Fighting for One's Life

Tu Mu's face was grim as he stared in surprise at Jin Mo's phantom, a chill creeping into his heart.

Jin Mo wasn't a physical entity, more like a ghost from legends. Such unnatural things made even a seasoned mercenary like Tu Mu uneasy, causing him to take a step back to assess the situation.

As he retreated, Shi Yan immediately saw his hesitation. Seizing the moment, he charged forward like a leopard with his dagger, calling for Di Ya Lan to join the attack.

Though Di Ya Lan was also frightened, knowing that the ghostly figure was released by Shi Yan gave her courage to flank Tu Mu from behind.

A pale white smoke, condensed from various negative energies, coiled around like venomous snakes. The Jin Mo phantom, like a vengeful spirit, followed closely, instantly appearing before Tu Mu.

Tu Mu's heart sank. He no longer dared to hesitate. His profound Essence, at the peak of the third level of Innate Realm, was channeled through a secret technique, surging into his left palm. A brilliant red light erupted.

In just a moment, a pure red shield, condensed entirely from Essence, appeared in Tu Mu's left palm. The shield glowed dazzlingly, about the size of a washbasin, emitting scorching energy at an extremely high temperature.

This shield, purely condensed from Essence, was clearly Tu Mu's trump card Martial Skill, consuming an immense amount of energy to cast.

As soon as the shield formed, faint beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, indicating a significant expenditure of Essence.

The shield stuck to Tu Mu's left hand. Seeing the negative energy released by Shi Yan approaching, Tu Mu instinctively raised the shield, blocking both the negative energy and Jin Mo's ghostly form.

"Ssss!"

The white mist, imbued with all sorts of negative auras, and Jin Mo's ghostly shadow collided with Tu Mu's shield, sparks suddenly flying.

Amidst the sparks, the white smoke dissipated, and the ghostly shadow seemed to melt away, scattering into the void bit by bit.

Seeing that his shield could neutralize these two eerie entities, Tu Mu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and sneered, "Kid, let's see what else you've got!"

Traces of cold, evil energy seeped from the dissipating "ssss" sounds, entering Tu Mu's body through his pores without him noticing.

After his cold laugh, Tu Mu's expression suddenly froze, confusion and panic appearing in his eyes.

A flicker of light flashed in Shi Yan's eyes!

Judging from the change in Tu Mu's expression, although he had cleared the energy attached to the negative auras, he couldn't completely purge the negative auras themselves. These negative emotions had still invaded his mind.

"Attack!"

With a roar, Shi Yan maximized his speed, his body leaving a faint afterimage in the air as he suddenly appeared before Tu Mu.

The dagger, glowing blue, stabbed towards Tu Mu's neck like lightning!

The shield in Tu Mu's hand continued to radiate intense heat, the scorching temperature seemingly jolting him out of his stupor.

Tu Mu's eyes snapped open!

"Roar!"

With a furious roar, Tu Mu instantly suppressed the negative emotions flooding his mind. His battle axe, in his right hand, simultaneously swung in an arc.

"Clang!"

Shi Yan's dagger struck the battle axe. A terrifying, overwhelming burst of power erupted from the axe, surging along the dagger towards Shi Yan's arm.

Shi Yan's arm went numb. He immediately realized Tu Mu's Essence was incredibly potent and quickly moved his dagger away from the axe.

Tu Mu ignored Shi Yan, spinning around like a whirlwind. He raised his battle axe, blocking Di Ya Lan's short sword attack from behind, and coldly snorted, "I'll deal with you harshly later!"

Shi Yan's expression darkened, a violent killing intent surging within him.

Wielding his dagger, the muscles in his legs tensed, and various negative forces from his acupoints surged out through the pores of his legs, covering them in a pale white mist.

With both his hands and feet transformed, Shi Yan could no longer contain his violent killing intent.

His entire body radiated Sha Qi, his eyes gradually turning a faint crimson. His expression became somewhat ferocious and terrifying, like a demon or monster crawling from hell, causing Mu Yu Die beside him to cover her mouth in fright.

"Hoo hoo!"

Shi Yan panted heavily. He stomped his foot, feeling as if infinite power was contained within his legs. His slender body lunged ten meters in an instant!

Like an arrow shot from a bow, fast and fierce!

Tu Mu's battle axe danced, and amidst the "clanging" impacts, he forced Di Ya Lan to retreat step by step. Di Ya Lan's arms, holding her short sword, grew increasingly numb, her strength waning under the impact of his fierce Essence.

A sharp killing intent suddenly came from behind. A fierce glint flashed in Tu Mu's eyes. With a powerful strike of his battle axe, he forced Di Ya Lan to stagger backward.

"Bang!"

Impatiently, Tu Mu kicked out, heavily striking Di Ya Lan's smooth abdomen. The kick sent her flying seven or eight meters.

Di Ya Lan fell to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her Essence was in chaos, and she couldn't muster any strength for a short time.

Tu Mu's kick contained his surging explosive power, and Essence erupted in an instant. His goal was to completely incapacitate Di Ya Lan so he could deal with Shi Yan without any reservations.

Turning around, Tu Mu raised his battle axe, his expression ferocious as he declared, "Kid, I'm going to chop you into a hundred pieces!"

Shi Yan charged like an arrow, pouring all his Essence into his dagger, leveraging his fierce momentum.

As he swung, phantom after phantom of his dagger rained down like raindrops, an icy, evil power emanating from the dagger, enveloping Tu Mu entirely.

"Hmph!"

Tu Mu took a deep breath and wielded his left-hand shield. Waves of scorching warm wind flew from the shield, dispersing the icy, evil aura. Then, with a swing of his battle axe, he accurately struck Shi Yan's dagger.

"Clang!"

Under the fierce impact, Shi Yan's wrist ached, and his dagger flew out, landing dozens of meters behind him.

Tu Mu wasn't unscathed either. The power surging from Shi Yan's dagger was equally ferocious. After blocking it, he staggered backward.

At the same time, a chilling, evil, and terrified aura surged into his mind like a small snake along his arm, dragging him into some kind of bloody secret realm.

Shi Yan stood firm on the ground and happened to see Tu Mu's eyes showing confusion as he staggered backward towards Di Ya Lan.

At this moment, his dagger was still dozens of meters behind him. If he flew over to pick it up and then charged at Tu Mu, he might miss the best opportunity, and Tu Mu might regain his senses.

The thought flashed through his mind like lightning. A cold glint flashed in his eyes. Shi Yan hardened his heart and charged at Tu Mu, clasping Tu Mu's waist with his hands like iron chains. He exerted force with his legs, desperately pushing Tu Mu towards Di Ya Lan, and roared, "Raise your sword! Stab!"

Di Ya Lan, who had collapsed limply on the ground, heard Shi Yan's roar and saw a huge shadow falling towards her.

Without a second thought, Di Ya Lan gathered all her strength and raised the arm-length short sword in her hand high.

"Pfft!"

The short sword pierced Tu Mu's back. In pain, Tu Mu suddenly woke up. While roaring madly, Tu Mu desperately tried to control his balance.

His body was propped up by the part of the short sword stuck in his back, tilting halfway in the air, but he didn't immediately fall onto Di Ya Lan.

Using the short sword as support, Tu Mu miraculously maintained his tilted falling posture without immediately collapsing, as if his feet were rooted to the ground.

Tu Mu struggled with all his might but found his hands tightly gripped by Shi Yan.

At this moment, Shi Yan had a cold expression and chuckled sinisterly, "Mongrel, you're finished!"

Maintaining this pose, Tu Mu roared, "Kid, let go of me! If the short sword pierces me, it will also pierce your body! Let go quickly, you don't want to die with me, do you?"

Tu Mu was indeed fierce. Under such circumstances, he could still raise his leg like lightning and violently slam his knee into Shi Yan's lower abdomen.

Shi Yan poured Essence madly into his arms, unable to use the Dark Light Shield temporarily. He had no choice but to activate his Petrifying Martial Soul.

Under Tu Mu's repeated knee strikes, bombarded by that terrifying explosive force, the Petrification in his body seemed to concentrate entirely on his lower abdomen. Other parts quickly returned to normal, only his lower abdomen turned grayish-white and became as hard as iron.

Under the full assault of Tu Mu, who was at the peak of the Innate Triple Heaven realm, Shi Yan's Petrifying Martial Soul could still hold on. Although his lower abdomen was still incredibly painful, he didn't even spit out a mouthful of blood. His physical defense was extremely monstrous.

Di Ya Lan below her face changed. She then realized that Shi Yan and Tu Mu were embracing each other tightly face-to-face. As long as she forcefully thrust the short sword in her hand down, or if Tu Mu suddenly smashed down, the short sword would pierce through Tu Mu's body and then through Shi Yan's body, pinning them together.

The thought of Shi Yan being pierced through along with Tu Mu made Di Ya Lan hesitant to act rashly. She screamed, "Kid, let go!"

"Mongrel, I'm shorter than you! You'll die, and the worst that can happen to me is losing an arm!"

Shi Yan's expression was cold. He grinned sinisterly and suddenly put all his strength into it, and in Tu Mu's terrified eyes, he pressed himself and Tu Mu down fiercely onto Di Ya Lan.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Two sounds of sharp metal piercing flesh, bone, and sinew came one after another. Di Ya Lan lay on her back, with Tu Mu, who had his back to her, stacked on top of her like a pile of roly-polies, and Shi Yan, who was facing Tu Mu, pressed down on him.

The short sword in her hand, as expected, pierced through both their bodies. The short sword pierced through Tu Mu's heart from his back and, with undiminished force, pierced into Shi Yan's right shoulder, also penetrating it.

With his heart pierced, Tu Mu's body swayed twice. A look of terror on his face, he slowly lost all signs of life.

Shi Yan, whose shoulder was pierced, had a ferocious expression. His hands were still tightly clasped around Tu Mu, showing no intention of letting go.

It wasn't until Tu Mu's Essence dissipated within his body and flowed into him that he was certain Tu Mu was truly dead. Only then did he slowly loosen his grip, his body going limp and collapsing powerlessly.