Chapter 38: The Qingyi Daoren

Chen Mo looked at everything before him; if he were not certain that he had lit the fire himself, he would even suspect that everything he had just seen was an illusion.

Ma Cai stared blankly at the situation before him, his whole person appearing as if frightened into stupidity.

In truth, his performance was already considered good; among the other few new recruits, some were so frightened they collapsed to the ground, and one was shrieking incessantly, seemingly on the verge of going mad from fear.

"Brother Mo, what do we do?" Ma Cai's tone trembled slightly; though he was afraid at heart, he could still suppress his fear to act for now.

"Move!" Chen Mo ordered; he did not blame these new recruits for being frightened like this.

Because everything happening before them could not be judged by common sense at all; it was truly somewhat of a shock to one's imagination.

Even if he had known in advance that this world was absolutely not as peaceful as it appeared, and that there must be some eerie things in existence.

Yet when facing this situation, he still felt a sense of dread, let alone these new recruits who were completely unprepared.

The group left in a hurry, yet in a trance, they had already walked several tens of zhang away.

Although they could still barely see the shadow of the shack, the crowd no longer cared about the terror from before, though they still had lingering fears.

"Brother Mo, what do you think that was just now? Did we run into a spirit?" Ma Cai's face was pale, his expression full of confusion.

He had indeed heard storytellers say that in the wild mountains there were spirits and ghosts that were good at harming human lives, but this was his first time encountering one to this day.

That spirit's strength was not great, but the things it displayed were truly too terrifying.

"Don't think too much, let's go," Chen Mo instructed sternly.

Since that thing truly could not be killed, he had no heart to study it further.

He would hurry to finish the things he needed to do, and then leave this place as quickly as possible.

There were no living people left in Qingzhou; clearly, in places without living people, it was easy for some rather eerie things to occur.

This was Chen Mo's guess; he did not know if it was correct, but he had such a premonition in his heart.

The group hurried on for another several tens of zhang before Chen Mo ordered a rest, taking out water and dry rations to share.

Terror was terror, but seeing Chen Mo act so composed, their moods gradually calmed down.

"Brother Mo, someone is coming!" The group had rested for no more than two or three quarter-hours when a new recruit suddenly shouted aloud.

Ma Cai addressed Chen Mo this way, so they all followed suit.

"What?" Chen Mo frowned slightly, stood up to look into the distance, and truly saw a Qingyi Daoren walking toward them.

"Be alert," Chen Mo reminded the group loudly, taking his five-stone heavy bow from the carriage and nocking a feathered arrow.

There were hardly any living people left in Qingzhou now, and the thing they had just encountered could not be called human at all.

Now a Qingyi Daoren had suddenly appeared; no matter how one looked at it, it felt wrong, and being cautious could never be a mistake.

As long as the other party showed the slightest abnormality, Chen Mo would absolutely draw his bow and shoot.

The principle of striking first to gain the advantage was never wrong.

Ma Cai and the other few new recruits also each took out their long spears, standing guard as if facing a great enemy.

That Qingyi Daoren saw this group of people holding weapons on the open plain, yet he did not avoid them at all, walking straight toward them.

As the distance closed, Chen Mo finally saw the other party clearly.

The person was fair-skinned and beardless, about thirty or forty years old, dressed in a brand-new silk Qingyi, holding a Whisk, and actually had a sense of being detached from the world.

"Halt, who comes there!" Chen Mo shouted, attempting to intimidate the other party.

At the same time, he drew his bow to shoot; the fact that the other party showed no fear upon seeing them was enough to prove that the other party was problematic.

Regardless of what the problem was, even if he couldn't kill them, he had to beat them half-dead before asking.

As for what to do if they died, that didn't need to be considered; he would rather let others die than let himself die.

The arrow missed, and Chen Mo was not surprised.

When Mo Dao taught him archery, he said that the most important thing about archery was the act of shooting; even if it didn't hit, it could still bluff the other party.

Sure enough, the Daoren saw Chen Mo shoot without a word and immediately slid his feet to dodge.

Following closely, the Daoren reached out and grabbed his own left arm, and the entire arm was directly detached by him.

The connection between the arm and the body was smooth and flat, with only a layer of skin, and not a trace of blood to be seen.

The Daoren pinched a seal and threw the arm toward Chen Mo.

That arm was like a green afterimage, arriving before him in an instant, and he took the opportunity to roll on the ground to dodge.

The arm grazed his left waist, directly tearing his clothes and scraping away a large patch of flesh.

It then directly pierced the chest of a new recruit behind him, and countless fresh blood was released, spraying like rain and staining the withered, dead earth red.

Chen Mo was horrified; he truly did not expect this Daoren's methods to be so eerie. It was fortunate that he was alert in his heart and struck first, otherwise, he might not have been able to react if the Daoren had ambushed him.

Seeing that the first strike failed, the Daoren immediately prepared to manipulate the arm to attack again.

Chen Mo flipped up and grabbed his Steel Spear, charging straight at the Daoren.

He saw it clearly: when the other party used their own arm as a weapon, they could not move freely.

His strength was now more than a thousand catties, and with his full power erupted, the distance of over ten zhang was covered in an instant.

The Daoren hurriedly manipulated the arm to attack Chen Mo from behind again.

Chen Mo did not dodge or avoid; the other party's methods were eerie, and he had to kill him while he had the chance.

If he dodged, he feared he would never find another opportunity.

Therefore, even if he were severely injured, or even if he had to bet his life, he had to kill him first.

As the distance between the two grew closer, the Daoren inwardly cried out in misery; he had originally thought these people were at most slightly stronger than ordinary people, never expecting to run into such a tough opponent.

He had only just entered Qi Refining; long-range ambushes were fine, but how could he be a match for such a martial artist in close-quarters combat?

He immediately stopped caring about the arm, twisted his body, pinched another spell seal, and fled with all his might.

As for the discarded arm, he would ignore it for now; he could just find someone later to cut off another one and attach it to himself.

Seeing him about to flee, Chen Mo threw the long spear in his hand fiercely, stabbing straight at the other party's right waist.

Although this strike did not hit completely, it still tore off a large piece of flesh.

"Ah!" The Daoist cried out in pain, yet still dared not turn his head, continuing to flee at full speed.

Chen Mo pursued relentlessly; if one is going to do something, one must do it thoroughly. Since he had already offended the other party, rather than having to be on guard against them later, it was better to seize the moment and finish them off now.

Moreover, the fact that the other party appeared here now was suspicious no matter how one looked at it; they might very well be one of those bandits.

Retracting his weapon and continuing the chase, after only a moment's time, Chen Mo unexpectedly found himself back near that shack.

However, what was unexpected was that as they approached this shack, the Daoist's speed gradually slowed down.

"Since you took the initiative to come here seeking death, then you cannot blame me." The Daoist stopped in his tracks, panting; it was evident that the spell he had just cast had also consumed a significant amount of his energy.

"If you leave now, this venerable one can spare your life; otherwise, do not blame me." The Daoist's tone was fierce but his spirit was weak; he appeared somewhat guilty.

Chen Mo naturally could not retreat just because of a threat or two from the other party, but upon arriving here, the other party suddenly gained some confidence.

It seemed that even if the strange situation here was not caused by him single-handedly, it was definitely connected to him.

(End of this chapter)