A layer of dark blue-green liquid coated the dagger's blade, gleaming eerily in the light of the luminous pearl.
One glance was enough to tell it had been treated with deadly poison.
Immediately afterward, three black shadows vaulted over the courtyard wall at the same time.
Like three dark leaves blown down by the wind, they landed soundlessly in the courtyard.
Upon landing, the three shadows split up, lunging at Zi Yuner, Lin Shisan, and the door leading into the inner room of the side courtyard, respectively.
They had more than one target.
Lin Shisan's pupils abruptly contracted. He had already reacted in that instant.
He executed the Seven Star Step, shifting three feet sideways like a wisp of smoke.
The shadow lunging at him missed with a claw strike. The wind of the strike tore through the air where he had just stood, leaving three gouges in the ground.
Yellow Dragon First Stage.
In the instant they passed each other, Lin Shisan sensed his opponent's cultivation. He was far stronger than the two Dragon Scale Guards who had previously come to probe him at the Guest Courtyard. Moreover, all three men's moves carried an utterly vicious ruthlessness, every strike aimed mercilessly at a vital spot.
Zi Yuner moved as well.
The instant she turned sideways to dodge the poisoned dagger, her right hand had already closed around the flexible sword at her waist.
Sword light flashed in the night, tracing an arc like a slender silver snake and forcing back the shadow lunging at her.
But the wound on her left shoulder split open the moment she struck. Blood seeped through the fabric, staining half her sleeve red.
The flexible sword twisted again in midair, its tip thrusting straight toward the shadow's throat.
The strike was still fierce, but