Chapter 32: Fighting on the River
Jiaoran tried his best to sit up, grabbed the bowl in Yuan Jianlu's hand and drank it in big gulps. He drank too fast and almost choked himself.
Yuan Jianlu immediately dodged to the side and said, "Don't spit on me."
Mei Wan'er was knocked back against the prison van by him, and she saw stars in her eyes. "Did you do that on purpose?"
Yuan Jianlu spread his hands and said, "It's not my fault."
Mei Wan'er tore the corner of her clothes, made a handkerchief out of it, and threw it to Jiaoran, "Wipe your face and the corners of your mouth, the blood has dried."
Jiaoran heard her deep sigh.
She leaned against the prison van and asked them, "Where are we going?"
Everyone shook their heads. "Who knows? This has become a big deal. The Trace Pact has gotten away, leaving us poor people here to suffer."
There were six or seven people talking in the prison car. Jiaoran learned some information from their words. It turned out that these people were the ones who had arranged the city as Fenghuangchu had mentioned.
But what can the Phoenix Chick use to exchange with them?
Jiaoran continued to listen, and then he realized that these people didn't know that the target of the Phoenix Cub this time was "Gao Shan Shou".
A year ago, Phoenix Cub visited these sects in turn to exchange martial arts with them. He talked about how the armory of Governor Xutu's Mansion contained the secrets of martial arts from all the sects in the world. Of course, those people didn't believe it at first, until Phoenix Cub was able to use some martial arts that had long been lost in the sect, and pointed out one by one the flaws in some of the martial arts when the sect was first founded.
These people were sent by the sect leader to support the Phoenix Chicks only for the sake of the lost secret skills. Now that the operation is completed, they have become abandoned pawns.
She is different from them. Her father, mother, senior sisters, junior sisters and brothers must be anxiously looking for her whereabouts everywhere.
She wanted to find an opportunity to escape from here and return to Mianyuan as soon as possible.
A few days later, the hundred or so prisoners in the prison van were escorted onto a ship. Jiaoran tried his best to escape along the way, but his strength had not yet recovered and he could not resist the soldiers.
The river was filled with smoke, and all the prisoners were held in the bottom warehouse with no air circulation.
Once on the boat, they had only one piece of bread to eat a day, and if the servants forgot to bring them water, they would have to endure thirst.
That night, Jiaoran had just taken advantage of everyone's sleep to break free from the ropes when he heard shouting above his head, which naturally woke up the other prisoners.
Seeing them wake up, Jiaoran took a breath and hurriedly tied the rope loosely around their wrists and ankles, tied a slipknot, and untied it with a pull.
It was just right, the more chaotic it was, the better, so she could take advantage of the chaos to escape.
But she was not a good swimmer and didn't know if she could swim to the shore. She also didn't know which river it was.
Soon there was a sound of weapons clashing from above, and drops of blood slid down from the top of her head and landed on her eyebrows as she raised her face.
Yuan Jianlu used his inner strength to break the rope. Now that there was no prison cart to restrain him, he was like a bird spreading its wings. The others each used their own tricks to untie the rope.
It seems that she is not the only one who wants to escape during the chaos.
When things calmed down up there, the group of people who wanted to escape didn't know whether to go up or stay put.
All they could hear was Mei Wan'er encouraging everyone, "If I don't escape, I'll die. If I escape, I still have a glimmer of hope. Even if I die, I'll die in the daylight. How can I die in such a murky and dark cabin?"
After that, she struggled to escape.
Encouraged by her, everyone followed her.
When he got to the cabin above, Jiaoran saw corpses all over the floor, dressed in official uniforms. Some were lying face down, some were lying face up, and each one of them was lifeless.
Just when they were wondering what was going on, they saw a man about eight feet tall, with a broad waist and shoulders, a black face and yellow beard, coming towards them. He leaped in front of everyone.
It seems that his Qinggong skills are very advanced.
Jiaoran retreated calmly to avoid being made a target in a fight.
The big man asked his men to bring him a chair. He sat on it and said that he was originally from a fishing family and used to make a living by fishing on this river.
After fishing, they would pick the fish and sell them in the village.
Living a life of cooking and selling wine, I am as happy as a god.
Later, he married and had two children. His wife took care of the housework for him, while he continued fishing. He raised the children until they were fifteen or sixteen years old. He pointed at Jiaoran in the crowd and said, "Yes, they are the same age as this little girl."
Both children were captured by the Tongzhou governor's men and used as private soldiers. A few years ago, news came that both children had died in the army. His wife fainted from fright when she received the letter, and has been crazy ever since. She drowned in this water last year.
He has been fishing on the river for decades and has mastered the skill of flying. He can fly several feet with the wind and jump from one boat to another by stepping on the water plants on the river.
After he finished speaking, he began to sing loudly toward the river. Everyone looked at each other in confusion, wondering about this man's background.
Before the song ended, all they could hear was the crashing of waves.
Jiaoran looked up and saw four or five double-oared speedboats coming towards the ship.
There were dozens of people on the bow of the ship, running towards them.
When all the people on the boat landed here, they each held a sharp knife in their hands and pointed it at the group of prisoners. It seemed that they were all in the same group.
The leader, who sat on a high chair, said, "I don't mean to embarrass you, but now each of the twenty-four states has its own private army, and there are constant wars and conflicts between the states and counties. If people like us can form a team and cross fishing boats to rob the rich and help the poor, no one will dare to look down on you in the future."
Yuan Jianlu took over and said, "We are just minions from a small sect, and we are not good swimmers. It is really difficult for us to adapt to the river. Since you have rescued us today, if you need us in the future, we will definitely be loyal to you."
Someone responded to him, and everyone's meaning became clear. No one was willing to follow him.
Jiaoran thought about it and decided that these people were going to have a head-on fight with the river bandits.
Although they were only disciples of second- or third-rate sects, how many of them would willingly submit to being subjected to bandits? If it weren't for the need to protect their sect's reputation and its secret techniques, few disciples of reputable and upright sects would engage in such murderous and robbing activities.
Seeing that they could not reach an agreement, the bandit Jiang instructed his men to kill a few people to scare them.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he made this move, everyone started to stretch their muscles.
Jiaoran guessed that these people had already thought of escaping before the official died, and were just looking for an opportunity.
The bandits Jiang and the prisoners started fighting after a disagreement, and even Yuan Jianlu picked up the constable's sword and killed several people.
The scene became increasingly chaotic. Jiaoran was forced back onto the deck, dodging left and right. She had been ill until today and her strength had not yet recovered. This activity had left her breathless with exhaustion, and the sounds of fighting filled her ears.
Looking at the river behind her, she became anxious. She looked carefully and saw a small island vaguely visible in the mist in the river. She couldn't help but stare at the island, and an inexplicable attraction drew her there.
At such a distance, if she jumped she would just land in the water.
Jiaoran was not a good swimmer and he was exhausted now. It would be terrible if he drowned in the water halfway through swimming.
She was thinking when someone suddenly pushed her away. The bandit's broadsword flashed coldly as it passed by her. Jiaoran hurriedly said, "Thank you."
Seeing that it was Mei Wan'er, he pushed her away.
She threw a knife at her, "How can you protect yourself if you have no weapon?"
Jiaoran quickly caught it and said, "Thank you very much!"
Seeing a bandit coming to chop at her again, Jiaoran raised her sword and chopped it off. The sword's handle clashed with the man's weapon, causing her palm to go numb. She was so weak that she could hardly hold the sword.
Mei Wan'er gradually came to her side and said, "You are too stupid. You can't even kill such a cowardly bandit?"
Jiaoran said, "I haven't killed anyone yet."
After saying that, he glanced back helplessly and suddenly saw the island again. This time he saw it clearly and said to Mei Wan'er, "If the two of us were good at Qinggong, we could just fly over and hide on the island. These scoundrels wouldn't be able to find us."
Mei Wan'er was focused on the fight, looking intently to see where the island was. "You must be seeing things."
Yuan Jianlu ran over and heard what they said. He looked in the direction of the fog, but couldn't see any island.
As he spoke, he killed another river bandit in front of him.
Jiaoran was anxious. How could they not see? Yes, the fog was too thick. It would be better if it dispersed a little.
"Let's see the direction clearly." Jiaoran said to himself.
It was as if the island had a soul.
After a while, the two looked in the direction Jiaoran pointed again, and sure enough, they saw a small island. He said, "Hey, there really is one. I'll run away first!"
After saying that, he jumped with all his might, stepped on the waves seven or eight times, soaking his shoes, and was about to fly to the island.
But even though it was right in front of him, he couldn't climb up and could only step on the waves with great effort.
Mei Wan'er saw that he had already left and sighed, "If I stay here, I will just wait for death. I might as well give it a try." After that, she jumped down and stepped forward on the waves. After only changing her feet three or four times, she sank into the water.
Jiaoran watched the river water slowly covering her head and Mei Wan'er struggling in the water. She cried out and jumped in helplessly. She had never seen anyone who was worse at swimming than her.
She was about to pull Mei Wan'er up, and as soon as she grabbed Mei Wan'er's shoulders, she heard the person under the water spit out a few mouthfuls of water and said, "Be careful!"
Jiaoran exclaimed, "What?"
Whoosh—two arrows flew through the air.
It was shot from the deck where we had just escaped.
Jiaoran was almost exhausted from all this struggle. She grabbed Mei Wan'er and dived down. The ship shot a lot of arrows at her again.
Back and forth several times.
Jiaoran took her out of the water for a while, and then took her underwater for a while.
When the two of them were getting closer and closer to the island, Jiaoran suddenly pushed Mei Wan'er to the surface of the water.
"Get ashore quickly!"
Jiaoran left these words.
Mei Wan'er was afraid that she would be a burden to her, so she immediately followed Yuan Jianlu without looking back.
After swimming for a few strokes, he turned back and glanced at Jiaoran with concern.
Blood flowed from her shoulder and spread over the surrounding water.
"She's hurt!" Mei Wan'er screamed.
Yuan Jianlu was really impressed by them. No matter how close he tried, he couldn't reach this strange island. Now he had to carry two bags. He really didn't want to care about them anymore.
It was already dawn at this time. Yuan Jianlu, who had dragged the two women ashore, lay on his back and couldn't utter a word.
Fortunately, with the two of them, the island seemed to stop moving and was getting closer and closer to them.
The three people on the shore were exhausted and soaked.
Mei Wan'er said, "Thank you, little sister. By the way, I haven't asked your name yet."
Before Jiaoran could say anything, Yuan Jianlu interrupted him, "I saved you too, why don't you thank me? If I hadn't dragged you two up here, you would have drowned long ago."
"How dare you say that? You just stood by and watched, and only when both of our heads were sinking in the water did you stop smiling and turn around to rescue us." Mei Wan'er said angrily.
"Just tell me whether I can save you or not!"
"Okay, thank you. I thank you and your ancestors for eight generations!" Mei Wan'er wrung the river water out of her clothes.
"Hey, how can you repay kindness with enmity?"
Jiaoran was already weak from illness, and this ordeal filled her throat with the fishy smell of river water. She endured it for a moment, then suddenly vomited a large mouthful of blood.
Yuan Jianlu was shocked, "Are you okay?" Her shoulders were bleeding, she was spitting blood from her mouth, and she was coughing up blood all the way. Tsk tsk, I'm afraid she won't live for a few days. How unlucky. Yuan Jianlu shook his head and moved away, fearing that her illness would infect him.
Mei Wan'er stopped arguing and said, "You drank the river water on the way here, and you caught a cold."
As he was speaking, Jiaoran suddenly pushed Yuan Jianlu away. He turned his head and said, "I'm just being kind and concerned, but you two are so..."
Before she could finish her words, she saw a red-flowered pit viper wrapped around Jiaoran's arm and rushed to her neck. Mei Wan'er didn't know whether it was poisonous or not, so she didn't dare to move forward and instead took a step back.
"She saved you, why don't you go and help her!" she said to Yuan.
Jiaoran was almost suffocated by the long snake's neck. The snake's scales touched her skin, causing her pain like burning fire.
She fell to her knees and struggled to get the snake off her body.
Yuan Jianlu didn't dare to move rashly, "She even fished you out of the water for a while, why don't you go!"
Mei Wan'er grumbled and reached out to grab it with her bare hands, but he stopped her, "Wait, it's poisonous, extremely poisonous."
"Then we're just going to watch her die?"
Jiaoran took deep breaths, but the air became thinner and her face turned red.
"Don't move." Yuan Jianlu said to Jiaoran, and swung his sword, cutting the snake in two, but he accidentally injured Jiaoran's neck.
Mei Wan'er hurried forward to cover Jiaoran's bleeding wound. She saw that the poisonous snake had wrapped around her neck, leaving a horrible red mark, which soon turned blue and purple. She really didn't have much peace on this journey, poor little girl.
Jiaoran's face gradually turned blue and his breathing became rapid.
"What should we do now?" Mei Wan'er was in a panic, and the blood from Jiaoran's body dyed her palms red.
Yuan Jianlu sighed, took her arm, and carried her on his back. "Let's get off the shore first. There might be more than one poisonous snake nearby. I think this island is not small. Maybe there are people on it."
"I'll go find someone to save her!" Mei Wan'er said.
He was extremely helpless and tugged at her sleeve, still thinking it wasn't chaotic enough. "You're looking for death if you run around alone. There are poisonous snakes and maybe even poisonous insects on this island. I'm carrying this, do you think I can carry you as well?"
Mei Wan'er said angrily, "I'm just afraid that she'll die."
"It's her fate to die. Look, there's nothing good about her. If God wants to take her away, we can't save her. But I think she's very lucky. She's been sick for these few months, half dead and half alive, but still able to hold on. It's enough to prove it." Yuan Jianlu said sarcastically, and the girl behind him trembled all over. He stopped talking halfway because he couldn't bear it.
"God, have mercy on us!" He lifted Jiaoran up to prevent her from falling.
The three of them went into the woods. After walking for half an hour, they saw a dilapidated small courtyard in front of them. No one had cleaned the courtyard, and weeds were everywhere.
This stone house had only a very small window. The three of them walked in and found it gloomy inside. Yuan Jianlu put the person down and looked around.
Jiaoran curled up on the ground, his breathing becoming weaker and weaker.
"What do you think we should do now?" Yuan Jianlu sat on the ground, not caring about the dust on the ground.
The woman in front of him took off her wet coat and placed it next to Jiaoran's face. The ground was very dirty and dust filled the air. It seemed that no one had been here for a long time.
Mei Wan'er said, "Someone told me that the plants growing near the nests of poisonous snakes are likely to be herbs that can detoxify."
"Then do you know where the snake's nest that entangled her just now is?" Yuan Jianlu asked, leaning against the firewood pile.
"I don't know. I'll go out and look for her now. Don't leave her before I come back. There may be other people on the boat who have come here. If you leave her alone, she will die." Mei Wan'er said.
"I don't have the responsibility to take care of her. Am I her father or her brother?"
"Stop talking nonsense." Mei Wan'er looked down upon the greedy and lustful Yuan Jianlu.
He was about to continue arguing when Mei Wan'er suddenly put her finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.
At this moment, a sword light suddenly flew out of the window and attacked the house.
The sword flashed like lightning, swirling in the air and rushing towards the two of them. Mei Wan'er and Yuan Jianlu dodged respectively, and the sword was stuck in the pile of firewood behind Jiaoran.
The sword came quickly. Yuan Jianlu pointed at her with his chin and asked her to retreat behind him as Jiaoran's second barrier.
Yuan Jianlu held the sword in his hand and shouted, "I don't know who you are, why don't you come out and meet me?"
He knew everyone on the boat and had made no enemies, so he didn't know who the newcomer was.
No one spoke outside the door.
Mei Wan'er looked around, feeling a chill in her lungs. "Yuan Jianlu, have you noticed anything?"
Yuan Jianlu didn't turn around, "What?"
"When we first came in, the only window in the room faced south, but... now it faces north..."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Yuan Jianlu glanced towards the window.
"Hasn't it always been there?" he said.
"No." Mei Wan'er was very sensitive to the changes around her. "The scenery is different too."
"What do you want to say?"
“Just now when I looked out the window, I could see the river, but now you see a forest of dead leaves.”
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