Chapter 22: Second update

Both of them were panting heavily. Gu Guan hurried as fast as he could, tying the cloth rope on the bumpy horse's back, for fear of missing out.

Xie Cibing took a risky move and took the initiative, but he really tried his best. In just half a cup of tea, he had reached his limit in an instant with his amazing outburst.

At this moment, his eyes were burning and red, his face was dotted with blood, and his whole body of blood was boiling with the last splash of blood from his neck.

He took the reins, pulled the fat horse, and the horse stood up with a long neigh. He immediately turned around and rushed down the rugged cliff slope.

The howling north wind suddenly grew stronger, whistling past her ears. Gu Guan quickly tore off the hem of her clothes to bandage the cut on his arm to stop the bleeding. His arm was stiff and quickly stained her sleeve red. She shouted urgently, "Quick! They searched Zhang County and took the letter yesterday! They might have sent someone to Huangzhou—"

In that instant, Xie Ci felt the blood rushing backwards throughout his body!

The two men were so anxious that they didn't care about the winding mountain road for a moment. They rode their horses at full speed, quickly shook off the pursuers behind them, went around the loess road in the fields, and ran at full speed on the post road.

From morning to night, when night fell, they finally arrived at Longshan Road, the only way back to the interior of the country from the northwest.

Between two towering and steep mountains, a flat military road cut out from a dry river valley spirals eastward in the dark night.

Unfortunately, they were a step too late!

After throwing down a large ingot of silver, he left the tea stall beside the post road. Just as night fell, a group of more than ten people on horseback passed by the post road from west to east.

——All the horses are fat and strong in Hequ, and all the young and strong men are dressed in strong clothes, galloping past with swords and knives. Even if their clothes are low-key and ordinary, you can tell at a glance which powerful family has sent them out to do something.

Xie Ci and Gu Guan hurried over as fast as they could, rushed across Longshan Road, and chased all the way to the end, but they were still one step too late.

The other party has passed by!

The cold and strong north wind blew all day, the leaden clouds in the dark sky grew thicker and thicker, and finally the heaviest snow of the year began to fall.

Little by little, at first like flying catkins, mixed with a little rain vapor, floating down little by little.

In the pitch-black night, bits of white fluff fell on my hands and face, freezing them bit by bit.

The two men, breathing heavily, suddenly stopped their horses and looked left and right at the two dark forks in the road ahead.

It just so happens that both routes can lead to Huangzhou, the distances are almost the same, and even the road conditions have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The wind was howling, the night was silent, and the thorns, twisted branches and yellow earth on both sides of the road were of various shapes, but now they became fierce and ferocious in the darkness.

At this moment, a thunderous sound of horse hooves was heard!

Longshan Road is the only flat road among the towering mountains. It serves as an official road and post road in peacetime and a military road in wartime. To its east is Guzhou City, an important town in the northern border, and to its west are Wating and Longcheng Pass. Once the two sides go to war, they will respond to each other and, if necessary, block Longshan Road for marching purposes.

The thunderous sound of horse hooves rushed to the road entrance, where they saw a group of armored generals and soldiers coming from the direction of Gucheng, crossing the Longshan Road and heading towards Wating. The leader, who was surrounded by several generals and talking as he walked, was actually an acquaintance, Xiaoshan King Li Yi!

The two sides met unexpectedly like this. Li Yi was a little surprised, but when he glanced at Gu Guanxie Ci and the other two who were panting and reining in their horses, especially the latter, who had faint traces of blood on his body in the dark, he almost immediately understood what was going on.

"Are you chasing the group ahead?"

Li Yi smiled, his handsome face smiling calmly and elegantly. He looked back in the direction he came from: "The group is about five miles away, just turned onto a dirt road branch to the south."

This group of people obviously did not want to meet Li Yi's army, which was marching openly, so they went to a side road from a distance. When Li Yi turned the big bend first, he just saw the last two people and two horses flash by behind the thorn bushes.

In the dark night, the snow and rain hit his face, freezing cold. Xie Ci was breathing heavily like a wild beast. He stared at Li Yi, gritting his teeth.

But Gu Wan believed him almost immediately!

Li Yi had no reason to harm Xie Ci in the early stage, and he would not want to make an enemy of him now. Even in the previous life, the two of them had disagreements only in the final stage.

Gu Wan glanced at Li Yi and pulled the reins without hesitation, "Gee!"

As soon as she pulled the lever, two fast horses immediately rushed into the fork in the road on the left!

The two rushed out five miles at the fastest speed. After looking for a while, they found a small dirt path trampled out in the thorn bushes in the south, which meandered into the dark mountains.

The two men rode their horses and rushed in without hesitation.

The north wind was very strong and the snow began to get heavier, crackling on their faces and bodies. In the dark night, the two men rushed forward along the small dirt road. Finally, more than a mile ahead, they found the group of people who had stopped to take shelter and were about to return to the post road.

The sound of wind and snow drowned out the sounds of horses' hooves and human voices. After climbing the slope, the two sides suddenly met face to face.

Xie Ci drew out his long sword, the slender blade reflected the snow light, flashing with an icy cold light!

“Ahh—”

One, two, three, four,... fifteen, sixteen, seventeen! Not one more, not one less. Xie Ci stepped on his stirrup, leaped into the air, and charged forward!

Gu Guan also drew out his sword and rushed forward.

Every dramatic growth and surge in combat power was accompanied by heart-wrenching pressure and crisis. Gu Wan could clearly feel that Xie Ci's lethality had skyrocketed. He broke through his limits under the bloody pressure, and his combat power had clearly increased by more than one level.

He was like a killing god. His chain knife made a first move and harvested five or six enemy lives before it even touched the ground. Blood splattered all over the snow-stained yellow earth, instantly disrupting the enemy's formation. The two sides fought fiercely, and soon the bodies fell one by one in a pool of blood on the yellow earth.

Gu Guan rushed to catch up with the escaped fish who had fled in panic when they saw the situation was not good. The bloody battle in the back had stopped. Xie Ci's face was half red with blood. He walked up to the last two survivors with a knife in hand and asked, "Tell me, how many waves of people came out?"

"Do you have any accomplices who are taking the other route?"

Xie Ci said coldly, "If you tell me even a single lie, I'll castrate you."

The army had many ways of torturing enemy spies, and Xie Ci had a deep understanding of them. Gu Guan caught up with the two men and knocked them down one after another. He squatted down to check whether they were dead or not, and heard a miserable howl coming from the back.

"I say, I say! There are no more. The best fighters under the Second Young Master have all been transferred to Yinglie Slope. There are only Brother Min and the other two here."

When Xie Ci shot out the chain knife, the two good fighters were caught off guard and were seriously injured. In the end, they died under his knife.

"Really? There's no one left. We're the only ones left. Please kill me! Ah——"

Xie Ci was in such a violent mood at this moment that he wanted to kill everyone and tear them into pieces. He killed the two men with a single blow, but he heard the rustling of thorn bushes and the light reflection of snow. Gu Guan came out wading through the rubble with a sword in hand. When he looked up and saw her, the violent emotions that were surging and roaring in his chest suddenly subsided.

My mind cleared up and my boiling blood cooled down.

He took a few deep breaths, and his breathing became much smoother. When he hurried to meet Gu Wan, he first saw her bloodstained hands.

He suddenly felt very uncomfortable in his heart, and his eyes were hot at this moment. He took Gu Wan's hand and looked at the pair of slender white hands stained with sticky human blood, "...I'm sorry."

Xie Ci still remembered the moment Gu Wan’s dagger reached his neck when he was caught while escaping from prison.

Now her hands were stained with blood, more on her own hands, and more on others. When he took her hands, he stained her hands, which were as white as peeled scallions, with even more blood.

Xie Ci felt very guilty. Her hands should have been used for riding horses, picking flowers and willows, or playing chess and composing chess scores. She originally liked these things.

For a moment, he felt indescribable guilt.

But after asking this question, Gu Wan burst into laughter: "Who says I have to like playing chess and writing chess scores forever? Can't people grow up?"

After running all the way, she finally dealt with this group of people and resolved her worries. She was in a good mood. "I like this, otherwise I wouldn't come out!"

As for killing someone, it was just a psychological barrier that he had overcome during the prison break, so it wasn't a big deal now. When Gu Wan was in school, there were special pre-psychological counseling classes specifically for this. If he became a criminal police officer, wouldn't it be normal to shoot the criminals when necessary?

These are all bad people, none of them are good people who help the evil, and she feels at ease with it.

Gu Guan pulled Xie Ci over, skillfully rolled up his sleeves, and rewrapped his wound that was bursting with blood. "You must take good care of yourself. After we have cleared our grievances and avenged ourselves, we still have a long way to go."

Her laughing voice was brought to them by the wind. After simply re-bandaging the wound, the two men led the horses over and sat on them again.

One of the horses ran away and they couldn't find it after searching for it. Since it was not advisable to stay here for long, the two of them decided to ride together.

He turned onto the post road and ran all the way. Looking back at the towering Longshan Mountain and the post road immersed in darkness, Xie Ci's heart was filled with emotions. He finally had time to sort out what had happened today.

He said, "I killed Xun Rongbi."

Xie Ci felt a little uneasy. He stood between Xun Xun and Xun Rongbi and swung his knife at Xun Rongbi without hesitation.

But in fact, Xun Rongbi was about to die, and he had almost been controlled and his power was taken away by Xun Xun. In fact, killing Xun Xun at that time would have been the more correct choice.

This thought flashed through his mind at the time, but the surge of hatred prompted him to choose to kill Xun Rongbi.

Now, facing Gu Wan, he began to feel uneasy and guilty.

Unexpectedly, Gu Wan said, "Well done! You did the right thing."

As soon as she heard it, she understood what Xie Ci meant, and the child began to blame herself again.

However, when it comes to children, Gu Guan feels that it is no longer appropriate to call them children.

She looked back and saw Xie Ci riding on horseback in the dark night, facing the howling cold wind. The young man had sword-like eyebrows and flying black hair, and he looked like a silver spear just out of its sheath, showing its sharpness.

He experienced his first real growth.

It's like the whole person has been reborn.

The weighing, coping, and decisiveness on Yinglie Hill are the astonishing growth under the pressure of crisis.

He seemed to have grown up all of a sudden, and the last trace of youthful spirit between his eyebrows had disappeared completely.

Gu Guan felt very happy. A peerless hero who resisted the outside world should not have ended up like that!

"You did the right thing. If it were me, I would kill him too!"

People are not machines. Why do they travel thousands of miles to the northwest? It is not to follow the routine.

Xun Rongbi was extremely hateful and bore the brunt of the hatred. Gu Wan asked herself, if she were Xie Ci, would she also stab him to death first?

"Anyway, there will be opportunities to kill Xun Xun in the future."

"You did the right thing."

Gu Wan gave a thumbs up and said with a smile, "That's exactly what I want."

This is a sincere thank you expressed with passion and sincerity.

"Don't think too much, you're great!"

They uncovered the Suzhou scam, escaped unscathed, and killed their first enemy, doing it more beautifully than she had expected.

"This should be considered a victory in the first battle, right?"

Gu Wan pinched her chin, and the wind carried her hearty laughter far away. "Well begun is half done!"

The wind was very strong, and the snow particles crackled, gradually turning into heavy snow, covering the bloodstains and footprints along the way.

The two ran for an unknown amount of time before finally finding a suitable earthen temple to spend the night in the late night.

When he got off the horse, Gu Guan stepped onto the steps, and Xie Ci tied the horse behind the sheltered side wall.

He turned around to look at Gu Wan's long and graceful back, and for some reason, he suddenly recalled what Xie Ersao had said, "It's not easy for a person to meet a partner who can stand by him through thick and thin and is a perfect match for him in this life."

......

In the dark night sky, little bits of white flakes fluttered and danced. Gu Wan, who was standing on the steps, suddenly turned around. She smiled and said seriously, "Xie Ci, after a year, can we become sworn brothers and sisters?"

Xie Ci was stunned. He should have been very happy because he had thought so before, but for some reason, he felt inexplicably reluctant.

"No way, why do you have to be the older sister? We are obviously the same age!"

He quit.

Gu Wan couldn't help but chuckle. Tsk, men, no matter how old or young, all like to be the boss and not the little brother. She laughed twice, "Then...you can call me Ah Wan, or Wan Niang."

Her friends all call her Wanwan, but Wanwan is a little bit of a thing, so let's compromise and call her Awan!

Xie Ci's reluctance suddenly disappeared like the spring sun melting snow, and he suddenly became happy, "Okay!"

"Yuan Niang, Guan Niang."

Gu Wan laughed: "Yeah!"

The author has something to say:

When I was writing the last part of this chapter, a very beautiful picture came to my mind: the wind blew and the snow fell, he looked at her back as fast as the wind, the snow was hazy, and he didn't feel cold in the cold night.

Hehehe, the emotions changed quietly, and the person involved was still at a loss, as if he was not aware of it. (A Xiu likes to write about this kind of youthful emotions the most, haha)

Next is the stage of brewing this transformation~

Only at this point did Wanwan truly treat Xie Ci as a family member.

…

They said Prisoner Robbery was at its lowest point, but we're on a ladder of progress, hahaha. Ten thousand updates are finally here! Fat, isn't it? (squinting smile) I'll send out the red envelopes tomorrow night. I love you guys so much!! Good night, tut tut~~ See you tomorrow!! (づ￣3￣)づ

(Tomorrow is Thursday, haha~)