Chapter 80

"Pfft~!"

Blood splashed.

A hole appeared in the center of Zhou Shaoyou's forehead, his whole body stiffened in place, his pupils dilated, and his gaze remained filled with disbelief.

[Corpse discovered, do you wish to loot?]

"Yes!"

With the card in hand, Chen Mu checked it immediately.

A true qi card for four months!

Not bad...

Throwing away the damaged iron-wrought bow, Chen Mu walked slowly toward Zhou Shaoyou, who stood motionless and died with his eyes wide open.

Chen Mu had specifically gone to the "Hero Tower" in the inner city to buy information when he left the prefecture city, knowing that this head bandit leader who occupied Wuji Ridge was at the second stage of the Xiantian realm.

If Zhou Shaoyou had been at the seventh stage of Xiantian—no, even if he had been at the fourth stage of Xiantian—Chen Mu would not have come to Wuji Ridge to hunt bandits.

Just like the Houtian realm, the nine stages of the Xiantian realm each had a threshold every three stages; once the threshold was crossed, strength would increase significantly.

In a battle between a fourth-stage Xiantian and a third-stage Xiantian, even if ten of the latter attacked together, they might not be able to defeat one of the former.

If the Houtian realm was the continuous accumulation and final tempering of internal energy.

Then the Xiantian realm was the continuous accumulation and final tempering of true qi.

And true qi had infinite wonderful uses; in terms of power level, it was simply incomparable to internal energy.

The higher the stage of the Xiantian realm, the more powerful it became.

The first three stages were just average.

Of course, if they were to fight with fists, feet, or blades, and Chen Mu were to engage Zhou Shaoyou at close range, having just broken through, it would be difficult to achieve a one-hit kill without using his spiritual-to-blade technique.

But using hidden weapons was different!

That's right, the cold light that pierced Zhou Shaoyou's forehead was precisely a spirit weapon, the Willow Leaf Darts!

Seven willow leaf darts combined into a shuttle shape; under the reinforcement of true qi, when fired, they would expand into a spiral, rotating at high speed, and the piercing lethality could be imagined!

Chen Mu had kept shooting arrows and dared not attack at close range, so in Zhou Shaoyou's eyes, his strength was limited.

He wasn't even Xiantian.

Being arrogant and having limited vigilance, the result was that his head was opened up!

Arriving in front of Zhou Shaoyou, Chen Mu searched his body and found several silver notes, totaling about five thousand taels.

There was nothing else.

As for whether anything was hidden, Chen Mu searched the house and found some jewelry and a few silver ingots.

There were no martial arts manuals, spirit weapons, or elixirs.

The life of a bandit was not easy.

In the end, a rogue Xiantian cultivator was still a rogue cultivator.

Perhaps Zhou Shaoyou had a hidden identity, but that no longer mattered.

The bandits who had retreated from Wuji Ridge didn't know where they had gone.

Chen Mu did not stay behind to wait for them to return.

He left Wuji Ridge that same day and hurried back to Nanyun Prefecture City.

Returning to the prefecture city, he first went home to report that he was safe.

Subsequently, he headed straight to the inner city, holding his wooden plaque, and entered the headquarters of the Martial Suppression Division.

When he found Zhao Fuzhou, the latter was discussing matters with Yan Qingyuan, Peng Wu, and others.

Seeing this, Chen Mu waited outside the door.

Half an hour later, Yan Qingyuan, Peng Wu, and several other Xiantian powerhouses came out of the room.

Seeing Chen Mu, who was wearing a human-skin mask and waiting outside, Peng Wu's eyes lit up, and he waved, calling out, "Greetings, brother! Has your cultivation base improved?"

Yan Qingyuan didn't speak, only looking at Chen Mu with suspicion.

He had seen Chen Mu a few days ago, and he was still at the Houtian realm; now he was Xiantian—had he been hiding his cultivation base before?

"It's alright."

Chen Mu nodded, cupped his hands in a salute, and without waiting for Peng Wu to say more, strode into the conference hall.

"Hey~"

Peng Wu shook his head and smiled, saying softly, "This brother is very vigilant, always wearing a human-skin mask."

"Who is this person?" a burly man nearby asked curiously.

"I don't know, but he's one of our own; Lord Zhao said so," Peng Wu explained.

"One of our own?" The burly man frowned, "One of our own who wears a human-skin mask even in the Martial Suppression Division? Is there a need to be so secretive... hiss~!"

Suddenly, the burly man thought of something, gasped, and lowered his voice, "He wouldn't be an Inspector, would he?"

"This..."

Peng Wu, Yan Qingyuan, and the others were all stunned upon hearing this, their expressions turning grave.

Inspectors monitored the internal personnel of the Martial Suppression Division for corruption, treason, or wrongdoing.

Every Inspector, even the lowest-level Ding-grade Inspector, had a higher status than them.

Even Zhao Fuzhou, the person in charge, although his official rank was the same as an Inspector's, had the nature of an Inspector being one rank higher than the official they were inspecting; once they spoke, Zhao Fuzhou had to obey.

Thinking of this, Peng Wu, Yan Qingyuan, and the others wisely shut their mouths and left quickly.

In the conference hall.

Just as Chen Mu walked in, Zhao Fuzhou, who was lowering his head to pick up his teacup to drink water, suddenly looked up at Chen Mu. The next instant, his pupils shrank, and amazement appeared on his face.

"You... not bad, very good, very, very good!"

As he spoke, Zhao Fuzhou put down his teacup, stood up, greeted Chen Mu, looked him up and down, and sighed, "Not bad, not bad, you really are full of surprises; a sixteen-year-old Xiantian, that's remarkable!"

According to his original body's birth date, Chen Mu had passed his birthday last month and was now sixteen!

A sixteen-year-old Xiantian realm—even Zhao Fuzhou couldn't help but marvel.

He was only at the eighth stage of Houtian at sixteen, and even that was called a genius.

If Chen Mu had the backing of a large faction, he wouldn't be so surprised.

But Zhao Fuzhou knew Chen Mu's background better than anyone.

What Xiantian master? It was completely fake; it was something Chen Mu had fabricated himself!

In less than half a year, he had improved all the way from Houtian to Xiantian; even if Chen Mu had secrets, this talent was solid.

Zhao Fuzhou's discernment was not something Yan Qingyuan or Peng Wu could compare to.

He saw at a glance that Chen Mu's Xiantian realm foundation was extremely solid.

It was not a breakthrough from practicing demonic arts that resulted in rapid success but an unstable aura.

The fact that the foundation was solid was very important.

The more stable the foundation, the further one could go in the later stages!

"Brother Zhao is exaggerating; I was just lucky to break through to Xiantian."

Chen Mu smiled modestly and then asked for advice, "Um, Brother Zhao, I've broken through to Xiantian now; the application for Inspector..."

"I'll handle it for you right now; as for the recommendation letter, it's already written," Zhao Fuzhou laughed. "However, in your current state, you're likely to attract attention walking on the street; you'd better not wander outside."

Promoting to the Xiantian realm, the aura fluctuations were too intense; the "Cloud-Dispelling Technique" could no longer contain his aura.

After all, the "Cloud-Dispelling Technique" was only a Houtian martial art and had no effect against Xiantian.

"Understood."

Chen Mu nodded, "I will stay in my room for the next period of time."

He thought to himself, I won't come out during the day, but I will at night!

"Hmm, having just broken through to Xiantian, consolidating your realm is essential."

"By the way," saying this, Zhao Fuzhou remembered something, took a small porcelain bottle from his bosom, and handed it to Chen Mu, "This is a Return-to-Origin Pill; taking it can contain your aura and hide your cultivation base. There are three pills inside, and one can last for seven days."

"Seeing that you don't like to be exposed, take these three Return-to-Origin Pills and use them first."

"...Many thanks, Brother Zhao!"

Chen Mu hesitated for two seconds before gratefully accepting it.

A Return-to-Origin Pill like this wasn't very important in Zhao Fuzhou's hands.

But for Chen Mu, it was a rare and precious pill!