Chapter 46 Jumping off the Cliff
2006 Words
The top priority now was to get out quickly!
When the two guards were talking, Gu Yunxi stood up and escaped immediately. She whipped the lashes and the sound was clear.
The guards were also fierce. They avoided the attacks with great flexibility and refused to make way for her.
They had noticed that she was exhausted, and they were ready to capture her and reported it to Ming Lan.
Gu Yunxi saw through the enemy's conspiracy. Since there was no way ahead, she had to run backward. Anyway, she could not stay at bay.
Without going far, Gu Yunxi turned back to the cliff. She turned pale and stopped suddenly. She stood stiffly and dared not to move again.
Those guards in the Western Depot abandoned their horses and walked behind her. They stared at Gu Yunxi covetously, who was at the ends of her wits.
"Keep running!"
"Hey, let's go back and our Master is bound to treat you well. Ha-ha..."
Gu Yunxi breathed quickly and swallowed hard. After seeing the fierce enemies, she turned her head and looked down at the cliff. Instantly, her eyes turned red.
Master...
Gu Yunxi closed her eyes and tears cascaded.
If she had been caught by Ming Lan, she would have been insulted by him. Beyond, Ming Lan would also have used her to threaten Leng Qingtang.
She would not allow it to happen.
When Gu Yunxi opened her eyes again, she was determined, and her eyes were sharp. After sneering at the enemy, she leaned back and fell to the cliff.
Those guards were silent for a moment. One guard was the first to realize what happened and said in shock,
"Oh my... She really jumped down..."
Other guards couldn't help but said with fear,
"What... what shall we do? The Master has ordered that she must be alive."
...
Leng Qingtang rode a tall ginger horse and searched all the way in the golden and red woods.
Xiao Xiaoshen and Yuan Qian led the squads of the Eastern Depot and rushed out. They stopped immediately when they saw the Master.
Xiao Xiaoshen showed the preys to Leng Qingtang with great joy, "Master, the tenth captain and I have gained a lot of preys and we are bound to win the competition with the Western Depot."
Gu Yunxi was not with them. Leng Qingtang asked Xiao Xiaoshen harshly, "Where is Yun Guaner?"
Xiao Xiaoshen was dumbfounded. He and Yuan Qian looked at each other, and Xiao Xiaoshen stammered,
"Isn't... she with you?"
Leng Qingtang yelled in a low voice, "Go to find her, now!"
Xiao Xiaoshen and Yuan Qian had never seen that the Master was so angry, and they were both shocked. When pulling the reins and turning the horse, they suddenly saw a pony running out from the woods.
"Red Smoke?"
When Leng Qingtang saw there was no one on the horse back, his face immediately turned pale. He got down from the horse and pulled the pony's reins.
When the pony approached him, it snorted and shook its head.
Leng Qingtang realized that something must have happened to Gu Yunxi, and his expression was stiff and downcast.
Another team ran out of the woods. They were from the Western Depot.
Ming Lan rode on the vigorous white horse. When Ming Lan saw Leng Qingtang, a sense of hostility flashed across his wounded face.
The atmosphere got intense.
Two teams stared at each other in silence within a few feet. The atmosphere was tense in the silence.
The red pony kept shaking its head and snorting. It let out a repressed groan, which showed its uneasiness. It attracted the attention of Leng Qingtang.
He squinted with his hand crossed, stared at the bruise on Ming Lan's cheek, and said,
"Release her."
Ming Lan smiled, pretending to be confused,
"My Lord, what are you talking about? I can't get it."
"Release Yun Guaner!"
"Yun Guaner? What's wrong with her? Lost?"
The treachery of Ming Lan made it impossible for Leng Qingtang to suppress the extreme anger in his heart, and he pointed at Ming Lan angrily with the horsewhip,
"Release Yun Guaner first, and then it's time to settle the problems between you and me."
Ming Lan stared at Leng Qingtang and then he said with an insidious smile,
"There are indeed troubles between you and me. But, why are you so sure that I have captured Yun Guaner?"
Leng Qingtang got silent suddenly.
Indeed, no matter how smart the pony was, it couldn't speak. The injuries on Ming Lan's face were not enough to prove that the disappearance of Gu Yunxi was related to Ming Lan.
Rather than continue to badger him, it was better to find Yunxi earlier. It got dark early in the autumn so they must hurry up.
Leng Qingtang looked directly at Ming Lan and remounted the pony with a snort. He grabbed the reins of the red pony with one hand and rushed into the woods with his followers.
Seeing that people in the Eastern Depot were leaving, An Hong approached Ming Lan and asked him in a low voice,
"Master, is Yun Guaner just dead?"
Ming Lan was also frustrated and said in a regretful tone,
"Can she still survive after jumping from such a high cliff? Those craps have ruined my plan! As soon as Yun Guaner died, I have lost excellent testimony to defeat Leng Qingtang. It is a pity that such a beauty died. If she were still alive, it would be the Achilles heel of Leng Qingtang..."
...
When Gu Yunxi woke up, she found that she was wrapped by the water. When she moved, every inch of her bones was painful, especially the back. It seemed that she had been hit severely and the pang was so real.
Was she still alive?
Gu Yunxi was soaking in the water and sorted her idea. She gradually remembered that she was chased by the guards in the Western Depot and forced to jump off the cliff.
At that time, when she fell down, her spine hit several trees growing on the cliff, which made the dense branches serve as a buffer.
Eventually, she fell into the lake at the bottom of the cliff and then fainted.
Drifting along with the current for a while, Gu Yunxi was blocked by a huge rock in the middle of the lake, which stopped her flowing further.
Gu Yunxi leaned against the rock and relaxed for a while. Then she turned hard to watch the unfamiliar surroundings.
The cliffs were hidden in the dense woods. Occasionally, the half or whole outline of the mountain appeared. The lake was wide, and the bound of it couldn't be seen.
Gu Yunxi tolerated the pain of her body, supported herself to swim to the lake, and stumbled to the shore.
She was drenched but there were no other clothes for her. Gu Yunxi had to embrace herself, moved forward in trembling step, and walked towards the strange jungle with pain.
It was getting late. The forest was shrouded in the mist and there was chilly night wind blowing occasionally.
Gu Yunxi couldn't help but panic. She didn't know where she was, where the guards in the Eastern Depot were, and whether the Master was worried about not finding her.
She felt sad and shed tears. Later, she forced herself to remain calm.
She thought, "If I am defeated by difficulties now, then there is no hope at all. God only helps those who help themselves. Relying on myself is the only way to get out."
When it got dark, Gu Yunxi suddenly saw a white shadow swaying behind a big tree.
Gu Yunxi immediately got alert. She fumbled around and got annoyed, "Damn it!"
All the bows and arrows were taken away by Ming Lan's followers. Now, she owned nothing but a short knife for self-defense.
Gu Yunxi was alert to the environment and took out the short knife from her clothes.
When Gu Yunxi heard the slight sound in the bush, she immediately stopped breathing and held the handle of the knife fiercely with her right hand.
It was white. Were there ghosts in the world?
Gu Yunxi forced herself to calm down. But her heart jumped violently, and the sound of her heartbeats was so loud.
Suddenly, the white shadow jumped and ran in front of Gu Yunxi.
She took a closer look. It turned out to be a white deer with snow-white fur. There was a pair of perfect antlers on its head, exuding brightness in the dark, like flowing silver.
The deer stood straight in front of Gu Yunxi, keeping the distance of one foot.
Gu Yunxi stared at it with happiness since it was a gift at no cost.
The silver antlers.
She thought, "Isn't this the prey ordered by his Majesty, Emperor Jingxiao? As long as I get its antlers, I will become the winner of this hunting competition!"
Gu Yunxi imagined that if she had got the silver antlers this time, went back to find the Master, and exposed the crime committed by Ming Lan in public, how fantastic it would have been!
The white deer might have noticed the brightness flashing through Gu Yunxi's eyes. It turned its ears, blinked at her, and ran away by instinct.
Gu Yunxi put away the short knife and started chasing after it, tolerating the extreme pain.
She shuttled in the woods, fell down and stood up again for countless times. Her skin was scratched by the thorns. She stubbornly continued to move forward and stopped in front of a strange cave.
The entrance was not big, but it was enough for her to walk in and out at will. Outside the cave, there were trees and grass with the height of several people. Right now, it was in the late autumn. Most plants and trees had turned into golden color. It seemed that she was traveling in the golden dream world.
Gu Yunxi went forward all the way, and she no longer feared. While seeing the quiet scenery here, she had forgotten the worries of being lost. She hesitated for a while and then stumbled into the cave.
The road was hard and slippery due to the moss. Gu Yunxi felt uncomfortable even with soft boots on.
From time to time, water drops fell on her head. As she moved forward, her forehead occasionally bumped into strange hard objects. It was painful, and she let out a moan.
It was dingy, so Gu Yunxi took out the flints that she carried with her.
Compared with those sold on the market, the flints here had one more layer of protection outside the paper, namely, the horns soaked in oil. Thus, even when Gu Yunxi fell into the lake, the flints could keep dry without being influenced. They were created by people in the Eastern Depot to use at nights.
Only when Gu Yunxi ignited the flints did she see clearly what the cave was like.
The stalagmites hung upside down on the top of the cave. No wonder they hurt her head. The cold drops of water fell down to her head, face, and the ground. The shapes of those stalagmites were strange.
After watching it for a moment, Gu Yunxi continued to walk towards the cave.
The cave was not deep, and it came to an end within less than thirty steps. The white deer was at the deepest part of the cave with its red eyes staring at her and its sharp antlers pointing at her.
She thought, "Want to have a fight? Okay, I have once been on the verge of death. There is nothing that frightens me again!"
Gu Yunxi once again took out the short knife, pulling out the blade with her teeth and throwing the sheath on the ground.
When Gu Yunxi was thinking about how to catch this mad deer without hurting its white skin, the deer suddenly rushed towards her.
- Writer
