Haha, This Daoist Has Made It!

Inside the thatched hut, one refugee after another gradually emerged, increasing at an extremely steady rate.

They wore the same clothes, had the same faces, and were identical in every way.

Moreover, they treated each version of themselves that appeared beside them as an enemy, then began slaughtering and devouring one another.

However, they seemed unable to leave the area within fifty or sixty zhang of the hut.

Their fighting and fleeing were forever confined to that range, unable to break free of the area.

"Forget about all that. Let's go." Chen Mo suddenly slapped him, bringing him back to his senses.

The situation here had clearly exceeded the understanding of ordinary people, and even more bizarre things had occurred.

They should leave first and think about these problems after they got out.

Something like this had happened within Qing Province, and there was even an extremely bizarre fiend like the Azure-robed Daoist.

It was impossible for the imperial court to ignore this. He could report it when he returned.

Ma Cai carried Chen Mo all the way back to the carriage. Along the way, they encountered the two other recruits who had gone ahead to search for Chen Mo.

Although they had taken slightly longer than Ma Cai to recover, they had at least barely managed to react first.

The series of events they had experienced had shocked them tremendously. The fact that they could now react, suppress their fear, and continue working was already quite good.

Another man was still sprawled in the carriage. He had long been scared witless and could do nothing.

"Dig a pit and bury him first. Set up a simple marker so he can rest in peace. If we get the chance to return here, we'll find a way to retrieve his bones and send them back home for burial."

After returning to the carriage, Chen Mo ordered the others.

They could not possibly carry a corpse with them for the rest of the journey, so they had to bury him first.

If they had the chance to return here, they could then consider moving his remains back to his hometown.

Fallen leaves returned to their roots, and the dead found peace in the earth.

For the people of this era, this was an extremely serious matter.

After receiving their orders, the men each found tools and began digging a pit on the spot.

Chen Mo, meanwhile, slowly sat down on the ground. He took out the leather-bound book he had obtained earlier and finally had time to read it.

When he opened the cover, the first thing that caught his eye on the title page was the phrase "Grand Heaven Great Dao Art." This should be the name of the book—or rather, the name of the cultivation method.

Fortunately, the writing in the book was in the standard script of Great Qian, so he could understand it.

Beneath the name of the cultivation method were several more lines of small characters, which were probably the cultivator's annotations.

"Haha, this Daoist has made it!"

The first line of small characters was somewhat scrawled, revealing just how excited the writer had been.

"After seven years of bitter cultivation, I have finally drawn qi into my body and entered the Qi Refining Realm. From this day forth, I have escaped the mortal world. Immortality is within reach, and the Great Dao is within reach!"

It seemed that this cultivation method truly was a cultivation technique. It even appeared to be a method of cultivating immortality, capable of allowing someone to enter the Qi Refining Realm.

However, judging by the signs displayed by the Azure-robed Daoist, although this cultivation method had an impressive name, it clearly was not a righteous cultivation method.

The Azure-robed Daoist had previously used his arm as a weapon. No matter how one looked at it, he did not resemble a righteous cultivator.

Unless all the cultivators in this world used bizarre methods like his, this All-Heaven Grand Dao Scripture was definitely an evil cultivation method.

He flipped to the next page, where the cultivation method itself finally began to be recorded.

"Grand Heaven Dao, passed down by my grandfather. This Dao is true, speak no folly. Having gained the wondrous method, my heart rejoices..."

Chen Mo suddenly felt the words in the book begin to move, like one wriggling flying insect after another trying to force its way into his mind.

"Boom!" The qi and blood within Chen Mo surged, his organs trembling with sounds like tiger roars and thunderclaps.

His blood and qi rose like wolf smoke, blocking all those words from the outside. Chen Mo abruptly came to his senses and hurriedly closed the book.

What he held in his hands was definitely an evil cultivation method. If those insect-like words drilled into his mind, it was difficult to say what might happen.

If he had not been a martial artist, with qi and blood far stronger than ordinary people's, he probably would have fallen prey to this cultivation method.

This method could not be read—at least, not for now—but that did not mean it had no value.

Judging from the Azure-robed Daoist and certain descriptions in this cultivation method, the Grand Heaven Dao was very likely a faction.

This faction definitely consisted of more than one person. The banditry spreading throughout Qing Province might very well have been their handiwork.

Given the Azure-robed Daoist's strength, his willingness to lie low in this place meant his goal could not possibly be mere silver. He must have had a greater scheme.

"Pack everything up properly. Let's hurry and find the others." Chen Mo carefully put away the All-Heaven Grand Dao Scripture, climbed into the carriage, and urged the recruits who were burying the corpse nearby.

The recruits hurriedly got back to work. The tiger-and-leopard-like thunderclaps that had earlier come from Chen Mo's body had given them quite a fright.

But since Chen Mo said nothing, they did not dare ask too many questions and could only continue working obediently.

After burying their comrade's corpse, they planted a piece of wood as a marker.

Only then did Chen Mo drive the carriage through the official road and onto another rural trail.

The roads in Qing Province were fairly easy to travel. The prolonged drought had made the earth here quite firm, without the slightest trace of mud.

Holding the map, Chen Mo confirmed their location. The area he needed to investigate was very close to Zhao Yuncheng.

As long as they searched, they would definitely find traces of him within a day or two at most.

Once they found him, the two of them could then proceed to search for Mo Hu.

After that, they could consider leaving Qing Province. There was no need to search for the others, because they were not on the way, and the journey would become much longer.

Even if they intended to search for the others, they first had to send someone to notify their adoptive father and tell him about the Grand Heaven Dao and what had happened within Qing Province.

It was even possible that notifying him now was already too late. The people of the Grand Heaven Dao might have already made their move.

Chen Mo had no way to speed up either. Even if he could drive the horse forward alone, without supplies, he could not travel far through Qing Province.

Not to mention that if they had bad luck, they might encounter another cultivator like the Azure-robed Daoist.

Finding others and joining forces would be safer. Acting alone was far too risky.

After traveling for roughly half a day, several figures gradually appeared ahead. Chen Mo immediately grew vigilant.

He only relaxed after seeing them clearly. Zhao Yuncheng was driving a carriage over with several recruits.

Chen Mo paid no attention to the other recruits. He tugged the reins and quickly went to meet Zhao Yuncheng.

Zhao Yuncheng had also spotted Chen Mo. In the blink of an eye, the two finally met.

"Seventh Brother, what happened? What's wrong with you?" Chen Mo hurriedly asked when he saw him.

Zhao Yuncheng's right arm was gone, leaving only an empty sleeve. It had been hastily bandaged, and his entire body was half leaning against the carriage, his complexion extremely weak.

"Don't ask. I encountered a fiend on the road. Without saying a word, he attacked us." Zhao Yuncheng's tone was indignant.

"That fiend's methods were bizarre. He could spit out his tongue and turn it into a weapon. Caught off guard, I had one arm chopped off. But he also took a spear thrust from me, and I even seized his tongue."

Zhao Yuncheng took out a wooden box. Inside lay a bright, blood-red tongue.

"After that, neither of us dared pursue the other. We each fled in a different direction."

His tone held both terror and lingering dread. The mysterious fiend's methods had left an extremely deep impression on him.

Chen Mo was not particularly surprised that he had heavily wounded the fiend. For one thing, the fiend they had encountered was not the same one, and their strengths might differ.

For another, if not for the Azure-robed Daoist borrowing the strength of those bizarre refugees, killing him with Chen Mo's own strength would not have been easy, but it would not have been particularly difficult either.

Moreover, all the fiends they had encountered shared one extremely obvious characteristic: their ranged offensive methods were strong enough, but they were not much better than ordinary people in close combat.

Although Seventh Brother's strength was far inferior to his own, as long as he seized an opportunity to close in and injure the fiend, forcing him back would not have been difficult.

"I encountered one as well. I was lucky enough to kill him. That man used his arm to injure people."

Chen Mo likewise took his spoils from the carriage. He had already tested the arm.

Its texture and construction were exactly like those of a human arm. The only difference was that it was extraordinarily sturdy, with bones inside comparable to refined iron.

Chen Mo had no way to use the arm, so he could only store it away for the time being.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Zhao Yuncheng asked, his eyes sweeping over Chen Mo.

He knew how strong that fiend was. The fiend was not especially powerful; he was still made of flesh and blood, and a spear could still pierce him through. In close combat, he was absolutely no match for Zhao Yuncheng.

The crucial point was his bizarre methods. Anyone encountering him for the first time would suffer a huge loss.

Still, he was quite surprised that Chen Mo had actually killed the fiend.

"I was lucky and managed to kill him. I suffered some wounds on my back, but they're not serious." Chen Mo explained.

Compared with Zhao Yuncheng, who had directly lost an arm, his own injuries were truly minor.

Furthermore, three of the recruits on his side had been lost, leaving only two recruits now.

"Next, we'll search for Fifth Brother first and see whether he was injured. Once we reach him, we'll be close to leaving Qing Province. We'll first find a way to arrange for someone to send you to Qingmu County for treatment." Chen Mo told him their plan.

Zhao Yuncheng nodded. This was indeed the best choice available to them.

In his current condition, there was truly nothing he could do.

The reason he had come to find Chen Mo was also because Chen Mo was the closest to him. Joining up with him would give him at least some ability to protect himself if they encountered that fiend again.

Moreover, judging from the fact that Chen Mo could kill such a fiend, his current strength was definitely not weak.

So what if that fiend was extremely weak in close combat? Not everyone had the strength to approach him, let alone engage him in close combat!

The fact that Chen Mo had managed it already proved that his strength was probably greater than Zhao Yuncheng's.

Zhao Yuncheng had actually anticipated this long ago. Chen Mo's talent was far superior to his own, and Chen Mo advanced more quickly in martial cultivation.

The Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was a martial art that advanced extremely quickly. He had reached a bottleneck several years ago and needed to cultivate an internal martial art to continue improving.

In any case, this internal cultivation method was so slow that after three years of practice, he still had not cultivated even a wisp of internal qi.

Therefore, although Chen Mo had not cultivated for very long, his talent meant that his strength was not far behind Zhao Yuncheng's.

Originally, he had thought that relying on his experience, he should still be able to suppress Chen Mo by a notch.

But now it seemed that Chen Mo's strength had already surpassed his own.

However, these matters no longer had much to do with him. Thus, Zhao Yuncheng felt not the slightest jealousy toward Chen Mo. He even hoped that Chen Mo could grow stronger.

Having lost an arm, it would be difficult for him to remain in the army and serve. He only hoped that his adoptive father could smooth things over and help him obtain a position near his hometown.

If Chen Mo prospered, then as his sworn elder brother, Zhao Yuncheng would be able to receive some care from him.

Having reached a decision and discussed their plans, the two groups joined together and headed straight for the area Mo Hu was supposed to investigate.