Chapter 557: Evenly Matched
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling brandished her saber to block Mo Yong’s attack. She felt a weight on her wrist and a stern look flashed across her eyes. This man was so skilled at martial arts, yet he had been hiding by Qi Haoran’s side day and night.
At the thought that Qi Haoran had had such a malignant tumor by his side, Mu Yangling did not show any mercy. She used the combat moves from her previous life, moves that were simple yet fatal. She also aimed at the other party’s acupoints’ weaknesses. Even if she couldn’t move as swiftly as Mo Yong, with the help of Guard One, the other party was still at a slight disadvantage.
When the sword and saber collided, Mo Yong felt intense pain in his hand, causing him to almost drop the saber in his hand. After seven to eight moves, Mo Yong flipped over and jumped to the side. Only then did he see the archer’s appearance clearly. His expression changed slightly and he cried out, “Fourth Madam?”
Mu Yangling’s eyes turned cold. She flipped the blade and aimed at his chest without a word. Not only Mo Yong, but even Guard One did not expect Mu Yangling to be so decisive and hurriedly followed closely.
Fourth Madam’s strength and moves were fine, but her qinggong was too weak and her agility was not enough. If she really wanted to deal with Mo Yong alone, she would definitely be injured. Someone had to help her restrain Mo Yong.
Every move Mu Yangling made was aimed at Mo Yong’s vital points. She wanted to end the battle quickly, but after fighting for an hour, although they managed to injure Mo Yong, they could not kill him. After all, Mu Yangling was a woman and was only 17 years old. Furthermore, she had exhausted too much strength. If this continued, even if Mu Yangling and her men did not die, they would be injured.
Fortunately, Mo Yong’s situation was not any better. Because Mu Yangling was strong, his purlicue1 had long been cracked. Guard One was nimble and sneak attacked from the side when Mu Yangling was exchanging moves with him, causing him to suffer many injuries. Although it was not fatal, he had lost a lot of blood. If his wounds were not bandaged and treated, he would die from excessive blood loss even if he was not tortured to death by Mu Yangling.
He looked around and saw that the people he had brought were on par with the guards from the courtyard. They were both injured, so he quickly whistled and gave the order to retreat.
Guard One was also worried that too many of their men would die. Seeing that Mo Yong had retreated with his men, he did not chase after them and immediately arranged for someone to put up defenses. Only then did he turn around and look at Mu Yangling.
Sitting on the steps to rest, Mu Yangling looked up at the sky and said, “It’ll be dawn in two hours.”
“Fourth Madam, why don’t we send someone out to get reinforcements?”
“Reinforcements from who?”
“There are bailiffs in the county. Even if they don’t have much ability, they can at least intimidate the enemy by surrounding our courtyard.”
Mu Yangling asked with half-closed eyes, “Then do you think they’ll come?”
Guard One choked. That’s right. The world was in chaos now. Although the county did not declare that it was now independent of Great Zhou and did not say which faction it had joined, it had long been autonomous. When faced with such a dangerous matter, upright and selfless bailiffs would naturally come. However, how many such people were there?
“Even if they come, they’ll only be courting death. As long as we manage to hold on for another day, Fourth Master’s men will arrive.”
“But…” Guard One was a little unconfident as their losses were too serious. Just now, he had counted that other than him and Fourth Madam, everyone was injured. Seven of their brothers had died, and now there were only 16 left. Out of those 16, three of them were seriously injured. Even if they survived, they could not hold their sabers.
“Hurry up and bandage those wounded people. Those who are seriously injured, carry them to the backyard. If we can survive, Fourth Master will definitely not mistreat them. If they die, I’ll take care of their families.” After giving those instructions, Mu Yangling got up and went to the kitchen.
There was some food in the kitchen. She simply baked some pancakes and brought out the meat dishes from the kitchen. Everyone casually took some before returning to their seats. Even as they ate, they were on guard.
Outside, Mo Yong and the others were also eating dry rations. “When will the reinforcements arrive?”
“Sir, they’ll probably arrive tonight.” That person glanced at his brothers who had suffered heavy casualties and said, “Sir, why don’t we wait for the reinforcements to arrive before taking action? We have suffered too many casualties on our side.”
Mo Yong was also a little hesitant. In the end, he gritted his teeth and shook his head. “No, we delayed Assistant Commander Mu from leaving the camp under excuses, and Little General will quickly realize this. Fei Bai is smart. Once he becomes suspicious, Little General will definitely send reinforcements here. We don’t know when their people will arrive, so we have to capture them as soon as possible and meet up with our reinforcements. Otherwise…”
Otherwise, all their efforts would have been in vain, and their people would have died in vain.
“Rest for two hours. We’ll rush in after two hours. Since the defense line has already been breached, it’ll be difficult for them to defend the courtyard again.”
Guard One was also fretting over this. “Fourth Madam, our defense line has already been breached. If they rush in again, why don’t we retreat to the second entrance? We have to conserve our strength. Not only are we outnumbered, Mo Yong is good at martial arts and can restrain the two of us in one go.”
Mu Yangling’s heart skipped a beat. She straightened her body and asked, “What did you just say? How many more people do they have than us? How many more?”
Surprised that Mu Yangling reacted so strongly, Guard One hurriedly comforted her. “Fourth Madam, don’t worry. They only have three to four more people than us. Although Mo Yong is powerful, not all his subordinates are like him. Considering we have the geographical advantage, the difference is not big…”
However, Mu Yangling said, “In the beginning, there were only about 60 of them, right?”
“That’s right. Look, even with more than 60 of them, we could reduce their numbers to 30-plus when they attacked the courtyard. It can be seen how powerful we are…”
A guard at the side muttered, “That’s because it was dark and they were not familiar with the terrain. Our courtyard is easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, we were boosted by Madam’s excellent archery skills. But considering it’s almost dawn now and they’re almost done exploring this place, the courtyard can’t be defended anymore…”
Guard One gently kicked the person over and scolded, “You’re boosting other people’s morale and reducing one’s own courage.”
The guard lowered his head in silence.
However, Mu Yangling left with a dark expression. Guard One hurriedly followed her. “Fourth Madam, you really don’t have to worry.”
Mu Yangling avoided everyone and said, “I’m not worried about Mo Yong and the others. Now that we’re evenly matched and have the geographical advantage, it’s not impossible for us to defend for a day and night. Even if there’s some difficulty, it’s not impossible. But what if they have reinforcements?”
Guard One was stunned.
Mu Yangling continued in a low voice, “Only about 60 people came. With pursuers behind us, can they escort the four of us out? There are still two children inside.”
Guard One shuddered and felt a chill in his heart. “You mean…”
“I’m certain they have reinforcements. I just don’t know where they are, when they will arrive, or how many people they have…”
Guard One was silent for a long time before saying with difficulty, “Fourth Madam, we can lure them away…”
Mu Yangling was also silent for a long time. That would be a last resort because by luring the enemy away, they only had a 10% chance of survival. But the people hiding in the cave would at least have an 80% chance of not being discovered.
“If we have no choice, we’ll adopt the second plan. Ask our men to prepare the disguise.”