Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I took the escort job. It wasn’t as if I had anything better to do while staying in Cloud City.

Xiaohu, on the other hand, was thrilled. “Sister Ning, take me with you!”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to spend more time with Su’er?” I glanced at him. “Stay home like you should. This run passes by Wangxiang Cliff. You nearly lost your life there once. Have you forgotten?”

At the mention of it, Xiaohu’s face went pale. Even so, he stiffened his neck and said, “Sister Ning, I’ve learned a few things over the past few years. I won’t drag you down.”

“This job pays well. I want to earn a bit more money, so we can have a better New Year…”

He kept chattering in my ear without end.

What was that saying again? Even the most steadfast woman feared a persistent suitor. It really did make sense.

I truly couldn’t withstand him wearing me down like that, so I had no choice but to agree. “When you get back, sharpen that blade of yours properly. Spend the next couple of days with your wife. We leave in three days.”

“All right! Thank you, Sister Ning!”

It rained nonstop for the next two days. The sky seemed to have sprung a leak, and dark clouds hung over Cloud City, making everything feel stifling and heavy.

Fortunately, by the time we set out three days later, the sky had cleared.

As Xiaohu took off his straw rain cape, he said, “Clear skies after rain. This trip is sure to go smoothly!”

I smiled at him. After finishing the inventory of the goods we were escorting, I swung myself onto my horse.

With a lift of my hand, the line caller stepped forward and shouted, “Set out!”

Our convoy rolled out of the city in grand formation, heading north all the way.

As it turned out, Xiaohu had a crow’s mouth.

Two days later, as our escort convoy passed Wangxiang Cliff, we were ambushed.

It was already dusk then. Once we got past the cliff, we would be able to reach the relay station and rest.

But of course, a pack of highwaymen had to appear.

And there were quite a few of them.

The line caller hurried forward and shouted, “He-wu! He-wu!”

It was useless.

They had already closed in around us.

In a low voice, I ordered, “Raise the escort banner. Show them who we are.”

The great banner bearing the words Hengtong Escort Agency and the character Ning was raised behind the escort carts. It danced in the wind, snapping loudly.

The escort guards each gripped their weapons, nerves drawn taut as they watched the surroundings.

Even after we displayed the banner, the other side showed no intention of withdrawing or letting us pass.

Clearly, they had come for us.

Whoosh-

A sharp arrow shot through the trees and reached me in the blink of an eye.

I drew my longsword and knocked it aside. Then, from the woods, came an enraged roar. “Brothers! Get them! Leave that bitch’s life here and avenge Second Brother!”

Xiaohu jerked his head toward me, fear filling his eyes.

Three years ago, we had also been ambushed here.

Back then, Xiaohu had been nothing but a green kid. The moment real blades and spears came out, he forgot everything.

Just as he was about to have his head cut off, I saved him.

And while I was at it, I killed the man who had been clutching him by the hair.

Only later did I learn that the man had been a notorious bandit from Xunfeng Mountain, the Second Chief of Xunfeng Stockade.

So this time, they had come seeking revenge.

I didn’t know who had leaked our route, or whether this escort job had been a trap from the very beginning.

But there was no time to think further. They were already charging in to kill us.

The battle erupted in an instant.

And we had nowhere to retreat.

“Brothers!”

I urged my horse forward and slashed my blade across a bandit’s chest. Blood sprayed everywhere. Raising my blade high, I shouted, “Charge through with me!”

This was a fight to the death.

They wanted revenge, and we wanted to live.

The sounds of slaughter, screams, and clashing steel wove together.

I didn’t know how long we fought. Long enough for night to fall completely.

The water in the puddles along the road had all been dyed red with blood. Surrounded by several attackers, I was knocked to the ground.

Staring at my battered reflection in the water, I tugged at the corner of my mouth, grabbed some weapon someone had dropped beside me, hauled myself up, and charged back into the fight.

Xiaohu had said he had improved.

That much was true.

He knew how to shield escorts even younger than himself. He had become the kind of big brother who could stand tall and protect others.

But there were too many bandits.

I even suspected they had come out in full force, all for the sake of crushing us here at Wangxiang Cliff.

I wrenched my blade out of one man’s body, and then I heard Xiaohu roar.

“Sister Ning!”

I turned and saw him riddled with cuts, kicked to the ground.

He tried to climb back up, but his strength was already spent.

“Xiaohu!” I was about to rush over to help, but two men lunged at me from the left and right, blocking my path.

They weren’t common lackeys. Both of them were skilled.

For a while, I couldn’t shake them off at all.

“Sister Ning…”

Amid the chaos, I heard Xiaohu call to me.

“I’m afraid I… won’t make it back.”

With every word he spoke, his breath weakened. He wanted to get up, but he didn’t even have the strength to prop himself up.

“Sister Ning, help me look after Su’er. Find her… a good family.”

“Screw that!” I cursed at him. “Your own wife is your own responsibility. Do I look like your mother?!”

“If you die, I’ll introduce her to that gambling addict from the Wang family in the west of the city!”

“Sister Ning…”

Xiaohu tried to laugh, but the moment his mouth opened, blood poured out.

I forced one man back and spared a glance in that direction, only to see a broad, burly man already standing beside Xiaohu.

He bent down, grabbed Xiaohu by the hair, and hauled him up.

Then he turned to me with a vicious grin. “Back then, you killed my second brother to save him, didn’t you?”

With his right hand, he picked up a blade from the ground and pressed it against Xiaohu’s neck.

“Stop!”

I stared him down. “The one who killed your second brother was me.”

“So I never planned to let you go either.” He smiled. “Not a single one of you is leaving alive.”

With that, he raised his arm high.

Blood flew from the blade with the motion. A drop splashed into my eye, and through a world stained red, I looked over just as the blade turned, about to fall toward Xiaohu’s neck.

“No!”

I knocked away the last man surrounding me and rushed over as fast as I could.

But I knew that no matter how fast I was, I could never be faster than the blade hanging over his head…

Whoosh-

At that critical instant, a strangely shaped arrow fletched with blue feathers shot down from the top of the hundred-zhang cliff beside us.

The arrow pierced straight through the burly man’s chest, then buried itself firmly in the ground, its tail still trembling.

The man collapsed. Xiaohu escaped death by a hair and fell to the ground, utterly drained.

Lying on his back and looking up at the sky, he seemed to see, at the top of the cliff, within that mass of dense night, a company of riders slowly emerging.

They wore dark robes and black armor, silver crowns upon their heads. They looked like ghosts, and yet like gods.

Everyone looked up at once.

Gasps rang out one after another.

As for the bandits, with their leader gone, they had long since lost all order and fled in panic.

The company from the cliff top soon came down.

They split into two lines and stepped aside, and one man rode forward from behind them.

His horse stopped at the very front. The rider swung down from the saddle.

He was exceedingly tall, his presence sharp and imposing, his features deep-set and striking.

Frowning, he swept his gaze around, then let it fall on me.

“Seven years apart, Qiniang, and you won’t even call me Senior Brother?”

I was lowering my head to check Xiaohu’s injuries. At his words, my hands paused.

After a few moments of silence, I stood and met his eyes.

“It’s been a long time, Senior Brother.”