Choosing People to Devour, Slaughter Begins!

After leaving the small town, Su Mu not only covered his face with a mask but also changed into a set of night-traveling clothes. He did this to avoid trouble; if the Black Mountain Army discovered his identity, it would surely implicate all the masters in the town.

It's better to be safe than sorry.

"That guy is suspicious, a few of you follow me."

Seeing a masked figure emerge from the dense forest, a sergeant whose armor was slightly more advanced than that of ordinary Black Mountain Army soldiers immediately bared his fangs. He remembered that two Black Mountain Army soldiers had been ordered to kill the unexpected herb farmers in the forest earlier, but now a masked figure was emerging.

Those two must have met with misfortune.

This person is either one of us or an enemy!

At this, the sergeant beckoned, and four or five men around him turned in obedience, aiming their blades at Su Mu, who was approaching the battlefield.

"Attack together, kill him!"

Whoosh!

The four or five Black Mountain Army soldiers, their faces contorted with ferocity, slashed their long sabers through the air with lightning speed. The blade light was sinister, and before the sabers even arrived, a chilling aura swept over them.

This was Su Mu's first time participating in such a large-scale melee. With this many people, even if his opponents were all unranked martial artists, or even ordinary men, he had to be extremely cautious.

Martial artists were still flesh and blood; they couldn't be impervious to blades and spears. Soldiers, trained and clad in armor with sharp weapons, could still cut down ranked martial artists with a flurry of blows if they surrounded them.

"Blades and spears have no eyes."

Su Mu took a shallow breath, and the Qi within him surged, instantly permeating every inch of his skin to form a layer of Qi that covered his entire body. Now that Su Mu had reached the great completion of Qi Refining, the Qi film possessed considerable defensive power.

This was an insurance policy for his own protection.

Su Mu didn't actually need this film to have high defensive power; he just needed it to give him a little buffer time to react at a critical moment. After all, in the midst of such chaos, even if your senses were superior and you could dodge obvious attacks, once you were completely immersed in the fight, the sounds of battle would greatly disrupt your senses, making surprise attacks difficult to guard against.

"These people deserve to die, all of them!"

Beneath the mask, an unprecedented coldness spread across Su Mu's face. At this moment, an unquenchable anger and killing intent churned within him. Only by slaughtering them today could he vent his frustrations.

So, he would kill.

Su Mu followed his inner impulse and entered a state of combat. His eyes narrowed, and the several incoming sabers seemed to slow down in his gaze. The next moment, his body moved abruptly.

Five Animal Frolics, Ape Play.

The Black Mountain Army soldiers suddenly felt a figure darting through the blade light, like an incredibly agile old ape from the mountains.

"So fast!"

As the sabers hacking from all directions missed, the soldiers, their doom imminent but unaware, found themselves in peril. Su Mu seized the opening of their missed swings, took a step forward, clenched his fists, and unleashed a barrage of punches at the four or five Black Mountain Army soldiers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

All the Qi was channeled into his arms. The force of his Qi was so immense that it instantly dispersed the surrounding mist. Su Mu's punches were astonishingly fast; the Black Mountain soldiers could only see the motion of his fists.

Then, their faces contorted sharply. Almost simultaneously, several Black Mountain Army soldiers were struck by his fists. The Qi from Rock Shattering Fist detonated through their cotton armor, rendering it as flimsy as paper before the great completion of the technique.

Crack.

A series of horrifying bone-cracking sounds echoed from the Black Mountain Army soldiers, whose bodies stiffened in place. Blood spurted uncontrollably from their mouths, and the next second, their bodies flew backward like discarded sacks, crashing heavily onto the ground.

Four or five soldiers clad in armor and wielding weapons couldn't even last one round against this masked man.

This was a complete slaughter; the combat power of both sides was not even on the same level!

Seeing this, the Black Mountain Army sergeant who had just ordered the attack swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. A chill ran down his spine. Even though he had cultivated Qi within his body and was a ranked Qi Refining Martial Artist, he knew very well that he was no match for the masked man before him.

He decisively pulled back, intending to flee.

But how could Su Mu let him go? The image of the tragically deceased Zhou Shan and several blacksmith masters flashed before his eyes, his killing intent soaring. He clenched his fist again and struck out from a distance.

Suddenly, a strong wind swept across the battlefield.

This was the Gale Fist that Su Mu had obtained after killing Wu Heng that night. In ten days, Su Mu had already reached the introductory level. The sweeping wind caused the fleeing Black Mountain Army sergeant's movement to falter, and this pause was his death sentence.

Su Mu employed the Startled Sparrow Steps, leaping five to six zhang in an instant to close the distance, and then threw a punch.

Boom!

This Black Mountain Army sergeant, who was already ranked, widened his eyes, and before he could even let out a scream, his head was blown apart by Su Mu's punch, killing him instantly.

After killing a Black Mountain Army sergeant with a single punch, Su Mu flicked his hand, shaking off the blood mixed with brain matter from his fist.

"Even a Black Mountain Army sergeant couldn't last a single round against him. Who... who exactly is this person?"

"I don't know, I've never seen this person's martial arts style before... But this person is targeting the Black Mountain Army, so they likely have a grudge. He's not our enemy, so tell our men not to provoke him!"

Seeing Su Mu charge into the battlefield like a tiger ready to devour its prey, even the Qingyun Army soldiers were filled with dread. Several Qingyun Army captains quickly ordered their subordinates not to provoke this fearsome individual.

In the dense forest, the group of herb farmers had not yet left. They were all terrified and panicked, some collapsed on the ground, others frozen in place. Only one person was an exception: the old man at the front, holding his bamboo staff, watched the figure charging into the battlefield with a flicker of astonishment in his eyes.

He deeply imprinted the figure in his mind, then calmly roused everyone, "This place is not safe. Everyone, quickly leave here."

"Ah, right, hurry and leave, let's get out of here!"

Snapping back to reality, several herb farmers fled the dense forest as if pursued, following the small path Su Mu had pointed out earlier.

At the center of the battlefield, it was now the Black Mountain Army's turn to panic. The masked man who had suddenly burst into the battle was a huge variable, reversing the scales of victory that had been tilted in favor of the Black Mountain Army.

The black-clothed man's attacks were fierce, completely disregarding the Qingyun Army, as if he had gone mad and was solely focused on slaughtering the Black Mountain Army.

In just this short while, the number of Black Mountain Army soldiers who had fallen to the black-clothed man approached twenty. The damned Qingyun Army soldiers had also noticed this and were even cooperating by pushing the tougher opponents towards Su Mu's location.

Su Mu accepted all comers, dealing with them all in a single punch.

"A life for a life, tenfold repayment" was no empty threat!

"You scoundrel, get away from me!"

The heavily armored strongman swung his fine iron cudgel fiercely at Qian Wu. Qian Wu showed no fear, instead smiling as he gripped his saber with both hands and met the blow.

Clang!

Sparks flew, and dust billowed half a man-high around their feet. Another deafening clang of metal on metal rang out.

The tide of battle had turned.

Now it was Qian Wu's turn to calmly hold back the armored man. He knew that as long as his Qingyun Army soldiers cooperated with the masked man in black to slaughter the Black Mountain rebels on the field, victory would be theirs!

Bang!

Flesh and blood flew as Su Mu punched again, killing another man. At the same time, he was using his peripheral vision to observe the fierce battle between the armored strongman and Qian Wu. His powerful comprehension allowed him to quickly discern the armored man's martial arts style even as he fought.

Su Mu had not yet unleashed his true killing moves; all of them were being saved for this guy.

"The armored strongman... the one Uncle Li mentioned who smashed through the shop door... the one who killed Master Zhou."

"Don't worry, it'll be your turn soon."

Su Mu's eyes were bloodshot, his murderous intent unconcealed.

The armored strongman felt the man in black watching him intently from the sidelines, and the intense killing intent emanating from him. He was inwardly astonished, as if he had never provoked this person before.

"No, I can't let this continue."

Seeing another subordinate blasted to death by the man in black, the armored strongman was filled with rage. His tiger-like eyes widened, and he let out a furious roar.

"Those who stand in my way die!"

The armored strongman's arm muscles bulged slightly as he raised his fine iron cudgel and swung it down at Qian Wu with the force of Mount Tai. Qian Wu saw this and knew it was bad, but he could only brace himself and meet the attack.

Clang!

After enduring this blow, Qian Wu's blood and force churned within him, and he let out a muffled groan. His saber, unable to bear the strain, snapped in this collision.

The surging force from the two men sent the broken blade flying, killing both Black Mountain Army and Qingyun Army soldiers caught in the crossfire.

The armored strongman, named Hong Shan, was born with extraordinary brute strength. In his youth, he had studied under a wandering swordsman, then became the leader of a band of robbers. Later, to evade government pursuit, he joined the Black Mountain Army and became a Centurion.

Although he had only undergone Bone Forging once, with the enhancement of his heavy fine iron armor and his brute strength, he could briefly contend with a martial artist who had undergone Bone Forging twice.

After blasting Qian Wu back with a single blow, he glanced coldly at Qian Wu and surprisingly abandoned the pursuit, heading directly for Su Mu.

These men were his subordinates from when he was a bandit; most had shared life and death together. Seeing nearly twenty of them killed by Su Mu made his eyes bulge with fury.

"Get out of my way, all of you!"

Hong Shan's iron armor weighed over a hundred pounds. As he strode towards Su Mu, his steps produced heavy, clanging sounds, and the ground trembled with each stride.

Screech!

His fine iron cudgel dragged along the ground, emitting a piercing metallic screech and sending sparks flying.

"You deserve to die!"

The strongman, like a rampaging black bear, charged forward. In an instant, he was upon Su Mu, and the fine iron cudgel he dragged along the ground suddenly swung in a massive arc like a windmill, smashing down with immense force.

The gale generated by the cudgel roared like a wild beast, making even those fighting nearby falter.

Such a powerful, heavy blow made Qian Wu, watching from the sidelines, tremble with fear. His arms felt numb, and he anxiously shouted a warning.

"Hero, be careful!"