Chapter 216

"Mmm!" Gu Yun even forgot to breathe. Just as she was about to suffocate, Su Ling finally left her lips. His hoarse voice, mixed with unsteady breath, whispered in her ear, "Do you know now?" "You are—" Before Gu Yun could finish scolding, her waist tightened, and she was once again pulled into his warm embrace, instantly surrounded by his scent. Gu Yun was somewhat flustered and only wanted to retreat, but her waist was held tightly. The result of her desperate struggle to retreat was falling backward.

"Ah—"

Fearing he would hurt her, Su Ling flipped his body the moment she fell. With a thud, the two of them fell onto the withered yellow grass. As a result, Su Ling lay on the ground, his hand still not letting go of her waist, while Gu Yun was half-mounted on Su Ling.

He actually forced a kiss on her! Gu Yun was so angry she was ashamed, and grabbing Su Ling's lapels, she shouted, "In the future, only I am allowed to force a kiss on you; you are not allowed to force a kiss on me! Do you hear me! Otherwise—"

Su Ling's black eyes held a smile as he watched her with composure, his deep voice sounding somewhat hazy, "Otherwise what?"

Otherwise... Gu Yun's face flushed red all the way to her ears. My god! What was she saying! What made her scream the most was that she was currently sitting awkwardly on Su Ling's lap! Gu Yun only wanted to stand up quickly, but the large hand on her waist held her firmly and refused to let go. Su Ling laughed softly in a hoarse voice, "Alright, I'll wait for you to force a kiss on me."

Looking at his appearance of waiting for her to take the initiative, Gu Yun had an urge to die—no, an urge to bite Su Ling to death! Her face was so hot it was about to burn up. While tugging at Su Ling's hand, Gu Yun hissed, "Let go quickly!"

Su Ling, however, was unexpectedly cooperative, and the hand around her waist soon let go. Gu Yun immediately got up and turned to leave. Su Ling lay flat on the grass and laughed, "Look up."

Seeing his excited expression, Gu Yun looked up. On the ink-black night sky, a crescent moon hung high in the firmament. The stars were not particularly bright. From the angle looking up, the solitary branches that had lost their lush foliage seemed embedded in the night sky. The entire night sky was like a splash-ink painting with a peculiar composition, free and casual. She knew that the summer night with its brilliant stars was beautiful, but she hadn't expected that the desolate winter night's sky, with its flickering light and shadow, would also be so intoxicating. Gu Yun couldn't help but marvel, "So beautiful."

Having all her attention captured by the scenery before her, Gu Yun sat down beside Su Ling to appreciate this rare dark night sky. Under the moonlight, she tilted her head back, her slender neck and slightly raised chin forming a perfect arc. The scar on her face was not very obvious in the hazy night, and her moist lips were red and dripping, warm and soft. Thinking of that brief kiss just now, a surge of restlessness stirred within Su Ling. He quickly shifted his gaze, staring at the desolate starry sky just like her. Su Ling's lips curled slightly, and he said in a soft, gentle tone, "It is very beautiful." Only, this beauty was not that beauty.

In the winter night, lacking the chirping of cicadas and insects, one could only hear the whistling sound of the night wind traveling through the forest. Hair and clothes were blown into a mess. Such a night was truly not suitable for moon-gazing or star-gazing, yet the two of them enjoyed this time very much, remaining silent for a long time. The heart that had been fluctuating just now also slowly calmed down.

Gu Yun turned her head to look. Su Ling was lying flat on the ground in a relaxed manner, with Scarlet Snow naturally pillowed behind his head. Gu Yun asked in a low voice, "Do you carry Scarlet Snow with you wherever you go?"

"Mmm, after so many years, I've gotten used to it. You'd better keep Ice Lotus by your side from now on too." Having spent many years in a military career, not having a weapon on one's person had become a habit, and besides, the number of people who wanted his life was truly countless.

Sitting with her knees bent and her hands resting on her knees, Gu Yun asked, "There must be a story behind Ice Lotus and Scarlet Snow, right? Can you tell me? About the story of your Su family." A sword that could actually speak—this truly exceeded the scope of what she could understand; she was really very curious.

Sitting up straight, Su Ling gazed into Gu Yun's bright eyes and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to hear it?"

"Mmm."

A flash of hesitation crossed Su Ling's eyes. Gu Yun smiled faintly and replied, "Can't you say? If you can't say, then forget it."

"No. For you, I can." The family history of the Su family indeed could not be told to outsiders, but since she would be his, Su Ling's, wife, naturally he could tell her.

Glancing at Scarlet Snow, which remained calm on the ground, Su Ling said in a low voice, "Scarlet Snow and Ice Lotus are a pair of ancient precious swords, with ice and fire attributes, mutually generating and restraining each other. Originally, they were just sharp weapons and had no spirituality."

After finishing this sentence, Su Ling's brows gradually furrowed, and he didn't say the next sentence for a long time. A pair of swords without spirituality suddenly gaining spirituality—a strange sense of dread rose in Gu Yun's heart. This story was perhaps a past event that even the Su family members were unwilling to mention.

Finally, Su Ling still spoke, "For thousands of years, the Su family has taken assisting wise monarchs as its duty. More than a thousand years ago, the earth was not divided into several kingdoms as it is now; it belonged to one clan. The clan leader bestowed fiefs upon his several sons, letting them each manage a place, and would only announce the name of the next clan leader when he was on his deathbed. The eldest prince colluded with the Demon Clan while the clan leader was bedridden with a long illness, attempting to slaughter the other princes and dominate the world alone. The eldest prince was bloodthirsty by nature; if the world fell into his hands, it would surely be plunged into misery. Before the clan leader passed away, he left a secret decree for the Su family to assist the third prince in succeeding to the position of clan leader. The Su family helped the third prince escape danger many times, and also became one of the targets for the eldest prince to slaughter."

Gu Yun listened quietly, neither urging nor interrupting him. Su Ling's expression grew increasingly solemn; the events that followed should be related to Ice Lotus and Scarlet Snow.

"The Demon Clan that colluded with the eldest prince had a Soul-Capturing Banner. Any living creature that came within a mile of the Soul-Capturing Banner would have its soul captured. People who lost their souls were like walking corpses and would all become the Demon Clan's zombie army. The ice and fire power of Binglian and Chixue could destroy the Soul-Capturing Banner, but the two swords wouldn't move on their own; they still needed someone to control them. If a person entered the one-mile range, they would lose their soul and it would be impossible to have a chance to destroy the banner. Only by injecting a human soul into the sword body could one resist the magic of the Soul-Capturing Banner."

Gu Yun listened with fear and trepidation. Suppressing the bad premonition in her heart, Gu Yun asked, "How did you introduce human souls into the swords?"

Meeting Gu Yun's bright, shining eyes, Su Ling took a breath and replied in a deep voice, "Cast into a furnace to be reforged, using flesh and bone to cast the sword, and essence and blood as the soul." Just as Su Ling's voice fell, Chixue, which had been quiet on the grass, gave a light tremor, though it quickly returned to normal.

Gu Yun stared at Su Ling and exclaimed, "This is too absurd! You just threw people into the furnace like that? What if they couldn't fuse? Wouldn't that be a sacrifice in vain!" She had heard that many sword smiths would use their own blood to cast swords, but they actually threw people into the furnace? This was just too...

Su Ling shook his head, his deep voice very steady, yet it wasn't hard to hear the deep pain within it, "Not everyone can be compatible with Binglian and Chixue. Only a woman born at the extreme yin time can combine with the scorching Chixue, and only a man born at the extreme yang time can combine with the freezing Binglian. To unleash the power of the dual swords combined, these two people must also be blood relatives. Among everyone in the Su family at that time, only two people met the requirements."

"Who?" Gu Yun's heart tightened.

"The son and daughter of the Su family's eldest son."

With Binglian's childish voice echoing in her ears, Gu Yun's voice had already begun to tremble, "How old were they?"

A flash of strangeness crossed his black eyes. Under Gu Yun's intense gaze, Su Ling sighed softly and replied with difficulty, "The daughter was thirteen, and the son was eight."

Thirteen! Eight! "How could you send two children into the furnace!" She had once been a soldier and understood that one should make sacrifices at such moments! But they were still children!

Facing Gu Yun's questioning, Su Ling didn't know how to respond. If it were him, he would absolutely not agree to use the lives of two children to exchange for such a victory.

Since things had reached this point, saying anything was useless. Gu Yun asked urgently, "What happened later?"

"Later—" Su Ling didn't speak for a long time. Gu Yun scoffed, "Later the dual swords combined, slaughtered the demons, and the eldest prince failed to usurp the throne in the end. Everyone was saved! Except for the two of them!"

Gu Yun's anger was within his expectations. Su Ling did not defend himself, "You are right." Everyone was saved, except for them.

With a stifled feeling in her heart, she knew she shouldn't vent on Su Ling; after all, that was something done by people over a thousand years ago. After taking countless deep breaths, she finally slowly suppressed that rage and asked coldly, "So you mean they have been trapped in the two swords for over a thousand years? Can't you find a way to let their souls out?"

Su Ling's deep voice held profound helplessness, "The Su family has been trying to find a way for over a thousand years, hoping to rescue them, but have never found a method." This was also why the women chosen by Binglian would always be the eldest daughter-in-law of the Su family; this was what their Su family owed this child.

Why not me...

You promise, you promise...

I'm so tired...

Echoing in her ears was the childish and ethereal voice of the child from that day. The one trapped in the sword of cold ice was actually just an eight-year-old child.

"A thousand years—" She didn't know, for a child to be in a furnace, how painful the burning flames must be. Just the loneliness and fear of being trapped in the sword body for a thousand years—how many people in the world could endure that?

Gu Yun's hand unconsciously stroked Chixue, whose sword body was already crimson on the grass. Su Ling exclaimed, "Don't touch it!"

The moment she grasped the sword body, a heart-devouring heat surged from her palm directly into her body. It was very painful! But Gu Yun couldn't let go for a long time. Just touching it was already this heart-wrenchingly painful; having merged with such a sword of raging flames, had she already endured a thousand years of the suffering of fire?

A tear dripped along her cheek onto the scorching sword body, quickly disappearing, yet it also miraculously caused the crimson long sword to slowly return to calm. The scorching temperature gradually faded, leaving only a warm lingering heat.

Su Ling was surprised that Gu Yun could actually pick up Chixue; no female master of any generation had been able to pick it up. Gu Yun held Chixue and looked back at him. The tears in her eyes had dissipated, replaced by an exceptionally firm gaze, "We will definitely find a way to break it!"

(End of chapter)