His gentle words and the tenderness in his eyes gave rise to a tremor that crossed her chest. Her bright complicated eyes stared at him.
"Dong Fang Tang, you're hateful!"
She was to be blamed for letting him so easily provoked her emotions! After angrily tossing this sentence at him, she spun around and quickened her footsteps towards the Inn.
Looking at her retreating back view, Dong Fang Tang's lips curved into a bitter smile and followed behind her to the Inn.
Ai! It seems tonight he will not be able to sleep.
***#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#***
Three geng*, deep in the night.
(Three Geng is the third-sector of a five-sector night watch starting from 1700-0500. So Three Geng is the watch from 2300-0100 which is midnight.)
A slight figure carrying a cloth bundle over the shoulder quietly crept out of the Inn. After getting out of the Inn, a distance away, then only was the oil lamp that was prepared beforehand lighted up. Using the light from the oil lamp, the figure continued with the journey.
In order to successfully get rid of Dong Fang Tang, she decided to leave in the middle of the night. The gentle and elegant man was really hateful. If she were to let him follow her back to Le Mountain, there was no guarantee that she would not change her mind about him.
She did not expect that even after being separated for a year, his influence on her was still as deep. With just a few words, he was able to arouse her deep feelings for him, feelings that she had so strongly suppressed. Facing him once again, her icy cold exterior would easily break down and so she had decided to escape.
After walking for a distance, she had left the town boundaries and then she headed towards the outskirts. According to her estimation, when people come out to work, she would have reached the next town and when that time comes, she could take a good rest.
Suddenly, an unusual sound flew past her ears. She halted her footsteps abruptly and shouted into the emptiness of the night.
"Who's there?"
The reply she received was the rustling sound of leaves when the wind blew through the treetops. There was nothing unusual. However, she could still sense the presence of someone hiding in the darkness. Holding tight to the green jade flute in her hands, she called out coldly into the night.
"If you don't come out, then don't blame me for being impolite."
After the words were spoken and when the figure still did not appear, she placed the lamp beside her feet and lifted up her green jade flute to start playing the 'Soul-Breaking' tune.
The tune from the flute sounded harsh and after playing for a short while, a shadow that was blended into the darkness, swiftly appeared from the trees. The long sword glistened with cold light and directly aimed at her.
Ruan Xiang Yin's body turned away in a flash and the sound of the flute stopped. The forehead of the masked man broke out in cold sweat and the long sword in his hand moved swiftly and aimed for her body. Her footsteps were light and supple. The flute sounds changed from low to high and then changed rapidly again. The black masked man was unable to withstand any longer and supported his body with his sword, too weak to attack again. She stopped playing on the flute and coldly shouted.
"Who are you? Why do you want to kill me?"
It was difficult for the black masked man to block the sound of the flute from making his blood vessels tremble. At the same time, the man was surprised and realized that he had underestimated her. Although his body was supported by the long sword, his body could not stop shaking and cold sweat was breaking out profusely on his forehead.
After he heard her question, the masked man gave her a look, his body softened, the sword fell to the ground and he fainted.
Ruan Xiang Yin frowned slightly and approached cautiously. She wanted to see his face.
Suddenly, she caught a light from the corner of her eye. At the same time, her body swiftly moved away but she was still not fast enough. A hidden weapon hit her right chest and she screamed in pain. The black masked man who had fallen on the ground also quickly got up at the same time. He picked up the sword that had fallen on the ground, his eyes revealed his murderous intent and he approached her step by step.
"Who are you? Why do you want to kill me?"
Oh No!.......The hidden weapon is poisonous.
Ruan Xiang Yin resisted the dizziness that was overwhelming her while she retreated, she hurriedly took out a poison detoxification pill and swallowed it. She was determined to find out who this person was and why he wanted to kill her. She knew she had no grudges with anyone but how did she bring this death threat upon herself, this night?
"Busybodies always die early."
The black masked man spat out coldly and his long sword quiver in mid-air and aimed for her body once again. Suddenly, a faint sound broke the silence of the night sky. The next moment, the masked man's right arm became numb. Looking down in horror and confusion, he discovered his right arm was pierced by three silver needles.
At the same time, a slender figure flashed past him and came to stand in the front of Ruan Xiang Yin. He anxiously asked. "Xiang Yin, how do you feel?"
Dong Fang Tang looked worriedly at the hidden weapon in her right chest. His big hand quickly picked up her wrist and checked her pulse. His expression instantly turned cold.
"Dong Fang Tang, why are you here?"
Although Ruan Xiang Yin was surprised at his appearance, she did not want to admit that because of his appearance, her heart felt at ease this time.
Dong Fang Tang supported her unsteady body, his gentle face changed and his black eyes looked sharply at the man in black. He shouted.
"Hand over the antidote!"
"You are....... Divine Doctor Dong Fang Tang?"
The eyes of the black masked man changed, his eyes revealed a trace of fear and under Dong Fang Tang's intense stare, the man's footsteps faltered.
"That's correct. Quick, give me the antidote!"
Dong Fang Tang's usually gentle and refined face totally changed to a different look. His eyes were shockingly chilly which made the black masked man trembled in fear.
The masked man was so terrified that he took a few steps back, leaped high into the air and disappeared into the darkness of the night sky.
"Damn! ! "
He looked towards the figure that disappeared into the darkness and then looked at the person who had fainted in his arms. Hurriedly, he picked up the person and rushed back to the Inn.
Before dawn, the darkness was dense. A low whistle from a flute pierced through the silence of the night sky, traveling thousands of miles away. After playing for a moment, the sound of the flute stopped.
Dong Fang Tang held the short flute and looked at it which was approximately the size of his palm. This piccolo is specially made and its tone is very unique. Its sound can travel thousands of miles. If at this moment, Xiang Yin's condition is not so critical, he would never want to trouble the owner who had gifted this piccolo to him.
He looked at the tree branch that Xiang Yin had sat on, two sichen earlier, while she played her flute and now that person was lying on the bed in a life-threatening condition. He knew she would secretly leave at night. He should not have been afraid to be found out by her and kept a distance behind her, otherwise, she would not have been injured and poisoned.
While he was feeling regretful and blaming himself, a shadow came to him silently and bowed down respectfully with cupped hands.
"Greetings to Doctor Dong Fang."
Dong Fang Tang raised his head and narrowed his eyes to look towards the East. Silently knowing that this night would be a long night, he clasped his hands behind his back and sighed.
"Please convey to Menzhu of your School* that Dong Fang Tang requests for assistance."
(Menzhu is the Master of Leader and School means an organization of people skilled in martial arts. There are many different Schools and each has their own style of martial arts.)
"Doctor Dong Fang, please state your request."
"My wife is inflicted with Cold Poison and I must have the antidote before tomorrow night. I request for your Menzhu's assistance."
This Cold Poison was not an ordinary poison and it was not that he did not know how to cure her, but it would take a long time. The medicinal herbs needed were only available in the palace and to run around for the herbs would be time-consuming.
A victim of this Cold Poison must be detoxified within seven days, otherwise, his whole body would be icy cold and he would die. However, even if this poison is detoxified within seven days, the cold air would already have penetrated into the bones. Even if he is saved, throughout his life, his body would be colder than ordinary people. Unless the poison can be detoxified within two days, then only can he avoid damage to his bones caused by the cold air.
He could not let Xiang Yin suffer and so he had to ask for help.
"Doctor Dong Fang, please be assured that before tomorrow's sunset, you will get the antidote."
As soon as the words were said, the person who came without a sound left the same way without a sound.
The moment the person left, Dong Fang Tang immediately turned back to the Inn. His heart was longing to see the person who still in a coma and whose body was gradually getting colder.
Upon returning to the room, just as he had expected, Ruan Xiang Yin was awake and her face was pale. Her whole body was shivering and she was clutching the quilt tightly and her teeth were chattering.
"Xiang Yin......"
Dong Fang Tang quickly stepped forward, three steps became one and reached the bedside. First, he pulled off the quilt that she was tightly hugging, then he slid his slender frame quickly onto the bed and pulled her icy cold body into his embrace. Then he wrapped the both of them with the quilt again.
"Dong Fang Tang, I am inflicted with Cold Poison."
Ruan Xiang Yin said with certainty and in her heart, she also knew that this poison was extremely difficult to handle.
"Don't worry. I'll get the antidote before sunset tomorrow. Before that, you must bear with it."
Dong Fang Tang's big hand lightly caressed her cold cheek with tenderness and he lightly infused internal energy through his palm to her back to relieve some coldness from her body.
"Don't do this." She pulled his arm away and shook her head at him. "It is useless. If you continue doing this, it will harm your internal energy and you will be tired."
Using his internal energy to dispel the cold air in her body, it could only give her relief for a short time only. Very quickly, that cold air would envelop her once again. That was the reason why she did not want him to waste his internal energy.
"It is still worth losing some of my internal energy if it can give you some moments of relief."
He refused to listen to her and insisted on infusing internal energy into her body. No matter how much damage this would do to his internal energy, he was still willing, even though she could only get a slight reduction in the coldness of her body.
"Dong Fang Tang, use the other method to help me get through these two days."
"But you have an injury on your right chest. Moreover, are you really willing?"
He hesitated. If it was not for the wound on her chest and knowing that if he used that method, it would make her feel even more unhappy with him, he would have done so earlier.
"You will not let my wound touch water, right?"
Ruan Xiang Yin lifted up her head in his embrace and her eyes were filled with trust, knowing that he will give her full protection.
"That's right........as long as you are willing."
His black eyes looked deeply into her eyes and gently drop a kiss on her forehead. Then he got up and wrapped her up properly again with the quilt before he left the room to make the necessary preparations.
When he returned, he had ordered for a big wooden barrel as high as half a human body to be brought into the room. The waiter from the Inn, came back and forth several times to fill the barrel up to half-way point. Dong Fang Tang added some air-activating medicinal herbs into the hot water before he came to the bed and picked her up. He carried her to the barrel behind the screen that separated the room and the bath area. After he had taken off their clothes, he carried her and together they sat in the barrel of water. He placed her on his lap and the water level was really lower than the wound on her right chest.
The two of them placed their palms together and started to infuse internal energy. Although this method could ease the coldness in her body but at the most, it could only suppress the coldness for two sichen and the Cold Poison would attack once again.
Ruan Xiang Yin waited until her body had regained some warmth and felt a bit comfortable before she asked.
"Why was that black masked man so terrified of you? And also why will you have the antidote tomorrow?"
She remembered that as soon as he appeared, that black masked man had recognized him as Dong Fang Tang and she had clearly seen the fear in the man's eyes. She had always seen the respect given to him by the people and this was the first time she had seen someone so terrified of him. This was indeed a very strange happening. Could there be something that she did not know about?
Upon hearing that, Dong Fang Tang flashed a bitter smile. He gazed at her face that had regained some color and heaved a sigh of relief before he gently replied.
"He is not afraid of me. He is afraid of the people behind me."
"What does that mean?"
Could it be that he has strong influential backing? Is it Dong Fang Residence? Jing Wang Mansion? Ming Yue Manor? Or, Tang Men?
"Three years ago, I had once saved a man. Later, I learned that the man was actually the Menzhu of Shadow Gate. He had declared to the outside world that if anyone dares to cause trouble for me, the person would become the enemy of the entire Shadow Gate."
Shadow Gate is a mysterious organization in Jianghu where all of their organization's assassins gather. Every one of them is highly skilled in martial arts and their movements are untraceable. As long as they are entrusted with a mission, there is no one that can escape from them. Fortunately, the present Menzhu who controls these assassins is not an evil person who is unable to differentiate between good and bad. Otherwise, it is afraid that there would be a reign of blood in Jianghu.
Ruan Xiang Yin let out an exclamation and looked at him in astonishment. She knew that this man did not hold the distinction of good or bad in his eyes. As long as anyone asked for his help, even if the person is an evil man guilty of monstrous crimes, he would still help him as any normal person. Therefore, people in the underworld respected him and no one dared to give him trouble.
Now, even the Menzhu of Shadow Gate had received his grace, so it is no wonder he is not worried about not getting the antidote. But looking at his appearance, it seems he was reluctant to trouble the people of Shadow Gate.
"Actually, you are very reluctant to ask for Shadow Gate's assistance, right?"
"Correct. If it was not for the critical condition of the Cold Poison in your body, I would never ask them for help."
After all, Shadow Gate is not an organization that was on the righteous path and he did not want to get too deeply involved with them.
"Now I understand."
Ruan Xiang Yin had roughly guessed his thoughts.
This man is too upright. Even though when he saves people without the distinction of good or bad people but Shadow Gate is still not a righteous organization.
Today, once he had asked for assistance, he is afraid that a lot of trouble will soon trail behind him.
"Do you feel better now?"
Dong Fang Tang looked fixedly at a direction and avoided looking at her exposed slender white neck and her half-exposed chest, including her visible naked body below the surface of the water. He did not want to think of her sitting on his lap at this moment and he could obviously feel their skin contact.
"Very much better."
At this moment, the nakedness of the two people made her remember the night in the abandoned house a year ago. Her intelligent bright eyes easily detected his awkwardness through the expression of calm on his face. This man who is regarded as a gentleman in the eyes of the people, had on that night given them the relationship of husband and wife and from then on, their fate had been inevitably entangled.
She really could not forget the fact that he chose to save Liu Cai Lian first. But after the two had reunited, her heart that she thought was long dead, had begun to beat again. She had even resented his clinging attachment to her but this man had saved her when she was in danger and had even turned to Shadow Gate for assistance to save her.
Why is this man able to affect her mood once again and make her float in the depths of love and hate? Perhaps, if that night did not exist, she would not have sunk so deep.
"You are a hypocrite." Resentfully, she spat out a few words.
Dong Fang Tang stared at her in surprise and wondered why she had suddenly blurted out those words.
"Xiang Yin, why did you say that?"
"You as a gentleman in the eyes of all the people......why did you seduce me a year ago and ruined my innocence?"
That's correct, he is a hypocrite. At first, she was cheated by him and now she had fallen into a dilemma with no way to move forward or retreat.
His handsome face turned red and facing her allegations, he was put into a difficult situation and did not how to answer her. Although he did not know why she was bringing this matter up again, at least she was showing her feelings again.
"Because of the circumstances at that time and the fact that I had regarded you as my wife.......so, I had given in to my desire."
If at that time, it was not confirmed that she also had affections for him, he would never have dared to offend her. Facing her, it was really difficult for him to control his affection for her and only she could easily affect his emotions.
She is right. To her, he is indeed a hypocrite.
His handsome distressed face strangely made her feel better and understood that it was only she who could touch his heart and make him lustful. This also proved that no one could replace her in his heart.
She studied the handsome gentle face in front of her which everyone regarded as a good husband, the one who only had her in his heart. Her bright eyes showed the internal struggles she was going through and slowly she withdrew her hands. As he raised his eyebrows in surprise, a pair of arms encircled his neck.
"Dong Fang Tang.......one year ago, you have seduced me........this time I will seduce you."
As he widened his eyes in astonishment, pink lips closed over his thick lips, her soft body pressed against him and took the initiative to ignite this passion of fire.
After getting over his shock, Dong Fang Tang quickly stopped her.
Does she know what she is doing? Isn't she still unwilling to forgive him?
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. One year ago, you used this method to warm my body. Now, I'm willing to use the same method. Are you not willing?"
Ruan Xiang Yin's bright eyes filled tenderness as she looked deep into his black eyes and he returned her gaze with a complicated stare, then he let out a low sigh.
"As you wish." Bending down he kissed her pink lips. As long as this was what she wanted, he would grant her this wish.
His big hands hugged her soft delicate body and picked her up from the water before the water turned cold. Using a cloth towel, he dried the water droplets on her body and carried her to the bed. His slender body pressed down on her small body that was waiting for him and the two people fell into a frenzy of emotions which gave her a temporary reprieve from the Cold Poison.