Chapter 366: Who Are You Really?

"Damn it!"

Letting out a pained roar, Wei Liao felt the shattering of his left arm bone and the stabbing pain above his dantian—he was both shocked and furious.

But he was no ordinary old demon, his reactions lightning-fast; gritting his teeth against the agony, he surged his true qi to seal the blood vessels in his left arm, halting the bleeding and the spread of cold energy.

Simultaneously, his body did not pause for an instant—he shot forward like a startled venomous snake, speeding deep into the tunnel in desperate flight!

In the instant before he fled, a fierce gleam flashed in his eyes; both hands snapped backward, snatching up the two stunned disciples beside him—his loyal attendants, paralyzed by their master's injury—and hurled them behind him like sacks of sand—

There, Chen Mu had already circled the stone wall and lunged in from another tunnel entrance!

"Master, you—"

"No—!!"

The two disciples, caught utterly off-guard, had barely time to scream in utter horror before a tremendous force flung them toward Chen Mu—directly into his path of pursuit.

Chen Mu's eyes were icy; he felt no pity for these unfortunate pawns cast aside.

His forward momentum did not slacken; his index fingers flicked lightly left and right.

Hss! Hss!

Two slender, solidified pale-gold sword qi, like spectral lightning snatching souls, instantly pierced the foreheads of the two late-stage Foundation Establishment disciples.

Plop! Plop!

Their eyes still wide with horror, they died instantly, their bodies collapsing limply to the ground.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes!"

The card materialized in his hand; Chen Mu didn't even glance at it. His figure, like a phantom, leapt over the corpses and continued racing after Wei Liao's escape route.

Hu—

Ahead, Wei Liao, fleeing for his life, didn't look back—he flung a cloud of crimson powder backward.

The powder ignited instantly in the air, transforming into a vast, searing crimson cloud of toxic fire and stench of sulfur, engulfing the entire tunnel and surging toward Chen Mu.

Where it passed, the air warped, and even the stone walls hissed as they were scorched!

This old demon carried no telling number of vile devices on his person.

Shhh~

Chen Mu had anticipated this—he dropped lower again.

"Earth Submersion!"

The ground softened; his figure sank beneath it. The crimson toxic fire cloud swept uselessly over the empty floor.

Chen Mu traveled several zhang underground, effortlessly bypassing the poison barrier, then burst up from the tunnel floor just ahead of Wei Liao, blocking his path directly.

Wei Liao, head down and sprinting full speed, suddenly saw the ground ahead rise—Chen Mu appeared, unharmed—and his eyes widened in shock, tinged with disbelief and terror.

This strange, terrain-ignoring evasion technique of his opponent seemed perfectly tailored to counter him.

"You... who are you? The Long family could never possess such techniques!"

Wei Liao shouted sharply, his voice thick with suspicion and fear.

Chen Mu had no intention of wasting words on him.

A flash of cold light—a long knife, radiating a chilling, icy aura, appeared in his hand.

It was the low-grade Xuan weapon, "Yinsha Dao," obtained after slaying Ren Dongxing!

This blade naturally carried chilling deathly qi, slightly resonating with Chen Mu's Yin Sword attribute from the "Two Forms Sword Qi."

True qi flooded the blade; Yinsha Dao blazed with icy radiance, fine ice crystals forming around its edge as the surrounding air froze.

"Shhh!"

Chen Mu surged forward, swinging Yinsha Dao in a mysterious, eerie arc—the supreme technique "Jiuyou Tiansha Dao" erupted in full force.

Layers of blade light piled upon layers, like the descent of a ghostly nether realm, sealing every possible escape direction with freezing Yinsha blade aura.

"Get out of my way!"

Wei Liao's pupils shrank violently; he let out a shrill howl, unleashing his full cultivation of Earth Altar Realm's Divine Bridge without restraint.

Black-purple toxic aura enveloped his entire body; his hands flicked rapidly, spewing forth a storm of venomous insects, toxic smoke, and poisoned darts from his sleeves, chest, even his mouth—all mixed with violent true qi, forming a filthy, monstrous venomous dragon that charged head-on into Chen Mu's blade aura!

Chit-chit-chit!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The chilling blade aura clashed violently with the vile demonic arts.

The explosions echoed through the narrow tunnel, deafening.

Wild force surged outward, slicing the tunnel walls into flying shards; vast sections of rock were sheared off and shattered, dust billowing everywhere.

"Puh—"

Ultimately, the dual suppression of cultivation and technique, plus the advantage of Chen Mu's Xuan weapon.

After only a few breaths, Wei Liao spat out a thick, foul stream of blood; his body was struck as if by a giant hammer, his protective toxic aura shattered, and he was flung backward, crashing hard into the stone wall behind him with a sickening crack of bones.

Sliding down the wall to the ground, his face as pale as paper, his breath feeble to the extreme, his left arm hung limp, his ribs shattered beyond count—he was utterly incapacitated.

Chen Mu's gaze turned cold; he prepared to surge forward and seize the gravely wounded Wei Liao for interrogation.

"Huuush—"

A piercing, razor-sharp whistling suddenly erupted from deep behind Chen Mu in the tunnel.

Before the sound reached him, a terrifying force—cold and scorching intertwined, brimming with savagery and destruction—struck like a lightning tearing through space, hurtling straight for Chen Mu's back!

The power of this attack was unmistakably at the Earth Altar Realm's Five Qi Convergence level.

The ferocity and speed of the assault made it clear: the attacker meant to kill.

A powerhouse from the Demon Flame Sect had arrived!

And with his first move, he unleashed a lethal strike without mercy.

Chen Mu's footsteps shifted with arcane precision, his body swirling like willow fluff in the wind, sidestepping three feet at the very last instant.

Almost the moment he moved, a hyper-concentrated, bizarre fingertip force—half pitch-black as ink, half crimson as fire—sliced past the edge of his robe and slammed into the rock wall ahead, silently piercing a bottomless hole whose edges bore both molten and corroded traces!

As he evaded the lethal strike, Chen Mu reversed his Yin Demon Blade upward.

The Nine Nethers Heavenly Demon Blade!

A jet-black blade aura, dense with chilling demonic energy, surged forth like a breath from the Nine Heavens' Depths, meeting the likely follow-up attack of the ambushers.

Boom—

The blade aura clashed violently with another incoming searing palm force.

A muffled roar, like rolling thunder, exploded within the corridor—far more violent than his prior clash with Wei Liao.

A terrifying shockwave spread outward in a ring, madly expanding in all directions; the already crumbling corridor could no longer hold, and vast sections of the ceiling collapsed, stones raining down, dust surging skyward, while the surrounding caverns began to shake violently, as if about to collapse entirely.

Using the recoil from the explosion and the cover of dust, Chen Mu flashed like a ghost, appearing beside the gravely wounded Wei Liao.

His left hand shot out like lightning, gripping Wei Liao's throat, and a dominant true qi surged instantly into his body, completely sealing off his remaining true qi and mobility.

Then, he expelled true qi outward, forming a luminous barrier that enveloped both Wei Liao and himself.

Earth Submersion!

The ground beneath their feet softened again, and their figures sank swiftly into the earth, vanishing amid the ruined debris of the corridor.

"Where are you going!!"