Chapter 88: The Demon Horde
"Could it be that the village chief was pulled into that vortex by the demon...?"
Qin Mu had a bad feeling. He turned to look back, seeing that he was very close to the Fengdu gate. The mist had not yet submerged the gate, but if it rose higher, he would lose sight of it.
"The village chief's skills are so formidable—he'll definitely be fine! I have to get out of here first and not become a burden to him!"
Thump, thump, thump.
The gray mist spread, and the footsteps within were chaotic. Some came from behind him, some from his sides, and some blocked his path to the Fengdu gate.
Qin Mu steadied himself and immediately dashed toward the Fengdu gate. He ran at full speed, getting closer and closer to the towering mountain gate of Fengdu. Suddenly, a loud *gurgle* sounded ahead, and a dark figure rushed toward him through the gray mist.
Without hesitation, Qin Mu thrust his sword finger forward. The Shaobao Sword behind him leaped out like a fish-dragon, spat out the blade, sliced through the gray mist, and struck the dark figure with lightning speed!
*Whoosh!*
A fierce wind howled as the Shaobao Sword carried the dark figure flying backward. Then came a *thud* as the figure slammed into a stone pillar and was pinned there.
Qin Mu sprinted forward with all his might. As he passed the pillar, he beckoned with his sword finger, and the Shaobao Sword flew back, swallowed by the fish-dragon behind him.
The dark figure's corpse fell to the ground—it was a hideous, ferocious monster covered in fish scales, with frog-like webbed hands and feet.
Its primal energy had not yet dissipated, coiling around it like a blood-stained serpent. Qin Mu caught a whiff of a foul, fishy stench, felt dizzy and lightheaded, and stumbled. Clearly, this was a highly toxic divine ability!
Then he felt the pattern that the Deaf Elder had drawn on his skin with dragon blood begin to heat up, and the poison quickly faded.
"A divine ability user? I actually killed a divine ability user?"
Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that when he channeled his primal energy to control the sword with his qi, the blazing furnace that the Mute Elder had hidden in his chest roared to life, amplifying his primal energy a hundredfold!
It was that furnace from the Mute Elder that had explosively increased his primal energy cultivation, elevating it to a level where he could kill a divine ability user with a single sword strike!
Even more remarkable was that the furnace only boosted his primal energy when he used it. When Qin Mu withdrew his primal energy, his cultivation returned to its normal level. This minimized the strain on his body.
It was like a jar meant to hold three buckets of water—if you poured in ten buckets, seven would spill over. But the human body isn't a jar; there's nowhere for the excess to go, and it would often burst the body apart.
The Mute Elder's furnace was ingenious because it lent Qin Mu a hundred times the primal energy. When he didn't use it, that energy returned to the furnace, leaving his body unaffected.
Qin Mu sprinted forward, his mind racing: "So, with my current cultivation, I can actually use divine abilities? Then I'm not completely helpless against the demon horde."
The furnace the Mute Elder had implanted in him provided a hundred times his normal primal energy. Such immense power was something Qin Mu had never dared to imagine. Before, his fist techniques were just fist techniques, and his blade techniques were just blade techniques. But now, he felt he could use that hundredfold primal energy to unleash fist technique divine abilities and blade technique divine abilities!
What kind of power would the skills taught by Grandpa Ma, the Butcher, and the others have when elevated to the level of divine abilities?
His pace quickened, and unconsciously, he began applying the Cripple's Heaven-Stealing Footwork to his running. His primal energy surged mightily, flooding into his legs.
Qin Mu let out a long howl. With one step, he compressed the air beneath his foot into a fierce wind—a wind born from his own stride.
With that step, Qin Mu suddenly felt as if the air itself was solid ground. The vast sky was nothing but flat terrain, a place where he could set foot anywhere!
His speed skyrocketed as he walked on air, emerging from the gloomy gray mist in a few strides and heading straight for the Fengdu mountain gate.
Suddenly, a massive figure leaped up from the gray mist. It was a monster wreathed in blazing flames, as if made of molten rock. Its fist was as heavy as a mountain, and it punched toward the running Qin Mu!
Qin Mu's pace quickened, his speed increasing, the air splitting with a roar. Suddenly, the butcher knife in his back pouch flew into his hand!
Sun Rising Over the Eastern Sea, A Thousand Layers of Waves!
The butcher knife in his hand burst with dazzling light, like a blazing sun leaping from the sea, a thousand layers of waves surging forward.
*Clang, clang, clang!*
The sounds of violent impacts rang out endlessly. Qin Mu collided with the colossal figure, then bounced away, sheathed his knife, and sped off.
*Pat, pat, pat, pat.* Stones fell to the ground, followed by a massive head that rolled twice. The molten rock giant had been disassembled by his blade technique.
This was a blade technique divine ability. The molten rock giant was a divine ability user with formidable powers and immense strength, but it was still weaker than the Butcher's blade technique divine abilities!
Suddenly, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the air. A handsome young man rose slowly from the gray mist below, lightning and thunder interweaving between his hands. He spread his ten fingers, and bolts of lightning formed a net, striking toward Qin Mu!
"A divine ability evolved from Azure Dragon primal energy? Can it be stronger than Grandpa Ma's fist technique divine abilities?"
Qin Mu roared and punched out. His primal energy transformed into dragons, manifesting as forty-five types of dragon force—Nine Dragons Riding the Wind and Thunder!
Forty-five azure dragons roared, their dragon cries resounding, lightning and thunder raging, engulfing the handsome young man.
Their fists collided, and the young man's body stiffened in midair. Then, with a *bang*, it exploded, and his flesh and blood turned into forty-five red dragons that burst forth!
"Am I really this strong?"
Qin Mu was startled. He had seen the power of Nine Dragons Riding the Wind and Thunder in Grandpa Ma's hands before, but Grandpa Ma was Grandpa Ma—it was only natural for him to be powerful. Now that Qin Mu had elevated his fist technique to the level of divine abilities, he realized just how astonishing the power of the Thunderclap Eight Forms was.
However, the commotion from Nine Dragons Riding the Wind and Thunder was too loud. It would surely alert the demon horde in the mist to his location!
Qin Mu immediately heard the *whoosh* of breaking air. His heart sank. The demon god had scattered an enormous number of demon minions. If he couldn't take advantage of the terrain, he wouldn't be able to hold them off.
He was getting closer and closer to the Fengdu gate when suddenly, demonic clouds rolled ahead, pitch-black, blocking his view. Qin Mu sighed and immediately stopped, letting his body sink into the gray mist.
From the black demonic clouds, a massive head emerged. It had a full, bristly beard and eyes spitting fire, scanning its surroundings.
Then the demonic clouds rapidly shrank, and the giant head shrank with them. When the clouds were only about ten feet across, an ugly woman appeared. Her mouth was full of thick, nail-like yellow teeth, and she carried a blood-red gourd taller than a person on her back. The shrinking demonic clouds were funneling into the gourd's mouth.
Another woman rose into the air, standing above the gray mist. She was beautiful, with fair skin, a lovely face, and a graceful figure—full breasts and a slender waist. But behind her grew a thick, long scorpion tail with a stinger that swayed back and forth.
The two women scanned the area but didn't find Qin Mu. Suddenly, from the gray mist came the sound of a sword cutting through the air. Before the scorpion-tailed woman could react, a flash of sword light sliced horizontally across her neck.
The scorpion-tailed woman clutched her throat, trying to hold her head in place, but it still slid off uncontrollably.
The most basic sword technique taught by the village chief: the Slash.
The ugly woman shrieked. Demonic clouds spewed from the gourd on her back, and from within the clouds emerged a giant—only its upper half. Its fists were as big as mountains, and it clasped its hands together, slamming them down from the air toward where the sword had come from!
*Boom.*
A dull thud echoed from the gray mist, followed by a muffled groan. The ugly woman's eyes lit up. The half-giant in the demonic clouds kept hammering its fists down at that spot!
The half-giant struck hundreds of times. When the ugly woman saw blood and gore on its fists, she smiled and sank into the gray mist, landing on solid ground.
Her spirit weapon was unusual—it was this blood gourd. The half-giant inside was a divine ability formed from her cultivation technique, but after being nurtured in the gourd, it had become as hard as steel, with astonishing power.
The ugly woman landed and walked to where the half-giant had been pounding. There, she saw a corpse smashed to pieces. Her face changed drastically—it wasn't a human corpse, but one of her own kind!
At that moment, a chill ran down her back. The Shaobao Sword pierced through from behind.
Behind her, Qin Mu had silently closed in. He withdrew the sword and slipped away, disappearing into the gray mist. For someone trained in the Cripple's Heaven-Stealing Footwork, the thick fog was perfect for assassination!
He moved through the mist, tracking sounds, and struck with either knife or sword—one hit, one kill!
The gray mist grew thicker and thicker, until even Qin Mu's Divine Eye of the Ninth Heaven could barely see far.
Suddenly, a pitch-black tentacle whipped past in front of him. Qin Mu stood still, letting it pass. *Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.* Fine sounds came as strands of spider silk flew past him, weaving into a web.
The spider silk vibrated, as if something was stepping on it, tightening the strands and producing a sound like plucked strings.
More and more spider silk appeared, gradually surrounding Qin Mu. Meanwhile, more tentacles whipped through the air in the mist, trying to force him out.
Qin Mu frowned. His primal energy quietly flowed into the white glove. The threads on the glove's tip lifted slightly, like an incredibly fine spirit snake.
This fine thread silently attached itself to a strand of spider silk, slithering along it to another strand. The white glove was made from the Great Nurturing Demon Scripture, composed of countless tadpole-like characters. It could stretch or shrink, thicken or thin. Granny Si had woven this treasure into a glove for Qin Mu to wear.
Qin Mu controlled the Great Nurturing Demon Scripture, making the fine thread overlap with the spider silk. After a moment, the threads on his white glove had peeled away, leaving only the five fingers.