Chapter 42 (1/2)

Chapter 42 Original and most updated translations are from volaretranslations.

My brows furrowed, and I hastily opened the curtains to look outside, hands gripping the edge of the window. Fresh air mixed with hot, dense wind to a.s.sail my senses. My chest seethed, and a sense of disgust welled up within me. There was no one outside, and the quilt across the horse’s back was splattered with tiny spots of blood.

The carriage was shaking violently now, and all I could hear was the sound of wheels crus.h.i.+ng past stones mixed amidst thunderous hoofbeats. The scenery flew past us, branches occasionally scrabbling nosily against our vehicle. Startled by the fire dragon, the horse had his head bowed as he ran for his life. It was clear to see that the shock had frightened him out of his senses.

Straight in front of us was the edge of a cliff…

I gritted my teeth and reached for the reins whipping wildly in the wind. Just as my fingers were about to touch them…the carriage gave a heavy lurch and tilted to the left. Something seemed to be breaking apart. My eyes widened.

Curses! Someone had even sabotaged our ride…

“Shao’er, I think something’s wrong with this carriage,” someone spoke from within.

“That’s right, it’s about to fall to pieces.”

Without anyone to control him, the horse ran past a bend in the road and kept rus.h.i.+ng forward, dragging the shuddering carriage behind him straight over the cliff’s edge…

I immediately turned towards the seated Han Zichuan and grabbed him by the arms. We burst through the carriage roof as I flew into the air, the wind whipping our robes.

“Where are we going?” Han Zichuan asked as I held him by the armpits, wind blowing his hair askew while he squinted at me. I ignored him, stepping lightly on air. He seemed as if he wanted to ask me more questions, but kept silent and held me tight instead.

This guy, he’s so heavy…

Actually, I’d already regretted the moment I flew out of the carriage with him, so much that my intestines might’ve turned black and green. I didn’t have much internal energy left, and here I was showing off. We hadn’t even reached the top of the cliff before I ran out of qi. My foot slipped a few paces as my heart sank. One hand hastily reached out and grabbed an outcropping rock on the cliff face while the other carried the weight of a second person…a glance downwards revealed the carriage at the bottom of the cliff, utterly destroyed.

Our combined weights made it feel like my fingers were breaking.

“Shao’er…” he looked at me with a gentle smile. “Why aren’t you letting me go?”

I choked on my silence as I held onto the rock in a death grip. Of course I wanted to let go, but for Fang Hua’s sake, I couldn’t just abandon you. The bottom of the cliff was a long ways down, but Han Zichuan kept smiling, though that smile…

…made me extremely uneasy. It was as if he’d come to some sort of decision.

My heart felt heavy as I tightened my grip on him, speaking in a tight voice. “Don’t even think about moving around. I don’t have enough strength to fish you back up if you drop.”

He slowly smiled and reached out a hand to embrace me, those eyes s.h.i.+ning like the light of shattered stars. Curses, I thought he was going to kill himself for my sake, but–hey, what’s he doing with his hands like that…I…I really don’t have any strength left!

My hand had stopped feeling sore and long turned numb, and blood was flowing down my wrist. The rock had cut into my flesh, but there was no pain as I raised my head, eyes searching. From here, I could see the light spilling over the edge of the cliff. Gritting my teeth, I summoned up all my reserves of internal energy and used brute strength to force my way up. My foot stepped on air as I leapt upwards, but before I could reach the top, qi burst into my chest and made me ill. It felt like my entire body was exploding from the inside. My vision blurred as everything grew hazy…

In the end, I blacked out.

The last thing I remembered was Han Zichuan gathering me into his arms as the scenery rushed past us. So even I had met with a day where I fell off a cliff. Little Fourth was right, this journey had really lead to a hugely inauspicious event.

—

I didn’t know how much time had pa.s.sed before a loud, shrill noise pierced through my muddled thoughts. My eyes opened weakly, but the sight I saw scared me to death. An abyss yawned before me and I instinctively backed away. Behind me was a dark cave, and around us were nothing but precipitous cliffs. Han Zichuan held me in a tight embrace.

One of his hands rested against my ear, the other holding an object that was expelling white smoke as it send a bright flare up into the pitch-black skies, illuminating it in a flash. It looked like some sort of signal. Since he had something like this, why not use it earlier, before we fell off the cliff…

Hold on, I’m not dead?

“Shao’er, I’m sorry…I woke you.” he used a hand to feel my forehead as he muttered to himself. “Your fever still hasn’t left you.”

I wearily clutched his sleeves, my teeth gritted as I asked, “What exactly happened?”

“You fainted, probably from exhaustion. I happened to see a cave on the side of the cliff and brought you here just now.”

Good. Very good…very fortunate.

Dare I ask exactly how you had the luck to carry a person in a dead faint to this cave while we were falling?

“Actually, my martial arts skills aren’t bad.”

I spat.

“What’s wrong? Do you feel unwell somewhere?”

I viciously used my sleeves to wipe my mouth and slowly closed my eyes. He’d enraged me enough to spit blood. This guy was perfectly capable of escaping from danger but decided to rely on me. Now look, we were both ruined and stuck in this dreary place.

—

Inside the cave, an icy wind blew past, making me s.h.i.+ver. I bent down into a crouch and tried to feel about me, but he looped me by the waist and forced me into his lap, looking about to laugh as he spoke in a serious tone. “You’ve been unconscious for half the day. Don’t move around, we should share body warmth since it’s cold at night.”

I fell silent, not because of what he said, but because I discovered I couldn’t call forth a trace of qi from within my body. Something was very wrong.

“Shao’er, why is your body so cold?” He seemed worried as he felt about me.

“Seems like I’m plaguing you with cares,” I pushed aside his hands and closed my eyes for a while, before quietly asking, “We’ve already been forced off a cliff. Have you figured out who was targeting you yet?”

He frowned, muttering to himself for a while before slowly replying. “I’m sorry for dragging you into it.”

…I laughed bitterly.

As I suspected, this person wouldn’t drag me back to the palace without reason. If people could even hurt the emperor, who knew how Fang Hua had pa.s.sed his days? I guessed the news of my disaster would’ve reached the young Princes by now. Things must be chaotic back at the house.

“Nothing will happen. Roughly around dawn, people will come to rescue us.”

I remained feebly in his embrace, staring at him with a half-smile. “Even on an inspection tour, the emperor has treacherous ministers planning his a.s.sa.s.sination? Looks like your rule hasn’t been all smooth and steady.”

He lifted his eyes to look at me, the expression as if to say, how did you know?

Of course I knew. My palm hadn’t harmed the a.s.sa.s.sin in the slightest. Even without adequate internal energy, the results shouldn’t have turned out like that. Thinking back, the feeling I had then…there was definitely armor hidden beneath his robes, and he looked like an experienced fighter. Maybe he was even the soldier of some general.

No one from the jianghu would dare to provoke me.

Right now, I was more worried about the Princes. They were famous figures in the jianghu, each one filled with determination to protect their Master. It was doubtful that they’d let matters rest if they couldn’t find me. I gave a vague glance at Han Zichuan’s calm expression, coupled with his leisurely posture, and thought it a bit odd. He didn’t seem a bit anxious. Did he mean to borrow the strength of the young Princes to kill rebellious, would-be a.s.sa.s.sins?

A sudden burst of pain filled my chest, and I looked away, sucking in a deep breath. Calm…I had to stay calm.

“Though Zhen ascended the throne as the emperor, military power has always been beyond my grasp. There are plenty of people who wish to rebel as well.” he swept his gaze over me, finally deigning to explain. Even the emperor’s carriage had been sabotaged, these ambitious rebels were really too bold.

Hey…

I slowly struggled free and grabbed the front of his jacket, sullen. “And you’re just letting them conspire against you like this?!”

“Shao’er, are you showing concern for me.” he peered at me tenderly, the question turning into a statement of certainty on his lips. I gave him a stunned looked before turning away, paralyzed with rage.

The current officials actually dared to send a.s.sa.s.sins after the emperor on his inspection tour. Such an open, brazen display of actions was not only crude and rash, but stupid. They seemed to have no thought for the consequences, perhaps because Han Zichuan had forced them to this point.

I should have realized it earlier…the person before me now had killed his own father while he was still a crown prince. He wasn’t a leader you could provoke easily. Though, if it was just his internal affairs, why drag an innocent person like me into the mess? Wasn’t this unfair? Unjust?

Tears…

Meanwhile, he kept staring and smiling at me, heart filled with happiness as he held me in his lap and took a breath. “Are you worrying about me again? When you told me to not let go no matter what at the cliff, I knew…even if everyone in the world was plotting against me, you wouldn’t. My Shao’er is still the same as before…”

If I could turn back time, I’d drop you without hesitation.

He held my face in his hands as he looked me up and down, eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong with your face, it’s so pale. Did you suffer some internal injuries?”

This guy, I was ready to sling him over my shoulder and throw him off the cliff. He only just realized I had internal injuries. Isn’t this a bit too slow?

Endure it…

“If you hold me any tighter, I’ll die faster.” I stared straight at him, forcing out my words.

He nestled closer in embarra.s.sment, the hands around my waist neither loosening nor tightening. After a while, they rested over my shoulders as he came to a decision, “Zhen has methods. Zhen will treat your injuries for you.”

I gave a start.

When he used the word “Zhen,” I had a premonition.

“No…” No need.

But the hands on my shoulders were like iron. I was seized with panic as he turned over and pressed me beneath him. As soon as I prepared to use my internal energy, he spoke. “If you don’t want to die early, then stop fiddling around with your internal energy.”

Hey, why did his lines sound so familiar? He…h-h-he, why was he copying me?

I grew blank. He gave me a slow, careful look while I docilely stayed on the ground. His words were right. I’d felt that something was wrong with my internal energy as soon as we fell off the cliff, but what treatment was he thinking of using? Even as I stared at him, he remained calm, circulating his own qi as he touched me with his palm. Burning qi streamed through my robes to enter me, pure and vigorous, but it only made my head feel numb. If I knew he was going to channel true qi inside me, I wouldn’t have listened to him.

Pah, what a lousy idea.

I resisted the tumultuous sensations within my chest with difficulty, suppressing and rejecting the stream of true qi as I turned over and pushed him aside. He seemed at a loss as he tried to move over and pull at me. “What happened, did I do it incorrectly?”

“That’s right. That’s very right…”

If he gave me any more true qi, it’d damage my internal organs and cause my body to burst. He eased me into his embrace and curved his eyes into a smile, hands resting on my shoulders to repeat the process. I couldn’t bear it anymore and leaned forward, spitting up a mouthful of blood.

“Shao’er, what’s happened to you..?” his voice shook, severely disturbed.

I pulled my mouth into a grin. “Nothing. Just let me sleep for awhile and stop fussing over me. My cultivation way is different from the rest, wavering between yang and yin. I can’t endure the usual…”