Chapter 331 Love is Armor

While unconscious, Yun Chen felt like he was stuck in a never-ending quagmire, unable to swim to the end.

She struggled to climb out of the mud to breathe, and caught a glimpse of a person standing on the shore, looking at her anxiously.

With just a glance, Yun Chen sank into the quagmire again.

But this one glance was enough for her to see clearly. The person was wearing a dress with a faded blue crabapple pattern, and a bright pearl hairpin shone with a gentle luster. Her peach-shaped face had eyebrows like distant mountains, and her eyes seemed to be filled with water. She was looking at her with love and sadness.

"mother!"

Yun Chen was both surprised and delighted. He struggled hard upwards, shouting at the top of his lungs, and actually jumped out of the mud.

But when she got up, the shore was empty.

She looked around blankly and burst into tears:

"Mother, mother, I am useless... I can't save you, nor can I save so many ordinary people... I am useless... Please forgive me... Mother, mother..."

"Chen'er! I'm here!"

A powerful male voice brought Yun Chen back to reality.

She woke up suddenly, her whole body drenched in sweat.

She focused her gaze on the face so close to her, looking at the familiar features that gradually became clearer, and tentatively called out again:

"mother?"

Shan Ji frowned and hugged Yun Chen tightly, and answered again:

"Chen'er, I'm here."

Hearing this voice, Yun Chen finally woke up completely.

Shan Ji also stood up at the right time and let go of his hand reluctantly.

Yun Chen rubbed his confused head, trying to recall what had happened.

She only remembered that she had hallucinations during the day and saw a ferocious beast swallowing the sun, and then she fell ill in bed and knew nothing.

She looked around. The tent, which was bustling with people when she was unconscious, was now silent, with only the silence of the mountains to keep her company.

"Brother Feiyu, why are you here?" She spoke, her voice hoarse like a crow, which scared her.

Shan Ji touched her head gently, "You are sick, I will take care of you. Look, no one else can take care of you, only I can."

Yun Chen was a little confused and didn't have the energy to think about it. She just felt particularly safe and secure when Shan Ji appeared.

She thought to herself that maybe it was because Shan Ji was a martial arts expert and a very reliable person.

She smiled at Shan Ji, and then noticed that his body was covered in dark blood and his clothes were covered with knife and arrow wounds.

How could someone be able to injure Shan Ji, a martial arts master, so seriously?

Yun Chen was shocked and forgot about the long-winded address of "Brother Feiyu" and blurted out:

"Brother! How did you get injured like this? Did you encounter the Black Scale Cavalry? Did you fight Jiao Zuotai? That guy's not as good as you! But he's extremely sinister and vicious! You need to be careful! Brother, are you seriously injured?"

He couldn't hear what Yun Chen said after the word "brother". Shan Ji pressed his heart, which felt sore yet warm, and thought that even if he died suddenly at this moment, he would die without regrets.

Seeing Shan Ji not saying anything, but looking at her with a loving gaze that she rarely felt, Yun Chen was stunned:

"Brother Feiyu, I suddenly realized that you... look a bit like my mother?"

Shan Ji sighed, touched her head again, and then stood up with force, pressing Yun Chen's head down.

She touched her head and muttered dissatisfiedly:

"Are you loving me or bullying me? Where's Ah Nian? Be careful, he might get angry again."

Shan Ji laughed twice, completely ignoring the injuries on his body. He walked to the pile of medicine bags next to him and picked and chose from them. He took out a new bag of cold medicine and carefully boiled it.

"You've been unconscious for five days, so you don't know a lot. Right now, the Righteous Army is battling the Rebels. They're just waiting to break through the Rebels' defenses so the Lion Army can pass through and continue their advance north. Rong Yi and Luo Dongdong are leading the Lion Army in battle readiness, ready to storm the defenses at any moment."

As he spoke, Shan Ji began to tie his leggings and wrist guards, and equipped himself with many hidden weapons, looking as if he was about to set off.

"Chen'er, if a fight breaks out, just stay with your brother and hold me tightly. Don't listen or look. I will keep you safe."

When Yun Chen heard this, he immediately got out of bed.

She knew that the war was about to break out and there was no room for delay.

Although she had just recovered from a serious illness and felt weak and had no strength, she still tried her best to dress herself as quickly as possible.

If she hadn't been awakened by a nightmare, Shan Ji would have carried her on his horse and fought his way out of the encirclement.

But she was a little puzzled: "Brother, you said Rong Yi and Luo Dongdong were leading the army, then what about Anian? With him here, why does Rong Yi need to lead the army? And what about Brother Ye Yan and Brother Buyan?"

Shan Ji paused for a moment, and before he could answer, Yun Chen muttered to himself:

"That's not right. I vaguely heard it when I was sick. Rong Jiang said the Black Scale Cavalry had occupied the entire southeast and would catch up in two days. How could I have been unconscious for five days? Also, if we leave, who will suppress the rebels, defend the southeast, and resist the Black Scale Cavalry to prevent them from advancing further into the Southern Kingdom? How was this decided?"

Yun Chen had a lot of questions to ask, but Shan Ji looked at her intently, hesitating and not knowing how to start.

She saw the heaviness and reluctance on Shan Ji's face, as if she had a premonition of some bad news, and her heart sank:

"Where's Anian?"

Shan Ji sighed imperceptibly:

"Ye Yan and Buyan have gone to Youzhou to borrow more horses, hoping that after we leave, they can help the righteous army defend the line, suppress the rebels, and fight against the Black Scale Cavalry. Rong Yi and Luo Dongdong have already fought a battle with the Black Scale Cavalry that lasted three days, and they just withdrew an hour ago.

Now, a whole room of Lion Army soldiers are waiting for the "door" of the defense line to open so they can continue their march north. Huo Gannian was the one who went to "open the door." Before he left, he burned red paper and asked me to bring medicine to take care of you.

Yun Chen took a while to digest these words.

Lure the tiger away from the mountain and let the cunning rabbit have three burrows, and leave the most dangerous "opening the door" task to himself, this is in line with Huo Gannian's character.

If successful, the Lion Army will continue to advance north, leaving the Righteous Army to fight against the Black Scale Cavalry.

If this fails, the Lion Army will be forced to be trapped here, just like in Guying City, fighting one battle after another with the Black Scale Cavalry until all their forces are exhausted.

In this way, the task of "opening the door" is so difficult, dangerous and stressful that it is far beyond imagination.

Yun Chen was worried and sighed:

"But how do we open this 'door' of the defense line? I'm afraid many more soldiers will be sacrificed."

"You two are truly a couple, saying exactly the same thing." Shan Ji smiled, then his expression grew serious. "So, only two people will go to 'open the door,' Huo Gannian and Rong Jiang—he'll have to personally burn the enemy's granary to open the door."

After just a few words, Yun Chen opened his eyes wide in shock and was speechless for a long time.

She knew clearly Huo Gannian's determination and calculations.

The rebels were fighting the righteous army, and they also knew that the Lion Army was entangled with the Black Scale Cavalry. This was the best opportunity to launch a sneak attack without taking precautions from behind.

Although the timing is good, the price of escaping death is also high.

It took her a lot of effort to calm herself down. She shook her head, drove away all the bad thoughts in her head, and began to put on her armor.

She tied her hair up high, put on a helmet and protected herself tightly, hoping not to cause trouble to Shan Ji.

Seeing Yun Chen's distracted worry, Shan Ji handed her the cold medicine he had prepared, pinched her cheek, and teased her deliberately:

"Oh, are you worried, my dear wife? Don't worry, Huo Gannian won't die. He doesn't have a short lifespan."

Yun Chen drank the medicine in one gulp and laughed:

"You can also tell fortunes? The Wuyi Blood Guards will earn millions for killing someone to protect him, how much does it cost to tell fortunes?"

Shan Ji grinned: "It's not expensive to have your fortune told, only one thousand taels, which is included in the cost of him asking me to take care of you this time."

When it comes to "expenses", Yun Chen immediately gets a headache.

The Lion Army is now penniless and has no food or fodder. Several of the nearest Huo Gang branches have also rebelled and expressed their intention to distance themselves from Huo Gannian. How can they afford to pay the Unrighteous Blood Guards right now?

Seeing what Yun Chen was thinking, Shan Ji deliberately raised his eyebrows and smiled evilly:

"Your husband promised me one million and a half thousand gold each this time. I'll allow him to keep the debt for now and settle it after the battle."

Yun Chen thought one million and five hundred thousand taels of gold was a good amount and Huo Gannian should be able to afford it.

She was concentrating on counting the money on her fingers as she followed Shan Ji out of the tent. Looking up, she saw a large group of Wuyi Blood Guards, covered in wounds just like Shan Ji, chatting and laughing as they put on their armor. She was stunned:

"Brother, didn't you just say... 1.5 million gold per person..."

Shan Ji laughed even louder, pointing at the large group of heartless blood guards and said:

"Yes. A total of one hundred people, fifteen million taels of gold."

Yun Chen closed his eyes weakly:

"Brother, why don't I just die? Don't take care of me anymore. I really can't afford it at this price..."

“Hahahahahahaha——” Shan Ji laughed with his head raised, leaving a group of unrighteous Blood Guards stunned.

They had seen Shan Ji get angry and glare, but they had never seen Shan Ji laugh.

A Wuyi Blood Guard looked Yun Chen up and down and said jokingly:

"What a beautiful female general! No wonder Brother Shan Ji is smiling so happily!"

When they heard the word "female general", the other busy Wuyi Blood Guards were attracted and looked over.

For these men who have no relatives and kill for gold, the only thing that attracts them most in this world, besides gold, is women.

The unrighteous blood guards all looked at Yun Chen, and some even whistled and winked at him. Finally, under Shan Ji's sharp eyes, everyone stopped teasing him.

Yun Chen was rarely treated like this, and was a little stunned, even forgetting to blush.

She looked at the heartless Blood Guards who were covered in wounds but didn't care and were only focused on joking. Then she thought:

Now the rebels' defense line is so tight that it cannot be broken through and the "door" cannot be opened. How did Shan Ji and Wuyi Blood Guards get in?

She looked at the crisscrossing wounds on Shan Ji's body, many of which were still bleeding.

From the time she woke up until now, Shan Ji only talked about Huo Gannian and his brothers, whom she cared about the most. He did not say a word about how he himself risked his life to break through the rebel lines and kill them after receiving the news.

But just by looking at the battle wounds, Yun Chen could imagine the danger lurking around him.

No matter how powerful the Wuyi Blood Guards are, they cannot defeat an army of thousands.

But no matter how terrifying the army is, it cannot compare to a warm and burning heart.

For Shan Ji, nothing can compare to Yun Chen.

Yun Chen was deeply moved by receiving such deep love and care.

Looking at this group of Wuyi Blood Guards who seemed even more fearless than the Lion Army, a sentence inexplicably popped up in her mind:

Love is armor, but also shackles.