C21 Part2

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A fierce pair of hawk’s eyes met the lone wolf’s cold gaze; Both were men of few words, and without saying anything more, tightened their grips on their weapons, scarlet Chi Xue in Su Ling’s hands, while Ao Tian held on firmly to the jet black Ci Ling. Though the two men stood unmoving, the mingling dual auras of frosty cold and fiery bloodlust spread to the extent that even Gan Jing, who stood far away in the treetops, felt his heart start to race.

As the sun finally rose into the sky, Gan Jing was able to clearly identify the mystery man and woman standing in the clearing as Qing Feng’s sister Qing Mo, and the Great General Su Ling!

Why did his reclusive senior have to antagonise this couple? Gan Jing could not understand the motivation behind his actions, but it was not the time and place to ponder this question. The battle between the two men was already beginning.

If even Gan Jing could feel the tension in the atmosphere from such a distance, needless to say, Gu Yun herself could feel the hostilities brewing between the two men. Honestly speaking, she had no intention of following Su Ling Back to the General Manor at this point in time, but she would not be able to bear it if Ao Tian got hurt on her behalf over this matter. Just as she was about to begin her explanation, Chi Xue had already flown out of it’s scabbard, heading straight towards Ao Tian.

Knowing full well the destructive power of Chi Xue, Gu Yun urgently called out “Watch out!”

Ao Tian merely squinted his eyes as the corners of his mouth turned up in a mocking smile. With a flourish, the black soft sword Ci Ling began to dance around Chi Xue, flowing with each and every one of Ao Tian’s actions, heading straight for Su Ling’s forearm. Su Ling’s arm muscles tightened reflexively, not exposing the surprise that he felt. What kind of weapon was this, that allowed its user to be unafraid of Chi Xue’s scalding heat?

Su Ling quickly infused Chi Xue with his inner energy and brandished his blade, causing flames to jump towards Ci Ling. Ao Tian felt the heat burn through his grip and quickly withdrew his sword, beating a hasty retreat.

 

As soon as that soft sword left Su Ling’s arm, taking advantage of that brief respite, he tightened his grip on Chi Xue and rushed his blade towards Ao Tian’s chest.

Gu Yun felt her heart skip a beat; if this attack was to land on Ao Tian’s body, even if he escaped death he would still suffer a serious injury! Ao Tian having leaped backwards was unable to change his position in mid-air, and could not possibly dodge this attack! There was no way she could allow the death of someone who came to assist her. Gu Yun made a split-second decision, drew Bing Lian out of it’s sheath, and rushed forward.

 

In an instant, the sound of clashing blades resounded through the forest ad Bing Lian met Chi Xue head on, saving Ao Tian from his predicament.

 

While Ao Tian escaped unscathed, Su Ling on the other hand felt his rage increase exponentially. How could she dare to help that man fight back against him! Damn it! Were the two of them somehow previously related? Or had they already planned to meet here from the start? Gu Yun’s sudden appearance, coupled with a biased viewpoint,  caused Su Ling’s hatred of Ao Tian to boil over uncontrollably, naturally making his attacks even fiercer than they already were.

Su Ling once more directed his attack towards Ao Tian. Gu Yun had originally intended to talk it out but lost her patience as the flaming Chi Xue flew towards her, she had no choice but to steel herself to receive this blade. Ice and fire clashed once more with the full force of Su Ling’s might behind this attack. Gu Yun felt a strong wave of pressure radiating towards her, and knelt down to gain a better foothold to fight back.

As he heard her grunting in pain as she mustered every ounce of her willpower to hold him back, Su Ling’s eyes lost their bloodlust and drew back his sword as he coldly stared at the woman who overexerted herself. What kind of relationship did she have with that man, that she would risk her life for him?

 

Ao Tian grabbed Gu Yun’s shoulder and lifted her into his arms, his deep black pupils searching for any trace of injury on her body. Satisfied that there was currently no threat to her well-being, only then was he able to release the burden in his heart. This was the first time he’d experienced this feeling of his chest tightening to the point of being unable to breathe; Looking at the way she defended him, he finally understood what it meant to feel panic and heartache!

Up to this point, Gu Yun still could not figure out what kind of unforgivable grudge existed between these two men. It practically seemed like Su Ling would not retreat without taking Ao Tian’s life! As her sword arm continued to tremble, Gu Yun said to Ao Tian “Quickly escape! His sword Chi Xue is unbelievably powerful!” Even if both of them held legendary weapons on par with each other, there still existed the undeniable gap in strength between men and women, Gu Yun was clearly unable to fully defend against Su Ling’s raging blade.

Ao Tian merely replied in a low voice “Don’t move from that spot”, and fearlessly walked towards his opponent.

Gu Yun felt her heart in her throat as she watched Ao Tian’s black clad figure heading towards his death. Su Ling was a man who believed that a good offence was the best defence. When Ao Tian was within 10 feet, Su Ling immediately launched an attack, yet Ao Tian suddenly halted his pace and nimbly dodged the blade. All of a sudden, his shadows seemed to multiply, as his lone figure suddenly became two, two became four, and in a moment Su Ling was completely surrounded by these shadow clones, each and everyone of them sporting a black outfit and silver hair, with a soft sword in hand. He had no idea which was Ao Tian, and which was merely an illusion

 

What a ghostly technique! How on earth did he manage it?

Gu Yun found herself speechless as she witnessed this unbelievable spectacle. Even Su Ling could not focus as he suddenly found himself facing ten people, and though he knew that they were simply illusions, it was hard for him to defend without knowing which was the real Ao Tian

 

Ao Tian took the opportunity to thrust his blade at Su Ling’s defenceless back

However, for one who had travelled alongside death for so many years, Su Ling’s instincts warned him of the impending danger and he quickly spun around to face Ao Tian. With the blade coming within inches of his body, Su Ling had no choice but to retreat while fending off the attack

In the moment where Su Ling was forced back, Gu Yun heard Ao Tian’s voice by her side telling her, “Go.” Gu Yun felt her waist being grabbed as her entire body was carried by Ao Tian as he raced toward the forest.

Watching the two silhouettes in the distance, there was no way that Su Ling would simply let things end like this and immediately gave chase. Upon entering the forest however, he almost lost sight of them several times due to the poor lighting, and it only served as a testament to Ao Tian’s skills that he was able to travel so swiftly even while carrying Gu Yun.

Just as Su Ling was about to catch up to them, he felt a wave of murderous intent as two flashes sped towards him. Having no choice but to evade, Su Ling watched as two wafer thin blades sunk into the ground right before him. Who could it be? Just exactly how many people were hidden in this mountain behind his manor?

Having been distracted by the darts, Su Ling had completely lost sight of Ao Tian and Gu Yun.

Damn it! He actually let them escape! “Qing Mo…”

 

Gan Jing plastered himself against the side of the tree and held his breath, not daring to let out a single sound. Even though he was standing at such a height, he could clearly feel the raging fury of the man standing below.

Gan Jing thought to himself: Senior! Su Ling is truly a man that we should not mess with!

Ao Tian displayed incredible speed such that stunned Gu Yun, and she could only come to the conclusion that he was using the fabled Qing Gong (light-bodied technique). As he held her by the waist, Gu Yun watched as the scenery sped past her in a blur, it was honestly enough to make one nauseous. Having run for about an hour, Gu Yun was unable to withstand this high speed movement any longer, and tugged on Ao Tian’s sleeve while speaking softly, “Let me down.”

 

Ao Tian stopped in front of a large tree and placed her down without saying anything else.

 

It was such a relief to feel solid ground beneath her feet. Leaning against a tree trunk, she felt something was off as she observed Ao Tian. In that last clash, she’d felt the searing heat even from the distance at which she stood, what more about him who had rushed towards the flames? Gu Yun could not let go of the unease she felt and urged him, “Show me your hand.”

“It’s just a small wound.” came his rejection. Ao Tian refused to turn around, obviously not intending to reveal the extent of his injuries.

 

Gu Yun snatched his hand impatiently and dragged him over. Ao Tian’s naturally pale face showed no signs of discomfort, except the beads of sweat that gathered on his forehead clearly showed pain he was suppressing with all his might.

 

Even in his injured state Ao Tian still tried to struggle out of her grasp. “Don’t move.” ordered Gu Yun. The warm feeling of her touch caused his concentration to lapse momentarily, and Gu Yun took this chance to quickly rip open his sleeve, exposing his injury.

 

His arm was solidly built, and the muscles were well defined, giving a more rugged appearance than she’d imagined he’d have. There was a 20cm long gash on his forearm which was not very deep. What was more troubling were the two massive fierce red blisters on either side of the wound which must have been caused by the blazing heat released by Chi Xue. The resulting surface area of the injury was large indeed. This kind of injury was the most troublesome that it was the most painful kind, and that it was easily infected.

Gu Yun sighed, “You have been severely wounded, it’s best you find a doctor to treat it as soon as possible.”

“No need.” Ao Tian replied nonchalantly as he drew out a small vial from a belt pouch. Biting open the cover, he poured two pills into his mouth and returned the vial to it’s original position with practised ease, as if such occurrences were nothing new to him.

 

Gu Yun had a feeling that he had no intention of properly treating his wound, and was simply going to wait for it to heal naturally.

 

Not only was he suffering from open wounds and burn injuries, if his wound was to really get infected in kind of place, that would indeed be disastrous. Unable to stand it any longer, she grabbed him and sat him down next to a tree, whereupon she realised that there was no suitable cloth available to bandage his wounds. Giving it some thought, she unfastened her long black hair tie which she deemed sufficient for the task at hand. With her hair tie released, her beautiful, silky waist length hair, cascaded behind her back like a glorious black waterfall.

Gu Yun gently raised Ao Tian’s arm, and used her silk hair-tie to bandage his arm. While she felt nothing out of the ordinary, Ao Tian on the other hand was frozen to the spot. As the wind blew, it carried with it stray strands of long hair that settled on his shoulders; It was a strange sensation that was both ticklish and numb. Seeing her gentle figure crouching by his side with her faced scrunched up in concentration, he reached out to the touch the hand on his arm, wishing to dispel her worries

Gu Yun at this moment had just finished the bandaging, and was about to warn him to take care of the wound, only to see Ao Tian’s hand hovering in mid air, and a pair of deep black eyes gazing at her calmly. Looking at his dazed state, Gu Yun quietly and curiously observed him back.

As his eyes met her questioning gaze, Ao Tian felt his heart begin to race uncontrollably, he had no idea what to say, and didn’t know where to place his hand. Without a word, he quickly got up, faced away from Gu Yun, and rushed off awkwardly.

“Huh? What’s wrong with this person?” Gu Yun could not fathom the meaning behind his actions.

 

Having travelled out quite some distance, just as she thought that his figure was about to disappear, Ao Tian suddenly came to a halt, yet still did not turn back. After a while, his icy calm voice which had finally settled down came from over his shoulder, “I won’t go back to that forest for a while now. You can find me about 3 miles out from the north gate, where no one stays there.”

After he finished speaking, Ao Tian continued to head in the direction he was facing, leaving Gu Yun to watch his lonely figure disappear amongst the tress.\n

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