Chapter 10 – The Winds Shift Without Warning, Bringing a Rain of Blood; With All Tidings Lost, Where Can She Search? (II)
It was half past seven in the morning. The sun had begun to rise, illuminating heaven and earth.
Ling Cheng, however, was inside a cave where no sunlight could reach her.
The only light she could see was the gleam of the dagger in her hand.
Cold and fierce as frost.
More than four hours earlier, Zheng Qi had told her and Su Ying where Madam Ling was being held. After asking them both to take care, he had sighed and departed.
They did not know how the emperor intended to deal with the women of the Ling family. Yet Ling Bingzhong’s sudden death made Su Ying even more worried about Cui Langzhen’s situation. She did not dare waste any more time.
Countless rescue plans flashed through her mind before she suddenly remembered something.
The previous year, the Ling household had traveled to Feng Mountain in the western countryside outside Chang’an. As the head of their guards, Su Ying had explored the mountain and accidentally discovered a cave.
It was a naturally formed stone cavern with a long, narrow passage and a small entrance at either end.
Su Ying first reburied Ling Bingzhong, then took Ling Cheng to the cave and said solemnly, “Wait here without worrying. I will bring Madam back soon. When we arrive, take her and escape through the other entrance.”
“What about you?”
“According to Mr. Zheng, the soldiers are not guarding Madam particularly closely. However, if I rescue someone directly from beneath their eyes, they will probably still discover us.”
“I know martial arts, so I can hold them back temporarily. Once the two of you are far enough away, I will immediately use qinggong to escape.”
Ling Cheng had studied martial arts under Su Ying for more than a year. However, she understood that this time had been enough only to establish a foundation. Her abilities were far from strong.
If she accompanied Su Ying, she would merely become a burden.
She therefore nodded. “Be careful.”
After watching Su Ying’s figure gradually disappear into the forest, Ling Cheng sat alone inside the cave and drew her dagger.
She stared at its edge, sharp enough to sever a hair laid against it. The faces of her father and mother involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
Only one thing occupied her thoughts.
Who had caused Father’s death?
Who was the mortal enemy with whom she could never coexist beneath the same sky?
Ling Bingzhong had often spoken to her about the great principles of remaining loyal to one’s sovereign and serving one’s country. She understood that her father had never harbored the slightest disloyalty toward the imperial court.
His supposed rebellion must have been a false accusation.
Unfortunately, although she had previously heard that her father possessed political enemies at court, she did not know any of their names.
Did Mother know who they were?
Once Aunt Su rescued her, Ling Cheng would have to ask.
The dagger reflected the hatred between her brows and the anxiety in her eyes.
She waited in torment, her heart lodged in her throat the entire time. Gradually, the moon set and the sun rose, while rosy light broke through the dark clouds.
Suddenly, the clash of weapons sounded outside the cave.
Ling Cheng immediately ran several steps toward the entrance.
The forest ahead was filled with black armor like gathering storm clouds. Dozens of soldiers carrying weapons were charging toward Su Ying.
Fortunately, Su Ying’s qinggong was exceptional. With Cui Langzhen on her back, she faced the soldiers while fighting and retreating.
Ling Cheng tightened her grip on the dagger and was about to rush forward to help when a figure suddenly flew through the air toward her.
Su Ying had secretly gathered strength. Her right hand continued wielding her saber while her left pulled Cui Langzhen from her back and hurled her toward Ling Cheng.
Toward the stone cave!
Naturally, Su Ying had carefully controlled her strength. Cui Langzhen landed heavily on the stone floor and felt considerable pain, but she was not injured.
Ling Cheng hurriedly helped her sit up.
After drawing several breaths, Cui Langzhen reached out and caressed her daughter’s cheek. Joy and sorrow mingled in her expression.
“Fu Li…are you all right?”
Something seemed ready to spill from Ling Cheng’s eyes, but she hurriedly forced it back.
She had countless things she wanted to say to her mother, but she understood how dangerous their situation was.
“Mother, I’m fine. We need to leave first.”
“Leave?”
Cui Langzhen froze and remained where she was, looking toward the mass of figures outside the cave.
The relentless clash of weapons continued ringing through the air. Su Ying was no longer retreating with qinggong as she fought. Instead, she had begun battling the soldiers in place.
Ling Cheng immediately explained, “Aunt Su said this cave has another exit. We’ll leave through there first while she holds them off. Once we’re far enough away, she’ll come and find us.”
Realization dawned upon Cui Langzhen.
When Su Ying first came to rescue her, Cui Langzhen had been unwilling to follow because she feared implicating her.
Only after learning that Su Ying had found Ling Cheng did her concern for her daughter overwhelm her. She also knew that Su Ying’s martial arts were genuinely formidable, so after a brief hesitation, she allowed herself to be taken out of the prison.
Cui Langzhen had always possessed a weak constitution. Although she was not plagued by illness as Xie Miao was, she was still considerably frailer than an ordinary person.
That was precisely why, despite being married to Ling Bingzhong for many years, she had given birth to only one daughter, Ling Cheng.
Naturally, she had never been capable of studying qinggong or martial arts.
Su Ying had therefore been forced to carry her while escaping.
As she lay against Su Ying’s back and watched her carve a path through the bloody encirclement, Cui Langzhen had been unable to stop herself from wondering: Fu Li did not know qinggong either. Carrying only her was manageable, but once they found Fu Li, how would Su Ying escape while carrying both of them?
So this…had been Su Ying’s plan all along…
“Fu Li.” Having understood everything, Cui Langzhen spoke firmly. “We cannot abandon Heroine Su.”
Outside, Su Ying was fighting many opponents alone. She wielded her saber in her right hand, struck with her left palm, moved like the fleeting shadow of a swan, and kicked with both feet.
She was using every technique available to her.
In martial arts, she far surpassed those soldiers. Furthermore, the cave entrance was narrow, creating a position where one person could hold back ten thousand.
Using her own body as a fortress, Su Ying truly managed to prevent every soldier from advancing.
But she was not made of iron.
After fighting for so long, her strength was gradually failing. Seeing the mother and daughter still whispering inside the cave, she grew desperately anxious.
“Why are you still wasting time?”
Why had they not left?
Ling Cheng’s gaze darted back and forth. Only then did she notice that Su Ying’s movements were no longer as effortless as usual.
Panic entered her heart.
“Aunt Su’s martial arts are so powerful. Those people…how could they possibly defeat her?”
Cui Langzhen’s expression grew even more solemn. Her gaze toward Ling Cheng remained filled with love and tenderness.
“Heroine Su is certainly a supreme martial artist. But no matter how powerful one person may be, they can never defeat an entire army.”
She understood the situation perfectly.
Su Ying was clearly preparing to sacrifice her life in exchange for a single chance of survival for Cui Langzhen and her daughter.
But…
“Fu Li, Mother has failed you.”
The sudden apology stunned Ling Cheng. Confusion covered her face, and she did not react even when Cui Langzhen took the dagger from her hand.
Cui Langzhen’s expression became even gentler. She smiled faintly at her daughter.
“In the future…Mother will no longer be able to…”
“But you must remember this. No matter what situation you face, what reason you have, or what you intend to accomplish, you must never do it at the cost of someone else’s life.”
“Heroine Su!” Cui Langzhen suddenly raised her voice as she turned the dagger around. “I will repay your immense kindness in my next life. I entrust Fu Li to your care!”
As the final word left her lips, the dagger’s point plunged into her chest.
“Mother!”
Overwhelming terror swept through Ling Cheng in an instant. Her entire body turned cold, and she involuntarily collapsed to her knees.
Her trembling hands reached toward the bleeding wound in Cui Langzhen’s chest, wanting to cover it.
Suddenly, a shadow flashed toward them.
Su Ying seized the dagger’s hilt and yanked it out.
Blood immediately surged from the wound like a fountain, splattering across Ling Cheng’s face.
Without looking back, Su Ying tucked Ling Cheng beneath her left arm and sped away.
Now that matters had reached this point, Su Ying had no choice but to abandon Cui Langzhen’s body and take Ling Cheng away as quickly as possible, no matter how much it pained her.
Otherwise, Cui Langzhen’s sacrifice would have been in vain.
A child weighed far less than an adult. Carrying Ling Cheng, Su Ying raced forward like the wind, her speed naturally much greater than before.
In the blink of an eye, they emerged from the dark cave.
Su Ying first traveled south, then west, taking several winding routes. After more than an hour, she finally shook off the pursuing soldiers.
By then, Su Ying had truly exhausted her strength. She stopped and looked at Ling Cheng.
“Are you all right?”
They had followed the mountain paths until they were now far from Chang’an. The trees were lush and flourishing, while the grass grew thick and green.
Ling Cheng did not know where they were and had no interest in the scenery.
Even after hearing Su Ying’s question, she remained dazed, as though her missing soul had yet to return to her body.
Suddenly, she tasted sweetness in her throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The blood was vivid crimson.
Su Ying was startled. Fu Li should not have suffered any physical injuries. How could she have…
She hurriedly checked Ling Cheng’s pulse and soon deduced the reason.
From yesterday until now, this child had experienced one devastating change after another. Yet she had neither cried nor screamed. Her extreme grief had accumulated inside her heart without any means of release.
How could that not result in internal injury?
Unfortunately, Su Ying was not a physician. Although she could determine the cause of Ling Cheng’s internal injuries, she did not know how to treat them.
She could only transfer some gentle inner force into her and sigh.
“Your parents in the afterlife…would never want to see you like this.”
Ling Cheng did not respond to those words.
Instead, she shifted aside and avoided Su Ying’s palm.
“You have already exhausted too much of your strength. Don’t waste any more on me…”
Su Ying studied her intently for a moment before suddenly taking hold of the dagger tucked into her belt—the same one she had pulled from Cui Langzhen’s chest.
It was Ling Bingzhong’s possession, the final object he had left to his daughter.
Su Ying returned it to Ling Cheng and asked, “Don’t you hate me?”
Ling Cheng’s face remained expressionless. Her emotions were so calm that it was frightening.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blamed you last night. You’ve already done so much for my family. I’m the one who dragged you into this…”
“Even if we disregard my debt of gratitude, your parents and I had long since become friends. It is only natural to help one’s friends. How could you call that dragging me into anything?”
Su Ying took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from the corner of Ling Cheng’s mouth.
After considering the situation, she said, “You don’t need to worry. I’ll take you to find someone. Once we find her, we won’t need to fear even ten times as many pursuers.”
Ling Cheng raised her eyes slightly.
She had already experienced the most devastating things this world could offer.
What else did she have to fear?
Even if those soldiers truly captured her and brought blades and axes down upon her, she would not blink.
Yet Su Ying’s words stirred something within her.
Was there truly someone in this world whose martial arts were so powerful that she could fight a hundred people alone?
Ling Cheng’s own abilities were still far too weak.
If she had possessed the strength of the person Su Ying described, her mother would not have died so tragically before her eyes…
Neither her mother nor her father could ever return to life.
Yet those responsible for their deaths had still not received their punishment.
She looked at Su Ying.
Su Ying was gazing at a sheer cliff not far to their right.
“She should have been living recently in the deep valley beneath this mountain. I simply do not know the precise location…”
Ling Cheng still had no idea whom Su Ying meant.
Su Ying was about to explain when the clatter of hooves suddenly sounded across the grass.
She turned and saw a swordsman riding a black horse directly toward her and Ling Cheng.
They had stopped to rest for only a short while, yet these people truly continued haunting them like relentless ghosts!
Su Ying cursed, picked up Ling Cheng, and once again sped forward.
Under ordinary circumstances, after resting for a moment and recovering some strength, no soldier should have been able to catch her.
She was an expert of the jianghu. How could ordinary soldiers compare with her qinggong?
To her surprise, the swordsman spotted her from a distance and immediately leaped from his horse. Like a great roc spreading its wings into the wind, he flew forward at astonishing speed.
In less than half an incense stick’s time, he passed over her head and landed directly in her path.
Although Su Ying was clearly disadvantaged because she was carrying Ling Cheng, she was still surprised by the man’s remarkable qinggong.
She immediately placed Ling Cheng behind her and shielded her.
“You aren’t an ordinary soldier of the imperial court,” Su Ying said coldly.
“Neither are you. I’ve heard your name before. You are the renowned Heroine Su, the ‘Hundred-Tempered Saber.’ Instead of roaming freely through the jianghu, why interfere in someone else’s affairs and invite trouble upon yourself?”
“Since you know my title, you should also understand that those of us who follow the path of chivalry naturally draw our blades when we see innocent people being oppressed.”
“Innocent? Innocent rebels who committed treason?”
“Ask any ordinary person on the street. They all understand that General Ling was loyal to his country. Accusing him of treason was unquestionably an injustice.”
“You’re wrong. Only His Majesty has the authority to decide whether he was wronged. Why listen to the worthless nonsense of commoners?”
There was no point exchanging another word with someone whose principles were entirely different from her own.
After hearing his answer, Su Ying knew that they walked separate paths and could never stand together.
She abruptly slashed with her saber.
The man was delighted. He knew that she was already a spent force and could not possibly be his match now.
He leaped into the air to avoid her blade, then thrust his sword toward her throat.
What he failed to understand was that Su Ying was known throughout the jianghu as the “Hundred-Tempered Saber” precisely because of her extraordinary resilience in battle.
Even when trapped in desperate circumstances and battered through countless trials, she could cling to her final breath and remain standing, forcing her opponent into a prolonged contest of endurance.
Saber light and sword shadows collided. A rapid succession of metallic clangs rang out.
Ling Cheng’s ears began buzzing, while the flashing movements before her eyes became impossible to follow.
She desperately wanted to help but had no idea how to intervene.
Just as her anxiety reached its peak, a mass of white light suddenly shot toward her.
She could not distinguish the techniques Su Ying and the swordsman were exchanging. But she could clearly see the white light flying directly toward her face.
A concealed weapon!
One of the concealed weapons described in stories of the jianghu!
Fortunately, the man was attempting to ambush Ling Cheng while simultaneously fighting Su Ying. Dividing his attention between two tasks caused his aim to deviate slightly.
Ling Cheng also reacted quickly. At the critical instant, she used the basic evasive footwork Su Ying had taught her and narrowly avoided the throwing knife.
Then her foot slipped.
She stepped into empty air and could no longer stop her momentum.
She heard Su Ying scream, “Fu Li!”
The wind roared past her ears as her body plummeted straight downward.
She had fallen from the sheer cliff!
Although Ling Cheng knew the most basic evasive movements, she had never learned genuine qinggong.
Suspended in the air for that brief instant, she panicked and instinctively flailed both arms.
Then she suddenly caught hold of a hand.
At the same moment, that hand tightened powerfully around her wrist.
Ling Cheng looked up.
Like her, Su Ying was hanging in midair, on the verge of falling. Only her left hand, tightly gripping the branch of an ancient tree rooted in the cliffside, kept them suspended.
If the branch snapped, both of them would fall to their deaths.
“Aunt Su…”
Ling Cheng glanced down at the surging river far below and immediately shuddered in terror. Her entire body went rigid, and she did not dare move at all.
So she was still capable of fear…
She was not afraid of death itself.
She feared dying with her regrets unfulfilled, and she feared dragging down one of the few people left in this world whom she still cared about.
“Can we still climb back up?”
Su Ying remained silent.
If she had been alone, she might have been able to borrow strength from the ancient tree and fly back onto the cliff.
But she still had to carry Ling Cheng.
That made it…
Ling Cheng stared up at her for a long moment and understood everything Su Ying had left unsaid.
Her heart instantly turned cold.
At that moment, an explosive boom sounded from the clifftop, and the sky seemed to ignite with flame.
“What is that?”
“A signal flare.”
Ling Cheng had read about such objects in storybooks. Her heart lurched.
“He intends to…”
“Yes. He intends to summon the other soldiers.”
The man above must have discovered that they had not fallen to their deaths. Since the distance prevented him from killing them immediately, he had called for his companions.
If one of the approaching soldiers possessed a bow and arrow and managed to strike Su Ying, then she and Fu Li truly would die without even a place to be buried.
Su Ying’s brows drew together.
This time, she feared that she had genuinely fallen into a hopeless situation.
Yet no one was willing to surrender easily while still alive. She continued desperately considering a solution when a childish but incomparably resolute voice reached her on the wind.
“Aunt Su, let go.”
Su Ying stared at her in shock. “What?”
Ling Cheng bit her lip and hardened her heart.
“If you release me, you should be able to climb back up alone, shouldn’t you?”
“What nonsense are you saying?”
Su Ying refused without hesitation. To dispel the idea immediately, she demanded, “Are you willing to die like this? Don’t you want revenge?”
Ling Cheng could clearly feel Su Ying’s grip tightening around her right wrist. There was no possibility of breaking free.
After a moment of silence, Ling Cheng moved her left hand.
Quietly, she reached for the dagger at her waist.
It was the same dagger Su Ying had returned to her—the one and only true weapon her father had ever given her, as well as the last.
Ling Cheng stroked its hilt. Her expression was colder than ice, while her voice seemed tempered in flames.
“I’m not willing.”
She would never accept this!
“But…”
Her voice paused. Her mother’s face seemed to appear before her eyes.
Ling Cheng suddenly drew the dagger with her left hand.
“I cannot do it at the cost of your life.”
Cold light flashed from the blade in midair.
Ling Cheng feared that if she hesitated for even an instant, she would lose the resolve to act. Without the slightest pause, she used one of the basic saber techniques Su Ying had taught her and brought the blade down upon her own right arm.
It was indeed a peerless weapon capable of slicing through iron as though it were mud.
Blood scattered through the air.
Her arm was severed in an instant.
Agonizing pain tore through her heart as her body once again plummeted straight downward.
The river roared at the bottom of the cliff.
Su Ying’s cry of “Fu Li!” came from far, far above.
Ling Cheng could no longer hear it at all.
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