Chapter 12 – Between Life and Death (2/2)

Yan Nanfei said, “Your hand?”

Fu Hongxue said, “I still have my hand.”

Yan Nanfei said, “So long as you still have your hand, even a chipped sabre can kill people.”

Fu Hongxue’s laughter suddenly disappeared. “Where are they?”

Yan Nanfei sighed. With a bitter smile, he said, “They aren’t here. I’m afraid I don’t know where they are.”

Far away, a carriage could be seen, but no one was there.

Fu Hongxue asked, “You rode a carriage here?”

Yan Nanfei chuckled. “I rode a carriage here all three times. I hate walking. If I have a chance to ride, I definitely won’t walk.”

Fu Hongxue looked at him. “Only because you hate walking? Not because of your leg?”

Yan Nanfei looked at him as well. He suddenly sighed. “Why is it that I cannot hide anything from you?”

The infants were wrapped in Fu Hongxue’s outer garments. Yan Nanfei was suppressing his amazement the entire time. He didn’t ask about it.

Because Fu Hongxue didn’t bring it up at all.

He knew that if Fu Hongxue didn’t want to bring up something, you had best pretend you don’t know about it!

But Zhuo Yuzhen, smiling, was already calling out to him. “Uncle Yan, why don’t you come see our children?”

Yan Nanfei finally could no longer contain himself. He couldn’t help but ask, “Your children?”

Zhuo Yuzhen glanced at Fu Hongxue out of the corner of her eyes. “Can it be that he did not tell you?”

Yan Nanfei said, “Tell me what?”

Zhuo Yuzhen smiled beautifully. “One of these two children is surnamed Qiu, the other is surnamed Fu. The boy is the heir to the bloodline of the Qiu family. His name is Qiu Xiaoqing. The girl was born first. Her name is Fu Xiaohong.”

Her eyes were filled with pride and satisfaction. “We already agreed to this. We have already…”

Her face blushed, and she lowered her head.

Yan Nanfei looked at her, then looked at Fu Hongxue. He looked even more shocked than earlier, when he heard that the sabre had chipped.

Fu Hongxue had turned around. He pulled the clothes firmly around the children, then said, “Why don’t you get on the carriage first?”

Zhuo Yuzhen already sat inside the carriage. Only then did Fu Hongxue and Yan Nanfei slowly walk over.

The entire time, neither of them opened their mouths. After a long time, Fu Hongxue suddenly said, “You didn’t think it possible?”

Yan Nanfei forced a laugh. “There are many things which are unthinkable in this world.”

Fu Hongxue said, “You are opposed?”

Yan Nanfei said, “I know that you definitely had your own difficulties which are hard to discuss. Perhaps…”

Fu Hongxue interrupted his words. “If time could go back, I would still have made the same choice. The children cannot be without a father. Somebody must be their father.”

Yan Nanfei’s smile became genuine and optimistic. “Aside from you, I really can’t think of anyone else who could be their father.”

He walked very slowly, and his posture seemed to have become similar to that of Fu Hongxue’s. He was coughing nonstop as well.

Fu Hongxue suddenly came to a stop. Staring at him, he said, “How many wounds did you take?”

Yan Nanfei said, “Not many.”

Fu Hongxue suddenly reached out and pulled his clothes open. Across his firm and strong chest, there were two fingernail markings.

Purple fingernail scratches, appearing as though they had been dyed into his skin.

Fu Hongxue’s pupils immediately contracted. “This is the ‘Great Violet Palm of Decapitating Heaven and Shattering Earth?”

Yan Nanfei grunted in agreement.

Fu Hongxue said, “Were you struck on the leg by the ‘Bone Penetrating Nail’ or the ‘Soul Hunting Needle’?”

Yan Nanfei smiled bitterly. “If it was the ‘Soul Hunting Needle’, would I still be standing here?”

Fu Hongxue said, “People came from the Xingxiuhai plateau of the Western Regions?”

Yan Nanfei said, “Just one person!”

Fu Hongxue said, “Was the person who came Duo Qingzi, or Wu Qingzi?”

Yan Nanfei sighed. “Duo Qingzi is just as merciless when making his move.” [This is a pun; Duo Qingzi means ‘man of great tenderness and affection’, while Wu Qingzi means ‘man without mercy’.]

Fu Hongxue said, “Is the ‘Bone Penetrating Nail’ still in your leg?”

Yan Nanfei said, “The only thing in my leg is a hole.”

He stretched out his hands, revealing a hidden projectile that sparkled in his palm with cold light.

If one were to choose the top ten most deadly hidden projectile weapons in the world, beyond a doubt the ‘Bone Penetrating Nail’ would be one of them. Yan Nanfei suddenly chuckled. “Fortunately, my luck isn’t half bad. He shot out thirteen ‘Bone Penetrating Nails’. I only got hit by one, and it didn’t hit a vital point. I was able to run a bit faster than they were. Otherwise, even if Duo Qingzi didn’t kill me, Yang Wuji would have taken my life.”

His laughter seemed very cheerful. “Let me tell you a little secret. Although my skill in killing isn’t as good as yours, my skill in running for my life is number one in the world.”

Fu Hongxue reached into his clothes. Only after Yan Nanfei was finished speaking did he remove his hand, pulling the letter out with it. “Read it after you get in the carriage.”

“Who will be driver?”

“Me.”

Yan Nanfei laughed. “I seem to remember that you didn’t know how to drive in the past.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Now I do.”

Yan Nanfei said, “When did you learn?”

Fu Hongxue stared at him. Suddenly, he said, “Did you always know how to run for your life?”

Yan Nanfei thought a moment, then shook his head.

Fu Hongxue said, “When did you learn how?”

Yan Nanfei said, “When I reached the point where I had no other choice but to do so.”

Fu Hongxue shut his mouth again. He believed that Yan Nanfei knew what he meant.

When a man reached a point where he must do something, he would do it.

The letter was very long, stretching across three scrolls of paper. Even before they got on the carriage, Yan Nanfei began to read.

He was always an impatient sort.

Fu Hongxue was very good at tamping down his curiosity. He didn’t ask what the letter contained.

Evidently, it was a very amusing letter, as Yan Nanfei’s eyes were filled with a hint of laughter.

Filled with a sort of cynical laughter.

He suddenly said, “It seems Gongzi Yu really is a good person. He really cares very much about me.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Oh?”

Yan Nanfei laughed. “He advises me to leave your company immediately, because you have become an almost pestilential creature. Anyone in your company will suffer misfortune.”

He laughed loudly, then said, “He even wrote out a list for me.”

Fu Hongxue said, “A list?”

Yan Nanfei said, “The list includes the names of all the people who wants to kill us. The people who want to kill you numbers one more than the people who want to kill me.”

Fu Hongxue coldly said, “One person isn’t very much.”

Yan Nanfei said, “Sometimes it isn’t very much, sometimes it isn’t very little. It depends on who this person is.”

His laughter was very unhappy. “Strictly speaking, the person who wants to kill you can’t even be considered a person.”

Fu Hongxue said, “What is he, then?”

Yan Nanfei said, “He should at least be counted as ten people.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Is it Wu Qingzi, of the Xingxiuhai plateau?”

Yan Nanfei said, “Compared to this person, Wu Qingzi can at most be considered a kid who just learned how to kill people.”

Fu Hongxue said, “Who is this person?”

Yan Nanfei went into the carriage and closed the door, as though afraid that he himself might jump out. “It is a man who uses a sabre, a very special sabre.”

Fu Hongxue said, “What sabre?”

Yan Nanfei pulled the carriage door a little tighter shut. Only then did he say, one word at a time, “The ‘Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch’!”

The carriage was very spacious. Zhuo Yuzhen put the girl on her knee while holding the boy in her hands. Her eyes were focused on Yan Nanfei. Finally, she couldn’t help but ask, “What type of sabre is the ‘Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch’?”

Yan Nanfei forced out a laugh. “Strictly speaking, it cannot be considered a sabre.”

Zhuo Yuzhen said, “It should be considered ten?”

Yan Nanfei didn’t directly respond. Instead, he asked her, “Did you see Xiao Siwu’s dagger?”

Zhuo Yuzhen thought for a moment, then nodded. “I saw him before. He always uses a dagger to trim his nails.”

Yan Nanfei said, “It would take at least five hundred daggers like that to forge a single ‘Demon Decapitating Sabre of Heaven’s Monarch’!”

Zhuo Yuzhen sucked in a breath. “Five hundred daggers?”

Yan Nanfei asked again, “Do you know how many people he’s killed with that sabre in a single blow?”

Zhuo Yuzhen said, “Two people? Three? Five?”

Yan Nanfei let out a sigh. “With one chop, he killed twenty seven people. Every single one of their heads was split in two.”

Zhuo Yuzhen’s countenance changed. She tightened her grip around the child in her bosom. Staring out the window, she forced a laugh. “Are you trying to scare me?”

Yan Nanfei smiled bitterly. “If you see that sabre, you’ll know whether or not I’m trying to scare you.”

He suddenly shook his head. “But naturally, you won’t see it. Heaven, bless and protect us. Don’t let her see that sabre.”

Zhuo Yuzhen asked no more questions, because she saw something very strange. “Look, there’s a wheel there.”

It wasn’t at all strange for a carriage to have a wheel, but why would a wheel be rolling down the road by itself?

Yan Nanfei couldn’t help but stick out his head to take a look. The expression on his face changed as well. “This wheel is from our carriage.”

Before he finished speaking, the carriage began to tilt, slowly beginning to tilt towards one side of the road.

Zhuo Yuzhen cried out loud, “Look! Why is there half a horse there?”

Half a horse? How could there be such a thing as half a horse?

What was even more frightening was that this horse was still galloping forwards on two legs.

Suddenly, a storm of blood rain sprayed forth from it.

That half-horse ran for another seven or eight steps before falling down. Its liver, intestines, and internal organs fell onto the floor.

Yan Nanfei shouted loudly, “Careful!”

Before the sound of his voice dissipated, the carriage suddenly flipped around in mid-air, as though it had somersaulted.

Yan Nanfei rushed over, gathered Zhuo Yuzhen and the children to himself, then kicked the door open.

A hand stretched out from outside the door. Fu Hongxue’s voice could be heard. “Grab hold.”

Their two hands joined. Fu Hongxue gripped Yan Nanfei’s hand, while Yan Nanfei held Zhuo Yuzhen and the children. With an exploding sound, both the adults and the children flew out from the door.

Next, with a thundering sound, the carriage crashed into a large tree by the side of the road.

It disintegrated.

High noon.

The weather was sunny and cheerful. The sunlight was gorgeous.

The fresh sunlight was shining on the road. But suddenly, a dark cloud covered it, blocking off the sunrays. It was as though even the sun couldn’t bear to watch what had just happened.

The carriage had been shattered into many pieces.

The horse pulling the carriage had been chopped in twain. The back half was still attached to the carriage. The front half lay fallen by the road.

What had happened just then?

Zhuo Yuzhen tightly held her children, not letting her children cry. Although she herself didn’t know what had just happened either, she was simply too frightened, so frightened that she forgot all of her pain.

Although she felt as though all the bones in her body had been ground to dust, fear had rendered her totally numb. And then, she couldn’t help but vomit.

A young woodcutter was standing by the side of the road. He couldn’t help but vomit as well.

He was just about to go on this road earlier, but he took a step back, because he saw this carriage charging this way.

The carriage-driver had a pallid face and appeared as though he wished he could make this carriage immediately travel eight hundred li.

“Can it be that this person is rushing to a funeral?”

The young, vigorous woodcutter was just about to curse at him, but before he even started, he saw a gleam of sabre light.

As a matter of fact, he couldn’t tell if it was sabre light, or lightning.

All he saw was a gleam of light fly out from within the forest, and then…it suddenly split apart. The front half and the back half actually split apart.

The front half of the horse was actually still running with its two front legs.

What happened afterwards, the woodcutter didn’t notice at all. He couldn’t believe this was real.

He hoped this was a dream, nothing more than a bad dream.

But he was already vomiting.