CH 84

Back to the Countryside

Chapter 84: 遇袭

[Be Ambushed]

Yun Su kept a hold on He Ling to prevent him from moving, keeping his head sideways so as not to miss any sound from outside. Although he was worried about Shen Juming’s safety, he couldn’t leave the pregnant He Ling alone in the carriage. If anything happened to him, Shi Xiong would definitely peel his skin.

As he thought like this, he felt someone approaching from outside the curtain. Subconsciously, he kicked the man in the stomach and waist. The man grunted and retreated momentarily.

He Ling was startled by his sudden movement but at least he didn’t scream out loud! How could someone suddenly attack them in the middle of nowhere? Could it be a bandit?

Yun Su had just kicked the person away, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he felt two more breaths coming towards him. He secretly cursed ‘Damn it!’, reached into his pocket and took out a few poisonous needles and put it between his fingers, just waiting for them to get close enough to throw it out.

The result, however, was not what he had expected. All the three breaths stopped a few paces away. Something had been thrown around the carriage. The tip of his nose twitched as he caught the smell of something burning.

In order to force them out, the other side even tried to set fire to the carriage. Yun Su gritted his teeth, grabbed He Ling’s wrist and took him out of the carriage. As soon as he took a firm stand, a sword came from the side. He immediately dodged it out of the way as he guarded him (HL). 

He Ling was still in a daze until now. He could only let Yun Su drag him around, dodging back and forth between several swords and several times, his skin was just barely scratched.    

The situation on Shen Juming’s side was no more optimistic than theirs, with seven or eight men in black clothes surrounding the three of them, leaving them no time to focus on other things. 

In between dodging, Yun Su shot the poisonous needle out of his hand, hitting one of the men in black squarely on the wrist but it did not work since the man quickly swallowed a pill.

He grimaced since the poison he had put on those needles, no one knew what it was except for some of his Shi Xiong and Shi Di in the valley. How could these people have carried the antidote with them? Actually, from which sides of the forces are them?

A sword slashed down, right into his hand that was tugging at He Ling, Yun Su turned around and pulled He Ling to his other side, not letting them have their way. At the same time, he flung a bottle of medicine out of his sleeve and smashed it on the ground, sending the powder drifting away in the air. 

He turned and stretched out one of his hands to put a pill into He Ling’s mouth. He pulled the person back a few steps. He raised his head and catched a sight that made him blacken his face again, those people had taken the antidote again and were unharmed!

Yun Su’s heart was restless with anxiety, these men in black simply knew him like the back of his hand. He completely had no way to deal with them, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was a mole in Qi Du Valley!

He was not sure where these people came from, but Shen Juming knew, they must have been sent by the person who put the master of the valley in coma. Only the fellow disciples of the valley would know their movements (in martial arts) so well.

Distracted as he looked at both Yun Su and He Ling who were surrounded, his heart became anxious. He didn’t know if Shi Xiong had started to turn back. They couldn’t hold out any longer! 

He Ling knew no martial arts at all and could not help them at all, so he could only try his best to keep himself quiet to avoid disturbing those around him while they were dealing with the enemy. However he still cried out in alarm when a man in black reached out to catch him!

Yun Su immediately pulled He Ling towards him after hearing his voice. He spun around with him to avoid the man’s hand but he could not avoid the sword from the other side. He was cut on the arm and the blood immediately stained his sleeve. 

He Ling was so shocked that he raised his hand to cover his wound, panicking and not knowing what to do. These people did not look like they were after money at all, but rather, they were here to kill!

A sword stabbed him, the other side didn’t give them a chance to catch their breath, the attackers immediately attacked them again, forcing the two of them apart with every move they made.

Yun Su felt in his heart that something was a bit strange; once was a coincidence but after several attempts was certainly deliberate. These black-clothed people’s target was actually the person beside him, He Ling! Always been living in the village all his life, so who could he have offended? They must be trying to capture him to deal with Shi Xiong!

Shi Xiong has always the type of person who done everything perfectly (滴水不漏the literal one: not even one drop of water can leak out). He never left behind any calamity. So no one should come after him, seeking revenge. But if he wasn’t looking for revenge, then what was it?

The more questionable points he saw, the more Yun Su couldn’t figure it out. When his heart was full of agitation, from the other side, there was a shout of alarm. He was distracted and looked over and saw that Shen Juming’s shoulder was red. In the dead center of his vision, there was a man trying to attack him!        

His pupils shrank at once and he couldn’t care about anything else! He leapt forward with a single point of his toes, just in time, he managed to block the sword. The sound of a sharp weapon sinking into flesh, accompanied by his muffled grunt, caused Shen Juming, who had his back to him, to turn his head back! 

“Xiao Su!” His eyes were crimson red as he caught the body that had fallen with one hand after the man in black pulled out his sword out of Yun Su’s body. He looked at the other party’s chest that was red in blood and panicked like never before!

Due to this unexpected situation, the two people from the Hidden Detached Palace managed to block a few moves for him. But two fists could not defeat four hands, and with so many people, they also might not be able to hold out for long.

As they were thinking about this, two people came flying from afar. One of them, a figure in white moved for only a moment then all those men fell to the ground, their faces blue and grey, apparently poisoned to death!

This man was none other than Qi Yue, together with him was Lin Yuxue; when they came back from collecting firewood, they heard Shen Juming’s sorrowful call from a distance. They immediately knew that something bad had happened so they rushed over as soon as they could. 

Qi Yue looked all around with his hands on his back, Looking as if some terrible storm (fig for crisis) was brewing. He asked in a deep voice, “Where’s Ah Ling?”

Shen Juming, who had just given Yun Su a pill with a trembling hand then suddenly raised his head. Just now, the place where the other party’s position was, where there was even half of figure of him? He was shocked. It’s over! Xiong Fu Lang had been taken away! 

He Ling was carried on the kidnapper’s shoulder and swept through the snow and wind. He was very anxious since his acupuncture points were sealed and he could not move at all, even if he wanted to struggle, he couldn’t. 

He had no idea who these people were, what their purpose was, and why they had kidnapped him. If Xiang Gong returned and found he was already being taken away, he would surely be worried.

He didn’t know how long they had been travelling. Only when He Ling’s body was frozen stiff, did they stop inside a cave. Being thrown to the ground, he grunt softly and said,”My stomach hurts!”

“Don’t play tricks!” The man who was carrying him gave him a cold look, ready to turn and walk away.

“It’s true, I’m pregnant. Being treated so roughly by you all, it will naturally hurt the fetus!” He Ling bit his lip, his face was a little pale, “At least, let me drink the medicine!”

One of the men came over and looked at him for a few moments and said, “Where is the medicine? I’ll get it for you.”

“I’m a ger, if you dare to touch me as you like, I’d rather die!” The feeling of being unable to move at all, like a fish in a shuffle, was really that bad, “I’ll take it myself!”

The two men looked at each other, one of them then came forward, stretched out his hand and lightly poked at He Ling’s acupuncture points twice (to release him so he could move again) and said in a cold voice,  “If you try to escape, we won’t be polite anymore.”

After he could move, He Ling drew back, leaned against the stone wall. He then took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket, poured out a pill and swallowed it. This was the medicine Qi Yue had prepared especially for him to calm the fetus. He had always carried it with him.

Both of the men in black saw that he was staying still obediently and didn’t move around so they turned their body away from him and sat down near the entrance of the cave. Just now, one of the men had just gone out. He Ling also didn’t know where he had gone. 

He Ling sat in the corner while hugging both of  his knees, trying to warm up his cold body a little. He was not that afraid anymore in his heart, these people had no intention of killing him, otherwise just now, they would not have paid attention to him.

He rested his chin on his knees and lowered his eyebrows, his Xiang Gong would have gone back by now right? He must have been very worried when he found out he was missing. Besides that, Yun Shi Di, He Ling also had seen the other party stabbed with a sword before he was taken away, and wondered if he was going to be alright.  

He glanced at the two men sitting at a distance as they kept their mouths shut. He tightened his arms around himself again, wondering what on earth they were up to. He was just an ordinary country ger, what was the point of kidnapping him? They were not going to threaten his husband right? 

Thinking of this, He Ling’s heart sank. If they really wanted to use him to force his husband into doing something he didn’t want to do, what should he do then?

His heart was a little impatient and fretful, but there was nothing he could do. He was physically very weak but his opponents were three strong and powerful men that were very skillful and outstanding in martial arts. How could he escape from them?

The other man soon returned to the cave and in addition to the firewood, he had also hunted a pheasant. The three of them made the bonfire and took the pheasant out to be processed and roasted over it in the fire.

Having the fire, the temperature inside the cave was slightly warmer and not as cold as before which made He Ling breathe a sigh of relief. Finally not even his teeth were chattering. 

When the roasted chicken was done, one of the men in black tore off the chicken leg, walked up to him and threw it to him, then turned back without waiting for him to say anything.

He Ling took the chicken leg and looked at it. He was indeed a little hungry. After all, he had been brought out in shock before he was able to have time to eat. Since they wanted to keep him alive, they would not poison him, so he ate it with peace of mind.

The chicken was not seasoned so it did not taste good but it was already good enough to have something hot to eat in the middle of the desolate area outside of town, so how could he be nitpicky?

After he finished eating, his hands were greasy (covered in oil). He reached into his sleeve to take out his silk handkerchief however his fingers unexpectedly came across a bottle. He was stunned, as if he had thought of something. He looked up at those several people. He stayed calm and collected, took out the handkerchief and wiped his hands clean.

After wiping his hands, he swallowed another pill as if nothing had happened. Rubbing his arms as he said to them, “I’m a bit cold, can I come closer to the fire?

I won’t disturb you guys!”

Hearing what he said, the three people sitting around the fire turned their heads and looked at him at the same time. Seeing that he was indeed shivering because of the cold weather, after they hesitated for a while, one of them said, “Come over here! “

The other party was just a ger who didn’t know any martial arts, moreover he was also pregnant, so he wouldn’t be able to do any tricks right in front of their eyes. Their employer had said that they should leave him unharmed, so naturally they could not treat him harshly.

They nodded, He Ling then very cautiously moved close to them, both of his hands were folded inside his sleeves and he seemed to be extremely cold. He stayed calm, without any change of expression as he surveyed the distance between the three men and himself and adjusted his position slightly.

The three men in black acted as if they were unfamiliar with each other. They almost never communicated with each other, only remained silent in a posture where they could get up at any moment as their entire bodies were all full of power and ready to strike.

He Ling was a little nervous in his heart. He swallowed his own saliva quietly while his hand hidden in his sleeve squeezing a bottle tightly. There was only this one chance, if he didn’t make it, he would have to obediently let them take him away.