Chapter 50: Guo Xiang

The venom was forced out from Guo Fu’s fingertips, and she gradually regained consciousness, feeling uncomfortable upside down, immediately trying to flip back.

“Don’t move.”

Huang Rong said anxiously: “Your internal Qi is still abundant—keep using this method until it’s completely depleted.”

Guo Fu followed her instructions silently, cultivating her internal energy; when she could no longer raise any power, the blood on her fingertips had turned deep red, and most of the poison in her body had been expelled—within the next few days, continuing this method would fully restore her.

Seeing Guo Fu’s condition, Huang Rong finally exhaled in relief, realizing Ouyang Feng was indeed the Western Poison—his mastery over poisons and antidotes was extraordinary.

“Let’s go back.”

Gu Qing, seeing Guo Fu had largely recovered, whispered to Xiaolongnu.

Gu Qing had originally planned for Guo Jing or someone else to drive away the Golden Wheel Deva, after which he and Xiaolongnu would resume their wedding night—now, Guo Fu’s incident had merely delayed it; the matter still needed to be settled.

Xiaolongnu smiled faintly, about to speak.

The war drums of Xiangyang City beat urgently—the Mongols were attacking the city.

Gu Qing’s pent-up anger was ultimately swallowed back down.

The sky was still dark; when Gu Qing and Yang Guo reached the city wall, battle was already raging—multiple ladders hung against the wall, Mongol soldiers continuously climbing up, the first to reach the ramparts being elite warriors with extensive combat experience; once one scaled the wall, he would cover others climbing behind him.

Song soldiers threw torches, but the ladders were built to resist fire, enduring prolonged burning without catching.

Gu Qing arrived and immediately seized a blade, joining the fray; in battle, he not only fought Mongol warriors but also closely watched the martial artists on the ramparts and Song soldiers—whenever they were in danger, he rushed to their aid with his blade; over time, this earned him considerable Good Deed Points.

“Why are the Mongols attacking at night?”

Gu Qing asked while rescuing a commander.

In ancient times, night battles were never spontaneous—they were like two groups of blind men fighting blindly, unable to distinguish friend from foe; even martial masters like Gu Qing couldn’t discern positions by sound in the darkness, though a few stars in the sky now allowed him to barely tell friend from enemy.

“Guo Daxia chased someone here; that man jumped off the wall, and then the Mongol devils surged forward en masse,” said the Song commander.

The Song commander replied.

In the darkness, Guo Jing was also fighting, but below, everything was pitch black and chaotic—he couldn’t tell how many Mongols there were.

“Shhh!”

Gu Qing slashed a Mongol soldier, grabbed his body, and hurled him downward; then he leapt off the wall, landing on the Mongol’s body, using him as a springboard to jump into the Mongol ranks, slashing down several men while shouting in Mongolian: “The Song people have come down! Be careful!”

Then he seized Mongol corpses and hurled them left and right; each time he threw one, chaos erupted in that area. Gu Qing moved swiftly with his lightness skill, killing constantly, throwing constantly, and shouting in various accents, spreading rumors that Song soldiers had descended and Guo Jing had charged down—soon, the Mongols began to distrust each other.

Night battles were already difficult; when the Mongol devils began doubting each other in the dark, their coordinated assault weakened drastically. In such a state of high tension, even the slightest disturbance triggered mass panic, leading to camp mutiny—soldiers turning on each other in frenzy.

“Are you a Mongol devil?”

Gu Qing suddenly shouted in Mongolian, simultaneously slashing a man.

This instantly confused everyone inside—anyone who seemed like a Song soldier was immediately stabbed. Once one person acted this way, others became like headless flies. Seeing the chaos had taken hold, Gu Qing used a Mongol siege ladder to leap back onto the Xiangyang city wall.

“The Mongols are now in panic—if we lead a force and charge straight into their camp under cover of night, we might win this battle outright.”

When Gu Qing returned to the wall, he told Guo Jing.

Guo Jing knew everything below had been Gu Qing’s doing and naturally marveled at his courage and strategy, but he disapproved of a night raid: “Many of our soldiers can’t see a thing at night. While martial artists can, they lack organization. The Mongols excel at hit-and-run archery—better not be greedy for glory.”

Guo Jing knew his own side’s condition well.

At this time, malnutrition was widespread, and night blindness common.

Gu Qing had merely made a suggestion; hearing Guo Jing wouldn’t adopt it, he let it drop.

After the Mongol soldiers below fell into chaos, the defenders on Xiangyang’s wall swiftly cleared the enemy, poured oil on the ladders, and set them ablaze, halting the Mongol advance—by dawn, they had fully repelled the attack.

In the Mongol camp, chaos had indeed broken out at night, but with their large numbers, they quickly stabilized; at dawn, the Mongols launched another assault, which Gu Qing and the others repelled together once more.

In the following days, such attacks came repeatedly, until the Mongols, suffering heavy losses and failing to take Xiangyang, began to slacken their efforts.

Morale had plummeted to rock bottom.

Gu Qing descended from the rampart, returned to the Guo residence, washed himself clean of blood and grime, and checked his Good Deed Points—after days of defending the city and rescuing many Song soldiers and martial artists, his tally was nearing six hundred.

“Sigh…”

Gu Qing had long wanted to transfer all his internal power to Xiaolongnu, then restart his cultivation of the Nine Yin Manual—his Good Deed Points were all saved for this purpose—but the Mongol army’s invasion left him no time.

Xiaolongnu was too beautiful; Gu Qing wanted to take his time, not rush things, so he kept postponing it.

After changing clothes, Gu Qing stepped outside, and Xiaolongnu said to him: “Lady Guo has given birth—she had two at once.”

Guo Xiang and Guo Polu had been born?

Hearing Guo Xiang had been born, Gu Qing immediately followed Xiaolongnu; as newborns couldn’t be exposed to wind or people yet, he entered the room—Huang Rong had retreated inside, and a maid carefully brought out Guo Xiang for Gu Qing to see. The newborn was wrinkled, eyes tightly shut, Kanbuchuyouduopiaoliang , but oddly endearing.

“It’s not easy—we’ve finally seized this opportunity!”

A sound suddenly came from the roof—the tiles collapsed, and several figures dropped from above.

One was Xiao Xiangzi, another Yin Kexi, and a third clad entirely in black—all attacked at once.

One more chapter coming soon, to make up for the delay.





(End of Chapter)