Chapter 491: The Grudge of a Severed Arm
The box fell silent again, utterly still, with no sound to be heard—not even the sound of breathing!
Yet Qin Mu moved freely through the darkness, completely soundless. A single bead of sweat fell, striking a pool of blood with a faint patter.
The owner of that sweat bead immediately shifted his footing, but the next moment, his heart ached as a bamboo staff pierced through it.
Qin Mu withdrew the bamboo staff from behind him and moved forward without a sound. Behind him came the thud of a body collapsing.
That sound instantly triggered violent turmoil. The many foreign demons around them all struck out at once, their divine abilities and bright spirit weapons blasting toward the source of the noise.
In the flickering light of divine abilities and spirit weapons, Qin Mu moved like a ghost within the box, striking down one cultivator after another. By the time the light faded and complete darkness returned, one cultivator after another swayed and collapsed, dead on the floor.
Silence reigned once more.
The interior of the box was a hundred zhang in each direction, which was not small—roughly the size of one hundred and thirty to forty mu. Several hundred people distributed in such a space would never feel crowded, even with a massive creature like the Dragon Qilin present. But for cultivators of their level, the space felt exceedingly cramped.
For them, divine abilities could strike in an instant, and even powerful techniques could sweep through every corner of this place.
When Qin Mu had collected them into the box, everyone panicked and immediately began attacking wildly, causing the box to shake and tremble violently at first.
That was the darkest, most chaotic moment. Everyone struck out in every direction to protect themselves, and not a few strong warriors died at the hands of their own allies.
This chaos did not last long. A powerful cultivator at the Heavenly Man realm immediately spoke up, telling everyone not to panic.
That Heavenly Man realm cultivator was clever, but the next moment, he was assassinated by Qin Mu. Chaos erupted again. Amid the disorder, Qin Mu moved with his staff, killing even Heavenly Man realm experts who could not escape his close-quarters combat.
After the chaos subsided, someone tried to open the box to let light in, only to be stabbed to death by Qin Mu’s staff.
Several more life-or-death struggles followed. Now, everyone inside the box was on edge, suppressing their heartbeats, holding their breath, even sealing their wounds to prevent blood from flowing, lest they alert Qin Mu.
They even had to close their eyes, because their eyes would betray their position in the darkness.
These cultivators had often trained in eye-based divine abilities, causing their eyes to emit light—making them perfect targets for Qin Mu!
Qin Mu was like a bat in the dark, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. Any sound would alert him and invite death.
This suffocating darkness hid a demon king ready to claim their lives at any moment!
The box opened and closed, spitting out a few more corpses. In the instant it opened, light shone down from above. The people inside shuddered in terror, shifting their positions, unwilling to stay where they were. After a brief moment of chaos, the sounds of clashing divine abilities and falling bodies rang out again, and a few more died in the confusion.
“I can’t take this anymore!”
One of the “foreign demons” finally broke under the unbearable terror. His mind shattered, and he lashed out wildly with divine abilities and spirit weapons in all directions, screaming, “No one gets near me! Die! All of you die!”
His divine abilities were immensely powerful, easily piercing through the hundred-zhang space. His spirit weapons were razor-sharp, sweeping in every direction, forcing those hidden in the shadows to defend themselves.
A great chaos erupted inside the box, filled with shouts of battle and the chaotic clash of spirit weapons and divine abilities.
After a long while, the maddened cultivator panted heavily and stopped, his breathing the only sound left in the silence.
“Dead?”
The mad cultivator blinked, then laughed in surprise and joy, “You’re all dead! All dead! I survived! Only I’m still alive!”
Pfft—
A bamboo staff pierced through his mouth and out the back of his head.
The box opened, its sides folding down, and light spilled in. It was still a hundred-zhang space, but now it held only Qin Mu, the pale-faced Banguo Cuo, and the trembling Dragon Qilin cowering in a corner.
The Dragon Qilin had shrunk to about a zhang in length, hiding behind a set of shelves. Thanks to his thick hide, he was mostly unharmed, but his body was studded with spirit weapons of all sizes. Among them were several swords that were clearly Qin Mu’s flying swords, indicating that many attacks had landed on him during the chaos.
His large size, despite his best efforts to shrink, had made him a target for many strikes.
The ground was littered with corpses in every direction, each with a different cause of death. Some had been stabbed by the bamboo staff, some had their heads cleaved by blades, some were hung in paintings with their heads removed, and there were a few cattle and sheep. Some cultivators had been turned into pincushions, while others had been crushed to pulp by the sword pellet or shattered by the True Dragon Nest.
However, most had died at the hands of their own allies.
The situation had been too chaotic. To protect themselves, people had been forced to kill each other. Those who died at the hands of Qin Mu, Banguo Cuo, and the Dragon Qilin were in the minority—at most, three out of ten.
Banguo Cuo wiped the blood from his face, still shaken.
In the pitch-black space, Qin Mu had collided with him more than once. If he hadn’t used techniques from the Golden Palace, which Qin Mu recognized, he might have been killed himself.
Amid the chaos, he had taken many wounds and killed many opponents, but the most dangerous moment was when Qin Mu got close.
It had nearly cost him his life!
Although Banguo Cuo had dodged Qin Mu’s killing blow, a bamboo staff had pierced a bloody hole near his heart, which he narrowly avoided by shifting his heart. His neck had twisted at an alarming angle to evade a cleaver that nearly severed his artery.
After that, Qin Mu recognized his techniques and stopped attacking him, but Banguo Cuo always suspected that Qin Mu had recognized him all along and had merely taken the opportunity to try to kill him too!
Of course, he had no proof and couldn’t bring it up now.
Qin Mu was covered in blood, limping as he dragged corpses out of the box. He, too, had taken many wounds. During the chaos, his situation had been perilous, nearly dying under the barrage of divine abilities and spirit weapons crashing from all directions.
Among them were several Heavenly Man realm experts, whose divine abilities were even more powerful, with terrifying attacks from their primordial spirits. If a single blow landed squarely, even with his True Dragon Overlord Body, he would have died without a doubt.
He had still been hit by many divine abilities and spirit weapons. If not for the sudden madness of that “foreign demon,” he might not have survived to the end.
Banguo Cuo also stepped forward, and together they laboriously carried the corpses out, tossing them into the darkness. Neither spoke.
After a while, all the corpses were thrown out. Qin Mu collected the spirit weapons of these “foreign demons” into his Taotie pouch, then retrieved the spirit weapons he had discarded during the fight.
Pfft, pfft, pfft—
Several streams of blood spurted from the Dragon Qilin’s body as a few flying swords flew out and merged with Qin Mu’s sword pellet.
The Dragon Qilin looked at his still-bleeding wounds, then at Qin Mu, and called out, “Chief, did you stab me?”
“No, don’t talk nonsense. It was an accident,” Qin Mu denied flatly.
Banguo Cuo hesitated for a moment, then, while the Dragon Qilin licked his wounds, activated his blade pellet. Several knives detached from the Dragon Qilin’s rear and merged with the pellet.
The Dragon Qilin roared in anger, “Great Sage, did you stab me too?”
Banguo Cuo coughed up blood repeatedly, glancing at Qin Mu, who pretended not to see. Banguo Cuo stammered, “An accident, definitely an accident...”
He hesitated, then said, “Chief Qin, do you have any more Dragon Saliva? Give me some. I’m wounded too.”
Qin Mu opened his Taotie pouch and took out a few bottles of Dragon Saliva. Banguo Cuo hesitated, afraid to take them. He scratched his head and said, “Using Chief Qin’s Dragon Saliva to heal makes me uneasy. I’m not sure if it will cure my wounds or suddenly poison me to death.”
“Take it or leave it,” Qin Mu said, opening a bottle and applying it to his own wounds.
Banguo Cuo looked at the Dragon Qilin, who was using his Qilin fire to melt the spirit weapons stuck in him, turning them into molten iron that dripped down. When the Dragon Qilin saw Banguo Cuo shamelessly approaching, he grew angry, turning his rear toward him to reveal several deep wounds, and bellowed, “Is licking wounds fun? If you want me to lick yours, you lick mine first!”
Banguo Cuo’s face darkened like charcoal, and he said cautiously, “I’m just here to borrow some Dragon Saliva, not to lick. Have some pity...”
The Dragon Qilin’s heart softened, and he reluctantly spat a large gob of Dragon Saliva. “Lick it yourself!”
Banguo Cuo scraped up some of the saliva and applied it to his wounds.
They treated their injuries. Qin Mu took more Dragon Saliva and smeared it on the knife wounds on the Dragon Qilin’s rear. After resting for a while, they were still weak in the limbs.
Footsteps sounded in the darkness. Qin Mu struggled to his feet, activating his Danxiao Heavenly Eye. In the dark, a figure approached, wearing a blood-red cape.
Banguo Cuo also staggered up, opening the large gourd behind him. The waterfall of blood rose and hung in the air.
The Dragon Qilin climbed to his feet but couldn’t support his own weight. Deciding it was more comfortable to sit, he sat down and began to gather his true fire.
Qin Mu’s hands hung limp, unable to lift his sword pellet. He could only flick his fingers lightly, causing the Carefree Sword from the pellet to fly out and float at his fingertip, tiny and delicate.
The approaching figure was a youth carrying a long sword on his back. He didn’t come closer but stopped, cautiously eyeing the hundreds of corpses ahead.
He moved through the darkness, but the monsters in the dark paid him no attention. The darkness seemed to affect only the people of this world, posing no threat to these visitors from beyond the heavens.
“Killing a scout squad of my Celestial Court’s Lingxiu Army—impressive!”
The youth with the long sword shook his cape, which was drenched in blood. He met Qin Mu’s gaze across the darkness and said in a deep voice, “I am Luo Wushuang of the Lingxiu Army. Dare you state your name?”
Banguo Cuo chuckled grimly, “Luo Wushuang? Lingxiu Army? Never heard of them. Kid, you’ve got some nerve. Come up and die!”
The long-sword youth said calmly, “Luo admires you all. To kill so many experts with just two people and a pig is no small feat. But they were only scouts. The Lingxiu Army is an elite force selected from the rising talents of the Celestial Court—not comparable to these scouts. You Upper Emperor hicks have real skill, worthy of respect. That’s why I ask your names, so you can leave a legacy after death. Since you refuse, then—”
He drew his blade in one swift motion, raising it high and slashing down. A blade light like a ribbon fell through the air, splitting into two, then four, then eight, then sixteen, multiplying with each division. By the time it reached Qin Mu and the others, it had become a sky-covering net of blade light!
Banguo Cuo roared, clasping his hands together. The waterfall of blood formed a blood Buddha that met the blade light, only to shatter under its onslaught. But the impact destabilized the blade light for a moment.
Banguo Cuo collapsed to the ground, panting, his magical power spent.
Qin Mu flicked his finger, and the Carefree Sword shot out with a whistle, piercing through the blade net with a series of clinks, arriving beside the youth in an instant.
He had used the last of his strength to execute his sword technique, leaving himself defenseless. The Dragon Qilin roared, and his dragon scales flew off in unison, forming a wall of massive shields in front of Qin Mu.
The youth’s form shifted unpredictably, dodging the sword light. He swung his blade to block, his swordsmanship extraordinary and majestic.
Qin Mu used the last of his strength and primal energy to control the sword, executing the Eighteen Forms of the Sword Technique with ever-changing moves. When the final form was unleashed, the youth Luo Wushuang grunted, and his right arm, which held the blade, was severed.
He reached out, grabbed his severed arm, and retreated, vanishing in an instant to a spot over a li away.
“Who are you? State your name!” he shouted.
Qin Mu judged that his primal energy was nearly exhausted and he couldn’t chase another li. He withdrew his sword, letting the Carefree Sword spin lightly around him to make it seem like he still had strength left.
“The Heavenly Saint Cult’s Chief, Qin Mu.”
Qin Mu smiled leisurely, “Beside me is the Great Sage of the Loulan Golden Palace.”
Banguo Cuo’s face changed color.
—Updated two minutes early! And it’s a 3,600-character chapter. Is Zhai Zhu proud?