Chapter 58: Bird, I knew it was you! Fang Yicen, you bastard...
Zhao Huaixu's sword cut through the branches blocking the way, Fang Yilan's hot forehead pressed against his neck, and the bright moon carried the two of them as they rushed through the dense forest. The moonlight leaked through the gaps between the bamboo leaves, casting tiny shadows on Zhao Huaixu's brows.
Zhao Huaixu tightened his arms: "Alan, hold on a little longer."
Fang Yilan frowned and raised her head with difficulty: "Your heartbeat... is so loud..."
The pursuers held torches and chased relentlessly from a hundred paces away. The sound of horses' hooves mixed with the sharp sound of armor colliding made people's nerves tense.
The sound of an iron arrow breaking through the air suddenly tore through the night.
Hundreds of arrows came like a rainstorm. Zhao Huaixu slashed through with his iron sword, and three crossbow arrows broke with a sound, and the arrowheads were nailed into the tree trunks on both sides of the road.
A suspension bridge can be vaguely seen ahead. Once you cross the bridge, you will reach the Nanzhao area.
Xun Yun looked at the approaching fire in the distance, suddenly reined in his car, slowed down, and stood across the bridge. "You go ahead, I'll cover your retreat."
Zhuang Gu's chestnut horse turned around almost at the same time: "I'm going too!"
Zhao Huaixu's jaw tensed into a sharp arc. There was no time to lose, so he could only respond, "Okay."
He Shou rode his horse in front of the pursuers, and swung his scimitar with a bloody gust of wind. Zhuang Gu blocked it with his backhand, and Aruo could only pull Zhuang Gu's armor from behind to prevent himself from being thrown out.
A cold light flashed among the shadows of the trees in the distance, and two arrows were flying through the air towards Aruo's back.
"Lower your head!"
He Shou flew forward and slapped Zhuang Gu's horse with his palm. The chestnut horse neighed and rushed towards the iron bridge. "Take her away! I'll guard it."
He forced the pursuers back another three feet, and shouted, "Go!"
Zhuang Gu and Xun Yun looked at each other and immediately rode their horses onto the iron bridge.
He Shou held his sword across his back, the blade reflecting dozens of approaching shadows. He shouted, "Zhao Huaixu, Aruo has never done anything wrong. Don't hurt her."
Zhao Huaixu had already crossed the bridge and was sitting upright on his horse, looking at He Shou on the other side.
Although he couldn't see clearly, He Shou knew that Zhao Huaixu nodded.
He smiled, and a man stood guarding the bridgehead with a scimitar in his hand. The scimitar reflected the dancing flames, drawing one bloody arc after another. Blood mist spurted out of the throats of several men in black, and the corpses at the bridgehead piled up more and more.
Several arrows flew out of the dense forest and pierced his shoulders. He Shou licked the cracked corners of his mouth. The severe pain of the arrows piercing into the bones made his chaotic mind clear up.
The blade pierced the hearts of countless enemies.
He suddenly recalled that snowy night five years ago, when he was curled up in the wilderness, covered in blood, while crows gnawed at his flesh. All he could hear was the tinkling of silver bells. When he opened his eyes again, a charming young girl, her eyes curved, said to him.
"Aruo saved you and fed you Aruo's Gu. From now on, you belong to Aruo. You must be obedient."
He still persisted, and another arrow pierced his left knee. The iron chain on He Shou's left hand cut deeply into the flesh of his palm. His vision gradually became dark, but the shaking of the bridge told him that Aruo and the others had not reached the other side yet.
"Oh, you're sacrificing your life for a woman." The masked man's sinister voice was mixed in with the sound of swords.
He Shou panted and leaned against the bridge pile. Several arrows passed through his body and nailed him to the pile. His bloodshot eyes looked at the other side of the river. The moonlight illuminated her crying face so clearly.
The man in black suddenly clamped his jaw with cold fingers, almost crushing his bones with such force: "He Shou, He Shou, is it worth it?"
He Shou spat out a mouthful of blood foam and sneered, "I knew long ago that sooner or later I would be a dead piece on the chessboard!"
The iron chain stopped swinging violently. He Shou held the sharp blade to his chest and roared loudly: "Cut the bridge!"
Zhuang Gu swung his axe with red eyes, and the moment the iron chain broke, He Shou finally couldn't hold on and fell to the ground.
"A Shou——!" Aruo leaned half of his body out of the broken bridge and cried out in a crying voice.
Blood dripped down the cracks in his nails. He Shou suddenly raised his head and took a last look at the crying girl on the other side of the bridge. His bloody fingers gently outlined the girl's eyebrows and eyes in the air, and finally lowered his head.
-My Aruo, I wish you could be a bird flying in the sky instead of marrying an unknown stone...or marrying me who is full of sin and unbearable.
...
“Ahem…”
Fang Yilan's vomiting of blood woke up the group of people who were still looking at the broken bridge.
Zhao Huaixu helped her off the horse and wrapped her in his cloak with gentle movements. Feeling that the body in his arms was rapidly losing temperature, Zhao Huaixu's arms suddenly tightened.
Yuan Qingjun lifted Fang Yilan's eyelids and looked at her. Her pupils were dilated.
"No, her poisonous blood has started to spread again. The insect has only forced out part of the poisonous blood, and some is still corroding her heart meridians."
"Nanzhao City is only a dozen miles away." Xunyun gripped the reins tightly, his face full of anxiety.
Yuan Qingjun frowned and said, "No, her body can't withstand any more bumps now."
Fang Yilan's eyes reflected the broken moonlight, like a dying spark. Her fingertips weakly grabbed his sleeve and whispered, "Don't save me..."
A trace of panic finally appeared in Zhao Huaixu's eyes. He pinched her jaw and threatened her with a tremor in his voice that he himself didn't even notice: "Fang Yilan! Look at me!"
His whole body seemed to be broken.
Zhao Huaixu turned to look at Aruo again: "Is there any other way?"
"There's another way," Aruo frowned and took out a wooden box from his waist. "When I saved Ah Shou on the battlefield, I also relied on the mother and child Gu. The mother Gu host can rely on the blood supply of the child Gu to prolong its life."
Zhao Huaixu wiped the blood from Fang Yilan's lips with his fingertips and frowned: "Will it be bad for her?"
A Ruo shook his head and explained, "It won't harm the person who swallows the mother Gu, but the child Gu will feed on the mother Gu and will gnaw on the heart flesh, causing severe pain. Moreover, the person with the child Gu cannot leave the mother Gu for more than one month, otherwise the child Gu will gnaw on the human body's five internal organs because of being away from the mother Gu."
Zhao Huaixu's eyes darkened and he snatched the wooden box from her hand.
"Think it over carefully," Aruo stared at him, her tone serious. "Even though Aruo doesn't like you... you have to understand that even if the child Gu dies, the mother Gu will be safe and sound, but if the mother Gu's host dies... the child Gu's host will definitely die."
"That's great."
Zhao Huaixu swallowed the insect without changing his expression.
"Hey, you..."
Fang Yilan woke up at this moment. She saw Zhao Huaixu's Adam's apple rolling as he swallowed something. The moonlight drew a pale arc on his neck, and she could clearly see a foreign object protruding under the skin wriggling.
Then he fed Fang Yilan something. She was so weak that she spoke with difficulty: "What... did you do?"
The Zi Gu sent a sharp sting in his blood vessels, and blood oozed from the corners of his lips. Zhao Huaixu just smiled gently, but Fang Yilan could see the crazy paranoia in his eyes.
He lifted her up, lowered his head to rest against her sweaty forehead, and whispered softly, "Don't be afraid, I won't let you die."
While Fang Yilan was half asleep and half awake, she seemed to hear the two frequencies of heartbeats gradually overlapping.
Zhao Huaixu raised his eyes and looked at Aruo: "What should we do next?"
"Take the blood from her heart and feed it to her."
Zhao Huaixu didn't even frown. He tore open his clothes, raised his hand, and stabbed the sharp knife into his heart, pressing it against Fang Yilan's lips.
"Your Highness!"
The mother-child Gu in the two people's bodies seemed to have received the call at the same time. Fang Yilan tasted the hot liquid flowing into her mouth and swallowed it instinctively. She saw the bulge on Zhao Huaixu's chest began to twitch violently.
But Zhao Huaixu seemed to be unaware of the pain and squeezed the wound on his heart hard, forcing more blood into Fang Yilan's throat.
The scorching light of the torches suddenly tore through the night sky. "Who are you?" A team of patrolling Nanzhao cavalry holding torches discovered them.
Just as Wanxi was about to unsheathe his sword, he suddenly saw Aruo holding his wrist, taking a step forward, and speaking in Nanzhao language. Aruo took out a silver medal from his arms.
The leader looked at it clearly in the light of the fire, and after seeing the patterns and markings on the silver plate, a flash of surprise flashed across his face, and he immediately knelt down with his hands clasped in his hands: "It's Princess! You are finally back."
Hundreds of elite soldiers from Nanzhao behind him also knelt down in unison.
...
Fang Yilan felt like she had slept for a very long time. She was floating on a sea of corpses, sinking and floating freely. Rotten hand bones hooked her ankles, and smelly blood plasma poured into her nostrils. But she just wanted to let herself fall into the abyss and didn't want to wake up.
Why save her? She had said long ago that she couldn't save anyone, nor could she change any fate. She was too tired.
But there are always people who cannot hear her inner voice and insist on tearing through the sea of blood and corpses with their bare hands, domineeringly extinguishing her desire to die.
"Alan."
The sound pierced through her nightmares, causing her eyelashes to tremble violently. Cold sweat soaked her hair, and her nails dug deep into the back of her clenched hand, leaving five bloody marks on it.
Zhao Huaixu stood there motionless, letting her tear it apart, his thumb gently stroking her slightly pale knuckles.
"She's about to wake up..." Yuan Qingjun suddenly smelled something, and when she looked up, she found that there seemed to be a figure outside the window.
She walked out of the room lightly, and half of the Qingfang mask flashed around the corner. The black cloak fluttered behind her, and her figure was already ten steps away.
Yuan Qingjun lifted her skirt and started to chase after him, but she saw that the man had obviously noticed her following him, and his steps became disorderly and bigger.
"Hey, girl, are you okay?" The soldier guarding the side hall noticed the woman who had just stepped out of the door. She was fine, but suddenly collapsed to the ground. He leaned over hurriedly, thinking about whether to help her up, but was knocked off balance by the armor. He Wei knelt on one knee and pulled her into his arms. The wrist guard hurt Yuan Qingjun's back.
"General He..."
Yuan Qingjun suddenly opened his eyes, hooked his fingertips on the edge of the mask and lifted it up violently. Just when he opened a tiny gap, someone held his wrist tightly.
A hideous scar ran through the man's left cheek, splitting his handsome features in half.
Yuan Qingjun's hair covered her red eyes. Her voice was filled with anger and grievance, but she kept it very low: "I knew it was you! Fang Yicen, you bastard!"
He Wei was so frightened by these words that he let go of his hand as if he had been electrocuted. He pushed it back violently, stood up and ran away.
Yuan Qingjun stumbled forward, but in her panic, she slipped and fell to the ground: "You coward, don't you even care whether your sister is dead or alive?"
He Wei's Adam's apple rolled, and his hands behind his back were clenched so tightly that the knuckles turned white.
The man tilted his head and finally spoke, his voice hoarse as gravel grinding against each other: "My name is He Wei, Fang Yicen from the northwest. I died in Jin'an two years ago."
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