042 The horse guard made a mistake and met Song Ya on the road.

  The cold wind howled, whipping up the snowflakes that had fallen from the sky and sweeping them across the vast white plain. The sound of horse hooves grew louder in the distance, and soon a line of black cavalry appeared on the horizon, their formation stretching out like a thousand-strong army as they galloped towards the pile of dead bodies in the distance.

  The iron riders of Western Liang had never encountered such a cold weather, they glanced at the corpses between them and shook their heads expressionlessly.

  "Run!"

  The iron riders quickly went in another direction, the galloping hooves left chaotic marks on the snowy ground, but soon they were covered by newly fallen snow.

  In the howling wind, those corpses piled up on the ground, including the black-clad cavalry of Xi Lian and the silver-armored guards of Xixia. Most of them had their eyes wide open, still clutching cold weapons in their hands, many of which were still lodged in each other's bodies. Fresh red blood flowed down the blades, congealing into dark red scabs on the swords before even hitting the ground.

  A huge bloody smell floated in the air, as if it had been frozen, and lingered in this piece of sky, unwilling to disperse. Another strong gust of wind blew by, and suddenly, a hand stretched out from under the long-frozen corpse.

  He Lianjin pushed the corpse on her body away, looked in the direction where the iron cavalry left, turned back, and a black-clad soldier of Xiliang was still pressing on her leg. Her eyes condensed, she raised her sword and lifted the blood-covered corpse!

  The farther west, the more endless the plains were. For these few days, she could only hide from the pursuit of those cavalry by sleeping with the dead. She propped herself up with her sword and gazed westward for a moment, let out a deep sigh, and continued her lonely and desperate journey.

  ——

  Gu Yun Xue suddenly opened her eyes, a pair of clear and beautiful eyes were now dull and gloomy. After a long while, she gently shook her head, her stiff face showed a hint of anger. She lifted the quilt off her body and sat up, outside the tent were people walking back and forth, occasionally there were horses neighing and the crackling sound of firewood. She hesitated for a moment before getting up and walking out of the tent.

  Snowflakes gently fell outside the tent, Ye Qi and his brother kept watch by the fire for Gu Yunxi, not far away horses quietly ate hay in a sheltered spot, tonight was the second night of the grand hunt, everything was very peaceful.

  "Master Gu!"

  Ye Qi was a low-ranking soldier in the Zhen Bei army, and no one in Yanjing knew him. With him as their escort, at least at first, they would have fewer troubles. Gu Yun Xi nodded towards Ye Qi who had just arrived, "Has he appeared?"

  "Seven Swords furrowed his brow at night, 'Not yet.'"

  Gu Yunxi's mouth curved up slightly, "It doesn't matter, you all go to sleep."

  The tall man frowned and a hint of disapproval flashed across his face, "How can this be? It's not safe at night. You absolutely cannot be careless after 7!"

  Gu Yunxi looked around, in this low-lying mountain waist, the strange rocks stood tall, and the withered yellow grass and trees in winter solved their problem of keeping warm. Besides them, many other travelers and horses were camping here too. However, tonight was only the second night, and it wasn't yet time to be on high alert.

  She frowned, "Yè Qī, don't forget our goal is to go to Bì Yún Peak, this is my order, take your brothers and go to sleep!"

  Ye Qi heard this and looked up at the sky, his expression slightly sinking. "Alright, one incense stick later, Ye Qi will continue to keep watch for young master."

  As the night wore on, several people gradually went to sleep in a simple tent on one side. Gu Yunxi tightened her collar and walked towards the bonfire. Tonight was already the second night of the grand hunt, but Wu Xiun, who should have been guarding her, had yet to appear. Wu Xiun, what kind of trick are you playing?

  The night wind was bone-chillingly cold, Gu Yunxi picked up the cloak of Ye Qi and others and casually wrapped it around her body. She raised her eyes to look at the vast, dark night sky, where a faint shadow was swaying gently at the edge of the horizon. That place was her destination for this trip - Biyun Peak.

  A strange horse's neigh suddenly rang out, but was immediately covered up by the wind, as if nothing had happened. Gu Yunxi's face changed, and he lowered his body to lean against a large stone not far away.

  The whole person hid in a piece of shadow, Gu Yunxi stared at the dimly lit place in front of her, where there was also an unknown tent, and the fire that had been lit up had already gone out. On the south side of the fire pit, several horses were tied together, and among those horses, a black figure was crouching down to do something with the fodder.

  Horse!

  Gu Yunxi's heart skipped a beat, and in an instant, she understood the other person's plan. At present, they had not yet reached the snowy plain, and the road on the mountain was the most difficult to traverse. If they lost their horses, they would naturally fall far behind others, even if they managed to reach Zhuling Peak with great effort, they wouldn't have the energy to compete with others, let alone cross the Snow Wolf Valley and Bicun Peak, which was simply a pipe dream.

  She slightly calmed down, turned around suddenly, but just as she took a step forward, her knee joint felt a sharp pain. Gu Yunxi stumbled and fell behind the strange rock, her gaze flashing like lightning towards the southwestern night sky.

  A deathly silence, even the wind stopped at this moment. Gu Yunxi furrowed her brow deeply. The person only kneeled beside her, naturally not wanting her life. What was his goal? And who was he?

  At this time, Gu Yunxi didn't have the luxury to think about so much. She strongly supported herself and walked to her own tent, waking up Ye Qi in advance. Ye Qi, who was still asleep, thought something had happened and his eyes were filled with surprise and doubt. When he saw that Gu Yunxi was safe and sound, he came back to his senses. After a moment, Gu Yunxi whispered a few words into Ye Qi's ear, and this tall man's expression changed. He took several brothers who were holding torches and headed towards their horse herd.

  Gu Yun Xi let out a breath, bent down to rub his knees, the snowflakes falling around him grew larger. He glanced in Ye Qi's direction, his gaze swept around the campsite before he turned and entered his own tent. The surroundings were still quiet, the wind picked up again, seeming to carry a faint sigh, it paused for a moment before sinking into the silent darkness of the night.

  It was the sound of quarreling outside the tent that woke up Gu Yunxi at dawn. She furrowed her brow as she went out, only to see people everywhere around the campsite. At a glance, she knew what had happened - after last night, most of the Yanjing nobles who were staying in this camp had lost their horses, and naturally there were many people filled with righteous indignation.

  Ye Qi was currently arguing with a young man in short sleeves about something, both of their eyes looked unpleasant. Gu Yun Xi furrowed her brow and walked over, "Ye Qi."

  Yi's expression changed as he turned around, "Young Master."

  The young man Gu Yunxi saw was dressed like a noble son, and at this moment, his eyes were filled with anger as he looked at Gu Yunxi. She raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"

  At night, Qi Yirou bowed his head and said, "Young Master, this man says that our horse was poisoned to death!"

  "Hum, all the horses around you have died, why are the horses here still fine? You poisoned our horses just to prevent us from going to Biyun Peak, how despicable!"

  Gu Yunxiu's beautiful face wrinkled slightly, and she secretly thought it was not good. At this moment, however, the corner of her mouth twitched, "Last night my attendants kept watch over the horse herd all night, if you were like that, your horses wouldn't have died either. Now to pin such a crime on me is truly unreasonable."

  That person furrowed his brow, and Gu Yunxi continued to say, "Young master may take a look around, whoever watched the horse herd last night is certainly safe. Who does young master plan to put this crime on?"

  His face turned red, and he coughed lightly twice, "I'll go take a look right away. If it's just your family..."

  Seeing that man walk away, Ye Qi's face was still very solemn, and Gu Yunxi was the same. She hesitated for a moment, "Ye Qi, let's set off immediately, and everyone must be on high alert, we may be in trouble."

  Gu Yunxi's heart was anxious, she just wanted to keep the horses safe, but didn't think that this would expose herself. Now most of the people in the camp had died from the horse poison, and those few families who hadn't been affected would probably become suspects, not to mention if there were other masterminds behind last night's poisoning incident.

  Gu Yunxi set out with such concerns, and all the way was a hasty journey. After last night's heavy snow, before arriving at Zhuling Peak, Gu Yunxi saw a vast expanse of white scenery. With people rushing up behind her, she hesitated for a moment and ordered the entire team to slow down their pace.

  "Whoosh—"

  A cold arrow left the bowstring, Gu Yunxi only felt a strong gust of wind whizzing past her side, and when she turned to look again, she saw a shadow falling down in the distant snowy ground, and upon closer inspection, it was a snow fox.

  "General Song is good at archery!"

  With a soft shout, the people behind her had already surpassed them and walked to the front. A green-clad guard dismounted and picked up the snow fox, and Gu Yunxi swept it with a glance, only to find that the arrow had hit the snow fox right between its eyebrows!

  Her eyes became heavy, those green-clad guards were all too familiar to her, and the man in the imperial horse-archer's brocade robe had a face that was chiseled with a sharp knife, his body exuding the bloody aura that only those who had been on the battlefield possessed, his eyes like an eagle holding a sharp sword, majestic and intimidating!

  Gu Yunxi's eyes narrowed slightly, and she secretly remembered this person in her heart. Who else could make the Eastern Palace Guard Corps protect him besides Song General, who had just returned from the battlefield, other than Song Hai?

  Digression

  The last chapter mentioned that a new character, Wu You, would appear. This chapter hasn't come out yet, but the next one will! I feel like these two chapters have some problems with them - there were things I originally wanted to write about that didn't make it in, sigh... I'll take another good look at them and if I do end up making any changes, I'll let everyone know. Sorry, sorry! I'm going to go finish writing the next chapter first, and then I'll add one more sentence: Happy New Year, everyone!