Chapter 13: Beat to Death
Senior Brother Qu finally became terrified: "He intends to use this little wooden stick to beat me to death, beat me until I die!"
He truly wished the opponent had a knife in hand, even a dull one would do.
The power of the little wooden stick was naturally not very strong, but after all this beating, the swelling on his head and face had formed bloody pus-filled lumps. The swelling had reduced his eyes to mere slits, and his vision grew increasingly blurry.
The skin on his body was also bruised black and blue. Several muscles had been beaten into a pulp, while the joints received Qin Mu's special attention.
Qin Mu wasn't attacking the bones of the joints but the ligaments and fascia. The ligaments and fascia of Senior Brother Qu's various joints had been snapped by the little wooden stick's relentless tapping. The slightest movement brought a tearing, excruciating pain.
Being beaten to death bit by bit with a small wooden stick—this was the most terrifying thing. The agony and fear were prolonged countless times, yet he couldn't die quickly.
By now, the herd of beasts that had been running above their heads had vanished. They had already charged out through the ruins' gateway, and the beasts had scattered.
Qin Mu's strength was also gradually waning. After fighting this long, swinging his "blade" countless times, he too couldn't hold on any longer. As he and Senior Brother Qu ran and fought beneath the giant beast's belly, he not only had to dodge the opponent's sword but also the beast's hooves and claws. The constant shifts in footwork left his legs sore and swollen.
When he trained with the Butcher, even though the Butcher was often frenzied, he still knew to train in moderation and wouldn't push Qin Mu too hard.
Now, he had no strength left to continue swinging his blade. It was only his willpower that kept him going.
He knew that if he stopped, even if Senior Brother Qu had but a shred of primal energy left and could move just a little, he himself would be decapitated!
He could only keep beating until Senior Brother Qu was dead!
*Plop.*
Senior Brother Qu finally couldn't hold on and collapsed face-first to the ground. His precious sword clattered down beside him.
Qin Mu dropped the wooden stick and grabbed the sword, but he couldn't lift it. His arms had no strength left at all.
Qin Mu raised his foot and slowly, bit by bit, kicked the sword's hilt, turning the blade toward Senior Brother Qu. Senior Brother Qu could barely see this scene. He struggled and squirmed, trying to avoid the sword's tip, but his bones and fascia were almost completely ruined, and even his muscles couldn't move an inch.
He was completely immobile, forced to watch as Qin Mu laboriously adjusted the sword's angle bit by bit, then kicked the sword little by little, driving the blade slowly into his throat.
Finally, the sword pierced through his throat. A gurgling sound came from his windpipe, blood plasma bubbling up with each breath. Not long after, he breathed his last.
Qin Mu relaxed and collapsed limply to the ground. So exhausting—he had never been this exhausted before.
Lying right next to a corpse was an unpleasant feeling. Qin Mu tried to shift his body but couldn't move at all, so he gave up on the idea.
This wasn't his first time seeing a corpse. The woman who crawled out of the cowhide by the river, and Senior Brother Qu's two junior brothers, had all become corpses.
Once, Granny Si had taken him to a neighboring village to deliver a baby—aside from tailoring clothes, Granny Si also worked as a midwife, helping women in nearby villages give birth.
When they arrived, all the villagers were dead. Men, women, old, young—including the pregnant woman about to give birth.
At that time, Qin Mu's mind went blank. He felt as if he were floating in the air, weightless, hovering above the village and looking down at the horrific scene below. Later, Granny Si woke him. She said his soul had been scared out of his body, that he had lost his spirit. Granny Si had pulled his soul back and stuffed it into his body.
Granny never said who had killed the villagers. She only told him that such things were common in the Great Ruins, and so...
"You must never give your enemy any chance," Granny Si had said to him very seriously.
Senior Brother Qu's corpse made him uncomfortable, but the Great Ruins was exactly that kind of place—the weak were prey to the strong, survival of the fittest. Having grown up here, Qin Mu was used to seeing beasts of the Great Ruins fight to the death. Senior Brother Qu's corpse was no different from any other beast's carcass.
As he was regulating his breath, footsteps suddenly sounded. Qin Mu forced his head around to look, and his heart jolted. He saw that Senior Sister Qing was limping toward him, a precious sword in her hand. Her face was swollen like a pig's head, completely disfigured.
Qin Mu struggled to get up, but every limb, every bone, every muscle ached and swelled unbearably. He had to stop, panting heavily, and silently activated the "Overlord Body Three-Dantian Art."
His primal energy slowly became active, surging up gently and flowing toward his sore muscles and torn sinews and bones. Wherever the primal energy passed, the swelling eased somewhat, but his senses became sharper, and a searing pain shot through him.
Senior Sister Qing was still limping closer. This woman had fought Qin Mu with leg techniques, and he had kicked her legs half-crippled. Her face had also taken countless kicks. The worst was the last one—Qin Mu had used all his strength.
That kick had been like a venomous dragon whipping its tail, flattening her once-beautiful face. Now it was swollen, puffed up like dough left out overnight.
The teeth in her mouth had probably all fallen out. The corners of her mouth kept dripping saliva mixed with blood, drop by drop.
But her hands were still steady. The precious sword in her hand still gleamed coldly. Clearly, the hatred in her heart was overwhelming, and she wanted to cut Qin Mu into pieces.
Qin Mu hurriedly activated the "Overlord Body Three-Dantian Art," trying to recover some strength, but the high-intensity battle had left his body utterly exhausted.
Only by opening the Fetal Light Wall and absorbing the Fetal Light Divine Treasury could one truly become a martial artist. He wasn't a martial artist yet, yet he had managed to beat a martial artist like Senior Brother Qu to death—that was already an impressive achievement.
But that was all.
He had no strength left to fight Senior Sister Qing.
Senior Sister Qing finally reached Qin Mu. She tried to speak, but her mouth and throat were so swollen that no sound came out. So she raised her precious sword and stabbed viciously down at Qin Mu!
"What an adorable little girl. Granny just can't help but like her."
Senior Sister Qing's body suddenly froze. The sword met an invisible resistance and couldn't go down.
Terror filled her eyes as she saw a little old woman carrying a basket, walking over on bound feet.
Senior Sister Qing's body trembled violently. She slowly backed away, but then a booming voice came from behind her: "Mu'er, I can't believe you used my pig-butchering blade technique with a little wooden stick. It took you five thousand four hundred and seventy-six strikes to bring that kid down, and in the end, it was a sword that killed the little bastard!"
Senior Sister Qing turned her head with difficulty and saw several oddly shaped people approaching. There was a blind man tapping a staff, a one-legged cripple, a freak missing all four limbs, and a burly man with a fierce face who was only a torso.
The torso-only burly man was carried in a bamboo basket on someone's back, while the limbless freak was being carried by others.
These people all looked utterly miserable. The only one who seemed normal was the middle-aged man carrying the bamboo basket, but his face was completely ruined—his skin had been peeled off, making his appearance the most terrifying and hideous of all!
The one who had just spoken was the torso-only burly man. Sitting in the bamboo basket, his fierce face twisted with anger as he scolded Qin Mu from afar: "Looks like you still haven't trained enough! Don't give me excuses about not having a blade or using a little stick. If your blade technique is refined enough, you can kill him with a single strike even with empty hands!"
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief and said hoarsely, "Granny Si, Grandpa Butcher, Grandpa Medicine Master, you've all come?"
Granny Si giggled: "We raised you with all our heart and soul. This is your first time leaving home and spending the night outside with a strange woman. Of course we were worried, so we had to come and take a look."
Qin Mu blinked and tested the waters: "How long have you been here?"
The Butcher snorted: "We were already here when you were fighting that kid under the beast's belly. How else would I know you struck exactly five thousand four hundred and seventy-six times?"
Qin Mu's face darkened. This group of old folks had clearly arrived long ago, yet they had let him fight for his life, nearly getting himself killed.
Only then did he realize why the herd hadn't attacked him and Senior Brother Qu—they had been scared off by the Butcher and the others.
"People from other villages say Granny and Village Chief Grandpa are bad people... Could it be true? But I think Granny and the others are good people. They must have believed I could defeat that Senior Brother Qu, so they just watched from the sidelines..." he comforted himself inwardly.
"As an Overlord Body surpassing a spirit body, being beaten into such a miserable state disappoints us all," the Blind Man said, leaning on his bamboo staff and smiling at the empty air.
Qin Mu coughed: "Grandpa Blind, I'm over here."
"I know you're over there."
The Blind Man turned around, still smiling: "You used a stick to beat that kid, which shows my teachings are effective. But don't get cocky. You're the Overlord Body, so being stronger than him is only natural! From now on, your training will be doubled. Don't make that sour face..."
The Butcher said coldly: "Blind man, he clearly used my blade technique. What are you so proud of? And why are you chattering away at a corpse?"