CH 64

No sooner had Gu Feidi’s voice fallen, a group of skilled, armed fighters surged in from the inn’s main entrance.

It was evident that they were well-trained. Their leader issued a few orders in a low voice and the fighters dispersed to secure all areas of the inn.

The leader caught hold of a worker: “Where’s your innkeeper?”

The worker had likely witnessed Mei Shisan in the process of arresting people earlier and subconsciously lifted his head in the direction of the second floor corridor.

Gu Feidi hauled Su Yang into the room, closed the door and bolted it. He hastened: “Quickly pack the things and leave right now.”

Su Yang realised the urgency of the situation, so he didn’t question and swiftly rolled up the bundles of luggage.

At this moment, there were sounds of footsteps in the corridor. The innkeeper and the worker stood rooted at the wall, eyeing each other helplessly, trembling and not daring to make any sudden moves.

“Go!” Gu Feidi flung open the window. The three of them used light footwork to jump into the courtyard with ease and made a beeline to the stables.

But, there was already someone standing guard there.

Gu Feidi gave a light ‘tsk’ and changed his pace. He employed a different footwork from Tengyun Pavilion’s Swiftlet Strike Breeze to rush into the crowd and used his scabbard to knock the guard unconscious.

“Who’s there?!” Another fighter immediately drew his sword and said in an angry voice, “Tongyun Temple received word that the Devil Sect’s demon spawn is here, you all better not make trouble!”

Su Yang’s footwork paused slightly when he heard the two words “Devil Sect”. He didn’t have basic martial arts skills like Gu Feidi and with the exception of Prized Flower Steps, he couldn’t execute any other types of light footwork.

But all the fighters had already surrounded him and he had no time to conceal his identity, so he could only break through the encirclement as fast as he could to catch up to Gu Feidi.

“Prized Flower Steps!” As expected, someone immediately recognised it and shouted, “Stop them!”

Su Yang and Gu Feidi were not weak in martial arts and when they joined forces, the average fighter would not be able to defeat them. Even without using Tengyun Pavilion’s footwork or sword skills, Gu Feidi had broken through the encirclement in a very short time. Su Yang and Mei Shisan, whose identities had already been recognised and thus, no longer had any misgivings on that part, were even more than equal to the task. In the blink of an eye, they had flipped onto their horses and sped out of the siege.

When the leader of the group hunting them rushed out of the inn, all he saw were the backs of three figures in the distance.

Because their whereabouts had been noticed, Gu Feidi was forced to bring Su Yang off the public roads and traverse round through the mountain forest. For the sake of shaking off their pursuers, they decided to follow along the mountain river to a village and change their outfits before setting off again.

“Why would anyone know of my whereabouts?” Su Yang was baffled. “Could it be that the brothers recognized me? It shouldn’t be that, right?”

Gu Feidi said: “There aren’t many from the Central Plains martial arts circles who have seen you before, but there will inevitably be some… You had also traveled to the Central Plains a few years ago, maybe it was someone who fought against you at that time.”

This exceeded the limits of Su Yang’s memory. He could only nod silently: “That’s likely.”

“No, there’s another possibility.” Mei Shisan interjected right then.

“What?” Su Yang and Gu Feidi said in unison.

Mei Shisan said: “Do you still recall when you disbanded the Juan Dan Palace and released those youths back to their homes in Jianghu? If—like you said—a fifteen or sixteen year old boy had bumped into you and saw your features……it’s quite possible that he was one of those previously from Juan Dan Palace.”

Su Yang was silent.

He thought back to the youth from yesterday who had bumped into him that had seemed quite good-looking; the kind of ‘sympathetic-compassionate’ type that the Devil Sect’s Young Saint would be fond of.

Gu Feidi raised his eyebrows: “Juan Dan Palace? This name sounds like… was that child your pet?”

Su Yang’s scalp became numb and he immediately explained: “I’ve never set foot in Juan Dan Palace and I don’t even remember them!”

Mei Shisan was silent for a moment before saying: “You… used to go to the Juan Dan Palace every day to see those children and sometimes monitor Ju Hall’s indoctrination. You would force some of the more submissive ones to wait upon you when you bathed or changed clothes—”

“Shisan!” Su Yang was furious, “Shut up!”

Then he turned to Gu Feidi and laughed nervously, “That wasn’t me, truly! Believe me!”

Gu Feidi looked at Su Yang with a wry smile and stared at the person behind him until he was extremely flustered.

It wasn’t until Su Yang was visibly restless and was shifting this way and that on the saddle—like he had a nail in his behind—that Gu Feidi finally smiled and said, “Ng, I believe you.”

Su Yang let out a sigh of relief.

Gu Feidi continued: “Since they had seen you what you look like, you shouldn’t have let them go.”

Su Yang was taken aback: “But… but they were kidnapped into the Devil Sect. Am I supposed to imprison them for the rest of their lives?”

Gu Feidi heaved a sigh, “You’re too merciful; genuinely unsuited for this Jianghu. When we return from Snow Mountain, I will accompany you to Meizhu Mountain. If possible, you should remain within Lesser Jade House.”

Su Yang: …

“However, if there are many from the Central Plains who are able to recognize you, this journey will be a bit problematic.” Gu Feidi frowned.

“You could actually seek out the guards from Tengyun Pavilion.” Su Yang mumbled while sitting on horseback, “We can travel separately. Without me around, you can resume your identity as Tengyun Pavilion’s Young Master and return to deliver the letter. Wouldn’t that be more convenient?”

He knew that the reason why Gu Feidi traveled with him in disguise and avoided many places was because he didn’t want to create difficulties for Tengyun Pavilion. After all, Tengyun Pavilion was the leader of the Central Plains martial arts circles. If they were involved in any association with the Devil Sect, how were they to reassure the masses?

As such, only Gu Feidi could accompany him to the southwest Snow Mountain and not in his capacity as Tengyun Pavilion’s Young Master.

Gu Feidi shook his head, “It’s not all due to you.”

Having said this, he paused for a while before explaining to Su Yang: “If I return to Tengyun Pavilion in grand splendour as the Young Pavilion Master, then the forces of the Central Plains martial arts circles would step up their request for my father to order a punitive mission to the Devil Sect. Furthermore…… with my age, if I return officially, I wouldn’t know how many minor sects and schools would send their daughters and nieces…”

Su Yang: …

Su Yang cracked up: “In your dreams!”

Gu Feidi turned and smiled at Su Yang: “Therefore, I cannot reveal my identity when I return to the Pavilion this time. As long as I appear to still be missing, then only am I able to ask my father to let me accompany you to the Snow Mountain for medical treatment.”

Hearing this, Su Yang suddenly became a little tense and bit his lip, “Leader Gu… would he agree to you mixing with me, the Devil Sect’s Young Saint?”

Gu Feidi said: “My father is a reasonable person and he doesn’t treat the Devil Sect with complete abhorrence. You detoxified and eliminated the Gu for me which is tantamount to saving my life. He will definitely agree for me to accompany you up the mountain for medical treatment.”

Su Yang nodded even though he still felt a little unconfident in his heart. But Gu Feidi had already said as much, so he believed him.

Just as night began to fall, the group caught sight of the mountain village’s outline up ahead.

However, just as they were about to enter the village, Su Yang suddenly felt his heart palpitating, immediately followed by a surge of chills all over his body. He subconsciously pulled on the reins and the horse slowed down.

Gu Feidi straightaway noticed that something was wrong and urged his horse to Su Yang’s side, frowning, “The cold has been triggered again?”

This time, the reaction of Cold Pond Ice Spirit was not as severe as the previous times, so Su Yang could still manage to sit properly with some effort.

He gripped the reins in his hand and nodded: “Maybe it’s because… I used Half Withered Red to suppress the poison this morning, at night… there’s no sunlight, so…”

Gu Feidi stretched out his hand to hold Su Yang’s wrist and felt his entire hand grow ice-cold. He let out a sigh, leapt over onto Su Yang’s horse and took him into his arms. He held the reins and urged the horse forward.

Su Yang leaned on Gu Feidi’s body, sensing the warm internal strength slowly enveloping him, he closed his eyes in relief and tried to resist the surging layers of chilly air in his body.

By the time they finally arrived at the mountain village and Mei Shisan found a peasant family who was willing to put them up for the night, Su Yang had fallen into a heavy sleep.

Gu Feidi carried him horizontally*, apologized to the host and immediately brought Su Yang into the wing room and wrapped him up in a thick quilt.

(*TN : princess-style carry)

Although it was now autumn, the temperature was still far below the point where the peasants in the mountain village were willing to light the fire basins and the bedding was still a little damp and stiff-cold. When Gu Feidi saw this, he sighed and asked Mei Shisan to take the night watch outside the room. He squeezed into Su Yang’s quilt, hugged him tightly and warmed him with his inner strength.

Su Yang shivered with the cold and unconsciously huddled to Gu Feidi’s side in his drowsiness, quickly burying his face at Gu Feidi’s nape.

His breaths carried little threads of cold air and was a little hurried because he wasn’t feeling well. He delved into the flesh on Gu Feidi’s neck.

Gu Feidi’s Adam’s apple jumped, his eyelashes lowered slightly.

After struggling for a long time, he raised his hand to cup Su Yang’s cheek and kissed the pair of cold lips.

Initially, it was a gentle tossing and sucking. Then it became impatient licking and nibbling. In the end, Gu Feidi couldn’t withstand it and the tip of his tongue entered Su Yang’s mouth, prying open his teeth and almost greedily capturing his breath.

Both their bodies were nestled together and Gu Feidi’s palms wandered around Su Yang’s back; from the shoulder blades to his lower back, following up along his spine and returning to clasp the back of his neck.

He was wholly absorbed in the kiss, unwittingly half-pressing Su Yang beneath his body and the low sounds of his desires were interspersed between his breaths.

Su Yang’s body temperature gradually recovered with such intimate kisses and hugs. In his slumber, his body subconsciously writhed seeking a cozier embrace.

His icy-cold breaths gradually warmed and became scalding and he instinctively let out a low moan from his throat.

Gu Feidi raised his head a little and stared at Su Yang in the dark for a long while. Then he closed his eyes, hesitated for a long time before finally making up his mind. His hands trembled as he moved to untie Su Yang’s clothes.

It was just then that Mei Shisan, who was outside the door, suddenly shouted: “Who is it!”

Gu Feidi immediately flipped over and out of bed, drew out his long sword and stood on guard in the dark.

There were sounds of swords and sabres clanging simultaneously outside the door. Then, there was a loud noise of the window ledge suddenly being broken.

There were many people there, all of them in masks and black clothes hiding in the darkness of the room, their figures almost indiscernible.

Gu Feidi stood guard in front of Su Yang’s bed, keeping as close as he could. He maneuvered his internal strength to his ears, listened to distinguish their positions and would show no mercy to to slay any and all of the assassins who dared step forward.

Unfortunately, there were quite a number of opponents. Outside the door, Mei Shisan had to exert great effort to fend them off and it wasn’t long before he suffered some injuries.

Inside the room, Gu Feidi was one against four foes. It was a bit difficult for him to block as he couldn’t use Tengyun Pavilion’s True Hawk Sword technique due to the lack of light.

The blade struck, slashing Gu Feidi’s wrist, cutting a long slit through his leather wristband.

Gu Feidi flipped his hand and thrust his sword out, piercing the attacker’s body.

Immediately afterwards, another sharp blade fell on Gu Feidi’s shoulder. He couldn’t help releasing a groan feeling the sharp pain. The long sword in his hand flipped over and slashed at the neck of the other person…

On the bed behind Gu Feidi, Su Yang sank into another terrifying blood-filled dream.

The dream was so realistic to the extent that he even perceived that he could smell the nauseating stench of blood. This time he was not on the scene, but from a bird’s-eye perspective, he could see Gu Feidi dressed in white and standing in a pool of blood.

Gu Feidi lifted his head to look at him, half his body was drenched in blood, his lips were pale and he seemed to be badly injured.

Su Yang became distressed and wanted to embrace Gu Feidi, but he couldn’t move. He could only float helplessly in mid-air like a ghost.

His heart was distraught and in a fit of anxiousness, Su Yang abruptly woke up.