Chapter Sixteen: Defeated by Your One Sword

  (Today's fourth update, waiting for your appreciation and support.)

  As they approached Cade's Gap town, Flowing Cloud instructed Everson and Walker to take the children back to the ranch while she went into town alone.

  As he walked into the town, his mood became tense. The person he was most concerned about in this world was Shuiling'er. However, the person he least wanted to see was also Shuiling'er. Especially after Old Ka told him the truth about the Blood Oath, he didn't dare to see her anymore, because in Liuyun's eyes, there was a hint of ambiguity.

  "Xiao Qiang, bring me a basket of buns, a bowl of porridge, and two small dishes." He walked in, lowered his head and sat down, without looking at Shui Ling'er, and said in a low voice.

  Baozi and porridge were placed in front of him, but Liu Yun saw a pair of white and delicate small hands.

  "You're back."

  A sweet voice sounded in her ear, making Liuyun's mind a mess. "Mm," she said, and then picked up the porridge and started drinking it with her head down.

  Shuiling also hurriedly walked away. Just now, she could have called out to Xiaoqiang in the room, but unexpectedly, she ended up sending him off herself.

  "Xiao Qiang!"

  She shouted inside the house, and Xiao Qiang jumped out happily. These days, Xiao Qiang was very happy.

  Since that day, no one in town dared to trouble Ling'er sister again after her brother Yun Cloud broke his sword in public. Business also picked up, and Ling'er's father recovered from his illness, so much so that she would often give him some pocket money.

  "Have these two dishes sent over to him." Shuiling instructed softly.

  "Sir, here's your dish."

  "Xiao Qiang, long time no see." Liuyun heard Xiao Qiang's voice, raised his head and smiled at him.

  "Wow, Big Brother is back!" Xiao Qiang rushed up and hugged Liuyun's neck. Looking at the scene in front of her, Shuiling shook her head slightly.

  "Big brother, where have you been? You haven't come to see us for so long?" Xiao Qiang asked happily after releasing Liuyun.

  "This kid, I'll come every day, your Water Spirit sister will probably be annoyed to death." thought Flow Cloud.

  "I've gone to the ranch. Xiao Qiang, after I left, did anyone else come to make trouble in the store?"

  "Big brother is so cool, who dares to come and cause trouble? No one causes trouble, the business in the store has also improved a lot. It's just that I really miss you. Afraid you can't eat baozi, Ling'er sister also asked me to send some to Kaidi Castle, don't know if they gave it to you or not."

  "Xiao Qiang, don't talk nonsense!" Shuiling interrupted Xiao Qiang's words. "When the young master left that day, I forgot to ask for money, so I had Xiao Qiang send some buns to the mansion."

  "Hmm, the servants have sent me to the pasture. It smells nice and I'm touched." Liú Yún said looking at Shuǐ Líng ér.

  Shuiling'er lowered her head and stopped speaking, but Xiaoqiang continued to ask: "Big brother, what did you go to the pasture for?"

  "Big Brother is preparing to build his own private guard, where he will train." Liu Yun replied patiently.

  "Big brother, I've grown up, I want to join the army too." Little Qiang said suddenly, his eyes becoming very sorrowful.

  "Oh, why?"

  "Because my father went to war and never came back, I want to go find him." Thinking of his father, Xiao Qiang's tears flowed down.

  "Perhaps he has died in battle and will never return." Liu Yun thought to herself, but didn't say it out loud. "Let him keep a glimmer of hope in his heart."

  "Now you can follow big brother," Liú Yún stood up and walked towards Shuǐ Líng, "but we still need to ask for your sister's opinion."

  Shuiling thought for a moment and nodded. In her opinion, following him would be more promising than working in the small shop.

  "He will definitely treat Xiaoqiang well." This thought flashed through her mind, making her afraid, because she actually wanted to trust him.

  "Wow, can I join the army now?" Xiao Qiang excitedly jumped up, but then seemed to think of something and looked at Shuiling'er, "But if I leave, what will you do, Sister Ling? There won't be anyone to help you, it'll be very hard for you."

  "Don't worry, Xiaoqiang, sister can handle it." Shuiling'er's head was still lowered.

  "Aquagirl, if you're willing, I'd like to invite you to the ranch to cook for the kids."

  Shuiling shook her head.

  After recruiting ten vagrants in the town, it was already evening. After arranging for them to live in Kaidi Fort, Yunyun also felt tired and went to bed early.

  This night, there were no stars or moon, and the Kade Castle was quiet. A black shadow lightly jumped over the wall of the Kade Castle, like a fallen leaf, without making any sound, and landed in the courtyard. Passing through the main hall and backyard, the black shadow quickly arrived at the main house where Liuyun lived, and came to the window. With a flash of cold light, the window was lightly pushed open, and the black shadow jumped into the room.

  In the dark room, a swift sword light shot towards the bed where Liú Yún was resting. With a soft "plop", the sword stabbed in fiercely and pierced through the quilt into the bed. The black shadow seemed to have discovered that something was amiss, quickly pulled out the sword and turned around to leave.

  "What brings you here at such a late hour, sir?" The light in the room brightened, and Liú Yún stood behind the door, watching with great interest the masked man in black.

  "Take your dog's life!" The man in black let out a cold hum, pounced forward, and a sword light flashed.

  "I have done nothing wrong, I don't know what I've offended you for, that you want to take my life?" Liú Yún's figure flashed several times in a row, dodging the sword light, and said loudly.

  The man in black stopped speaking and his sword moves became faster and more precise, each stroke aimed at Liú Yún's weak points, causing her anger to rise.

  One move "Empty-handed into White Blade", Liú Yún's hand landed on the hilt of the black-clad man's sword, then pulled with force, his knee suddenly exerting strength, heavily striking the black-clad man's chest.

  With a "clang", Liú Yún threw the long sword back in front of the black-clothed man who was lying on the ground clutching his chest, and coldly said: "You can't kill me. State your business, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless."

  The man in black picked up his sword and tore off the black veil from his face, revealing a young face.

  "You insulted my sister and severely injured my father. If you don't kill me, I will definitely kill you." The young man said with hatred.

  "Are you Shuiling'er's younger brother?" Liú Yún asked in a low voice, looking at the young man with a surprised expression.

  "The water is cold, I came here today just to take your dog life." After finishing speaking, he swung his sword and stabbed towards Liuyun.

  This time, Liú Yún didn't dodge, instead he withdrew the protective aura from his body and shifted to one side.

  A flash of blood light, the long sword pierced deeply into Liuyun's shoulder.

  "I have healed your father's wound and sworn a blood oath in front of your sister. I committed a crime in the past, and I will atone for it all my life. But I know how you feel, so today I'll accept one sword strike from you to release your hatred."

  Liu Yun grasped the sword blade with his hand, strongly enduring the great pain of his wound, and revealed a faint smile to the young man, saying.

  He stood frozen in front of Liuyun, he never thought that the man before him would make a blood oath to his sister, and what was happening before his eyes made him even more unbelievable, his hand holding the sword also loosened.

  On that day, Shui Han left home in anger after his sister was humiliated and his father seriously injured, vowing to take revenge. Two years later, he made some progress in his studies and hurriedly went to the imperial capital to gather information about his enemy. He then tracked down his enemy to Kaidenburg, where he coincidentally discovered Liu Yun recruiting people in town. He carefully prepared for this assassination, but he never expected that the situation would turn out like this.

  With a gritted teeth, Liuyun drew out his sword and threw it back into Shuihan's hands, then covered the wound with his hand and said bitterly: "If you feel unsatisfied, you can come again."

  "No!" Shui Han let out a loud cry of pain and flew out through the window.

  When Shui Han pushed open the door with a bloody sword, Shui Ling's heart was icy cold, because she knew that Shui Han had come back to take revenge, and he happened to be in Kaidenburg.

  "You... killed him?" Shui Ling'er's eyes welled up with tears as she trembled and asked.

  "Sister, is the Blood Oath true?" Shui Han didn't respond, and instead asked in a low voice.

  "No, no, why did you have to kill him? He's not that evil person anymore!" Shui Ling'er nodded, tears streaming down her face, and grabbed Shui Han's hand, asking in a sorrowful voice.

  "Ling'er, what's going on?" Water Tian, Shuiling'er's father, heard the noise outside and walked out of the house.

  "Daddy, brother killed him!" Shui Ling'er cried painfully and fell into her father's arms.

  "Water is cold, what have you done?" Shui Tian looked at his son who had left for many years and suddenly appeared with a blood-stained sword, also shocked and puzzled.

  Shui Han felt a wave of dizziness in his head, as if everything he had experienced tonight was just a dream.

  "No, I didn't kill him. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't have." He shook his head gloomily.

  "Then the blood on your sword is......" Hearing Shui Han's words, Shui Ling'er's heart suddenly returned to her body, and she regained some of her spirit. But she seemed to still be a bit unbelieving, and asked aloud.

  "He didn't dodge, and took a sword to the shoulder from me. He said, 'Take my one sword, and resolve my hatred.'" Shui Han once again recalled that shocking scene that had shaken his soul.

  Shuiling listened to Shuhan's words and struggled out of her father's arms, turning around and rushing out of the door.

  Shui Tian let out a soft sigh and pulled Shui Han into the house. As an old man, from what happened after Liu Yun returned to Kaidi Castle, he knew that something unusual must have happened to this young master.

  Although the events of the past made him resentful of Liú Yún to the bone, after the blood oath, this resentment gradually faded, and he even had a few points of admiration for this young noble who dared to take responsibility for his mistakes. Tonight's events further solidified his thoughts.

  Clouds wrapped around his wounded heart, he lay quietly in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

  At the moment when Shui Han's sword pierced towards him, feelings of loneliness, desolation, fatigue and disgust mixed with his desperate thoughts of his loved one surged up to his heart, making him truly wish that Shui Han could kill him.

  But in that instant, he thought of Shuiling's helpless weakness, Ah Lei's worried eyes, Yan Tian's white hair, the little ones on the pasture, the unfulfilled ambitions of Old Ka, the debt of love and tears to Hua Xiang, and finally dodged that sword.

  "What's wrong with me tonight?" Liú Yún thought bitterly, wincing in pain as he shifted his wound. The healing spell had little effect on such a severe injury, only managing to stop the bleeding from the wound.

  The door was gently pushed open, and Water Fairy stood at the entrance with tears in her eyes.

  As if after a century of silence, the voice of Shuǐ Líng (Water Spirit) softly echoed:

  "How are you?"

  "Ah, okay." Liuyun forced a smile and pointed at the chair beside the bed, saying:

  "Sit down."

  Shuiling sat down, her eyes fixed on him.

  "Why?"

  "A debt will be repaid eventually."

  "I don't want you anymore."

  "He is still young and should not have hatred in his heart."

  "I hope you can be a good person."

  "I hope so too."

  "You must live well."

  Then neither Shui Ling'er nor Liu Yun spoke again.

  Shuiling picked up a wet towel and gently wiped away the sweat on Liuyun's forehead caused by the pain of his wound.

  The clouds floated by, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart. He closed his eyes and whispered softly: "Water girl, can you temporarily forget the hatred in your heart and stay with me for a moment? I just want to feel less lonely when I fall asleep."

  "Good." Shuiling's voice was soft and gentle, reminding Liuyun of his mother's lullaby from childhood.