Chapter 34 Those trapped inside were always just…

Su Muying saw Xie Linyuan.

Nearly four years later, she saw him again.

With fair skin, red lips, and striking features, she still had that same chilling face.

After several years, his face appeared even more stern, but also more gloomy and unsettling, as if he hadn't seen the sunlight for a long time.

His wounds were still bleeding. Su Muying glanced at his body and saw that he was almost covered in wounds, which looked like they were caused by swords and knives, and she could even see the flesh and blood dripping out...

Were they attacked?

They are enemy troops...

Could it be...?

Su Muying suddenly looked up, remembering Wu Zizhuo in front of the city gate that day.

She still owes him a debt of gratitude.

Su Muying knew that the general sent by the imperial court to attack Anzhou was Wu Zizhuo.

If Anju falls...

In an instant, the raging fire, the screams of the people, and the image of her parents being consumed by the flames reappeared before her eyes.

Su Muying's heart sank, as if she were drowning and unable to breathe, when suddenly a bone-chilling coldness came from her wrist.

It felt like a piece of ice radiating cold was pressed against her wrist.

The chill instantly crept through the skin of my wrist and spread to my limbs and bones.

This chill inexplicably instilled fear, yet it was also so familiar.

The fear that was deeply rooted in Su Muying's heart and had never been eliminated suddenly gripped her already wounded heart.

In an instant, she felt as if she were back in that dark room without a single ray of light.

She looked in the direction from which the cold air was coming, her eyes lowered in a daze, only to meet the gaze of Xie Linyuan, who had just woken up.

Those peach blossom eyes no longer held the icy frost and snow, nor the overwhelming ferocity, but they also lacked the tender, shimmering affection they once possessed when smiling.

Like a dried-up deep well, or the wings of a dead butterfly, it exudes an aura of sorrow and death that cannot be concealed.

Su Muying was stunned for a moment, but the next moment, as if by some instinct, she almost instantly shook off his hand and jumped up.

Su Muying used a lot of force. Xie Linyuan had just regained a sliver of consciousness and was covered in wounds. In this move, she actually threw him back into the water.

Perhaps he bumped into a sharp pebble protruding from the riverbank, Xie Linyuan frowned slightly and spat out another mouthful of blood.

He coughed heavily a few times, his thin body heaving, his back seemingly bent in pain. After the coughing stopped, Xie Linyuan raised his head, looked at Su Muying who was standing in a daze not far away, and a smile appeared on his lips.

He braced himself on one hand in the shallow water, his high-tied, half-wet hair and red ribbon hanging down, the deep red and black clinging to the contours of his pale profile, and bright red blood staining his lips. When he smiled, he appeared to possess an overly flamboyant and handsome ghostly aura, even a tragic vulnerability that had never appeared on him before.

The Xie Linyuan of the past was only arrogant and violent, and had a condescending and oppressive aura that looked down on people as if they were ants. How could he have such a vulnerable look?

Is this still him?

Just as Su Muying was stunned, Xie Linyuan raised his hand to wipe the blood from his lips and called out to her.

"Ying'er".

He was calling her.

Upon hearing those two words uttered by him, upon hearing his voice, Su Muying's stunned expression instantly changed.

His eyes, as clear as a lake under the moonlight, widened in shock and terror, and his lips parted slightly.

It really is him.

It really is him...

Su Muying took half a step back, instinctively wanting to run away.

"You, you don't go..." Xie Linyuan coughed heavily again, then spat out another mouthful of blood, which even stained Su Muying's plain dress red.

Su Muying stared at the glaring blood on her dress and froze on the spot.

She seemed terrified.

If it weren't daytime, she wouldn't be able to tell whether Xie Linyuan in front of her was a human or a ghost.

Xie Linyuan clutched the wound on his chest with one hand, stood up unsteadily, but did not approach Su Muying who was not far away.

He was dressed in a black, narrow-sleeved outfit, his tall frame bent over, like a bow about to break.

He spoke in a light, trembling voice, broken and hoarse with a hint of blood in his voice.

"The imperial court sent troops to attack Anzhou. I was ambushed and fell off a cliff. Then I was swept to this place by the current. I never expected... to see you here..."

As he spoke, his voice trembled even more.

But soon, after swallowing a mouthful of blood, the tremor in his voice subsided, and he continued, "The general leading the army for the imperial court is Wu Zizhuo. He is currently searching for me, and I don't know when he will find this place. Ying'er, can you take me back and let me hide for a while?"

His words carried a deep plea, his voice was extremely soft, hoarse and trembling, his thin lips were bloodshot, and his face was as pale as snow. His peach blossom eyes drooped as he looked at her, with an unprecedented vulnerability.

After Xie Linyuan finished speaking, Su Muying just looked at him with suspicion and curiosity.

She seemed to have never seen him like this before.

He used to be as fierce as a wild beast and as ruthless as a venomous snake. How could he be so vulnerable now?

She wondered if the person in front of her was really Xie Linyuan.

Is he really going to die?

But the injuries on his body were undeniable; the wounds from the knife cuts were still bleeding profusely, leaving his flesh a bloody mess.

Was he really ambushed by Wu Zizhuo and fell off the cliff?

If he dies, what will happen to Anzhou...?

Thinking of this, Su Muying frowned tightly, and the worry in her heart gradually suppressed her fear of him.

Just as Su Muying was frowning in thought, Xie Linyuan's weak and hoarse voice rang out again. There was no sun today, and the sky was gloomy. The blood on his body and his pale skin intertwined, making him look even more miserable.

His appearance has always had the power to bewitch people and make them lose their minds. However, in the past, his fierce and murderous aura, as well as the heavy, suffocating sense of oppression, overshadowed this, which is why people dared not approach him, and even a glance from him would make them tremble.

This was Su Muying's feeling when she first saw Xie Linyuan.

Whether it's a man or a woman, pity always makes people lower their guard.

"I'm injured like this now, killing me would be a piece of cake for you." Xie Linyuan opened his arms, laying bare his wounds and vulnerability before her, and laughed.

At this moment, he looked at her and smiled, his withered peach blossom eyes gradually filling with tears, regaining their former shimmering color.

Then, he tilted his head and looked at the woman in front of him who was smiling with her lips curled up. He spoke, his words filled with a pleasant satisfaction. His almost demonic face was also flushed with this pleasure. Looking at him, his overly handsome face showed a beauty that surpassed that of a woman.

"Ying'er, why don't you take me back and kill me?"

"I've had enough of these past few years. Even hell couldn't compare to this torment..."

"Take me back, kill me, then whip my corpse, dismember my body, whatever you want..."

"If I could die by your hand..." He smiled, his nostrils twitching slightly as he inhaled her unique scent in the air, the scent that haunted his dreams, and then closed his eyes.

"It can be considered that my wish has been fulfilled."

"What good is your death?" Su Muying still looked at him with that calm and elegant expression, her fair face as clear as moonlight on a lake. "Xie Linyuan, do you think I hate you now?"

Xie Linyuan was slightly taken aback.

"The past is like smoke in the wind. Do you think I'm still stuck in what happened four years ago and can't move on?"

A cold wind blew by, ruffling their hair.

Xie Linyuan chuckled softly.

He was the only one trapped inside.

His brother died, she left, and lived a quiet and peaceful life in this small village. Only he was trapped day and night in that dark room, trapped in the blood on his hands, trapped in that great fire, unable to escape.

He self-harmed and abused himself, cutting his skin with a knife every night, making himself neither human nor ghost. He even became addicted to the pain.

Now, out of a little pity for her, out of the little pity she might feel, he cut open the wound again with the knife, creating this horrific scene.

Fortunately, she wasn't completely unmoved.

As long as she pities him, as long as she bestows upon him even a little bit of mercy.

He would die willingly as long as he could stay by her side.

Moreover, this is an act of compassion for him.

But Xie Linyuan dared not let her know.

He was afraid of scaring her.

He's a madman.

Su Muying looked at Xie Linyuan, who was covered in blood, and smelled the strong smell of blood and the faint scent of wind and snow. Her voice was so faint that it seemed to be blown away by the wind.

"In my eyes, you are nothing more than a general guarding Anzhou, nothing more."

“Anzhou needs you, the people need you, I will let you live,”

Su Muying tilted her head slightly to meet his gaze.

Like him, although they were different genders, both of them had extremely beautiful and radiant faces.

However, compared to him, she always possessed a gentler, more serene quality.

Therefore, she can live on, and no matter what, she can live a good life.

Su Muying smiled, her eyes welling up with tears, like the gentle trembling of dew-laden branches.

She was no longer the trembling, intimidated girl who dared not look him in the eye when she first saw him.

She thought, what if one day he needs to die?

——

On the border of Cangzhou, which borders Anzhou, Wu Zizhuo led a large army to garrison there, eyeing the city with predatory intent.

The imperial court's military orders kept coming in: if Anzhou could not be captured and the ten cities occupied by Xie Linyuan recovered, not only would he be stripped of his generalship, but his sister and his family would also be...

"Anzhou's terrain is not suitable for defending a city, yet Xie Linyuan has held us back for four whole years! They're all a bunch of freeloaders!"

After a roar, a long sword was drawn, and Wu Zizhuo directly beheaded a man.

The still-steaming head rolled out of the tent, and immediately, all the generals inside knelt down.

"General, please calm down!"

"General, please calm down! That treacherous dog is indeed too cunning! No matter what, he keeps the city closed and has built fortifications and stationed troops there. We really... really can't find an opportunity!"

The smug, confident smile that Wu Zizhuo used to have was gone from his face; it was now filled with anger.

"I don't believe he can defend every city gate so well! I don't believe he has that many troops!"

"Investigate again!"

"Yes! I'll go right away..."

After he finished speaking, the generals in the tent all took their leave, practically scrambling away.

A moment later, Wu Zizhuo's five fingers clenched so tightly they cracked, and his fox-like eyes were unusually bloodshot.

However, as if he had thought of something, he suddenly smiled and loosened his clenched fist.

He sighed, "There's nothing I can do."

Now that things have come to this, Wu Zizhuo has no choice but to use the debt of gratitude to seek repayment and do something dishonorable...

Wu Zizhuo walked to the desk, took out the portrait of the woman that was pressed on the Xuan paper, stared at it for a moment, then put it away and called in a guard to hand him the portrait.

"Secretly infiltrate Anzhou to find the woman in the portrait..."

"Find it even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, and report it immediately."