“No!” Xu Ji’s heartbreaking cry from the top of the valley could not beat Qin Yunuan’s quick eyes and hands. The grey materials for starting a fire were soon lit. The little sparkle was like a lively and mischievous child, running and jumping along the set route. Xu Ji opened his eyes as wide as copper bells. He had to witness that his greatest strategy was exploded into ashes in an instant before him.
Leng Changxi stepped back and covered Qin Yunuan’s ears tightly without any space. Qin Yunuan only saw that the towering stones before her eyes were instantly destroyed into dross. The loud cracking sound was deafening. Qin Yunuan was kept from the impact of the heatwave of the overwhelming explosion because of Leng Changxi’s protection.
The formula of the explosive was taken from the weapon factory founded by Chen Wan in the Yeren Valley, on the countless secret formulas on the top of the cave. It was lucky that Qin Yunuan was gifted with an extraordinary retentive memory. Once she read it, she would never forget it.
Xu Ji had already combined his life and soul with the strategy. The moment the strategy was ruined, there were crackling sounds in his body as if countless explosives were buried in it. The servant girls around him dared not to come close to him recklessly. After Xu Ji’s meridians were bombed all over, his eyes were startled. His scarlet clothes were dyed crimson all over his body. He halted straight and collapsed face down.
At that time, those soldiers in black armor surrounding Xu Ji and his men quickly stepped forward. They tied him tightly, even covering his eyes and mouth. The rest people were all captured alive and tied tightly too. The cowhide rope used to tie them had been soaked in sesame oil, so it was as strong as iron, which could hardly be broken free.
Now that Xu Ji was captured alive, it was a good time to break Luguan. Unexpectedly, another group of soldiers in black armor dispatched by Leng Changxi from the west came back to report before long.
“General, the guard of Luguan was suddenly improved. Not only there had been 100,000 soldiers more, but Sima Ray also seemed to supervise the army himself. Our intelligence was wrong. Our loss was heavy.”
At the moment, Leng Changxi was reorganizing his army at the bottom of the valley. Xu Ji, who was seriously injured, was lying on the stretcher beside him. Hearing the news that Sima Ray had come, even though his mouth and eyes were sealed, he still raised his lips complacently and sneered in indifference and contempt.
It seemed that the plan of the Leng guy was going to fail. Haha! Although he had lost power, he could never let this guy implement his plan smoothly.
“Sima Ray acts really fast,” Qin Yunuan frowned and nodded, “It seems that it’s time to get rid of the spy among us.”
Leng Changxi nodded, and glanced at Xu Ji, who was tightly tied but pretended to be proud, “Leng Wu, seal his nose for me.” Leng Changxi had heard his sneer clearly.
“What?” Leng Wu was a little surprised. If the nose was sealed, the man would be dead.
“Loose the seal on his nose every half a tea break. General Xu, you are so good at martial arts. You must be capable of holding your breath for half a tea break one time, aren’t you?”
Leng Changxi smiled at Xu Ji, who tried his best to shake his head. Now that his life and soul got ruined, he was no more than an ordinary person in martial arts.
“General Xu, you’ve kept silent. It seems that you are willing to accept the challenge. Well, I really admire you,” Leng Changxi shook his head and walked away while sighing. Leng Wu stepped forward and comforted Xu Ji honestly, “General Xu, I’m sorry to offend you. However, you can’t blame me. After all, you’ve offended our general.”
When they returned to the military camp at the entrance of the valley, those soldiers staying behind immediately went to welcome them. However, after they heard that although the rock gate strategy had already been broken, 100,000 soldiers were added to guard Luguan, who were led by Sima Ray himself, Tuoba Wuyu and other people all fell silent.
“We’ve fought against the Sima guy before,” Tuoba Wuyu remembered that one year ago when a turmoil just happened in Qi, Sima Ray had attacked West Xia in the excuse of looking for the missing soldier and had a brief confrontation with West Xia. However, it was no more than a small fight for Sima Ray to prove the power of Qi. Thinking of the battle on the Gobi Desert, the daring Tuoba Wuyu hesitated for a while to talk about it, “That man is sharp to command his army. That is to say, he seems not to leave a way for him to retreat. Once he sends his army, all the soldiers will leave for the fight, sweeping the battlefield like the west wind rolling the fallen leaves. Then the army will retreat quickly. At midnight, all the army will come out again to do a sneak attack. At that time, all the soldiers in my army couldn’t have a sound sleep for several days. Then to our surprise, he didn’t send the army. However, once we felt relieved, he came again! How shameless he is!”
“It’s just a method to use the military forces,” Leng Changxi had never cooperated with Sima Ray before, nor did he fight against him. But after listening to Tuoba Wuyu’s description, he perhaps knew what tactics Sima Ray used. It was exactly like a bolt of fierce lightning, which seemed to be powerful, but could only maintain for a short time. Not only did Tuoba Wuyu’s army need to consume physical strength, but the continuous sneak attack of Sima Ray’s army also required lots of energy. Only Sima Ray could use this method well, harming others as well as himself. Therefore, Leng Changxi nodded to agree with Tuoba Wuyu, “However, it is a shameless method indeed.”
At that moment, the soldier guarding outside came in to report that Shuihan had known that all the generals had worked hard, so she specially prepared some ginger soup to warm the body and wanted to take it in.
Tuoba Wuyu gave out a smile immediately, “How considerate she is!”
Leng Changxi glanced at Tuoba Wuyu, “Bring in the ginger soup. Oh, let Shuihan come in and drink with us together in case she stands outside and catches a cold.”
It was the first time for Leng Changxi to allow Shuihan to enter their camp for discussion. Standing outside, Shuihan couldn’t help but light up with pleasure when she heard the message. Her voice seemed to tremble with excitement, “Yes, General.”
Today Shuihan was dressed rather plainly. She had already taken off her light, delicate red clothes and worn the clothes made of hessian cloth wisely in order not to be incompatible with Leng Changxi and other generals and soldiers, who were travel-worn and weary. Even so, Shuihan’s charming eyebrows and eyes were enough to dazzle people.
The way she took small steps and carried the ginger soup was especially charming. If Qin Yunuan didn’t know Shuihan’s true face, she would also be attracted by her gentle appearance.
Shuihan put down the ginger soup. Then she picked up one bowl of it alone, walked to Heiying, nodded and smiled, “Heiying brother, oh, no. I should call you Mr. Cang. This is the ginger soup for you. You must be tired after the long journey.”
Heiying didn’t look at Shuihan in the eye. Instead, he took the bowl of ginger soup containing love and care and handed it to Leng Shuang. What was more, he carefully held the rim of the bowl, which was the hottest part, and made the tray face Leng Shuang, which was relatively cold.
Leng Shuang was a little stunned. She found that Heiying’s tone was not as cold as it was in the past, but more emotion was added to it, “I just think that you’ve made the greatest achievement today. So you should be the first one to drink the soup.”
Just this sentence made Leng Shuang’s face flush. Seeing this, Shuihan immediately knew what the relationship between the two people was now. She raised her eyebrows a little as if she had come up with a scheme. However, her reaction was noticed by Qin Yunuan, who always observed the slightest detail of people. She cast a look to Leng Shuang, who understood in an instant.
Smiling, Leng Shuang was about to pick up the ginger soup and drink it up when her hands slipped suddenly. The white porcelain teacup with the pattern of plum blossom fell to the ground and broke into pieces at once. The yellow ginger soup inside flew everywhere on the ground. However, there were white bubbles immediately, with the crackling sound.
“The ginger soup is poisonous,” Leng Shuang shouted. She was the first one preparing to drink it. It was lucky that nobody had drunk it yet. Instantly, the atmosphere in the camp was hot and tense. Tuoba Wuyu had never thought that such a beautiful, kind woman would poison in the ginger soup, aiming at the highest generals inside the camp.
“I didn’t do it,” it was the first reaction of Shuihan, but it looked weak at this moment.
“Do you dare to poison the general?” Leng Wu was sensitive. He stepped forward, ready to grab Shuihan by her arm. However, he grabbed nothing. Shuihan avoided him unusually quickly and threw the tray of the ginger soup on the small table directly to Leng Wu’s face. Leng Wu defended against the attack with his hands and began to fight with Shuihan. It turned out that Shuihan knew martial arts. What was more, her martial arts were by no means ordinary since she could resist so many attacks from Leng Wu.
Tuoba Wuyu was more surprised. He always thought that Shuihan was merely a weak, delicate official prostitute escaping from the imperial music office. However, according to the skills she revealed now, it was really easy for her to defeat the three men chasing her at that time.
“So we are all cheated by Shuihan?” Tuoba Wuyu got angry immediately, “What a shame! I was fooled by a woman!”
Leng Changxi looked sidelong at him, “Yes. How can I have such a lustful and foolish subordinate?”
Tuoba Wuyu was also honest. He knew that he failed to recognize Shuihan’s true face, so he didn’t say anything.
“Don’t blame him too,” Qin Yunuan stepped forward and explained, “I’ve felt weird since Shuihan’s appearance and her performance outside the camp. It’s lucky that Yuanyang has seen much. After listening to my description, she doubts that it’s the charming skill which had been lost for a long time. It can make people love someone only by a song or a fragrance. Changxi and I have much inner Qi, so we weren’t puzzled by her at that time. If I guess right, this woman named Shuihan is exactly Qiu Shuihan, the good helper of Sima Ray and the only daughter of Qiu Murong, the leader of the Moon Sect.”
At last, Shuihan couldn’t beat the generals of West Xia because there were so many of them. Before long, she was captured without fighting, but she wouldn’t accept it. She tried to defend herself for the last time, “General, I know I’m wrong. But why I hide the fact that I’m good at martial arts is because I’m afraid that you won’t accept me. I didn’t poison in the ginger soup. I’m wronged!”
Qin Yunuan went forward to glance at Shuihan, “This ginger soup is not poisonous indeed. The white bubbles are the quicklime I ask Leng Shuang to hide in her sleeves previously. However, you are not wronged. Aren’t you asking for the proof? Okay. I’ll give it to you.”
