Doomed to be Cannon Fodder

“You... can leave me behind.” Yu Kuang was truly in no condition to circulate his energy. The strike on his back had set his blood to boiling, but he’d forced himself to escape with the person in his arms for dozens of miles until his injury had overwhelmed him. He’d even failed to complete a circulation of his qi just now, making it impossible for him to move at present.

Still, he never thought this woman would drag him along instead of abandoning him to escape. It wasn’t easy to travel these mountain roads, but she nevertheless took on the arduous task of dragging him behind her. He mumbled this in a confused haze before he slowly fell asleep. No, it should be said that he saw some other things instead.

There was a washbasin that seemed to hold a very pretty moon, while the woman on the other side was smiling at him beautifully while rubbing his head. Her eyes were exceptionally warm and gentle. How could there be such a pretty pair of eyes in this world? He marveled at the sight.

The next time he opened his eyes, it was to see those same eyes again, and a cool sensation on his lips. It seemed she was feeding him water. Her eyes were filled with gentleness as well as worry. He reached out a hand to grab her own, but didn’t know what to say.

“Are you alright?” Even though it wasn’t safe for him to be lying around on a sleigh like this, Bai Xiangxu wondered why he looked like he was about to laugh one second and cry the next. She assumed he’d gotten a high fever, so Bai Xiangxiu had stopped in a hurry to take a look at him and offered some water. In the end, he’d actually woken up.

“Go...” Yu Kuang’s blood and qi might not have been flowing smoothly, but it didn’t mean he’d lost all his six senses. He could already feel the killing intent closing in on them from all sides, so he desperately wanted her to leave first. But Bai Xiangxiu assumed that he wanted her to hurry up, so she took up the rope and pulled the heavy sleigh forward again.

“...I want you to leave me here.” This woman really had a one-track mind. When there was danger, she should escape first. She didn’t know any martial arts, nor was she part of the wulin...

Whooshwhooshwhoosh. A number of concealed weapons came flying their way.

Oh my gawd, there really exists such frightening things in this world! She’d never experienced being hunted down before. She stubbornly pulled the sleigh along as she ran forward, half stumbling and half running. Meanwhile, Yu Kuang grabbed a nearby tree branch and deflected the incoming weapons. Otherwise, even if Bai Xiangxiu ran fast enough, she wouldn’t be able to evade them all.

Even though she’d used all her strength, Bai Xiangxiu had run too fast and too strenuously to see clearly in front of her anymore. As a result, after she straightened up after a burst of sprinting, her footing failed her and she toppled into a gully by the side of the road. It was so sudden that she didn’t let go of the sleigh when she fell, bringing Yu Kuang tumbling down with her.

As they rolled down the slope, they ended up holding onto each other. They bounced along the slope in a barely controlled tumble, colliding painfully into obstacle after obstacle. When they finally came to a stop, Bai Xiangxiu didn’t waste time crying out, but dragged the immobile Yu Kuang into a little crevice of the mountain. She’d spotted it by chance when they’d tumbled down the steep slope.

After stashing him safely, she went back and straightened all the twigs and grasses that they’d crushed with their descent. Technically, she shouldn’t understand how to do such things, but her love of novels and TV dramas had taught her otherwise.

Yu Kuang took note of all this, unable to fathom how a mere concubine could do such things. He also couldn’t imagine why a woman who didn’t know martial arts hadn’t abandoned him altogether. But still, the danger wasn’t over yet. He circulated his energy, hoping to get past the blocked mass of blood inside him. Instead, his anxiety caused a surge of blood to rush into his head, causing him to black out.

Fainting away like this wasn’t serious, but it replaced him with someone completely different. Bai Xiangxiu was still feeling nervous when someone suddenly hugged her, nearly scaring her into biting off her own tongue. Fortunately, the other person was quick to identify himself. “Big sis, Shū’er missed you so much.”

The heck, he changed again? Didn’t he have to wait until it was nighttime? She lifted her head, only to see that night had come after all. She turned back to glance at him and said, “Can you walk now?”

“Yes yes, Shū’er can carry big sis on my back.” Bai Xiangxiu had originally wanted to tough it out on her own, but a single shift of her foot left her in acute pain. It looked like having him piggyback her was the only way to go. Yu Shū was very happy to hear of this arrangement, and sprang up from the ground to place her on his back and run forward.

“Wait, no, you should head for the north. That’s the direction of the capital.”

“Okay, big sis.” Yu Shū actually turned around to head for the capital. His speed was enough to leave Bai Xiangxiu amazed. It looked like Yu Shū retained some of Yu Kuang’s memories after all, but didn’t understand the meaning behind them.

As they ran, he happily asked, “Big sis, can I take you for my wife if I carry you to the capital? Shū’er’s so happy, Shū’er wants to have a wife!”

Bai Xiangxiu was a little pained by all the shaking, but still managed to pat his head and reply, “Do you know what a wife is?”

“A wife is... is someone you can hold onto when you sleep.” Yu Shū said after some thought.

“Urk, I guess that’s not wrong.” Looks like Yu Shū was simply naive, not a fool. She patted him before saying, “Keep going!”

She began to admire herself for managing to run so far in a bid for her life in the first place. But she must have been seriously injured, because her body hurt all over. Yu Shū followed her instructions to rest in the empty house of a peasant family. She checked her body and found no severe injuries, but her foot had been painfully twisted. There were numerous scrapes on her back as well, and neither of her arms had been left unhurt. They were purple and green with bruises all over. The same could be said for her legs, which were now hard to even move after a brief rest.

“Shū’er, help big sis find some water. And also, do you have any medicine for treating wounds on you?”

“Yes, Shū’er has medicine on him.” Perhaps Yu Kuang’s body had been tempered by long years of martial arts, or perhaps she’d held onto him too well when rolling down the slopes. In any case, he wasn’t much injured beyond a few scrapes.

He went outside to find a well and fetch some water, before running back to give it to Bai Xiangxiu. Of course, he placed the medicine on a table as well. “Go out and stand guard, make sure no one else comes in. You can’t come in, either.”

“Shū’er won’t go out, it’s really dark and scary outside.” Yu Shū acted pitiful, making Bai Xiangxiu’s mouth twitch. You’re a man and a wulin Alliance Head at that, what are you afraid of? But he seemed to be really fear.

“You have to go out, but you don’t need to go far. Just stand in front of the door.”

“Oh.” Yu Shū was very docile and obedient, so albeit reluctantly, really did go stand in front of the door.

When he saw the light of the moon and stars, he really wanted to call out to the big sis inside to join him, but when he remembered she said not to go inside the rooms, he felt more and more curious instead. Why am I not allowed to see?

Just one peek should be okay! Mm, one peek should definitely be fine. This room had been abandoned for a long time already, so the integrity of the paper covering on the windows wasn’t strong at all. A single glance back was enough for him to see what was going on inside, but as soon as he did, he found himself unable to look away.