Chapter 345

Plop!

Witnessing Chen Mu tear Tong Zhenjiang, a Spirit Bridge perfected Earth Altar cultivator, into shreds with the force of Lei Ting and effortless ease, Tong Shoutian's last shred of hope and reliance shattered completely.

His legs went weak, collapsing straight to the ground, his forehead slamming hard against the cold rocky floor with a dull thud.

"Elder, spare my life! Elder, spare my life! I was wrong! I had blind eyes and offended you! I beg you, show mercy, spare my life!"

Tong Shoutian wept and sniveled, his voice twisted by utter terror as he pounded his head frantically against the ground, babbling incoherently in supplication, utterly stripped of any trace of his former status as heir of Ice-Fire Island.

Chen Mu's expression remained blank, ignoring Tong Shoutian's wailing pleas.

His gaze calmly swept over the pit below, where faint screams and chaotic noises still echoed, then spoke coldly.

"Speak. What exactly lies beneath this pit? The ruins of the Tiandao Sect? Or something else?"

"Yes! Yes! I'll tell you now! I dare not hide a single word!" Tong Shoutian, as if granted amnesty, immediately stopped banging his head, his body still trembling uncontrollably as he answered in haste.

"The ruins… beneath the pit are indeed ancient, but… they are not from the Tiandao Sect—they are… a branch outpost left behind by a dark sect called the Xuehuang Sect!"

"Xuehuang Sect?" Chen Mu's brow twitched slightly.

"Yes! According to ancient texts and surviving stele inscriptions, the Xuehuang Sect is famed for its blood-refining methods, and its actions are strange and cruel."

Tong Shoutian did not pause, spilling out his words like beans from a bamboo tube, "Within the ruins lies a sinister top-grade Mystic Weapon, named 'Blood-Devouring Heaven Blade'!"

He swallowed hard, his face twisted with a complex mix of fear and greed, "This 'Blood-Devouring Heaven Blade' is said to have been the personal blade of a senior elder of the Xuehuang Sect—immensely powerful, but… its nature is utterly evil!"

"It… requires a sufficient quantity of fresh blood to quell its malevolence, allowing the wielder to approach and attempt to control it. And it's not ordinary blood—it must be the vital essence of a Primordial Martial cultivator's blood!"

Tong Shoutian stole a glance at Chen Mu's expression, then continued, "I… I recruited these so-called 'explorers' for one true purpose: to use their lives, their vital essence, to feed the 'Blood-Devouring Heaven Blade'!"

"Once the blade is sated and its evil temporarily subdued, I… I will have the chance to claim it… Elder, I've told you everything I know! Not a single lie!"

Chen Mu listened, then nodded thoughtfully, his gaze deep and unreadable.

"Truly! That's all! Elder, please believe me!"

Seeing Chen Mu did not immediately strike, Tong Shoutian thought he saw an opening and frantically bowed his head again, his tone even more humble and pleading, "I beg to serve you! I'll be your ox, your horse, your slave! I can even persuade my ancestral elder to make the entire Tong family of Ice-Fire Island submit to you, to follow your every command! Only spare my life! Give me a chance to serve you!"

"Oh? Make the entire Tong family submit to me?" Chen Mu seemed to take a slight interest, nodding slightly, "Sounds… not bad."

Hearing this, Tong Shoutian's heart surged with wild joy.

Like a drowning man clutching his final straw, his face instantly lit up with a groveling, relieved smile, and he hurried to say, "Thank you, Elder! Thank you for your mercy! I—"

"Pfft!"

A razor-thin, nearly invisible crimson sword qi shot out from Chen Mu's fingertip without warning.

Faster than sound, faster than thought!

Plop~

A faint muffled sound.

Tong Shoutian's groveling smile froze instantly, his pupils dilating wide with disbelief, shock, and vacant confusion.

A small, clean-through blood hole appeared at his forehead, a wisp of black smoke mingled with brain matter slowly drifting out from the back of his skull.

Tong Shoutian opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out; his body swayed, then collapsed backward with a thud, lifeless, his frozen smile appearing grotesque.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

Card acquired.

Chen Mu examined it—Memory Card!

Lucky break.

Without hesitation, Chen Mu activated the card and reviewed Tong Shoutian's memories, especially those concerning this journey to "Ghost Wail Island."

Flashing rapidly like a spinning lantern.

Ice-Fire Island, ancient texts, Tong Zhenjiang's reconnaissance, discovery of the ruins, information on the Blood-Devouring Heaven Blade, the plan to recruit "blood offerings"… most matched Tong Shoutian's confession.

But when the memory footage advanced to the segment where Tong Zhenjiang, a month ago, brought Tong Shoutian down into the pit to investigate, Chen Mu's eyes suddenly turned icy!

In the vision, Tong Zhenjiang encountered, deep within the ruined ruins, a hazy, twisted, dark red shadow radiating boundless cold and malevolence!

The shadow was neither human nor beast, its form shifting constantly, existing between substance and energy, carrying a nauseating stench and malice piercing straight into the soul.

Tong Zhenjiang clashed with it several times; his famed palm power and spiritual attacks had little effect, while the shadow's corrupt blood tentacles entangled and corroded him, nearly trapping both men in the pit—they barely escaped, barely alive, their primordial energy severely damaged, dragging Tong Shoutian out with them!

In the memory, Tong Zhenjiang returned to Ice-Fire Island and described the entity to the Tong ancestral elder with lingering terror.

"…It's not a guardian beast—it's some kind of 'Blood Puppet' bred or sealed by ancient Xuehuang Sect dark arts. Or rather, a monster corrupted and mutated by blood calamity!"

"Neither alive nor dead, nearly impossible to kill by conventional means! With my strength, I couldn't possibly defeat it—only a Tiangong cultivator might purify or suppress it completely!"

As Chen Mu finished reviewing, icy light flashed in his eyes.

"So there was deception!"

He mentally snarled.

The ruins beneath the pit and the "Blood-Devouring Heaven Blade" might be real—but Tong Shoutian deliberately concealed the most critical, most lethal detail.

A sinister monster, alive since ancient times, lurked within the ruins!

Its power was terrifying—Earth Altar cultivators were nothing but meat for it; only Tiangong cultivators could possibly handle it.

Tong Shoutian's plan wasn't merely to use the recruited martialists as "blood offerings" for the blade—he intended to use them, and any unexpected strong outsiders, to distract or exhaust the monster, buying himself time to claim the "Blood-Devouring Heaven Blade," or let the monster and the intruders destroy each other so he could reap the benefits!

Had Chen Mu not swiftly slain Tong Shoutian—and had he not been lucky enough to obtain the Memory Card—if he'd believed Tong Shoutian's "confession" and "loyalty," lowered his guard, or been lured by the "Blood-Devouring Heaven Blade" and recklessly descended into the ruins…

He might have truly been doomed.

"A malevolent entity requiring a Tiangong cultivator to confront…"