Chapter 435: Cutting Melons and Chopping Cabbage

"Follow me closely—step according to my pattern, don't misstep."

Chen Mu whispered, his spiritual sense spreading like a net, instantly deciphering the entrance array's structure.

His figure flickered, slipping through the vines like a fish, his feet tapping lightly yet precisely on the seemingly chaotic ground at the rock crevice entrance, each step avoiding the array's trigger nodes.

Tang Bin and the other four held their breath, strictly following Chen Mu's footprints and residual qi to pass through one by one.

Inside the rock crevice, light dimmed abruptly; a downward-sloping, slick, and rugged natural tunnel appeared before them.

Along both walls of the tunnel, traces of artificial carving and reinforcement were visible, along with more hidden, venomous traps—all detected and either dismantled or bypassed by Chen Mu in advance.

Stepping into the damp, slimy cavern tunnel, the stench of decay and blood mingled with thick yin energy surged toward them.

Chen Mu led the way, his fitted attire nearly invisible in the dimness; only the spirit weapon longsword in his hand, infused with true qi, faintly glowed with a restrained, magma-like crimson-gold luster.

Tang Bin and the other four followed closely, nerves taut, weapons gripped tight, alert for any danger lurking in the dark.

The tunnel twisted downward, the signs of artificial excavation growing clearer; on both walls, phosphorescent stones emitted a sickly green glow, illuminating grotesque, eerie murals and patterns on the rock.

A low, rustling sound—like countless tiny insects crawling—began to permeate the air, raising the hairs on their necks.

Reaching a somewhat open side cavern, faint voices and clinking of tools drifted ahead.

Chen Mu signaled; everyone held their breath, using a protruding boulder to conceal their forms.

Ahead, the cavern had been converted into a makeshift poison workshop; over a dozen Cult of Longevity disciples in ink-green or gray-black robes worked busily.

Some guarded several bubbling pools of ink-green poison.

Others tossed in various venomous insects, minerals, and even shriveled organs.

Others carved small demonic array foundations.

In the center of the cavern stood a black stone mortar, three men's arms wide; inside, a dark red, tumor-like mass slowly writhed, exuding a nauseating sweet-stench and ancient decay.

The disciples' qi levels mostly hovered at the Late Foundation Establishment stage; their leaders were two Earth Altar Realm experts—one with Three Flowers Converging at the Crown, the other with Five Qi Aligning toward the Origin.

One wielded a poisoned bone whip; the other held a pair of ghostly blue poisoned daggers.

"Hurry up! The 'Tai Sui Spirit Pivot' must complete its final blood sacrifice today—the Elder awaits it to activate the 'Ten Thousand Toxins Plague Array' and deliver a grand gift to those brutes of the Giant Spirit Sect!"

The bone whip overseer barked orders; the whip's tip cracked through the air, spraying trails of sickly green sparks.

"Hmph! The Giant Spirit Sect raided our secret base and killed our Venerable! This grudge will be repaid! When the array activates, a thousand li around will become a poison domain—all humans and beasts dead!"

The poisoned dagger overseer's eyes glowed with venomous hatred.

Chen Mu's gaze turned cold; he no longer hid.

His figure flashed from behind the boulder like a phantom, covering ten zhang in a single step, appearing at the workshop entrance.

"Who are you?!"

The two overseers reacted first, shouting sharply; all Cult of Longevity disciples instantly froze their tasks, glaring with murderous intent at the intruder.

Chen Mu did not answer—he answered with a sudden flash of blade light!

Nine Yang Tyrant Heaven Sword—The Rising Sun Appears!

His longsword seemed to transform into the rising sun; a blazing, tyrannical, crimson-gold blade aura—like the first ray of dawn tearing through darkness—swept forward with unstoppable force!

Before the blade aura reached them, its scorching yang energy caused the cavern's yin poison to vanish with a hiss, like snow thrown into boiling soup.

"Stop him!"

The bone whip overseer roared, his whip swirling into countless shadows like a venomous serpent bursting from its den, lashing toward the blade aura with foul wind.

The dagger overseer moved like lightning, dagger tips spitting ghostly blue light, stabbing straight for Chen Mu's vital points.

Yet their reactions were far too slow in Chen Mu's eyes.

The crimson-gold blade aura struck the sickly green whip shadows; the seemingly venomous shadows shattered like paper, the bone whip itself groaned under the strain and shattered into fragments.

The whip overseer was struck as if by lightning, spitting blood as he flew backward.

The other overseer's dagger pierced within a chi of Chen Mu's body—then halted, blocked by an invisible field of searing heat.

Chen Mu twisted his wrist; the longsword traced a simple yet profound arc, its edge grazing the overseer's neck.

Chii!

A head shot upward, face frozen in disbelief; the blood spurting from the severed neck evaporated halfway to the ground from the blade aura's residual heat.

All this happened in the blink of an eye.

Two Earth Altar Realm overseers—one wounded, one dead—in a single clash!

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes!"

…

"Run!"

The remaining Cult of Longevity disciples snapped out of shock and turned to flee.

Think you can run?

Chen Mu muttered, weaving through the crowd; his steps seemed slow but were in fact swift, his longsword turning into streaks of crimson-gold lightning.

"Nine Yang Scorched Earth!"

Blade light exploded outward, forming a blazing net of blades covering several zhang.

The fleeing disciples reacted with frantic counterattacks.

Yet whether blades, poisoned claws, or sprayed toxins and mists—all shattered the moment they touched the blade net, incinerated, purified, and severed by the supreme yang qi.

Screams echoed endlessly; severed limbs and charred flesh flew everywhere.

"Sun Over Heaven!"

Chen Mu leapt upward, bringing down a single slash from midair.

The crimson-gold blade aura condensed into a colossal blade beam—like the noon sun plummeting from the heavens, blindingly radiant, carrying a tyrannical will to crush all evil—crashing down with thunderous force.

Boom—

The blade's radiance struck the ground, causing violent tremors; the hard rock was split open by a deep fissure, and searing blade qi swept outward, engulfing and incinerating the remaining Life Cultivators along with their poison pools and tools.

【Body discovered. Retrieve?】

"Yes!"

……

The card in hand, the smoke and dust cleared, leaving the temporary workshop a ruin, charred and blackened.

All the Life Cultivators were dead, none survived; most corpses lay curled and blackened, a few severed by blade qi, their deaths gruesome.

Silence.

Only in the central black mortar, the dark red "Tai Sui Spirit Pivot" seemed to sense the threat, writhing more violently, emitting a thick, gurgling "gul-gul" sound, as an older, more malevolent aura faintly spread forth.

Tang Bin and the four others stepped out from behind cover, staring at the scene before them, each dumbfounded, throats bobbing, unable to speak for a long while.

They knew the Inspector my lord was powerful, but had never imagined that against a peer—or even a higher-level Earth Altar Realm expert—the my lord would dispatch them as easily as slicing melons, cutting down both men and the other Mo Sect cultivators with only three strikes!