Chapter Two: The Azure Dragon Sacred Sword Fells the Ominous Bird

The silver-gray blade exuded a chilling aura, its coldness almost tangible. The scabbard was adorned with a fierce, lifelike dragon, its claws and teeth bared, while the hilt was carved with ancient swirling clouds, evoking an air of timelessness. When the firelight from the Bi Fang bird illuminated it, wisps of white spiritual energy wound around the sword, complementing its grandeur and the hilt’s elegance; upon closer inspection, it possessed an unmistakable majesty, as though fit for a sovereign ruler.

Caught off guard, Bi Fang counterattacked in haste. Though it shattered the massive boulder with its freely swirling flames, the powerful recoil sent it hurtling backward, crashing into the rocky cliff, its cry echoing in misery.

“Prepare to die, foul beast!”

The girl in green silk recovered instantly from the earlier chaos. Swift-witted, she wielded her flute, unleashing a barrage of icy shadows that, like fleeting blossoms, surged toward Bi Fang with biting cold.

She was exceptionally clever. Knowing Bi Fang’s fiery nature, she skillfully used the flute’s chilling energies to attack, compensating for her own slightly inferior power.

Yet Bi Fang was not an ordinary creature. Born from the primordial chaos of heaven and earth, it was one of the four great beasts ruling the wilds, with its own formidable strengths.

Before the cold shadows could encircle it fully, Bi Fang struggled upright, wings beating like giant fans. Scarlets flames erupted from its feathers, transforming into countless fire lotuses, which soared forth and intercepted the icy shadows mid-air.

The intense fire from the lotuses utterly neutralized the flute’s cold aura.

The girl saw her opportunistic strike fail, but her pride would not allow her to retreat. Gritting her teeth, she leapt back, landing lithely atop a fallen boulder.

Steadying herself, her slender hand flicked through the air, and the flute vanished, replaced by a swirling cloud fan.

As the shadows faded, she began to dance, her graceful form floating in midair, translucent green robes billowing with the wind. Every smile and frown lent her an ethereal beauty.

But beneath beauty often lies danger, an eternal law of nature.

Indeed, after a few seconds of her aerial dance, Bi Fang broke through the oppressive shadows, unleashing three streams of innate fire toward her, its rage uncontained.

The innate fire seemed intent on consuming all in its path. The intense heat forced Bai Mu, who watched from afar, to retreat step by step. In the valley, flowers, grasses, and trees had already been reduced to ashes.

Now, the girl had gathered her strength. Before the roaring flames reached her, her delicate wrist swept through the air, and the cloud fan summoned a fierce wind that pushed Bi Fang’s flames back, smashing against its crimson wings and sending it reeling again to the base of the cliff, crying out in agony.

The girl in green hovered above the valley, surveying Bi Fang’s scorched wings with a look of triumph and disdain in her eyes.

Bi Fang, grievously wounded, shrieked wildly. Its eyes flashed with murderous light, and its previously burned wings spread wide like blades, slashing through the air toward the girl in an explosion of wrath and fear.

A torrent of arrogant flame, laden with immense force, surged toward her.

Her smile froze on her lips, shock overtaking her.

“Watch out!”

Bai Mu, who had been observing coldly, shouted, his hands instinctively grasping the ancient sword thrust in the earth before him. Leaping like a yellow crane, he swung the blade to intercept Bi Fang’s fiery assault.

Countless sword shadows erupted from the ancient blade, their fierce aura flooding the entire valley.

The fire launched by Bi Fang collided with the sword’s killing intent and was immediately shattered, dissipating without a trace.

Bi Fang’s body was slashed by the swirling sword energy, blood the color of fire streaming from its wounds—a pitiful sight.

The sword energy, now filling the valley, also enveloped the girl in green silk, threatening her like a sharpened blade poised over sacrificial beasts.

Breaking through this encirclement would not be easy for her.

Yet to sit and await death would not suit her indomitable spirit.

When the sword energy had fully surrounded her, she acted swiftly. Her slender hand gripped the cloud fan and danced it through the air at lightning speed.

As her movements grew more vigorous, a transparent barrier formed around her, its radiant light shielding her body completely.

The sword energy struck the barrier, emitting sizzling sounds, but the force was absorbed as though sinking into mud, failing to harm her.

Meanwhile, Bai Mu, after leaping with the ancient sword, had not expected such devastating power from his haphazard strike—he had nearly slain Bi Fang outright.

Though he had trained under his master Bai Ze on Eastward Mountain for more than a decade, he had never studied sword techniques, nor touched a sword hilt.

Today, wielding the ancient sword in battle was truly his first time.

Though wounding Bi Fang was cause for joy, extremes breed counterforce.

After his forceful blow, Bai Mu felt a mysterious energy surge from the sword, coursing through his hand and meridians, piercing his heart and plunging into his core.

It rampaged through his seven channels and eight vessels like a sharp blade, finally gathering as a fierce sword aura that exploded within him, sending him crashing to the ground and spraying blood onto the blade.

The ancient sword, stained with his blood, let out a dragon’s roar and burst forth with golden light, forming a spectral dragon that shot into Bai Mu’s body before fading away.

After landing, Bai Mu was barely conscious. Forcing himself to look toward the battleground, he saw Bi Fang struggling to rise from the rubble, frantically beating its wings and fleeing in panic toward the summit of the valley.