The Corrosive Poison Water scooped from the Dark River poured down the steep, uneven mountainside like a black flood, swallowing everyone and devouring every trace of life, bit by bit.
Whether human prodigies or peerless kings, all melted into putrid slime beneath that dark tide. Even the sturdy Spirit Soldiers they carried dissolved without a trace.
The casualties kept mounting: ten, twenty, thirty.
Some Quasi-Kings, whose spiritual bodies were Level 6 or 7, had even perished.
Now every living soul was gripped by terror, their blood running cold.
Some shouted curses, some whispered prayers, and others begged for mercy in trembling voices. Every reaction imaginable could be heard.
"Mu Chen, are you really going to slaughter us all?"
"Think carefully. Even the Spirit Road, with all its brutal trials, won't tolerate you acting this outrageously. More than half of us have already been selected by the Five Great Academies."
"Among us are Quasi-Kings and powerful figures on the level of kings. Talented people abound."
"As for me, Ji Xuan, the Supreme of the Holy Spirit Academy personally traveled to the Southern Border and spent countless resources to secure my place as the new-generation Holy Son. I'm destined to contend across the Great Thousand."
"If you dare kill me—or any of us—you'll bring the wrath of the Five Great Academies down on yourself."
Ji Xuan's face was grim. As he threatened Mu Chen, he secretly tried to connect with the consciousness within him, hoping to draw on more power and turn the tables in this desperate situation.
"Ji Xuan, you can eat whatever you like, but don't go putting words in my mouth."
"The Spirit Road is dangerous. What's wrong with me carrying a bottle of Corrosive Poison Water?"
"Besides, Qiu Beihai clearly snatched the bottle while I wasn't paying attention. He was resentful, deliberately trying to get revenge, and smashed it on purpose. What does that have to do with me?"
"In a sense, I, Mu Chen, am the greatest victim of this whole incident."
At Ji Xuan's words, Mu Chen's face fell, and he looked thoroughly displeased.
He had stopped calling him Brother Ji and gone straight to the attack.
The kid seemed pretty clever. How could he frame an innocent man and twist the truth like that?
"Then blame Qiu Beihai?"
"Damn it, that idiot Qiu Beihai has been dead for ages!"
Ji Xuan was so furious with Mu Chen that his liver ached. Who was the one spouting honeyed words and twisting the truth here?
By then, the Corrosive Poison Water had already stolen the lives of more than a hundred human youths. Only twenty or thirty were still struggling on the brink of death.
Far away, in an unnamed mountain range, powerful winds howled.
The battle had reached its height. The bulk of the Spirit Road's forces, who had been lingering around the outskirts of the Black Demon Forest, finally pinpointed the battlefield somewhere amid the boundless mountains and rushed over in a mighty procession.
Quasi-King Fang Zhong, King Yan Yan Xiao, King Yan Ling, and King Zhou Zhou Ling.
There were at least five or six thousand of them, arriving with friends and allies in tow, their numbers making an astonishing spectacle.
The Spirit Road youths who arrived near the battlefield happened to see Mu Chen use Sorrowful Crisp Breeze to bring down the alliance, then watch Qiu Beihai steal the antidote and suffer the backlash.
Different people reacted in different ways.
King Zhou Zhou Ling said, "That's impressive, Brother Mu."
He was the Zhou-surnamed stallkeeper from the Sanctuary's market, who had once spoken with Mu Chen.
"Bastard, Zhou Yuan really wasn't his real name."
The petite figure holding an enormous Crescent Moon Blade muttered under her breath.
When she spotted the silver-haired girl in a black dress standing quietly beside Mu Chen, then Tang Qian'er and Hong Ling, whose beauty was in no way inferior to her own, a pang of inexplicable sadness welled up in her heart. She couldn't explain it.
"What's wrong, little sister?"
Wu Ling noticed his younger sister's sudden low spirits and asked in confusion.
Like a kitten whose fur had suddenly bristled, Wu Yingying quickly hid her weakness and snapped, "Get lost! Not one man is any good!"
Wu Ling stared back, completely bewildered. "???"
"But Ji Xuan, you did remind me of one thing."
"Qiu Beihai killed them. What does that have to do with me?"
"If I don't kill a few people myself, how will the heroes of the Spirit Road learn of my might and spread the name of Mu Chen, Prince of Hundred Spirits? So I should be the one to do the killing."
Having finished speaking with Ji Xuan, Mu Chen suddenly lifted his head and let out a sigh.
With that, he summoned an ancient-looking battle staff from his Mustard Seed Bracelet. Light on his feet, he circled around the Corrosive Poison Water, which was almost drained away, and the black pools covering the ground.
Like a leopard choosing its prey, he crashed into the crowd.
He swung his staff and thrust it through a Quasi-King who was trying to resist.
He swung again. With a bang, the head of a Level 6 spiritual body burst like an overripe watermelon, red and white splattering across the ground. In an instant, the man stopped breathing.
As the last survivors shivered in terror, they couldn't help blaming Ji Xuan. If you knew Mu Chen was a lunatic, why goad him?
If they hadn't provoked this madman, they might have lived a few breaths longer.
Mu Chen's killing grew faster and faster.
Of the twenty or thirty still alive, only seven or eight remained in the blink of an eye.
Supporting himself on one hand, Ji Xuan struggled to retreat. Every movement was agonizingly difficult.
But no one knew that, as the dying prodigy of the Ji Clan bowed his head, the darkness deep within his pupils was growing ever stronger.
The human youths, who had always run rampant without fear, were slaughtered.
The invincible kings who had dominated the Spirit Road lay dead in the wilderness.
Ji Xuan, the peak-level king faintly hailed as the greatest on the Spirit Road, was cornered like a dead dog, with no way to ascend to heaven or escape beneath the earth.
Mu Chen had unleashed a cataclysmic bloodbath that shook more than half the Spirit Road, and blood ran across the land.
Just what sort of mysterious being was this fellow who called himself the Prince of Hundred Spirits?
For the thousands of Spirit Road youths watching, the scene was an impact without equal. It was like a nuclear bomb exploding in their hearts, its power immense.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Mu Chen unleashed Long Rainbow Piercing the Sun, his strike surging with force, his stance steady as Mount Tai.
With the Piercing and Striking Staff Technique, he jabbed like lightning, bursting the heads of three kings one after another.
Now, only the Twin Kings of the Shi Family, Yang Hong, and Ji Xuan remained—just four people.
Holding the divine Spirit Soldier, the Demon-Subduing Staff, he walked toward the Twin Kings of the Shi Family, the brothers Shi Jingtian and Shi Hao, his steps light.
"You little brat, you've really gotten your big brother into a mess this time."
Shi Jingtian looked almost exactly like his younger brother: broad-shouldered, with chestnut-yellow hair and features that resembled his brother's in five or six places. No wonder they were twin brothers born of the same mother.
The only difference was that his younger brother favored a hammer, while he was skilled with a shield.
One attacked and one defended; the brothers complemented each other perfectly.
When he heard that someone had severely wounded his younger brother, Shi Hao, with a single move outside the Sanctuary, how could he, as the elder brother, stand by? He had joined forces with his former enemy Ji Xuan to besiege Mu Chen.
Who could have guessed that the renowned Twin Kings of the Shi Family would be buried here?
"I'm sorry, Big Brother."
Shame showed on Shi Hao's face. He raised his voice to address the newcomer. "Mu Chen, I, Shi Hao, take responsibility for my own actions. Could you spare my brother? He's innocent."
"Spare your brother, then let him come after me for revenge?"
Mu Chen tilted his head and spoke softly.
Back then, he had let this man go at the Sanctuary.
Yet he hadn't learned his lesson. He had called over two or three friends and joined Ji Xuan in besieging Mu Chen and Luo Li. He had brought this death upon himself. How could Mu Chen possibly tolerate it?
"Uh..."
Shi Hao fell silent at Mu Chen's words.
He knew that if Shi Jingtian escaped, he would certainly come after Mu Chen to avenge him.
"Next life, keep your eyes open."
Mu Chen raised his ancient battle staff. As the Shi brothers watched in utter despair, he swung it down and swept forward in a blur, abruptly charging at the white-robed king who had let down his guard.
Ji Xuan, die!
P.S. Maybe the Spirit Road arc will end tomorrow?
Before you continue