Wind-Fire Tube

"That Jin Tian is actually serious?"

"Since he's wearing the Golden Silk Armor, unless he runs into a Houtian Martial Artist, he's practically unbeatable."

"Heh heh, haven't you noticed? He brought us out hunting this time on purpose, deliberately driving that Flower Fox toward these fields."

"I saw it too. I just didn't call him out because I knew he'd been holding in a bellyful of anger."

The few youths, who also seemed to be direct descendants of the Jin Family, kept chatting and laughing from their horses, as if they couldn't care less about the fight unfolding before them.

A sharp tearing sound rang through the air!

Jin Tian had already swung his weapon, sending two sword strikes straight at Shi Mu's head.

The two sword shadows suddenly split left and right mid-flight, turning hazy and dreamlike, making it impossible to track their trajectory if one wasn't paying close attention.

"Oh? Jin Tian's Shadow-Splitting Sword Technique has already reached minor success."

One of the youths nearby let out a soft exclamation at the sight of Jin Tian's move.

The others also showed a flicker of surprise.

"Bang."

Shi Mu showed no intention of dodging. With an expressionless face, he moved his arm and punched toward the sword shadow on the left, striking the real blade with pinpoint accuracy. The sword shot up into the air from its owner's hand with a swoosh, then came falling back down with a thump, stabbing diagonally into the nearby field.

Jin Tian himself let out a miserable cry from the impact, stumbling backward a step. The tiger's mouth of his sword hand split open, blood gushing out.

At that moment, Shi Mu's form flickered. Like a crossbow bolt loosed from its string, he charged right up to the youth, raised his hand, and delivered two sharp slaps—one on each cheek.

With Shi Mu's current strength, even though he had held back, it was enough to send Jin Tian spinning like a top in place twice before he fell to the ground with a thud, landing on his backside.

By then, the blue-robed youth's cheeks were swollen high on both sides, and his eyes were full of bewilderment, as if he still hadn't figured out what had just happened to him.

Shi Mu, after a single flicker, had already retreated back to his original spot, crossing his arms as he coldly stared down at the youth on the ground.

The Jin Family youths who had been laughing and chatting earlier suddenly fell silent, their expressions shifting to uncertainty.

"Impossible. How did he see through the Shadow-Splitting Sword Technique?"

"Maybe it was just luck—a random guess."

But by then, Jin Tian, who had landed on his backside, finally understood what had just been done to him. His eyes instantly flushed red as blood rushed into them. He scrambled up from the ground, dashed over in a few quick steps, yanked the fallen sword from the earth, let out a strange howl, and charged at Shi Mu again, wildly swinging the blade.

This time, his swordplay had no form at all—just the frantic flailing of a madman.

Seeing this, Shi Mu let out a cold laugh and strode forward to meet him, still empty-handed.

With a slight sidestep, Shi Mu easily dodged the incoming sword, then shot out a hand like lightning, snatching the blade straight from the other's grip.

Jin Tian was startled. His earlier ferocious momentum shrank, and he instinctively stepped backward.

Shi Mu stood still, but with both hands gripping the hilt and the upper half of the blade, he applied force.

Crack.

The gleaming longsword snapped clean in two.

Shi Mu flicked both wrists. Swoosh, swoosh. The two broken pieces turned into streaks of white light, shooting out.

Jin Tian only felt a flash of cold near both ears as the two blade fragments zipped past, barely grazing the sides of his face, before stabbing diagonally into the ground a few steps behind him. One of them left a thin cut on his cheek, and blood began to seep out.

The Jin Family youths watching nearby all wore grim expressions.

The blue-robed youth's face turned deathly pale. But when he instinctively touched the blood on his face and looked down at his hand, he suddenly burst into manic laughter.

"You dare to kill me? All you can do is scare me with tricks like this. So why should I be afraid of you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Tian reached into his robe. When he pulled his hand back out, there was a palm-sized cylinder in it, gleaming with the metallic luster of gold, with a thumb-thick black hole at the front.

"Jin Tian, are you crazy? You actually stole the Wind-Fire Tube from the estate!"

"How could you do something like this? This violates clan rules—don't drag us into it!"

"If the clan head finds out, breaking your legs won't be the end of it."

At the sight of the cylinder, the Jin Family youths all panicked. Some shouted curses, others tried to calm him down with forced composure, but all of them frantically pulled their horses backward.

It was as if the cylinder in the blue-robed youth's hand was more terrifying than a venomous beast.

"Hmph. As long as I can vent this anger, I don't care if the clan locks me up for three or five years." Jin Tian's cheeks were swollen high, blood still streaming down, but he spoke with vicious resolve.

As soon as he finished, he moved his arm and aimed the cylinder straight ahead.

Shi Mu had no idea what this so-called Wind-Fire Tube was, but from the name and the terrified reactions of the other Jin youths, he was already on high alert. He had no intention of taking it head-on.

So the moment the blue-robed youth raised the cylinder and aimed it at him, Shi Mu didn't hesitate. He dropped to the ground and rolled, tucking himself behind the large horse he had knocked down earlier—the one that still hadn't managed to get back up.

"Bastard, die!" Jin Tian screamed like a madman, pressing his thumb down on a protrusion at the back of the cylinder.

Puff.

A small, pitch-black pellet shot out from the tube, flying at terrifying speed straight toward where Shi Mu was.

"Ah!"

"He actually used it!"

"Get off the horses!"

The other Jin Family disciples, seeing this, were scared out of their wits. They leaped off their horses one after another and threw themselves flat on the ground, pressing tightly against the earth, not daring to move an inch.

"Go!"

At that moment, Shi Mu let out a great roar. He grabbed the two front legs of the horse in front of him with both hands, and with a simultaneous exertion of strength, he hurled the massive beast like a giant object straight toward the black marble.

Almost at the same time, he stomped his feet fiercely against the ground. The earth beneath him caved in several feet, forming a sizable pit.

A thunderous, earth-shaking boom rang out.

The black marble struck the horse two zhang away, instantly bursting into a blazing fireball. A vast expanse of fiery clouds, carrying rolling waves of scorching heat, swept wildly in all directions, engulfing everything within a three-zhang radius. It lasted for a full two breaths before finally dissipating into nothing.

With a heavy thud.

The horse's remains crashed onto the ground, its body missing a large chunk, now reduced to a pitch-black, charcoal-like mass.

(Wang Yu has been worried to death these past two days, pulling out many strands of hair! Because everyone has practically guessed every possible direction the story could take, leaving me wondering how to plot the next part. Heh heh, if you can still guess the next chapter's plot, I'll have to admit defeat and applaud you. Also, only one update today.)