Out of the Pass

Just then, the inn's heavy, dilapidated wooden door was slammed open!

A figure swept in like a whirlwind, carrying a foul stench of blood and a skyful of flying sand. The gust made the lamps flicker erratically and shattered the oppressive atmosphere in the main hall.

"Boss, a room! A room and hot water!"

Qin Shuang clamped his right arm around the bleeding body in his embrace while using his left arm to support Hong Yifei, who was staggering just as badly. He charged straight for the inn's second floor.

"Hey, what's wrong with you..." Jin Xiangyu furrowed her pretty brows, but before her words had even faded, she had already chased after him.

Xu Xianchun watched with a sinister gaze as Qin Shuang disappeared through the entrance of a guest room on the second floor. A frightening glint flashed in his eyes.

"Chief, those are our arrows!" Jia Ting, sharp-eyed and attentive, noticed that the person Qin Shuang was carrying had Eastern Depot arrows stuck in them.

"I saw them!" Xu Xianchun's face was filled with icy killing intent.

"What should we do, then?" Lu Xiaochuan asked.

"The people in this inn are getting more complicated by the minute, and they're all enemies, not friends! We won't act rashly for now. Just guard the entrances and exits, and patiently wait for the Lord Eunuch to arrive with his men!"

"Yes!" Jia Ting and the others nodded in unison.

Inside the guest room, Qin Shuang propped the half-conscious Hong Yifei against the corner of the wall, then carefully placed the cold, limp body in his arms on the earthen kang.

Wolf Girl, Xiao Jin, had used her flesh and blood to shield Qin Chao after his infiltration of the Eastern Depot camp was exposed, taking the fatal poisoned arrow meant for him.

At that moment, Xiao Jin's face was twisted with pain. Her thick black hair was soaked with sweat and clung disheveledly to her drenched neck and forehead. Her pale lips trembled slightly from the agony.

The black short arrow was lodged just below her right shoulder blade. Its head had sunk completely into her flesh and bone, while the fletching had been soaked black with blood, its vicious tail pointing toward the sky.

Jin Xiangyu leaned against the door, her eyes narrowed without a trace of a smile. The corners of her lips habitually curved upward, but none of her usual smooth charm remained, leaving only a cold appraisal. "If you've brought trouble upon yourself, don't bring it into my inn!"

"An Eastern Depot barbed arrow!" Qin Shuang's voice scraped over his throat, hoarse to the point of being almost unrecognizable.

He groped inside the tattered folds of his clothes and pulled out a small celadon medicine bottle. He gently set it on the greasy tabletop and pushed it toward Jin Xiangyu.

Three glittering golden beans went along with it.

"There's a difference between men and women. Please lend the lady boss a hand." Qin Shuang's tone was earnest.

Jin Xiangyu's gaze swept over the medicine bottle, paused on Qin Shuang's profile—streaked with blood and dust yet taut as iron and stone—and finally settled on the arrow shaft that was still trembling faintly.

"Hmph." The sound was light yet weighty, carrying a hint of realization and faint mockery. "My Dragon Gate Inn... opened its doors for business, but now it's doing a physician's work."

She walked straight toward the slender figure curled up on the earthen kang, her scarlet skirt soundlessly brushing across the filthy floor.

"At a time like this, what's there to fuss over? Come and lend a hand!" Jin Xiangyu's voice was not loud, but it struck the heart like an iron nail.

Qin Shuang had no choice. He immediately bent down and firmly held Xiao Jin around the waist and abdomen, along with half of her arm.

Jin Xiangyu bent over, her fingertips cold as ice as they swiftly brushed over the leather sheath of the short dagger at Xiao Jin's waist.

Clang! The short dagger slid free with a clear ring. Its narrow blade reflected the dim yellow lamplight and illuminated Jin Xiangyu's brows, which had suddenly turned cold and severe as iron.

"Girl!" Her voice sounded beside Xiao Jin's sweat-damp temple, low and piercing. "This arrow's got enough force to take your life. Bite down hard. Don't let out a single sound."

As her voice fell, the icy blade had already sliced steadily into the flesh around the arrow shaft.

All the muscles in Xiao Jin's body suddenly spasmed. Her body sprang up, only to be pressed firmly back down by Qin Shuang.

She bit down hard on her lower lip. A thick taste of blood welled between her teeth as they sank deeply into her flesh.

The roar rolling in the depths of her throat was forcibly suppressed by a ferocity like that of a wild wolf in the desert, transforming into a long string of whimpers bursting from her nostrils.

The icy blade tip remained exceptionally steady beneath Jin Xiangyu's fingers, precisely cutting through the flesh locked tight by the barbs and the areas where flesh had fused together.

Jin Xiangyu moved quickly and viciously, with a butcher's practiced skill. She gripped the arrow shaft and suddenly twisted and pulled!

"Pfft..."

A stream of dark, almost purplish-red thick blood sprayed out like an arrow, splattering the nearby pillar and floor.

The arrow came free, carrying a piece of flesh torn away by the barbs. Jin Xiangyu casually flung it onto the floor.

Xiao Jin's entire body went taut like a fully drawn bow. In the midst of unbearable agony, she threw back her head, her neck stretched straight as a line, and a completely crushed muffled sound escaped from deep in her throat.

Then her entire body suddenly relaxed, collapsing like a snapped bowstring. She sagged weakly to the side, with only a faint breath remaining, thin as a thread.

Jin Xiangyu reached out and took the steaming cloth soaked in strong liquor from the attendant. Without hesitation, she pressed it directly against the wound, deep enough to show bone.

The sizzle of flesh scorching rose with a plume of charred white steam. Xiao Jin's body convulsed violently again, and even unconsciousness could not extinguish the heart-rending pain.

Jin Xiangyu did not stop. She picked up Qin Shuang's celadon medicine bottle, evenly sprinkling the precious powder into the wound that was still slowly oozing blood, then swiftly wrapped it tight with clean strips of cloth, winding them around and around.

Jin Xiangyu finally tied a firm, neat knot over the wound. She straightened and looked down at the girl's profile, drenched in sweat and blood.

The girl was extremely weak from blood loss and pain. Her slender brows were faintly furrowed, carrying the wildness and endurance of a wolf cub.

Jin Xiangyu did not wipe the blood from her stained fingers. Instead, she looked at Qin Shuang and asked in a faintly hoarse voice, "What about her poison?"

"It's already been neutralized!" Qin Shuang picked up the words, secretly admiring Jin Xiangyu's sharp eye.

"Good, then. Call me if anything happens." With that, Jin Xiangyu did not spare the girl another glance. She turned and was about to leave.

"Wait!" Qin Shuang called out. Facing Jin Xiangyu's puzzled expression, he continued, "Lady Boss, I'd like to do business with you!"

"Oh!" Jin Xiangyu was naturally interested when she heard the words "do business."

She pulled a handkerchief from her clothes and wiped the blood from her hands. Then she dragged over a bench in the room, sat down, and asked, "Since we're doing business, we should get acquainted first. This humble woman is Jin Xiangyu. And you, honored guest?"

"I am Qin... Dao!"

Jin Xiangyu's eyes shifted, as though she had seen through something, yet she did not care. "Tell me, what kind of business?"

Seeing this, Qin Shuang did not waste words and went straight to the point. "I want to take a few people out of the pass!"

Jin Xiangyu fell silent for a while before slowly speaking, her voice drawn out, slow and soft. "How many people?"

Qin Shuang did not conceal anything. He pointed at Xiao Jin and Hong Yifei and answered honestly, "The three of us. There are four more downstairs."