Chapter 396: Another Bountiful Harvest!!

"Hmph?!"

In the instant Xiao Xinming raised his hand, Chen Mu sensed danger— the dark, violent, decaying aura radiating from the pill instantly revealed his intent.

Suicide?

Or something even more vicious—a mutual destruction tactic?

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Mu's internal energy instantly transformed into the most explosive "fire" and the heaviest "earth" attributes.

His left hand shot forward in a grasping motion; yellowish earth energy erupted, forming a solid, tangible giant hand that seized Xiao Xinming like a flash of lightning and enveloped him—who had just swallowed the pill, his body grotesquely swelling, black-red light glowing beneath his skin.

"Lift!"

Chen Mu growled low, his left hand snapping upward.

The giant yellowish earth-energy hand, like a catapult, hurled the swollen human "package" violently into the night sky dozens of zhang high!

The motion was seamless, swift as lightning.

Inside the airborne "package," Xiao Xinming let out a scream—not human, filled with agony and madness.

The next instant—

"Boom—!"

A muffled yet devastating explosion erupted in midair.

No dazzling light—only a rapidly spreading cloud of black-and-red blood mist and shredded flesh.

Horrifyingly, these shards of flesh and blood rain did not disperse with the wind; instead, they carried intense corrosiveness and a strange vitality, like a dense storm of poison, cascading down onto the streets and rooftops below.

"Sssss—"

Where the blood rain and flesh fragments struck the blue stone pavement, roof tiles, and even the unremoved corpses of Heiyi Sect members, thick acrid white smoke immediately rose, corroding pits of varying depths.

The eerie black-red hue writhed faintly, as if alive, attempting to burrow deeper.

"Knew there'd be trouble!"

Chen Mu's eyes were icy—he had long anticipated the Mo Sect's endless, vile tactics.

His right hand opened, his internal energy transformed again; fierce, pure flame energy surged forth.

"Whoosh—!"

A condensed, pillar-like flame, nearly blood-red, shot out—not straight upward, but, under Chen Mu's precise control, exploded into a blazing curtain covering a radius of dozens of zhang, hovering several zhang above ground.

The fire curtain burned with extreme heat yet remained tightly contained, perfectly enclosing every falling shard of black-red flesh and blood.

"Sizzzz—"

A more intense burning sound rose; the air filled with a strange stench of charred flesh and sweet decay.

Under the flame energy's incineration and purification, the toxic, vivacious blood rain and flesh fragments, as if encountering their nemesis, rapidly burned into wisps of blue smoke, vanishing utterly—leaving not a single trace.

Having dealt with the vile residue of the suicide blast, Chen Mu scanned the battlefield.

The seven Heiyi Sect members accompanying Xiao Xinming had already been slain by the ten Xiantian Imperial Guards, their corpses sprawled haphazardly across the ground.

【Body detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

The card in hand, Chen Mu did not examine it, merely confirmed successful collection.

"Clean the battlefield. Follow me back to headquarters. Purge the traitors!"

Chen Mu ordered the ten Xiantian Imperial Guards, whose eyes still held shock and awe.

"Yes, my lord!"

The ten responded in unison, their gaze toward Chen Mu now altered.

That lightning-fast response—seizing, hurling, incinerating—revealed not only formidable strength, but also sharp reflexes and extensive experience countering the Mo Sect's vile tactics.

The group did not linger; they swiftly departed from the Xiao residence gate, heading toward the Zhenwu Bureau headquarters.

Along the way, fighting in the city remained fierce, but the tide had turned clear.

The Mo Sect's outposts and nodes throughout the city had been dismantled; infiltrating Heiyi Sect disciples were cut off and surrounded, being methodically eradicated.

The Zhenwu Bureau and city garrison's counterattack was orderly and powerful.

Chen Mu led his squad through chaotic alleys, occasionally encountering small groups of Mo Sect holdouts or opportunistic looters—dispatching them on the spot.

At every location with corpses, the prompt appeared.

【Body detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

【Body detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

……

Like an efficient cleaner, Chen Mu walked, collected—his card count steadily increasing.

Most were Strength Cards, Energy Cards, Power Cards, or Cultivation Cards, Skill Cards, then Internal Force Cards, Qi Cards, Equipment Cards, Soul-Enhancing Cards.

Though scattered, they accumulated into a significant haul, capable of providing crucial replenishment at key moments.

Soon, the group returned to the Zhenwu Bureau headquarters.

The fires around the headquarters had largely been extinguished; only a few buildings still billowed thick smoke, the air heavy with the stench of char and blood.

The guards who had stayed behind and the reinforcements were clearing rubble and hunting down stragglers.

Most of the traitors who had set the fires to create chaos had been eliminated; the few who hid were being dragged out.

As Chen Mu stepped onto the plaza before the headquarters gate, he saw, not far off, a corpse clad in low-rank Zhenwu Bureau uniform, a blade pierced through its chest, its face twisted.

【Body detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

The card in hand.

Chen Mu's gaze swept over the headquarters, still slightly chaotic but now restored to order, knowing the rebellion here had largely been quelled.

He did not enter to assist with the aftermath; others were already assigned to handle it.

His goal was clear: while this great battle had not yet fully ended, he would collect as many spoils as possible.

"Return to your posts, assist in clearing the headquarters, and take orders from Officer Zhao."

Chen Mu gave the order to the ten officers behind him, then his figure flickered and he left the headquarters area alone.

Like a wisp of blue smoke merging into the night, he swiftly moved across key battlegrounds throughout the Dao City.

First, he headed for the array nodes along the main thoroughfares.

The fighting here had been the fiercest—ambushes and counter-ambushes, crossbow bolts and swords—leaving behind countless corpses.

Among them were Mo Sect disciples clad in black, as well as brave soldiers from the Town Defense Bureau and City Garrison who had fallen in vain.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

……

Cards kept appearing in his hands.

Next, he turned toward the four city gates.

The fighting there had nearly ended.

Inside the gate tunnels, within the moat enclosures, and along nearby streets, piles of corpses from both sides lay scattered.

The City Garrison was clearing the battlefield, treating the wounded, and reinforcing the city defenses.

Chen Mu did not disturb them; he merely flashed swiftly through the shadows at the battlefield's edge.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

……

When he finally reached the North City Gate, the fighting there had just ceased.

A squad of City Garrison soldiers was gathering the Mo Sect corpses onto an open patch of ground, preparing for unified disposal.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes."

……

Just as Chen Mu finished collecting all the cards he could find,

High above, the prolonged, heart-shaking roar of the Heavenly Palace Realm battle finally began to fade.

Boom~!

Sssshhh!

Accompanied by several strange sounds,

Three mangled corpses tumbled down from the sky.

Chen Mu's figure flashed forward, racing toward the nearest one.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】