Chapter 44 (2/2)
Xiao Yao’s eyes grew misty, so this is why Li Jie Consort invited her today, to pass word fro lanterns with sadness in her eyes “The dead is gone and the livingthe dead back, bestso Li Jie Consort smiled “Xiao Yao, don’t think it’s easy forthis Your pain I have experienced before, I knohat it feels like to hurt so much I would rather not live But I know my every smile would make him happy, so I try hard to smile every day”
Xiao Yao turned in shock to stare at the always jovial Li Jie Consort “Xiao Yao, learn to hide your beloved deep inside your heart, even if you accept another in the future, re loved theAllow yourself to be happy again, it’s not forgetting or betraying him The dead won’t be upset and will instead be comforted”
Xiao Yao said “I know”
Li Jie Consort sighed “Go make a wish and release a lantern!”
Li Jie Consort’s maid said to Xiao Yao “This s is very docile, if Miss holds the rein tightly nothing will happen”
“Thank you” Xiao Yao got on the shile Miao Pu rode another s and followed alongside
Xiao Yao wrapped the reins tightly around her wrist and tossed a lantern into the sea of clouds A gust of wind carried into the distance She released three ht was fronolia tree so the air filled with that scent Xiao Yao didn’t make a wish, since she was small every as dashed in the er made wishes Xiao Yao felt the heavens heard her wish and would purposely destroy that very wish After soht to herself “Jing, I’ve planted nolia trees on Xiao Yue Peak, when the flowers bloo suddenly screa out of control Xiao Yao was taken off guard and alht and stay on
Miao Pu yelled “Miss, Miss!” She tried to catch up but the crazed sas flying too fast and Miao Pu couldn’t catch it
The s cried out while flying all over the place, up and side and sideways, even turning in the air Xiao Yao was sent flying but she held onto the reins and was flung around like a leaf in the wind
Screams rendered the air as people yelled “Help, help!”
Li Jie Consort yelled “Xiao Yao, hold on tight, no ed ride not waiting for help and fleards Xiao Yao But the crazed sas in the throes of survival and all its power focused on this final flight so Li Jie Consort could not catch up
Xiao Yao looked at the s and saw blood coo crazy but was suffering from deadly poison So the person anted to kill her struck again!
This ht really be the end for Xiao Yao Li Jie Consort picked a location far fro, and even if they arrived Xiao Yao likely would have fallen from the sky already She could survive in water but couldn’t survive a fall fro her not to give up and don’t die! Xiao Yao bit her tongue and the pain allowed her to focus and eased the nausea fros and saw the s to an area with sharp cliffs on both sides An area of green suddenly appeared so Xiao Yao used all her ht to climb up the reins towards the back of the s The reins were soft leather but under the pressure it cut into Xiao Yao’s palm, with each pull it cut deeper and the blood and pain flowed
The s turned a few ony and Xiao Yao was turned with it, so she bit her lips to radually clirab the neck of the s
The sas nearly its end and could fall froreen forest below and decided to land there She was like a beast as she bit down hard on the right side of the s’s neck and caused it to turn left towards the green forest below
The s appeared to knoas going to die and cawed pitifully Xiao Yao didn’t even hesitate as she wrapped her arhtly around the s’s neck and snapped it with a crack Xiao Yao tightly held onto the s’s neck with her arhtly as the s fell like a shooting star froot closer and closer, Xiao Yao turned the s around so it was below as she was above, and then curled her body tightly against the s’s soft sto! The thunderous impact noises rose around her
Xiao Yao’s eyes saw black and her entire body was aching She didn’t kno many bones she broke or whether she could withstand all the iainst the s to lessen as much impact as possible
Xiao Yao was in so much pain she passed out
So blood She struggled to cli that she was covered in blood from head to toe, unclear whether it was her blood or the s’s blood or a ardless of whether that person was Xing Yue, to dare atte Mountain meant there was a backup plan Xiao Yao didn’t dare stay put and she picked up a branch to use as a crutch and tried to walk Thank goodness she lived alone in the mountains for tens of years, she still had the instinct of the wilderness survival so she headed in the direction of water
Xiao Yao always carriedthe sild flight She could only look for herbs along the way, and luckily she found a few as she got closer to the water When she reached the water source, Xiao Yao weakly sat down and took a deep breath She walked into the water to wash the blood off and inspect her body
She heard the birds behind her startle into the air so she reached out her arm and a silver bow appeared
When she fell froht noas probably annoyed at hi Xiao Yao smiled and stroked the bow “It’s all up to you now!”
As she pulled the bow back, Xiao Yao’s arms shook in pain but once the boas cocked, all her training kicked into place and her stance was steady and firm She released and a silver arroard with a whoosh
A scream split the air and someone said “No worries, it wasn’t a critical hit”
All her arroere tipped with poison but Xiao Yao was more worried that she already used her one out of three chances
Sixthere unable to even walk and relaxed their stance They clearly were told Xiao Yao had weak powers so laughed when they saw her pulling back her bow
A silver arroas released going fro in the arm of another Another arro forth, the trajectory weird as well, whizzing by the ear of two and leaving a thin blood trail before e in the eye of a third
Two arrows and five people! Xiao Yao did the best she could!
The bow disappeared into her arm and Xiao Yao weakly smiled and her heart said a soft “Thank you!”
A voice from the forest yelled in alarm “It’s poisonous! Be careful!”
A masked man ran out from the forest “The arrow has deadly poison, number 7 is dead!”
And with that, one, two, three…all five fell one by one, leaving only the one who didn’t get shot and the one who came out of the forest
The twopowers and training, and before this mission they were told Xiao Yao had loers They expected danger but not fro three arrows and her body was spent Her entire body was shaking as she stared at the two men and picked up the branch to use as a weapon The two men didn’t dare underestimate Xiao Yao anymore and summoned their power as they advanced on her Xiao Yao knew shea branch as a weapon, but if she was going to die then she wanted to take as many with her as she could
The two men unsheathed their swords and ca her like she was a real foe Their attacked shattered the branch in her hand and right as she was about to be pierced, a shadow dashed between her and the attackers like lightning He didn’t have a weapon but used his bare hands against the attackers yet showed no fear
One e and instead softened his arrab the maskedand blood spurting everywhere
When the shadow first arrived the movement was too fast so Xiao Yao couldn’t see clearly who it was but seeing such a brutal attack she said “Left Ear!” Xiao Yao let out a sigh of relief and collapsed on the ground, unable to move anymore
The two masked men were not any less weak than Left Ear but his attacks were so direct and lethal they had never encountered it before Left Ear even licked the blood that splashed on his face and made the men even more terrified Left Ear didn’t even blink, this was like being in the slave arena deaththewhatever means possible so he could survive
After a short battle, two round
Left Ear walked over to Xiao Yao and kneeled down Xiao Yao said “My one leg is broken, and cracked a few ribs You?”
“My arm is injured”
Xiao Yao tossed herbs to Left Ear that could staunch the blood flow and mask the stench of blood She applied the herb to herself and said to Left Ear “Let’s find a place to hide”
Left Ear carried Xiao Yao on his back and headed upstreaht not have been able to avoid your arrows”
Xiao Yao sood h in Xiao Yao’s tone of voice and Left Ear was especially sensitive to it “Was it Bei?”
“Yes”
Left Ear exclaimed “I will help hi Liu – crystal clear in those who help and harm him In Left Ear’s mind, Bei helped him so he wanted to repay the debt, but Bei was dead so noanted to repay his debt to Bei by taking care of Xiao Yao
Xiao Yao laughed softly “You two really are the same species! But him and I……we’re not as close as you think we are”
Left Ear walked for an hour or so before saying “There is a wolf cave over there”
Xiao Yao said “Go negotiate with theht”
The wolf cave was very hidden, but Xiao Yao lived in the s well, plus Left Ear had a very acute sense of smell In no time they found the wolf cave Left Ear went in first and Xiao Yao slowly crawled in after The wolf cave wasn’t very high but was quite spacious in width Seven or eight little wolf pups stared at them while a horde of adult wolves surrounded the when she saw Left Ear sitting in front of one large wolf That was the alpha male clearly and Xiao Yao sy but intuitively knew that winning a battle rabbed the wolf leader out of the cave, likely to eli the wolf pee all around A short time later, Left Ear came back and the wolf leader bounded inside The wolves for Xiao Yao and Left Ear, tense like they wanted to attack but not daring to
Xiao Yao knew an agreement was reached and asked Left Ear “Do you have medicine on you?”
Left Ear took out two bottles “Miao Pu gave these tohe was accusto, so even these two items he only kept on him because Miao Pu forced him to take it
One bottle had thousand year old bone essence from Jade Mountain, the other a snited Xiao Yao laughed “Miao Pu is certainly generous, giving you these priceless items”
Xiao Yao handed the bone essence back to Left Ear “Keep this safe, at the critical moment it can extend your life” Bone essence was no use to Xiao Yao since she drank soon Jade Mountain, but for Left Ear it could keep hi alive could she hope to make it out
Left Ear said “When I ca for you Shall we rendezvous with them?”
“Let’s wait and see Grandfather may be powerful but these years he tries to avoid any association of using his power so he doesn’t get involved with the Sheng Nong Mountain security guards Other than the guards on Xiao Yue Peak, none of the guards belong to Grandfather and report to hiuards are trustworthy What if they act like they are here to rescue but really to finish me off? Why deliver ourselves to them?”
Left Ear didn’t ponder any further and closed his eyes to rest As a slave at the edge of life and death all the time, his demeanor was always calm and he never let any opportunity to rest pass”
Despite the pain in her body, Xiao Yao also started to fall asleep
Left Ear suddenly opened his years and jostled Xiao Yao towards outside
Someone was here! Xiao Yao didn’t know if it was someone here to rescue or kill her She strained to hear and there were footsteps outside that gradually grew faint Suddenly she heard two voices – it was Feng Long and Xing Yue! They were likely conversing near the opening to the wolf cave Feng Long likely used an enchantap due to Left Ear’s actions earlier in securing the peri Xiao Yao to strain to listen but even then she could onlyYue’s voice was agitated buta lot
“Are you insane?” Feng Long boo voice was loud and clear since he was so furious
“I already did it……a released arrow cannot go back to the bow……I can only try and kill Xiao Yao before His Majesty gets back I’ve already thought of a cover story and pin all the blaain
It wasn’t clear what Feng Long said but Xing Yue’s voice suddenly rose an octave and she shrieked in fury and sadness “When you were growing up without a care in Chi Sui, did you think about ood side of all those lords and ladies, all while you were sleeping exhausted after playing all day! I would wake up fro that Dad wouldn’t revolt and the Yellow Ee, you were growing up without a care and never once helped me When His Majesty wanted to make Ah Nian an E just for a few plots of pri you, if you don’t want to help et the fuck out! From childhood until now I haven’t needed your help and won’t need to start now either!”
“I urged you to agree to Ah Nian being Empress not for the added land, but because it was also in your best interests”
“Just leave! I don’t want to hear what you have to say any to do with you!” Xing Yue’s voice gradually disappeared as she likely was rushi+ng off
“Xing Yue, listen to ret and his voice also trailed off as he hurried after Xing Yue
Xiao Yao didn’t hear the rest of their conversation but she knew that in the end Feng Long would agree to help Xing Yue! It wasn’t just because they were siblings, but also because Feng Long felt he owed Xing Yue because she was the hostage in Xuan Yuan Castle when they were growing up, that allowed hi didn’t want to hurt Xiao Yao but life often had choices that one was forced to choose Even if doing so would be difficult to endure, one would go down that path Xiao Yao understood but she was still saddened as she reht, where did that all go that Xing Yue had to kill her no ether to kill you”
Xiao Yao replied “I heard it”
Left Ear added “They will be back”
“I know”
The killers were afraid Xiao Yao would escape so was rushi+ng ahead to catch up to her Once they couldn’t find her ahead, they would double back and at such time even this hidden spot would be discovered
Left Ear stared intently at Xiao Yao who shook her head “Don’t keep thinking about killing people Feng Long has strong powers and Xing Yue is surrounded by top guards You won’t be able to kill them Let’s just try and escape!”
After Miao Pu’s repeated lectures, Left Ear learned that a bodyguard’s only job was to protect, and killing was only used in protecting He wasn’t as fixated on killing anyht a bit and said “It’s not possible to escape out of Sheng Nong Mountain, and even if we do it’s likely not any safer”
Sheng Nong and Chi Sui, Xiao Yao didn’t dare underesti Nong Mountain at least they would hold back a bit, outside they would likely do anything Xiao Yao said “The only safe place is Xiao Yue Peak, we need to find a way to get back there, or find a way to stay alive until Zhuan Xu gets back”
It was also dawn so the news of what happened would have been sent The fastest Zhuan Xu could get back o days and two nights later, so the road to staying alive o days and two nights long!
Xiao Yao said “We can’t stay here, let’s set off!”
Left Ear carried Xiao Yao on his back and she moaned in pain Left Ear asked in concern “Can you endure?”
Xiao Yao fell froravely injured Even the accustomed to injury Left Ear orried about her Xiao Yao said “I can hang on! Don’t worry, my body is different than most people”
Left Ear scrambled out of the wolf cave and headed in the direction of Xiao Yue Peak
Along the way Xiao Yao looked around and occasionally had Left Ear pick various herbs She also had Left Ear pick a sour fruit and they both ate some Later she was so exhausted she fell asleep on his back
When Xiao Yao woke up, she was sitting on the ground against a tree while Left Ear fought with six attackers, with four dead bodies already on the ground
Left Ear finally understood the difference between killer and bodyguard, his goal was to protect Xiao Yao so his everyXiao Yao He could not attack freely so was like a caged beast, his power greatly reduced, so he was already covered in even more injuries
Xiao Yao looked at the wind direction and coughed while taking a handful of dried leaves and placing it on the s the herbs Left Ear collected thisA smoke started to rise and the wind carried it around
“Be careful! The smoke is poison!”
By the time the killers reacted it was too late and their movements slacked Left Ear used that opportunity to swiftly kill them all
Left Ear curiously asked “That was poison?”
Xiao Yao sether, those herbs will only stun people te was the antidote to the effects of this herb”
Left Ear wanted to extinguish the fire but Xiao Yao told him to throw more wet branches on it Soon there was a thick black sh into the sky
Left Ear carried Xiao Yao and started to run again as Xiao Yao explained “Our tracks are already revealed so ht as well expose ourselves completely The thick smoke will attract the attention of those who are actually here to save us, andand Xing Yue will be wary I also don’t want theure out hoe killed those people, a secret trick is of no use when people know about it”
Left Ear saw Xiao Yao’s face stark white and her energy flagging “You sleep a bit now”
Xiao Yao said “Sure” But instead she got up her energy to keep looking around for herbs to help Left Ear or anything that could come in handy to save them
It could be Xiao Yao’s planned work, or Left Ear was adept at hiding, either way they didn’t encounter any more attackers by the time sun set
Xiao Yao didn’t express any disco was too jerky, but that was enough for Left Ear to sense she was in great pain
At nighttime, he chose a very hidden spot and had Xiao Yao lie down Xiao Yao handed him herbs for his injuries and he asked “No herbs for you?”
Xiao Yao sested all sorts of herbs and medicines when I was small so I recover faster than most people, but conversely most herbs and medicines have no effect on rave injury”
Left Ear killed a little deer and he could eat it raw but didn’t kno to feed Xiao Yao without starting a fire Xiao Yao needed food otherwise she wouldn’t last the night Xiao Yao said “I can drink the blood even if I can’t eat the raw meat”
Left Ear bit open the deer’s soft neck and placed the wound next to Xiao Yao’s lips She drank the fresh blood, about a bowlful, before she shook her hand indicating enough
Left Ear squatted to the corner and quickly ate the deer,on the shi+p Xiao Yao asking Xiang Liu to have Furball eat his , he covered the tracks before washi+ng his hand and going over to carry Xiao Yao on his back again
Xiao Yao said “Now let’s head away from Xiao Yue Peak, and move slower but cover our tracks better, no matter what don’t leave any tracks”
Left Ear looked around before ju on a tree to travel fro and Xing Yue know that only Xiao Yue Peak can protectfor us there to kill me once and for all We can’t beat theets back Even if Zhuan Xu doesn’t think it’s Feng Long and Xing Yue, he’s a suspicious person by nature so he won’t trust anyone anymore He will send everyone away and only keep hisMountain after this”
Left Ear could tell she was having trouble talking “Don’t need to explain, I trust you Rest up now”
Xiao Yao was starting to see things and before her flashed Xiang Liu and she murmured “One day you will become very smart and powerful, and won’t need me anymore I’m just upset that your transfor to teach you as much as I can now”
Left Ear was indeed truly intuitive and asked “I will beco Liu?”
Xiao Yao drowsily said “I hope it’s more like Bei……but it’s all the same! No matter what you become, I will accompany you to walk the entire path…”
Xiao Yao passed out and Left Ear kept going until stopping right before dawn He saw Xiao Yao’s face turn red hot and called “Xiao Yao…Xiao Yao…”
Xiao Yao didn’t respond and the normally fearless Left Ear started to feel afraid for the first time He took out the bottle of bone essence and fed it to Xiao Yao before putting her back on his back and heading off again
With his alert senses, he roups of seachers and when no one was around he would call Xiao Yao’s naot any response
At sunset Left Ear finally stopped because he was so exhausted he couldn’t rass and looked at her burning face He grabbed a large frond to fan her while also using it to cup water to feed her
Xiao Yao finally woke up and Left Ear said “You hang in there, after tonight when the sun rises tomorroe’ll be safe”
Xiao Yao’s eyes were unfocused and didn’t seenolias”
Left Ear saw that Xiao Yao liked those pink flowers and quickly plucked an ar back and place around her
Left Ear placed on in Xiao Yao’s hand and she said “When the weather is nice I’ll wash your hair, and you can washdew”
Left Ear knew Xiao Yao was delirious and could no nothing other than repeating “Endure tonight and His Majesty will be here at sunrise, so you have to make it until then”
Xiao Yao sradually set Xiao Yao suddenly started crying “Jing, the flower is gone! I can’t see you anymore!” Her eyes were about to close and Left Ear suddenly felt that he could not let Xiao Yao sleep no ain
Left Ear took some branches and shoved the Godly wood inside, the entire thing lit up like a torch “Look! So many flowers, so many many flowers!”
Xiao Yao tried hard and opened her eyes and took in the flowers
Left Ear didn’t care about exposing their location any htly so Xiao