"Crow, are we safe now?"
Bai Niao and Crow fled with great speed, covering two to three kilometers in less than five minutes, finally reaching the primeval forest of Nanshan. They gasped for air, their chests heaving.
Both had been bitten by venomous snakes on the first floor of Tang Sect's Tongtian Pavilion. Though they escaped promptly and received antivenom, their bodies felt unprecedentedly weak. After escaping the hospital and witnessing Dugu Jian again in their hurried retreat, they were drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted.
"Bai Niao, don't let your guard down. The one chasing us is Dugu Jian. Her power is beyond anything you or I can comprehend."
Crow produced a medicine bottle, poured out two white pills, swallowed one himself, and then handed the remaining to Bai Niao. "This is Ju Qi San. It can restore our strength in a short time. Take it quickly, then let's flee."
Upon hearing this, Bai Niao did not hesitate. He took the white pill from Crow and put it in his mouth.
The medicine dissolved upon contact with his tongue.
Soon, Bai Niao felt his strength returning, eventually recovering to his state before being poisoned.
However, before Bai Niao could feel any joy, he sensed an extremely dangerous killing intent from behind him. Turning his head, he saw a wooden sword flying rapidly towards him.
"What?"
Bai Niao recognized it as the wooden sword Dugu Jian had been playing with earlier. His face turned ashen with fear.
As the wooden sword approached, Bai Niao arched his body backward, evading its sharpness, and his hand, quick as lightning, grabbed the hilt.
However, the moment he grasped the hilt, Bai Niao let out a scream.
The hilt of the wooden sword felt like a blade capable of slicing through metal and cleaving stone. It instantly severed his five fingers.
"Bai Niao!"
Seeing this, Crow's face changed. He quickly drew a short saber from his waist and slashed at the wooden sword.
"Crack—"
With a snapping sound, Crow's supposedly indestructible dog-head curved saber broke instantly. His right hand, struck by the flying wooden sword, was severed.
"Crow, why would a wooden sword attack on its own?"
Bai Niao, utterly bewildered by what he was witnessing, endured the searing pain and asked Crow.
"I once heard that mortals use swords within three feet, while immortals command their swords from a thousand miles away. I never imagined that commanding a sword to kill could actually exist in this world."
Crow watched the wooden sword hovering in the air, not attacking them again, his pupils filled with shock. "Bai Niao, Dugu Jian has infused her sword intent into this blade. It is now Dugu Jian's will. Be extremely cautious, do not underestimate it."
"Commanding a sword to kill? How is that possible?"
Hearing Crow's words, Bai Niao's eyes widened, unable to believe it. After all, it sounded too fantastical.
"Dugu Jian's very existence is an impossibility in this world. Therefore, anything that happens to Dugu Jian is possible."
Crow quickly stemmed the gushing blood and said to Bai Niao, "From now on, we flee separately. This way, at least one of us might survive."
"Run—"
As Crow uttered his last word, he bolted towards the left.
Seeing this, Bai Niao immediately fled to the right.
They believed that even if this sword was controlled by Dugu Jian, it couldn't pursue both of them simultaneously.
Despite their injuries, driven by the instinct for survival, their escape speed surpassed their previous pace. They soon vanished from sight.
The wooden sword behind them, after they disappeared, pursued Crow.
"It's chasing me?"
Crow had fled for seven to eight kilometers and was about to stop for a breath when the wooden sword suddenly appeared in front of him and lunged at him with a swift strike.
No one could describe the power and terror of this strike. Crow could only feel that the moment this sword attacked, even the surrounding air seemed to solidify and become oppressive. The primeval forest, previously filled with the sounds of birds and beasts, suddenly fell into a deathly silence.
Clearly, even the birds and beasts felt the deadly threat posed by this sword, and were terrified into silence.
"So be it. It seems I am destined to die. Since that is the case, I will buy Bai Niao some time to escape."
Crow knew that this wooden sword's ferocity was beyond his ability to resist. However, to buy Bai Niao time to escape, he poured all his strength into a rapid dodge, evading the fatal blow, and then began to sprint again.
But after fleeing three hundred meters, Crow stopped. The wooden sword had already pierced through his chest from behind, directly ending his life.
After killing Crow, the wooden sword began to fly back. Passing over a small river, it plunged into the water to wash off the blood. Two minutes later, it returned to Dugu Jian's hand.
"You reap what you sow."
Dugu Jian sheathed the wooden sword and said impassively, then turned and left the wooden house.
Half an hour later, in a villa within the Emperor's Villa Garden, Ye Shishi brought a fruit platter to Shen Lang and offered him a green grape with a fork.
Shen Lang smiled and bit into the grape.
As Shen Lang chewed, Ye Shishi said with a smile, "Five minutes ago, Dugu Jian sent a message. She was practicing her sword in the Nanshan primeval forest and happened upon the man and woman who ambushed me last time."
"And then?"
Shen Lang asked with a smile.
"Dugu Jian originally intended to capture them and interrogate who sent them. But they resisted fiercely, and were ultimately killed by Dugu Jian."
Ye Shishi sighed, a hint of regret in her voice.
Shen Lang said indifferently, "Killed them? They were nothing but clandestine hounds, not worth mentioning."
Wang Yuyan, overhearing their conversation, felt a flicker of pain in her eyes.