Jiangnan Gaiden - Kapitel 44
Drip, drip, it seems like some liquid is dripping onto the muddy ground.
There was a thud, followed by the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.
I took a deep breath, feeling the fresh air fill my parched lungs, and gradually the strength returned to my limbs. I braced myself against the ground with my hands, trying to stand up—
Suddenly, I was picked up and held tightly in someone's arms!
Shang Shao held me tightly in his arms, his grip so strong it almost pressed me into his body!
I struggled slightly, then stopped moving.
This was truly the relief of surviving a catastrophe! He held me tightly, and it seemed that the little strength I had regained had vanished the moment he lifted me up. I just wanted to lazily let him hold me like this, not wanting to lift even a finger.
I couldn't see his eyes, but I could hear Shang Shaochang's deep voice coming from his chest:
"Does it still hurt?"
Shang Shaochang was covered in dust and sweat, but I didn't care at all. I caught his familiar scent again, a faint smell mingled with sweat. Suddenly, my heart calmed down, a calm I'd never felt before in my life… Even surrounded by scattered pieces of wood and mutilated corpses, even though I felt like I'd just walked through hell, even if this dark temple and forest were a hundred times more terrifying, I felt no fear!
I reached out and hugged Shang Shaochang tightly, watching as the murderous intent in his reddened eyes gradually faded, replaced by deep anxiety and worry. I couldn't help but chuckle softly, "Big...big idiot, it's long...cough...no...cough...it doesn't hurt anymore..." But when I opened my mouth to speak, my voice was unusually hoarse and unpleasant, because the steel wire around his neck was pressing on his vocal cords and had damaged his throat.
Shang Shaochang exclaimed in surprise, "Let me see, how badly is your neck injured?" He gently stroked my neck with his fingers, using light and careful touch, as if he were caressing a most precious and fragile piece of porcelain.
I watched as Shang Shaochang took out the medicine and applied it to my wound. A sweet and joyful feeling slowly welled up in my heart, and I said softly, "The elixir of immortality that Xiao Lü gave me is really... cough cough... so effective... If I had discovered it sooner... you and I... wouldn't have had to suffer like this anymore..." I leaned against Shang Shaochang's chest and slowly opened my right hand. My palm was covered with blisters of all sizes, and there was still a small piece of the elixir the size of a fingernail.
The Golden Elixir is sold exclusively to cure all diseases.
Simply by wearing deerskin gloves and taking a small piece of metal the size of a fingernail, one can turn a three-foot-long and wide iron plate into scrap metal.
As we were leaving Yanliang Valley, Xiao Lü carefully placed a jade box in my hand and said solemnly, "Sister in white, your departure marks your entry into the martial world. Since you don't know martial arts, the dangers may be doubled. Even though Brother Shao Chang's martial arts are superb, there may be oversights. The pills in this jade box, while not unique, can still turn misfortune into good fortune if used properly! I cannot accompany you on this journey, but I hope you will have a safe and peaceful trip and that you will not need these pills."
After Xiao Lü explained the uses of the pills in this jade box, it was indeed all-encompassing, including not only the most common wound medicines and antidotes, but also some strange and unusual pills. This "Gold-Melting Pill" was something Xiao Lü had collected from a stone pool in the Flame-Cool Valley. It was harmless to wood, stone, hemorrhoids, and jade, but strangely enough, it melted upon contact with steel—truly a marvel. If I hadn't secretly slipped a small piece into my sleeve before Li Kuilei arrived, I probably wouldn't have escaped so easily. However, although Xiao Lü had refined the Gold-Melting Pill, removing most of its toxicity, it still left my hands covered in blisters.
I watched as Young Master Shang gently applied ointment to my right hand and wrapped it with bandages. He said, "It seems I... am not entirely useless after all..."
Shang Shaozhang gently picked me up, gave a whistle to summon the black horse, and said softly, "Would you like to sleep in my arms for a while?"
I felt a wave of exhaustion wash over me, and I had no strength left in my body. My eyelids trembled slightly as I whispered, "This time...this time...cough cough...you got all the benefits..." I felt a sweet itch in my throat, and when I opened my mouth, I spat out a mouthful of blood onto Shang Shaozhang.
"Yiyi—"
In a daze, I seemed to see Shang Shaochang's anxious eyes. I squinted my eyes slightly and used the last of my strength to say, "I want to sleep... don't disturb me..." and then fell asleep.
The cold wind blew, carrying away the bloody smell in front of the earth god temple, but it couldn't take away the two corpses on the ground and a large pile of scattered wooden puppets.
The moon gradually pushed aside the clouds, and its light shone on a pile of wreckage on the ground. The bright moonlight reflected on the smiling puppet and the ugly corpse, making it indescribably eerie and terrifying.
But that's not the worst thing.
The pile of wreckage, which was originally still, is now slowly moving.
Among the puppets brought by Li Kuilei, there were two living people, including himself, but now both of them have perished under Shang Shao's longsword.
But now, a third person has appeared.
This "person" emerged from a puppet with effort but also with dexterity, as if taking off clothes. That puppet was the furthest from Shang Shaochang, the most inconspicuous, the oldest, and the smallest.
That person was also very thin, about the size of a teenager, so thin that a gentle breeze could blow him away.
After he emerged from the puppet, he looked at the bloodstains and fragments of the puppet on the ground, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.
The moonlight shone on his face, which was wrinkled and creased with laughter, mixed with a strong smell of blood. Anyone who saw this scene would be scared half to death!
But someone happened to see it.
That person was also laughing, but his laughter was more pleasant and gentler than the laughter of the person who emerged from the puppet. It was like a spring breeze blowing through the forest.
The thin man stopped laughing and shouted into the woods, "Who's there?"
The woods remained silent, and no one appeared. Then, that soft voice rang out again:
"Li Kuilei, Li Kuilei, using wood as puppets and people as puppets, even the world's number one assassin would not know that you have two doubles... Yet how many swordsmen and heroes have perished under your puppet doubles."
The thin man's face changed, becoming very pale.
He was already ugly to begin with, like a shriveled, dehydrated apple, and this change in appearance made him even more terrifying!
He always hid in the shadows, watching people tremble with fear before him, many of whom were taller, stronger, and more manly than him, yet were so terrified by his sinister methods that they wet themselves on their deathbeds. And he enjoyed it all with amusement, as if he were watching the most beautiful song and dance in the world.
And now, this gentle and carefree male voice was giving him a feeling he almost never experienced before:
fear!
This situation, where others can see his every move but he cannot see theirs, makes him feel as if he is standing naked in the middle of a bustling city in broad daylight, being laughed at by others.
The gentle voice spoke again: "It's really unbearable to stay in this dark forest, Ah Fu. Let's go to the temple. We can also see the face of the most despicable assassin in the world." As soon as the words were spoken, a small white sedan chair slowly floated out from the depths of the woods. The sedan chair was covered with thick white curtains, making it particularly conspicuous in the darkness. Through the white curtains, one could vaguely see a person sitting inside, dressed entirely in white, almost blending into the white curtains. Following the sedan chair, a servant-like figure stood silently to the side. The gentle voice slowly rose again, coming from inside the sedan chair: "If I'm not mistaken, the one standing before me is truly Li Kuilei, one of the Four Gentle Assassins."
The thin man slowly straightened up, his lewd, narrow eyes instantly transforming into a sharp glint as he shrieked, "Your eyesight is excellent! Now, I can truly call myself Li the Puppet!"
The person in the sedan chair said "Oh," and then asked, "Why do you say that?"
Li Kuilei stood amidst the fragments of puppets and two corpses, completely unfazed, and said, "My Li family of Xiangnan is a family of puppeteers, unparalleled in the world in the art of puppet manipulation. Therefore, my father named my two brothers Li Kui and Li Lei, and taught them the art of puppetry... Hmph..."
Li Kuilei sneered a few times, then continued, "But my father doted on my younger brother. Even though he was mediocre, he taught him all the essential techniques of puppetry! ...And he became incredibly famous. We brothers, though our achievements are similar, only together can we be called Li Kuilei..." Li Kuilei slowly walked to the corpse that Shang Shaochang had hacked to pieces, gently stroking the disfigured face, and cackled, "You liked being a puppet, liked showing off, liked everything! But you always looked down on me, your older brother, saying I was honest and easy to bully, that I was stupid and crude. You never imagined I'd been waiting for this day! -- You never imagined I'd already made you my puppet... Tsk tsk tsk, you died so tragically! I always told you to practice martial arts properly and not rely too much on puppets, and now look what happened! You couldn't even withstand a single blow! Hahahaha—" Li Kuilei laughed loudly, but there was no sadness in his voice; his laughter was filled with joy!
The person in the sedan chair listened quietly as this puppet Li continued his rambling, without interrupting. Only after he stopped did the person slowly say, "This is indeed a great secret..."
Li Kuilei straightened his body, a malevolent glint in his small eyes, and said in a sinister voice, "But you'll never have the chance to speak to anyone else, because a dead man—how can he have the chance to speak!" Before he finished speaking, three beams of white light suddenly shot out from his half-open hand—