The sound of the crossbow came from behind again. She turned her head suddenly, but only saw Yan Xun's livid face. The man's hand was like a sharp knife, held firmly in front of his chest, as if he was about to swing it down with force.
She no longer cared about anything else. Dignity and pride were nothing compared to the overwhelming fear and panic at the moment. She knelt on the ground and kowtowed to him frantically. In less than two kowtows, her forehead was covered in blood. She cried out in grief with tears streaming down her face, her hands opened in an attempt to block the attack in vain in mid-air.
"Yan Xun, please, please, don't, Yan Xun, please..."
Yan Xun looked at her, looked at her bloody forehead, his heart ached.
This woman was the only one who followed him when he was lonely, desperate and had nothing. She was Achu, who had accompanied him for eight years in the cage in the imperial capital. He once vowed to protect her for life and give her a happy and comfortable life. Unfortunately, the oath he made in the past was eventually overturned by his own hands.
He raised the corners of his mouth slightly and put on a faint smile, just like many years ago when she came back from outside and saw him writing at the desk. He raised his head and smiled at the girl standing at the door. His smile under the lamp was as gentle as warm water in spring.
Achu, actually I have never changed, but you never know what I really want.
And now, in this way, I want to tell you my beliefs, my ambitions, and everything about me.
"put!"
The world suddenly became so quiet, the wind and snow seemed to have stopped, and she could no longer hear any sound in her ears. Only the birds flying across the sky flapped their wings and passed over their heads, so freely.
Twenty thousand Black Hawk soldiers rode on horseback and fired arrows at the same time. The dense array of arrows blocked out the sunlight like clouds. The sky instantly fell into darkness. A waterfall of metal streaked across the air and fell from the sky. The tails of the arrows were tied with long ropes, and the arrowheads flashed with sharp barbs. They shot towards Zhuge Yue.
“Protect the General!” Yue Da was riddled with arrows and one of his legs was chopped off, but he leaped up like a tiger and pounced in front of Zhuge Yue. The remaining Moon Guard was covered in blood, and even with only one finger left, he was still crawling with all his might.
The arrows did not hit them, but seemed like iron hands, penetrating deeply into the hard ice, with their barbs piercing the ice and holding on tightly. At Yan Xun's command, 20,000 war horses suddenly turned around, raised their heads and neighed in unison. Thousands of whips were quickly waved down, and the war horses quickly raised their hooves, neighing as they ran away into the distance.
The rope at the end of the arrow instantly stretched straight, with a continuous banging sound. The hard ice layer suddenly collapsed, the ice surface shattered, and the cold water rushed up. Chu Qiao turned her head in despair, and through the blood stains in her eyes, she watched Zhuge Yue's figure flash and fall into the cold ice water. The hard ice of the red water pierced her skin with a bewitching red. His eyes looked at her, so calm, without resentment, hatred, joy or despair. Just like many years ago, he looked at her expressionlessly, watched her move away from him again and again, watched her betray him again and again, watched her stand opposite him again and again, holding a bow, crossbow and sword, and slashing at his forehead.
Time passed so quickly that there was no way to catch a single moment. Chu Qiao opened her eyes wide in horror and fell to her knees, tears silently rolling down her cheeks. She climbed up the first two steps dejectedly, like a panicked doll, looking at everything in front of her helplessly. Their eyes intertwined, moving and sinking slowly. The cold wind was like a howling beast, sweeping across the snow on the ground, raising large patches of pale snow mist between them, like white flags of the dead.
The cold water covered his figure in an instant. His clear and indifferent eyes could no longer be seen, nor his proud and slightly raised chin. Even his jet-black hair flashed away and disappeared under the icy lake in the snow.
Chu Qiao opened her mouth and wanted to scream, but no sound came out. The cold wind poured into her throat and she began to cough violently. She struggled to stand up, staggered over, and jumped into the freezing cold lake with a splash.
It was so cold, as cold as sharp ice spikes, piercing her feet and calves, her waist and neck. She arched her body and dived in, swimming hard, searching in the water with her eyes wide open. The sunlight shone from overhead into the deep water. Struggling shadows kept passing by in front of my eyes, and the smell of blood echoed among the waves.
No, no, still no, she cried in despair, her tears flowing down and mixing with the ice water and blood, her face turned ashen, her body gradually became stiff, and her movements were no longer agile. She felt someone grabbed her waist and someone was pulling her upwards.
No, she didn't want to go up. She pulled out the dagger from her waist and turned back to cut the rope that had entangled her at some point. However, at this moment, a pair of cold hands suddenly pressed down on her wrists, so strong and colder than water, firmly stopping her movements.
Chu Qiao turned around as if she had telepathy, and a handsome face suddenly came into her sight, with black eyes, pale lips, and a high nose. He looked at her with burning eyes, holding her hand and pushing her up hard. Blood kept flowing out of his wound and flowed into Chu Qiao's mouth and nose. She cried with joy, opened her arms to hug him, and held him tightly with her hands, trying to pull him up with her.
Zhuge Yue snatched her dagger, pulled her hand, and caressed her palm with his fingers, writing messily over and over again: Live... Live... Live...
"Come with me!" She opened her mouth and shouted in vain, but could only spit out a string of broken bubbles.
He shook his head slowly and continued to write: Live!
Her tears fell madly, she shook her head desperately and held him tightly.
Come with me! Come with me! Live with me!
I don't want to go up alone, I don't want to live my whole life indebted to you, I don't want you to die, I don't want it, I don't want it!
The force on his waist continued to drag her up. She was already frozen, with only her fingers still holding him tightly. She never knew that his death would make her so panicked; she never knew that he had unknowingly penetrated so deeply into her heart; she never knew that the so-called hatred was just an excuse she found for herself to avoid facing the reality; she never knew that she would be so heartbroken when she saw him leaving.
Zhuge Yue, Zhuge Yue, please, please don’t be so cruel, don’t let me bear the pain for the rest of my life. If I can’t pay you back, then let me die with your life.
The light was getting brighter and brighter. She cried silently. Her tears blurred her vision. She could only see his gentle eyes. Her fingers were desperately clasping his arm. All the words that could not be uttered were transmitted to her through her struggling fingertips. She was still shaking her head desperately and begging desperately. Suddenly, she felt so regretful. She regretted why she told Yan Xun those words that she had kept in her heart for more than a year. Why irritate him? Why couldn't you have asked humbly earlier? If this were the case, Zhuge Yue might not have died.
The pain and fear were like an endless abyss, gradually swallowing her up. She grabbed him and refused to let go.
Zhuge Yue was still so handsome. For the first time in his life, he looked at someone so tenderly. His wish of many years was like a short and pitiful dream, which received a shallow response in an instant. He paddled hard, moved gently upwards, stretched out his arms to embrace her thin back, and then left a gentle, cold kiss at the corner of her mouth.
Tears immediately burst out of her eyes, mixed with the water and stained Zhuge Yue's lips. Despair seemed to pierce her heart for a moment, and cold water rushed in, filling the tunnel in her heart.
Her body was completely stiff, the power in her waist and abdomen continued to attack her. She slowly moved upwards, slowly upwards, her arms gradually straightened, and Zhuge Yue gradually pried open her fingers that were tightly clasped around him. The two hands finally separated, intertwined, and moved further and further apart… Chu Qiao stretched out her arms dejectedly, watching him sink little by little, sinking little by little, her clear eyes drowned by the waves, her warm lips pale as paper, and all around her was cold darkness.
The pain in her heart was excruciating. The sunlight shone into the water. She could not see anything around her. Only his eyes were left, looking at her gently and firmly. It seemed that he was still telling her over and over again: Live, live...
Keep living, and don't forget that you still have many wishes.
Once upon a time, she had said this to others, but when she looked back, she suddenly realized that there was another pair of eyes silently watching her from behind.
The moment she broke through the water, she felt like she was dead. The sunlight shining on her face made her feel dazed for a moment. Yan Xun hugged her nervously and called her name loudly, but she could not hear him at all. Everything about her died in the icy lake below. Now, what walked out was just a cold body of flesh and blood.
The wind was blowing quietly on the snowfield, pale birds were flying in the sky, the sun was about to set, the wind and snow had stopped, the sun was as red as blood, casting a thousand-foot red light in the direction of Sunset Mountain. It was so beautiful.
But he would never see all this again.
She suddenly began to panic, and her body instantly gained miraculous strength, allowing her to push Yan Xun away regardless of everything and stagger towards the broken ice. Yan Xun was shocked and rushed over to hug her tightly. She was less than five steps away from the entrance of the ice cave, but she could not move forward even a step. Her despair and heartache overwhelmed her like a tide. Finally, she could no longer control herself and knelt on the ground, crying out in sorrow, "Come out! Come out!"
A mouthful of blood suddenly spurted out and landed on Yan Xun's wrist. She fell to the ground crying in despair, her body shaking violently like a leaf in the autumn wind.
"Achu!" Yan Xun called her name in her ear, but she felt that the voice was so harsh.
She turned her head suddenly, stopped crying, and looked at him with cold eyes.
What kind of look is that?
Anger, hatred, disappointment, sadness, all passed by one by one, and in the end, only dead despair and heartache remained. She looked at him, tears streaming down her face. Years of hope were shattered, and all her persistence and dreams turned to ashes.
Yan Xun's previous worry, fear and heartache finally cooled down under this cold gaze. He let go of her hand awkwardly, stood up and looked down at her.
A cold wind blew from the earth, covering her eyes with a pale color bit by bit. Her mind gradually drifted away, and in a trance, she seemed to see the pair of black eyes under the deep lake again.
Live, live, live...
In the dark, a low voice sounded in her ears. She closed her eyes in despair, collapsed to the ground, and fell into the endless darkness. She just wanted to have a big dream and never wake up again.
The cold wind still blew, and snowflakes were blown up, slowly covering the broken ice surface. The world was desolate, and the underworld was just around the corner.