Heaven and Earth

Chen Mu froze on the spot.

The Pale-Faced Youth had been so confident; Chen Mu had thought him a formidable opponent. Who would have imagined he would be so utterly useless?

Three Iron Lotus Seeds had taken him down, and Chen Mu had not even had time to react.

Daoist Qianshan's face twitched.

He had personally taught his disciple the Profound Yin Sword Technique, a technique of unparalleled power. Yet his disciple had fallen to such petty hidden weapons, and rage surged within him.

"Useless fool. You forgot that even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit."

Then he swept Chen Mu with a cold glance.

"Such a pity, such a hate! I painstakingly raised this medicine man with Ascension Pills, and he was only two days from maturity!"

Daoist Qianshan's face darkened like still water.

"He's dead already. Don't waste him."

The little red paper effigy immediately drifted slowly toward the Pale-Faced Youth's corpse.

The thin paper effigy bent its head and waist as if exhaling a great breath, then raised its head and leaned back, exactly like a person taking a deep breath.

With each breath of the paper effigy,

the temperature throughout the entire Residence dropped noticeably.

The Pale-Faced Youth's blood immediately surged from his wounds into the air, vanishing completely into the paper effigy in the blink of an eye.

The Pale-Faced Youth was truly bloodless now.

Chen Mu felt his scalp explode.

In the year since arriving in this world, he had heard more than once of bizarre Malevolent Spirit incidents.

But this scene, something he had only ever seen in film and television dramas, made every hair on his body stand on end.

It was as if he had been caught in the direct gaze of a fierce tiger.

Whoosh!

Almost instinctively, he fired an Iron Lotus Seed straight at Daoist Qianshan's heart.

The black Iron Lotus Seed spun through the air, crossing the distance between them in an instant.

Clang!

Sparks flew.

A blood-red figure blocked the Iron Lotus Seed.

Under the impact of that tremendous force, the hard Iron Lotus Seed deformed and shattered as easily as a crisp biscuit!

That slowly drifting paper effigy had gone from stillness to motion, abruptly appearing before Daoist Qianshan.

Chen Mu's pupils shrank sharply.

Maybe... I should run!

Daoist Qianshan raised his eyelids slightly.

"Such a petty trick, and you dare show off before—"

Clang clang clang...

It sounded as if over a dozen blacksmiths were hammering iron at once.

Before Daoist Qianshan could finish, the ceaseless metallic clanging drowned out his voice.

More than a dozen Iron Lotus Seeds arrived before him almost simultaneously.

The paper effigy darted madly up, down, left, and right.

Sparks scattered through the air, joining into sheets as if someone were setting off fireworks.

With a series of clinks and clatters, dented Iron Lotus Seeds bounced onto the ground.

"You don't know your own limits!" Anger flashed across Daoist Qianshan's face.

When he looked up, he found Chen Mu already at the wall, crouched low and about to leap over it.

"Go!" he barked.

Whoosh!

The Blood-Red Paper Effigy shot out like lightning, reaching the wall in an instant.

Just as Chen Mu prepared to jump, every hair on his body stood on end.

He exerted force almost instinctively. As if defying the laws of acceleration, his body went from stillness to full speed, instantly sliding half a meter to the right.

A streak of red light grazed his left arm.

His sleeve split soundlessly, and his left arm immediately turned cold and numb, completely devoid of sensation.

The red light did not slow, plunging fiercely into the wall.

The stone wall was like solidified butter meeting a red-hot knife.

The Red Shadow slipped into it with ease, leaving behind only an almost imperceptible slit.

Chen Mu's scalp tingled. If it had struck his left arm, the whole limb would have been severed with ease.

Before he could recover, red light flashed before his eyes.

The red paper effigy passed back through the wall and shot straight for Chen Mu's forehead.

Without hesitation, Chen Mu leaned back and flipped away.

But the red light refused to let up, like a hawk circling in the air, launching one lethal attack after another at Chen Mu.

Chen Mu's entire body tensed. He pushed the Red Falcon Body Tempering Technique's Leaping Style to its limit, allowing him to evade the attacks by the narrowest margins.

But as time passed, more and more parts of his body turned cold and numb.

A frigid aura drilled forcefully into his muscles and bones like an auger.

Daoist Qianshan narrowed his eyes in surprise. "What agile footwork."

Then he sneered disdainfully. "A dying struggle!"

"Swift!"

The already lightning-fast Blood-Red Paper Effigy sped up by another measure. It abruptly changed direction, leaving a wound on Chen Mu's back.

Chen Mu's expression changed drastically. A freezing aura rushed into his body, as if his internal organs were about to freeze into lumps of ice!

If this drags on, I'll definitely die!

He forced himself to calm down.

By now, he had vaguely discovered the pattern of its flight.

The paper effigy came and went without a trace, but there was the slightest delay before it changed direction!

Now!

A Short Sword suddenly appeared in his palm.

Sleeve Sword!

The muscles all over his body coiled and exerted force like pythons.

Heaven-and-Earth Strike!

Ssh!

A flash of silver streaked through the night.

Clang...

Chen Mu unleashed eighteen sword strikes in an instant!

Every strike landed on the paper effigy's chest.

Creak!

The Short Sword pierced the paper effigy's chest as if stabbing into an iron plate, producing an ear-piercing scrape that set his teeth on edge.

The resistance was so great that once only the tip entered, it could go no farther.

The paper effigy was like a centipede pinned through the head, constantly writhing and twisting on the sword tip.

Chen Mu flung it fiercely, driving the Short Sword and the paper effigy into the wall together.

Suppressing the intense pain after pushing himself to the Limit, he stared fixedly at Daoist Qianshan.

"Couldn't we each walk our own side of the road?"

"You want to kill me just because I happened to see something?"

"You even used your own disciple to cultivate an evil art."

"You're evil to the core!"

A realization dawned in Chen Mu's heart.

"Running won't work."

The other man would not let him escape.

Even if he did escape, with the opponent's mysterious methods, he would most likely be found and hunted down later.

"I only want to live a peaceful life. Why is that so hard?!"

Chen Mu glared viciously at Daoist Qianshan.

"It's people like you who keep getting in the way of my life."

"Kill him!"

Chen Mu raised his hand and fired a spread of Iron Lotus Seeds.

Daoist Qianshan's expression changed the instant the paper effigy was pierced.

The dense barrage of Iron Lotus Seeds reached him almost immediately.

Clang clang clang...

A string of sparks burst forth.

Daoist Qianshan's right hand blurred into a shadow, and he actually blocked the bullet-like Iron Lotus Seeds with his bare palm alone!

Chen Mu was instantly shocked.

Iron Lotus Seeds could pierce metal and shatter stone with ease.

Yet someone had blocked them with his palm!

"You little brat, you ruined my magic artifact! You deserve death!" Daoist Qianshan snarled.

Seeing Chen Mu's astonishment, he immediately grinned savagely.

"You didn't think this Daoist was just a pretty face, did you?!"

Chen Mu's scalp went numb.

Iron Lotus Seeds flew from both his hands in a continuous stream.

The next instant, Chen Mu's left hand snapped forward.

Daoist Qianshan's right hand seemed to move after him yet arrived first, blocking the Iron Lotus Seeds' path.

Pfft!

A mass of silvery-white metal softened in his palm.

Silver?

Not Iron Lotus Seeds?

"Let's see how many hidden weapons you still have to throw!" Daoist Qianshan laughed loudly.

Braving the rain of hidden weapons, he strode toward Chen Mu.

At this point, Chen Mu could no longer care about anything else.

Copper coins and broken silver flew at Daoist Qianshan in a single rush.

Pfft!

Daoist Qianshan raised his right hand before him, a palm-sized Gourd caught in his grip.

"Now you have no hidden weapons left, right?" Daoist Qianshan bared a savage grin, exposing a row of ghastly white teeth.

Crack!

He crushed the Gourd to powder.

Suddenly, green smoke erupted, swiftly engulfing him.

"Poison?!" Daoist Qianshan immediately held his breath.

But an overwhelming drowsiness swept over him uncontrollably.

He staggered backward, instinctively trying to widen the distance between them.

But how could Chen Mu miss such an opportunity?

His entire body transformed into a nimble swallow hawk, and he flashed before Daoist Qianshan like lightning.

A Short Sword suddenly appeared in his right hand as he lowered his body and leaned forward.

Heaven-and-Earth Strike!

Pfft!

From below upward, the Short Sword swept along Daoist Qianshan's chest.

It entered beneath his jaw and pierced straight through his skull!

Daoist Qianshan shoved outward almost unconsciously.

Though Chen Mu released the sword and retreated at once, the blow still swept across his chest.

He could not help letting out a muffled groan.

Blood poured from his nostrils.

Chen Mu flipped away, casually scooped up broken stones, and scattered them.

Flying Locust Stone!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh...

Pfft pfft pfft...

Qianshan, his eyes bloodshot and thrashing madly in place, was instantly riddled with holes.