Chapter 60

In the blink of an eye, the caravan was plunged into a fierce battle.

Taishu Zhen raised his spyglass, firmly locking his gaze onto Wen Besang, who was caught in the thick of the melee.

Through the tiny lens, Wen Besang was seen cowering consistently behind Gong Chengyun. He dodged back and forth with the slippery agility of an eel, occasionally seizing an opening to raise his miniature crossbow. Accompanied by a muffled blast, yet another assailant would collapse to the ground in response.

"Do not give them time to recover," Taishu Zhen ordered. "Send everyone in. Kill Gong Chengyun, and bring Wen Besang back at all costs."

A red signal flare streaked across the sky. Wen Besang cast a wary glance toward it, and in a flash of distraction, a large number of men in black burst out from the woods, the vast majority of them charging recklessly toward Chengyun's position.

"Your Highness!" Qi Song vaulted forward to block their path, shouting, "Take the young master and retreat first! We will hold the rear!"

Chengyun and Wen Besang were both acutely aware that these men were clearly well-prepared. Playing a reactive game against premeditated foes meant that lingering here would only result in being worn down to death.

Reaching out to hook his arm firmly around Wen Besang’s waist, Chengyun leapt out of the encirclement. Just as they cleared the ring, a dense volley of arrows whined through the air, which he batted away with the longsword in his hand.

Chengyun hoisted Wen Besang onto a horse. The moment the latter grasped the reins tightly, his body was pulled forward, and he turned around instinctively, crying out, "Gong Chengyun!"

Guarding his rear, Chengyun brandished his longsword, its silver blade flashing. Fighting and retreating simultaneously, he followed closely behind.

As the arrow shower gradually thinned, Chengyun vaulted onto the horse, seized the reins, and spurred the mount into a frantic gallop.

The spyglass remained steadfastly locked on the two figures. Taishu Zhen’s lips curved upward slightly as he declared, "It is time for us to make our move."

The fierce wind whistled past their ears. With his back pressed against Chengyun’s chest, Wen Besang could feel the violent, rapid thumping of the man’s heart.

Every single beat felt as though it wanted to burst right out of its chest cavity and collide against his own heart.

His own heart was pounding furiously as well, as if it intended to pierce through his back and fly toward Chengyun’s heart.

Staring straight ahead, Wen Besang was forced to lower his torso to withstand the rushing speed of the galloping steed.

"Take that main road!" Wen Besang pointed toward the left. The horse continued its mad dash until, with a sharp whistle, another signaling arrow came hurtling through the air, exploding with a loud bang to their left. The horse instantly bolted in fright and swerved to the right, followed by two more whistling arrows that struck the ground precisely to the left of the hooves.

Before Chengyun could correct their course, the horse was already forced into a narrow path on the right.

The moment they entered, Chengyun said in a low voice, "He did that on purpose."

Wen Besang analyzed, "Judging by the trajectory of the arrows, he should be stationed on the high mountain to the left-rear. The woods are dense here, which must create a blind spot in his line of sight. Another hundred paces forward, and we will abandon the horses to proceed on foot."

Chengyun raised no objections. He quickly tightened the reins, hoisted Wen Besang down from the saddle amid the tree shade, and gave the horse’s flank a slap to keep it moving along the trail while the two of them slipped covertly into the thicket.

Both of them knew full well that continuing straight down this narrow path would inevitably lead into a trap. Though the forest might harbor dangers of its own, the mountain woods were deep and vast, and capturing two people here would undoubtedly require considerable effort, leaving them at least a fighting chance.

Chengyun first wrapped his arms around him and carried him deeper into the woods for a short distance. Clinging to Chengyun’s neck and turning his head to watch the branches occasionally brushing past his ears, Wen Besang gradually noticed the man’s breathing grow heavier. Only then did he speak up, "Let us rest here. As long as we remain vigilant of our surroundings, it will do no harm even if we linger and play hide-and-seek with him for a few days."

Chengyun remarked, "You have already prepared yourself for the worst-case scenario."

"This is merely a well-calibrated psychological preparation."

Set down on his feet, Wen Besang glanced around and reasoned, "There are numerous worst-case possibilities. Perhaps there is miasma in these woods; rather than being captured by them, we might simply perish on our own. Or perhaps they have already stationed men throughout every corner of the forest, waiting precisely to strike us down with a single fatal blow. Could he possibly not have considered the likelihood that the two of us might abandon our horses and flee into the woods?"

Chengyun stood in place for a moment, tilting his head to look up at the tree canopy above before slowly observing, "The trees here are luxuriant, yet there is no trace of dampness... and there is actually a breeze?"

The two of them gazed together toward the far end of the tree line. Though their vision could not penetrate the massive trees, a mutual understanding dawned upon them. Wen Besang noted, "Because the end of the tree line is a cliff. He merely needs to station men in ambush at the end of the path. If we ride forward, we walk right into a trap; if we abandon our horses and enter the woods, they can simply catch us like turtles in a jar."

An incense-stick length of time later, the two arrived at the edge of the precipice. Wen Besang looked down into the depths and asked, "Can you see clearly?"

"Interesting." Chengyun let out a chuckle. Wen Besang shifted his gaze to him and asked, "You have a plan?"

"They surely never imagined that I once came here in my youth to hunt with my grandfather, and that I accidentally tumbled down from this very spot once, hanging from a vine for half a day before being rescued by villagers living below."

Wen Besang was stunned. "Someone actually lives down there?"

"Do you remember what Old Man Liao said when he came to find us at the Thunder-Fire Camp?"

A flash of realization lit up Wen Besang’s eyes. "They said back then that it took them a full half-day of crossing mountains and ridges just to reach the Thunder-Fire Camp."

A look of admiration crossed Chengyun’s face. "The mastermind behind this setup clearly lacks deep familiarity with this terrain. We have no need whatsoever to be held in check by him. As long as we descend from here, spend some time traversing the village, and climb over the mountain ahead, we will reach the Thunder-Fire Camp."

The cliff was profoundly deep, shrouded in clouds and mist at a glance, with the bottom entirely invisible.

As Wen Besang brought his foot to the edge of the drop-off and peered downward, his wrist was suddenly seized. Chengyun warned, "Be careful."

"They will not grant us much time. We must descend as quickly as possible."

Despite saying this, his palms were slick with moisture. Catching a glimpse of the calm expression on his face, Chengyun asked, "Are you afraid?"

Wen Besang did not deny it. "I do not know if the vines growing here extend all the way to the cliff bottom, nor whether we will need to switch vines mid-way, nor whether the vines can support my weight... If I were to fall to my death, that would be one thing, but what on earth would I do if I end up half-dead instead?"

"If you had to climb down by yourself, it would naturally be troublesome." Chengyun removed his outer robe, used its two sleeves to bind Wen Besang’s waist, pulled him tightly against his own body, and tied a secure knot behind his back. "I will take you down."

Before Wen Besang could react, Chengyun had already wrapped his arms firmly around him and taken a step out into the void.

His heart leaped violently into his throat. In a reflex action, Wen Besang locked his arms tightly around Chengyun’s neck, his eyes squeezed shut and his entire body stiff as a board.

He did not scream, but every single inch of his skin instantly tightened, every pore clamped shut, and every hair on his body bristled like a hedgehog's spines.

He pressed his face hard against Chengyun’s shoulder, his lips pressed together until they turned slightly pale.

The cold wind roared past his ears and body. Chilled to the bone, his heart seemed to have stopped beating altogether.

His mind plunged into a complete blank, aware only of the fact that he was plummeting at a breakneck speed, unable to hear anything else.

The return of sensation came when someone blew heavily against his ear. Wen Besang snapped his eyes open, staring wide and unblinking at Chengyun.

He tried his utmost not to look past Chengyun’s shoulder, focusing all of his vision rigidly onto Chengyun’s facial features. Even so, the corners of his eyes still caught sight of the hazy clouds trailing behind the man and the rough stone wall of the cliff rushing past his side.

Chengyun shifted his body slightly, and Wen Besang felt one of his feet graze solid ground. Just as he attempted to steady himself, his footing gave way once more, and he plunged back against Chengyun’s chest in a scramble.

During that fleeting moment of slipping, he realized he was standing upon a horizontal tree that had thrust its roots deep into the cliff face.

Holding his breath with his heart hammering frantically, Wen Besang dared not move an inch. All the energy capable of being summoned within his body and soul condensed into four simple words: hold onto Chengyun.

"The view from here is exceptional." Chengyun’s voice pierced his eardrums, seeming to travel from some distant place. "Would you care to see what it looks like down below?"

Still refusing to let his eyes wander, Wen Besang found that the sound alone gave him a semblance of being alive. He tightened his grip around Chengyun, shut his eyes firmly, and whispered, "No."

Chengyun seemed to let out a low chuckle.

Relying presumably on his past experience of falling off a cliff in his youth, he showed not the slightest trace of fear at the moment.

That heart which had previously trembled in unison with his own had grown steady and powerful, leaving only his own heartbeat to curl up in solitude. Wen Besang hugged him even tighter and murmured under his breath, "Go down."

He despised this sensation.

The sound of the wind flooded his ears once more. Wen Besang had no idea how they finally landed; he only knew that the moment his feet touched the ground, he was already too weak to stand properly.

The instant Chengyun untied the outer robe from his waist, he collapsed unceremoniously onto the dirt. K

Amidst his somewhat blank mind, he seemed to perceive a trace of suppressed amusement on the retina of his vision, but it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. Sitting quietly in place for a long while before slowly recovering his wits, Wen Besang raised his face. Towering pine and cypress trees grew in abundance on the lofty cliff, all slanted diagonally along the sheer rock face. He stared fixedly at them for a moment before snapping back to reality and looking at Chengyun. "You knew all along that there was a foothold up there?"

"I knew," Chengyun replied, draping his outer robe back over his shoulders. "Otherwise, how would I have dared to bring you down?"

Frowning, Wen Besang pushed himself abruptly up from the ground.

Though his thoughts had cleared, his body was clearly still in the grip of shock. Taking a single step forward, he felt his legs turn soft once more, and it was only thanks to Chengyun catching him that he avoided tumbling over again.

Pausing to steady himself, Wen Besang directly yanked his hand away and marched forward with an expressionless face.

"Are you angry?" Chengyun followed closely behind him. "Do not walk that way; the village is over here."

Continuing to nurse his grievance while changing direction, Wen Besang turned and headed down the indicated path.

Ahead lay more mountain forest. Compared to the woods atop the cliff, this area appeared noticeably damper and gloomier, making one wonder if anyone actually lived here at all.

"Walk this way." Chengyun grabbed him by the arm again. As Wen Besang followed along, he promptly yanked his arm back once more.

As the two walked onward, Chengyun glanced at him from time to time and remarked, "Neither of us is injured, nor have we been captured. Is this not a blessing in disguise amidst misfortune?"

That much was true.

The look on Wen Besang’s face seemed to soften slightly.

He was always remarkably easy to persuade with some bizarre logic or another. Compared to the worst-case scenarios he had envisioned earlier, this was indeed something worth rejoicing over.

Yet he quickly put on a stern expression again. "You ought to have explained the situation to me beforehand so that I would not have been so terrified."

"I did tell you," Chengyun countered. "I said bringing you down would be easy."

Walking along the outer edge of the path, Wen Besang kept as far away from him as possible.

"...Those villains are probably up there searching for us right now," Chengyun chimed in again. "Just picture their frustrated expressions—does that make you feel a bit less angry?"

"What if they come down here as well?"

"One cannot see those horizontal pines from up above," Chengyun said. "Unless they had already prepared in advance to descend the cliff, by the time they realize we climbed down and gather the tools to follow, the people from the Security Bureau will have already arrived... Step a bit closer this way, mind you don't scratch yourself."