Sudden Change

Inside the room.

The red-haired youth had no idea how many prayers he had recited or how many times he had kowtowed before a bloody mark slowly appeared on the floor.

Suddenly.

The wooden Buddha statue exploded with a bang. A streak of blood shot out and plunged into Fan Rong's blood-covered forehead, vanishing without a trace.

Wood chips scattered everywhere.

Fan Rong's entire face abruptly flushed red, followed by his arms, before rapidly spreading throughout his body.

Blood-red veins crawled across his skin, flickering in and out.

"What is this..."

Li Mu was stunned. He could even sense an exceptionally savage force of blood and vitality rampaging through Fan Rong's body.

"Ah..."

Fan Rong gritted his teeth tightly, yet he still let out a low roar as if he could no longer endure it. He seemed to be in unimaginable pain. His hands clawed at the ground, leaving several cracks in the floorboards.

The right arm Li Mu had smashed apart healed in an instant.

Moreover, the Sword Register showed an obvious reaction to him, its information constantly refreshing before Li Mu's eyes.

[Fan Rong, Blood and Vitality: 7.3↑ (infused with foreign power)]

[Blood and Vitality: 7.4↑ (infused with foreign power)]

[Blood and Vitality: 7.5↑ (infused with foreign power)]

"..."

He'd been powered up.

This guy had become completely abnormal.

Red veins covered Fan Rong's entire body, while an eerie black-red glow flickered around him, making him seem demonic!

His blood and vitality continued to rise.

[Fan Rong, Blood and Vitality: 8.3↑ (infused with foreign power)]

[Blood and Vitality: 8.4↑ (infused with foreign power)]

[Blood and Vitality: 8.5↑ (infused with foreign power)]

"Fuck... Is he going to break through ten points in one go?"

For some reason, the words in that Record of Notorious Men suddenly flashed through his mind—

Martial monk Moluoduo, Sacred Buddha Temple of the Western Regions, severely wounded and fell from a cliff, fully recovered overnight, strength greatly increased, descended into madness...

Li Mu's right eyelid twitched wildly. He felt that he could not stay any longer.

Fan Rong was far too dangerous now. He needed to report this to Steward Leng immediately. If this man's blood and vitality kept surging, Li Mu would be no match for him at all...

That wooden Buddha statue was deeply suspicious!

A gentleman did not stand beneath a crumbling wall.

Retreat!

However, just as Li Mu turned around.

"LI MU!!!"

A mad roar erupted from the room. With a thunderous bang, a gust of sinister wind had already lunged at Li Mu's back!

Who would have thought that Fan Rong's rapidly rising blood and vitality had bizarrely enhanced even his senses?

He clearly had not relied on sight or hearing, but on smell.

This mad dog had tracked him down by scent alone!

And that movement technique—his speed was simply ghostlike!

It was absolutely not something a newly recruited servant, who had not even reached minor mastery in Dripping Water Swordsmanship, could accomplish!

In that instant, Li Mu's scalp nearly exploded.

"Damn you..."

In a flash.

Li Mu drew his sword and slashed backward without hesitation. In his haste, he could only unleash half of the sword momentum.

Clang!!

The blade was blocked by bone.

As Li Mu twisted around, he came face-to-face with a pair of crimson eyes.

"Heh heh... The Sacred Buddha has delivered an order. I am to kill you now!!!"

Fan Rong looked completely insane, seemingly incapable of feeling pain. He grabbed the longsword with one hand, then struck at Li Mu with his palm!

His information flashed before Li Mu's eyes.

[Fan Rong, Blood and Vitality: 9.5↓ (infused with foreign power, body unable to bear the burden)]

At least it had stopped rising. If this guy had broken through the blood and vitality threshold overnight, Li Mu truly would not have had the confidence to win.

But at this distance...

Looking at the red-haired, red-eyed "evil ghost" grinning viciously before him, Li Mu suddenly clenched his sword hilt and let out a low shout. The strength of his entire body erupted, and a vortex of air formed around the blade.

Dripping Water Swordsmanship, pinnacle-level sword momentum!

"Dripping Water..."

"Pierces Stone!"

Boom!!

The air violently contracted, then expanded, pierced through by that thrust!

This was a pinnacle strike that condensed the intent of Dripping Water Swordsmanship to its utmost limit.

It directly crushed the exposed bones in that bloodied hand.

The overwhelming sword momentum surged straight ahead, tearing through flesh... ripping open his belly!

Amid a miserable, shrill howl.

Li Mu was struck by a palm and sent flying backward, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

He glanced down and saw that the Azure-Edge Sword he had only recently received had actually been damaged...

Meanwhile, the "evil ghost" that had burst through the window in pursuit clutched its pierced abdomen with both hands, yet could not stop the stream of blood pouring out.

"I... I..."

"How could this..."

Fan Rong raised his head. The madness in his eyes slowly faded. Like a deflated balloon, he suddenly seemed to age, the bloody color gradually draining from him as his flesh withered away.

He unwillingly raised a hand toward Li Mu.

"Li... cough, cough, cough..."

Before he could finish.

Black blood gushed from his throat, eyes, nose, and ears... He abruptly collapsed to the ground, black-red veins bulging across his corpse.

He was utterly lifeless.

"Martial monk Moluoduo, Sacred Buddha Temple..."

Li Mu grimaced in pain.

Fan Rong's blood and vitality had surged to 9.5, and he had suddenly used that bizarre palm technique. Caught off guard, Li Mu had taken the full force of the strike, and his left shoulder was severely injured.

He had truly broken out in a cold sweat this time. Had he not broken through to pinnacle-level sword momentum, tonight would likely have ended in disaster.

Recalling the description of Moluoduo's death in the Record of Notorious Men, it was exactly the same as Fan Rong's.

"So the source was that wooden Buddha statue, along with that strange way of worshipping?"

"What happened here?!"

The commotion from their fierce battle was too great and alerted the night-watch servants patrolling nearby.

Two night-watch servants hurried over. With swords in hand, they warily looked at Li Mu before glancing at the corpse on the ground.

One of them immediately took out a bamboo tube and lit the fuse inside. A small firework burst into the sky.

This was the emergency warning signal used by night-watch servants. The stewards of the surrounding area were to arrive as quickly as possible.

The other pointed his sword at Li Mu.

"State your name! Explain the situation!"

Li Mu quickly gave a brief account. The two servants exchanged looks, finding it strange, but the bizarre condition of the dried corpse on the ground left them with no choice but to believe him.

For a time, none of the three knew what to say, and they fell silent.

But at that moment, Li Mu suddenly noticed something was wrong.

[Blood and Vitality: 9.6↓ (digesting medicinal power, left arm injured, suffering foreign power erosion)]

I've been poisoned?!

It was Li Mu's first time seeing a downward arrow next to his blood and vitality value, and his heart sank.

He had not expected Fan Rong's palm strike to be not only incredibly powerful, but also to inject foreign power into his body. Like a deadly poison, it was destroying his blood and vitality!

At the moment, he could only hope that Steward Leng Shuangyu could save his life...

The firework had alerted everyone nearby. They emerged and watched from afar, confused but not daring to approach too closely.

When his blood and vitality dropped to 9.5, Leng Shuangyu finally arrived. The instant she saw Fan Rong's corpse, her expression changed drastically. She immediately ordered everyone to keep silent, arranged for the night-watch servants to take away the body and transport it to the inner courtyard, then report it to the Third Manor Lord.

Then she looked at Li Mu. "Come with me!"

Central courtyard, a two-story building, reception area.

Li Mu sat beside the table on the left, examining the furnishings. They were antique and elegant, without the feel of a woman's residence. Instead, it resembled the home of a sword cultivator wholly devoted to the sword.

Before long, the steward he had been waiting for emerged gracefully from behind a screen and tossed him a dark pill.

"Take it. It will neutralize the foreign poison."

"Thank you for the medicine, Steward!"

Before he had even said anything, Leng Shuangyu already knew.

Li Mu did not stand on ceremony. He swallowed the black pill in one gulp.

The effects were immediate.

The words "suffering foreign power erosion" disappeared from the blood and vitality section.

At the same time, the injury to his left arm slowly began to improve.

This pill was powerful—and undoubtedly expensive...

"Tell me what happened."

Seeing Li Mu's complexion improve, Leng Shuangyu asked coldly.

"It happened like this..."

Li Mu omitted the part about eavesdropping. He only said that while on night duty, he had happened to notice something wrong with Fan Rong and watched for a while. Then the abnormal change occurred, and the two of them fought.

Leng Shuangyu's expression turned grave after hearing this.

"So it really was the Sacred Buddha Temple. Those evil monks have begun again."

"Steward, could you perhaps..."

"You'd best not know. In any case, stay away from the Sacred Buddha Temple from now on. And do not worship Buddha either. Do you understand?"

Li Mu had just wanted to ask when she interrupted him.

Faced with Leng Shuangyu's solemn words, he could only nod.

"However, discovering a hidden follower of the Sacred Buddha Temple is a great merit. I have already given the order. Go downstairs and collect your reward from Chunxue."

After saying that, Leng Shuangyu rose and hurriedly left.

"..."

Li Mu had realized it: this woman was forceful and could not be bothered to deal with people. She did everything entirely according to her own will.

Still, since there was a reward, he would not argue with her.

When he went down to the first floor, a maid in a plain dress with her hair tied into a bun was already waiting for him. Smiling, she pointed at the items on the table. "Li Mu, these are the rewards the steward instructed us to give you."

There were five full silver ingots.

A longsword in a black sheath.

A copied sword manual.

The first two were fine, but Li Mu's gaze was immediately drawn to the sword manual.

The dazzling green glow radiating from it made it impossible for him to look away.

[Water-Questioning Sword Manual, talent requirement for entry: 50 (green)]

[Talent requirement met. Reading it will reveal the key principles of entry.]