Lu Xin the rock wolf spoke in a tone heavy with self-reproach. Dong Rui was the mortal enemy of the entire rock wolf clan, and after finally catching up to him, Lu Xin had actually let him slip away!
He Lingchuan looked at the slender cuts crisscrossing its face. One had even slashed across its right eye, nearly blinding it. Beads of blood trickled down its jowls, and it had not even had time to lick them away.
He had no choice but to comfort his companion instead. "If this fellow were really that easy to catch, he wouldn't be wanted across multiple states." Going by their two encounters, Dong Rui was exceptionally cunning. If a strike failed, he fled immediately, never lingering or tangling with his target, regardless of whether another opportunity seemed to exist.
Such a cautious and prudent man was hard to capture.
Word had it that Dong Rui did not possess many demon puppets, and each required painstaking cultivation. He had already lost a werewolf, so this ghost ape was likely his most potent weapon; he could not afford to lose it under any circumstances.
That was why Dong Rui was steering his giant bird behind them, looking for a way to recover the ape.
Under these circumstances, He Lingchuan ordered his men to stay hot on its heels.
Dong Rui attempted to descend to retrieve the ape, but Shan Youjun drew his bow and loosed an arrow. The arrowhead grazed the giant bird's wing, giving it such a fright that it pulled up into a rapid climb.
He Lingchuan glared at him. "Pathetic!"
It was not that Shan Youjun had aimed poorly; rather, the strange bird possessed extraordinary spiritual awareness and flipped over at the critical juncture to dodge.
He touched his nose and drew two arrows in succession, preparing to make his next shot count.
Yet after that scare, the giant bird refused to fly down again.
As for why He Lingchuan did not trigger the Fusheng saber's "Sure-Throw" property, the reason was simple: the distance between him and Dong Rui exceeded ten zhang...
The two sides remained locked in this stalemate for more than ten li.
The ghost ape could run no farther. He Lingchuan and the others could hear its rasping, wheezing gasps, like a punctured bellows. Earlier, He Chunhua's guard had drawn the Ghost Eye Bow and wounded its lungs. Every breath it exhaled blew out a puff of bloody mist.
If this continued, it would become He Lingchuan's greatest prize of the year.
Right at that moment, Dong Rui suddenly blew a bamboo flute. The shrill notes carried far through the dark night sky.
The ghost ape heard it, threw its head back with a roar, and surged forward again!
It was squeezing out the very last of its life potential.
The rock wolf suddenly warned, "Not good, I smell vegetation and flowing water!"
Ahead? He Lingchuan immediately urged everyone to accelerate.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Mid-stride, the giant ape suddenly leaped, its body shrinking dramatically in midair, and then—
It plunged downward!
He Lingchuan pursued a few steps before violently reining in. His bo beast reared up on its hind legs with a long, piercing whinny.
Three more paces forward, and they would have plummeted off a cliff.
The cavalrymen behind also hauled back their reins in haste.
Stretched across their path was a pitch-black rift canyon!
The flat, open terrain ended here. The chasm was over a hundred zhang across, and as for its depth...
It was too dark to see clearly. He Lingchuan dismounted and kicked an ostrich-egg-sized stone over the edge.
Clatter, crash—the sound of the rock tumbling through branches and leaves echoed up.
He Lingchuan listened intently and seemed to catch the faint rush of water.
Down below seemed to be a mountain ravine, with trees along the cliffside and water running along the bottom.
The ghost ape had jumped straight down, vanishing into the darkness, while the giant bird in midair circled once, dipped its head, and dived straight after it, clearly intending to rendezvous at the bottom of the ravine.
After all, Dong Rui was flying high and could see far, allowing him to prepare in advance; He Lingchuan and his men were at a distinct disadvantage in that regard.
Was that it? Would their pursuit end here?
Unwilling to let it go and refusing to dally, he produced a grappling cord and said to Shan Youjun, "Get your gear out and follow me."
With that, he leaped from the cliff!
Of course, he would not repeat his past mistake of being forced off the precipice by the Ghost Eye Bow beside Xianling Lake. Mid-fall, he hurled the grappling cord, hooking a branch along the cliff face and swinging out with the momentum.
Shan Youjun followed suit. The others had no grappling cords and had never practiced such a skill; unwilling to stand idle on the cliff edge, they found a coil of rope and lowered it down, preparing to haul the two back up later...
At the ravine floor, large trees were scarce, but there were dozens of smaller trees, followed by dense underbrush and mossy ground.
He Lingchuan touched down after two swings. The ravine bottom was even darker than the ground above; swinging further with the cord risked slamming into trees. Besides, the smaller trees likely could not support his weight.
He quickly regrouped with Shan Youjun, and together they ran in the direction where the giant ape had fallen.
Jagged rocks jutted up everywhere across the darkened ravine floor, making the footing treacherous.
Neither of them had heard the giant bird take to the air again, so Dong Rui was likely—perhaps—still here.
Sure enough, after a short while, Shan Youjun whispered to him, "Look up."
He Lingchuan looked where Shan Youjun pointed and saw a protruding boulder on the cliff wall ahead. Dong Rui was crouched atop it, and the giant bird was perched beside him.
From their angle, Dong Rui was frantically bandaging something, busy beyond measure.
It was not hard to guess that it was the shrunken ghost ape. Having suffered heavy wounds beforehand and being pursued for dozens of li afterward, it had long since drained all its life potential. After Dong Rui retrieved it, it had fallen into a critical, dying state and desperately needed immediate first aid.
Otherwise, Dong Rui would never have risked stopping here.
He Lingchuan and his companion could see so clearly because a light source had been lit beside Dong Rui. After all, treating the demon puppet required illumination. Still, the man was meticulous; he had chosen this midway ledge in advance so he could flee at a moment's notice if danger struck.
The two lowered themselves and crept forward.
Foliage blanketed the ravine bottom, so they placed their steps with immense care, dreading making any noise. Whenever the gaze of Dong Rui or the giant bird swept past, they froze in place.
After creeping forward for roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the direct distance between the two sides closed to within ten zhang.
Once they reached this point, He Lingchuan felt far more assured.
By now, Dong Rui appeared to have finished dressing the giant ape's wounds. He pulled a transparent glass vial from his robes and gently swirled the red liquid inside.
He Lingchuan shot Shan Youjun a glance and slowly drew the Fusheng saber, while Shan Youjun drew his bow and nocked an arrow. For a hardened horseman like him, shooting eagles on the open plains had once been second nature; he would never allow this strange bird to slip away from his arrow a second time!
Perhaps because both of them had locked onto their targets, Dong Rui suddenly sensed something. His hands paused, and his gaze swept in their direction.
There was no more time to wait.
He Lingchuan took one final line of sight and hurled the Fusheng saber.
No matter how restrained the blade was, its edge gleamed far brighter than an arrowhead. Seeing a flash of silver from the darkness below, Dong Rui dropped flat without a second thought.
The great bird behind him possessed exceptional vision. It lunged forward and pecked violently, striking right against the face of the blade.
With a sharp clink, the tip of the bird's beak was shorn clean off.
Since it dared to cross blades with Fusheng, the saber showed no mercy, though the impact knocked the weapon off course.
Pursuers were here! A chill ran through Dong Rui. He flung a handful of smoke down toward where He Lingchuan and Shan Youjun hid, scooped up the ghost ape, and rolled off the rock.
He and the strange bird had worked together for years and rarely made an error. The bird banked, spread its wings, caught him squarely on its back, and immediately prepared to soar upward.
If it took to the skies, He Lingchuan would have no way to reach him.
Fortunately, the Fusheng saber spun through the air and suddenly curved back on a return arc!
Dong Rui had just looked up when he saw a flash of cold light before his eyes. Shrieking in terror, he raised his short wand to parry—
Indeed, he had just produced the wand, intending to teach He Lingchuan and his pursuers a lesson.
Instead, Fusheng whirled past, severing the tip of the wand along with his fingers!
Dong Rui cried out in agony as something slipped from his palm and tumbled off the bird's back.
Just then, Shan Youjun loosed his arrow, aiming straight for the strange bird's wing.
The creature was extraordinarily alert, rolling in midair even more nimbly than a sparrowhawk.
Yet Shan Youjun had anticipated its evasion, and his second arrow was already on its way, sinking right into its bat-like wing.
The creature let out a harsh squawk and wobbled toward the ground, gliding forward as though it were about to crash.
He Lingchuan and Shan Youjun sprinted toward it at once.
Yet after only a few strides, the strange bird abruptly stabilized its descent. Flapping its wings twice, it skimmed low across the ground and slipped behind a stand of trees!
With the trees blocking the way, Shan Youjun's bow was useless. He could only watch as the bird pulled into a steep climb from behind the cover, rising steadily toward the sky.
Only then did the two realize that its bat-like wings actually split into upper and lower sections, much like the wings of a butterfly. Shan Youjun had crippled the lower section, but that did not prevent the upper wing from functioning independently; at most, its flight was slightly less agile.
The creature was devilishly clever. Knowing that taking off immediately would only get it shot down, it had feigned a crash to put distance between them before ascending again.
"Dammit!" He Lingchuan stamped his foot and sighed, knowing it was out of reach.
Shan Youjun's face flushed crimson, though thankfully the heavy darkness hid his embarrassment. "Master, I... it's my fault. Please punish me, Master!"
The strange bird squawked loudly from the sky, as if mocking him incessantly.
"If punishing you could do any good—if it could bring those three back—I'd punish you severely!" He Lingchuan sighed. "Forget it, let's head back. Father still needs men back there."
The two made their dejected way back. As they passed the protruding rock, He Lingchuan felt a sudden stir in his mind.
When Dong Rui took the return strike from Fusheng earlier, hadn't something fallen from his grip?
He walked over to the spot, casually struck a fire-lighter, and searched the ground.
Before long, Shan Youjun called out, "Found it, found it! This..." He picked up an object and spat. "It's Dong Rui's severed fingers."
What He Lingchuan was looking for was the item that had slipped from Dong Rui's hand.
Just as he was about to turn away, the divine bone necklace around his throat suddenly grew warm.
Huh?
This thing had been quiet for a long time—so long that He Lingchuan had nearly forgotten it. Why was it making its presence known now?
The last time it had grown warm was because a treasure was nearby.
He Lingchuan walked in circles, gauging the location of the treasure by the necklace's temperature shifts.
Finally, the toe of his boot tapped against something hard and round, which rolled twice in the grass.
What was this?
He parted the grass, picked the object up, and held it to the light.
"A medicine bottle."
It was the glass vial Dong Rui had produced earlier. Before he could uncork it, He Lingchuan's Fusheng saber had come whistling in. Fortunately, the vial was remarkably sturdy; having dropped to the ground, it remained completely intact, without a single drop of the red liquid spilling out.
With the bottle in hand, the divine bone necklace settled down, as if its urgency had been satisfied.
Chapter 260