Let's go
In the desolate, frigid miasma of a remote region...
Silence returned, broken only by the suppressed breathing of the two and the eerie sound of the miasma flowing. The forced "warmth" gradually calmed Gu Jinghong's trembling.
Suddenly, Gu Jinghong's ears keenly caught a very subtle "click" sound, like rusty gears grinding together.
"Something's not right!" Gu Jinghong instantly became alert, his eyes scanning the ground with sharp intensity. "Three steps to the left front, the runes on the floor tiles have sunk, and there's an unusual movement in the air vents on the right rear stone wall... It's a trap!"
Before he could finish speaking...
"Click! Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"
Spikes shot out from the ground to the left front, and dozens of crystal-clear ice arrows, radiating a chilling aura, shot out from the holes in the stone wall to the right rear, covering the area where they were located. The sound of the arrows piercing the air carried the chill of freezing the air!
"Retreat!" Xiao Chengyan shouted in a low voice, his reaction as fast as lightning.
He grabbed Gu Jinghong's waist, touched the ground with his toes, and leaped backward like a roc, narrowly avoiding the ground spikes and most of the ice arrows.
However, the ice arrows covered too wide an area and were angled too sharply. One icy arrow shot towards Gu Jinghong's side ribs after he dodged, like a venomous snake.
A fierce glint flashed in Xiao Chengyan's eyes. With a flick of his wrist, he actually struck the shaft of the ice arrow with the edge of his palm.
"Crack!" The ice arrow shattered, sending ice shards flying, but a thin layer of white frost instantly covered the edge of his palm. The biting cold air surged up his arm's meridians, causing him to frown slightly.
"Your Highness!" Gu Jinghong's heart tightened.
"It's alright." Xiao Chengyan shook his hand, dispelling the ice shards. The thin layer of frost was instantly dispelled by his powerful internal energy.
His tall figure stood firmly in front of Gu Jinghong, completely protecting her in the recessed corner of the rock behind him. His profile was as hard as if it had been carved by a knife, and his sharp gaze was locked on the direction of the triggering mechanism and the ice arrow. His tone was deliberately relaxed, and he even had the leisure to glance back at her. His voice was unusually gentle.
"It's a minor matter; at this time, a young lady should stay put and not worry about anything."
Before the words were even finished, the second round of triggers sounded, and even more icy arrows rained down from different angles!
Xiao Chengyan made a move.
He had no weapons, but those two hands were the most terrifying weapons.
The palm strikes were powerful and fierce, carrying scorching heat waves. Whether slapping, chopping, or sweeping, each palm strike accurately hit the arrow, shattering it in mid-air.
Ice crystals exploded in front of him, like blooming death ice flowers, only to be instantly dispersed by the fierce palm wind. He moved nimbly, leaving afterimages in the narrow space, firmly protecting Gu Jinghong behind him, and not a single ice arrow could break through his defenses.
"Don't be afraid, I'll protect you." He even managed to reassure her in a moment between shattering several ice arrows, his voice carrying a hint of barely perceptible fatigue, yet still forcing a relaxed tone.
But his breathing had inadvertently become heavy and rapid, and fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, which were instantly frozen into ice particles by the surrounding cold air.
Each swing of his hand aggravated his severe internal injuries, causing his face to flush an unnatural red beneath its pale undertones.
Gu Jinghong was shielded behind him, watching his back as solid as a rock, blocking all the fatal attacks, and listening to his feigned ease in comforting him. Her heart was in turmoil—this bastard was clearly about to collapse, but he was still pretending to be strong.
"Xiao Chengyan, I can find the core of the mechanism!" Gu Jinghong shouted anxiously, trying to rush out.
"Stay put!" Xiao Chengyan didn't even turn his head. He slapped away three ice arrows that were flying in a triangular pattern, protecting Gu Jinghong behind him. "Young lady, don't cause trouble! This little rain of arrows can't do anything to me!"
Gu Jinghong bit her lower lip. She clearly heard the last syllable of his voice carrying a hint of barely concealed panting.
Looking at his broad but slightly trembling back, and at the bulging veins on his neck caused by his forced exertion of internal energy, an indescribable bitterness and anger welled up in my heart—at the critical moment of life and death, why is he still trying to be so stubborn!
She forced herself to calm down, no longer looking at the heart-wrenching battle, but staring intently at the ground runes and stone wall vents triggered by the mechanisms. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of ancient texts and her understanding of mechanisms from ancient times to the present, she analyzed the trajectory of the runes, the pattern of the vent spray, and the rhythm of the mechanism's engagement...
Her gaze finally settled on a tiny, extremely concealed protrusion on the stone wall, almost blending into the surrounding rock texture. All the "qi" of the runic trails subtly pointed towards it. Moreover, before each large-scale launch of ice arrows, that protrusion would tremble very slightly—this was the control hub!
This way of operating... looks very familiar; she must have seen it somewhere before!
Her brain raced, and then her eyes suddenly focused—that's right, it's the Nine-Star Linked Mechanism!
Just then, *poof*!
The internal injuries that had been forcibly suppressed finally erupted, and Xiao Chengyan suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which instantly condensed into red ice crystals in the cold mist.
His palm strike suddenly faltered, and he staggered. In that instant of hesitation, a cunning ice arrow pierced through the gap in his palm strike and pierced his left shoulder.
"Ugh," Xiao Chengyan let out a suppressed groan of pain. His tall body seemed to have its spine removed, and he could no longer support himself, so he knelt down on one knee with a thud.
Blood stained the fabric of his clothes on his shoulder, frozen by the cold. He struggled to lift his head, but his eyes were unfocused, and his lips moved as if unconsciously saying, "Don't...come any closer...it's dangerous..."
Suddenly, everything went dark, and my heavy body fell forward.
"Xiao Chengyan—!" Gu Jinghong's eyes widened in horror, and her heart clenched violently! She could no longer care about anything else and rushed to his side, catching his falling body.
His touch was icy cold; his body temperature was frighteningly low, and his breath was weak. Gu Jinghong's vision instantly blurred with tears, and she blinked hard to wipe them away.
Almost simultaneously, Gu Jinghong moved with ghostly speed, dodging the few ice arrows that were shot at him, and rushed to the stone wall. He poured his inner strength into his fingertips and pressed them against the protrusion.
Her fingers moved like butterflies flitting among flowers, quickly pressing, rotating, and tapping with a back-and-forth motion!
"Click...click...buzz—!"
A muffled, complex hum of machinery emanated from within the stone wall, as if a colossal beast had been calmed. A few seconds later, all sound fell silent. No more icy arrows were fired.
The facility is temporarily closed...
"Hold on..." Gu Jinghong choked up, took out a small porcelain white medicine bottle from her bosom, and poured a brown "Nine-Turn Heart-Protecting Pill" into her cold palm with trembling hands.
Unbeknownst to her, tears streamed down her face as she held the pill to Xiao Chengyan's lips: "Xiao Chengyan, take this medicine, and you'll be fine."
Xiao Chengyan's breath was so faint as to be almost nonexistent, and he made no sound at all.
Gu Jinghong's heart sank to the bottom. A deeper panic gripped her. The medicine wouldn't go in; everything was in vain.
"Xiao Chengyan, open your mouth and swallow the medicine!" She slapped his cold cheeks, her voice hoarse with a sob as she commanded, but he did not react, his lips ashen.
Gu Jinghong's eyes sharpened, and she could no longer care about anything else.
She took a deep breath, leaned down, and used her thumb and forefinger to pry open his clenched teeth. The icy touch from her fingertips almost invaded her heart and lungs, making her heart tremble again.
Immediately afterwards, she quickly stuffed the small heart-protecting pill deep into the back of his tongue.
Then, she pinched his nose with one hand and lifted his chin with the other, forcing his airway open. She then leaned down and pressed her lips tightly against his cold, almost nonexistent lips, sending short, forceful breaths into his mouth.
Once, twice... the airflow impacted the pill, trying to send it down the throat.
She could clearly feel the coldness and stiffness of his lips, and even taste a faint trace of blood. This cold and lifeless feeling made her feel cold all over, but her breathing became even more rapid and forceful.
Finally, after what seemed like the umpteenth time she had tried to breathe into him, Xiao Chengyan's Adam's apple bobbed very slightly, and the pill went down!
Ignoring her own disheveled state, she immediately leaned down anxiously to listen to his breathing—though still weak, it seemed… to have gained a faint warmth; the medicine was beginning to take effect.
The tension in my heart, stretched to its limit, suddenly snapped.
An overwhelming sense of relief, mixed with lingering fear and the terror of regaining what was lost, instantly engulfed her completely.
She could no longer hold on, and her arms tightened around Xiao Chengyan's cold, heavy body, holding him tightly in her embrace. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, and suppressed sobs escaped from the depths of her throat. Her body trembled like a withered leaf in a storm, and all her fear, helplessness, and despair poured out with her tears at this moment.
After an unknown amount of time, the heart-wrenching cries gradually subsided, turning into intermittent sobs.
The tears had dried up, and all the strength seemed to have been exhausted.
She blankly raised her tear-streaked face, staring emptyly at the still pale face of the person in her arms.
No, I still have an injury on my shoulder...
Her remaining reason and instincts drove her.
She managed to steady her still trembling hands, and with a tearing sound, forcefully ripped a clean strip of cloth from the inside of her clothes to carefully bandage and stabilize the wound on his shoulder.
Gu Jinghong looked around blankly, with only one thought in his mind—this place is not safe to stay for long, and he must leave the miasma area as soon as possible!
Her gaze returned to the stone wall; the mechanism was closed, but the core mechanism remained.
She drew her dagger and carefully pried open the relatively loose stones around the pressed-down protrusion on the stone wall. Her movements were precise and patient, and as the stones fell away, a hidden, palm-sized, intricate bronze mechanism was revealed.
At the center is a circular pivot made of a peculiar material, engraved with a pattern of two fish with their heads and tails connected – indeed, it is the Pisces Pivot!
Gu Jinghong's eyes gleamed—she had seen the Twin Fish Pivot in the chapter on the Xuanji Technique and recognized this ancient "compass fish" principle variant. Under certain conditions, the heads of the Twin Fish Pivot would instinctively point to a direction where energy was relatively scarce or safe.
Surprisingly, they were using the mechanical arts of the Southern Wind Kingdom in this cold and miasma-filled place!
Without hesitation, Gu Jinghong used a knife to pry off the precious Pisces Pivot. It was cold to the touch, but there was a faint, pulling sensation coming from the fish heads.
Gu Jinghong looked around and quickly picked through the scattered stones and broken branches to find materials. She took a sturdy ebony hairpin from her hair and tore a relatively thick strip of cloth from the lining of Xiao Chengyan's clothes.
Her fingers flew across the screen, her movements so fast it was dazzling.
Use a dagger to carve the ebony hairpin into a bird-like skeleton; use tough grass stems as tendons to connect the key nodes of the skeleton; carefully insert the Pisces pivot into the "bird's" chest cavity; and firmly tie the cloth strip to the "bird's" tail.
An extremely simple mechanical bird, yet embodying ingenuity and skillful craftsmanship, was born in her hands.
Gu Jinghong held the mechanical bird flat in his palm, and then, something magical happened.
The embedded Pisces pivot vibrated slightly in the miasma energy field, causing the entire simple mechanical bird to slowly rotate. Finally, the bird's head steadily pointed in a specific direction!
“It’s over there.” Gu Jinghong’s spirits lifted.
Without further hesitation, she used all her strength to carry the unconscious and incredibly heavy Xiao Chengyan onto her back, supporting him with one hand while raising the simple mechanical bird that guided the way with the other.
"Let's go," she whispered, her voice filled with unwavering determination.
She no longer looked at the cold arrow mound and thick fog behind her, her gaze fixed on the direction indicated by the mechanical bird. Carrying the man who had fought for her until he fell unconscious, she walked step by step, firmly and steadily, into the unknown yet vibrant depths of the fog.
The strip of cloth fluttered gently on the bird's tail, like a tiny flag of survival. Her figure appeared thin in the thick fog, yet seemed to exude a powerful strength.
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