Chapter 26

26. The Mrs. Long San In A Time Of Trials And Tribulations
Translated by Ju Hua | Edited by Pu Er

As Long San received this hit, his feet staggered, but he used force to remain steady and strode two steps forward. At this time he fell to his knees, and using this opportunity he let Feng Ning down onto the shore. Feng Ning saw him get hit, and grew pale and frightened. But in such a critical situation, she endured from screaming. Stepping onto land she quickly rolled on the floor, grabbed the long branch Long San had tossed away earlier, then turned over and leapt up. Wielding the branch with formidable power, and leaving no gaps, she brushed aside and swept away the following four to five arrows that were fired.

Long San clenched his teeth while getting up, and under Feng Ning’s cover, stumbled and ran over to the tree where they were resting at. Feng Ning followed closely behind him, retreating on one hand and being careful on the other, however she quickly realized something was wrong with him.

“The arrow has poison.”

“Yes.” Long San’s voice grew low. The two very soon closed in to the back of the large tree, and borrowed the tree trunk to hide their figures. The raiders quickly discovered shooting arrows was useless, and jumped down from the trees on the opposite side of the shore. Heading towards Feng Ning in a semi-circle, they were slowly forced out of hiding to make their way over.

Long San quickly tapped several acupuncture points on his shoulder and arm, then fished out a small red pill and swallowed it, attempting to prevent the poison from spreading. But his right shoulder and right arm were already beginning to grow numb, and his mind only felt like it was swimming^[1]. He tried very hard to stay focused, and narrowed his eyes as he carefully looked at the tens of people dressed in black who had just surrounded them.

Once his mind was balanced, he took his sword and told Feng Ning, “Go release the horses, then leave first. You know how to find my stronghold. Just find a place to wait for me. If I don’t show up in three to five days, the people there will take care of you.

Feng Ning knew the opponents came prepared. Now that Long San had fallen into their trap, if she was to leave first, she could easily leave. If the opposing party was after her, then once she left they would definitely chase after her, and the pressure on Long San would decrease. But currently there were too many uncertainties.

What if the other party’s goal was Long San? He has travelled extensively, and the number of people he offended is most likely not low. If she left, then if the other party wanted to kill him it would be easy. Not to mention, if the poison wasn’t so simple, even if he managed to escape, the poison could act up and no one would be by his side taking care of him. Wouldn’t he be in danger?

Feng Ning thought and thought, and in her heart were a million protests against leaving him and escaping alone, but she guessed that even if she insisted on staying together, it would also bring no benefits to Long San.

Long San wrinkled his brows and stared at her. Feng Ning gritted her teeth, and without a word she ran towards the area the horses were tied up. Long San was relieved, and took his sword to prop himself up. The other party saw Feng Ning flee, and once again fired arrows, but the woods had large trees which blocked them. A few people saw this, stopped what they were doing, and instead took out their swords. They temporarily didn’t dare move closer because at this moment, they couldn’t see Long San nor could they see Feng Ning. They were worried about being deceived within the woods.

They waited and waited. When nothing happened within the woods, the leader of the group of people waved his hands, and they all condensed, approached the woods and surrounded it. Then a number of people fiercely rushed in, heading towards the back of the large tree where Long San was hiding in with killing intent. But once they rushed behind the tree they were dumbfounded. There wasn’t anyone here at all.

Without waiting for these few people to react, from the top of the tree was a “whoosh,” and a mass of tapered tree branches shot down. All at once they pierced into the people’s bodies. They screamed miserably, and fell onto the floor.

The other people were alarmed, and raised their hands towards the tree and fired arrows. Long San clapped his hand once on the tree trunk, and dangerously jumped towards another tree top. He was now feeling dizzy, and his strength was fading. He was relying on the strength of one arm, but it wouldn’t support him for long. He intended to cause a slight delay, and then jump on a horse and head towards the opposite direction that Feng Ning went in. But his ears were buzzing, and he didn’t notice which direction she ran off to.

Just as he was thinking about his next step, he suddenly heard the long neigh of a horse. A fine steed was dragging a bundle of branches that were set on fire, rushing over to this side. The surrounding crowd all at once scattered. They were all afraid of getting hit by the horses, and one after the other retreated.

At this time another horse came running. A few people were vigilant but their vision blurred, and a delicate petite figure passed over who, with one palm, sent a person flying, took his sword and neatly cut down twice causing another person to collapse, and forced two other people back. This was Feng Ning. While everyone’s reaction was delayed, she jumped to a tall tree, pulled Long San off and leapt onto the approaching horse’s back. She pulled the reins, and loudly shouted as they left.

The large man in charge loudly shouted orders to people to chase. Feng Ning turned around, and threw powdered sand towards the group of people. Everyone was shocked, and quickly stopped to close their noses from breathing. But it was this small opportunity that allowed the two people on a horse to run far away.

Long San was jostled around on the horse, and only felt his throat grow sweet, and his blood churning. Just now when he forcibly used strength, it really added injury on top of injury. Feng Ning ruined his plans, but he could not speak a word of reproach. This crazy woman; it seemed like there wasn’t ever a time she really obediently listened.

The entire way Feng Ning carried Long San as they urgently pressed on. She loudly asked, “How are you doing? Is this poison serious? You’re bleeding, you need to hang on!”

“En.” Long San leaned against her, and with great effort tried not to let himself fall off the horse. He didn’t have enough energy to speak.

Feng Ning turned around to look at him, and at the same time looked at their pursuers. These people actually rode on horses and followed them. Feng Ning gritted her teeth, and pulled the horse’s head to turn, running towards a small path. The woods were dense, and there were slopes and roads, allowing for attack and defense.

She ran for a while, and saw a really tall steep slope, and in her mind she had a plan. She hastily pulled the horse to a stop, supported Long San down, and carried him towards the top of the slope. Long San’s legs had no strength, and he almost couldn’t stop. Weakly he said, “I won’t be able to jump down.”

Feng Ning could hear the distant sound of hooves approaching. Her heart grew anxious, and with one leg kicked towards Long San’s legs. With both arms holding him, she brought him to the ground. She quickly spoke in a low voice, “Then you’ll just roll down. Once you’re at the base of the slope, don’t make any noises or randomly run around. Wait for me.” Once she finished speaking she applied force to her hand, and pushed the half laying down Long San to slide towards the base of the slope.

The sound of hooves grew closer, and Feng Ning didn’t have enough time take a closer look at Long San’s situation. She turned around and jumped onto the horse’s back, using strength to kick the horse’s stomach and once again fled. The group of people behind continued chasing Feng Ning, and kicked up dirt as they passed by the side of the slope. Feng Ning again ran for a long while, and towards the horse said, “Brother Horse, I’m really sorry.” She stretched her hand and on the horse’s rump, sliced it once with the sword. The horse suffered pain, and used even more strength to run. Feng Ning seized this opportunity, and quickly leapt towards the dense tree branches.

She waited for a while, and watched as the group of people chasing them run after the escaping horse’s hoof prints and the sound of its hooves. After confirming there was no one tailing her, she leapt through the treetops for a while, then jumped down afterwards, and quickly ran towards the base of that one slope.

Long San was laying on the middle of the slope. His ears could hear the sound of horses rushing by above, and understood what Feng Ning’s intention was, but he currently no longer had any strength to help. The poison in his body was worse than he expected, and at this moment, half of his body was already numb. He was completely out of strength, and his ears were buzzing. He laid there, his mind empty, and only thought of what Feng Ning said to him: “Wait for me.”

He felt like he waited for a long time, but also felt like he didn’t. But his entire body felt really cold, so cold that he started to shiver. Suddenly he heard Feng Ning’s call, and he couldn’t resist smiling. It was really strange. Every time she was near, he always wanted to smile.

“Why didn’t you slide all the way down? I thought you were gone.” Feng Ning was so anxious that her entire head and face was covered in sweat. She circled around many times below and couldn’t find him, and nearly cried in anxiety. But as she lifted her head she discovered this person was “leisurely” lying across the middle of the slope.

“If it’s possible, I would like to walk down.” Long San still had the leisure to speak such relaxed words, but him being like this was actually to pacify Feng Ning’s mood. Feng Ning’s frantic heart all at once calmed down.

Feng Ning half supported and half propped up Long San to the bottom of the slope. With the moonlight she looked at his injury. The tail of the arrow already broke off, but the arrow was still inside his flesh. Long San consolingly said, “It didn’t injure the bone, so it doesn’t hurt too much. You’ll take it out for me. Near my chest area there’s a bottle of medicine^[2].”

Feng Ning chewed her lip, and from Long San’s chest area pulled out medicine. She took a deep breath and used her hand to push apart the wound, carefully looking. This place didn’t have any kind of instrument for healing, only a very ruthless heart. She felt around, and found the place the arrow head had hooked onto. In the direction of the hiding hook she quickly used forced to pull, and “pu” all at once a lot of blood gushed out. Long San moaned once, and Feng Ning was already quickly spilling medical powder for him.

Long San closed his eyes, regulating his breathing and yunqi^[3]. Feng Ning was on one side slightly idle. She used the sword to dig up a hole, and buried the bloody mud and arrow head together. They also shouldn’t stay at this place for long. If the other party discovered there was no one on the horse, they would turn around to search. Long San used his eyes to signal for them to continue moving. Feng Ning supported him one step at a time, and traveled very slowly.

Long San’s legs felt weak, and really couldn’t walk faster. Feng Ning gritted her teeth. She placed the sword from her back onto his, grabbed his pair of arms and wrapped them over her own shoulders. Then she bent her back and, with with him on her back, exerted strength in her chest and stomach, and carried him.

Long San was nearly a head taller than Feng Ning, so Feng Ning’s hands holding onto his legs while walking was extremely tiring. Long San quietly said, “I’m really heavy.”

Feng Ning panted, and quickly strode over to the dense woods while replying, “Don’t worry, I have a lot of strength.” She thought again and said, “I normally eat a lot, but when these situations arise it’s put to good use. That’s why from now on you must promise not to laugh at my food portions.” She was still brooding over being ridiculed before.

Long San was amused by her and wanted to laugh, but he really didn’t have enough strength to laugh, and could only let out a gasp. But Feng Ning could still hear it, and was annoyed. “Laugh, laughing at what. You’re like this and you’re still laughing.”

“Wherever you’re at, you’re always able to make people laugh.”

“So are you laughing at me?” Feng Ning was not satisfied. She pushed him up, so as to not let him slip down.

“I’m praising you.” The poison in Long San’s body started to act up, and his vision blacked out; he felt like he was going to faint soon. But he knew if he were to lose consciousness, Feng Ning would be afraid and panic. He bit his own tongue, felt pain, and tried his best to remain awake.

“I don’t hear you praising me.” Feng Ning bickered. Suddenly she tripped, almost causing Long San to fall but she quickly stabilized. Borrowing the moonlight, she discovered that the place she stepped into on the sloped cliff seemed to have a hidden cave. Feng Ning put Long San down, and brushed aside the nearby tall grass and creeping vines. There really was a large cave. She dragged Long San in, and adding herself, this cave was able to accommodate them both.

She then hastily moved the tall grass and branches over, and stopped at the entrance to look. It was covered well. If not examined carefully, it was hard to see if there was anything peculiar. Feng Ning was extremely pleased. After covering the cave entrance, she leaned forward to go in, and felt that they were safe. Even if those people were to turn around, it wouldn’t be easy to find the two of them.

The cave was oddly dark. The cover of the cave entrance was blocking the moonlight. Feng Ning felt around, and touched Long San’s hand. His hand was ice-cold, and his body was also extremely cold. Feng Ning was worried. “How is the poison?”

This entire time Long San was probing his yunqi, and finally replied, “It’s not a life-threatening poison. It only makes a person paralyzed and lose consciousness, so it won’t be a problem. If there are no more movements from me, you can’t panic. Looking at the situation, they want to capture us alive, so they really wouldn’t use poison to kill. I now know that these people came to clash with me, and got you dragged into this.”

Feng Ning hugged him. “I’m not afraid.”

“En, you have the most courage, and also have strength, you are a top-grade good lady from a wealthy family^[4].” Long San comforted her, and felt his consciousness slowly drifting far away.

“At this time you still have the mood to make jokes!” Feng Ning felt him grow extremely cold, and was slightly scared in her heart. The poison might not be fatal, but he was injured, and they were in this cold, damp cave freezing.

She hugged him, eagerly wanting to give all of her body’s warmth to him. “Long San, Long San, you can’t leave me!”