Chapter 275: He Passed Away Peacefully
Qin Mu immediately sat up and looked out the window. Ba Shan's snoring was thunderous, and despite the eerie wind blowing into the room, he remained fast asleep.
Outside the window, a strange chanting sound drifted in, its tones and rhythms indistinct. Qin Mu acted without hesitation, immediately sealing his own soul using the Creation Demon Art. Then he channeled his primal energy, and the Young Protector Sword hanging at the head of his bed let out a sharp *clang* as it unsheathed, its silver sword-light illuminating the room.
White shadows flitted past the window, drifting to and fro. The Young Protector Sword hummed and vibrated, and streaks of sword-light shot out like lightning. In an instant, several heads fell outside the window.
Witchcraft sounded eerie, but in essence, it either targeted the soul or the physical body.
Although Qin Mu was young, he understood this principle. Targeting the physical body meant using secret arts to enter a room and kill the person directly.
Targeting the soul, however, involved far more bizarre methods. For example, soul poison—poisoning the enemy's soul. This poison was colorless, odorless, formless, and traceless, making it impossible to guard against.
Another method was the straw-doll worship ritual: writing the enemy's name and birth date on a straw doll, then worshipping it for ten consecutive days. Each day, one of the seven souls would be worshipped away; after seven days, all seven souls would be gone, followed by the three spirits.
There was also the Yansheng Art, which used harm to the soul to injure the body. Needles or sharp blades would be used to wound the enemy's soul, and because the soul was connected to the body, injuring the soul would also injure the body. For example, stabbing the soul's hands or feet would cause piercing wounds on the enemy's physical hands and feet. Stabbing the soul's brow would disrupt the enemy's mind, and so on.
Knowing a name was enough to kill someone—it seemed incredible, but it likely boiled down to these two methods.
By sealing his own soul and hanging the Young Protector Sword at his bedside, Qin Mu was guarding against both.
Suddenly, a strange laugh rang out. Qin Mu quickly looked and saw many peculiar little figures crawling in through the window. They jumped to the ground one by one, wielding knives, axes, and steel forks, riding tiny horses, and forming ranks like an army of several hundred.
This miniature army swarmed in and stood on Ba Shan's chest. Ba Shan remained fast asleep, snoring like thunder.
The leader of the little figures, holding a long spear and riding a fine horse, stood on Ba Shan's nose. He pointed his spear at Qin Mu, who was sitting up in bed, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He let out an incomprehensible shout, and the other little figures surged toward Qin Mu like a tidal wave!
These little figures were wildly excited, shouting various unintelligible cries as they brandished their weapons, charging with ferocious momentum. Although there were hundreds of them, Qin Mu felt he could crush them all with just two or three stomps.
He found it both amusing and baffling. *This* was why the Butcher was so cautious and refused to use his real name?
Qin Mu drew his sword and shook it, sword-light bursting forth. He was about to sweep away these little figures when, at that moment, he suddenly heard someone calling his name.
The voice came from the eerie wind, drawn out as if from a great distance. Qin Mu remained silent, but the voice rapidly drew closer.
When someone calls your name, even if you don't answer, your heart involuntarily responds. This voice must be using that principle to track his location!
Just as Qin Mu's sword-light was about to annihilate the oncoming army of little figures, he suddenly felt a chill invade his brow. He reached for his sword, but his soul had already frozen stiff.
With his soul frozen, his body also stiffened, and the sword-light extinguished.
The little figures cheered and swarmed over him, crawling into his body through his mouth, ears, and nostrils.
The next moment, Qin Mu "saw" these little figures carrying "himself" as they ran. They weren't carrying his physical body but had burrowed into him and were hauling his soul!
These little figures had actually entered his body, tied up his soul securely, hoisted it above their heads, and chattered incomprehensibly as they sprinted away.
Qin Mu found himself unable to move. The scenery before him blurred rapidly, then suddenly went pitch black. All light vanished, leaving only darkness.
In the darkness, he saw light shining beneath him. It was an altar, and he was lying on it.
The little figures set him down and looked up at the sky. The leader chattered something into the darkness, and suddenly the altar rose. Qin Mu looked around and saw enormous faces, like puppet faces, blocking all four sides. These puppet-like faces were massive, wearing expressions that seemed both smiling and crying.
The altar shook again, rising higher. A giant hand lifted the four-sided puppets and the altar together. Qin Mu then saw a blazing light in the darkness—a huge single eye, appearing behind the four-sided puppets. The eye alone was larger than the puppets' faces.
Then more giant single eyes lit up the darkness, floating in the sky, an extremely eerie sight.
"Yansheng Art?"
Qin Mu's heart trembled at this sight. Banguo Cuo was likely using the Yansheng Art, employing these little figures to invade his body and trap his sealed soul on this altar!
This technique was bizarre. Even without answering the call, it could find you, manifesting an altar inside your body. Even sealing your soul within yourself couldn't defend against it!
However, his soul should still be inside his body. As long as he remained within himself, Qin Mu had a chance to turn the tables.
"No matter what witchcraft you use, it relies on your own power. Inside my body, your power can't surpass mine, so you can't kill me!"
Qin Mu flipped over and shouted, "Sword, come!"
Suddenly, a sword pellet whistled through the darkness and stopped in front of him. This was the sword pellet the Mute had given him when he returned to the village for New Year's. Qin Mu had used it to guide the residual divine power from the Imperial Preceptor's body, which had worn it down considerably, making it much smaller.
With the sword pellet in hand, Qin Mu unleashed its sword energy, sweeping through the little figures around him, sending them tumbling.
Although he disemboweled them, they didn't die. Their severed limbs crawled around, reassembled, and continued attacking Qin Mu. Meanwhile, the puppet faces around the altar wore eerie smiles and stiffly raised their arms to smash down at Qin Mu on the altar. *Bang, bang, bang!* Sparks flew from the impacts.
Qin Mu activated the sword pellet to fight these strange puppets, feeling their immense strength. Each blow was almost too much for him to bear.
Some of the little figures were crushed by the puppets, flattened like paper, but the next moment they puffed up again, brandishing their weapons and charging at Qin Mu.
At the same time, the strange eyes in the darkness blazed, sending streams of fire from all directions.
Qin Mu gritted his teeth and endured, nearly having his soul scattered. These little figures, puppets, and strange eyes seemed to resurrect endlessly, never dying, never ceasing, attacking him tirelessly.
Qin Mu, however, was exhausted to the point of despair, and anger flared within him. *Is Senior Brother Ba Shan still sleeping?*
Unbeknownst to him, the sound of a rooster crowing came, followed faintly by the night watchman's call—the fifth watch.
Then, he heard Ba Shan's yawn, as if from a distant place: "I waited all night, and Banguo Cuo still didn't come in person. Disappointing. That kid is too cautious. He didn't perform the ritual himself to kill Junior Brother Qin but sent another great witch."
Qin Mu was startled. *Senior Brother Ba Shan knew I was trapped?*
"Too bad, only a Seven Stars realm great witch was hooked."
Qin Mu heard the sound of Ba Shan drawing his blade. The Overlord Blade left its sheath.
"Golden inlaid saber with jade adornments, piercing through windows with radiant light. A man of fifty with no achievements yet, standing alone with his blade, gazing at the eight wastelands!"
Amid the song, a brilliant light suddenly cut through the darkness, descending from beyond the heavens. A single slash struck the altar, causing heaven and earth to roar, tremble, collapse, and shatter!
This slash seemed to cut through two lines, which slowly parted left and right. Those were Qin Mu's eyes, slowly opening, but strangely, he felt his eyelids parting sideways as he opened them.
"This is the Yansheng Art of the Loulan Golden Palace. I just broke it for you. This art twisted your eyeballs halfway, so everything you see is oriented sideways."
Ba Shan seemed to be standing on the wall, appearing before Qin Mu, and said, "First, use your eye muscles to slowly rotate your eyeballs back."
Qin Mu did as instructed, slowly rotating his eyes. After a moment, his vision returned to normal, and he quickly said, "Senior Brother, I was ambushed!"
Ba Shan nodded, pointing in front of him, and said, "This is what ambushed you."
Qin Mu looked down and was startled. The altar that had trapped him wasn't a real altar but a silver plate. Around the plate were four palm-sized puppets. The little figures that had carried him were soybeans, and their horses were bean sprouts.
The single eyes floating in the air belonged to a giant spider, with strange eyes arranged in a row. Beneath the plate was a weasel.
Both the spider and the weasel had been cut in half by the blade, dead.
"I thought Banguo Cuo would make a move, but it turned out to be a Seven Stars realm great witch."
Ba Shan shook his head and said, "Banguo Cuo didn't act himself, sending a Seven Stars realm great witch instead. He was probably worried I was by your side. He's truly cautious."
Qin Mu stood up and leaned out the window. The heads he had cut off with his sword-light were scarecrows, draped in white cloth.
Qin Mu asked, "Senior Brother, what happened to that Seven Stars realm great witch?"
"Dead."
Ba Shan said, "He performed the ritual in a dream, using the Yansheng Art to harm you. My slash broke his art, and the blade's intent followed his spell into his dream, killing him there. He passed away peacefully."
Qin Mu was skeptical and asked, "Can sword techniques really reach this level?"
Ba Shan laughed and said, "Heavenly Blade Teacher's techniques are legendary. He can tear through the void. I cannot."
By morning, the Imperial Academy was abuzz with discussion. Another envoy from the Man Di Kingdom had died suddenly at the fifth watch, bleeding from all seven orifices, dying a gruesome death, and screaming three times before he died.
Qin Mu grumbled inwardly, *Senior Brother Ba Shan said he passed away peacefully?*
At noon, a shaman came, bowed, and said, "The Prince invites the Qin Sect Leader to a banquet."