Chapter 695: A Crushing Defeat (2/2)
Although Hou Xiaoliang was very skilled, his opponents were nothing to laugh at. The enemy had the advantage in numbers and pressed him until he was desperately fighting for his life, unable to do much else!
Yu Xiaocao and Wutong lay near the crack of the door as they worriedly looked outside. That was right! Didn't she have a hidden weapon called ‘torrential pear blossom needles’ in her pouch? This particular hidden weapon of hers had been picked up when she was at the stud farm near the border. The young master of the Medicine King Valley, Xu Ziyi, had given it to her to play with.
This concealed weapon had been obtained from the traitor that Xu Ziyu had captured. Inside, it could hold around a dozen or so needles that were as thin as a cow’s hair. By gently pressing down on the mechanism, the weapon would let all of the needles fly forward. They were incredibly fast and the weapon was well hidden, making it hard for people to react against it.
Yu Xiaocao had once read a wuxia novel before and thought that the weapon, ‘torrential peach blossom needles’, was quite cruel so she gave the same name to this device. This time, she had especially brought along this little weapon, which resembled a tiny music box on the outside. She had coated all of the long needles within the device with a powerful sedating agent. Anyone who came in contact with this substance would fall into a deep stupor immediately. Even a sword poking at someone wouldn’t be enough to wake those people up.
At this time, they could hear Hou Xiaoliang’s muffled grunts outside the door. Wutong was anxious and couldn’t help but open the door a little to look outside. At this time, she covered her mouth with her hand in order to not let out a cry of shock. Hou Xiaoliang had just been injured to the bone on his left side with a long sword with blood flowing out of his wound.
“Wutong, give me space! Chunhua, protect me closely!” Yu Xiaocao saw that Hou Xiaoliang struggled heavily to cripple two experts with his heavy injuries. There were three other experts who, although injured, were still in good shape. Those three people pressed on harder after seeing that the bodyguard had gotten hurt.
There was no time to waste. If she continued to cower inside, Hou Xiaoliang would likely lose his life. Once he died, then the three of them in the room would be easily subdued within moments. Although Chunhua was quite skilled, she was still much inferior compared to Hou Xiaoliang. With such experts stalking them, the conclusion was inevitable. If they used her to threaten her husband and Sir Su, then the consequences were unimaginable.
The door was pulled wide open. Chunhua protected her sides and used a sword to threaten away a little bandit. Xiaocao had her back towards the door as she lightly pressed down on the mechanism of the box that was in her hands. Following that, the sounds of needles swiftly flying out could be heard and ‘torrential needle rain’ flew out in a circular arc around her.
A bizarre sight had occurred in front of her immediately. The three opposing experts, along with Hou Xiaoliang and the seven to eight pirates around them, were now all slumped over on the ground in a stupor. Some of them even snored loudly.
Wutong saw Hou Xiaoliang on the floor and didn’t care about her own safety as she held onto his arm in an attempt to pull him inside the room. Although he was slender, he had a tall and muscular figure, so he weighed at least a hundred and thirty-some catties.
Although Wutong had been born as a maidservant, she had been the young miss’s personal maidservant for almost a decade and hadn’t done any heavy work all of those years. Furthermore, she even had lower-ranked maidservants around her to order around. Everyone said that the maidservants from large noble families were more delicate than the young pretty misses of humble families. This wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
However, the limits of humans were undefined. When there was a crisis at hand and she wanted to save her beloved sweetheart, she was able to use her own strength alone to drag him from the deck and into the room.
“Young Miss, why did you also make Hou Xiaoliang unconscious?” Wutong tore off Hou Xiaoliang’s outer jacket and saw the open wound that was still oozing out blood. Her eyes immediately turned red. She knew that the princess consort always brought her personal medicine box out whenever she traveled, so after asking her mistress, she took out some medicine to treat his wounds.
Yu Xiaocao allowed her to use the special wound balm she had personally crafted. It was very effective in stopping blood from flowing and it was never sold to outsiders as it was for her own use.
When she heard the question, she rolled her eyes, “You can’t make the needles from the concealed weapon dodge around things. Hou Xiaoliang had been fighting with those three experts. If I gave him a warning, the enemy would also be on guard. Here’s the antidote; help him take it. Also don't forget to pull out the long needles from his back using tweezers.”
At this time, the door to the outside had been opened and Yu Xiaocao immediately aimed the weapon towards the person coming in. This special box could be used three times, so it wasn’t a one and done deal!
“Mistress, it’s me!” Chunhua was afraid that the enemy outside would wake up, so she used her sword to permanently make them sleep. She had the scent of blood around her as she came in.
Yu Xiaocao watched as she re-barricaded the door and casually asked, “How’s the situation outside? Is His Highness and Sir Su okay?”
“Although the enemy has a lot of people, they only had around twenty or so who could be considered true experts. Hou Xiaoliang has dealt with five here and His Highness and Sir Su have also defeated several now. Your Highness, please relax. We have the advantage now!” After Chunhua had finished cleaning up the enemy around them, she had also glanced around the battleground outside and was now much more relieved.
Yu Xiaocao felt her heart finally settle down after hearing this. The words that came out of her mouth, however, were all complaints, “It’s all his fault! He wanted to show off just how strong he was and didn't want to bring more bodyguards along. Now see, once we reached a crisis, we didn't have enough people on board, right? If he brought along a dozen or so soldiers from the Firearms Barracks, they’d shoot the enemy down with a bang. Hou Xiaoliang also wouldn't be injured now!”
“Your Highness, this subordinate is fine. It’s only a small wound after all!” Hou Xiaoliang had taken the antidote and was now awake. He held his bandaged up shoulder as he picked up his sword to head out again.