Impersonating Yu Fu (Part Two)
“What is this?”
Gu JiuGe lowered his head to look down and immediately tightened his grip on the reins.
Inside the brocade box was a small silk cocoon. It looked like a silkworm cocoon, but its body was red.
“It’s a Gu butterfly, one that has not yet hatched. If it can hatch, it will be able to smell the poison, and we will be able to quickly find eldest brother’s group.”
Yu Fu’s brow furrowed. Placing a finger in her mouth, she bit down. A bead of blood immediately appeared on her snow-white skin.
She squeezed the drop of blood onto the cocoon, and the red cocoon became darker and darker until it eventually became transparent.
Gu JiuGe reached a hand over but was immediately slapped away by Yu Fu.
“Don’t touch it. It’s poisonous.”
Just as she said this, a rustling came from inside the cocoon, as a fiery-red butterfly emerged and flew from the box.
It fluttered above Yu Fu’s head for a moment then continued to fly forward. Yu Fu hastily said: “We need to follow it. We will be able to find eldest brother’s group!”
The small butterfly flew extremely fast. Gu JiuGe’s group had to push their horses to ride as fast as possible to barely keep up.
When they were about to enter Changzhou’s borders, it did not fly north of the city like Yan Zheng had said. Instead, it passed around Changzhou City and went below a clear.
Gu JiuGe had been urging his horse this entire time while calculating the location.
“This butterfly is taking us toward a shortcut. Above this cliff should be the northern forest that Yan Zheng had spoken of.”
Everyone looked up upon hearing this. Above, there was a large forest, thus it was indeed possible.
“Look!”
Yu Fu stood up on the horse and pointed into the distance. The butterfly had begun circling a creek where the ice had melted.
Everyone rushed forward. The ground was covered in corpses that were all wearing the same uniforms as them.
They were soldiers from the Gu family’s army, and all of the bodies had poison needles sticking out of them. There were also many wounds of all sizes.
Before they died, they must have gone through a brutal battle.
“The young general and the sixth young sir are not among them. There are only 35 corpses. Aside from Yan Zheng, there were another four soldiers who escaped!”
Gu JiuGe looked up toward the top of the cliff, “It might not be that they escaped. They might be sheltered somewhere at the top of the cliff. We will split into two groups. One will search the top of the cliff, and the other will search the bottom of the cliff.”
Yu Fu said: “No, eldest brother and the others were also struck by the poison needles. They are definitely at the bottom of the cliff; otherwise, the butterfly would not have continued circling down here. It’s not just eldest brother and his group. I’m guessing… that the attackers are also at the bottom of the cliff, and they’re looking for them!”
The attackers would also have the smell of poison on them.
Everyone instantly became fierce, as they all understood the meaning behind Yu Fu’s words.
They absolutely had to find Gu ShuBai’s group before the assassins, or it would be too late!
The 500 troops split into four groups and went in separate directions to look for traces of Gu ShuBai. Yu Fu stayed close to Gu JiuGe.
She tightly hugged her medicine kit, while she wore a solemn expression.
The forest below the cliff was even denser than the forest at the top. Where would Gu ShuBai and his group be?
Those assassins should have been searching for them for quite some time. Could they have found them already?
The fiery-red butterfly fluttered through the trees and would occasionally lead them backward. One soldier said: “Second young sir, young miss Yu Fu, is this butterfly okay or not?”
Yu Fu was just as anxious, “It circling around means that the smell of poison has been spread all around the forest. The places that we’ve gone are likely where eldest brother’s group has been. It’s also possible that it was where the assassins were, and it is smelling the poison fumes that they left behind.”
Everyone looked around. Unfortunately, the snow from last night had already melted, and there were no footprints to be seen.
Gu JiuGe looked everywhere when he noticed a glint of silver from the corner of his eyes.
It was a very familiar glint!
He turned his head to look more carefully then pointed at a tree, “Yu Fu, isn’t this the poison needle that you found stuck in Yan Zheng?”
“This is it!”
Yu Fu came forward to try and pull the silver needle out, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not pull it out. Gu JiuGe used a corner of his sleeve to cover his hand and pulled it out.
This needle had been stuck so deep that it did not look like it had been thrown casually, nor had it been stuck in there accidentally.
Yu Fu suddenly thought of something, “This was left here by eldest brother. This is definitely a sign for us. Aside from eldest brother, who else would have the inner strength to have the needle pierce so far into the tree trunk?”
When Gu ShuBai had taught Yu Fu the flying needle for the first time, he had done it on the martial arts training ground, and Gu JiuGe had personally seen it.
The head of the needle was pointing further into the valley below the cliff.
Gu JiuGe waved to the people behind him, “Let’s go!”
After the butterfly got deeper into the forest, it became more and more precise, leading the group to a cave.
It circled around near the cave for a while, and just as everyone was about to enter, they heard a strange sound come from the forest.
It was definitely not the sound of the wind blowing through the trees.
“Yu Fu, go with the butterfly into the cave to take a look. Leave this place to us.”
Yu Fu hastily said: “Be careful of poison needles!”
Regardless of what sort of people the assassins in this forest were, the 500 troops from the Gu family army would kill whatever it met.
After saying this, she ran toward the cave. Inside the pitch-black cave, the sound of her footsteps echoed.
“Eldest brother, are you guys here? It’s Yu Fu!”
At this moment, the assassins should be fighting with Gu JiuGe’s group outside the cave, thus the group inside would have to be Gu ShuBai’s.
She just hoped that they were still alive and that the poison had not completely filled their veins.
However, the only reply that she received was her own echo.
After a long moment, a faint voice came from the darkness, and Yu Fu subconsciously took a step back before seeing a dark figure rush toward her.
“Where did this assassin come from, even pretending to be our Yu Fu?”
Impersonating Yu Fu (Part Two)
“What is this?”
Gu JiuGe lowered his head to look down and immediately tightened his grip on the reins.
Inside the brocade box was a small silk cocoon. It looked like a silkworm cocoon, but its body was red.
“It’s a Gu butterfly, one that has not yet hatched. If it can hatch, it will be able to smell the poison, and we will be able to quickly find eldest brother’s group.”
Yu Fu’s brow furrowed. Placing a finger in her mouth, she bit down. A bead of blood immediately appeared on her snow-white skin.
She squeezed the drop of blood onto the cocoon, and the red cocoon became darker and darker until it eventually became transparent.
Gu JiuGe reached a hand over but was immediately slapped away by Yu Fu.
“Don’t touch it. It’s poisonous.”
Just as she said this, a rustling came from inside the cocoon, as a fiery-red butterfly emerged and flew from the box.
It fluttered above Yu Fu’s head for a moment then continued to fly forward. Yu Fu hastily said: “We need to follow it. We will be able to find eldest brother’s group!”
The small butterfly flew extremely fast. Gu JiuGe’s group had to push their horses to ride as fast as possible to barely keep up.
When they were about to enter Changzhou’s borders, it did not fly north of the city like Yan Zheng had said. Instead, it passed around Changzhou City and went below a clear.
Gu JiuGe had been urging his horse this entire time while calculating the location.
“This butterfly is taking us toward a shortcut. Above this cliff should be the northern forest that Yan Zheng had spoken of.”
Everyone looked up upon hearing this. Above, there was a large forest, thus it was indeed possible.
“Look!”
Yu Fu stood up on the horse and pointed into the distance. The butterfly had begun circling a creek where the ice had melted.
Everyone rushed forward. The ground was covered in corpses that were all wearing the same uniforms as them.
They were soldiers from the Gu family’s army, and all of the bodies had poison needles sticking out of them. There were also many wounds of all sizes.
Before they died, they must have gone through a brutal battle.
“The young general and the sixth young sir are not among them. There are only 35 corpses. Aside from Yan Zheng, there were another four soldiers who escaped!”
Gu JiuGe looked up toward the top of the cliff, “It might not be that they escaped. They might be sheltered somewhere at the top of the cliff. We will split into two groups. One will search the top of the cliff, and the other will search the bottom of the cliff.”
Yu Fu said: “No, eldest brother and the others were also struck by the poison needles. They are definitely at the bottom of the cliff; otherwise, the butterfly would not have continued circling down here. It’s not just eldest brother and his group. I’m guessing… that the attackers are also at the bottom of the cliff, and they’re looking for them!”
The attackers would also have the smell of poison on them.
Everyone instantly became fierce, as they all understood the meaning behind Yu Fu’s words.
They absolutely had to find Gu ShuBai’s group before the assassins, or it would be too late!
The 500 troops split into four groups and went in separate directions to look for traces of Gu ShuBai. Yu Fu stayed close to Gu JiuGe.
She tightly hugged her medicine kit, while she wore a solemn expression.
The forest below the cliff was even denser than the forest at the top. Where would Gu ShuBai and his group be?
Those assassins should have been searching for them for quite some time. Could they have found them already?
The fiery-red butterfly fluttered through the trees and would occasionally lead them backward. One soldier said: “Second young sir, young miss Yu Fu, is this butterfly okay or not?”
Yu Fu was just as anxious, “It circling around means that the smell of poison has been spread all around the forest. The places that we’ve gone are likely where eldest brother’s group has been. It’s also possible that it was where the assassins were, and it is smelling the poison fumes that they left behind.”
Everyone looked around. Unfortunately, the snow from last night had already melted, and there were no footprints to be seen.
Gu JiuGe looked everywhere when he noticed a glint of silver from the corner of his eyes.
It was a very familiar glint!
He turned his head to look more carefully then pointed at a tree, “Yu Fu, isn’t this the poison needle that you found stuck in Yan Zheng?”
“This is it!”
Yu Fu came forward to try and pull the silver needle out, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not pull it out. Gu JiuGe used a corner of his sleeve to cover his hand and pulled it out.
This needle had been stuck so deep that it did not look like it had been thrown casually, nor had it been stuck in there accidentally.
Yu Fu suddenly thought of something, “This was left here by eldest brother. This is definitely a sign for us. Aside from eldest brother, who else would have the inner strength to have the needle pierce so far into the tree trunk?”
When Gu ShuBai had taught Yu Fu the flying needle for the first time, he had done it on the martial arts training ground, and Gu JiuGe had personally seen it.
The head of the needle was pointing further into the valley below the cliff.
Gu JiuGe waved to the people behind him, “Let’s go!”
After the butterfly got deeper into the forest, it became more and more precise, leading the group to a cave.
It circled around near the cave for a while, and just as everyone was about to enter, they heard a strange sound come from the forest.
It was definitely not the sound of the wind blowing through the trees.
“Yu Fu, go with the butterfly into the cave to take a look. Leave this place to us.”
Yu Fu hastily said: “Be careful of poison needles!”
Regardless of what sort of people the assassins in this forest were, the 500 troops from the Gu family army would kill whatever it met.
After saying this, she ran toward the cave. Inside the pitch-black cave, the sound of her footsteps echoed.
“Eldest brother, are you guys here? It’s Yu Fu!”
At this moment, the assassins should be fighting with Gu JiuGe’s group outside the cave, thus the group inside would have to be Gu ShuBai’s.
She just hoped that they were still alive and that the poison had not completely filled their veins.
However, the only reply that she received was her own echo.
After a long moment, a faint voice came from the darkness, and Yu Fu subconsciously took a step back before seeing a dark figure rush toward her.
“Where did this assassin come from, even pretending to be our Yu Fu?”
