Of Mountains and Rivers 24
Twenty Minutes Later, When Chu Huan Already Had Difficulties Breathing, The Horse’s Hooves Met Land.
In many clubs, there’d always be a group of horses crowned with various sorts of glory. No matter if they were racing horses or purebred horses, they’d all be led out and resold at a profit; they could even be exchanged for a house. But if the aristocratic debutantes among these horses were put together with the white horse, perhaps only which one could bring more honour could be compared.
This was the best horse Chu Huan had ever encountered in his life.
The herbivore single-handedly travelled back and forth amid the monsters and dense fog. Its fear needn’t be declared – Chu Huan could feel it as biological instincts weren’t so easy to control – but nevertheless, the great white horse never panicked nor flustered, always maintaining vigilance as it cautiously followed the commands from the person on horseback whilst simultaneously striving to use its own method for a way out.
But thinking about it, it was reasonable to say for someone like Nanshan to send a person off, he had to do so using the best of the best.
The great white horse shook off the snake-lizard-like monster. It travelled a little further before Chu Huan heard a faintly discernible bellow from the depths of the dense fog.
The dense fog before him involuntarily reminded him of biochemical pollution from horror movies. Due to common knowledge, the only explanation Chu Huan could accept was that these monsters were affected by some kind of contamination or radiation, hence changing them to abnormal mutants.
Then, since Little Bald-Head inhaled so much of the mist, would he be alright?
“Are you scared?” Chu Huan asked softly.
Little Bald-Head and the little venomous snake looked at each other. They went from huddled and trembling to sticking out their chests.
Chu Huan sighed. “Brats…”
In this world, perhaps only children who couldn’t understand shit would shamelessly stick out their chests and raise their heads in the face of unpredictable danger.
Nobody counted on them to assume any responsibilities anyway.
Chu Huan: “Now I understand why your sister Flower Bud takes pleasure in beating you to tears.”
The great white horse’s hoof-steps were a little hesitant; it was the same in Chu Huan’s heart.
The experienced man and horse had already judged that the roar’s direction probably came from the Liyi Clan. Right now, Little Bald-Head’s entire family was over there… Oh, Nanshan too.
The minute Chu Huan thought of Nanshan, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. He felt he needed to see Nanshan again, at least for another word or two, so he could tell himself that Nanshan was still fine.
Anxiety was like a wildfire in one’s heart – just throwing oneself on it isn’t enough to extinguish it, hence, Chu Huan seldom hesitated.
But although the wildfire burnt his chest, it hadn’t damaged his brain. After a pause, Chu Huan slightly turned the horse’s head. “No. Let’s return back to shore first.”
The great white horse understood, but Little Bald-Head and the small venomous snake were puzzled and at a loss by the adult’s repeated fickleness – to bring them back to the clan, he even repressed the screaming and crying Little Bald-Head, so why were they going back again?
The great white horse followed the current and ran in the direction they came from.
Nanshan was, after all, the Patriarch of a clan – an adult – but Little Bald-Head wasn’t. This annoying brat’s skill points were all added to climbing trees and causing trouble. Chu Huan couldn’t possibly take him along to burst into unknown danger.
He decided to first send Little Bald-Head away as quickly as possible and temporarily entrust him to the villagers living in the mountains along the sides of the road before hurrying back to cross the river to the Liyi Clan’s settlement.
“This time, it’s best if we don’t get ourselves lost,” Chu Huan unconsciously switched to Chinese as he murmured, “it’s best if I still have time.”
Otherwise, if something happened over there, wouldn’t he be responsible for raising this dislikeable brat?
Chu Huan looked down and glanced at Little Bald-Head, dejectedly thinking, then I might as well die there and sacrifice myself in the name of love for that beautiful man.
Unfortunately, the plan couldn’t keep up with changes. The reason why ‘reality’ is considered as such is because it’s always poles apart from one’s envisage.
The great white horse that’d originally been running at top speed was caught unprepared and kicked out its hind legs, plaintively whinnying in pain. Its front legs softened and its hoof-steps were immediately thrown into disorder, appearing as if it was almost going to fall; however, probably remembering there were still people on its back, it staggered before stopping at a stand with all its might.
The great white horse’s thigh seemed to have been scratched by something – Chu Huan saw a wound over it. Thin bloodstains streamed into the river water.
Little Bald-Head’s eyes widened and said something Chu Huan had never heard before. Chu Huan immediately covered his mouth.
“Sh-” Chu Huan was gazing at the wound on the horse’s leg, but all his efforts had already transferred to his ears.
Right now, he wished his hands weren’t so fast and he hadn’t handed over his gun so proactively.
An unbelievably fast black shadow suddenly exposed itself from the waters. The great white horse instinctively wanted to retreat, but Chu Huan fiercely grasped its reins and kept it in place.
In the next moment, the black shadow viciously slammed into Chu Huan’s triangular bayonet, the friction sounding like taper metal scratching against glass from the depths of the dense fog, giving birth to a spine-chilling horror.
The impact happened in an instant. By then, Chu Huan had already understood the difference in strength between the two parties; he held Little Bald-Head with one hand and his body abruptly inclined down backwards, his waist almost bent into an arch bridge. If it wasn’t for how skilful his hasty unhitching was, Chu Huan suspected this sudden impact would’ve broken both his triangular bayonet and arm.
Chu Huan clearly saw that the thing that pounced over was the small monster that’d broken into his residence that night, where Nanshan had twisted and broken its neck.
Its entire body was covered by sclerites and stiff, needle-like bristles. The only sign of soft flesh was located on one side of its neck, where the sclerite and stiff bristles were unable to make ends meet. If he didn’t have the blurred vision of an old person, then that night, Chu Huan remembered Nanshan had first fastened five fingers around the side of the monster’s neck before using the power of his body’s rotation to twist and break its neck with one killing blow.
Chu Huan: “Hold on to me!”
Little Bald-Head immediately buried his head into Chu Huan’s chest, tightly hugging onto him. Chu Huan spared one hand; the moment the monster pressed against his head, he accurately fastened his hand around its neck.
He positioned his five fingers like claws and squeezed viciously. As the monster let out a brief, wretched cry, he threw it into the water from mid-air; the second the monster landed into the water, Chu Huan raised his triangular bayonet and, with a ‘pu’, stabbed it into its flesh.
Large lumps of blood bloomed like dazzling fireworks. Before death, the monster let out a shriek and opened its mouth wide at Chu Huan. Chu Huan felt a strange current of air. Suddenly, he remembered the latch that automatically opened on its own that night; before he could think more of it, his body had already moved – he abruptly turned his body sideways and used his arms and left shoulder to block his head and the child in his embrace.
An acute sting penetrated his arm as if it was pierced by a long needle. But, his clothes weren’t torn open at all; Chu Huan rolled his triangular bayonet in random directions but it didn’t touch anything.
It was simply like a needle made of air.
For a few seconds, Chu Huan looked at the dead monster and his intact clothing and began to suspect he was illogically hallucinating again.
But the snake wrapped around Little Bald-Head suddenly straightened towards his arm, appearing extremely nervous.
Within the next moment, Chu Huan felt the sting begin to turn cold and numb. The feeling of numbness quickly spread all around his left arm. Chu Huan suddenly felt this turn of events wasn’t too encouraging; he immediately rolled up his sleeve. Sure enough, there was a stab wound on his upper arm. There wasn’t much bleeding, yet the wound had already turned black-purple.
Exactly what kind of injury this was and how it came to be, even up to this moment Chu Huan couldn’t understand. He’d lived for many years, but such a thing was completely unheard of. However, this wasn’t the time for textual research. He made a prompt decision – clutching the triangular bayonet’s handle, he temporarily blocked the bleeding. Then, he drew out the short knife Nanshan gave him. With a slice, he gouged open the wound, causing an outpour of black blood. After Chu Huan finished squeezing them out, he also sucked out a large amount with his mouth; he continued until the flowing blood changed back to red.
Chu Huan truly didn’t bring anything else with him – only that one bamboo tube of alcohol Nanshan gave him. Right now, he could only make the last attempt to save a hopeless situation; Chu Huan took down the bamboo tube and rinsed his mouth before pouring the rest onto his wound.
Chu Huan was no stranger to the feeling of alcohol being poured directly onto a stab wound.
It’d hurt, like a painful heat, but this was definitely not that kind of pain – this pain truly invaded his bone marrow and stabbed directly through his brain, like the (1) Cruciatus Curse. It was the exact same sensation he felt when Nanshan applied medicine on him back then when they were at the small guest-house in the county seat.
The bamboo tube was filled with medicinal alcohol.
Was this medicinal alcohol drinkable? Was it possible it’d create a more fatal chemical reaction with the toxin? Chu Huan was no longer in the mood to worry. He was in so much pain cold sweat had covered his entire body; when the sweat met the cool, transparent mist, it’d then be quickly dried. Needless to say, he cut a sorry figure.
The sound of water was becoming increasingly more rapid. The great white horse hesitated a little; suddenly, it took initiative to turn its head and travel against the current towards the Liyi Clan’s riverbank. Chu Huan swayed a little before stabilising himself, but he didn’t stop the horse.
Sometimes, an animal’s ability to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages were more sensitive than a human’s. In front must’ve been something it found scary.
It truly took all sorts to make a world. Right at this moment, Chu Huan heard the water suddenly become tyrannical behind him. He looked back and saw three or four monsters, the same kind from before with black sclerites and bristles, catching up to them.
A rumbling, muffled thunder-like movement transmitted from afar; simultaneously, a strange current of air once again fluxed towards them.
Chu Huan couldn’t see, hear, or distinguish anything; he could only rely on the instinct that helped him wander on the boundary between life and death and pounce forward. The sound of fabric tearing rang out; a hole was torn on the back of Chu Huan’s windbreaker, reaching all the way to his collar.
There seemed to be residue toxins in his left arm; the left side of his body was becoming cold and sluggish.
At this crucial moment, having half of his body fail was definitely not a good thing.
Immediately after, the second and third wave of air currents followed. Chu Huan barely managed to dodge twice, but at the third time the black fellow had already chased up to his side; it stretched out its sharp claws and scratched towards him heads-on.
Chu Huan kicked its chest. The black fellow flew back in pain before suddenly opening its mouth towards him, exposing the black depths of its throat behind its sharp, protruding teeth.
Fuck, this trick again!
This time, it was inevitable. Because of the tricky angle, if Chu Huan avoided it, the invisible air currents would hit Little Bald-Head’s body.
But if he continued to fight resolutely, Chu Huan wasn’t sure whether he’d turn into a zombie who could still breathe… Or if the numbness would spread to his heart and lungs, turning him into a zombie who couldn’t breathe.
With such a short amount of time, he could only protect Little Bald-Head whilst raising the short knife in his hand to block in vain.
Then, something surprising happened. Half of the knife was sent out before Chu Huan’s hands felt an ‘I’ve hit something’ sensation. The hand holding the knife suddenly tightened and cut down forcibly. An acute sound rang from the void as if the ‘air’ broke into two sections; one section brushed past Chu Huan whilst the other section whipped the monster’s face, giving it a magnificent, direct, and efficient slap in the face and drawing a sharp cut across half of its face.
This was a wind-splitting… Knife.
But before Chu Huan’s senses could return from the awareness that ‘I’m holding a magical artifact’, his great white horse suddenly took a leap over the corpse of what he still suspected was a crocodile mutant in the water – they were obviously back from where they came from. The two ‘mutant crocodiles’ they’d thrown off were outflanking them again from both sides.
Chu Huan had already lost the temper to curse their mothers; he could only drag his half-failing body into another battle.
The white horse neighed, utterly fearless as it passed the two monsters; at lightning speed, Chu Huan chipped off one of the monster’s protruding snout. He could no longer attend to the concussion-like feeling that thing’s cry brought because the other monster had shaken its colossal head and begun charging towards him.
Chu Huan decided to risk his only right arm by greeting it with the raised knife.
Yet, at this moment, something strange happened.
A bizarre wave suddenly came from the white fog. Chu Huan’s knife shuttled through the monster’s body whilst the monster shuttled through his body… As if it was just an exceptionally life-like 3D image.
Or… A ghost’s shadow.
The large creature fell into the water without a splash; the small monsters that were reluctant to give up chasing them also seemed to evaporate into thin air.
What’s happening?
They, who were wildly running away, stopped, doubtful and uneasy. The little venomous snake suddenly slipped off from Little Bald-Head; before Chu Huan could hold on to it, it’d already dived head-first into the water. With a few ups and downs, it swam away without a trace.
The faraway roar imperceptibly disappeared.
It wasn’t until now that Chu Huan discovered the water here seemed much more shallow than before.
Didn’t that mean… They were going to be on-shore soon?
Everything was like a dream, but the cold sweat on his body was still there, his blood-soaked sleeves were still there, and the stiffness settled in the left side of his body was still there. Twenty minutes later, when Chu Huan already had difficulties breathing, the horse’s hooves met land.
Chu Huan’s vision began to blur and his hearing gradually became less clear. Chu Huan felt he should be more optimistic; for example, he should look forward to the fact that the snake who suddenly ran away actually went to call for help… But given how it managed to lead them astray before, he felt this was just wishful thinking.
Monsters that suddenly appeared yet suddenly disappeared had already stirred his perseveringly materialistic mind into a paste. Chu Huan himself couldn’t tell whether he was lucid or not. Little Bald-Head was sheltered in his arms, not daring to even breathe loudly.
Suddenly, Little Bald-Head craned his neck as if he saw something. Over the ringing of his ears, Chu Huan vaguely heard him cry out ‘A-ba!’; only then did he notice the distant voices coming closer.
Chu Huan narrowed his eyes and managed to distinguish Nanshan, Xiao Fang, and Little Bald-Head’s dad from his hazy vision.
The little snake was coiled around Nanshan’s arm – it really did go and find help. After cheating its father ten-thousand times, this evil creature finally made itself useful.
Several men from the Liyi Clan immediately surrounded him and discussed something Chu Huan could no longer hear; he exhausted his last remaining strength to hand Little Bald-Head to his father.
And when he instinctively tried to find Nanshan, he discovered Nanshan had already unknowingly grabbed his left hand – his left hand had become completely senseless.
Chu Huan wanted to use Nanshan’s strength to get off the horse, but he barely moved before his feet, which were stuck on the saddle, suddenly softened. He fell head-first straight from the horse.
(1) Cruciatus Curse – a reference to Harry Potter; a spell that causes excruciating pain on the victim.
