Chapter 363: Gone

Swish—!

Chen Mu's figure flickered like a ghost, the venomous, sharp claw-wind grazing his sleeve as it struck the stone wall behind, leaving behind several corroded tracks smoking with green vapor.

He did not pause; using the momentum of his dodge, he accelerated deeper into the corridor ahead.

At this moment, he only wanted to escape quickly and find Long Tuti's whereabouts, unwilling to tangle with this arrogant woman and risk exposing his identity.

"You dare run?!"

Seeing her strike miss, the woman—Xu Dajin—not only did not beg for mercy but ran even faster, fueling her fury; she shrieked sharply.

She pushed her true qi again, her movement speed surging, relentlessly chasing after him, her hands striking in rapid succession, finger-winds hissing, each strike aimed precisely at Chen Mu's back heart, back of the head, spine—vicious beyond measure.

"Seek death!"

Chen Mu's eyes flashed with cold light; his body abruptly halted, no longer advancing, but instead spinning on his left foot like lightning within the narrow space!

In that instant of turning, his right hand's sword-finger snapped together, true essence condensing at his fingertips—no sword drawn, yet two razor-thin, nearly invisible sword qi streaks erupted forth.

One pierced straight at Lü Lingling's lower dantian, the other struck her right shoulder's Jianjing point.

The speed far exceeded Lü Lingling's reaction limit!

Puff! Puff!

Two faint but chilling muffled thuds.

Lü Lingling's forward momentum froze instantly; her arrogant and cruel expression hardened into utter shock and searing pain.

She looked down and saw her true qi gushing wildly from her lower abdomen—her dantian had been completely pierced and destroyed.

Her right shoulder erupted in bone-shattering agony; her entire arm went limp, utterly useless.

"Ugh…" She opened her mouth, pain and terror forcing her to scream.

But Chen Mu moved faster!

Before she could utter a sound, he had already closed the distance, his left hand shooting out like an iron clamp, precisely gripping her throat, silencing all cries.

The next instant, Chen Mu moved again, snatching her up like a chick, darting swiftly into a darker side passage piled high with discarded debris.

As he passed the attendant woman, a slender sword qi slipped soundlessly across her brow; her eyes instantly dimmed, and she died without a sound.

【Corpse detected. Retrieve?】

"Yes!"

Card acquired.

Roll up the corpse, continue forward.

The entire sequence unfolded in the blink of an eye; the Mo Sect disciples deeper in the corridor, who were punishing captives, remained utterly unaware.

Entering the dark corner, Chen Mu did not pause—he released his true qi, forming a luminous barrier that enveloped both of them.

Then he shifted his intent.

"Earth Submergence!"

The ground beneath his feet softened again; the three figures sank rapidly into the earth, vanishing without a trace.

Beneath the ground, Chen Mu no longer concealed himself—he moved at top speed.

After roughly a cup of tea's time, dozens of li from the mountains, in a desolate forest, the ground bulged upward; Chen Mu burst forth, carrying Lü Lingling and her dead attendant's corpse.

Back on the surface, Chen Mu first raised his right hand, his true qi coalescing into searing flame that instantly engulfed the attendant woman's corpse.

The flame burned with extreme heat yet remained tightly contained; within a few breaths, it reduced the body to a pile of ash, scattered by the wind, erasing all trace.

Having disposed of that, he turned his gaze to Lü Lingling, now lying on the ground, her face pale from dantian destruction and blood loss, trembling violently, her eyes filled with boundless terror.

His aura surged, towering over her, his tone flat, unreadable.

"Speak. Where are the Long family youths your Mo Sect captured being held?"

"L-Long family youths?" Lü Lingling's pupils shrank sharply; her body shook harder.

Though arrogant, she was not entirely foolish.

At this moment, she realized: this "Xu Dajin," who had effortlessly subdued her, "earth-submerged" her for dozens of li, and could manifest true qi into flame to burn corpses—was not the weak outer-disciple she knew!

These godlike, unfathomable abilities—easily destroying her Seventh Stage Innate cultivation—

Were beyond the reach of any Innate cultivator!

Earth Altar!

Only an Earth Altar cultivator could do this.

Coupled with the fact he was seeking "Long family youths"—

He was clearly a high-ranking Long family rescuer!

She had walked straight into his trap!

"S-She's… not… at the sect anymore…" Lü Lingling gasped, enduring the agony in her abdomen and the shattering pain in her shoulder, her voice trembling—no more lies, no more arrogance.

"Not at the sect?" Chen Mu's brow furrowed, his gaze sharpening instantly. "Then where?"

"T-Today, early morning, she was sent away…" Lü Lingling answered hastily, terrified that delay would bring death.

"Where to?" Chen Mu pressed, his tone colder.

"I… I don't know…"

Lü Lingling answered instinctively, but seeing the sudden flash of cold light in Chen Mu's eyes, she nearly fainted with terror and screamed, "I truly don't know! This matter is top secret—only a few elders and the sect master know the details! I… I only overheard rumors…"

She paused, seeing Chen Mu did not strike immediately, then hurriedly added, "But… but I suspect she was sent to the 'Sun-Moon Mo Sect'!"

Sun-Moon Mo Sect?

Long Tuti was sent to the Sun-Moon Mo Sect!?

Chen Mu's heart sank sharply.

The Sun-Moon Mo Sect was vastly stronger and far more dangerous than the Mo Sect.

If Long Tuti had been sent there, her situation was even more perilous.

Immediately, he pressed, "Both were sent to the Mo Sect?"

"Only... only one," Lü Lingling flinched under Chen Mu's sudden sharp aura, answering cautiously.

"Only one?"

Chen Mu frowned tightly, puzzled. "Weren't there two people—a boy and a girl? A girl around seven or eight, and a young man around twenty?"

"No, there wasn't."

Now it was Lü Lingling's turn to be confused. Fighting through intense pain, she struggled to recall: "We... we only captured one girl. At first she claimed she was from the Long family—we didn't believe her at all, thought she was just a child babbling nonsense."

"Later... later, Elder Wei took some of the girl's blood and tested it with a special method, and then he believed her—he said her bloodline was truly extraordinary, likely truly from the Long family..."

"After that, Elder Wei contacted the Mo Sect on the other side, and early this morning, they sent someone secretly to take her away—very hurriedly."

Hearing this, Chen Mu fell into a brief silence.

The Long family's bloodline must indeed carry some special marker or power detectable through testing.

When Long Tuti was captured, Long Fengfei wasn't beside her...

This might mean that during the attack, the siblings became separated, or Long Fengfei wasn't present at all—or perhaps he had already met his end.

But Chen Mu didn't care about any of this.

His only target was Long Tuti.