Chapter 527: Casual Sweep

Secret realm fragment map?

Chen Mu and Ning Zhixi hid in the shadows, their hearts stirred at these words.

So it seems the Poison Sect and the Blood Refinement Sect each hold a portion of the map detailing the interior or entrance patterns of the Donglin Ruins?

No wonder they could find their way here.

"Never!"

The Poison Witch let out a sharp cry, thrusting her bone staff into the ground, biting her tongue and spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto the gem at its tip.

Instantly.

The gem erupted in blinding green light; countless thick, unyielding clouds of poison, venomous insects, and toxic fluids surged forth from the staff, forming a deathly poison domain spanning several zhang in diameter, rushing toward Xue Wuya!

This was her desperate last resort.

"Child's play."

Xue Wuya sneered in disdain, lightly slashing his blood sword.

A razor-thin, supremely condensed blood-colored sword aura slashed out; wherever it passed, the poison clouds, insects, and fluids shattered and dissolved as if encountering their ultimate antithesis, offering not the slightest resistance.

The blood-colored sword aura retained its momentum, cleaving straight toward the Poison Witch!

The Poison Witch dodged with extreme speed.

At that moment, an unexpected change erupted.

Hum!

At the edge of the clearing, within the ancient forest marked as a possible entrance, space suddenly rippled with an unusual, faint disturbance.

Though subtle, the faint trace of pure, ancient, vital wood spirit energy within the ripple drew the attention of everyone present.

Xue Wuya's sword aura, aimed at the Poison Witch, paused slightly.

At that instant, Chen Mu moved.

One moment he was hidden with Ning Zhixi; the next, he appeared above the open ground between Xue Wuya and the Poison Witch, as if teleported.

No warning, no buildup, not even a hint of lethal intent leaked out.

Chen Mu casually extended his left and right index fingers, lightly slicing to either side.

His left hand sliced toward Xue Wuya; his right hand sliced toward the Poison Witch.

The motion was casual, like brushing away dust from his shoulder.

Yet, the instant his fingertips moved, two sword qi manifested out of thin air!

One blazed white as the midday sun—supremely yang, supremely rigid, carrying searing heat that could burn all things and a sharpness that could pierce through anything.

The other was dark as a midnight abyss—supremely yin, supremely soft, imbued with chilling cold that could freeze souls and annihilating stillness that could erode all existence.

Shhh!

Shhh~

Two sword qi of utterly opposite natures yet perfectly harmonious, like twin lightning bolts tearing through the night sky, instantly crossed several zhang of distance, striking each target.

Where the sword qi passed, the air vanished without a sound, leaving behind two brief, vacuum-like trails—even light seemed twisted and swallowed.

The Poison Witch had not yet registered what had happened.

She only saw a flash of black and white light, and just as a terrifying sensation rose—her soul freezing, her body melting—

Puff!

A soft sound, like a bubble bursting.

The dark, icy sword qi pierced through her forehead and exited her occiput. Her expression froze between malice and shock, pupils dilating and clouding instantly.

Her protective poison aura, the few defensive venomous insect artifacts she had hastily activated—all crumbled like paper before this icy sword qi, unable to impede it for even an instant.

The next instant, her body collapsed, life extinguished.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes!"

……

On the other side, facing the blazing, yang sword qi, Xue Wuya's horror reached its peak.

Before the sword qi even arrived, the searing heat and piercing sharpness made every hair on his body stand on end, his skin stinging as if being roasted alive and torn apart.

He roared, and in this life-or-death moment, he no longer held back—he bit his tongue, spitting out a heart essence blood, while frantically activating a life-saving artifact on his person.

Hum~

From within his chest, beneath his robe, a jade pendant shaped like a crescent moon, dark gold in hue and riddled with fine cracks, suddenly blazed with blinding dark golden light.

The light instantly formed a thick, resilient shield, its surface swirling with countless intricate, ancient runes, completely encasing his body.

The moment the dark golden shield appeared, the aura it emitted was ancient and unyielding, faintly carrying a defensive Dao resonance that brushed against the threshold of Tiangong, surpassing Di Tan.

Clearly, this crescent moon jade was no ordinary item—likely obtained by Xue Wuya from some ancient ruin or granted to him by high-ranking members of the Blood Refinement Sect as a life-saving treasure.

Chiiii—

The blazing, yang sword qi struck the dark golden shield with full force.

The shield trembled violently, its runes flashing wildly, emitting unbearable "crack-crack" sounds as cracks spread visibly across its surface.

It held for less than half a breath before shattering explosively—along with the crescent moon jade within, reduced to dust.

But that half-breath's delay granted Xue Wuya his final chance.

The residual shockwave from the shattered shield, combined with the sword qi's weakened power after being blocked, allowed him to activate the immensely costly "Blood Shadow Substitute Technique" the instant the blade touched his body.

Puff!

The sword qi pierced through, shredding the solid blood shadow clone he had left behind; the residual heat still swept across his left side.

"Aaaah—"

Xue Wuya let out a shriek of unbearable agony, his left arm and half his shoulder instantly vaporized by the sword qi's residual force.

The wound was charred black, with no blood, only tissue completely carbonized.

A terrifying force of Yang Sha had invaded his body, wildly destroying his meridians and internal organs.

The agonizing pain and the shadow of death drove Xue Wuyan into utter madness, erasing all thought of resistance.

Leveraging the fleeting moment gained by the Substitute Technique and the force of his grievous injuries, he unhesitatingly burned over thirty percent of his life essence to unleash the most complete and costly technique: "Blood Burn Escape."

His body exploded with a "Boom—," transforming into a thick, solid-like blood rainbow, impossibly fast, ignoring spatial distance as it shot toward the vast Lin Hai beyond the Ting Lei Cliff's abyss.

So swift was its speed that it left faint, lingering crimson afterimages in the air, far exceeding the escape speed of ordinary Earth Altar Realm cultivators.

"Hmm? Interesting."

Chen Mu's eyebrows slightly lifted, slightly surprised by the residual moon ancient jade's defensive power and Xue Wuyan's desperate escape technique.

But this surprise ended there.

He did not move; instead, he raised his right hand once more toward the blood rainbow fading into the night, and with his index finger, gently tapped the air.

Shh!

Sword qi pierced the air, cutting through space, arriving after but striking first, precisely targeting the very end of the blood rainbow—the Dantian, Xue Wuyan's vital point.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a faint, barely audible pop, like puncturing a water-filled balloon.

Puff!

The blood rainbow halted instantly, then shattered midair.

Xue Wuyan's mangled body appeared in midair; he looked down, unable to believe the tiny, perfectly smooth, front-to-back hole that had pierced his Dantian.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but his eyes had already dimmed completely; his broken form collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, plummeting straight down from dozens of zhang high, crashing onto the canopy below with the crackling snap of breaking branches, then rolling to the ground, motionless.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】