The last post ended when Su Ling cold-heartedly left Gu Yun alone in his room, still bound in ropes. Our heroine had no choice but to save herself. However, she got unexpected help from a mystical sword called Bing Lian. Afterwards, she was confronted with a harsh reality. How will Gu Yun react to her new “self”? Let’s find out!
Chapter One: The soul travelled to a different era, Part 2 of 4
The room was quiet again, Gu Yun was still tightly tied, only the red scarf draped on her face was taken away. Staring at the white curtains of the bed, Gu Yun was stunned. Who can finally tell her what exactly happened? Lying flat on the bed, Gu Yun breathed deeply a few times in order to calm down her restless heart. That unfeeling man should not be back tonight, she must free herself from her current predicament, at the very least first untie the rope!
It was a large room, about fifty square meters, the furnishing of the entire room is extremely simple, in addition to the bed where she’s lying now, the room has a set of wooden mahogany chairs and a low, small table, nearby the bed is an upright wooden stand where the helmet and armor were hanged up, all solid wood furniture, the impression the room gives off very much resembles the man who departed a while ago – tough and icy-cold.
Looking around the room, Gu Yun’s eyes lit up as she saw hanging next to the wooden stand a double-edged sword, the blade about four feet, its whole body is silver white, the scabbard has no ornamentation, the sword hilt has a white jade inlay, the whole sword imparts an aura of arrogance, coldness and aloofness.
She increasingly took a liking to the cold sword, in her mind thinking how to get close to the sword, as it just may help her escape from her present dilemma. Gu Yun took a deep breath, hoping to use the strength of her abdomen to straighten up, but unfortunately, she only made it halfway, again she collapsed on the bed.
Gu Yun frowned, what is really the matter? What have they done to her body to make her so weak, but Gu Yun is stubborn and not willing to be defeated. Struck with a sudden inspiration, Gu Yun put aside the failure of her effort to stand up, writhing like a worm she crawled slowly to the edge of the bed. First she extended her tightly bound feet out of the bed, then her hips, but unfortunately she could not control her movement, she landed on her b.u.t.t on the floor.
Sssh… – sucking in a mouthful of cold air, Gu Yun reluctantly sat on the cold floor, she did not know whether to laugh or cry. When was she, Gu Yun, ever in such an embarra.s.sing, sorry state, that even lowering down out of the bed has her already gasping for breath?
After resting for a moment, Gu Yun slowly straightened up, it felt good to be standing, but then after standing straight, immediately Gu Yun’s heart sank! Oh no, her height … she seemed to dwarf a lot! And her hair is ankle-length which made her inexplicably surprised, she has short hair for more than ten years already, how come this long hair?
Everything is too weird! Taking a deep breath, Gu Yun temporarily suppressed the questions in her heart, her goal now should be to untie the ropes. Looking at the hanging sword, Gu Yun frowned again, her hands are tied behind her back, according to her height, she will not even reach the tip of the sword.
She can only use those wooden chairs as a base to put herself up, but between the chairs and the sword there’s a distance of seven or eight meters, she is right now bound that even moving about is difficult, so how can she move the heavy wooden chair?
Inside the huge room the pale yellow candlelight flickered, Gu Yun’s tightly strapped thin body stood upright in the middle, but her calm face did not reflect cowardice and suffering. Her cold eyes observed once more the almost empty room, after concluding that there was no other alternative, Gu Yun began to take small steps and walked towards the wooden chair. a.n.a.lysis of the situation, weighing the pros and the cons, setting a definite goal, taking immediate action, this has always been how Gu Yun handles matters. The more difficult her plight is, the more fierce she becomes, this was the evaluation of the SWAT captain of her, she has never ever let herself down, this time it will be the same!
Positioning herself beside the wooden chair, Gu Yun slowly squatted, sat down on the ground again. Drawing up her legs, she kicked the corner of the standing wooden chair, it was much heavier than she imagined it would be, she has exhausted all her strength, the chair actually moved only a dozen centimeters!
Looking up at the not so distant sword, according to this rate, her wanting to get there, is undoubtedly a “Long March.”[1] Inwardly grinding her teeth, Gu Yun again bent her legs and kicked, repeating this over and over again, until her feet felt numb, but she did not rest for a moment. She did not know how many times she repeated the action, when at last the wooden chair reached the wall, Gu Yun slowly raised her head outside the window a faint red light has seeped through the room, heralding a new day has come.
Along her forehead sweat was dripping on the floor, Gu Yun bowed her head, casually wiped her head on her skirt, her soaked skirt was proof of how she worked hard the whole night. The slow, kicking activity numbed her feet, she rested for a moment until her legs finally regained some feeling, Gu Yun slowly stood up against the wall.
Dizziness. .h.i.t Gu Yun, she stood leaning against the wall for a long time until she slowly regained her strength. Moving forward to climb up the wooden chair, she finally reached the tip of the sword, caught the swordtail, pulled a long time until the sword fell down from the wall.
The ice-cold sword made Gu Yun feel very comfortable, fondly stroking it for some time, she slowly moved to the place of the sword hilt, pulled for a very long time, until finally the sword came out of its sheath.
Even if the sword was in her back, Gu Yun felt the moment it emerged out of its scabbard, a whiff of chilly air hit the surrounding, as one can well imagine the edge of the sword is sharp.
Carefully and slowly she positioned the sword near the rope on her hands, after Gu Yun felt the presence of the rope, she then pulled the hilt, thumb-thick twine unexpectedly was cut immediately. Suddenly freed from her bondage, Gu Yun almost fell off from the wooden chair.
The pure white l.u.s.ter of Bing Lian
(photo taken from pinterest.com)
After managing to gain a firm foothold, Gu Yun could not wait to appreciate the sword in her hands. The sword blade is spotlessly white as jade, nearly of the same color as the white jade hilt, she cannot make out which metal is it that can have this kind of pure white l.u.s.ter. The scabbard has no decorative motif, but on the sword blade fine fish scale pattern can be seen as a decorative design, the edges of the sword were suffused with glowing white cold light, on its white jade hilt were carved two characters, Gu Yun squinted her eyes to look –
Bing Lian?[2] This is its name, huh? Bold and forceful calligraphy, it was in stark contrast to the pale white jade. Sure enough, the sword held up to its name, she just realized now she was not mistaken, close to the sword one can really feel a current of cold air, truly it is a good mystical sword.
After admiring the sword for a while, Gu Yun picked up the scabbard, hanged back the sword intact on the wall. Her limbs finally freed, Gu Yun gently exercised her wrists. Suddenly, she was astonished and stared at her hands for a long time, her heartbeats jumped faster. These delicate white hands, jade slender fingers, beautiful and impressive, but … these are not her hands!
Because of the years of handling a gun, the thick calluses on her hands have reached the extent that they became annoying, but these hands, are not only ridiculously tender, but also frighteningly small! Shrinkage in height, ankle-length long hair, slender hands, far too many facts, telling her that this body is not hers! Oh heavens! This is just too crazy!
Mirror! She needs a mirror! She looked around the room, Gu Yun could not find a mirror.
The only thing that can reflect light is the Hu xin jing[3] on the chest armor piece hanging on the wooden stand, its bronze material can vaguely reflect a person’s face.
A battle armor with Hu xin jing; photo from sevenstarstrading.com
Gu Yun walked to the side of the armor, her heart calmed again, she observed the man last night wearing the armor, she estimated him to be about 185 centimeters tall, the wooden stand is almost as high as he was, and now her face barely reached the position of the Hu xin jing, so that means she is now just around 158 centimeters tall?!
She thought, to be 158 centimeters tall, this fact is already a fatal blow to her, however, when she saw the face now from the fuzzy mirror, when encountering difficulties she always try to remain calm, but in the end one low growl erupted out of her. “Darn!” She stared straight at the image on the Hu xin jing, her mind blanked for a brief moment, the woman in the mirror, no, this can only be regarded at best, this face belongs to a girl!
Very small snow white delicate face, beautifully arched eyebrows bent like a light willow leaf, small and exquisite rosy cherry full lips, the most attractive in the whole face are the eyes. Long eyelashes, bright and translucent, round like those of a tiny rabbit, shining innocent pure radiance, even most ridiculous are these watery eyes, as if any time ready to weep like now! This, this, this is simply too much, enough to drive Gu Yun to murder someone!
She doesn’t really hate this appearance, if she saw before this girl, she’ll also praise her that she’s cute, but now the problem is that if this face is hers, how can she endure it! Gu Yun who has always been known for being calm and rational finally punched the Hu xin jing! The Hu xin jing is forged out of pure copper, naturally her fist didn’t damage it a bit. After only lightly swaying the Hu xin jing still reflects the delicate face, except that before the adorable innocent eyes have transformed into eyes glittering with cold rage and fury …
Taking a deep breath for quite a while, Gu Yun has barely let herself calm down, she looked again in the makeshift mirror, she ironically discovered that the only feature which pleased her about this face are the two scars on the right cheek! She irritably turned backwards, she didn’t look in the Hu xin jing anymore.
Having busily spent the night, Gu Yun’s body covered in sweat felt hot wearing the layers of her tiered red dress, she took off the outermost complicated red cape gown, wearing only the inner red long dress, afterwards she lowered her head and carefully examined her body, she felt like crying but there were no tears to shed.
She finally undertood why even getting out of the bed was so difficult, why she also needed an entire night to push a chair, why she felt so weak … These two arms are basically two thin toothpicks indeed! Furthermore this waist now, her thigh before in comparison is even thicker …
Tall height, nimble body, vigorous physical stamina, powerful strength, these which she had always been intensely proud of herself before vanished instantly without a trace, Gu Yun for the first time felt anxious, with this body, how can she escape from her predicament, how can she save Qing?
Sunlight penetrated through the window lattices lighting up the inside of the room, it permeated and left mottled shadows in the room, the wind was gently blowing inside, her clothes sleeves fluttered, her hair floated, a sweaty Gu Yun shivered for no reason, she recovered her composure at once. What is she doing?! Qing is missing, whether she’s dead or alive is yet unknown, she still knew nothing about the circ.u.mstances of the present surrounding, at the moment all is not lost in despair, she’s still alive, her four limbs are sound, her mind is clear, she can capitalize on these!
Gu Yun decided to go out of the room to have a look outside, she only took a few steps to find, her ankle-length hair is quite troublesome, her brows furrowed, she walked towards Bing Lian, pulled out the sword, not in the least hesitant she raised and lowered the sword, a shining white light flashed, fine black hair at once landed on the floor. The jet-black supple hair was cut up to her waist. Originally she wanted to cut it shorter, but the long sword is not handy like a pair of scissors, she has to a bit reluctantly accept this.
Gu Yun hanged back the sword, with a smile she said: “Thanks, Bing Lian!”
Gu Yun gathered the thin waistband of her skirt, while walking out of the room she tied her hair into a ponytail, and so she hasn’t noticed when she lowered her head at that moment, Bing Lian hanging on the wall emitted a red glow, but it quickly vanished without a trace.
[1] Long March, idiomatically means a rigorous, tedious journey
Long March, 1934–1935. A yearlong trek to northwestern China by a large branch of the Red Army, the military arm of the Chinese Communist Party, to escape the army of the Nationalist Party. From 1927 until 1934, the Red Army fought the Nationalist Party forces by using guerrilla tactics that made Mao Zedong a world-famous military strategist. However, the Red Army was forced into a defensive position that it was not able to maintain because it ran short of medical supplies and weapons. By the end of 1934 the Red Army had to retreat, and it was able to evacuate many people before the Nationalist Party forces realized what was happening. About 100,000 Communists left the Jiangxi base and began their rigorous trek to northwestern China; this became known as the Long March. (Source: Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture / fofweb.com)
[2] Bing Lian lit. means Ice smelting/refining
[3] Hu xin jing (protecting heart ‘mirror’) is a small circular shield that is worn at the chest area to protect the heart. (Source: hui3r.wordpress.com / sevenstarstrading.com)