Chapter 90: A Sword Across the Knee to Slay Demons
At the village entrance, the old man smoking the bone pipe was visibly shaken. He turned around to face Qin Mu, who charged at him with overwhelming momentum, riding a roaring torrent that crashed down like the sky collapsing!
As long as the current was swift enough, water could shatter everything, cut through everything, and destroy everything!
This was the wondrous use of Black Tortoise primordial qi. Black Tortoise primordial qi controlled water. As long as the water’s speed reached forty-six zhang in an instant, it could cut through steel. Striking a person, it would surely cleave them in two, unstoppable! ①
Qin Mu stood atop the wave, directly crushing toward the old man, his aura soaring to the heavens!
With the power of Deaf’s painting unleashed, combined with the Flood Dragon’s precious blood and the furnace Mute had hidden inside him, he was confident he could face anyone!
At the village entrance, the old man smoking the bone pipe raised his hand. It collided with the surging river bearing down with heaven-shaking force. The entire river, advancing like a giant python, collapsed, scattering into a vast flood that spread in all directions!
At the same time, the old man’s two fingers gently pinched. The Young Protector Sword, thrusting from the water, was halted in its momentum!
“Have you found Carefree Village yet?” the old man chuckled.
The moment the old man pinched the sword tip, Qin Mu’s hand had already gripped the hilt. He unleashed all the power within his body and thrust forward!
This old man’s strength exceeded his expectations, but with his divine eye opened to the Ninefold Heavens, he could perceive the shifting trends of power within the old man’s body.
When the old man raised his hand to block the river and pinched the sword tip, his power had reached its limit. Adding Qin Mu’s own strength at this moment would surpass what he could withstand.
The Flood Dragon’s precious blood and Deaf’s painting had pushed his physical strength to its peak. The force his body could unleash was certainly no less than his current raging magical power!
As this thrust was made, the old man’s expression changed. His two fingers could no longer hold the sword tip. The Young Protector Sword pierced through his palm, and with a *chi* sound, the tip embedded itself into his chest!
“Old sir, I’ll send you to Carefree Village right now!”
Qin Mu pushed off with his feet, driving the Young Protector Sword forward, ramming the old man backward. The old man, who had been sitting motionless, now dropped his legs, but he still couldn’t withstand Qin Mu’s astonishing strength. His two legs plowed two deep furrows into the ground!
*Dang!*
The old man swung his bone pipe with his other hand, striking the Young Protector Sword heavily. Qin Mu’s arm trembled and went numb. He immediately let go, using his primordial qi to roll the sword in a flat circle through the air, slicing toward the old man’s neck!
Cloud Sword Style!
His swordsmanship had been guided by the Village Chief, and though it consisted only of the simplest moves—thrust, circle, lift—their power was terrifyingly immense.
The old man hurriedly dodged backward, but the Young Protector Sword kept spinning in a circle, relentlessly chasing his neck, forcing him to keep retreating!
If he retreated any further, he would reach the boundary marker of the Realm of the Dead.
At the same time, the scattered floodwaters rose again, roaring in from all directions like giant pythons, coiling toward the old man.
Suddenly, the old man’s bone pipe flew up to block the Young Protector Sword. The pipe spewed out a thick fog, and within the fog, smoke coalesced into skulls that screeched eerily, charging at Qin Mu, burrowing into his body to tear at his soul.
Qin Mu used the Creation Demon Art to seal his own soul, letting the smoke-formed skulls gnaw and rip, but they couldn’t pull his soul out of his body.
Qin Mu inhaled deeply, then suddenly blasted out a gale!
*Whoosh!*
The fog, along with the skulls, was blown away by his breath. Though he hadn’t learned any spells or techniques for controlling wind, his cultivation had been forcibly elevated by Deaf and Mute to heights previously unimaginable. Every breath was now a spell or technique!
The pipe clashed with the Young Protector Sword, and countless sparks were knocked out of it. Those sparks instantly turned into red-hot molten rock, flying toward his face. Qin Mu shifted his steps, dodging the molten rock strikes, and intensified his assault.
The giant pythons formed from water coiled around the old man, and countless water blades immediately stabbed at his body from all directions.
The old man’s pipe bowl suddenly expanded, like a large black pot turned upside down, emitting a terrifying suction force that drained all the water away. However, the fire inside the pipe was also extinguished.
Qin Mu closed in with ghostly footwork, his arms flying in punches and palm strikes like a thousand-armed Buddha, furiously attacking the old man. Suddenly, his fist technique changed, blending in flashes of blade light. His unpredictable footwork made his attacks even harder to defend against.
The old man kept retreating. His strength was still greater than Qin Mu’s, but Qin Mu’s footwork, fist techniques, and blade techniques were all bizarre and unpredictable. The Young Protector Sword, in particular, was incredibly sharp—even his pipe couldn’t withstand it. The sword’s moves, though extremely simple, were highly effective: fast, powerful, and repeatedly breaking through the pipe’s defenses, heading straight for his weaknesses!
Qin Mu was like a master swordsman. Though his sword techniques were simple and crude, they gave the old man a feeling of great skill disguised as clumsiness, making them very troublesome and forcing him to retreat.
The Village Chief’s simplest sword moves, combined with Blind’s Divine Eye of the Ninefold Heavens, were unstoppable!
The old man took another step back, then startled. The corner of his eye caught sight of a boundary marker.
The boundary marker of the Realm of the Dead.
Qin Mu closed in, raising his butcher knife to strike. The old man had no choice but to retreat. As he took this step back, all the flesh on his body vanished, leaving only white bones.
Meanwhile, Qin Mu stepped forward, crossing out of the Realm of the Dead, and flesh grew back on his bones.
The old man said nothing, turned around, and fled, leaping into the vast misty sea. Qin Mu, regaining his flesh, would have his physical strength increase further, while the old man, losing his flesh, would see his power decline. With this shift in momentum, retreat was his only option.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. This old man was extremely powerful. If the fight had continued, it might have dragged on until the Flood Dragon’s precious blood wore off, and then he would have been the one to die.
He walked to the dock. The misty sea stretched endlessly, with no end in sight. Faint lantern light shone through the fog.
“Will the Village Chief make it in time?”
Qin Mu looked back and saw demonic clouds swirling gloomily in the Realm of the Dead, surging toward him. The powerful figures from the city were clearly coming to investigate. Soon, the rolling demonic clouds would arrive here.
Qin Mu waited a moment. The boat with the hanging lantern drifted over, but the Village Chief still hadn’t appeared.
The demonic clouds were very close now. If he didn’t leave, it would be too late.
Qin Mu took out a Fengdu coin and slammed it into a wooden post on the dock, then boarded the small skiff.
The boatman in the straw raincoat rowed the oars, heading into the misty sea. Qin Mu stood at the bow and looked back. The Village Chief still hadn’t appeared, and his heart sank.
The demonic clouds had already reached the village and would soon arrive at the dock, but by then, the skiff had already sailed into the misty sea, disappearing from sight.
“The Village Chief is so skilled—he’ll definitely return safely!”
Qin Mu comforted himself. He sat cross-legged under the lantern at the bow, took the Young Protector Sword from his back, laid it across his knees, and quietly stared at the churning fog ahead. The power from Deaf’s painting was already dissipating, the effect of the Flood Dragon’s precious blood was fading, and the furnace was growing dim, about to disappear.
The little boat drifted on, going farther and farther.
Suddenly, the mist beneath the boat stirred. A skeleton in tattered clothes leaped up from the misty sea, lunging at Qin Mu on the boat!
Qin Mu seemed to have anticipated its leap. Just as the skeleton’s head emerged from the surface of the misty sea, he drew the Young Protector Sword from his knee.
Beheading Sword Style!
Qin Mu remained seated, staring ahead, and swung the sword in a horizontal slash. The skeleton in clothes hurriedly raised its bone pipe, but it couldn’t block this stunning strike!
The Young Protector Sword cut across its neck before the pipe could rise, passing through in a flash. Its head wobbled, and the skull tumbled into the misty sea. Its body landed on the boat, still standing in a lunging pose, but devoid of any power.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a while, watching you beneath the boat.”
Qin Mu sheathed his sword. The patterns of the Divine Eye of the Ninefold Heavens in his eyes were gradually fading. The power from the Flood Dragon’s precious blood and Deaf’s painting was rapidly receding. He said to the headless skeleton, “You’ve been swimming stealthily beneath the boat in the fog, and I’ve been watching you the whole time. I waited for you to deliver yourself to my sword, and then I killed you.”
Suddenly, the skeleton’s strength dissipated. With a clatter, it fell apart into a pile of bones scattered on the deck.
Qin Mu looked at the bone pipe that had fallen onto the boat. He hesitated for a moment, then threw the pipe and the scattered bones into the misty sea. The pipe had clashed with the Young Protector Sword many times without losing, making it a fine treasure—a high-grade spirit weapon—but it was made from human bones, which he disliked, so he discarded it.
“Village Chief, you must be safe…” the young man muttered softly, sitting under the lantern with the sword still across his knees.
The little boat drifted past mountains of white bones, heading toward the entrance of this strange realm.
Meanwhile, in the Realm of the Dead, a vortex suddenly appeared in the sky. The vortex split open, cut in two by a dazzling sword light. The Village Chief, covered in blood, fought his way out. Blood streamed endlessly from the vortex.
The blood-red vortex hung in the sky, constantly bleeding, like a wound in the heavens.
The Village Chief turned back. His ten fingers danced, and beams of sword light flew from his fingertips, piercing into the vortex to seal it. Blood continued to flow from within, and a massive creature seemed to be furiously attacking the vortex’s entrance, trying to break through, but it was blocked by the Village Chief’s sword light, unable to escape for the moment.
The Village Chief breathed a sigh of relief and immediately headed toward the Fengdu mountain gate. He was about to fly past it when he suddenly stopped. On the mountain gate stood a strange figure with a bird’s head and two wings, standing on one leg, the other leg tucked under its feathers.
Note ①: This can be compared to real-world water jets or high-pressure water guns. A water flow speed of 1,448 kilometers per hour can cut through titanium alloys. Additionally, an “instant” is roughly one-third of a second. The “zhang” in the text follows the Tang Dynasty standard, approximately three meters.