The smoke spread wide, so it was hard to find Leng Changxi hiding behind the stone column even if he made obvious moves. He reached out slender middle and index fingers to open the concealed box through the gap as narrow as a hair. It was lucky for Leng Changxi to find the hidden box at the stone top. Suddenly, Leng Changxi exerted his super strength and pulled out the stone which blocked the concealed out by his slender fingers. Immediately, a cool and moist wind blew from the dark hole.
“The wind is moist.” Qin Yunuan felt it too, “Which means there is water at the other side of the hole.”
When the smoke dispersed, it was likely that Chen Jingrui would dispatch people to come in. Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan could not hide here for a long time. Leng Changxi entered the hole with his half body to check if there were poison and bugs inside. After making sure that there was no danger inside, he turned back and said to Qin Yunuan, “Nuan, follow me.”
Qin Yunuan was a little bit hesitant, but Leng Changxi said straightly, “Believe me. My instinct told me that the cunning women like Chen Wan must leave numerous paths to survive. And this tunnel is likely to be one of the paths.”
Yes. Such a secret and incredible tunnel was hard to expose to others except for Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan, who hid above.
Qin Yunuan gritted her teeth and followed Leng Changxi to enter the tunnel. It was very narrow in the beginning in the tunnel, where only one person could crawl. But after a while, it turned wider, and they could bend forward. Now the two people had no time to care about Chen Jingrui, but they could hear the constant miserable shouting subtly behind her. It seemed that those people stimulated other triggers. Hearing the continuous miserable cries, Qin Yunuan frowned, “I smell those bugs.”
Leng Changxi stopped and heard Qin Yunuan’s words, “They are not in the tunnel but behind us. The smell is so light. The bugs may be in the hall with the night pearls.”
“Well,” Leng Changxi nodded, “That’s not our business.”
The two people walked faster. Suddenly, a weeny light emerged in the front, and then they heard the rumble of water.
It was a waterfall!
Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi looked at each other. It must be a waterfall in the front, or the tunnel would not be so moist. Qin Yunuan tried to recall the previous memory. She did not remember there was a waterfall on the map. Judging from the landmarks in the map, she found that there was no higher cliff in Yeren Valley. How could a splendid waterfall exist in such a terrain?
No, there was a place.
The two people thought about the place almost simultaneously. They said together, “The small thatched cottage.”
Right. The place was the small thatched cottage where the Elder Princess lived, and there was a cliff of fifty meters high. At the bottom of the cliff, there was a river. It was not so weird to find a waterfall above.
Now the two people got cheerful. Leng Changxi holding the hand of Qin Yunuan stepped carefully toward the exit of the hole. Soft sunshine outside made Qin Yunuan’s eyes feel pricking because she had stayed in the darkness for a long time. They were only three steps away from the waterfall where water poured down. The rumbling water violently hit the stone at the bottom, which caused the stone with corners and edges to become round and smooth after perennial washing.
The splashing water heavily hit the small tender face of Qin Yunuan. By the light, Qin Yunuan could saw clearly that there was much dust on the clothes of Leng Changxi and herself. And even their face looked indescribably exhausted.
Leng Changxi looked at the bottom calmly and estimated the height and angle. He turned back to pull Qin Yunuan’s little head into his chest, “Nuan, don’t be scared.”
“Changxi, you…” Qin Yunuan was stunned, but immediately she felt a sense of weightlessness. In a flash, the water wet out the whole body of Qin Yunuan. She dared not to open her eyes, but she seemed to feel that she was soaking in the freezing water in the next second. The strong water stream washed violently the body of Qin Yunuan, which seemed to break her top of the skull. Qin Yunuan could not swim and Leng Changxi, holding her by his single arm, swam to where the current got eased. When they reached the place with shallow water, Leng Changxi had been totally exhausted.
The water was bitingly cold. Qin Yunuan strove to get out of the water and dragged Leng Changxi toward the bank by her last strength. And then he knelt beside Leng Changxi. They looked at each other, and they both smiled in their hearts. Yes, they managed to escape. They finally escaped the weapon factory as frightening as hell.
When they looked at each other affectionately, the water stream of the waterfall was suddenly changed by a strong wind. A puff of hot wave with the flame and burning smell came out of the hole. It was likely that someone there stimulated the trigger. They thought the hot wave happened only once, but then Qin Yunuan saw the whole mountain seemed to be shuddering violently, like an earthquake.
“Nuan, move.” Leng Changxi felt the danger and tried his best to hold Qin Yunuan to run toward the empty area in the distance. Behind them, with the rumbling sounds of collapsing mountain, numerous stones fell down like falling shooting stars. Leng Changxi ran to shelter Qin Yunuan under his body. Through the crack of the clothes of Leng Changxi, Qin Yunuan saw one big part of the mountain in the distance collapsed, causing the waterfall splashed away. When the situation calmed down, they found that the mountain had been in a mess. The waterfall moved back a lot, and the stones at the bottom were from the mountain and were washed by the waterfall heavily again.
“Young Master Tuoba, Young Madam Tuoba.” In the distance, a familiar shouting attracted Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan. Someone appeared at the bottom.
Qin Yunuan turned back and found they were Cha, who was ordered to stay in the tribe. There were two followers behind Cha, who looked exhausted and upset.
“You two are really here.” Cha looked very excited when he saw Leng Changxi, “Young Master Tuoba, I thought you would never come back.”
“Why are you here?” Leng Changxi remembered that they ordered them to leave together with Elder Princess.
“We don’t know where we should go,” Cha said while took off his sheepskin gown and passed it to Leng Changxi. Leng Changxi did not refuse because the water was extremely cold. He patted the gown and put it on Qin Yunuan, who was shuddering. Cha saw them and smiled, adding, “And then we decided to wait for you in the little thatched cottage.”
“Where is my mother?” Leng Changxi, though he did not wear the gown, became warm by his genuine energy.
Cha pouted his mouth toward the little thatched cottage. Leng Changxi was about to move but stopped by Qin Yunuan suddenly. She frowned, “I smell a kind of luxurious spice with a light smell of horse dung. Someone may have come to the little thatched cottage.” And then Qin Yunuan looked at Cha sideways, “Cha, tell us the truth.”
Cha was hesitant and lowered his head, “If I tell you the truth, I am afraid that Young Master Tuoba will kill me.”
Leng Changxi said with his head aslant, “Just tell us.”
Cha took a deep breath, “After we just came to the little thatched cottage, a troop came with amours and long knives. Their head was a powerful man, and he said he wanted to take the madam away. We refused, and the madam did not want to go with them too. She said she wanted to wait for Young Master Tuoba to come back. The troops now were waiting in the cottage, and they had told me that they wanted to negotiate with you when you came back.”
And then Qin Yunuan frowned. The spice she smelt was not an ordinary one but used in the Royal Palace. And the horse dung smelt lighter, different from the disgusting smell of ordinary horse shit. The horse dung might from the horse, which took superior forage in daily time. Thus, the troop might be…
Before Qin Yunuan said it out, Leng Changxi had already stridden toward the little thatched cottage. As expected, there were several upmost Ferghana horses eating grass around the cottage. One of them was staring at the door energetically, whose saddle was equipped with a string of precious inlaid stones which looked very luxurious.
Some people in black armor guarded the cottage at the door. When they saw Leng Changxi was walking toward them unfriendly, they put the long knives on their waists ahead alertly.
“Who are you?”
“Leng Changxi from Qi.” Leng Changxi just told them his name directly.
Cha widened his eyes and said surprisingly, “Leng… Leng Changxi? Young Master Tuoba, are you the god of war in Qi, the legendary young warrior?”
Qin Yunuan responded calmly, “Isn’t he? It’s not the right time to talk about this. You three guarded here and give us a signal when something weird happened.” And then, Qin Yunuan went upstairs together with Leng Changxi. The door was broken with many holes. They could see a man in full black armors sitting inside seriously with his alert eyes as sharp as a cutter point. He looked very young, about 20 years old, but his shrewdness with sharp-sighted eyes bore the comparison with many senior generals who attended many battles.
He would be a tough person to handle.
Qin Yunuan stepped forward and held the hand of Leng Changxi silently, just like Leng Changxi holding her hands when she was trapped in dangers and fears numerously.
“Let him in.” The man inside said lightly with a little disdain.
The bamboo-made door was opened, and the room still kept the previous layout. The young man sat was facing the door. A delicate ox-horn kettle was put beside with a light aroma of the wine. Now he was drinking singly. If he did not wear the armor, he would be regarded as a leisurely farmer or a Taoist priest in the countryside.
“Where is the Elder Princess?” Leng Changxi still kept vigilant.
The young man raised his eyes and sneered, “She was in a very safe place. But General Leng from Qi, you haven’t asked my name since you came in. It may be not polite for you to only care about Elder Princess.”
“Shall I?” Leng Changxi stared at the eyes of the young man. Frankly, from the perspective of Qin Yunuan, as a bystander, she thought this young man was like Leng Changxi to a large extent.
“Jing Yuanchu.” Leng Changxi said out the name of the man straightly, “The Thirteenth Prince of West Xia. Am I right?”
