Chapter 46: Jungle Espionage

  In the pitch-black forest, light footsteps carefully fell on the withered leaves, making a soft rustling sound like insect chirping. The man in black beckoned to someone behind him, and under the cold moonlight, his shadow appeared exceptionally long.

  A loud barking sound came from behind, two small wolf-like hounds rushed up from behind and barked loudly towards the southeast direction.

  The moonlight was bleak, and the black night was filled with a sense of killing intent. On the tall tree crown that no one noticed, a dark figure suddenly slid down, silently falling onto the thick dry leaves, quickly closing in on the person in front.

  No one knows that the fatal star is slowly approaching. In this crowded scramble, they have always thought of themselves as the hunters, not the prey.

  The man in black at the front raised an eyebrow and said in a low voice: "Follow me!"

  However, no one responded to his voice. The leader furrowed his brow and was about to turn back when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. A sharp pain struck him in an instant, and his consciousness was momentarily dazed. By the time he realized what had happened, his life no longer gave him the strength to think.

  She pulled out the two flying knives from the necks of the vicious dogs, and stabbed them a couple more times at the people who were still breathing. After finishing all this, Qing Xia quickly stood up straight, looked around vigilantly in all directions, then ran rapidly towards the west.

  She proceeded with caution, not even daring to cut through the thorns, for fear of leaving any traces. Unexpectedly, her enemies still fell behind her like vengeful spirits, and it turned out that she had relied on the keen sense of smell of the dog. For now, she had dealt with the hidden dangers behind her, but Qing Xia still did not dare to be careless, who knew how many vicious dogs there were? She had taken some clothes to confuse these beasts, but didn't know how long it would delay them.

  The jungle in the south was very dense, Qing Xia ran and jumped all the way, as agile as a leopard. The path wound its way around, and suddenly a small lake appeared before her eyes. Qing Xia didn't stop, quickly running to the other side of the lake, where a man in silver armor sat on the ground with his back against a tree, eyes closed in meditation. Hearing Qing Xia's footsteps, he suddenly opened his eyes, and sharp glints flashed out from them, like two swords being drawn from their scabbards.

  "Is everything settled?" Qing Xia asked in a low voice.

  The man in the darkness slightly raised his eyebrows, his eyes tightly staring at Qing Xia with a deep meaning. Although he knew he couldn't recognize himself, Qing Xia still felt a sense of urgency and panic. Finally, Chu Li slowly nodded.

  Qing Xia let out a breath and hastily said: "Your Highness, we need to leave here immediately, General Xu's reinforcements..."

  The words had not been spoken yet, when Chu Li's face suddenly changed, the cold light flashed, and he abruptly drew out his battle knife, chopping down towards Qing Xia's neck. Qing Xia was shocked and lost color, but after all, she possessed super agile responsiveness, her body shape suddenly dodging sideways with the blade, thudding to the ground, the dagger under her ankle being swiftly drawn out at an extremely fast speed, a backward roll taking her far away from Chu Li, half-crouching on the ground, quickly thinking of springing up and counterattacking in self-defense.

  However, before the action was made, a long black shadow came from the direction he had just come from and attacked Chu Li savagely. Chu Li's long knife flashed, instantly cutting the thing in two. The rear segment twisted in mid-air and fell to the ground, while the front segment became even more ferocious, opening its huge mouth and biting down at Chu Li savagely!

  With a loud thud, Chu Li's long knife fell to the ground. Qing Xia was shocked and saw that it was a huge snake with a dark green head and yellow spots on its back, about two meters long, as thick as a bowl, with a triangular head, an upturned mouth, and brown-black stripes on its back. At this time, the severed tail of the snake still writhed and twisted on the ground, looking very disgusting, while the front segment was still tightly biting Chu Li's wrist, with eyes wide open, showing a venomous and ferocious gaze.

  Qing Xia was shocked, and immediately jumped up, grabbing the snake's body and throwing it to the ground. Only then did he see that Chu Li's wrist had been bitten, with two rows of deep impressions clearly showing black blood, especially the two tooth marks in the middle of the front row.

  This is a venomous snake, and Qing Xia has seen this kind of snake before. It's called the Hundred Steps Snake, also known as the Round Spot Viper, which is ferocious and good at fighting. Although its toxicity and strength are not the strongest among snakes, it has always been ranked first in mortality rate. The venom of this snake is extremely ferocious and can cause death within two hours. Qing Xia had once seen a snake like this when he was on a mission in Taiwan, in a local resident's home. Unexpectedly, they met again in ancient Chu State, over a thousand years ago.

  Qing Xia quickly found two strips of cloth, tightly binding Chu Li's wrist and elbow to prevent the toxic blood from spreading to his heart. He removed Xuan Tie's helmet and poured in a large amount of clear water to thoroughly clean the wound. Then he took out flint and steel, lit a small fire, and heated the dagger until it was red-hot. He made a cross-shaped incision on Chu Li's wound and another similar incision around the wound, squeezing out as much toxic blood as possible. Only when the flowing blood was no longer black did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

  "Your Highness has been poisoned by the snake, it's not suitable to move around, please find a place to hide, and let me go back to get help." Qingsha said resolutely, without showing any sign of weakness as a woman.

  Chu's eyebrows were tightly locked, and she felt dizzy, thinking to herself that this poisonous snake was indeed ruthless. Just as she was about to speak, a sudden urgent footsteps echoed from not far away. Qing Xia's eyes were filled with vigilance, and he quickly lay down on the ground, pressing his ear against the earth. After a moment, he lifted his head and said in a low voice, "We must have been exposed by the fire. There are three groups of people approaching, two of which have more than 20 people each, while the other has over a hundred people. We can't fight them off, let's leave first."

  Several feet trampled out the flames on the ground, and cold lake water was poured over them. Qing Xia tidied up everything, supported Chu Li with one hand, and asked: "Your Highness, can you move?"

  Chu Li nodded and said, "Okay." However, as soon as he stood up, a wave of dizziness suddenly came over him, and his face turned pale in an instant. Qing Xia supported his body just in time, looked around, calculated the speed of the approaching people, gritted her teeth slightly, and said in a low voice, "I'll carry you to the back hall."

  Chu Li's expression was slightly surprised, and he looked up and down at Qing Xia. The meaning was clearly conveyed: this little soldier looked a bit chubby, but his stature was short and small, not even reaching his own shoulders, could he carry it?

  "Hmm..." Qing Xia was stared at by Chu Li, and hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice: "Your Highness shouldn't look down on me because of my short stature, I'm actually very strong."

  "How dare I look down on you, if it weren't for you, I might have died a dozen times tonight." Chu Li's voice was flat and toneless, but Qing Xia, who knew him well, understood that this kind of person could say such words with great difficulty. If Qing Xia were truly an ordinary black-clad warrior, his future path would be smooth sailing from now on.

  Chu Li Bao was on his back, Qing Xia's knee bent slightly for a moment, and he almost fell over.

  Chu Li's movements caused the toxic blood to surge up, rendering her limbs powerless. For a moment, she could barely open her eyelids. Qing Xia's hands were pressed firmly into the sandy ground, the sand was hard and pierced into her flesh, she slowly gasped for air for a while, then struggled to get back on her feet. With a resolute expression, she looked around cautiously before quickly dashing off in a northwesterly direction.

  At first, marching in the wilderness with a hundred pounds of weight was a very common thing. Having been diligent in training for some time, Zhuang Qingxia's body was no longer as weak as it used to be. Although he still felt a bit strained at this moment, Qing Xia relied on his super strong willpower and quickly left this place of right and wrong with a swift speed.

  Everything tonight was obviously designed by others to frame, and the other party not only ambushed on the outskirts of the city, but also dispatched a large number of troops to intercept on the road back to the city. Qing Xia and others were ambushed on the way back to the city, and they narrowly escaped with their lives after being bathed in blood. At this moment, if they go towards Shengdu again, they will definitely fall into the net again.

  This group of people knew everything about Chu Li as if they had it in the palm of their hand, and the intelligence coordination was seamless. They seemed to be doing things but not really, leaving behind subtle clues that were also very clever. Tonight, Chu Li encountered a series of changes, and losing his composure was understandable, but Qing Xia couldn't help but reevaluate this person.

  With great effort, she climbed to the top of the Huagai tree and then used a rope to pull Chu Li, this big guy, little by little onto the high tree. After doing all this, Qing Xia almost lost her life. At this moment, no matter how strong she was, she still had to stick out her tongue and pant heavily.

  Let's just consider it a hostage rescue operation. He risked his life to leave the city for himself, and then got bitten by a poisonous snake while trying to save himself. There was no way he could be left behind.

  Undo the cloth tied to his wrists and elbows, let the blood flow for a minute or two, and then tie it again. Chu Li's face was pale, his lips were also slightly blue, the night wind was cold, the forest was dead silent, even the insects' chirping was gone. The branches of the Chinese parasol tree were dense and lush, Qing Xia and Chu Li sat on them, just like sitting on a spring bed, without worrying about falling off at all.

  Took off the black uniform and wrapped it around Chuli's body, placing his head on his own leg, took his wrist and slowly leaned down.

  He hadn't dared to do it before, fearing he'd be discovered. But now that he was unconscious, there was no need to worry. It had only been half an hour since the poisoning, still well within the optimal timeframe for detoxification. His lips slowly approached, the wound from last time still fresh in his mind, sucking out a mouthful of blood before spitting it out with a splat, repeating this several times before tightening his grip on his wrist again. Qing Xia put down Chu Li's head and was about to go find some water to rinse her mouth when...

  Just as he was about to leave, a hand suddenly grasped Qing Xia's wrist tightly, the force so great that it almost crushed Qing Xia's bones. Qing Xia turned back in shock, only to see Chu Li tightly furrowing his brow, his eyes closed, still unconscious, but with a hint of pain on his face.

  "The wound must be very painful."

  Qing Xia thought so and tried to pull down Chu Li's hand, but after several attempts, Chu Li instead gripped even tighter.

  "Don't see me off." A painful voice suddenly rose up, the sound was very small, but in such a quiet night, it seemed so loud. Qing Xia raised an eyebrow in confusion, had he been having a nightmare? She reached out to touch Chu Li's forehead, which felt cool and not feverish.

  Qing Xia had never seen Chu Li with such an expression. This man was always strong and overbearing, could be ruthless, cold-blooded, charmingly evil, and domineering, but this fragile expression seemed to not belong to him. He furrowed his brow, a deep frown etched between his eyebrows, tightly grasping Qing Xia's wrist, his voice filled with pain and reluctance, with hatred, and seemingly also with pleading.

  "Your Highness, wake up, you're dreaming." Gently shaking Chu Li's shoulder, softly calling out.

  "Don't see me off... Mother..."

  Qing Xia's hand suddenly became a bit stiff, she was stunned and didn't know how to continue. The solitary moon at the horizon was like a huge jade plate, coldly casting a vast expanse of clear light. Chu Li's surroundings were icy, the black fur cloak on his body made his pale face even more pronounced.

  "I won't see you off." Qing Xia suddenly grasped Chu Li's palm, slowly leaned in close to his ear and said in a low voice: "You don't have to go anywhere."

  The moonlight is bright and clear, and the torches in the distance once again shine on this peaceful land.