Severing Time & Space

Betrayal, Part II

"Do you really think you can run from me?!"

Wu Jian felt iron fill his mouth as he gnashed his teeth together. His breathing had grown heavy as he raced through the trees, leaping over roots, ducking under branches. His hanfu kept getting snagged while he ran, so he had long since ditched it and was now wearing nothing more than his undergarments.

He barely felt the cold night air.

The blood pumping through his vains was like fire.

His chest and legs burned as he ran.

"Come back here! I won't let you escape, Wu Jian! I'm going to kill you! Do you hear me?!"

Wu Fei's shouts echoed to him as he ran, the older boy hot on his heels. Wu Jian had managed to keep ahead purely by stint of knowing this forest better than his foe. He and Wu Meiying had used this area as a training ground for the past several years.

One of their training methods was playing a game of combat hide and seek. The goal was for one person to hide and the other to seek. Once the seeker found the person hiding, the hider had to run and use any means at their disposal to throw the seeker off their tracks. Wu Meiying said this kind of training would help them fight in uneven terrain.

It looked like their training really was coming in handy.

But he knew that running away like this wouldn't grant him victory.

He couldn't keep this up forever.

The Wu Clan compound was much bigger than most people might have expected. There were hundreds of buildings built upon the several dozen square lí of land, and of course, there was a section dedicated entirely to forest. It was not something the Wu Clan had planned. They had simply expanded their compound so much that it touched borders with the forest.

The forested area had trees so thick you couldn't see more than a bù in any direction. Many roots stuck out of the ground, hidden underneath bushes and shrubs. A person would trip if they weren't careful.

Wu Jian had attempted to lose his pursuers in this forest, but that had turned for naught. The shadow called Wu Lan was simply too good at corralling him back into the forest. Whenever he came close to an exit, those knives of hers would pierce the area before him, forcing him to dodge.

She knows she can't hit me, so she's at least keeping me from leaving.

Wu Jian had proven apt at dodging her attacks. The woman could not contain her killing intent, so he could always sense her attacks seconds before she launched them. He dodged around trees, allowing her poisoned knives to hit the thick trunks instead of him.

He also had Wu Ming to worry about.

"RRRAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!"

Feeling adrenaline pump through his vains, Wu Jian leapt backward and maneuvered into a series of back handsprings as Wu Ming swung his jian downward. The attack slammed into the ground and rent a gash on the earth. Had Wu Jian been even a second late, that could have been him.

Wu Ming looked like an enraged monster. His face had burn scars covering it, blistering red still, and his eyes were those of a beast, consumed by madness. He made Wu Jian shiver with fear.

I can't keep this up...

Wu Jian understood what they were doing. He was keeping them at bay by using the terrain to his advantage, but they were preventing him from leaving this small forested area. The guards that normally patrolled the forest also weren't coming. He could only assume they had been bought off. If this situation kept going on like this, he would eventually run out of energy.