The Lady’s Sickly Husband

The early morning was hovered by dense fog.

The dense fog blocked sight of the road, and they couldn’t set off in the early morning as planned.

Since after arriving at the capital, Mo Qianxue would go back to the Founder mansion, so taking this time, Ning Shaoqing ordered Chuyi to help Mo Qianxue get changed to an unmarried girl instead of a married woman.

Afterwards, Mo Qianxue got out of the carriage, well-dressed, and sat on the soft grassland with Ning Shaoqing who introduced to her the capital.

The milky dense fog floated like cottons, as if in a fairyland. Mo Qianxue leaned in Ning Shaoqing’s arms, listened while reaching out to look at the sky through her fingers.

The fog was too dense to see clearly, yet, at this time, she suddenly spotted a black dot flying by through her fingers. The black dot became bigger as a shadow blocking her sight.

That was an eagle, a black eagle.

The eagle hovered in the air, above the jade-like rock across the cliff. It looked like a patch of dark cloud. Curiosity instantly surfaced on Mo Qianxue’s pale face. Should there be an eagle at this time of the year?

Mo Qianxue looked up at the hovering eagle and asked, “Shaoqing, do you find the eagle strange?”

Ning Shaoqing shook his head and replied, “That’s just an eagle!”

Before Mo Qianxue said anything, the eagle suddenly dived over, aiming at Mo Qianxue’s eyes.

Mo Qianxue’s expression changed and in a second the needles were between her fingers.

However, the eagle was quicker and more accurate than humans. At its speed, Mo Qianxue wasn’t sure that she could shot the needles at its acupoints.

However, Ning Shaoqing was even quicker. He floated up like a cloud, and his sleeves waved out like running waters right at the eyes of the eagle.

The eagle cried, fell away like a meteor and at once disappeared into the dense fog.

Ning Shaoqing stood on the rock in the thick fog, sleeves and the corners of his clothes flapping, like an immortal god.

In a fluster, before Mo Qianxue realized what was happening, Ning Shaoqing ordered, “Ready for fight!”

In a while, the eagle flew back, two strong wings carrying wind that blew against their faces. But this time, behind the eagle, there was a elongated figure.

As the eagle hovered, the man flew down onto the rock like a piece of light swirling leaf.

He stood on the rock, not displaying much presence, no mask or deliberate disguise in his clothes. But his face couldn’t be seen clearly yet put others in nervousness.

“You’re able to scare away my eagle. It means that you’re not one of those dandies with unearned reputation.” When he spoke, his expression was serious and stern. One could instantly tell that he was much powerful than that Song Zhong.

Then, he didn’t talk anymore and directly stuck out the swords that had been held in his arms. The blade didn’t get out of the sheath yet, but the domineering air couldn’t be underestimated.

Even Mo Qianxue, staying far away and not a martial artist, could sense the coldness from the sword, and her heart leaped restlessly.

Ning Shaoqing protected before her at first, and when he saw the sword, he pushed her to nanny Mo. Meanwhile, the shadow guard turned into a shadow and stood where Mo Qianxue had been.

Without the urge from Ning Shaoqing, nanny Mo drew out her long sword, gathered her internal strength, poised to protect Mo Qianxue and ready for the battle.

The series of changes happened only in a flash.

As soon as that sword came to light, the chilly air forced Mo Qianxue to close her eyes. When she opened eyes again, she only saw swinging sword shadow filling all over the sky. Ning Shaoqing was shrouded within the roaring penetrating light of sword.

This was a real fight. He hadn’t expected such a man among the people who came to hunt them. It seemed that the future was much more dangerous than this.

Although Mo Qianxue was dumbfounded, she heard clearly that man’s voice in the roaring air, “Let Merciless meet your Chill.”

Merciless! Mo Qianxue’s heart sunk to an ominous feeling.

Ning Shaoqing didn’t take out his sword.

His Chill was still around his waist, but there wasn’t time for him to draw it out.

A fight between two masters lied in timing. Evidently, this man was a master of masters, who controlled right to the point the timing, the momentum and the attitude.

When Ning Shaoqing pushed Mo Qianxue away, the eagle sprinted over again. He blew it down with one hand, when that man’s sword was taken out, and when he was gathering his authentic qi, the sword light came near already.

The tip of sword targeted right at Ning Shaoqing’s heart. It would definitely be fatal, accurate, penetrating, speedy and merciless.

In the nick of time, Ning Shaoqing moved his steps to swing aside. The sword stabbed by his arm and pierced through his clothes. Meanwhile, Ning Shaoqing grasped around his waist and drew out Chill.

When Mo Qianxue saw Merciless stabbing into his clothes, her heart almost surged to her throat. The next moment, she found there wasn’t blood spitting out and only the clothes was cut. Then, the attacking momentum of Merciless was taken back, and Ning Shaoqing held Chill in his hand.

Her surging heart fell back slightly. The move was too risking. A second slower, and he would have been stabbed through in the chest by that sword. Mo Qianxue found her clothes on the back soaked with cold sweat.

Chill was well-known for its lightness, agility, and mystery. In the hand of Ning Shaoqing, it became even more flexible and unpredictable. The situation was instantly turned around!

Ning Shaoqing only used picking, cutting and piking, and the sword shuttled like a fish, creating smothering air of killing at that man.

However, that man wasn’t a useless one and obviously aimed at put Ning Shaoqing to death. Every of his move was lethal and merciless.

The coming and going of his blade was even more elusive and irresistible.

The Merciless Sword cut mercilessly!

That man made several attacks ahead of Ning Shaoqing, turning the situation around, and suddenly turned into a dazzling shooting star.

Mo Qianxue’s heart also popped out again. She thought time this Ning Shaoqing would inevitably hurt by his sword.

Yet, she was wrong.

With a “jangle”, sparks were splashing.

Ning Shaoiqng actually caught this relentless speedy sword of Merciless.

When the two swords collided, that person launched further attacks to raise his palm and slash at Ning Shaoqing’s face.

Ning Shaoqing was a student of Tianyi Master of Xiangguo Temple, and the only disciple. And he also inherited his family learning of thick internal strength which was difficult for others even to imagine.

As that man’s palm touched Ning Shaoqing, that man was quaked off and flew away.

But he didn’t collapse, although a gap had been cut in his sword and his thumb was almost disjointed. Then, he flipped around in the air and retreated back to the rock.

“The eldest lord Ning really lives up to his fame.” After saying that, he made a long whistle.

Upon the whistle, rustling sounds started in the surrounding.

As the familiar cuckoo rang, in a blink, hidden guards appeared all around them to form a circle.

Smelling a rat, nanny pushed Mo Qianxue into the carriage, and she herself jumped onto the top of it and stood guard.

Through the curtain, Mo Qianxue saw people coming out of the thick fog one after another, and the hidden guards walked towards them…

Asan, Awu, Chuyi and Shiwu stood alerted near the carriage.

Their mission was to protect Mo Qianxue.

Mo Qianxue couldn’t help them with the fight, and the only thing she could do was to hide herself well so as not to add troubles to Ning Shaoqing and nanny.

Shaoqing’s opponent was very powerful! Otherwise, the shadow guard wouldn’t have followed him all the time.

At this moment, Mo Qianxue equipped her fingers with all the needles, not the embroidery ones but iron needles for fighting.

Last time she went to Tianxiang city, she hadn’t merely bought food and necessities.

Outside the carriage, there were sounds of swords colliding and piercing into flesh.

Occasionally, a few people broke through the outside circle, approached the carriage and tried to get her, and Mo Qianxue instantly killed them with the needles in one move.

This was the first time that she killed, but she wasn’t scared at all but unprecedentedly calm.

When she was safe again, she couldn’t help glancing through the window to find Ning Shaoqing’s figure.

With time, the jangling faded away and the fog became thinner. Then, in a rumbling of lightning strike, as if in a violent storm, that person’s clothes were already soaked in red blood. His body flew out against the rock and then fell into the deep abyss.

Mo Qianxue was elated.

However, a gust of wind blew over, and the grass on the ground stood erected.

From the dark, a wave of inexplicable palm wind attacked over.

This sneaky palm wind came weirdly, knocking down Asan and Awu, and bumped onto the carriage.

This wave didn’t vanish yet when another wave followed closed. Nanny Mo fell off the carriage and was thrown away towards the edge of the cliff.

Ning Shaoqing was still standing on the other side of the cliff and had no time to rush to her rescue.

If she continued to sit in the carriage, then she would definitely fall with it into pieces. If she jumped off it, she would also fall down and break into pieces.

However, if she could grasp vines or grassroots, then there was still a slim chance of survival.

Mo Qianxue reacted quickly and jumped out immediately. As long as there was a chance of survival, she would hold it in her hands.

“No!” Ning Shaoqing screamed sorrowfully and flew over in an attempt to get hold of the carriage.

However, the carriage was specially made for the safety of Mo Qianxue, so it was made weapon-proof of refined iron. It was heavy and dropped fast in the air.

The fog at a lower altitude was even denser than on the ground. Nothing could be seen down there. Ning Shaoqing missed to grab at the carriage, which, with a cracking sound, already fell into the bottomless abyss.

“No…” Ning Shaoqing became heartbroken at the sound and couldn’t help but scream. He was about to fly down to find her when he heard a voice calling him, “Shaoqing…”

He thought it was his hallucination but still subconsciously turned to look.

He saw Mo Qianxue holding a vine with both her hands and swinging in the air.

Sadness and happiness all came too sudden. Before the tears in his eyes dried up, he smiled.

Mo Qianxue looked at him lovingly and smiled too. She only heard of a girl crying with a smile, but never saw a man like this.

Above the cliff, the sounds of fight were louder than before.

An oriole is further behind a hunting mantis behind a cicada!

It seemed that the two batches of people didn’t belong to the same party.

The latter one was even more vicious and cunning than the former one.

Ning Shaoqing dived and stamped his foot to fly upwards, when a shower of arrows poured down.

Ning Shaoqing held Mo Qianxue with one hand and waved Chill with the other.

The sword was swinging so fast that it formed a layer of light screen around them.

As soon as the arrows touched this light screen, some of them were deflected away to fall down into the abyss, others hit on the cliff wall, still others even reflected back to hurt the enemies. Screams rose one after another, and several people were shot by arrows and collapsed.

Obstructed by this arrow shower and carrying a burden heavy as Mo Qianxue, Ning Shaoqing gradually fell downward again.

A huge net from above their heads fell down onto them…

A trap after another…

In this critical moment, the shadow guard rushed over from the dark and killed all the archers.

Ning Shaoqing took Mo Qianxue escaped from the huge net and inserted Chill into the cliff wall to finally stopped falling down.

But out of the dark shot more arrows, at not him this time, but Mo Qianxue.

Of course Mo Qianxue didn’t know it.

They had just stopped, Ning Shaoqing grabbing Chill with one hand and holding Mo Qianxue with the other, so he couldn’t spare one more hand to block the coming arrows.

In emergency, he threw Mo Qianxue up to the ground, and the arrows shot into his body.

As Mo Qianxue flew up, the shadow guard quickly caught her. On the ground, there was billowing smoke and people trying to kill each other.

Seeing Mo Qianxue flying up from down the cliff, nanny Mo was surprised with joy.

The shadow guard worried about his lord, so while catching Mo Qianxue, he quickly pushed her to nanny Mo and then quickly dash to deal with those archers.

That man had been tangling in the fight with nanny, Chuyi and the others and almost defeated them, but when at the sight of Mo Qianxue flying up from under the cliff, he immediately knocked down nanny Mo and sprinted right at Mo Qianxue.

The fight was in a total mess. No body was able to pull out of fight to save her, while that man came up wearing a hideous smile.

Yet, he was wrong. Mo Qianxue had never put down the needles for a moment. In an instant, all the vital three acupoints of him were shot with needles. Although she was hit by the palm wind, that man was frozen too and instantly killed when Chuyi and Shiwu waved their swords at him!

The shadow guard figured out the archers hidden in the dark. With a gust of palm wind, the mountain rocks crashed into smaller pieces, and Ning Shaoqing flew up from below the cliff.

…

After the thick fog dispersed, the chaotic fight ended. There were corpses all over the ground, and smells of blood filled the air.

The sun was rising, the water drops handing on the tips of leaves were as crystal as pearls, as if what had happened just now was nothing but vanishing clouds.

Fortunately, the arrow only shot in the left arm of Ning Shaoqing. The shadow guard helped him take out the arrow, cleaned the wound and stopped the bleeding. But his attitude towards Mo Qianxue wasn’t nice.

Mo Qianxue didn’t care about his cold eyes but only felt distressed for Ning Shaoqing. It turned out that there was really a man willing to save her life with his own. There was a man willing to take care of her no matter what.

Ning Shaoqing patted her hand as comfort.

Mo Qianxue took up his hand and placed it on her cheek, looking at him in the eyes, “I’ll hold your hand until the end of the world!” Ning Shaoqing gazed at her, not talking, as if he wanted to carve this moment in his mind.

She stopped crying and said, “Don’t do this again. If you’re gone, do you think I would live alone?”

“No!” Ning Shaoqing wiped out her tears, touched, “Stupid girl. If I was gone, you must live on, live a better life, for me.”

“Don’t talk nonsense…”

Just now two batches of people had shown up. By the careful examination of the shadow guard, they turned out to belong to two different employers—hitmen and men of sacrifice hired by the Mo and Xie families respectively.

Now that all these people had taken actions. They supposed that the road ahead should be smooth and it was okay to leave the traces. As long as they passed by Yunqi, and in a few hours, they would be back home in the capital.

Of course, after all the rounds of battles, there were few hidden guards left in the dark. The shadow guard let the injured ones find a place to take a rest and the others follow again.

After a short rest, they set off.

To their surprise, when arriving at the dock as planned, a fiercer and unexpected battle started.

The wind from the dark lifted up Ning Shaoqing’s clothes and blew away white clouds. The weather changed all of a sudden, and the sky was teemed with dark clouds.

Mo Qianxue felt herself frozen stiff at once, and the next moment being burnt in flames.

An indescribable rage started to burn from her toes to soar to her throat, making her face and eyes frighteningly red.

Why couldn’t these people just let them go? Even a clay figurine would crack to hurt people when being burnt. In the past, all in her mind was struggling to live a better life, but now it became how to force these people crawling under the feet of she and Ning Shaoqing after returning to the capital.

However, this battle was fiercer than ever. Although the enemies weren’t in a great number, they were all tough and ambush had been set up in advance.

Ning Shaoqing had figured out the ambush and killed the enemies beforehand, but exhausted, was taken away by the vortex of the rapids in the river. The shadow guard hastened to find the source of the stream.

Watching Ning Shaoqing being swept away by the vortex, Mo Qianxue felt a surge of suffocation in her chest. With the authentic qi boiling up her blood and due to the previous injure by the palm wind, she couldn’t help spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.

She hadn’t benefited from the authentic qi yet and was now injured by it.

Mo Qianxue burst into tears, as if her heart being stabbed by a sharp knife. Feeling the waves of cramp and smothering anger, she even hoped to dive into the river at once but was pulled back by nanny. Hence, they searched along the bank over and over again.

Nanny Mo, Chuyi, Shiwu, Asan and Awu were all wounded badly which although wasn’t fatal. Mo Qianxue didn’t want to drag them in it, and her mind became clear in a moment.

She must stay well! She shouldn’t cry or yell or seek death as an ancient weak girl. Even to die, she must do it after the death of all of their enemies.

Moreover, Ning Shaoqing merely fell into the river, which didn’t necessarily mean death.

She believed that as long as she searched along the bank, she would for sure find Ning Shaoqing.