The woman's face was as cold as ice, white as snow without any slight presentment of love. Her eyes were sharp and contain extraordinary viciousness, beautiful, young, wearing a smooth white dress, her figure was like an angel of death, and she was holding in her hand a pipa musical instrument, a kind of ancient guitar.
"Are you looking for me Mam? Can I help you?" Jinshui clasped his hands together without bowing to her. "Jinshui let you wait for a while, hope you don't mind."
"I came to pick up Xiao Qiao," the woman replied without looking at him. Her voice was cold and firm. "I don't want to know who you are, you better hand her over quickly."
She spoke the last words more slowly, finding that Xu Qiao lying under the blanket was not the same as the little one who avoided her in the Xu Family residence eight months ago, nor was the young girl able to escape from her nearly two months ago.
"And you are…." Jinshui said.
"The girl is my daughter," the woman replied in a constantly cold tone.
Jinshui looked at her. The woman was still too young to call herself Xu Qiao's mother, she can't be her biological mother. Jinshui knew that Xu Qiao's father had two wives. The woman was definitely Xu Qiao's young mother whom she didn't like, the Snowy Palm Bao Xinfei. Jinshui didn't know how Bao Xinfei find Xu Qiao in this remote place and how much did she know about his identity.
Bao Xinfei suddenly charged toward Jinshui, using only one hand because the other was carrying her pipa musical instrument. The attack seemed slow, but a hand grip was suddenly in front of Jinshui, almost tearing his skin.
They fought in the cramped room of the hut, even though Bao Xinfei only used one hand, her attacks were troublesome, chasing Jinshui without giving him a chance to catch a breath. Jinshui naturally didn't have time to exert Moying's energy inside him, nor did he want to use up the decades of training energy and end up injuring Xu Qiao's stepmother.
"Why not use your inner energy?" Bai Xinfei asked curiously.
"Xu Furen give me no time to recuperate," Jinshui answered honestly.
Bao Xinfei moved her hand again, the grip of her hand aiming straight for Jinshui's neck. Jinshui immediately felt a chill down his neck, for a moment he thought the Snowy Palm had managed to strangle him. But of course, he didn't know that Bao Xinfei wouldn't want to touch his skin directly. The attack just now turned out to be just a bluff, Bao Xinfei was suddenly on the bed and was about to grab Xu Qiao.
Jinshui definitely didn't want to let the madam take Xu Qiao away. He moved quickly, at the same time his hands were also stretched out, internal energy was flowing there, blocking Bao Xinfei's actions.
"It's not that I'm unwilling to send your daughter back, but right now Qiao-er has been poisoned, and her life is in danger," Jinshui said, "I have an idea of how to help her get rid of the poison, and it is my responsibility to save her. Hope you give us some time, at least until the remaining poison is neutralized."
Bao Xinfei had already parried Jinshui's palm with the pipa in her hand, she checked on Xu Qiao's pulse, and found that there was a strong poison in the girl's blood, a poison that damaged her body. She also found a flow of strange pure energy that was still fighting the poison.
"What did you call her again?" Bao Xinfei asked Jinshui. The pipa musical instruments between them had been cracked by the pressure of the snowy palm and Jinshui's energy. Blood seemed to be flowing at the corners of Jinshui's lips, indicating that he had an internal injury due to exhaustion. Bao Xinfei moved away from the bed, no longer attacking, realizing things weren't so simple.
"Qiao-er, that is how her father calls her," said Jinshui. "At first I wanted to call her Xiao Qiao, but she said she didn't want me to call her the same way her stepmother called her. Calling her Qiao-er is easier after all."
Bao Xinfei snorted in displeasure. She knew Xu Qiao was poisoned by someone from Wansui Gu people a few months ago, and also knew Jinshui had the energy to overcome the poison. She didn't want to take a dying Xu Qiao home to see her father.
"You are willing to use your own life to save Xiao Qiao?" she asked, her tone had not changed.
"I don't think I have to tell you how to save her," Jinshui didn't want to tell any detail.
"How long did you need?" Bao Xinfei asked again.
Jinshui raised three of his fingers.
"Three days? Fine, you can take the next three days to get rid of the poison in my daughter's body. I'll pick her up three days later."
"Not three days," Jinshui said, "three months."
"Three months?" Bao Xinfei glanced coldly. "No can do. She is a young girl, cannot stay with a boy like you for that much time. It's not good for the family reputation...."
"I don't have to wait until this day if I have bad intentions," Jinshui said quickly, "I Hua Jinshui promise you, I'll return her to you in time."
"I can only give you a month," Bao Xinfei turned and was about to leave. "I should tell you one thing," she said before leaving, "The person who told me you were here also told me that you can deal with poison. Considering that you have good intentions of helping the daughter of the Xu Family, I can spare you. But next time, the fight between us will be unavoidable."
"I don't need Xu Furen to spare my life," Jinshui had his own pride. "It's just that because I still need to help Qiao-er now, I'm not interested in wasting energy on other matters."
"One month later, I don't care whether you are able to get rid of the poison or not, I will bring Xiao Qiao home," Bao Xinfei said again, "if you get in the way, then I can guarantee that the eight descendants will never have a chance to reunite."
She left Jinshui without saying another word. Jinshui let Xu Qiao stay asleep, he sat on the bench and tried to recover some of his strength.
When morning came, he felt a little better.
"Jinshui Gege, why are you sleeping here?" Xu Qiao delightfully asked him. The young lady was awake, had washed her face, and changed her clothes. There were still traces of poison on the tiny face, but they were no longer visible when she smiled. Jinshui opened his eyes and found that smile so beautiful.
"Qiao-er," he called.
"I brought some fruits for you," Xu Qiao placed a basket beside him. "They are so juicy and sweet, you must like them."
"Jinshui cannot only eat fruits," came another voice from outside as Jinshui raised his hand and was about to touch Xu Qiao's face.
A moment later a young man dressed in a long blue robe stepped into the hut, following him were two young women in simple pale pink and green clothes.
"It's you…." Xu Qiao recognized the young man as the young man who had reprimanded her while avoiding Bao Xinfei more than a month ago and then take her to the mountain to Haitang Jian Pai's headquarters.
"Qiao-er, this is my friend, Huang Yu," Jinshui introduced the young man.
"Huang Yu," repeated Xu Qiao. "You are Jinshui Gege's friend."
"Xu Guniang," Huang Yu smiled friendly, "zaixia Huang Yu, the second son of Jingong Yinjian (Gold Bow and Silver Arrow) Huang Weiqun, the leader of Hailang Biaoju (Marine Wave Expedition) of Luoyang City."
"You are the son of Huang Shushu (Uncle Huang)," Xu Qiao replied brightly. "Your father visited our Huofeng Lou several times and met my father. They could be considered good friends." She looked at Jinshui, secretly asking if Huang Yu was also one of the Yumen descendants.
"Xiaoshan, Xiaohu, quickly help this lady cook rice and boil medicine," Huang Yu said to the two young women who were with him before Jinshui gave an answer.
The two young women smiled at Xu Qiao, then preceded her to go to the back of the hut to cook food and also boil medicine. Xu Qiao glanced at Jinshui, then followed them.
There were only Huang Yu and Jinshui in the hut now. Huang Yu stepped closer, and for a while, he helped Jinshui recuperate with the energy Chailang had given him.
"You are the one who told Xuehua Zhishou Bao Xinfei that the daughter of Xu Chenghai is here with me," Jinshui said to him later. "You want her to pick up Qiao-er, to take her home so that I don't have to waste my energy trying to get rid of the poison from her blood."
"I met Xu Guniang almost two months ago, at that time she was avoiding Bao Xinfei," Huang Yu replied. "I took her to the forest near Haitang Jian Pai's headquarters and accidentally deliver her to you. I only asked Bao Xinfei to pick her up just to correct the mistakes I made myself."
"Did you tell her that I am the descendant of Yumen?" Jinshui asked again.
"Bao Xinfei knows that I'm the son of Huang Weiqun of Hailang Biaoju," Huang Yu did not directly answer his question, "she only knows that you are a friend of mine. Of course, I don't need to tell her, you were a prisoner of her master and you killed nine elders of her sect."
"You know what happened in that forest," said Jinshui. "I'm not surprised."
"You cannot control the energy left by Moying Shibo that day. How come?" Huang Yu asked.
"The energy from Moying Shibo inside me is the result of decades of training, it was greater than the one owned by other guardians," replied Jinshui. "I can use it and control it under normal circumstances, but sometimes the energy overcomes me and it's not easy to suppress it."
"The descendant of Baigu Shishu, Liao Xian Xiongdi, if I remembered correctly, he had the part to maintain the inner energy given by the guardians," Huang Yu said. "You better help Miss Xu as soon as possible, I'll take you to visit Liao Xian Xiongdi after."
--
For a month from that day, Huang Yu and the two servant girls had been with them. Huang Yu didn't say much, the two servants were mute, but their presence made things easier.
Time passed by very fast. Xu Qiao did not know Jinshui's meeting with Bao Xinfei as well as their agreement. She spent time practicing swordsmanship with Jinshui, her life seemed very peaceful and enjoyable. She was not aware that the theory she was practicing came from wuqing xue, even more, unaware of the purpose of Jinshui training her.
Every three days Jinshui used his pure energy to collect the poison from her body, she didn't even realize that Jinshui had secretly diverted wuqing xue's energy so that in time she could carry out the final stage of poison transfer.
Jinshui gathered the poison he had collected in his own two hands, holding it there. He was in a lot of pain, yet he didn't want Xu Qiao to see it. Both hands had started to swell and blacken, when Jinshui spat out the blood there was an overwhelming stench. The combination of zixie and zhaobai poison was indeed very terrible.
Every time Jinshui finished helping Xu Qiao, Huang Yu secretly helped him suppress the effects of the two kinds of poison with the energy given by Chailang. Huang Yu couldn't completely overcome it, of course, but his help was more than enough to reduce the effect of the poison on Jinshui.
"Moying Shibo was the main guardian, he won't expect his descendant to be like you now, you sacrifice yourself for a young girl, you forget your future responsibility and the task to revive Yumen," Huang Yu grunted a lot. "If you don't have the heart to take her life, how about I take your place and put an end to everything?"
"Your father and hers are good friends, how can you kill her?" Jinshui asked. "I can save her. A little poison is just a small price."
"Her father is my father's friend but has nothing to do with me. I don't have to tell my father if I take her life," replied Huang Yu. "A little poison will not kill you today but we don't know its long-time effect. You take that poison for a little girl, while in the future that little girl can possibly be our enemy."
Jinshui tried to concentrate and recover, not wanting to argue with his friend.
"That Xu Guniang is the daughter of Huofeng Lou's owner, she has good relations with our main enemy," Huang Yu reminded him further, "you taught her wuqing xue, if in time she doesn't want to join us, then I will kill her anyway. You really did waste your energy."
Xu Qiao came to bring food with the two servants before Huang Yu said another word. The two servants put the food on the table and prepared bowls and chopsticks. Xu Qiao walked over to Jinshui, almost belatedly dodged when Huang Yu's hand gripped her shoulder.
Huang Yu smacked her, forcing her to parry with two hands. When their palms collided, Xu Qiao immediately felt a powerful surge of energy, causing her arm to tingle instantly.
"Yu," Jinshui called, he had already stood up and grabbed Huang Yu before breaking Xu Qiao's hand. "If you cannot spare her, I will not forgive you, nor will forever be with you and the other brothers and sisters resurrecting Yumen."
Huang Yu drew his energy. Xu Qiao stepped forward, not minding Jinshui trying to hold her back.
"Jinshui Gege, he's not going to kill me," she said smilingly. "Huang Erge just wants to see what I can do, that's all."
Jinshui looked at Huang Yu in displeased. Huang Yu turned around and walked over to the two servants then sat down and took the bowl and chopsticks, acting like nothing happened. Of course, if he really wanted to kill Xu Qiao, he would not do it in front of Jinshui.
"Huang Erge, you are another descendant of Yumen, arent you?" Xu Qiao asked him, and came closer to him without worrying about anything. Jinshui didn't get in the way, just stayed in his sit and alerted. "You also have the energy from a Yumen guardian."
"I'm the descendant of Chailang," Huang Yu answered casually, just glancing at her, "Chailang Shifu can be said as the second main guardian, best friend to the main guardian Moying Shibo, the master of your Jinshui Gege."
"Five of those eight descendants were the children of respected families," Xu Qiao remembered what Jinshui told her. "No one will expect of the families was the Huang Family from Hailang Biaoju."
"That's right," said Huang Yu.
Xu Qiao tried to remember more. "Your Huang Family was not the supporter of Yumen, but there was no relation with that sect whatsoever," she said again, "does your father know that you are one of the eight descendants?"
"I never told him," Huang Yu said while taking some rice.
"The other four respected families, do you know who they are?" Xu Qiao asked again. "Can you tell me?"
"I surely can," said Huang Yu plainly, "but I'm afraid I have to kill you once I tell you their names."
"You will not kill me," replied Xu Qiao. "I know the descendants of Yumen will not kill anyone without any particular reason."
"You see Xiaohu and Xiaoshan over there, they are not regular servants," Huang Yu pointed at his two servants. "They are trained assassins, they can slaughter a whole family without blinking. And you see, they are not actually mute."
"Ah?" Xu Qiao looked at the two servants taken by Huang Yu. The expression of the two servants was plain as if they heard nothing. They also didn't say a word. Xu Qiao could only see the two as regular young women, they really didn't resemble any trained assassins.
"Qiao-er," Jinshui called her. "The lesser you know the better. When the time comes, I will tell you everything. However, now is not the time. The theory I have taught you, you must first memorize and master it well."