Chapter 71: Hard Clash Against Innate Stage!

The aged shout had just risen on the wind beside his ears.

Whoosh~

Whoosh!

Two gusts of force suddenly shrieked out, attacking from behind.

Alarm bells clanged in Chen Mu's heart; without the slightest hesitation, he exploded forward with Spirit Serpent Steps.

Thud~ thud!

The moment he shifted aside, two sharp spikes appeared on the ground where he had just stood, firmly driven into the earth.

A bluish liquid seeped slowly from the tips.

Poisoned!

Swish~ swish~

Chen Mu's feet never stopped, shifting rapidly. Glancing back, he saw a man and a woman, both at most twenty years old, dressed in coarse hemp cloth, faces utterly expressionless, eyes cold, staring fixedly at him as they chased after him in a blur.

Each of them held a hand crossbow in their hands, and in the span of just two breaths, fresh spikes were reloaded onto the crossbows.

Swoosh~ swoosh~ swoosh~

Chen Mu kept shifting his body, opened the space in his right palm, and a stream of scrap-iron shards turned into flying darts, shooting out toward the chasing man and woman.

The moment he released, dozens flew out!

The chasing young man and woman, startled by the sudden volley of scrap-iron shards, slowed slightly and drew short blades to defend themselves.

Swoosh~ swoosh~ swoosh~

Chen Mu's feet never stopped, nor did his hands—another few dozen scrap-iron shards shot out.

At the same time, he turned and charged straight at the two expressionless pursuers.

Because Chen Mu had discovered that the aura fluctuations leaking from the two of them were only at the Seventh Layer of Acquired Stage.

When they were lying in ambush, their aura, heartbeat, and breathing had all vanished as one.

Only when they struck did the fluctuations leak out.

Assassins at the Seventh Layer of Acquired Stage?

Swoosh~ swoosh~ swoosh~!

As Chen Mu wheeled back, another few dozen scrap-iron shards piled in his palm-space shot out.

"Clang clang clang~"

The expressionless man and woman swung their blades to block, knocking away or deflecting most of them; only a few shards struck their bodies.

But the two showed no sign of pain and kept charging at Chen Mu.

Swish!

The three figures flashed past one another in a crisscross.

Hiss~! Hiss~!

The expressionless man and woman suddenly went still, then the next moment, with two dull thuds, they toppled to the ground, blood spraying from their necks.

【Corpse detected. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

……

Two cards in hand.

Gao Zhengyang and an old man also came out of the courtyard, one behind the other, blocking the path of Chen Mu, who held a long sword.

"Who are you?"

Gao Zhengyang's face was livid with rage, humiliation flashing in his eyes as he stared fixedly at Chen Mu, who wore a human-skin mask, and growled in a low voice, "When did you start following me? Tell me—"

Whoosh~!

Chen Mu tapped his toe and exploded forward with Spirit Serpent Steps, charging straight at Gao Zhengyang.

"Seeking death!"

Gao Zhengyang, shocked and furious, drew the horizontal blade at his waist with a "clang," channeling his internal force as a cold, biting aura spread around him.

Swoosh~ swoosh~ swoosh~

Chen Mu swept his hand, and dozens of scrap-iron shards shot out.

"Clang clang clang~"

Gao Zhengyang swung his horizontal blade and knocked them all away.

Swish!

Chen Mu, long sword in hand, reached him at just the right moment.

But at the instant before he thrust, he suddenly twisted, shifting his body to the right.

Whoosh~

A frigid palm-strike descended almost at the same instant, passing through the spot where Chen Mu had been and slamming into Gao Zhengyang.

"Boom~"

Gao Zhengyang took the palm full on the chest; his face flushed red and his body flew backward.

Mid-air, with a "wah," he opened his mouth and spat out a great clot of dark blood.

Swish~

Swish!

Chen Mu, who had dodged, pushed Spirit Serpent Steps to its limit, caught up with the flying Gao Zhengyang, and the long sword in his hand gathered light as it swept a circle around Gao Zhengyang's neck.

Then came a hiss-hiss-hiss as blood arrows sprayed, and Gao Zhengyang's head separated from his neck; the head, still wearing an expression of astonishment, was flung high into the air.

The headless body, with blood still gushing from its neck, flew backward another dozen meters on inertia before crashing to the ground, sliding three or four meters more, and finally coming to rest.

【Discover corpse. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

"Damn it!"

An aged voice rang out almost at the same time.

But the old man who had attacked Chen Mu from behind, moving at a startling speed, let out an angry roar. His aura surged around him, and a faint pressure enveloped Chen Mu. At the same time, the old man's whole body glided through the air like a great wild goose, seven feet off the ground, swooping down with terrifying speed.

Gliding? Pressure? True Qi!

This old man was unmistakably a Heaven-Stage martial artist.

The key point was, Chen Mu recognized him!

Back at the He Family Fortress, representatives from the various great powers had gathered inside the He Family inner fortress.

The old man had represented one of South Cloud Prefecture's top powers, the Three Absolutes Valley! His name was Tang Wuyang, an elder of Three Absolutes Valley!

"Whoosh~"

The fierce wind swept through, the pressure descended upon him.

Chen Mu bore down on the pounding in his heart, burst forth with "Spirit Snake Steps" to sprint. In the process of shifting position, he flicked his hand and shot out several dozen scrap iron shards, attacking Tang Wuyang.

Swoosh~ swoosh~ swoosh~

Boom!

Tang Wuyang, gliding in midair in pursuit, struck out with a palm, swatting away all the scrap iron shards.

With his True Qi erupting, his speed surged once again, catching up to Chen Mu.

But Chen Mu abruptly turned, charging toward the alley on the side. In the blink of an eye, he doubled back, circling to Tang Wuyang's flank, and thrust out with his sword.

The tenth sword of "Cloud-Sweeping Sword"!

All his internal force gathered into a single stream. Following the operation of the sword technique's form, it generated a trembling force that disturbed and twisted the air, thrusting straight at Tang Wuyang's waist.

Swish~

Tang Wuyang, suspended in midair, forcibly twisted his body, dodging the sword's edge. It only grazed his skin, drawing a thin line of blood.

While twisting, he struck out in fury with a palm.

Chen Mu thrust out with a sword in his right hand; his left hand was not idle either. It likewise gathered the power of his physical body, exploding with full force as he struck out with a palm.

Thud~

Thud!

Tang Wuyang's palm struck Chen Mu's chest; the force of Chen Mu's palm poured into Tang Wuyang's abdomen.

Amid the muffled boom, both men retreated backward at the same time.

Chen Mu retreated five steps.

Tang Wuyang, however, could barely control his form, only managing to stop after retreating more than ten steps.

Having steadied his stance, he looked at Chen Mu again, astonishment welling up in his eyes. "Horizontal-Forged One-Tripod Body? Who exactly are you!"

"..." Chen Mu was silent. He exchanged a glance with Tang Wuyang, then turned and left, employing "Spirit Snake Steps" to shift away at great speed.

"Hold it!"

Tang Wuyang growled lowly, "Where do you think you're going..."

Swoosh~ swoosh~ swoosh!

Without looking back, Chen Mu opened his palm-space, shooting out over a hundred scrap iron shards that filled the sky, swarming to attack Tang Wuyang.

One Stamina Card was used up, its effect applied to his body. He employed "Spirit Snake Steps" to move at extreme speed, vanishing from Tang Wuyang's field of vision.

"Boom~"

"Boom!"

Tang Wuyang circulated his True Qi, striking out palm after palm, swatting down the spiraling scrap iron shards.

After all the iron shards were knocked down, a burly middle-aged man with normally proportioned limbs and torso but an unusually large head, blood-red eyes glaring, came stepping across the rooftops and landed before Tang Wuyang. He spoke in a deep, muffled voice.

"What's the situation?"

"..." Tang Wuyang's face was ugly. He said in a low voice, "The matter has likely been exposed. Someone followed Gao Zhengyang all the way to our gathering place..."

"What?"

The burly middle-aged man's blood-red eyes grew even more crimson. "Gao Zhengyang deserves to die!"

"Gao Zhengyang deserves to die!"

Thirty li west of Chengxi, the county seat of Xuan County, in a stretch of mountain forest, Chen Mu read a Memory Card. "Watching" the scene in the memory image of Gao Zhengyang eating a woman alive, he gritted his teeth and growled lowly.

That beast really has joined the Mo Sect!