The Road to Glory

Chapter 43: She Groped for Him in the Darkness...

The rain gradually subsided, and without the clamor of the downpour to mask them, the sounds of rustling reeds and deliberately light footsteps became traceable.

Xiao Li slowed his movements, taking Wen Yu behind a large patch of reeds as he listened intently to the surroundings.

Water dripped from his hair roots, his gaze fixed ahead like a wolf's. Beneath his soaked robes, his muscles tensed with instinctual excitement from the heightened nerves, heat rising from his skin.

But the entire reed marsh seemed to have fallen into silence. Apart from the rustling of reeds brushing against each other in the wind, there were no other sounds.

A droplet from the grass blades fell onto Xiao Li's blade with a faint plip. He whispered, "Something's wrong. They've all disappeared suddenly. Have they set an ambush?"

Wen Yu's soaked black hair clung messily to her neck, making her slender, snow-white neck appear even paler. When the cold wind blew, the chill seemed to penetrate through her wet clothes into her flesh and bones. She trembled slightly, though her voice remained calm: "They're probably waiting for reinforcements. With this vast reed marsh and the cover of night, any ordinary soldiers who rashly venture deeper would only be killed."

A flash of lightning struck, casting an eerie white glow over the nearby reeds and the distant dense forest.

She looked toward the forest that had once again vanished into the darkness, her face pale as she said, "Let's head to the woods. We can't hide in this reed marsh for long."

Xiao Li noticed she was cold, but the night rain hadn't stopped, and his own robes were still soaked through. He couldn't think of any way to warm Wen Yu—they had to break through the encirclement first.

He responded with a low "Alright." When he took Wen Yu's hand, he found her fingers icy. Hesitating for a moment, he wrapped his palm around her fingers as much as possible. With his other hand holding his blade to part the reeds blocking their path, he led her toward the forest.

However, the reeds grew along a slope that ended at a clear stream. To reach the woods, they had to wade across the creek.

After the night's heavy rain, the stream had swollen.

When they reached the edge of the reeds, Xiao Li glanced at the rushing water. Worried that Wen Yu might trip over rocks or branches washed downstream, he had her climb onto his back.

Using his five-foot Miao blade to probe the depth of the water, he carried Wen Yu across.

Halfway through, a sudden whistling sound came from behind. Without a second thought, Xiao Li turned and swung his blade to block. Amid a series of clangs, the volley of crossbow bolts were all deflected into the stream, skewering diagonally into the riverbed.

"They're trying to cross the stream to the woods on the other side! Stop them!" shouted the soldiers who had surrounded the reed marsh with crossbows.

The soldiers lying in ambush at other edges of the marsh immediately rushed over. In an instant, a dense shower of arrows rained down on them like a spiked net descending.

Xiao Li cursed under his breath, not daring to turn his back to them. While deflecting the incoming arrows with his blade, he retreated across the stream with Wen Yu on his back.

With only one hand free, Wen Yu clung tightly to his shoulders and neck to avoid adding to his burden, keeping her eyes fixed on the hidden archers in the reeds and serving as Xiao Li's second pair of eyes to alert him.When they retreated to the opposite riverbank, the government soldiers seemed to have exhausted their arrows and resorted to wielding blades as they charged across the water. Xiao Li set Wen Yu down and engaged them in combat, shouting over his shoulder, "Hide in the grass!"

Both slopes along the riverbank were thick with reeds nearly as tall as a person. Wen Yu grabbed the roots for leverage, struggling up the slick, muddy embankment. Before she could retreat deeper into cover, several blade-wielding soldiers emerged—they had used the cover of night to cross upstream and intercept them.

"Xiao Li!"

Instinctively calling his name, Wen Yu scooped up a handful of foul-smelling, dark mud and flung it at the soldiers' faces.

As the soldiers twisted away to shield themselves, Xiao Li severed the weapon of the soldier grappling with him, kicked the man into the rushing stream, and without hesitation leaped ashore. His blade swept horizontally, splattering blood across the reed leaves.

A soldier farther away, in desperation, tried to lunge and seize Wen Yu as leverage, but Xiao Li slammed him into the muddy reeds and crushed his throat.

A gash on Xiao Li’s arm soaked his sleeve with blood, which mixed with the rain and pooled in his palm like crimson ink.

"Are you all right?" Wen Yu scrambled up to support him.

Xiao Li wiped the blood from his hand casually on the grass roots, pushed himself up with his blade, and grabbed Wen Yu. Breathing heavily, he urged, "Go!"

They pressed on toward the dense forest at the edge of the reeds.

Stumbling through their frantic escape, Wen Yu sustained fine cuts on her hands and face from the sharp reed edges but never uttered a sound.

Hoofbeats thundered down the official road. The first twenty riders wore bamboo hats and capes, their robes billowing sharply in the cold wind like bats spreading skeletal wings in the night.

The captain of the soldiers hurried forward to meet them, clasping his fists in the heavy rain. "Commander Thirteen, you've arrived!"

Pei Shisan demanded coldly, "Where are the Wen remnants?"

The captain bowed his head in shame. "We ran out of crossbow bolts and lost our hold. They escaped into the woods."

Pei Shisan lashed the captain across the face with his whip and snapped, "Useless!"

A bloody welt rose on the captain’s cheek, but he kept his head lowered, not daring to respond.

Pei Shisan dismounted, hand resting on his sword hilt, and barked to the twenty-plus Hawk Hounds behind him, "Follow me into the woods to hunt down the Wen remnants!"

The forest was pitch black, with only occasional flashes of lightning piercing the dense canopy overhead.

Trained in martial arts, Xiao Li’s vision far surpassed that of ordinary people. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out shapes well enough. He led Wen Yu behind a large rock that offered some shelter from the rain.

The gash on his arm, strained by exertion, hadn’t stopped bleeding. To avoid leaving a blood trail for pursuers, he removed his bracer, rolled up his sleeve, and tore a strip of cloth from his garment. Clenching it between his teeth, he began wrapping the wound.

"Are you bandaging your injury?" Wen Yu could only discern vague outlines nearby. Noticing his movements, she reached out tentatively. "Let me help."

Her fingers found the strip of cloth in his hand, and as she felt for the other end, they brushed against something warm and yielding.Wen Yu froze for a moment before realizing she had touched Xiao Li's lips. Her fingertips instantly grew warm, and she was grateful the darkness hid their expressions from each other.

She retrieved the cloth strip from between his teeth and carefully wrapped it around his muscular arm. The firm, heated texture beneath her fingertips seemed to pulse with the blood flowing just beneath the thin layer of skin.

After tying the knot, she whispered, "Done..."

But before she could finish the word, his hand covered her mouth. Trapped between his solid chest and the boulder, her breath filled with the scent of blood and an indescribable aroma—like the fierce wind sweeping through treetops on a summer day.

Wen Yu remained still as she heard a faint crackling sound in the distance, like someone stepping on dry branches.

Then the entire forest plunged into deathly silence.

This silence was unnerving, reminiscent of a predator and prey facing off in the dark—one wrong move could mean instant death.

"They must have tracked me by the scent of blood. Stay here. Don't come out."

Xiao Li's wolf-like eyes fixed on the dense forest as he spoke these words almost directly into Wen Yu's ear.

He picked up a stone and threw it into the distance to create a diversion. Listening intently to the surrounding footsteps, he drew his blade and leaped forward like a wolf, striking down.

The clash of steel against steel rang out sharply.

The moment the cloaked figure deflected his strike with a backhanded block, Xiao Li knew this was no ordinary opponent. Using the opponent's back as leverage, he pushed off and retreated several meters before turning to flee.

Pei Shisan's face darkened as he shouted, "After him!"

Shadows darted swiftly through the dense woods. These cloaked figures moved with eerie agility, clinging like persistent shadows—no matter how far Xiao Li tried to shake them off, they quickly closed the distance.

Xiao Li attempted to confront them head-on, but whenever his attacks intensified and he gained the upper hand, they would retreat into the darkness.

Every slash he made felt like striking water, causing no real damage.

They were gradually wearing down his stamina and patience, forcing him to reveal openings.

Unaccustomed to such tactics, Xiao Li grew increasingly agitated by this cat-and-mouse game—and this agitation soon cost him. Several wounds now marked his body,

each cut deliberately vicious and venomous.

Blood soaked through his robes, dripping steadily from the hem to merge with the sound of water droplets falling from leaves in the forest.

Sweat beaded on Xiao Li's temples. He wrapped cloth around his hands to maintain grip on his sword hilt amid the rain and blood. As the rainfall intensified, he closed his eyes, relying solely on his ears to detect movements through the rustling leaves.

The faintest footsteps, the swish of blades, even the friction of clothing became distinct in the darkness.

As another droplet fell from the leaves, he swung his blade horizontally to block a downward strike from an attacker leaping from the trees. Simultaneously, he sidestepped a chilling blade that came within inches of his throat, using his four-foot scabbard to strike the abdomen of an assailant approaching from the left, forcing them back several steps.

While retracting his blade, he used the scabbard to deflect a thrust from behind, then extended his five-foot Miao blade forward.

The blade sliced through flesh, drawing blood.Not even a muffled groan was heard as the group quickly retreated, and the surroundings fell back into a silence broken only by the patter of rain.

Xiao Li stood motionless in the rainforest, his robe and blade tip dripping blood, his hair ends and chin dripping water, waiting for the next attack from his opponents.

He had improved rapidly, adapting to his enemies' rhythm in this anxious hunt of encirclement and slaughter, learning to seize their weaknesses in turn.

Pei Shisan had been observing from the shadows for a long time, feeling that hunting this man was truly no different from hunting a wild beast. Suppressing his impatience, he commanded: "The Qian squad follows me to continue surrounding him. The Gen squad searches the area for the remaining Wen Shi fugitive. Since the fugitive isn't with him, they must be hiding."

After speaking, he was the first to draw his blade and leap down from the tree. Having fought his way up through the Pei family's Hawk Hounds with sheer skill, then personally trained by Pei Song as a close guard, he was already capable of commanding independently as a general. Back when he worked directly under Pei Song, even the top swordsman of the martial world who came to assassinate Grand Commandant Ao had fallen to his blade.

His blade technique was renowned for its speed, with rumors claiming that victims only felt the pain after being completely flayed by his strikes.

But when he clashed with Xiao Li, Pei Shisan felt startled. Although this guard of the former dynasty fugitive appeared strained while blocking his swift attacks, he never left any openings. Moreover, the brute strength emanating from those wild blade strokes made Pei Shisan's tiger grip palm tingle numbly.

Exchanging swift blows was extremely taxing. When Pei Shisan's hand grew nearly too numb to grip the hilt from the opponent's savage strikes, he retreated a step and let the previously unable-to-break-through Hawk Hounds take over.

Glancing at his sword hand and seeing his tiger grip palm already split open, his expression darkened further, the killing intent in his eyes intensifying: "You and that former dynasty fugitive will surely meet your end here tonight!"

Wen Yu hid beneath a large rock, hearing the sounds of battle from the distant woods. Her fingertips turned white from clenching, her heart burning with anxiety, yet she knew clearly that going out would not only fail to help but would instead burden Xiao Li, so she dared not act recklessly.

She desperately tried to calm herself. Since those people hadn't found her yet, they probably wouldn't deal a fatal blow to Xiao Li.

During this torturous wait, she suddenly heard another sound like stepping on a dry branch - a "crack" - coming from behind the large rock.

Wen Yu's heart tightened. Had someone come searching this way?

The forest floor was covered with dry leaves and numerous broken branches. In the pitch-black rainy night, no matter how carefully one stepped, there would inevitably be moments of accidentally stepping on dry twigs.

This was precisely why she didn't dare change hiding spots - any noise would draw attention.

Wen Yu held her breath and listened carefully to see if the footsteps were approaching closer.

The reason these death warriors raised by Pei Song were called Hawk Hounds was because they possessed both the vision of hawks and the sense of smell of hounds, far surpassing ordinary army Scouts, and were most skilled in reconnaissance and assassination.

A caped figure followed the faint blood trail, heavily diluted by rainwater, to the large rock. Drawing his blade, he silently descended along the low slope beside the rock. When he spotted a corner of clothing faintly visible in the bushes below, he smiled soundlessly and used his blade to part the shrubs, saying: "Found you, Hanyang Princess!"Hiding in the recess beside the massive rock, Wen Yu raised the stone in her hand but had no time to strike the back of the assailant’s head. The man’s blade spun around, trailing a flash of cold light, and the icy edge instantly pressed against Wen Yu’s neck. "You’ve got some tricks, but I advise the Princess not to struggle in vain. Otherwise, I’ll have to sever your tendons and take you away."

Wen Yu had left her cape in the bushes as a decoy, and now her face was fully exposed to her opponent. Having been drenched in rain for half the night, her complexion and lips were deathly pale, with disheveled black hair cascading over her shoulders. She resembled a fragile piece of porcelain, yet her clear, moonlit eyes remained cold and steady as they fixed on the man.

The stone in her hand was finally dropped at her feet.

The man said, "That’s more like it."

He seemed not to consider Wen Yu, a seemingly weak woman, capable of harming him. Sheathing his blade, he reached out to seize her arm. Unexpectedly, Wen Yu, as if too terrified, stumbled and threw herself toward him. No one would refuse the embrace of a stunning beauty, soft and fragrant. Instinctively, he moved to wrap his arm around her waist, only to suddenly feel a chilling cold in his chest.

Using the momentum of her lunge, Wen Yu drove the dagger she had taken from Tong Que deep into his chest.

The caped man fell backward onto the ground, his eyes wide with shock, blood trickling from his mouth. He still lifted a hand to clutch at Wen Yu’s throat.

With all her strength, Wen Yu pressed the dagger deeper into his chest until the hilt was fully buried before she stopped.

The caped man had stopped breathing, his eyes still wide in disbelief.

Wen Yu collapsed weakly, kneeling on the ground. It was her first time killing someone, and her entire body trembled. Her face, spattered with droplets of blood, was ghastly pale, yet her mind remained eerily calm. She knew she could not stay here any longer and had to find another hiding place.

Pulling out the dagger, she leaned against the rock wall to stand and stepped outward.

A clap of thunder roared across the sky, and the white flash of lightning pierced through the dense forest. Amid the grotesque, ghostly shadows of the trees, over a dozen caped figures, alerted by the commotion, converged near the massive rock and came face to face with Wen Yu, dagger in hand.