Chapter 394

A calm, still voice, as if carrying the chill of night dew, suddenly rang out from the shadow at the alley's entrance.

Xiao Xinming and the others froze instantly, as if struck by a paralysis spell.

He snapped his head up and saw a young man, clad in a plain blue long robe and standing tall, stepping slowly from the darkness, blocking their path.

Under the moonlight and distant flames, his handsome, youthful face was crystal clear—his eyes cold and indifferent, fixed silently upon him.

Chen Mu!

Xiao Xinming's heart seemed gripped by an invisible hand, his pupils shrinking to needle points.

The seven black-robed men behind him tensed instantly, hands instinctively gripping their weapons, eyes flashing with malice.

"You… Chen Mu!"

A hoarse cry of shock escaped Xiao Xinming's throat; his gaze darted behind Chen Mu, where ten figures had silently emerged from the alley's shadows as if by magic—figures that had been empty moments before.

It was Chen Mu's elite Qiantian Guard squad!

They had already spread into a fan formation, subtly surrounding Xiao Xinming's group, blades drawn, crossbows strung, eyes icy, locking onto their targets.

Xiao Xinming's face flickered through multiple expressions under the firelight.

Shock, panic, gloom, fury!

He knew—the plan was exposed. Chen Mu's presence here was no coincidence!

"Good! Very good!"

Xiao Xinming drew a sharp breath, his final mask tearing away to reveal his monstrous true face. He glared at Chen Mu, voice rasping with near-madness.

"Chen Mu! Since you already know, no more words!"

"Tonight is your Doomsday!"

He yanked his strange curved blade from his side; its blade glowed with a sinister green poison-light as he pointed it at Chen Mu and roared, "Kill! Kill them all! Once this place is cleared, just a moment's delay—and the 'Ten Thousand Insects Soaring Sky Array' will be fully activated! Then, the entire Dao City shall become our Heiyi Sect's paradise! Kill—"

Before his words ended, Xiao Xinming struck first.

He knew Chen Mu's strength and held nothing back—his Earth Altar Realm's Five Qi in Harmony cultivation surged violently, his green poison blade-glow exploding into dozens of feet, shrieking like wailing ghosts and howling wolves, a venomous dragon tearing through the air to slash down at Chen Mu's head!

Before the blade-glow even reached him, a sweet, foul stench—capable of corroding true qi and disrupting the spirit—had already spread.

The seven black-robed men behind him roared in unison, each unleashing their techniques—swords and knives raised, hidden weapons flying—as they charged toward the ten approaching Qiantian Guards, trying to break the encirclement or create chaos!

"Obstinate fools."

Facing Xiao Xinming's full-force, venomous strike, Chen Mu merely shook his head slightly, a flash of coldness in his eyes.

"Zheng—!"

A clear, ringing sword cry echoed through the alley!

Chen Mu gripped the Xian Long Sword, his true qi surging and flowing without restraint into the blade.

No probing. No dodging.

Chen Mu stepped forward into the path of the incoming poison dragon blade-glow and brought down the Xian Long Sword—simple, direct, overhead.

The True Martial Cleansing Demon Sword Art!

The sharpness and powerful will of the Sword Intent's Third Heaven level erupted in full force.

The crimson sword-glow condensed to its peak, its edges swirling with pure yang energy that shattered evil, colliding head-on with the green poison dragon blade-glow.

"Chi—"

No earth-shattering explosion as expected.

The seemingly fearsome green poison blade-glow, upon contact with the crimson sword-glow, melted like snow beneath a red-hot iron, emitting a grating, teeth-chilling dissolution sound.

The pure yang, demon-destroying power within the sword-glow had an almost natural antipathy toward Xiao Xinming's poison-based, demonic cultivation!

Barely holding for less than a breath, the green blade-glow shattered violently, dissolving into a mist of stinking green vapor.

Xiao Xinming's face twisted in horror, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He tried to change his technique, to retreat—but Chen Mu's sword was too fast!

The crimson sword-light, still charged after shattering the blade-glow, shot forward like a meteor cleaving the night, striking the hastily formed protective aura around Xiao Xinming.

"Peng~!"

Another dull, heavy crash.

Xiao Xinming's protective aura—strong enough to withstand ordinary Earth Altar Realm Five Qi in Harmony attacks—shattered like paper, and the piercing sword qi pierced straight through his body.

"Pu—"

Instantly, Xiao Xinming was struck as if by lightning, his body flung backward like a severed kite, blood spurting wildly from his mouth, carving a vivid crimson arc through the air before he crashed heavily onto the threshold of the very Xiao family gate he had just stepped through, denting the vermilion door.

The strange curved blade slipped from his grasp, clattering to the ground nearby, its glow extinguished.

Xiao Xinming struggled to rise, but felt his internal organs displaced, his meridians searing with pain, his true qi scattered—he was utterly incapacitated.

The seven black-robed men with him met their doom almost simultaneously.

The ten Qiantian Guards had clearly prepared in advance, moving with flawless coordination, overwhelming the few with numbers and seizing the initiative—volleys of anti-gong crossbow bolts, talismans, and coordinated battle formations rained down. In mere breaths, five of the seven black-robed men lay screaming on the ground, the remaining two grievously wounded, pinned and crushed, their defeat inevitable.

The entire clash unfolded with dizzying speed.

From Xiao Xinming drawing his blade and charging, to his blood-spewing flight and his men's collapse, less than ten breaths had passed!

…

As Chen Mu dealt with Xiao Xinming, sudden changes erupted at the array nodes across the city's squares and main roads.

The Heiyi Sect disciples, hunched over their dark arrays, their faces lit with fanatic joy as the rituals neared completion—

"Fire!!!"

From the previously silent homes, shops, and even sewer openings, thunderous roars erupted.

Hidden elite troops from the Zhenwu Bureau and city defense forces, long concealed nearby, surged forth like a flood rising from the earth.

They wielded massive military crossbows—some even specialized siege-breaking siege crossbows!

Poison-tipped arrows, enhanced with explosive, armor-piercing, and demon-repelling array runes, poured down like a storm upon the Heiyi Sect disciples below—unprepared, focused entirely on their arrays, utterly defenseless.

"Pfft!"

"Boom!"

"Aaaah—!"

Caught off guard, the Heiyi Sect disciples fell in droves.

The muffled thuds of crossbow bolts piercing flesh, the roaring explosions of shattered array patterns, and the piercing screams of the dying instantly replaced the earlier tense whispers!

The array equipment, half-finished in its setup, was blown apart into scattered debris; the inscribed array patterns were covered and destroyed by blood and flame.

"Ambush!"

"It's a trap!"

"We've been fooled! Retreat now!"