Chapter 398: Found
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Looking at the exhausted soldiers lying in the cave, Rong Xu an smiled bitterly. He tore off his clean clothes and bandaged his wound. “We have to hang on even if we can’t. Our people will definitely be able to send the letter out.”
Qi Xiuyuan’s vision darkened and he became even more dazed. Knowing that this was because the poison had spread, he blinked and tried his best to sound calm and gentle. “Mm, we’ll wait.”
Rong Xuan waved over two men and planned to go out before dawn to see if he could find the herb to relieve the poison.
The three of them used the faint light of the fire to search for medicinal herbs and walked further and further away from the cave where they were staying. Rong Xuan was focused on searching for medicinal herbs, so when the guards behind him suddenly extinguished the torch and threw him to the ground, he did not react for a moment.
“Military Advisor, there’s movement,” the guard said in a low voice.
Rong Xuan shuddered and relaxed his breathing as he lay on the ground. He only heard some splats in the darkness, the sound of feet stepping on fallen leaves and branches, and the sound of something heavy falling to the ground.
The expressions of the three people lying on the ground changed drastically. They were all too familiar with this sound. It was the sound of a human body falling to the ground. Only a dead person would make such a heavy sound.
Was it an enemy or a friend?
If it was an enemy, then the ones killed would definitely be their comrades. They knew that this was more likely, but they did not have the courage to stand up. The general was still waiting for their herbs.
Someone sped into the distance. Rong Xuan prayed in his heart, “Run, brother, run faster.” Just as he thought this, he heard a low curse in the darkness. Then, someone chased in the direction that the person had run in.
In the darkness, the three of them froze when they heard the curse. It was in Mandarin, and it carried a Xingzhou Prefecture accent!
One of the guards was so excited that he wanted to stand up, but Rong Xuan pulled him back. Rong Xuan glared at him fiercely. Although he knew that the other party could not see, he could only pinch his arm hard, hoping that he would understand that now was not the time to be exposed. Even if the soft curse was in Mandarin, it did not mean that the other party was a Han Chinese. Since Haoran could speak the Jin language, so could the enemy speak their language. Even if it was mixed with some local accents, they could possibly speak it as long as they had heard it before.
Rong Xuan was both excited and cautious. He hoped that the other party was one of his own, but he was afraid that it was a trick by the enemy.
However, he did not know that the guard’s movements had already exposed his whereabouts.
Mu Yangling and Qi Haoran looked over sharply. The two of them looked at each other and split up to quietly surround them.
When Qi Haoran saw the three people lying on the ground, a sharp glint flashed across his eyes. Just as he was about to slash down with the sword in his hand, Rong Xuan, who had not heard any movement for a long time, happened to look up and face Mu Yangling. Sword light flashed and she saw Rong Xuan’s face clearly. She immediately shouted, “Wait!”
Qi Haoran’s sword had already slashed down. Upon hearing the cry, the sword in his hand quickly flipped over and moved out another inch. The guard who was slashed by the back of the sword grunted and fell to the ground.
Mu Yangling lit up the torch and shone it on them. The five of them stared at each other and were overjoyed. “Big Brother Rong!”
Qi Haoran kept his sword and went forward to pull Rong Xuan up. “Brother Rong, where’s my big brother?”
“Ahem.” Rong Xuan pushed him away and pulled his collar back. “The general is in the cave. Haoran, have you come to bring the antidote pill?”
The antidote pill was just an ordinary medicine. It might not be able to cure the poison in Qi Xiuyuan’s body, but it definitely had a certain suppressive effect.
Qi Haoran’s eyes darkened and he asked, “Is Big Brother poisoned?”
Rong Xuan had already seen the situation behind them under the light. There were corpses of Jin soldiers all over the ground. It seemed that Qi Haoran had assassinated them when he met them.
Rong Xuan nodded and said, “They smeared poison on the arrow. Fortunately, there wasn’t much poison left on the arrow, so the General could last until now.”
“Sister-in-law handed me antidote pills just in case.”
Although he already knew that there was an antidote pill, Rong Xuan still picked the herbs he needed. If the antidote pill was not of much use, this herb might come handy. When the soldier returned from chasing after the escaped Jin soldier, everyone returned to the cave together.
Seeing Qi Xiuyuan lying on the ground covered in blood, Qi Haoran’s eyes turned red. He quickly stepped forward and opened the bag that Li Jinghua had prepared. He poured out the antidote pills and gave one to Qi Xiuyuan. Then, he crushed two and scattered them on his wound.
“How did you know we were in trouble?”
Although Qi Xiuyuan and Rong Xuan kept saying that their people could go out and report their situation, neither of them had much hope. Moreover, even if their people did manage to do so, it was impossible for Qi Haoran and the others to arrive so quickly in Fuping from Jingzhao Prefecture.
Qi Haoran whispered the conclusion that Yuan Hui had come to from observing the stars. “I didn’t believe it at first, but I would rather believe it than not. I could only bring Ah Ling over to look for you, but the moment I arrived at the two villages below, I knew that something had happened.”
Qi Xiuyuan patted his head and smiled. “It’s good that you’re here. My heart is finally put to ease.” After saying that, Qi Xiuyuan became more and more sleepy and wanted to fall asleep.
Seeing this, Mu Yangling became anxious. “Brother Rong, is this antidote pill ineffective?”
“There is some effect, but it can’t detoxify the poison at all. We have to leave the mountain quickly and find someone to neutralize the poison in General.” “But there are at least 3,000 Hus in the forest. How can we get out?” A seriously injured company commander said dejectedly.
Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling were shocked. “How can there be so many of them? We didn’t see the Jin soldiers when we came in. Moreover, the biggest group we encountered along the way consisted of only 100-odd people.”
“That was because we split up and lured them away. We originally had 500 people, but along the way, we kept diverting people to lure the Jin soldiers away. In the end, only 4.0 of us remained with the general. There must be someone guarding the exit. I guess it’s not that they didn’t notice you, but they deliberately let you in.”
“That means that there aren’t many of them left at the exit. They can’t stop us.” Qi Haoran said coldly, “In that case, what are you afraid of? Let’s charge out.”
A red light flashed in the eyes of the soldiers as they requested, “Little General, let’s lure the Jin soldiers away. You should bring the General and the Military Advisor and break out.”
Mu Yangling rolled her eyes and waved her hand. “It’s just 3,000 people. Do you have to be so tired of living?”
Everyone looked at Mu Yangling. Qi Haoran said, “We only have 142 people, and 38 of them are injured.”
“But these 3,000 people are like a nest of ants in this large forest. We just have to go around them.”
Mu Yangling took out the map from Qi Haoran’s arms and pointed at an opening with a charcoal strip. “We should thank Big Brother Qi. This place he found is already thousands of miles away from that exit. If we leave from here, we can quickly reach the nearest village. We can directly return to Jingzhao Prefecture without passing by Fuping County.”
“But we’ve never walked through this forest before. There’s not even a path,” a company commander couldn’t help but retort.
“Besides, we still don’t know the direction. If we get lost in the mountains, it will be even more terrifying than facing the Hus head-on.” A battalion commander who didn’t know Mu Yangling well glared at her as if she had told a big joke.
Qi Haoran and Rong Xuan couldn’t help but smile. Even Qi Xiuyuan, who was about to faint, smiled and patted Mu Yangling’s hand weakly. He said in a low voice, “Then I’ll leave it to you, Ah Ling.”
“As long as you can keep up with me, I’ll definitely be able to bring you out,” Mu Yangling declared confidently as she looked at everyone..
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