shoulders and gently pulled her into his arms, Su Ling nodded and replied,

“Ah ,well, there must be a way”

*****

For half a month the closed training effect was very good and Gu Yun was confident about this morning’s test.  She had just stepped out of Yi Tian Yuan when Su Ling stood before her without talking and grabbed her by the wrist. Walking her out, he said,

“Come with me.”

Gu Yun quickly answered, “I’m going to-”

Before she could finish, Su Ling excitedly said, “I have something to show you!”

Gu Yun raised an eyebrow slightly and thought, ‘why was the general so calm?’ Gu Yun didn’t resist, letting him take her. They walked towards the direction of the study. Inside the study, Su Ling released her hand and went behind the case table, looking for something.

He placed a box that was probably more than a foot high and exquisitely packaged on top of the table. Gu Yun said with a smile, “What is this? Can I open?”

Su Ling glanced and didn’t care about it, but he casually replied, “Well.”

Gu Yun carefully opened the box and there stood a white doll, a man and a woman. The carving was lifelike. Gu Yun exclaimed in a soft voice, “It’s so cute!” Seeing the doll, she guessed who he was sending it to, “This is a gift you’ve chosen for Xi Wu. I can’t believe you were so careful.”

Su Ling brought out another smaller wooden box in his hand and coolly replied, “I assigned someone to manage it for me.”

Gu Yun was surprised at that moment, and then laughed. He really can’t take the credit. She reached out and gently stroked the jade doll’s face. It was icy cold but comfortable. She stands on the gift to put it down, frowning Su Ling replied, “This is a good gift!”

Taking her hand back, Gu Yun said with a smile, “The meaning is good, hopefully Xi Wu will bear twins.” Even though she does not particularly like children, she has occasionally played and received hugs. She was very happy and willing to do so.

Twins? He remembered the day Gu Yun and the Qing Ling were talking about the matter and Su Ling finally realized, “This is the so-called shotgun?!” It’s a shotgun marriage rather than responding to the Emperor’s order. Glancing towards Gu Yun, who was busy rewrapping the gift, Su Ling’s eyes showed a touch of mischief along with a quirky smile. Unfortunately, Gu Yun’s attention was on the box and did not see it. “Tomorrow, a lot of people will be sending their gifts. Later I will have someone deliver it, Ok?” Though it was a good gift, letting others have random speculation was always bad.

“Good.”

After wrapping the gift, Gu Yun noticed that the sun was already breaking through the clouds. She hurriedly spoke, “I’m going to the training field. I will go ahead first.”

Su Ling did not pull her back but he opened the wooden box and smiled, “So anxious? I would also like to show you the newly-made shorter crossbow.”

Gu Yun stopped quickly, “Really? Let me see.”

Su Ling handed her the short crossbow and Gu Yun’s eyes lit up, “Have you tried it?”

“No. The craftsman has just sent it.” He guessed her fondness for the weapon was better than others.

Gu Yun laughed excitedly, “Let’s go out and try it” The short crossbow was just the size and style as she had in mind, but she didn’t know about the ranges and serial firing speed.

“The better.”

The two people went out of the study and saw Su Ren walking towards them in a rush with anxious eyes sweeping towards Gu Yun.  He slightly paused and walked in front of Su Ling. Su Ren pulled him aside and whispered a few words in his ear. Su Ling’s facial expression changed immediately.

Su Ling whispered to Gu Yun, “I have something in the back, why don’t you get to the camp.”

Gu Yun grabbed Su Ling’s arm and asked, “What’s going on?”

Su Ling replied in a low voice calmly, “It’s nothing!”

“Is this related to me?” Gu Yun’s sharp eyes were firmly fixed on Su Ling’s face and did not miss any of his subtle facial expressions.

Su Ling unconsciously narrowed his eyebrows and eyes and then a ruffled concerned look appeared. It seemed the matter was really connected to her. Su Ling was more perfunctory than usual and so Gu Yun seriously said, “Tell me what’s going on, if not after you go, I will follow you to look it up.”

Two people were staring at each other, neither of them would compromise. Su Ren whispered and lamented, “Big brother, tell her.”

Gu Yun was stubborn with her firm eyes making Su Ling choke with rage. Woohoo! She was absolutely right. His foot was out of the General’s Office, her hind feet followed after him!

Finally, Su Ling decided to tell the truth, “Because Ao Jie died, the Spirit Island people have a grudge against me but they are more eager to manipulate Ao Tian. So now they are thinking of using you.”

“So, then?” There must be something worse happening, otherwise he will not result into this.

“Since you are staying in the General’s Office, they had no chance to start their plan, so now they caught Hubu Shilang (Vice Prime Minister) and have threatened to kill him if we do not hand you over to them.”

To threaten her was the best choice. Gu Yun quickly asked, “Does Qing Ling have protection?”

“She has Lou Xi Yan to defend her and Mo Bai protecting her. She will be fine.” The black clad people estimated they can’t get close to Qing Mo and cannot get a hold of Qing Ling so they were only able to catch Gao Hong to approach the General’s Office in exchange!

Gu Yun was secretly relieved they took Hubu Shilang instead and that was all. Gu Yun somehow faintly sensed something was wrong. Su Ling did not know what to think in silence; Gu Yun asked him, “Who is the Hubu Shilang?”

She was sharp. Su Ren softly exclaimed, “Gao Hong, the Queen’s maternal uncle.”

Turned out to be a royalty! No wonder they caught him, “We’ll go there together.”

“No.” Su Ling coldly rebuffed,” You stay here. You are safer in the General’s Office.” This matter involved the Royal family, meaning, she was in a more dangerous situation.

“I don’t think so.” Gu Yun looked very relaxed, though she had something to say. “Do not forget that is the Queen’s uncle! In whose hands, do you think I would be most secured with?”

Su Ling’s appearance instantly became more dreadful. She was right. While he is away, if the Queen’s decree happened, no one would dare to stop it. She was nothing but a foreign sister- in- law. If the General Office did not release the person then the general office would be going against the imperial decree! He became agitated. Gu Yun quickly tried harder to calm him down and whispered, “First, look at the situation. Stabilize them. Maybe there are ways to rescue him.”

His deep sad eyes stared at Gu Yun’s clear eyes. Su Ling’s distant voice was heard,

“You must not act rashly.”

Gu Yun smiled and nodded, “I promise. I absolutely won’t.”

Taking her hand, Su Ling stood there and helplessly exclaimed, “Come on.”

Watching two people briskly walking away before his eyes, Su Ren shook his head. In front of Gu Yun, Big Brother always seemed to be resolute at the start of the heart while the mind was firm. It really was a yiwujiangyiwu. *, she is really the counterpart.

*yiwujiangyiwu: a Chinese idiom meaning, there is a rock to every scissor and a scissor to every paper and a paper to every rock; literally means object beats another object; every item has a weakness

*****

Three people with 200 elite troops rushed to the Gao Hong Manor to see the situation and to examine the courtyard. Inside the courtyard, there were three areas. Cheng Hang was out there quite early when he caught sight of them. He got out immediately to meet them and said, “Su general, Dan Daren is in the tent waiting for you.”

At first glance, the distant courtyard gate was tightly closed but it gave the impression of an ancient piano. If not for the officers surrounding it outside for half a mile away, no one would know that this dwelling had anything strange. Cheng Hang brought the three people to the makeshift tent. Dan Yulan who had been waiting there greeted, “General Su, Su Ren.” To see Su Ling being followed by Gu Yun, Dan Yulan’s eyes had a trace of surprise, but hid it very quickly.

Su Ling nodded in response and opened the discussion, “What’s going on?”

Dan Yulan glanced at Gu Yun and Gu Yun naturally nodded in acknowledgement. Dan Yulan didn’t conceal the matter longer and said bluntly, “Gao Daren with the Lady and the children have been led to stay in another courtyard. Just as dawn was breaking, more than twenty men in black clothing appeared in the courtyard. They have killed all the servants but spared only one steward to bring the news. The black clothing men demand Qing Mo be traded for the lives of Gao Daren and his whole family.”

Gu Yun said, “Steward?”

“Is he here?”

“Yes.”

Cheng Hang pulled back the curtain to exit but saw twice more the number of people coming. Among the group was a pair of extremely elegant figures. Cheng Hang’s elegant brows suddenly wrinkled and turned to Dan Yulan to report, “Daren, Prime Minister Lou and his wife, also came.” Vice Prime Minister being held hostage while in the Imperial Court, was not a trivial matter for the Prime Minister to ignore. After all, their interests were directed at Qing Mo. This case was tricky and extremely thorny. Dan Daren will die of a headache because here was another person whom one cannot afford to offend ah.

Dan Yulan laughed and greeted in a stiff manner, “Prime Minister.”

Lou Xi Yan was consistently calm, looking at Dan Yulan and Su Ling, who was in an inconsiderable distance. Lou Xi Yan cupped his hand then placed them across his chest. “Dan Daren, General Su.” Su Ling was formal. He calmly nodded in response. Lou Xi Yan’s arrival was beyond his expectation.

Zhou Qing entered the tent and took a quick glance and caught the sight of Gu Yun standing side by side with Su Ling. Without giving the conventional pleasantries, Zhou Qing went past and grabbed Gu Yun’s hand to pull her aside and sternly warned,

“I knew you would come, which in this case, you are not allowed to act rashly at any time.”

Earlier, Su Ling had mentioned that and now Zhou Qing was saying the same thing. Gu Yun asked glumly, “In your heart, am I a very impulsive person?”

Zhou Qing gave her a clear blank stare and coldly snorted, “You are not impulsive; it is your sense of justice that is a full house.” Look how she dealt with Ao Tian’s matter! Who knew she had a crazy spell. These kidnappings also happened because of her. It was difficult to say if Gu Yun would not be crazy enough to take a risk again.

Since the last time, she had already frightened Su Ling and Zhou Qing. Gu Yun shrugged her shoulders and smiled, “Don’t worry. I know how to do this.”

Zhou Qing’s heart, instead of calming down, became even more frightened. She believed Gu Yun can handle it, but how she planned to deal with it was open to discussion. Zhou Qing cursed Su Ling in her heart; ‘I really do not know what he was thinking. Why would he let Gu Yun come here.’

“Dan Daren, the steward.” The drapery was opened again and Cheng Hang was followed in by a slightly overweight, middle-aged man with naturally imposing manner. In a flash, he fell to his knees on the ground and greeted, “Xiaoren, have seen all the daren.”

(Daren means respected adult, while Xiaoren mean a man of lowly status)

Su Ling in a deep cold voice asked, “The Black clad people caught a total of how many hostages?”

This deep voice entailed domineering and compassionate. The steward didn’t dare look up. He shivered and immediately replied,” Master, Lady, two concubines, as well as young master and miss. Other people were killed.” 

They even caught Gao Hong to meet the whole family. Gu Yun’s look increasingly dimmed. Su Ling continued to ask,” How many men in black were there? “

“Xiaoren didn’t count, roughly ten or probably more.” He was scared to death. The Black clad men had rushed into the manor and killed everyone they saw!

More than ten people? Gu Yun thought for a moment and said, “You are in charge and should be very familiar with the courtyard’s situation. Immediately draw a map of the courtyard and the others also. The more detailed, the better.”

The steward looked up slightly and regained his grounds. He looked hesitantly at Gu Yun who was among a room full of tightlipped darens. This young lady was the one who commanded him. Should he listen or not? Rubbing his head and still lingering over who was in charge of handling the case, Cheng Hang growled impatiently, “Draw fast.”

“Yes. Yes.” The steward snapped and did not dare to hesitate. He quickly took the ink, stick, and paper, stepped aside and bowed down onto the ground to make his drawings.

Upon completion, Gu Yun looked at the drawings placed on the long narrow table. Among the drawings was a very large drawing that appeared to be a map. Gu Yun asked, “This is a topographic map around the yard?”

“Yes.”

A line of people moved to the drawings on the narrow table. Pointing to a map, Dan Yulan whispered, “On record, the Gao Courtyard is backed by mountains that might not be very high. On the other side are the rocks and there is a stream through the manor. Other areas are short slopes. This is a place nothing can be hidden. The courtyard is surrounded by flint stones. By now, they may have buried explosives around the courtyard walls. If we send troops to attack, I’m afraid there will be a lot of deaths and injuries. And if we anger them, this group of outlaws would rather fight desperately than release the hostages.”

Su Ren nodded and replied, “If we attack right away, the rescue mission will be too difficult.” The enemy had but more than 10 people and even if the black clad men’s powers excelled in strength, killing them would be simple. Su Ren, however, was afraid the enemy would have already killed Gao Hong before the army arrived.

Nobody made any comments. The tent was in silence. The moment did not last for ‘my goodness what is that’, a shrill very high pitch and loud voice sounded outside the tent,

“The Emperor’s arrival, the Empress here!”

With this announcement, the people inside the tent had different facial reactions. The first face was Su Ling’s with hostility. His eagle eyes slightly squinted but it did not cover the dark fury with that cold spark. Su Ren’s face was gravely serious. Zhou Qing’s face had a trace of concern while Prime Minister Lou Xi Yan remained calm by his wife’s side. Lou Xi Yan lightly patted her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “She is not able to act on the matter.” A soft voice was always reassuring her confused mind. Zhou Qing looked at Gu Yun, who was the central character in this case but did not appear affected at all. Gu Yun’s bright eyes never left the map on the table. She remained unmoved by the sudden arrival of the emperor and empress.

Gao Hong was the maternal uncle of Empress Xin Yue Ning and had the support of the whole Xin’s family. Gao Furen was a cousin of Empress Dowager Yang Xi Lan, who has the Yang Family’s protection. Qing Mo was General Su’s beloved woman, Imperial Concubine Qing Feng’s sister, and Prime Minister Lou’s sister-in-law. This…it was too hard to measure!

Dan Yulan and Cheng Hang exchanged glances with each other. Dan Yulan was having a hectic headache. Cheng Hang only had one thing on his mind, which was miserable.

*****