Chapter 42 He held her tightly in his arms...
Su Muying's heart sank.
A hidden, imperceptible pain slowly and tormented her, as if her chest was stuffed with wet cotton, and a feeling of suffocation suddenly surged up.
Su Muying didn't know what this feeling was like, or why she felt this way.
As she lowered her damp eyelashes, the figure lying in a pool of blood under the moonlight came into her view, and Su Muying suddenly trembled violently, her hand grabbing Xie Linyuan's hand.
Those hands were covered in wounds and soaked in blood.
She held his hand as if grasping a blood-stained moonlight, feeling no sense of reality.
Su Muying felt suffocated, not only in her chest and neck, but her blood seemed to freeze, and her bones were trembling.
It hurts so much, it hurts so much, I don't know why I feel this way.
She opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and then suddenly gasped for air.
The sudden rush of air into her lungs caused Su Muying to cough, and tears streamed down her face without her realizing it.
Xie Linyuan is dead?
When those words suddenly popped into her mind, she panicked.
How could Xie Linyuan possibly be dead! Isn't he a general? Isn't he an invincible general?
He won so many battles; a man like him, as fierce as a beast, how could he possibly die...?
Su Muying stood up abruptly, looking around blankly, as if wondering if this was a dream.
When she lowered her eyes and looked at Xie Linyuan, who lay unconscious in a pool of blood on the ground, his life hanging in the balance, the bewilderment in Su Muying's eyes instantly transformed into a complex mix of emotions.
She had lost her usual composure.
Did he become like this because of her?
Is he really dead...?
Su Muying knelt down on the ground again. When Xie Linyuan lay motionless in the pool of blood, she finally remembered to check his breathing.
She didn't want him to die.
Her hand reached out, trembling so badly it seemed it didn't even belong to her anymore.
Su Muying was genuinely scared.
When her fingertips lightly brushed his lips and landed below the tip of his nose, she seemed to freeze in place.
The night wind blew, the leaves rustled, and the air was filled with the scent of blood. In the night wind, a faint breath brushed against her fingertips.
It seems to exist, yet it is undeniably real.
Su Muying's heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, finally settled down. She smiled, though tears still streamed down her face.
Not dead, not dead yet...
Although Xie Linyuan was still breathing, his breath was too weak, as thin as a thread, and it was uncertain when it would disappear.
"Don't die, don't die..."
"Xie Linyuan, don't die..."
Su Muying looked at Xie Linyuan lying in a pool of blood, at his pale face, at the large red stains beneath him, her mind was hazy, as if only the thick, glaring blood remained.
She kept murmuring those words, begging him not to die.
She didn't want him to die...
Su Muying knew this place wasn't safe yet. She had to do as Xie Linyuan had suggested and find a cave to hide in. Otherwise, if Wu Zizhuo and the others found this place, then...
Su Muying forced herself to calm down.
Stay calm, don't panic, don't panic...
We need to find a cave to hide in...
He's not dead yet, she has to bandage his wounds, he'll be fine by tomorrow.
It will be better tomorrow.
...
Su Muying forced herself to calm down. She helped the unconscious Xie Linyuan up and let him lean against her.
However, her body was too delicate. Xie Linyuan was tall and strong, and had been practicing martial arts and fighting for many years. His body was full of muscles, and he almost knocked her to the ground several times.
Su Muying gritted her teeth and stumbled along. To avoid being found by Wu Zizhuo, she walked deep into the dense forest for a long time, almost dragging Xie Linyuan into a cave.
A little moonlight fell onto the cave entrance, and Su Muying used this sparse moonlight to begin treating Xie Linyuan's wounds, even though... his body was covered in wounds.
After she tore off a piece of cloth from her skirt and managed to bandage him to stop the bleeding, Su Muying sat on the ground next to him, staring blankly at Xie Linyuan with a disheveled face.
Tears streamed continuously from her eyes, but she didn't make a sound.
Even she herself didn't know why she was crying at that moment.
Was she frightened to tears by his inhuman, blood-covered appearance, or did she feel pain for him?
Why did he do that?
Su Muying was confused as to why he would go to such lengths.
She didn't actually want him to die.
He can leave, he can escape, as long as he doesn't lock her up in the dark like before... she won't let him atone with his death.
She just wants to live her own life.
Why...did he have to do it this way?
Su Muying couldn't understand this question.
She sat down next to him, hugging her knees, her face resting on them, staring at him in a daze.
He barely blinked, as if he were afraid that if he blinked, he would disappear.
Su Muying kept staring at him until she heard several wolf howls outside. She suddenly jolted and immediately looked towards the cave entrance.
Right outside the cave, several pairs of eyes gleamed eerily in the moonlight, staring at her.
Su Muying immediately got goosebumps all over her body. Her back felt cold, and she broke out in a cold sweat. It was as if all the blood in her body had frozen.
They are a pack of wolves.
A pack of wolves followed the scent of blood, eyeing the area menacingly.
From their glowing eyes, Su Muying sensed their raw hunger.
This pack of wolves wanted to tear them apart and eat them.
Su Muying's drowsy consciousness immediately cleared. She didn't look away or move. As the pack of wolves slowly walked into the cave, her hand, hidden in the darkness, reached for the sword placed beside Xie Linyuan.
Fear, terror, helplessness, and so on all became instinctive the moment she touched the longsword.
She can't die here, and she can't let Xie Linyuan die here either.
Both she and he had to live.
Live on, live on...
These words kept appearing in her mind, and so, when a wolf pounced, Su Muying somehow swung her longsword and pierced the wolf that was about to pounce on her.
Her thrust was so precise, and she used all her strength, that she pierced the wolf's throat with a single stroke.
In terror, she drew her sword, and streams of blood gushed from the wolf's throat. The wolf howled twice and then collapsed completely, motionless.
The other wolves seemed to take two steps back. Su Muying stood up, gripping her longsword tightly with both hands. There were specks of blood on her face, her hairpins and hair ornaments were nowhere to be found, and her hair was a mess. Her eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty as she stared intently at the wolves in front of her.
The wolves seemed intimidated by her imposing aura and stopped advancing, but their eyes, glowing with an eerie green light, remained fixed on Su Muying.
But the wolves had not eaten for many days, and at this moment, the wounded Xie Linyuan and Su Muying, who reeked of blood, were the most delicious food to them.
Absolutely, absolutely not backing down.
If she showed even the slightest weakness or fear, the wolves would surely pounce on her and tear her apart.
Su Muying stood in front of Xie Linyuan, confronting the pack of wolves. When one of the wolves, drooling with hunger, lunged at her, she swiftly swung her sword, slashing at its neck.
Blood splattered, and the pack of wolves seemed to take a few steps back, but they did not leave completely.
Su Muying's hand holding the sword trembled, her legs began to shake, and cold sweat poured out, soaking her thin clothes.
My palms felt sticky; I couldn't tell if it was sweat or blood.
She was about to lose her grip on the sword.
Su Muying could only persevere with the belief that she could live, persisting without retreating, without being timid, and without being afraid.
However, her fragile body had reached its limit and was in a state of disrepair.
Su Muying felt like her body was no longer her own, and her soul was even floating away.
In that instant, she strangely saw the fire again, saw her parents in the flames, her parents standing in front of her, and then she saw Xie Lin'an, suffering knife wounds for her sake in the torrential rain.
Finally, as her eyelashes drooped and her vision blurred, she saw Xie Linyuan surrounded by groups of soldiers, and Xie Linyuan lying in the moonlight, covered in blood.
Is he going to die too?
If only she could protect them.
If she hadn't been so timid, if she had been braver, could she have protected them...?
My parents won't die, Xie Lin'an won't die, Xie Linyuan... won't die either.
She didn't want anyone else to die because of her.
These images kept flashing through Su Muying's mind: people dying one by one in front of her, and the fire seemingly never going out.
This is a nightmare she can never shake off in her lifetime.
Su Muying's consciousness was rapidly fading, her vision was becoming increasingly blurry, and her stoic will was like a string about to snap, collapsing in an instant.
The wolves naturally saw it too. They had been waiting for their chance. As Su Muying's hand trembled and the sword slowly fell from her palm, the ravenous wolves' eyes flashed with a blinding light, and they growled as they pounced on Su Muying.
Su Muying was startled by the roar. She was covered in cold sweat, but she also knew that she was powerless to do anything more.
Are we just going to be eaten by these wolves like this...?
Xie Linyuan...
When Su Muying was in a daze, this name suddenly appeared in her mind.
The sword fell from her hand, and the pack of wolves pounced on her.
But at that very moment, the sword that had fallen from her hand did not hit the ground.
The sword was taken away, and in a flash, the sword light swept across the dark cave. The next moment, there was the howl of wolves and the sound of blood spurting out.
A continuous howling sound rang out, followed by several more sword flashes. Along with the falling blood, there were even wolves sliced into pieces.
At this point, the remaining wolves dared not approach any further and all ran away.
With a clang, the longsword was stuck in the ground; it belonged to Xie Linyuan.
Xie Linyuan woke up somehow and took the longsword to kill the wolves.
But he was already on his deathbed, and the wounds that had just been bandaged on his body reopened, leaving him unable to support himself.
Seeing this, Su Muying wanted to go up and help him, but he reached out, threw the sword aside, and hugged her tightly in his arms.
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