Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

Ou Yun paused for a moment, then looked down at the longsword in his hand.

"This sword was made from the Abyss Scorpion—"

"It's not the scent of a scorpion."

The lord interrupted him, his hoarse voice sounding like a drill in his mind.

"It's him...it's actually him..."

"Who?" Ou Yun asked instinctively.

The lord did not answer.

It slowly retreated, its massive form disappearing back into the mist. The mist began to gather, carrying the lord's figure as it retreated into the depths of the forest.

Before it left, it left behind a message.

"I'll ask you again next time we meet. I hope you can give me a... reasonable answer then."

The fog completely dissipated.

The forest returned to silence.

The river surface shimmered, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the ice walls, reflecting a warm golden light.

It was as if the thrilling confrontation had never happened.

It came softly, just as it left softly—

The three giant beasts slowly relaxed their guard.

Ou Yun stood on the riverbank riddled with cracks, looked at the longsword in his hand, and then at the direction in which the thick fog had receded.

"..."

Ask me next time we meet?

You talk as if I know it all!

You're pretending to be a motherfucker!

Ou Yun hesitated to speak.

Leng Ruolan also looked puzzled, "What's the background of this sword? How come even the Forest Lord recognizes it?"

"It refers to recognizing the aura of the sword, not recognizing the sword itself."

Chen Hao spotted the key point and spoke rapidly, "In other words, it doesn't recognize the sword itself, but rather the source of the materials used to forge it—the Abyssal Scorpion."

"So that means this lord knows the Abyss Scorpion? Or knows some kind of being behind the Abyss Scorpion?"

Leng Ruolan sheathed her twin blades, walked over to look at the sword in Ou Yun's hand, and then looked in the direction of the forest.

"It said it will come back to you... It seems we need to find out what secret this sword holds."

At this point, Ou Yun suddenly remembered a detail.

When he was forging the sword with crystals, the purple flames in the furnace did indeed have a particularly strange buzzing sound, unlike anything he was forging.

He didn't think much of it at the time, since the crystal itself was a lord-level material, so it was reasonable for the refined product to be powerful.

But now that I think about it, that buzzing sound seems rather unusual?

"Let Black Hawk's dad take a look when we get back."

Ou Yun sheathed his sword. "His father lived a long time; he might know something."

"Its dad isn't even as big as your palm yet, what could he possibly remember?"

"Then let's wait for it to grow up."

"Waiting for a newly hatched bird to grow up to the point where it can remember its past life would take forever—"

"Then feed it some abyssal crystals and see if it eats them."

"...You really dare to feed him anything."

Storm Hawk flew down from the rock and landed in front of Ou Yun, tilting its head and staring at the sword hilt.

"Gagaga".

Ou Yun shook his head. "I don't understand."

"..."

The Frost Roc also came over. It looked at the sword, then looked up at Ou Yun and let out a low growl.

"Coo coo".

Leng Ruolan also shook her head, "It seems we need to acquire a skill that allows us to understand animal language."

The giant tortoise, however, was the most direct.

It scooped a huge pebble directly from the river, carried it in its mouth, and placed it at Ou Yun's feet.

Then it raised one of its front paws and carved a few crooked symbols on the pebble.

The group squatted down and examined it for a while: "...What is this? Tortoise script?"

As Chen Hao stared at it, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise: "This symbol is exactly the same as the pattern I saw on that crystal pillar before!"

"ha?"

Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan were also surprised.

There are three symbols carved on the giant tortoise—one that looks like a spiral, one that looks like a forked branch, and another that is hard to identify and looks like a variant of some kind of ancient script.

"These three symbols should correspond to some kind of meaning."

As Chen Hao spoke, he began taking copious notes. "Let me guess, the spiral might represent abyssal energy, the branches might represent the forest lord—so what does this third symbol mean?"

The giant tortoise raised its front paw and carved a small pattern next to the third symbol.

It is a bird.

A bird with outstretched wings, with a radiating line drawn above its head—like a halo.

"What's this? A dead bird?"

"Gurgle..."

"Was that a bird that had just died?"

"Gurgle..."

"Isn't it a bird?"

"..."

Leng Ruolan sighed, never expecting to see such a speechless expression on the face of a giant tortoise in her lifetime.

Chen Hao couldn't stand it anymore, and he whispered a reminder: "Big brother, do you remember before you said you encountered someone who said they were grateful to you for getting rid of the Demon Scorpion...?"

"...!"

A look of sudden realization.

Ou Yun slapped his thigh. "Isn't this the same one we saw last time?"

"It's that giant beast that said the forbidden area has seven districts! The one with the halo!"

"..."

Leng Ruolan whispered to Chen Hao, "See? I told you Big Brother was faking it."

Chen Hao: ...

Upon hearing the word "halo," the giant tortoise's tiny eyes suddenly lit up.

It nodded, letting out a low growl.

"Gurgle."

This sentence doesn't need translation; it likely means "confirmation."

As the evening breeze blew, the remaining ice crystals on the ice wall made a soft tinkling sound.

The clouds, dyed red by the setting sun, were reflected on the river, and the water rippled gently.

Ou Yun slowly said, "So... the material of this sword is related to that giant beast that said the forbidden area has seven districts?"

The giant tortoise nodded.

"And the forest lord knows that giant beast?"

The giant tortoise nodded again.

"So that's why the Forest Lord stopped—"

Leng Ruolan thought for a moment, "It's not because it can't defeat us, but because it recognized the lingering aura on this sword... Is it afraid of that giant beast?"

The giant tortoise nodded for the third time.

Ou Yun chuckled, "I knew it! This sword is a divine weapon forged from lord-level materials, how could it be as simple as just dealing double damage to lords?"

This thing has quite a history!

Leng Ruolan glanced at him, thinking to herself, "That's not what you just said."

"So what do you plan to do?"

"Um……"

Ou Yun sheathed his longsword.

Things have come to this point—

"Go back and get a good night's sleep!"

Then we need to figure out how to find that bird.

He glanced down at the symbols carved into the stone by the giant tortoise.

Since the Forest Lord has a connection with this bird, this bird must know more secrets about the forbidden area.

Finding it is the same as finding the walkthrough, isn't it?

Leng Ruolan reminded him, "Big brother, are you sure that giant beast is friendly? Last time it just passed by, and we had to guess what it was—"

It doesn't look like a proper beast.