dilapidated temple in the mountains

The dark forest was shrouded in mist, a torrential downpour was falling, a lone wolf howled at the moon, and occasional rumbles of thunder could be heard.

This mountain is a wild mountain, and the endless range of mountains trapped in the rain is a rare hiding place. Even if the group of masked men in black followed them into the mountains, finding them would not be easy.

Rain dripped down Wu Qi's cheeks. She was dressed in thin clothes, and her dress was soaked by the rain. A cool breeze blew, and a bone-chilling cold lingered around her.

The mountains were densely forested with numerous wild paths. The group of men in black held up dim, yellow glass lanterns to provide light, while Wu Qi and Yi Shen did not carry lanterns. They took advantage of the pitch-black east wind and hid in the shadows of the trees.

In the instant light and shadow met, Wu Qi and Yi Shen stood on the tree, holding their breath and watching the group of men in black riding horses and carrying lanterns pass by below.

Wu Qi took the opportunity to count them; there were a total of forty people.

She tugged at Yi Shen's sleeve, and Yi Shen took the opportunity to grab her wrist, then wrapped her hand in his palm and shook it very gently, signaling her not to speak.

After the twilight dissipated and the group of people had completely disappeared, Yi Shen put his arm around Wu Qi's waist and jumped from the tree to the ground.

"Young Master Yi is truly a man of great talent and wisdom."

In the heavy rain, Wu Qi's hair and outer garment were completely soaked. She wiped the rainwater off her face without much concern, poked Yi Shen's arm, and said accusingly, "Tell me the truth, when did you learn lightness skill?"

Children of noble families are not allowed to practice martial arts, but Yi Shen just grabbed her waist and helped her leap up the tree. Although he was a little clumsy when he grabbed her waist, his leap up the tree was clean and neat. If it weren't for the masked men in black chasing after them, Wu Qi would definitely have watched him for a while.

It's impossible that Yi Shen hadn't practiced light-body skills.

Seeing that Yi Shen remained silent, Wu Qi continued to press with a smile: "What? Doesn't Young Master Yi trust me? We two are already star-crossed lovers, and we don't even know if we'll live to see tomorrow. Is Young Master Yi still going to keep this from me?"

She shook her head repeatedly and sighed, "So sad, so sad!"

Yi Shen did not answer her question. Instead, he put his arm around her waist again and whispered, "Hold on tight."

Upon hearing this, Wu Qi wrapped his arms around his neck.

Yi Shen put one arm around her waist and the other under her knees, pulling her into his arms before realizing that she was shivering from the cold.

I'm usually sensitive to the cold, and today I got caught in the rain; I'm afraid I'll catch a fever tonight.

The wind and rain filled Wu Qi's beautiful smiling eyes. Yi Shen bent down slightly to shield her from the wind and rain, and said, "If you don't want to get wet, stay in my arms."

Are we going to that dilapidated temple in the mountains?

"Um."

The two had just spotted a dilapidated temple in the distance, and wanting a place to rest for the night, they deliberately ran in the opposite direction, leading the group of masked men in black to chase them in the opposite direction.

Therefore, the group of masked men in black should not have discovered the dilapidated temple in the mountains yet.

The two left a shadow under the waning moon, following their memories as they ran towards the dilapidated temple in the mountains, landing in front of the temple gate.

Yi Shen did not put Wu Qi down, but opened the temple door before letting her land inside the temple.

The dilapidated temple was small and had been deserted for a long time. The statues were covered in dust and cobwebs covered the corners. Fortunately, some kind person had once rested here and left a roll of straw mat.

Wu Qi did not believe in gods or Buddhas. Today was the first time he had stepped into the temple and the first time he had seen the statues of gods.

The statue depicts some celestial goddess, whose face is compassionate.

Her clothes, soaked by the rain, were still dripping wet. Wu Qi stood before the statue, gazing at the dusty statue with no yearning in his eyes and no resentment in his heart.

"Excuse me for disturbing you. Although I don't know which deity you are, thank you for letting us stay here." Wu Qi stood before the statue like a peach blossom moistened by rain, bowing and smiling, "Thank you, deity!"

There wasn't a single piece of clothing fit in the entire dilapidated temple, so the two of them had to wring out their outer garments until they were no longer dripping wet. Yi Shen lit all the candles in the temple to warm Wu Qi's outer garments.

Wu Qi sat leisurely on the straw mat, watching Yi Shen, warming his hands with the candle.

Yi Shen said, "Sleeping with wet hair will give you a headache."

Wu Qi didn't like wearing gold or silver, nor did she like wearing jade hairpins. She preferred to decorate her hair with flowers and hairbands. The flowers in her hair were also unpredictable; whichever flower was in bloom, she would pick one or two from the courtyard and wear them in her hair.

Sometimes it's peach blossoms, sometimes it's plum blossoms.

Now, the two fled in a sorry state, with only a hair ribbon left in her hair.

Wu Qi loosened his hairband, and his black hair fell loose.

She said, "Young Master Yi, when you say that, you should also look down at your hair."

They both got caught in the rain, so how could only she have wet hair?

Yi Shen glanced at the pile of burnt wax on the ground and said, "I don't need it."

Seeing that his advice was ineffective, Wu Qi sighed and said, "Wei Chong, Wei Chong, if you don't listen to my advice, you'll probably get a fever tonight and feel weak all over tomorrow. When that group catches up, we won't be able to run fast."

Unexpectedly, Wu Qi fell asleep on Yi Shen's shoulder while his hair was still half-dry.

Wu Qi did not sleep well. His whole body was burning up, his lips were chapped, and he felt as if he were being burned by fire or trapped in an ice cellar.

The surroundings were damp and cold, and she instinctively snuggled into Yi Shen's arms.

Yi Shen had anticipated this situation. He draped his freshly dried clothes over her and then burned everything that could be burned in the temple.

If the gods punish him for this, he should confess without hesitation.

The gods, with compassion and pity, looked upon the two people clinging tightly to each other in the temple and finally stopped the heavy rain.

Yi Shen held Wu Qi in his arms, not daring to sleep, and touched her forehead from time to time.

It's getting hotter and hotter.

It felt like she had returned to the days when she first fell ill with a fever.

Yi Shen remembers it very clearly.

That day was the winter solstice, his birthday.

Wu Qi stayed up several nights in a row to carve an ice sculpture in his likeness as a birthday gift for him, and unsurprisingly, he developed a high fever on his birthday night.

Wen Ru always held a grand birthday celebration for him. He saw Wu Qi in the crowd. Although she looked energetic, he had a feeling that she was sick.

When he walked up to her and touched her forehead, he realized it was burning hot.

The ice sculpture took a long time to melt, but when he touched Wu Qi's forehead, the burning heat seemed to burn into his heart.

He got the illness.

Since then, Wu Qi has never had a fever while by his side.

Wu Qi's fever today was sudden and helpless, and it made Yi Shen lose all reason.

"Yi Shen, are you cold?" Wu Qi groggily grabbed his hand, as if feeling his body temperature, and then, still half-asleep, pulled a corner of his outer garment over his hand. "Don't catch a cold, your head hurts a lot."

After the rain stopped, the temple became even more damp and cold.

Yi Shen snapped out of his daze and pulled her into his arms, coaxing her, "It's okay, you should get some sleep."

He didn't sleep all night, until the first light of dawn, when he heard a rustling sound, and the faint sound of horses' hooves could be heard.

here we go again.

Fearing a sneak attack from the group, Yi Shen had no choice but to wake her up, saying, "Wake up, someone's coming."

Wu Qi opened his eyes, his mind still foggy. After a moment, he realized what Yi Shen was saying and hurriedly got up, saying, "Let's go, let's run, let's run!"

The fog was thick in the early morning, and no one was tending to the mountain. The terrain was steep and uneven, and there had been a heavy rain the night before, making the stones slippery. If you stepped on the soft ground, you would sink in, not to mention the occasional encounter with venomous snakes.

Wu Qi was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, the hem of which was covered in mud and water, making it impossible to tell the original color of the clothes.

Her hair was soaked last night and she didn't have time to comb it today. Several strands of her black hair were tangled together, making her look disheveled. But she didn't care at all. She even felt that her long hair was a bit of a nuisance. Without hesitation, she took out a dagger, cut off her sleeve, and tore off a strip of cloth.

She used a strip of cloth as a hairband to tie her long hair.

The sound of horses' hooves grew closer in the distance. When they reached a fork in the road, Wu Qi hid the strip of cloth on his head in the grass of one road, leaving only a thin veil showing. Then the two of them turned and walked towards the other road.

Unfortunately, the group did not fall for the trick and instead split into two groups.

The sound of horses' hooves drew ever closer, as if on cue. Wu Qi's fever had not yet subsided, his lips were pale, and he was weak all over, yet he forced himself to leap among the trees with Yi Shen, soaring through the mountains and forests.

"Wait, wait!" Wu Qi turned around, counted, smiled slyly, and nudged Yi Shen's arm, saying, "There are only a dozen or so of them, Young Master Yi, should we steal their horses?"

"what ever."

"Then we're going to kill people!" Wu Qi said, half-jokingly. "It's terrifying! There are two of us, and they have more than a dozen people. If I'm not mistaken, there are about twelve of them!"

"It's nothing."

The two hid in a tree and waited for the group to catch up. Yi Shen put his arm around Wu Qi's waist and flew to one of the men, taking his sword. Wu Qi then kicked the man to the ground.

In fact, Wu Qi didn't have much strength at this time; he had only kicked people off their horses and didn't need to use much force.

The man fell headfirst into the mud. He reached for the dagger hanging at his waist, only to find it was gone.

"Are you looking for it?" Wu Qi brandished the dagger in her hand and slit his throat without hesitation. The movement was clean and swift, and blood splattered on her hands.

When a person kills for the first time, they don't know where the blood will splatter.

Wu Qi looked at the blood on her hands with some disgust, staring at the corpse, her eyes revealing no pleasure. She said, "I'm sorry, you are the first person I've killed in seventeen years."

He heard the sound of someone falling to the ground behind him. Wu Qi turned around and saw a person lying dead on the ground. Yi Shen was fighting among the group with his sword.

Three people were lying on the ground.

She killed one, he killed two.

Wu Qi was at a loss for words, then picked up a sword from the ground and joined Yi Shen in the battle.

Today was the first time the two of them had killed someone side by side. Although they were a little inexperienced, their tacit understanding was still there. They could understand each other's thoughts with just a glance.

Furthermore, the two men's swordsmanship is somewhat similar.

It's like they're from the same school.

A dozen horses were startled and fled at the same time. One man took advantage of the chaos to escape, but Wu Qi drew his sword and pierced the man's chest. After pulling out the sword, the man fell to the ground and died.

Yi Shen also stabbed the last man in the leg, leaving him alive to ask, "Who sent you?"

The man did not answer.

Wu Qi sneered and used his sword to pierce the man's throat.