Chapter 2: Three Days of Intestine Severance

  When they heard that the whole city was being searched, those thugs who were just rejoicing with their money boxes suddenly began to cry and put on a long face.

  "Miss Mu, that's a top-notch martial artist in the Jianghu world who has reached the fifth level of Tianren. How could she be kidnapped? The person who kidnapped her must be incredibly powerful! We're just peripheral members of Mount Shu, and our most skilled member is only at the second level of Tianren. Most people are still lingering in the first level, cultivating their energy and nourishing their lives. Are we being sent to search for the bandits just to get ourselves killed?"

  Upon hearing the order to close the city gate, Tang An and Mu Hongyu instantly turned pale.

  But in the midst of their nonsense, they drove the horse carriage out of the city gate.

  As they heard the sound of the city gate closing with a loud rumble, the two were suddenly both startled and delighted.

  This heart-pounding feeling tormented the two people, making them anxious and uneasy, their backs were drenched with cold sweat, but in the end they managed to escape.

  But just then, the eyes of the inner door disciple glanced over and saw the strange thing about the horse carriage where Tang An and others were.

  "That carriage is clearly traveling steadily and quickly, why are there still two good horses tied up beside it as spare? This must be strange!"

  He stared and stared, when suddenly an idea flashed through his mind. He shouted loudly: "There's something wrong with that horse carriage ahead! Stop it for me!"

  At this shout, Tang An's heart suddenly cried out in dismay.

  "Oh no! I've been found out!"

  Mu Hongyu's face also turned pale in an instant.

  She wasn't afraid of being discovered because she was confident in her own abilities, the guards at the city gate absolutely couldn't stop her! But then she heard the voice of the approaching person.

  That was clearly Jin Jian Nan, the great disciple of Chi Jin Sword King Rui Tu, a master at the fifth peak of the Tian Ren realm.

  "He had heard other disciples boasting that Jin Xian Nan, with just a long sword in hand, was invincible in Jingnan, rarely meeting his match! Moreover, the Red Gold Sword lineage was extremely skilled in hidden weapons. If I were to encounter Jin Xian Nan, I would definitely lose more often than win."

  Although both are masters of the fifth realm of Tianren, the gap between them is enormous. Mu Hongyu has just entered the fifth realm of Tianren, while Jin Jiannan had already stabilized in the fifth realm ten years ago. In terms of the use of their own strength and mastery of techniques, Jin Jiannan is far superior to Mu Hongyu.

  "Didn't expect Jin Jian Nan would come, big brother really is willing to spend money."

  Muhong Yu gritted her teeth, about to drill out of the carriage. "I'll hold him back, you hurry and run! This is my fate, I don't blame anyone, I Muhong Yu have accepted it!" After finishing speaking, the white jade sword in her hand flipped over, revealing a cold and gloomy sword glow, and she was about to jump out of the carriage.

  "Wait!"

  Tang An grabbed her and wouldn't let her go.

  He was extremely entangled in his heart at this moment. On the one hand, he had originally planned to let Mu Hongyu attract attention for himself, so that he could escape smoothly. Otherwise, he would have left Shu Mountain long ago. It's just that he was also afraid of encountering things like this in front of him.

  If he were to encounter him, with his current level of martial arts skills, he wouldn't even need to use any powerful characters, just a few small fries and he might not be able to handle it. He's only seven years old, has been practicing martial arts for only one year, and has already entered the third tier of Tian Ren, which is an unexpectedly good thing.

  Tang An was very afraid of encountering such a situation, so he never dared to escape. Moreover, in the past three months since entering the inner gate, Tang An also knew that Cang Feng had sent someone to monitor himself. However, the person monitoring him seemed more like they came to protect him and not let Wang Ruitu have an opportunity to make a move.

  However, the person monitoring him would not follow Tang An all day long, as he also had his own affairs. Moreover, Tang An's daily routine was extremely regular, with most of his time spent practicing martial arts by the stream every day, only returning to his room at night. The monitor only needed to occasionally come to the waterfall to take a look and would know where Tang An was. After three months, although it was very difficult, Tang An had roughly figured out the other person's habits, and it seemed that during the period from noon to dusk, he would always disappear for a while.

  Tang An originally had no intention of leaving Mount Shu, as it was indeed an excellent place to cultivate martial arts. However, he couldn't stay since Wang Ruitu wanted to kill him and he couldn't just wait for death. So, he had been planning his escape all along. When he heard that Mu Hongyu wanted to run away from her marriage, he instantly understood that this was probably his only chance!

  Use Mu Hongyu to attract everyone's attention and then make a run for it yourself!

  Because Tang An believed that Wang Ruitu would never be unreasonable. When he and Mu Hongyu appeared at the same time, he naturally knew how to choose. Is there anything more embarrassing than a daughter-in-law who dislikes her own son as useless and wants to escape marriage?

  As for Tang An, he is just a little kid in his eyes! At most, it will only damage the reputation of his son. But three months have passed, and not many people know the truth anymore. Even if Tang An goes around the world to publicize it now, who would believe him?

  Tang An almost clearly knew what Wang Ruitu was thinking, and he could also guess what Cang Feng thought about this matter.

  Human nature is often universal; as long as one stands in another's shoes and thinks about the problem, many things will have an answer.

  "I chose to escape, and I'm afraid it's what Cang Feng would most like to see? I can tell that he's actually a very kind-hearted person. He even had many opportunities to secretly have me killed, which would eliminate any possibility of me tarnishing the reputation of Shu Shan. But he didn't! Although he can no longer be considered a gentleman, it has to be said that he's a good man."

  But such a good person, for Shu Mountain, is not necessarily a good thing! Good people are often hesitant.

  Now, Tang An also saw a glimmer of hope for escaping, but he hesitated.

  He was hesitant and wondered if he should continue to take advantage of Mu Hongyu.

  "Why is my heart so uneasy? I was originally going to use her! But now, why did I stop her again? She won't die if she goes out, at most she'll just be caught and forced into marriage. What's the big deal about marrying someone you don't like?"

  "No! She already knew she couldn't escape. But why did she still want to go out and fight? She clearly knew she was absolutely no match for that person. She knew she would lose, and she knew the outcome, yet she still wanted to go out. Why?"

  "She's trying to buy me time so I can escape!"

  Thinking of this, Tang An firmly blocked Mu Hongyu and didn't let her get off the car.

  "Damn it! Let's just consider this a gamble! Otherwise, if we let her go like this, I'll be uneasy for the rest of my life!"

  At this thought, Tang An's breathing suddenly became rapid.

  Tang An was a man who never gambled. He liked to consider all possible factors before doing something. Although the current situation is still within his consideration, unfortunately, his heart has changed.

  "No matter if this woman is crazy or has a kind heart, anyway I, Tang An, am a real man and there's no reason to let a woman take the lead!"

  Tang An quickly took off his outer garment, revealing the golden silk armor underneath. He handed the golden silk armor to Mu Hongyu.

  "Don't move for now, they're not sure if we're really in the car. Now they just have some suspicions, and we still have a chance. First, put on this life jacket, if those people really want to search the carriage, you can escape through this hole and dive down, they definitely won't find you."

  "It's going to rain soon, I just heard the coachman pulling down the waterproof canvas on both sides of the carriage. From the outside, it looks like a recessed compartment. You can hide in this recess and unless they want to search the bottom of the carriage, it's impossible to discover you. But I saw that man came riding a horse. With the pride of being a disciple of Mount Emei's inner door, I think he would absolutely not personally come to search the carriage. And with the virtue of those city gate guards, if they could also discover the mechanism inside this carriage, then it would really be that heaven and we can't get along."

  Muhong Yu's heart stabilized for a moment, and he slowly put his sword back into its scabbard.

  Seeing the golden silk armor handed over by Tang An, she didn't take it. Instead, she asked: "I put on the golden silk armor, what will you do?"

  Tang An saw that she didn't take it, but instead directly stuffed it into her hand. "I'm wearing it and it's useless. Later on, if we're really discovered by them, you can wear the armor to fight back and hold out for a while longer, so I can run further too."

  Muhong Yu stopped talking, quietly putting on his armor, his right hand still tightly grasping his white jade sword, but his body unintentionally blocked Tang An behind him.

  "As long as I don't die, they will absolutely never catch you."

  Tang An heard this and smiled slightly, but in his heart he always felt that there was something strange about these words. It seemed as if they should be the ones he himself had said.

  When he thought that the seemingly weak girl in front of him was actually a master who had cultivated to the point of having unparalleled divine power and possessing strength of over 5,000 kilograms, the strange feeling in his heart grew even stronger.

  Just then, there was a loud "rumble" in the sky.

  With this loud crash, the heavy rain that had been brewing all day finally started pouring down.

  Just as the guards walked from the city gate to the carriage, the rain had already become unstoppable.

  The thick rain curtain, Jin Xian Nan who was riding on a fine horse, in an instant got his entire body drenched by the heavy rain.

  The rain hit his face and in a moment, his eyes were splashed with water droplets several times. He couldn't help but wipe them off with his hand.

  Seeing this, someone immediately took a large umbrella to cover his head. He nodded in satisfaction, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the horse-drawn carriage in front of him.

  The carriage is very large, and just by looking at the evenly painted bright tung oil, you can tell that the decorations inside are also about the same.

  Jin Jian Nan waved his hand at the guards around him: "Open it."

  The guard who had just checked him was somewhat dissatisfied, but he didn't dare to say anything. Jin Jian Nan was the eldest disciple of Chi Jin Sword King Ruitu, and his prestige was deep and profound in his daily life. In Shushan, there were only a few people who were not afraid of him. As a small person like himself, being scolded by him would be an injustice that couldn't even be complained about.

  The guard still expressed his strong discontent with his grumbling attitude.

  The cart driver saw so many gleaming curved knives being washed in the rain, and the cold light splashing from the knife mouths was even more piercing to the eyes. For a while, he was even more frightened, trembling all over his body, completely unaware of what he had done to provoke these evil spirits.

  He just kept kowtowing on the ground, thinking to himself that if he kowtowed more, those adults would be satisfied and wouldn't kill him.

  During this time, he didn't even ask himself once, what was it all for?

  It doesn't matter what a cart driver thinks, in this kind of world, who would care!

  This is a chaotic world where human life is as worthless as straw, only the strong have the right to speak! A cart driver, even if he died, apart from his family, who else would care?

  The rain was pouring down, and a thick white mist had risen from the ground, making it impossible to see more than tens of meters away.

  The guard rummaged through and pulled out a few pieces of cloth, only to find that inside were still more pieces of cloth. Except for the cloth, there was nothing but cloth. He couldn't help feeling annoyed.

  That rain-soaked guard was already in a bad mood, and when he turned around to see Jin Xian Nan sitting on his horse with an air of superiority, he became even more annoyed. "Damn it, what's there to be proud of? Just because you were born into a good family and had a good teacher? Does that mean I'm destined to be treated like dirt by you? Screw you!"

  However, when he ran to Jin Jian's face, he immediately put on a flattering expression and said respectfully: "Report to the adults, there is indeed no doubt that it is cloth inside the car. And this car driver is called Liu Da, who is a local of Qinghe Town. I absolutely won't recognize him wrongly. He shouldn't have any problems either."

  Jin Jian Nan's eyebrows furrowed upon hearing this, and with a sudden "whoosh", he whipped out his horse whip and struck the guard's shoulder. His face cold, he angrily scolded: "Whether there's a problem or not is for me to decide, when did it become your turn to speak out of turn!"

  The guard lowered his head and didn't dare to respond, but his eyes were filled with resentment, and in his heart, he had already cursed eighteen generations of Jin Xiangnan's ancestors.

  Jin Jian Nan lowered his head and scanned the surroundings, seeing the guards' lazy appearance, he suddenly snorted: "A bunch of useless things!" After finishing speaking, he pushed open the large umbrella on top of his head, turned around to ride, and quickly rushed towards the city.

  But he had only run a couple of steps when he suddenly thought of something, and a cold smile slowly spread across his face. He pulled out a "soul-chasing nail" from his pocket and threw it fiercely at the rear carriage of the horse-drawn vehicle.

  The bullet shot in with a speed so fast that it made a hissing sound as it pierced through the air, and with a "poof" sound, it entered the train carriage.

  A one-inch square of dark little hole was left on the carriage, and it had been shot through!

  "Even if there really is someone inside, once they're hit by my Soul-Tracking Nail, they'll be dead within three days! Mu Hongyu, Wang Rui truly isn't worthy of you. Since you don't want to marry, wouldn't it be even better if you were dead!" Jin Xuan Nan thought this and suddenly let out a cold laugh.

  The rain hit the roof of the horse carriage and kept making a crackling sound.

  The noise was chaotic and messy, but it perfectly covered up Mu Hongyu's faint cry of pain.

  Soul-staking nails pursued his life, and Jin Jian Nan didn't hold back in the slightest, using all his strength to make this originally extremely sharp hidden weapon even more terrifying.

  "Hah!"

  The golden armor was just a symbolic block, but it was instantly pierced by this deadly long nail.

  Although Mu Hongyu had cultivated to the fifth realm of Tianren, her physical body was extremely strong, but after all, she hadn't cultivated her protective true energy yet. This Soul Chaser Nail was a top-ranked hidden weapon in Jianghu, specializing in breaking defenses. In an instant, she only managed to let out a muffled groan before covering her left shoulder and bending down at the waist.

  The pain is coming from my shoulder and it hurts a lot.

  Extremely painful!

  This nail has a kind of highly toxic poison called "Three Days Soul Breaker", which means that if someone is poisoned, they will die within three days if they cannot find a doctor who can cure them.

  But the horror of this "three-day soul-breaking" is not just that!

  The horror of it lies in that anyone who has been poisoned will suffer endless pain for the next three days.

  The toxin will follow the flow of true qi in the body, slowly entering the meridians throughout the body of the poisoned person. Later, the meridians throughout the body will wither under the influence of the toxin.

  Watching his own true energy dissipate bit by bit, accompanied by the pain of being stung by a thousand needles and bitten by countless insects in his meridians. Most people who were poisoned would go mad and beg their companions to kill them within three days, with red eyes.

  Because the pain in despair is not so easy to bear!

  Tang An was blocked by Mu Hongyu from behind and did not see the scene where the soul-chasing nail shot through the partition of the carriage and into Mu Hongyu's shoulder.

  But he heard Mu Hongyu's muffled hum, and his face turned white in an instant. His heart skipped a beat, knowing that something bad had happened.

  "Miss Mu, what's wrong with you? Are you hurt? Let me take a look."

  From the moment Mu Hongyu tried to rush out and delay time for Tang An to escape, Tang An had already regarded Mu Hongyu as a true partner.

  Through thick and thin, inseparable companions in life and death!

  In just a short while, Mu Hongyu's forehead had already sweated profusely, apparently in extreme pain. Several times she felt herself on the verge of fainting from the pain. Yet she still gritted her teeth and didn't utter a word about it.

  Mu Hongyu bit her teeth, turned around and forced a smile on her face: "I'm fine, just a flesh wound. You go take a look if they're catching up."

  Tang An looked at Mu Hongyu with a suspicious gaze, seeing her brow furrowed deeply as if she was trying to endure something, and the hand grasping the White Jade Sword had turned pale to the point of showing bone, with the blue veins trembling non-stop on that pale hand.

  Through the small opening where the soul-stirring arrow shot in, Tang An quickly glanced outside. Outside was a vast expanse of white rain curtain, and except for this continuous rain, there wasn't a single human figure.

  "They didn't come after us, don't worry. Just wait another half hour and it will be dark. When night falls, we'll ride our horses in the opposite direction, make a big circle, then cross the Dawang River and continue on. That area is rarely visited by people, with mountains, rivers and streams densely intertwined, forming a natural labyrinth. Once we enter there, even if they know we're inside, they won't be able to catch us even if they set up a net in advance."

  The dry rations you bought will be enough for us to eat on the road for seven or eight days, and with many wild game in the mountains, although we will suffer a bit, we can definitely get through safely. Once we cross over the Mengchong Mountain and enter Yanzhou, we will be completely safe. The Shushan Sword Sect is powerful, but it's only within the borders of Jingzhou. I don't believe they can catch us in Yanzhou!

  Tang An asked one more question: "Is your injury really okay? Although our time is urgent, you can also deal with the wound first. I'll wait for you."

  Muhong Yu simply shook her head, she felt that her senses were becoming more and more dizzy, and she couldn't hold on for much longer.

  Tang An didn't notice and continued talking to himself, detailing his route of escape to Mu Hongyu.

  As he watched the rain outside getting heavier and heavier, Tang An's heart grew more and more delighted.

  "This rain is really helping us out, I was worried they could follow the hoof prints to find us. But now, the heavy rain has washed away everything on the road, even if they have divine assistance, they will absolutely not be able to find us."

  Tang An's heart had finally put down, but when he turned his head to look back, he saw Mu Hongyu's face pale, lips blue, forehead sweating profusely, and she had already fainted. He suddenly felt a sense of unease.

  As soon as Mu Hongyu was turned over, a three-inch long nail was seen inserted into her shoulder. The long nail directly pierced the golden silk armor that covered her outside. Fresh blood seeped through her clothes and emerged from her shoulder, but it had already turned black and emitted a foul smell of fish sauce.

  "She's been poisoned! What's going on? It must have been that last strange noise just now!" Tang An's mind didn't know why, but at this moment he only felt a wave of annoyance. As for the escape plans that had flashed through his mind earlier, he had already thrown them all to the back of his mind.

  "The most urgent task at hand is to detoxify and treat her wounds first! Since she can stall for me, I absolutely cannot abandon her at this time!"

  With the heavy rain, the sultry air in the carriage had dissipated a lot, but Tang An's forehead was now covered with beads of sweat.

  "What kind of poison did she take? Why is her complexion so bad, and her breathing suddenly weakened so much! This poison is too severe, if we can't find an effective treatment method immediately, even with her deep internal strength, she won't be able to withstand the invasion of this toxin. In three days, at the rate of this toxin's invasion, all her meridians will be completely destroyed, and even if she's cured, she'll still be a useless person!"

  Tang An wiped the sweat from his forehead, carefully tearing open the clothes on Mu Hongyu's shoulder to reveal white skin that had already begun to show signs of necrosis. The area where the shoulder blade was hit by the soul nail was originally a depression under the collarbone, but now it looked like an over-fermented rotten bun, filled with black tissue fluid.

  Tang An's dagger sliced through, and instantly a pungent smell of blood and pus flowed out from inside.

  The horse carriage was moving on the mountain road, swaying back and forth, bouncing up and down. Tang An's hands were steady, but he was still afraid that his movements would be affected.

  Looking at Mu Hongyu's tightly furrowed brow, it must be extremely painful.

  "Bear with it a bit, I'm going to dig out this nail, it might hurt a little. After I pull out the nail, I'll cut away these dead muscles. If not, the wound will heal slowly. Bear with it a bit, if it's really too painful, just shout out."

  Tang An said, not caring whether Mu Hongyu had heard or not. He gritted his teeth and slashed down with the dagger. Suddenly, a jet of black blood spurted out, and the wooden boards that were splashed by the black blood immediately emitted a "sizzling" sound.

  Tang An took one look and found they were all rotten.

  "This poison is really too severe! So quickly, the muscle tissue around her shoulder blade has all necrotized! What should I do? If this continues, she'll die! It would be great if there was a Panacea now!"

  Tang An panicked, he didn't want Mu Hongyu to get into trouble, but at this moment, he had no leads, and was frantically rummaging through his small package, hoping to find a miracle inside.

  The small package he carried contained many kinds of medicinal powders and pills given by Shu Mountain to his disciples, some for treating internal injuries, some for treating bruises, some for detoxification, and some for insect repellent...

  But how could there possibly be something in here that's effective against this poison?

  Muhong Yu didn't know when she woke up, she looked at Tang An's extremely nervous appearance, and a hint of comfort flashed in her heart. At least at this time, even if she was dying soon, there was still someone worrying about her.

  Tang An saw that she was awake and suddenly felt a pang in his heart, and his eyes began to well up with tears.

  Miao Yu shook her head weakly, her voice barely audible: "Don't bother looking anymore, this is the Three-Day Soul-Breaking poison that Jin Jian Nan specifically had Miao Jiang's great pharmacist prepare. It's famous throughout the land and you can't cure it. Although we managed to escape, it seems like heaven isn't on our side. This might be my fate after all. At least I fought for it, if I die, I won't have any regrets. From now on, just go by yourself. Don't worry about me..."

  Tang An simply shook his head, his expression firm. Mu Hongyu let out a sigh and didn't speak either, quietly listening to the raindrops pattering against the roof of the carriage. As she listened to this sound, she seemed to finally feel that she was free.

  The sky was already very dark, with heavy rain outside, and the carriage was also pitch black, with only a faint light remaining, which was emitted from Murong Yu's increasingly dim eyes, that was the glow of her life burning out!

  Tang An sat in the carriage, constantly banging his head with force, and muttered nervously: "You won't die, I must think of a way, there must be a way..."