"Hyah-"
Clip-clop, clip-clop-
Under the moonlight, two people on one horse galloped across the wilderness.
Unlike on the way out, Dongfang Liren now sat in front, riding the horse, while Ye Jingtang had become the mudguard and backrest.
Sitting behind her, Ye Jingtang wrapped his right arm around her willow-slender waist and let his left arm hang down. He said softly,
"There's no need to hurry so much. I'm not badly hurt."
"Not badly hurt? You could barely stand after taking a few steps just now. If I hadn't caught you in my arms, you would have fallen flat on the ground. What if we run into another opponent before we get back?"
"Uh..."
When Ye Jingtang had dealt with Hu Yanjing earlier, he had finished by drawing and sheathing his saber with one hand. He had indeed gone overboard with his showmanship, pulling his left shoulder painfully. But an injury like that had nothing to do with his legs and certainly wouldn't have made him unsteady on his feet. Stumbling after two steps had merely been his way of finding somewhere to lean.
Still, Silly had a point. If they encountered another top expert now, a few more exchanges might well leave him flat on his back. He said nothing more, merely holding her waist and keeping watch over their surroundings.
The place where they had encountered Hu Yanjing was only a dozen or so li from camp. After a short gallop, they returned.
The horse bandits' earlier disturbance had woken all the guards in the party, who were now patrolling the surroundings. The three Horse Gang underlings who had unwittingly kicked an iron plate had been beaten to death on the spot with a flurry of punches. Their bodies had already been buried, and She Long and the