Di Qiu’s face contorted into a ghastly mask, his lips as pale as frost on Mount Tianshan, yet his eyes were as black as charcoal. His bound hair stood on end, as if some terrifying magic was brewing within him, emitting a heart-stopping fluctuation.
The old enshrined elder from the Buddhist sect, his expression one of sheer terror, fell to the ground. With his last ounce of strength, he raised his blood-stained, mottled fingers and pointed at Di Qiu, crying out in fright, "Kill him quickly!"
Xu Mu had always been exceptionally sensitive to danger. The dark, malevolent energy emanating from Di Qiu was different from the darkness of the eerie night, but they shared the same origin. Even if the old monk hadn't spoken, Xu Mu would have immediately lunged forward to sever Di Qiu's head.
Because the man was on the verge of becoming a demon, or rather, a ghoul.
After the Apocalypse, the West Continent was annihilated, and the East Continent plunged into a long period of chaos and devastation. No matter how strong humans were, they harbored an innate, deep-seated awe towards demons, spirits, and monsters, for ghosts ate people.
Weak ghouls preyed on weak humans, and strong humans could kill weak ghosts. However, if one ventured deep into certain forbidden zones, they were ultimately destined to be devoured by ghosts.
Being eaten by ghosts was not something the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty experienced often, as their land did not possess forbidden zones as dark as the Domain of Eerie Nights. But that did not mean there were no ghosts here.
Xu Mu knew very well that this was undoubtedly a powerful ghost. The old monk had shattered Di Qiu's life-bound blade with a single strike, a feat of immense strength, yet he had still failed to decisively banish this ghost, which spoke volumes of its terrifying nature.
The old monk was terrified, his lips ashen. The other two royal enshriners who knew the ghost's origins were also startled and instinctively moved to provide support. However, they were desperately engaged by Di Qiu's accomplices.
All of this unfolded in an instant. Within that fleeting moment, Xu Mu had already drawn his blade and charged forward.
He had never feared ghouls, for he was born to slay them.
Xu Mu gripped the pure steel hunting knife with both hands, choosing not to use the black one. He raised the knife vertically to his chest, his gaze direct and resolute, as if holding something sacred. Like a knight engaging in a sword duel, he thrust fiercely at the ghoul that had not yet fully occupied Di Qiu's sea of consciousness.
"Thwack... thwack..."
The steel blade pierced through the chest. Xu Mu’s expression was solemn as he twisted the hilt, churning it within the man’s heart, and then slashed upwards, cleaving through bone towards the sea of consciousness. Scarlet blood flowed down the blade, splattering all over Xu Mu, but he paid it no mind.
His eyes were firm. While hunting in the mountains, he had encountered such situations many times. To prevent his prey from instinctively counter-attacking in their final moments, shattering the heart or even the head was not always sufficient. He often resorted to the most extreme and secure method: bisecting the prey.
From head to toe, they were divided into two halves. This way, no matter how powerful or mutated the prey was, even if it had been tainted by a sliver of darkness, it would have no chance of a dying struggle.
Beasts could not, Di Qiu could not, and neither could the ghost possessing his sea of consciousness. Thus, as Xu Mu's blade sliced from his heart to his Adam's apple, and then began to cleave his skull in half, the ghost, which had been sealed and purified within the prayer beads for months, finally gained the freedom to control its physical form at will.
It did not wish to lose this newfound freedom. With a shrill cry, it raised its palm and forcefully clamped down, catching the gleaming steel blade.
Yes, clamped. As if gripping a wire with pliers. Every muscle in Xu Mu's body, even his face, strained with effort, contorting his features into a ferocious grimace. Yet the blade was immovably lodged between those two palms, as if sheathed, unable to advance even a millimeter.
Looking at the ghoul before him, its hands clasped together as if in a gesture of prayer, Xu Mu found it strangely comical. A ghost, sealed within Buddhist prayer beads by an old monk and meant for purification, its first action upon escaping and grasping for survival was to clasp its hands.
He wondered, could this be considered a conversion to Buddhism?
An absurd thought flashed through his mind. Xu Mu’s actions did not falter. Years of combat experience honed in the crucible of life and death had taught him what to do when a blade was caught. If pushing forward was impossible, he could always try to lift or press down.
In an instant, Xu Mu held his breath. His right hand shifted forward by half a palm's width. Gripping the hilt tightly with his left, he yanked the blade towards himself with all his might. His stance was akin to a sun-weathered farmer struggling to pull a stubborn donkey, one that refused to return home and was determined to seek companionship in a neighboring village.
Xu Mu pulled with all his strength, but unexpectedly, this stubborn donkey seemed to have come to its senses, realizing the mare wouldn't accept it even if it reached her. It did not exert force in the opposite direction.
Therefore, regardless of how much larger the donkey was than the man, it was indeed pulled.
That donkey was the ghost currently possessing Di Qiu's body. From the moment it was released from the prayer beads by the old monk, to the struggle for Di Qiu's consciousness, and then the instant it clasped Xu Mu’s blade, everything had happened in the blink of an eye.
Xu Mu knew that no matter how powerful this ghost had been before, it was impossible for it to fully assess the situation in such a short span of time with an unstable, fractured body.
Furthermore, not only was Di Qiu's body compromised, but the ghost itself was also fractured, having been trapped within the prayer beads for many days.
Di Qiu's body was surprisingly light. The hands controlled by the ghoul did not exert opposing force. Just as Xu Mu had surmised, the ghost lacked the very concept of such a maneuver. It did not know what to do after clamping the steel blade, and thus its body was pulled along the weapon.
Mid-air, the ghost reacted. It released its grip on the blade, but at that precise moment, Xu Mu also let go of the hilt. With an incredibly agile movement, he leaped into the air, smashing his knee with all his might into Di Qiu's temple.
"Crack!"
The knee strike, imbued with the force of thunder, struck Di Qiu's head and gouged a massive pit into the hard black stone ground in front of the city gate.
The force transmitted through his knee was immense, capable of shattering any primitive material, including meteoric iron. Since the hard black stone ground had fractured, Di Qiu’s unguarded skull naturally shattered even more thoroughly.
The pulpy white matter, resembling walnut innards, was pulverized by Xu Mu's knee, splattering like a bowl of undercooked egg custard flung against a wall. Di Qiu's head was irreparably destroyed, his sea of consciousness collapsing. He was as dead as one could possibly be.
Between heaven and earth, an ethereal wisp of malevolent energy rose from the pit in the ground, soaring several meters away. It was the ghost that had just possessed the body and was now being expelled. It intended to flee.
Xu Mu did not pursue. It wasn't out of fear; he feared nothing more than his sea of consciousness being invaded by spirits. Even the formidable leader of the Heavenly Tree had been defeated in that sea. Although it wasn't his direct doing, his defenses were still formidable. He simply didn't know how to eradicate a ghost, so pursuing it would be futile.
The methods of the Demon Extermination Division, the Daoist arts of fire and lightning, could not be employed. Exposing his identity would not only mean his death but could also implicate Zhou Yuan.
Fortunately, the old monk, having regained some composure, tremblingly produced another prayer bead bracelet. He closed his eyes slightly and chanted a scripture Xu Mu couldn't understand. The wisp of ghost soul instantly screamed in terror as if encountering the King of Hell, dissipating into a wisp of smoke and being drawn back into the prayer beads.
The color of the prayer beads immediately darkened, their luster dimming. All eighteen beads vibrated, as if the ghost was struggling within, but eventually, there was no more movement.
Seeing this, Xu Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The greatest menace had been dealt with. Di Qiu was dead. The remaining two members of the Weaving Sky Pavilion were no match for the two royal enshriners, nor even for the middle-aged man. He no longer had any cause for concern.
As expected, Di Qiu's death had a devastating impact on his two accomplices. The protective spells they had been maintaining moments before became a joke. The middle-aged man and the elder unleashed their full power, quickly overwhelming the two lords, who were of humble origin and could no longer fight back, leaving them no choice but to surrender for survival.
"Behave, and you might live."
The middle-aged man sealed the golden core acupoints of the two, then bound them together with enchanted ropes. Afterward, he turned to Xu Mu with a look of exhaustion and concern.
More than the life of the old enshrined elder, he cared more about Xu Mu. In the recent battle, Xu Mu had displayed unparalleled potential, or rather, strength. He had not only easily overpowered the younger generation of the Weaving Sky Pavilion at the same level but had also been unfazed by Di Qiu's blade. He had fearlessly charged down from the protection of the city walls, found a way to break the deadlock the moment his blade was caught, and shattered Di Qiu's head in one decisive blow, securing victory.
Such astute combat experience and decisive awareness required countless trials of life and death to master. For Xu Mu, so young, to have reached such a level was terrifying. The man honestly admitted that he could not have performed better than Xu Mu.
"Are you alright?"
Xu Mu remained silent and shook his head. What could be wrong with him? The strength of those third-stage disciples of the Weaving Sky Pavilion was likely inferior to the five guards he had slain in the Sword Pavilion. Di Qiu was also killed because he exploited an opening. While it appeared perilous, he had actually exerted little effort.
In fact, aside from the initial lingering shock from the chaotic mêlée of the lords, which had made him slightly nauseous, his condition had not significantly deteriorated.
He began to feel anger.
The middle-aged man was unaware of Xu Mu's thoughts. He glanced around at the devastated surroundings, the collapsed houses, and the blood-soaked corpses, and rubbed his temples with a headache.
The capture of the demons from the Weaving Sky Pavilion was initially thought to be a simple errand for accumulating merit. Who would have thought it would nearly cost them their lives and result in such severe losses? He genuinely didn't know how to report this, or rather, how his Highness Zhou Yuan would report it to the Emperor.
"Time is of the essence. His Highness Zhou Yuan did not issue any orders, so we came out to assist in violation of protocol, yet it turned out like this." The middle-aged man looked at Xu Mu with a troubled expression and sighed. "Young brother, your relationship with His Highness Zhou Yuan is evidently profound, and your status must be extraordinary. Please put in a good word for us later."
"Alright, if I can return."
Xu Mu agreed to the man's request without much further conversation. He casually led a horse, which had been hiding fearfully amidst the ruins, and mounted it, preparing to ride out of the city.
The middle-aged man froze, wondering where Xu Mu was going. Was he planning to flee, fearing reprimand from above?
"You..."
"If Zhou Yuan asks, tell him I've gone to kill Xian Er Jiu," Xu Mu said as he rode his horse out of the city gate, tucking his hunting knife into his belt. His eyes were as calm as a lake, a surging killing intent brewing within, its eruption imminent.
He had been deceived by that woman, yet she had not suffered any punishment from the Great Dao. Clearly, this leading figure of the Weaving Sky Pavilion, the courtesan, had long prepared a means of evasion, ensuring they would both be injured before she slipped away through the west gate.
Xu Mu had no idea how Zuo Mingqiu and Li Zao were faring, but he could imagine the situation was dire. Many would lose their lives due to his oversight. Even he himself might have died if he hadn't chosen this location, or if Di Qiu's accomplices had chosen to fight to the death instead of fleeing. Therefore, he could not forgive Xian Er Jiu.
So, he was going to kill her now.
...