Miao He, dragging her injured body, kept retreating until she reached Xu Mu's side, and only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
She had crossed hands with Xu Mu before; in terms of oppressive aura, Xu Mu was far stronger than the Zhou Xing in front of her.
"I've got friends in the Heavenly Sword Sect too," Xu Mu said to Zhou Xing with a smile.
"Name them. Let me hear it," Zhou Xing said arrogantly, slinging his longsword onto his back.
"Dai Xingluo—ever heard of her?"
"Dai Xingluo?" The corner of Zhou Xing's mouth lifted. "I actually do."
"Then, for her sake, can you let this woman go?" Xu Mu asked.
"I can," Zhou Xing grinned. "But I've got a condition—bring her here and let me feel just how 'deep' her waters run."
Xu Mu's eyes narrowed to slits. "Old Chen, protect her."
"Got it!" Chen Xuan nodded, moving to Miao He's side.
Xu Mu opened his storage space, drew a dagger, and walked toward Zhou Xing.
"What is she, your goddess? Forget it, I don't want her. Go fetch your mom instead," Zhou Xing mocked as Xu Mu approached. "Junior brothers, leave this trash to you."
He stabbed his sword into the ground and watched idly.
So he knew a mere outer disciple—big deal.
"Third Senior Brother, leave this one to me," a slightly chubby man said, short sword in hand, eyes narrowed with a smile. "Give me two seconds and I'll have him on his knees."
Swoosh!
He stamped the ground and lunged at Xu Mu at high speed.
But Xu Mu's expression didn't change; he just kept walking forward.
Flash!
The man appeared at Xu Mu's side—before he could even swing, a chill flashed at his waist.
Squelch!
Blood sprayed like a fountain. He crashed to the ground and slid over ten meters before stopping.
Because of the speed, to outsiders it looked like he'd simply fallen on his own—
but the geyser of blood at his waist proved he'd been cut.
Zhou Xing's eyes grew solemn. He pulled the longsword from the earth again.
The others behind him all drew their weapons.
"Brother Mu, careful—they're gonna gang up on you!" Chen Xuan warned.
"Dust—whether it's one grain or ten—is hard to tell apart with the naked eye," Xu Mu said, now seven or eight meters from Zhou Xing.
"Brat! You hurt one ordinary disciple and now you're feeling confident?" Zhou Xing sneered as green motes flared over his body. "Falling Leaf Slash!"
Whsssh!
A green blade of sword-qi howled toward Xu Mu.
With the boom of ruptured air, countless fallen leaves surged at Xu Mu, blotting out his vision.
"Go! Kill him!" Zhou Xing barked to the disciples behind him.
Swish, swish, swish!
They all sprang into action, charging through the storm of leaves toward Xu Mu—
—only to find that Xu Mu's figure had vanished.
Not just them; even Chen Xuan and Miao He stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
Squelch!
Squelch!
…
In that instant, a horrifying scene unfolded.
Blood burst almost simultaneously from the charging disciples. They collapsed, gravely wounded—yet no one could even see the attacker.
Zhou Xing's eyes widened in panic. He glanced around nervously, but there was no trace of anyone.
Flash!
A dagger slid into his neck.
From behind him came Xu Mu's voice: "Disaster comes from the mouth. Watch it in your next life."
"Die, you little punk!" Zhou Xing turned fear into rage, wrenching free and slashing back.
Crack!
A crisp sound. Zhou Xing stared in disbelief.
Xu Mu had caught the blade with one hand.
With the other, he extended a single finger and tapped Zhou Xing's chest.
Bang!
A water-like longsword pierced straight through Zhou Xing's torso.
"You…" Zhou Xing's eyes filled with unwillingness as he crashed to the ground.
In the distance, Miao He and Chen Xuan were both dumbstruck.
They hadn't expected Xu Mu to be so powerful.
The other side's people were sect disciples—and Zhou Xing himself was at the Mystic Art Realm—yet before Xu Mu, he hadn't even had the chance to resist.
Xu Mu had been right: add more "dust," and it still doesn't amount to much.
"Damn! That was cool," Chen Xuan's eyes shone.
It was one thing for Xu Mu's medical skill to be amazing—his combat prowess was just as terrifying.
Miao He had originally thought Xu Mu was merely an early-stage Mystic Art expert.
Now she realized she'd been dead wrong.
Hands together, she released another cloud of butterflies.
The blades of their wings flitted through the air, finishing off the still-breathing enemies on the ground.
Xu Mu frowned slightly at the sight but said nothing.
This was how battles in the ancient-martial world went—especially inside a ruin.
Countless lives were spent over treasures.
"Don't blame me for being ruthless. This is how ancient-martial cultivators operate," Miao He said to Xu Mu. "Let them live, and the sect will hunt you to the ends of the earth."
Xu Mu nodded. "I know."
Miao He took out a black bottle and poured the contents over the corpses.
In moments, black Gu worms devoured the bodies.
Her butterflies swept back out and ate the Gu worms in turn.
"What are you doing here?" Xu Mu asked once it was over.
"My people have been staking out the Environmental Sanitation Office these past few days. To avoid detection, we use different cars almost daily," Miao He said, pointing to the area. "I noticed their people come here every day."
"You're smart," Xu Mu said, glancing down at Miao He's torn black stockings and the blood on them. "Can you make it back on your own?"
"I can."
"Then I won't see you off. We still need to find the entrance to the ruin."
"I've already found it," Miao He said, indicating the wound on her leg. "I wasn't hurt by that guy just now—this was from the mechanism guarding the entrance."
Xu Mu looked at Chen Xuan in disbelief—what were the odds?
Then he remembered: Miao He's Fate Level was 9. Not as sky-high as Chen Xuan's, but still extraordinary.
"Brother Mu, shall we head over?" Chen Xuan asked.
"No. Places like that are full of danger. We need to prepare." Xu Mu checked his phone—it was already afternoon. "We'll rest for the night and set off tomorrow."
"Tomorrow it is," Chen Xuan agreed. He'd never entered a ruin before; Xu Mu had more experience.
…
Not long after Xu Mu and the others left Lihua Village, Fang Chu arrived.
Seeing all the cars parked in the village, he knew he was in the right place.
Back at the Nangong estate yesterday, the mention of this location had stuck with him.
For someone that strong to be digging for intel here—there had to be an opportunity.
He walked into the forest outside Lihua Village.
Two black-robed figures approached from the other direction, so he stepped up to ask, "Gentlemen, what exactly is up in these mountains?"
"Who are you? Why the hell should I tell you?" one of them snorted.
"I am Fang Chu, once a descendant of the hidden-world Fang clan," he said.
"Fang Chu? The same Fang Chu from Yang City a few days ago?" the other asked.
"Not just a few days—I've been active in Yang City the whole time," Fang Chu smiled. So his name had spread, after all.
Swish!
Suddenly, one of the black-robed men thrust his hand straight for Fang Chu's heart.