Li Yanqiu pushed Duan Ling behind him, holding the Heavenly Son Sword in front of him, the two kept retreating along the shattered ice surface, but did not come ashore. Duan Ling shot arrows around behind Li Yanqiu, and shot the assassin who jumped over the ice back into the river.
Chain fragmentation occurred on the ice surface, the more the more fragmented. Wu Du stepped on the ice floes to catch up, saying that it was too late and then too fast, a tall figure jumped out of the water, covered in wetness, and rushed towards Li Yanqiu!
The assassin rushed to Li Yanqiu, Wu Du rushed to the assassin from behind, Lang Junxia rushed from the side, blocked in front of Li Yanqiu, and stabbed the assassin in the chest and abdomen with a backhand sword. The assassin stretched his body in the air and rotated, avoiding Lang Junxia's sword.
Wu Du caught up and blocked the assassin's path with a sword. Duan Ling and Li Yanqiu retreated again, Lang Junxia shouted angrily, and slashed at the ice surface under his feet with his sword. With a "crash" sound, the nearest ice surface burst open and turned into several floating ice islands, constantly colliding under the impact of the current.
Wu Du, Assassin, and Lang Junxia each stood on a piece of floating ice, each holding a long sword. The three pieces of floating ice collided with each other and were washed downstream by the river.
In the middle of the dark night, Duanling couldn't even see the shadows of the three of them. Li Yanqiu led Duan Ling to jump onto another piece of ice floes, but did not go ashore. After standing still, Li Yanqiu said, "Do you recognize who the assassin is?"
"Lord Changliu!" Duan Ling shouted angrily, "Put down the sword!"
The tall figure stagnated for a while, and arrows flew from behind him, and he swept up his mask, revealing the face of Lord Changliu.
Lord Changliu was a little undecided for a while, and Mu Kuangda was over. As long as Li Yanqiu could not be killed, when he returned to the court, the Mu family would definitely be bloodbathed.
However, just between his hesitations, Lang Junxia and Wu Du had already fitted into each other and rushed forward, bumping into Lord Changliu, and both of them fired their swords at the same time.
"Return your sword back then." Lang Junxia's voice sounded.
Changliu-jun sneered, shook off his long sword, bowed, and bounced, but Wu Du bumped up from the side.
"We're going to die together!" Changliujun turned and rushed towards Li Yanqiu and Duan Ling with a sword of Zhonglang Junxia.
This time, he did not kill Li Yanqiu, but rushed towards Duan Ling. Wu Du was already prepared, he stepped forward, opened Chang Liujun's arm with one palm, and pressed the other palm on his chest. However, there were still assassins under the ice floes. The three assassins burst out at the same time, attacked Wu Du, and immediately dragged him into the water.
"Wu Du!" Duan Ling shouted.
Duan Ling rushed to the icebreaker, but was dragged back by Li Yanqiu.
Lang Junxia took advantage of his strength to jump backwards, left the ice floe, turned his sword around, and killed an assassin. Wu Du and Lord Changliu fell into the ice water at the same time.
Duan Ling ran along the river bank, but Li Yanqiu shouted, "Don't run!"
In the darkness, Jun Changliu paddled to escape, but Wu Du held his breath and chased after him in the biting water. The assassin was chasing from the side, and his movements were extremely agile, dragging Wu Du with one foot.
Wu Du turned around and exchanged palms with the assassins in the water. The fists and palms were hindered by the current and it was difficult to focus. Arms meet each other, twist each other, and then kick away.
When Changliu-jun swam back, he suddenly wrapped his arms around Wu Du's neck and dragged him to the deepest part of the river.
Two assassins approached Wu Du. Wu Du was about to pull out the dagger from his waist when one of the assassins suddenly pulled out the rope and strangled Wu Du's neck. The two were well-trained and cooperated very well in underwater combat. As soon as they grabbed his neck, they began to spin and tighten the rope.
Bubbles burst out from Wu Du's mouth and nose, and he vigorously kicked the water with both feet, followed the direction of the twisted rope, and let the rope loose. At the same time, he drew a dagger from his waist with both hands and slashed at the rope. Forcibly hold.
The air in his lungs was exhausted, and Wu Du struggled, but the rope around his neck tightened.
However, the next moment, the ice surface above his head shattered, and a figure dived into the water.
Duan Ling held an arrow in his hand and stabbed an assassin on the shoulder. When the assassin was hit with an arrow, his whole body twitched immediately. The poisonous arrow sealed his throat with blood, and immediately let him die in the water.
Wu Du immediately broke away from the other assassin and slashed his throat with a dagger.
Lord Changliu descended from the bottom of the ice and swam into the darkness, Wu Du turned around and grabbed Duan Ling, holding him tightly. In this biting ice water, Duan Ling opened his eyes, looked at Wu Du, and watched each other silently. Wu Du hugged him, kissed his lips, kicked the water vigorously, and rushed onto the ice.
The river was full of broken ice, and Li Yanqiu rushed along the river bank. "Wow!" Wu Du hugged Duan Ling out of the water, the two of them were covered with broken ice, Duan Ling's face was blue from the freezing, and he couldn't stop shivering.
Half an hour later, Duan Ling and Wu Du were wrapped in marching blankets and shivered by the fire in the countryside. Wu Du's body quickly heated up, and his skin was tightly attached to Duan Ling, warming him with body temperature.
The snow stopped, and the morning star appeared on the horizon.
"Are you alive?" Wu Du said.
They were wrapped in a blanket, snuggling under the tree, Duan Ling leaned on his shoulder, and Wu Du combed Duan Ling's wet hair with his fingers.
"Alive." Duan Ling leaned his head against Wu Du's skin, feeling the strong heartbeat under his strong chest, raised his head slightly, and touched the red mark on his neck that was strangled by the rope with heartache.
The starry sky shines on the winter night, illuminating the earth, the snow is vast, and there is only such a tree above the vast wilderness. The two of them were snuggled under the tree, as if there were only two people in the world.
"What are you thinking?" Duan Ling asked.
"I miss you." Wu Du said in a low voice, "It's really a pleasure to swim in the ice water in winter and hug your daughter-in-law."
Duan Ling: "..."
There was the sound of horses' hooves in the distance, Duan Ling's heart shuddered, and Wu Du immediately raised his head.
Li Yanqiu got up from the campfire not far away and stood tall in the wilderness.
"Who is coming?" Li Yanqiu said loudly.
"Yao Fu, Marquis of Huaiyin, is here to pick you up!" The leading general dismounted and said hurriedly, "Is that Your Majesty?"
Immediately afterwards, more than 2,000 people dismounted in unison, Long live the mountain. Duan Ling closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, finally safe.
On that day, Duan Ling was so tired that he could barely speak, and was helped into the carriage. Li Yanqiu rode and gave the carriage to Duan Ling. When he stopped at a village along the way, he asked Wu Du to pick up the medicine and boiled two bowls of medicinal soup for Duan Ling, so as to prevent the lungs from getting cold and causing the root cause of the disease.
It took two consecutive days on the road for Duan Ling to slowly recover. On the third day, he arrived at Shoucheng in Huaiyin County, where he was placed in the Hou's Mansion, and was restored to normal. After arriving in Shoucheng, Li Yanqiu went to talk with Yao Fu, and only ordered Wu Du to accompany Duan Ling, let him rest well, and don't need to worry about trivial matters.
During this period, Li Yanqiu also came twice. Once Wu Du was working with Duan Ling in a disheveled dress; the other time Duan Ling fell asleep. Li Yanqiu gave Wu Du a lesson and let Duan Ling rest before going to see him again. Yao Hou.
The second day after arriving at Shoucheng, Duan Ling woke up early in the morning, and Wu Du ordered the people in the Fuzhong to boil water.
"I have to see my aunt and uncle." Duan Ling said.
After all, they are elders, so it would be rude not to take the initiative to see them, but I just don't know if Li Yanqiu told them.
Wu Du said, "Let's take a shower first. The house has sent clothes, but I can barely wear them first."
The servants in the mansion brought hot water. The mansion of the Marquis of Shoucheng is really stylish. Compared with the prime minister's mansion, the food and clothing are much more luxurious. There are all kinds of spices in the bath, one for washing hair, face and body. Everything is available.
Wu Du ordered that no one should be waited on, so he and Duan Ling soaked in the bucket, Duan Ling rode on Wu Du's waist, tidied his hair, and the two whispered. Duan Ling was still a little uneasy, and asked in a low voice, "What did you say when you meet Yao Hou later?"
"You saved his son." Wu Du said, "It's his nephew again, what are you afraid of?"
Duan Ling was a little nervous when he saw a non-blood relative for the first time. Yao Fu is different from Mu Kuangda in that after accompanying the hero Yao family of Da Chen to conquer the world back then, even when his grandfather was alive, in order to win over the Yao family, he had to marry his daughter to Huaiyin. Although the opposite sex cannot be crowned king, only a prince, but its power is obviously still higher than when his father was the king of Beiliang.
"Has Zheng Yan mentioned him?" Duan Ling asked, "How is his temper?"
"I'm in my fifties." Wu Du replied, "He asked Zheng Yanlai to recruit me back then, but I didn't go, and it's the same way I want to come."
Suddenly there were voices outside, and they all said, "Mother."
Duan Ling was astonished, only to hear a woman's voice say, "Is the prince inside?"
"I'm taking a shower!" Duan Ling said immediately.
Wu Du hurriedly came out of the bucket, wrapped his robe in twos and threes, and replied in the same calm voice, "His Royal Highness is taking a bath. See you later."
"Go wash it." The woman's voice was unexpectedly gentle, and she replied, "The plum blossoms are blooming just right outside, and I want someone to bring in a few branches. Don't take a long shower, and be careful of catching a cold."
"Okay...Okay." Duan Ling replied. He really didn't expect that his first conversation with this fifth aunt was actually in this situation, and his face immediately flushed.
"Zheng Yan, go and fold a few plum blossoms." The woman said, "Put them in this bottle."
Zheng Yan's voice responded, obviously respecting Princess Duanping.
Where did Duan Ling dare to wash more, he immediately got up in a hurry, wiped his body, put on his clothes, and went behind the screen to comb his hair. Wu's feet were still wet, so he put on his clogs and went to open the door. When he saw Princess Duanping, he bowed slightly.
Duan Ling heard the answer behind the screen, and Princess Duanping asked a few questions. It was nothing more than whether the prince had eaten last night, how much he ate, and how he slept. Obviously, he treated Wu Du as Duan Ling's personal bodyguard. Wu Du answered one by one, and Princess Duanping asked him to go down for breakfast first.
Wu Du responded, but didn't leave. Princess Duanping said: "Let me borrow a place first, and let me have a few words with Ruo'er."
Wu Du had no choice but to bow and back out. Duan Ling's heart skipped a beat, knowing that Li Yanqiu must have told the princess, and came out from behind the screen after combing her hair.
"My son pays respects to the fifth aunt." Duan Ling lifted the front of his robe and knelt down to Princess Duanping.