Chapter 194: Leave None Alive — Kill Them All!

Lu Ziyi was stunned.

"Only seventy-seventh?"

When did the ranking requirements of the Hidden Dragon List get raised?

Or is it that the martial arts prodigies currently on the list have battle records more and more ferocious than the last?

"Seventy-seventh and the top fifty — to me, there's not much difference."

Chen Mu said calmly.

As he spoke, he walked to a bay-red steed, swung himself up in a single motion, and landed in the saddle.

"Let's go."

"…Alright." Lu Ziyi responded, collected herself, and likewise mounted her horse.

The two rode side by side, leaving Wulong Fucheng along the broad avenue.

……

Three days later.

Twilight closed in on all sides; a rugged mountain path snaked through the verdant ridges.

Chen Mu and Lu Ziyi urged their horses onward, days of travel leaving a weary dust upon their robes.

Seeing the sky had gone fully dark, a single point of lamplight on the mountainside ahead stood out sharply against the heavy night, faintly tracing the outline of an inn.

"Let's rest here tonight." Chen Mu reined in his horse and suggested.

Lu Ziyi naturally had no objection.

The two handed their horses to the waiter who came out to greet them and stepped into this inn called "Mountain Wild Dwelling."

The inn was not large, its furnishings crude, but it was at least clean.

A few tables of guests sat scattered about the main hall; the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Chen Mu asked for two upper rooms, adjacent to Lu Ziyi's.

The night deepened; inside and outside the inn all was still, save for the occasional whimper of mountain wind sweeping past the window lattice.

Suddenly—

"Kill!"

A furious roar tore through the silence, followed at once by the harsh clanging of weapons in violent collision, furious roars and shrill wails mingled together, shattering the dead stillness of the night.

Chen Mu, who had been sitting quietly in his room regulating his breath, frowned slightly at the sound but did not rise.

Feuds and killings in the jianghu were commonplace.

So long as common folk were not being harmed, Chen Mu could not be bothered to intervene — who knew the truth of the matter?

Lu Ziyi in the next room seemed to hold the same attitude; there was no movement within.

However, things did not go as one wished.

A cold voice rang out from outside, carrying an unquestionable killing intent: "The chief has given orders — every single person in the inn, leave none alive! Kill them all!"

The instant the words fell, with a tremendous "BANG," Chen Mu's room door was smashed open by a brutal force.

Two men wielding steel sabers, their faces masked with black cloth, rushed in with savage grins, their gazes instantly locking onto the only living person in the room — Chen Mu.

"Kid, if you've got someone to blame, blame your rotten luck — checking into an inn tonight!" one of them growled low, his blade-light cleaving toward Chen Mu like a bolt of silk.

"Seeking death."

Chen Mu's eyes went cold; he did not even bother to rise, merely waved a hand casually.

A stream of true qi, condensed to the point of substance, pierced the air — like an invisible heavy hammer — and struck the two black-clad men's chests with pinpoint precision.

"Puh!"

"Puh!"

The two were as if struck by lightning; their chests caved in instantly, blood mingled with fragments of internal organs spraying from their mouths. Without so much as a grunt, they were sent flying backward, slamming into the corridor wall, then sliding down limply — already dead.

They were merely martial artists of the Seventh Stage Postnatal realm; before him they were no different from ants.

【Corpse detected. Loot?】

"Yes!"

The card in hand, Chen Mu stood up and walked slowly out of the room.

The corridor was already in utter chaos — twenty or thirty black-clad men were surrounding and attacking travelers who had fled from the other rooms, screams ringing without end.

His gaze swept across them; his figure flickered like a phantom, finger-winds and sword-qi crisscrossing.

Whoosh~ whoosh~ whoosh!

Every time he neared a black-clad man, a single finger-point or a palm-strike would land; none struck failed to drop dead on the spot — as clean and efficient as slicing melons and chopping vegetables.

The neighboring room's door also swung open at the same moment; Lu Ziyi's figure darted out, a short blade in her hand gleaming with a blue light, like a spirit dancing in the dark night, harvesting the black-clad men's lives with precision and efficiency.

At the same time, several people from other rooms of the inn also struck.

Among them, the most eye-catching was a woman at the end of the western corridor — roughly twenty years of age, dressed all in plain white, her features coldly beautiful and elegant, like an orchid in an empty valley.

The long sword in her hand swept freely, her sword art as ethereal and cloud-like as it was unfathomable in its variations, yet every strike carried astonishing lethality — wherever the sword-light passed, the black-clad men were either killed or wounded.

The aura surging around her had unmistakably reached the Third Stage Innate realm.

Under her sword, and the counterattacks of Chen Mu, Lu Ziyi, and several other guests who clearly also had cultivation, the twenty-some black-clad men who had stormed the inn were quickly slaughtered into scattered remnants, leaving only a handful protecting their leader.

Of the family of five who had been under siege, only three remained — a middle-aged man whose aura was listless and whose body bore wounds, a young woman supporting him, and a little girl clutched tightly in the young woman's arms, trembling with terror.

On the ground lay the corpses of an old man and a young man, already dead.

Seeing the tide had turned against him, the leader of the black-clad men looked utterly grim. He stared fixedly at the wounded middle-aged man and bellowed, "Zhang Yongnian! You betrayed the clan and stole a heavy treasure — even if you flee to the ends of the earth, you cannot escape the clan's law!"

His gaze swept over Chen Mu, Lu Ziyi, the coldly beautiful woman, and the others; forcibly suppressing his fury and unease, he cupped his fist and said, "Friends! I am Zhang Li of the Zhang Clan of Guangnan Prefecture. This trip is solely to purge our ranks and capture the clan traitor Zhang Yongnian's family!"

"Any offense just now was truly unavoidable. I ask you all to do us the favor of not meddling in the internal affairs of our Zhang Clan! The Zhang Clan of Guangnan will surely repay you generously!"

He deliberately Intent Intensifies on the words "Zhang Clan of Guangnan Prefecture," his tone carrying both an apology and a clear note of warning.

The Zhang clan of Guangnan was a local power in the Wu Lin of eastern Shannan Dao as well; the clan had two Earth Altar realm experts holding down the fort, so ordinary forces were unwilling to provoke them lightly.

"You… you're talking nonsense!"

Zhang Yongnian spoke weakly, "Friends, my Qinghe Zhang clan long ago broke away from their Guangnan Zhang clan. This time it's because their Guangnan Zhang clan coveted a… that my father happened to obtain."

"You make it sound as if your Qinghe Zhang clan hasn't, over these years, been borrowing our Guangnan Zhang clan's influence to expand aggressively."

Zhang Li cut in with a cold laugh, "Zhang Yongnian, do you dare swear before your ancestors that you've never borrowed influence?"

"Of course I haven't… cough, cough, cough~!"

Zhang Yongnian heard this, and anger rose on his face. He opened his mouth to argue, but because his injuries were too severe, he suddenly broke into a coughing fit, fresh blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

The young woman at his side hurriedly supported him, calling out softly with reddened eyes.

"Everyone, Zhang Yongnian says with his mouth that he's broken away from us, but in fact he's always acted by borrowing our strength. The treasure in their hands was originally ours!" Zhang Li said in a heavy voice.

The crowd fell silent.

The corridor went quiet for a moment. The few guests who had made a move showed hesitation on their faces, their eyes flickering — clearly unwilling to offend a local snake-family for no reason.

Chen Mu's expression was calm, as if he hadn't heard Zhang Li's words.

He glanced at the bodies of the innocent inn servants and other guests who had died a wretched death on the ground, then shot a look at the little girl who had turned pale with fright and was tightly gripping the young woman's hem, and spoke lightly.

"Your Zhang clan's internal affairs — I have no interest in them."

Hearing this, Zhang Li's expression eased slightly.

But Chen Mu's next words made him feel as if he had instantly plunged into an icy abyss.

"But you intend to kill everyone, myself included."

Chen Mu's icy gaze landed on Zhang Li. "For this matter, I want an explanation!"