Hidden currents devour the heart
The ruins west of Anyi City, soaked in blood and fire, lay exposed like a giant, unhealed wound in the cold winds of Hexi. The embers of the collapsed watchtower still burned, wisps of smoke rising from the charred wooden beams. On the uneven ground, cratered by rolling logs and stones, congealed dark brown blood mingled with trampled mud, emitting a nauseating, sweet-smelling, burnt stench. Several twisted, mangled corpses of magic-armored soldiers were hastily dragged to a corner and hastily covered with tattered mats, while a few bold crows circled and cawed nearby.
Inside Yan Song's temporary "camp"—a relatively intact wealthy merchant's mansion—the atmosphere was as oppressive as the deathly silence before a storm. Yan Song's head was wrapped in a thick white cloth, still stained with dark red blood. His fat face was contorted with pain and rage, and his small eyes burned with a mixture of resentment and fear. Kneeling before him were several French military officers in charge of the manhunt, their faces ashen, utterly silent.
"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!" Yan Song grabbed a warm medicine bowl and smashed it hard on the forehead of the leading officer! Scalding medicine and porcelain shards splattered everywhere! "More than two thousand elite soldiers! Encircling and blocking a mere few dozen defeated soldiers! And you let him... let him escape like a ghost?! And you even lost so many of my brothers! Are you carrying chamber pots on your necks?!"
The officer had a gash on his forehead, blood mingling with medicine flowing down, but he dared not wipe it away. He simply lowered his head further, his voice trembling: "My lord, please calm down! That Xiao Yuxuan... that scoundrel was simply... simply inhuman! Those eyes... were like they were on fire! His strength was terrifying, his movements were eerily fast! Brothers... our brothers were truly..."
"Eyes on fire? His strength is bizarre?" Yan Song slammed his hand on the table, aggravating the wound on his head, causing him to grimace in pain. His voice grew even sharper and more venomous. "Sorcery! It must be sorcery! That locust tree demon wasn't enough to bewitch people; he's even cultivated such evil arts! If this fiend isn't eliminated, Hexi will never have peace! Search! Dig three feet into the ground and dig him out! Live or dead! And all his henchmen, leave no one alive!"
He roared, spitting as he splattered his saliva across the officer's face: "Order all passes, fortresses, and villages! Draw up his likeness and offer a reward for his capture! Anyone who harbors or supports Xiao Yuxuan and his cronies will have their entire family executed! Anyone who provides clues leading to the capture and killing of this scoundrel will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold and a hundred acres of land! I will ensure that he has nowhere to go in this Hexi region!" He panted heavily, his eyes flashing with a crazed light. "Also, keep a close eye on the family of that brute Sheng Guo! And... those refugee leaders who risked their lives for Xiao Yuxuan in Guijianchou! Especially that one-armed Zhao Laosi! These people are all Xiao's cronies! If necessary... hmph!"
The order spread like wildfire. Inside and outside Anyi City, French soldiers and yamen runners, like hyenas smelling blood, began a frenzied and brutal search. The sounds of breaking down doors, crying, and shouting filled the ruined streets. Anyone connected to Xiao Yuxuan, even a refugee who had once received a bowl of thin porridge on the city wall, was arrested as a "fellowship." Yan Song's wanted posters covered the remaining walls; Xiao Yuxuan's blood-stained portrait, with its sharp eyes, fluttered in the cold wind, the words "A thousand taels of gold, a hundred acres of land" below stimulating every soul struggling with hunger and fear.
The road to exile was a bloody quagmire filled with thorns and traps from the very beginning.
Xiao Yuxuan led his remaining twenty-odd men, like a wounded pack of wolves, trudging through the wilderness and ruins of Hexi. They were nocturnal, avoiding official roads and villages, choosing only the most remote and desolate mountains and wilderness. Hunger gnawed at them like a leech; their provisions were long gone, forcing them to dig up grass roots and catch field mice for sustenance. The early winter wind was like a knife, tearing through their thin clothes and stealing away their last remaining warmth. Even worse, some in the group began to show symptoms of high fever, vomiting, and black spots on their skin—the plague, like a lurking ghost, had finally caught up with this exhausted group.
"General...I...I can't go on..." A young bodyguard staggered and fell into a patch of withered reeds, his face ashen, his breathing rapid, each cough bringing up dark red froth, and ominous blackish-purple patches beginning to appear on his skin. He struggled to pull a piece of coarse linen soaked in blood and with charred edges from his inner pocket, and tremblingly handed it to Sheng Guo beside him, "Guo...Brother Guo...give this to my mother...tell her...that her son...didn't disgrace the Sheng family..." His voice grew weaker and weaker, and his eyes began to glaze over.
With tears welling in his eyes, Sheng Guo trembled as he took the blood-stained piece of cloth. On it, two little figures holding hands were drawn crookedly with charred charcoal, and next to them were the words: "Go home." This was a talisman his mother had embroidered for him before he joined the army.
“Brother! Hang in there! We…we’ll find the medicine soon…” Sheng Guo’s voice choked with emotion.
The guard managed a weak smile, his gaze fixed on Xiao Yuxuan, who stood silently at the edge of the reeds, staring into the distance. His lips moved a few times before finally falling silent.
"Awang—!" Sheng Guo let out a suppressed, mournful roar, slamming his fist hard onto the cold, muddy ground.
Xiao Yuxuan didn't turn around. His back was to the crowd, his shoulders trembling slightly in the cold wind. His knuckles were white from clenching his fists so tightly they dug into his palms. Another… another had fallen on this endless road. Bai Yu, Ji Zhai, the faces vanished in the torrents of the Luo River, the souls of Gui Jianchou, the withered bones on the walls of Anyi… Now, another young life yearning to return home had been added. This heavy list, like invisible chains, coiled around his neck, almost suffocating him. He could almost hear Yan Song's sinister laughter within Anyi, hear Di Rong sharpening his sword beyond the border, hear the cold, crisp sound of Gu Yan placing a piece deep within the imperial court. A vast, invisible net, using the scorched earth of Hexi as its chessboard, at the cost of the lives of countless people, was slowly tightening around him, around the spark he represented.
As the group struggled through a forest ravaged by war, leaving only charred tree stumps, Zhao Laosi, the leader of the refugees who had been scouting ahead (his severed arm hastily bandaged), stumbled back, his face ashen. His remaining arm pointed the way they had come, his voice distorted by extreme fear and rage: "General...General! Something terrible has happened! Our...our hideout...has been...taken down!"
Xiao Yuxuan's pupils suddenly contracted!
"It's Yan Song's dogs! And...and 'Hanging Blade'!" Zhao Laosi's teeth were chattering. "They...they captured Brother Sheng Guo's mother! And...and my little grandson who was just a month old! They...they hanged Sister-in-law Sheng...on the old locust tree at the village entrance! My...my poor grandson...was...was thrown into the well! And there's a big rock on the well opening! Beasts! Beasts—!" This man, who hadn't shed a tear even when he lost an arm at the bottom of Ghost Valley, now let out a beast-like howl due to extreme grief and hatred, his remaining fist pounding the ground wildly until it was a bloody mess.
"Mother—!" Sheng Guo was struck dumb, his burly body swaying violently, his vision going black, almost collapsing! His eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins, and a strange, hoarse sound came from his throat, like the dying whimper of a wounded beast. He abruptly drew his ring-pommel sword from his waist and turned to rush towards Anyi City!
"Stop!" Xiao Yuxuan roared, his voice like a thunderclap! He took a step forward and grabbed Sheng Guo's knife-wielding arm tightly. The arm's muscles were bulging, trembling violently with extreme rage, its strength astonishing!
"Let me go! General! Let me go! I'm going to kill Yan Song! Kill those beasts! I'm going to tear them to pieces—!" Sheng Guo roared, tears streaming down his face, looking like a madman.
"Are you going to your death?!" Xiao Yuxuan's voice was as cold as iron, but his eyes burned with an equally fierce flame. "Yan Song is waiting for you! Waiting for us all to walk into his trap! If you rush back, what will you do besides add another corpse and make your mother and nephew restless in the afterlife?!"
Sheng Guo struggled and roared, tears streaming down his face, mingling with the mud: "What can we do?! General! Tell me! What can we do?! My mother... my little nephew... what... what did they do wrong?! Just because they followed me, Sheng Guo?! Just because they trusted you?! They deserve to be hanged! Drowned?! Ah—?!" His final question, like a tearful accusation, struck Xiao Yuxuan's heart, and the hearts of every survivor around him. Despair and hatred, like poisonous vines, grew wildly in everyone's hearts.
Just then, a very faint, yet strangely rhythmic, turning sound of a mechanism came from above everyone's heads without warning!
"careful!"
A clear, husky female voice suddenly rang out! At the same time, a figure in dark robes pounced out from the reeds on the side like a ghost, heading straight for Xiao Yuxuan's back!
It's *Zingiber officinale*!
She was still dressed in a dark, close-fitting outfit, her face almost translucent with paleness. A thick bandage, stained with dark red blood, was wrapped around her left shoulder, clearly indicating that her injuries from the battle at Luoshui hadn't healed. But her movements were swift as the wind. A caltrop, its edge gleaming with a ghostly blue light (non-lethal, but highly paralyzing), flew from her hand, accurately striking the top of a scorched, withered tree behind Xiao Yuxuan!
"bite!"
A soft thud! The barbed wire seemed to have struck some metal object!
Almost at the same moment!
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Three streaks of dark light, like venomous snakes spitting their tongues, shot out from the dense, charred, claw-like shadows of the withered tree with a piercing whistle! Their targets were none other than Xiao Yuxuan's back, throat, and Sheng Guo's temple! The angles were cunning and ruthless, the timing impeccable, precisely at the moment when everyone's minds were shaken by the Sheng Guo family tragedy and their guard was at its lowest!
If it weren't for Jing Zhi's iron caltrops interfering and warning, those three crossbow bolts would have surely taken his life!
The moment Jing Zhi warned him, Xiao Yuxuan sensed danger, his eyes flashing with cold light! He shoved the still struggling Sheng Guo to the side, simultaneously using the momentum to lean back sharply! A crossbow bolt grazed his nose and embedded itself deeply in the soil in front of him! Another grazed his shoulder blade, tearing away a piece of flesh! And the bolt aimed at Sheng Guo's temple was deflected mid-air by the second caltrop thrown by Jing Zhi, and with a "thud," it embedded itself in the tree trunk beside Sheng Guo!
"An assassin!"
"In the tree!"
Exclamations erupted! The surviving soldiers and refugees were instantly awakened, drew their weapons, and stared at the withered tree with a mixture of shock and anger!
On the withered tree, three figures, clinging to the trunk like geckos and almost blending into the charred bark, sprang up without hesitation the instant their sneak attack failed! Their movements were as swift as apes, landing silently. They wore tight-fitting, unmarked dark gray outfits, their faces covered only by black masks that revealed their eyes, and they carried strangely shaped bronze crossbows that gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen! They were none other than the "Hanging Blade" assassins!
The three men spread out in a triangular formation, exchanging no words, their eyes as cold as venomous snakes hunting their prey. They didn't linger; missing their first strike, they immediately retreated, simultaneously raising their crossbows again. The click of the trigger mechanism was like the whisper of death, aimed at different targets—Xiao Yuxuan, Jing Zhi, and the emotionally distraught Sheng Guo! Their intention was clear: to create chaos and continue their assassination!
"Hold on!" Jing Zhi shouted sharply, and a small, round shield with sharp edges (a miniaturized version of the gate-blocking chariot) appeared in her hand without her noticing, instantly blocking Xiao Yuxuan's path! At the same time, she kicked up a piece of gravel from the ground, sending it flying towards the crossbowmen attacking Sheng Guo!
A cold glint flashed in Xiao Yuxuan's eyes! His instincts, teetering on the edge of life and death, left him without the slightest hesitation! He abruptly grabbed the ring-pommel sword that Sheng Guo had dropped in his excitement, and his body, like a taut bowstring, lunged forward instead of retreating the moment the crossbow bolt was released, charging straight at the incoming bolt! The sword flashed like a bolt of lightning, carrying a resolute and ruthless edge, precisely slashing at the shaft of the crossbow bolt that had been aimed at his chest!
With a crisp clang, the crossbow bolt was deflected! But the immense impact left Xiao Yuxuan's hands numb! Without pausing, he used the momentum of his charge to draw a deadly arc with his ring-pommel sword, slashing fiercely at the crossbowman's neck! The crossbowman clearly hadn't expected his target to be so fierce, and hastily raised his crossbow to parry!
"Crack!" The crossbow, forged from fine steel, was deformed by this furious slash! The blade, still sharp, cut deep into the crossbowman's shoulder blade! Blood gushed forth!
At the same time, Jing Zhi's shield blocked the crossbow bolt aimed at her, sparks flying from the shield! The pebbles she kicked also interfered with the crossbowmen attacking Sheng Guo, causing the bolt to miss and graz Sheng Guo's ear, leaving a bloody mark! Seeing his companion injured, the last crossbowman did not hesitate and immediately abandoned his attack, his figure flashing backward like a ghost, while simultaneously raising his hand and shooting a whistling arrow into the sky!
"Chirp—!"
A mournful whistle echoed through the desolate forest!
"He's summoning his accomplices! We can't let him get away!" Jing Zhi said urgently.
Xiao Yuxuan knew perfectly well! He swiftly pulled out the ring-pommel sword that was embedded in the enemy's shoulder blade, ignoring the splattering blood, and pounced like a cheetah towards the crossbowman who had fired the whistling arrow and was about to flee into the deep forest! The crossbowman was extremely fast, and in a few leaps he had reached the edge of the forest!
It looks like we're about to fall behind!
"Go!"
A thunderous roar erupted! Sheng Guo, who had been lost in grief, suddenly unleashed a terrifyingly fierce light in his eyes! Like a primordial beast utterly enraged, he hurled the scarred arm shield given to him by Jing Zhi with all his might! The arm shield spun, whistling through the air, like a wheel of death, striking the crossbowman squarely in the back!
"Thud!" The heavy steel shield, carrying all of Sheng Guo's grief and power, pierced deep into flesh! The crossbowman's body stiffened abruptly, and he fell forward to the ground, twitching a few times before becoming still.
The battle began in the blink of an eye and ended in an instant. Of the three assassins, one was dead and two were wounded (the crossbowman whose shoulder was slashed by Xiao Yuxuan and the other crossbowman who was subdued by Jing Zhi using caltrops to slow him down). The air was thick with the stench of blood and the lingering sulfurous smell of crossbow bolts.
Xiao Yuxuan gasped for breath, his ring-pommel sword planted firmly on the ground, blood dripping from its cold blade. He walked to the crossbowman who had been crushed to death by the falling fruit, crouched down, and tore open the gray garment covering his chest. A familiar, ferocious bronze beast head brand came into view—exactly the same totem pointed to by the blood letter from Luoshui and the clues from Black Stone Fortress! The Hanging Blade!
He abruptly stood up, his gaze sharp as a knife, piercing the prisoner who was being held captive by Jing Zhi and had a severe shoulder wound: "Who sent you? Yan Song? Gu Yan? Or Huyan Zhuo? Why does Xuan Dao want to kill me?!"
The prisoner's face was covered in blood, but his eyes remained cold, and a mocking smile even played at the corners of his mouth. He made a strange hoarse sound in his throat and suddenly gritted his teeth!
"Oh no! He's got something in his mouth!" Jing Zhi exclaimed, but it was too late to stop him.
A stream of black blood spilled from the prisoner's mouth, his eyes quickly dimmed, his body went limp, and he died instantly!
The trail went cold again! Only three cold corpses remained on the ground, along with a whistling arrow, its tail seemingly mocking their struggle.
Xiao Yuxuan slowly straightened up, looking in the direction from which the whistle had been fired. A cold wind whistled through the scorched treetops, creating a mournful sound. He knew that this whistle, like a stone thrown into a deep pool, would soon unleash even more turbulent undercurrents. The Legalist's web of entrapment, the Di Rong's bloody butcher's knife, the deadly assassination by the Hanging Blade… and the hatred of his comrades on the verge of collapse due to the tragic deaths of their loved ones… all of it, like the biting winter wind of Hexi, seeped in from all directions, relentlessly eroding him, threatening to freeze and crush him, along with the faint spark of hope within him, in this boundless, blood-red swamp.
Sheng Guo staggered to the body of the crossbowman he had crushed, bent down, and picked up the shield stained with the enemy's blood and brains. He used his sleeve to vigorously wipe the shield's surface, again and again, his movements stiff and frantic, as if trying to wipe away the unbearable blood and hatred. Tears silently welled from his bloodshot eyes, mingling with the mud and blood on his face, streaming down his cheeks.
"Mother...Grandson..." He let out a suppressed sob, like a trapped beast, as he gripped the cold shield tightly, his knuckles turning pale from the force.
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