Unruly Phoenix Xiaoyao

Lou Zigui was extremely bewildered when he heard Little Gyrfalcon’s yowling. Were falcons supposed to make that kind of noise? “Is it talking?” Lou Zigui asked Ning Xiaoyao.

Ning Xiaoyao broke out into a nervous sweat. “Supreme Commander, wait for me here with the other soldiers.”

“What?” Lou Zigui was confused as to what Ning Xiaoyao wanted to do.

Ning Xiaoyao looked up at Lou Zigui. Right, this man would never let her go alone. What should she do?

“Is there something wrong?” Lou Zigui pressed. It was obvious that something was troubling her.

Since Lou Zigui was trying to protect Ning Xiaoyao from the rain and talk to her, his body was bent over on his horse. Ning Xiaoyao’s eyes were swirling as she aggressively punched Lou Zigui on his temple.

Lou Zigui was completely caught off guard by the impact and his vision turned black.

The soldiers who witnessed this were Σ(△ °|︴What’s going on? Now that His Majesty has beaten Grand Preceptor, has he changed targets? Does His Majesty find Supreme Commander unpleasing to the eye as well?

“Ahem,” Ning Xiaoyao cleared her throat, lifting Lou Zigui. She addressed the soldiers, “Take Supreme Commander and head back to the main road, I’m going to check things out ahead.”

A confused military officer stammered, “Your Majesty, you’re going to chase after the Grand- Xie Wenyuan alone?”

“Forget Grand Preceptor,” Ning Xiaoyao solemnly stated. “Right now, your mission is to take Supreme Commander and run as fast as you can. Protect him well. Army bros, you can do it!”

Ning Xiaoyao handed Supreme Commander to the military officers. They were all dumbfounded.

“Protect him well, and protect yourselves too. See you later!” Ning Xiaoyao patted Little Red on the head, and the warhorse began to gallop away with Ning Xiaoyao.

The abandoned soldiers: ....

“Supreme Commander? Supreme Commander?” yelled the military officer holding onto Lou Zigui.

Lou Zigui remained unconscious.

“He won’t wake up!” The military officer turned to his comrades in desperation.

“Should we chase after His Majesty? Are we just going to let His Majesty run off alone like that?”

“Why did His Majesty insist on going alone?” another soldier asked.

The soldiers all shook their heads helplessly. Who knows?

“Maybe there’s something up ahead that Supreme Commander can’t know about? Otherwise, why the heck would His Majesty knock him out for?” suggested a soldier.

The soldiers thought for a while. Their comrade seemed to have hit the nail on the head. fr𝚎e𝙬𝚎𝚋𝚗૦ν𝚎𝒍.c૦m

“Let’s go,” a lower-ranked military officer turned his horse around.

“We’re really leaving?” exclaimed a soldier.

“Do you dare to disobey an imperial edict?” The officer stared challengingly at the soldier.

The troop returned the way they came.

The military officer looked down at the unconscious Supreme Commander on his lap. His head hurt just thinking about it. Once Supreme Commander wakes up, how is he going to explain why His Majesty had hit him? (Author: You don’t have to explain this...)

For a while, Ning Xiaoyao rode wildly with Little Red. Little Gyrfalcon was flying above Ning Xiaoyao’s head until it landed on Little Red’s head. “Xiaoyao, it’s just up ahead. We’re almost there.”

Little Red stopped.

In front of Ning Xiaoyao was a small forest. Loud battle cries rang out from the forest. Agitated, Ning Xiaoyao asked, “Has Second Young Master caught up to Grand Preceptor?”

“I’ll go check,” Little Gyrfalcon took off towards the forest.

Ning Xiaoyao dismounted and instructed, “Wait for me at a further distance, Little Red. I’m going to take a look. I’ll be back soon.”

Animals were able to sense danger far better than humans. Currently, Little Red felt extremely uneasy. He bit onto Ning Xiaoyao’s sleeve and refused to let her go.

Ning Xiaoyao lightly patted Little Red on the head. “If cannons can’t hurt me, I can’t possibly be buried alive by the landslide. Relax, I’ll be back soon. I have to bring Second Young Master and the rest back too.”

Little Red only released Ning Xiaoyao when he heard she was going to rescue the others.

“That’s a good boy,” Ning Xiaoyao affectionately rubbed the hair on Little Red’s neck. Then, she turned and dashed towards the forest. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she hadn’t fully recovered her strength and wanted to save some energy, she wouldn’t have risked bringing Little Red here.

Little Gyrfalcon flew back and landed on Ning Xiaoyao’s shoulder. “Xiaoyao, it’s not Xie Wenyuan. Second Young Master is fighting with a bunch of people I’ve never seen before!”

“Oh, then they must be Grand Preceptor’s men.” 𝙛𝘳𝒆𝒆𝒘e𝗯n𝗼𝘷𝚎𝚕.𝒄૦𝓶

On the other end of the forest, Pei Yan was severely outnumbered by the enemies. However, Pei Yan had brought his best men. Although they were disadvantaged in terms of numbers, when they actually fought, he didn’t lose out.

Ning Xiaoyao ran out of the forest. She looked at the slope before her. Although it was a slope, it looked more like a mini hill. There weren’t any trees or turf, and the yellow soil was exposed. Mud was being carried down the hill by rainwater. Pei Yan was fighting the enemies in the muddy yellow water.

“Xiaoyao, tell Second Young Master and the rest to run!” Little Gyrfalcon was so agitated that he was frantically flapping its wings.

Ning Xiaoyao noticed Pei Yan slashed the man in front of him off his horse. “Second Young Master!” she screamed.

Pei Yan jumped in shock upon hearing Ning Xiaoyao’s voice. He quickly turned around to look.

Ning Xiaoyao dramatically waved at Pei Yan to get his attention.

“These are roving bandits!” Pei Yan yelled at Ning Xiaoyao. “Xie Wenyuan is colluding with these bandits, go back and pass on the message!”

Second Young Master Pei said “pass on the message” out of courtesy, but what he really wanted to do was tell Ning Xiaoyao to scram. What if he was injured by a bandit? Or captured? What would he do then? What the hell was Lou Zigui, Shadowgale and that whole bunch doing? How could they let His Majesty run here alone?!

“The slope is going to collapse!” Ning Xiaoyao shouted. “You have to retreat quickly! Forget about Xie Wenyuan!”

Pei Yan: ...

“Come on, hurry up!” Ning Xiaoyao hollered. She was hopping anxiously. “Do you need me to cling onto your big thigh and beg?”

Pei Yan looked down at the muddy water and put away his sword. “Retreat!” he yelled.

The troops retreated into the forest with Pei Yan. Ning Xiaoyao let out a sigh of relief.

The roving bandits were either standing or astride their horses. When they saw the soldiers leave, they stopped fighting.

“You guys should hurry and leave too!” Ning Xiaoyao shouted at the bandits.

“Let’s go.” Pei Yan suddenly appeared before Ning Xiaoyao, stretching out an arm to her.

Just as Ning Xiaoyao’s hand closed around Pei Yan’s, an arrow was aimed right at the centre of his back.

Ning Xiaoyao slapped the back of Pei Yan’s horse and yelled, “Take your master away quickly!”

The horse snorted, and galloped away into the forest.

“You!” Pei Yan screamed at Ning Xiaoyao as he was being carried away by his horse. “Why the hell are you still standing there? Run!”

Ning Xiaoyao’s fingers were gripping tightly around the arrow that had almost killed Second Young Master. She pointed at the man who had shot the arrow and hissed, “I’ll remember you, you little rat. I’ll remember you!”

“Go!” Pei Yan screeched from within the forest. Desperately, he tried to stop his horse, but his horse refused to stop even though it was usually obedient. With Pei Yan on its back, it ran out of the forest.

“Let’s go!” Ning Xiaoyao shouted at the soldiers who were still by her side.

“Young Lord?” One of the bandits asked the man who had released the arrow.

The young man had a longbow in his arms. He looked at Ning Xiaoyao, who was anxiously chasing the soldiers into the forest. Based on how this person had managed to catch the arrow he’d shot, he couldn’t possibly shoot him dead.

“If you’re still going to stay there, you’ll all be buried!” Ning Xiaoyao hollered. “Do you want to die?”

“Let’s go!” the young man ordered.

The bandits were going to go around the hill to continue heading east.

Ning Xiaoyao:... the hill is going to collapse and this bunch of crazies think that going around the hill will be safe?!

A loud cracking noise rang out as the soil began to break apart. “You’re going to be buried!” Ning Xiaoyao urged the soldiers. “Run!”

The soldiers urged their horses into the forest. It wasn’t that no one was thinking of Ning Xiaoyao. Everyone was thinking of Ning Xiaoyao, but everyone thought that one of their comrades would take Ning Xiaoyao away on their horse. Just like that, Ning Xiaoyao was left behind. （╮(╯▽╰)╭）

Ning Xiaoyao wanted to run, but she noticed that the bandits were about to be buried by the soil and rocks tumbling down the hill. She stamped her foot in frustration. Gritting her teeth, she ran to the bottom of the hill. She grabbed onto two people who were still alive, and turned to run back to the top of the hill. It wasn’t possible to outrun the soil and rocks with the speed that they were coming down, but she could only try her best to run towards where the soil was flowing from.

The two men that were being dragged along by Ning Xiaoyao didn’t struggle. Even if they were on opposing ends, the two men could tell that Xiaoyao was trying to save them.

----

“Where’s His Majesty?” Pei Yan forced himself off his horse and anxiously questioned the soldier who had galloped up to him.

The soldier craned his neck backwards. “His Majesty is at the back.”

Pei Yan eyed his own horse, before pulling the soldier off his horse. He mounted the soldier’s horse and lashed the horsewhip. He was going to go back to look for Ning Xiaoyao.

“Second Young Master, the hill has really collapsed!” A deputy general rode his horse to Pei Yan, and grabbed hold of the reins of Pei Yan’s horse. “You can’t go back.”

The soldiers gathered before Pei Yan in a frenzy, but Pei Yan didn’t see the slightest glimpse of Ning Xiaoyao. He shouted for His Majesty several times, but didn’t hear Ning Xiaoyao respond once. Second Young Master turned around, yelling desperately at the deputy general, “Where’s His Majesty?!”

At this moment, the deputy general realised that something was wrong. Did no one take His Majesty out on their horse?

The sound of trees toppling over rang out through the forest.

“Fu*k!” Pei Yan cursed. He waved the horsewhip, shook off the hand gripping onto the reins before urging his horse back into the forest.

Ning Xiaoyao was standing at the top of the hill with the two bandits. Her brows were furrowed. “You’re really bandits?”

The two bandits looked dazedly at the raging flow of mud below their feet. They couldn’t understand how they’d escaped.

Ning Xiaoyao rubbed her face, hauling the two men forward. Did they think it was easy for her to hop from stone to stone to get up? She pointed at one of the bandits in front of her, the one who had shot the arrow. “I heard one of your men call you Young Lord. Who are you?” The young man immediately went from dumbfounded to being on guard.

“Are you trying to pick a fight?” Ning Xiaoyao waved her fist at the young man. “I will responsibly tell you that you can’t beat me.”

The young man: ...

“Speak. Who are you?” Ning Xiaoyao wiped her face again. This rain is really helping her save a lot of face washing water.

“I am from the rebel forces. I am not a bandit.” replied the young man.

Ning Xiaoyao sized up the young man. He was quite tall, and a little tan. He didn’t look fat, but she could tell from when she’d dragged him up just now that he was someone who looked thinner when dressed, but was more sizeable once undressed. As for his face...... Ning Xiaoyao looked the man up and down, before settling to stare at his face for a long time. The final conclusion she came to was that apart from the slightly distracting scar at the corner of his mouth, his appearance was flawless.

The young man felt goosebumps from the way Ning Xiaoyao was sizing him up. “What are you looking at?”

“How did you get this scar?” Ning Xiaoyao pointed at the corner of the man’s mouth. She felt that this scar had to have a story behind it. (Author: How are you still able to worry about this? (￢_￢))