Face Full Of Blood

The moon in the sky was not a full one.

The pale moonlight was only able to reach the top of the pear trees, but failed to illuminate the sword as it flew below the treetops.

The sharp sword made a whooshing sound as it sliced through the air. The men in black smiled excitedly, as though they could already envision what was going to happen next.

A young woman would be covered in blood, like a white piece of paper covered in dirt. These men had warped minds to begin with, so they were very excited by this thought.

Especially since they were the ones who threw dirt on this piece of paper.

And these men were about to make this young woman even dirtier in a different way…

The leader of the group couldn’t help but lick his lips as he started feeling aroused.

Just then, a silver glint came from afar and caught up with the leader’s sword in less than a second.

The glint was as faint as the moonlight, so it was barely visible. But if you looked hard enough, you would notice that it was moving very quickly and steadily, and it was very sharp. In just the blink of an eye, it had not only caught up with the leader’s sword, but it also collided with the sword with a loud clink!

That was also the point in time where the men in black realized that it wasn’t just some random glint. It was a yanagi knife! A thin knife usually used as a stealth weapon!

A thin stealth weapon usually meant that it was a lightweight one, and when you threw something light from such a distance, it would lose most of its momentum along the way. No matter how sharp it was, it wouldn’t be able to inflict much damage. But this yanagi knife had overturned everything they knew about it. Not only could it fly really fast and really far, but it was also so strong too!

It was small and thin, yet it created sparks when it collided with the sword and even sent it flying in a different direction!

The men in black were either still confused about what was happening, or they realized that a highly skilled martial artist had appeared and was here to protect the young woman, so they paused to decide whether they could fight this martial artist off, or if they should run. A muscular figure came flying toward them.

This figure was clearly tall with long arms and legs, yet it didn’t seem to take him much effort to sail through the air.

Killing them didn’t take much effort either.

It only took one move, really. He swung his sword back and forth a few times, but all the men in black saw was just the glint of the sword before their heads left their necks.

The reality was that when faced with a real expert, there was no point in stopping to think about whether you could fight them or not.

Because there was only one conclusion. You were dead meat.

The glint of the sword and the screams of the men came and went within seconds.

Everything fell silent again. You could hear a pin drop.

Song Caitang didn’t smell any blood at all. The wind in her face only carried the fragrance of the pear flowers.

Zhao Zhi swung his sword to one side, shaking off any blood on it. The blade was as clean and shiny as before. He exerted force in his toes as he leaped and landed in front of Song Caitang.

His eyes narrowed in disapproval, “Running around on a mountain at night? Are you stupid or have you lost your mind?”

Song Caitang was even more surprised than he was, “I thought you’d left?”

Zhao Zhi’s expression darkened, “I’m a surveillance commissioner.”

“So…?”

“So, I’ll go wherever I want anytime I like. It’s entirely up to me.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. It was true that he could do whatever he liked.

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

Song Caitang summarized what happened, “I came with Old Madam Li to admire the pear blossoms and ran into assassins.”

“Where’s Old Madam Li?”

“She’s gone down the mountain already.”

“You’re here by yourself?”

“Yeah, we got separated.”

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes some more, “Song Caitang, I realize that you really have some guts.”

Before he finished speaking, Song Caitang’s nose twitched, and she looked down at his legs with a slight frown, “You’re injured?”

“Women should not poke their nose into men’s business.”

Zhao Zhi’s tone was nasty, but Song Caitang wasn’t bothered. She walked one round around him to find that his clothes were torn in many places and stained with a lot of blood.

Upon closer inspection, she realized they were all long and thin in shape, so they were either caused by a knife or a sword. But most of them weren’t serious except for two areas. One was at his waist – he had bandaged that tightly and gave off the smell of herbs. That one was probably pretty bad. The other one was his leg. His left leg looked like he couldn’t walk properly anymore.

“You… ran into trouble?” Song Caitang squatted down and reached for his leg in order to see how badly injured it was, “Like me?”

But Zhao Zhi moved his leg away, “Don’t you have any sense of decency as a woman?!”

Song Caitang was so angry, she slapped his leg, “Fine! Die from the pain then!”

That slap clearly hurt. His face paled instantly, but he pursed his lips tightly and did not let a single sound escape.

He was even able to recover within two seconds and could even mock her, “You think I’m like you? You think I’d be pushed into a corner by a few useless bums?” He suddenly became very unhappy and snorted, “Song Caitang, if you don’t watch yourself, you’re going to end up dying young.”

“Humph, thanks for the advice!”

Song Caitang observed Zhao Zhi’s movements and facial expressions carefully and found that he was still doing okay. His life wasn’t in any danger.

He’d probably dealt with his leg injury already, so if he didn’t want her to touch it, she was going to leave him alone.

She started thinking about what happened to him. His level of martial arts was very high, and he killed those men in black so quickly that they didn’t even have time to react. The fact that he was so badly injured meant that he had run into a much worse situation.

He was supposed to have already left town, but he had suddenly returned and appeared in such a place at this hour. That wasn’t normal. He must have run into a very difficult situation. The people he was fighting would be way more formidable and aggressive than those men in black.

If that was the case… this place was definitely not safe.

Since he was injured, she thought she’d make herself useful by supporting his arm while he walked, and she even found a good excuse, “The smell of blood from those guys will attract wild beasts, so I think we’d better leave quickly.”

But Zhao Zhi hopped backward and dodged her arms as he declared proudly, “I can walk by myself.”

And so, Song Caitang watched as he hopped once, then hopped again…

He would rather hop on one leg?!

Fine! Tire yourself to death!

They were in a unique situation, and despite being a woman, she didn’t mind him holding onto her. But this supposed “manly man” was being so squeamish!

She slapped her forehead in frustration since there was really nothing she could do about this illness of his. But he had saved her life after all, so no matter how annoyed she was with him, she had to try and be understanding.

She set aside her initial urge to kick him in the butt and looked around to find that her luck was not bad indeed. An entire row of dried branches lay next to the trees and most of them were long, straight and about the same width.

She gathered the branches, brought them over, took off her cloak and tore it into long pieces of fabric before presenting everything to Zhao Zhi, “You can at least tie these together, right?”

He stared suspiciously at her.

Her veins nearly exploded, “How long do you think it’s going to take you to hop all the way down? You don’t want me to hold you, so make a board of sorts and I’ll drag you along!”

Doing that was going to be really tiring, but that was the least she could do for the person who had saved her.

He looked at the fabric, then at the branches, and suddenly realized what she meant. He didn’t even try to turn her down and replied, “Sounds good.”

Song Caitang didn’t know what to say.

Every time Zhao Zhi seemed manly, he would suddenly prove your impression of him wrong. But to say he wasn’t manly at all wasn’t right either. He had a sense of heroism and did work hard to protect the weak.

It was so hard to describe him.

He couldn’t really walk, but his hands were still working well. He quickly put the branches together to form a flat board of sorts that wasn’t too heavy on its own.

After she checked and made sure he was headed down the mountain, she felt more assured.

It was easier to drag this thing downward compared to upward.

And reality proved that she was right to feel assured. Going down the mountain was mostly downward sloping, so even though Zhao Zhi was rather heavy compared to her, she could still pull him along without requiring a lot of strength.

After some time, she began to feel like talking.

“Why are you here? What happened?”

Zhao Zhi didn’t respond.

No response either meant he didn’t want to tell her, or he couldn’t tell her.

She didn’t want to press him for an answer, so she switched topics, “Did you know that Pacification Commissioner Lu has gone missing?”

“Lu Guangzong has gone missing?” Zhao Zhi’s voice was low and sounded puzzled. Song Caitang could imagine that frown on his face even without turning around to look. “When did that happen?”

“Just recently. You really didn’t know about it? Didn’t hear anything about it?”

“No idea.”

Song Caitang told him everything she had heard recently, including the extra details Old Madam Li told her, “Do you think his disappearance has anything to do with Yun Nianyao’s case?”

Zhao Zhi’s reply was still the same, “No idea.”

Song Caitang turned to look at him, “What about you? Anything to do with you?”

Her eyes were clear and bright in the moonlight, as though she could see right through him.

Zhao Zhi fell silent.

He did not say anything even after a long time.

But Song Caitang got an answer from his silence.

Zhao Zhi had the secret letter left behind by Yun Nianyao, which was connected to the treason accusations against the Yuns in the capital. This was a grave matter, and given the timing that Zhao Zhi ran into trouble, these matters could be connected. Zhao Zhi did not give her any answer concerning Lu Guangzong’s disappearance. If it was definitely not connected, then he would say no. If he didn’t answer, then there was a connection.

Or perhaps, he really didn’t know the answer to this question too.

Song Caitang decided not to pursue this topic and just sighed quietly, “The moon tonight is really pretty.”

It was as though a silver river was flowing across the land. It was so gentle and soothing.

They were now more than halfway down the mountain. There was a cliff to the right that wasn’t too wide or too narrow. Their angle was just right for viewing the pear trees in the valley.

It wasn’t a real valley with a huge number of pear trees, but it was still pretty to look at.

The flowers were like snow and the petals flew in the wind as it blew past and made the branches sway. It was really a beautiful sight that could not be caught often.

Song Caitang felt like those petals were flying toward her and she was surrounded by the faint fragrance of the flowers.

Zhao Zhi did not look at the pear blossoms. His gaze was fixed on Song Caitang’s back view.

Song Caitang pulled the cloth that was tied to the board over her shoulders, her dress and hair swaying in the wind, the tassels of her hairpin reflecting the moonlight, trembling slightly and tinkling softly as they hit one another.

Her skinny body seemed capable of producing endless energy, like the grass in spring. Even with a giant rock over their heads, the grass would still find a way to grow out of the ground.

They did not speak for the next part of the way, and it was absolute silence for a long time.

It was quiet, but not awkward. They enjoyed the silence.

But after that… the atmosphere changed.

The board was merely made from branches, after all. Song Caitang walked in front and wasn’t able to control how the board behind her moved. The board did not move like human legs, so even though Song Caitang could walk comfortably, it was a very different story for the board.

“Oof.”

Zhao Zhi’s leg hit a rock at the side.

“Woah.”

Zhao Zhi went over a really rough patch.

“Ah.”

Zhao Zhi nearly fell off the board.

After going through several unpleasant moments, Zhao Zhi got angry, “Song Caitang, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?! Where the hell are you even going?!”

Song Caitang couldn’t be bothered to reason with him, “Be quiet! I’m controlling the cloth here, so I’ll go where I want!”

There were people running after them both, and these people wouldn’t run after them blindly. They would try to guess which way they would go and try to look for them there. Going down the mountain in the correct direction or in a predictable manner was the dumb thing to do. Wouldn’t it be way more confusing for the enemy if they continued down this path where even she had no idea where she was going?

They would be so tired from going round and round in circles! HA!

There was NO WAY she was telling him that she didn’t know where she was going and that they were lost!

She wasn’t sure if Zhao Zhi had resigned himself to his fate or what. But he shut up and didn’t say anything for a long time.

Until…

He got knocked right off the board a fifth time.

And of all the places, he landed among a pile of small and sharp rocks, cutting his hand in the process.

“I’ll just walk on my own!”

He gave up on the board and tried to hop on one leg again.

Song Caitang felt a bit bad inside and sighed as she walked over and held her arm out.

“You want me to support you?”

She stared straight at him and declared heartlessly, “It’s your last chance. Take it or leave it. We’re still a long way from the bottom.”

Zhao Zhi’s expression grew extremely stern, as though he was making a very big decision that would affect the rest of his life. After a long time, he finally took her arm and said very simply, “Let’s go.”

Song Caitang was surprised, but she didn’t tease him for it. She quietly supported him, and they continued walking.

But even though he let her hold his arm, he made sure his body was as far from hers as possible.

They both thought that the rest of the journey was going to be fine.

But Song Caitang forgot that Zhao Zhi was tall. Much taller than her, in fact. He was nearly a whole head taller than her.

The tree branches she could clear with ease were a problem for him.

The piles of rocks she could squeeze past with ease were a problem for him.

Bam! Zhao Zhi hit his head.

Bam! He hit his head. Again.

Worse still, she walked quite quickly and he seemed very distracted. He always reacted too late and failed to dodge the obstacles time and again.

He clutched the bruise on his head and felt blood on his hands. He gritted his teeth and hissed, “Song! Cai! Tang!”

She could only admit her mistake and apologize, “I’m sorry, I’ve been focusing solely on the road ahead to make sure we’re going the right way and I’ve forgotten how tall you are…”

“Are you sure this brain of yours knows which way is the right way?!”

“Even if it doesn’t, I’ve got to try.”

“Could you at least slow down?”

“So, you’d rather walk on your own?”

Zhao Zhi shut up after that.

They continued stumbling on.

Zhao Zhi’s face was covered in blood from the route that she had chosen, but he had no choice but to go along with her.

Hours had passed and they still hadn’t made it down the mountain. Song Caitang had no idea that she had gone round and round in circles, but she was really exhausted. She spotted a river ahead with a smooth and wide bank, so she thought it would be good for them to take a rest there.

She knew Zhao Zhi was afraid of water, so she decided not to go too close to the river. But Zhao Zhi turned out to be more wimpy about it than she imagined. When he spotted the river, he didn’t make any sound or shout at her, but fainted on the spot…

Song Caitang was lost for words.

But they had to rest anyway. She really couldn’t continue.

She got some water from the river, fed some to Zhao Zhi and drank some herself. After she felt more rested, she started checking Zhao Zhi’s wounds.

Just like she had guessed, most of his injuries were superficial. The most severe one was at his waist and the cut was very deep. They had been walking for a long time, so the bandage was soaked with blood. The injury on his leg was a lot less serious than she had thought. The wound wasn’t deep and it would heal quite quickly. But it was a little greenish black in color… perhaps there was some poison here?

Thankfully, Zhao Zhi had extra herbs and supplies on hand at all times, so after thinking about it, Song Caitang removed the bloody bandage, redressed the wound and put a new bandage around it.

After she was done with all that, she stretched her arms backward to take a deep breath and feel better when…

She seemed to have bumped into something.