Desperate Counterattack, Saber Across, Foes Slain

"Stop! Leave them alive!"

Seeing Chen Mu about to die beneath the blade, Yan Rong's face changed drastically.

He knocked aside the corpse of his companion hurtling toward him with his heavy saber, shouting angrily at the same time.

That sudden roar made the black-clad man's descending blade veer half an inch off course.

"Good chance!"

Chen Mu's eyes lit up. While still in midair, he forcibly twisted his waist and, without a second thought, swung a reverse upward slash.

Clang!

The sneak attacker's expression abruptly changed. "Blade aura? How is that possible?!"

When his blade collided with Chen Mu's upward slash, it snapped on the spot.

A half-inch-wide, dark and mysterious blade glow bloomed along the edge of Chen Mu's Goosefeather Saber, cold light blazing as it flickered and surged!

Then came a ripping sound!

The man's arm was sliced clean in two, blood splashing everywhere!

"Arghhh—my hand! Ahhh!!"

His long saber fell from his grasp with a clang. Clutching his severed arm, he staggered and fell, howling in agony.

It had taken no more than a single breath.

Chen Mu's strike had been swift as lightning, but his old force was spent. He could no longer steady himself and was sent heavily flying, his back slamming into the ground.

The impact made him cough up a mouthful of blood, yet a smile tugged at his lips.

He had originally intended to take that strike on his back, trading injury for a kill.

But the situation now was even better than he had expected.

"Now it's your turn!"

He wiped the blood from his mouth and slowly rose while bracing himself on his saber, dark Killing Intent coiling around its edge.

Three exchanges, three kills!

The dark, mysterious Killing Intent had already gathered into form, flickering around the blade as it surged and dimmed, chilling the heart and shaking the soul.

After seeing Chen Mu's current bearing, the furious Yan Rong actually slowed his movements for once.

He kicked away the corpse blocking his path and steadily pressed forward, saying darkly:

"Boy, is this your trump card?"

"Gather Killing Intent and form blade glow—your methods are indeed remarkable. Too bad you ran into your Grandpa Rong!"

At the end, he suddenly let out a savage laugh. "Come again! Take a saber strike from me!"

With a furious roar, he let his rage erupt. His eyes filled with bloodshot veins as he raised his broadsaber and chopped down from above.

Chen Mu knew that this fat, dark-skinned man was likely about to go all out. Yet with the advantage of his Killing Intent blade glow, he was no longer as easily bullied as before.

"Then come! Who's afraid of you!?"

The two sabers collided in midair, and Chen Mu was sent flying once more.

A finger-width notch was blasted directly into Yan Rong's Nine-Ring Saber!

The power of the Killing Intent blade glow was truly this terrifying!

One strike had cracked the Nine-Ring Saber forged from refined iron.

Yan Rong knew at once that this fight could not drag on. If he allowed the boy's blade glow to run wild and ruin his weapon, he might well lose his own head here.

Chen Mu understood the same principle. He immediately used the force carrying him backward to begin a roaming fight.

In an instant, saber light crisscrossed the field. Chen Mu and Yan Rong exchanged blows one after another, their blades striking in a dense net of light, clanging without end.

In only three breaths, the two had traded more than ten saber strikes. Chen Mu's shoulder muscles spasmed violently, and the web between his right thumb and forefinger had split open.

But he did not dare let his attention wander for even an instant. Clenching the saber hilt tightly, he flashed and shifted, continuously striking at Yan Rong's vital points.

Though this fat, dark-skinned man was not skilled at maneuvering, his saber technique was astonishingly good.

That Nine-Ring Saber chopped, cleaved, and blocked with the force of wind and thunder, steadily defending against most of Chen Mu's attacks.

On the rare occasion that a strike slipped through, Chen Mu's blade glow hit Yan Rong's flesh as though it had struck metal, producing dull bangs.

"Is this a horizontal-training external art?!"

Chen Mu's heart sank. After repeatedly seizing the initiative, his arms had already been numbed by the impacts.

Seeing Chen Mu's saber grow slower and slower, revealing signs of decline, Yan Rong could not help bursting into arrogant laughter.

"Boy! You can't break your grandpa's Golden Bell Shield! Let's see how much longer you can hold out?!"

"Take another saber strike from your grandpa!"

The muscles in his arms suddenly knotted and swelled. The nine rings on his saber collided at once, releasing a piercing, vibrating sound.

Chen Mu's ears instantly buzzed, and his mind went blank for a moment as the sound attack struck his brain.

"Not good!"

He forcibly bit through his tongue to clear his head, but a saber glow was already bearing down on him!

He could not evade it!

Chen Mu was horrified. He could only grip the Goosefeather Saber in both hands and raise it to block!

Bang!!

The Ghost-Head Nine-Ring Broadsaber crashed down with the force of ten thousand jun, driving Chen Mu to one knee and smashing a deep crater into the ground.

"Boy! Why aren't you surrendering with your hands bound?!"

Yan Rong roared, the muscles of his massive arms bulging as he savagely pressed down on his saber!

The spine of Chen Mu's blocking blade was immediately forced downward until it pressed against his left shoulder.

He used his left hand to desperately push the blade spine upward, wrestling against Yan Rong's strength, but he was utterly outmatched.

"Kneel for me!"

Yan Rong suddenly roared and viciously slammed his heavy saber downward.

The sound of bones cracking immediately came from Chen Mu's arm. His knee sank three inches deeper, plunging into the muddy pit!

The Ghost-Head Broadsaber was now only an inch from his face!

"You want me to kneel? That depends on whether your life is worth enough!"

Chen Mu gritted his teeth. Then he suddenly looked over Yan Rong's shoulder and shouted:

"Commander Zhao! Save me at once! I am willing to offer up the Waterway Map!"

Yan Rong's expression changed abruptly at this. Instinctively wanting to turn around, he blurted out:

"What? Zhao Dong is here?!"

The instant the shout left his mouth, Yan Rong's strength faltered, and he knew he was in trouble!

He had fallen for this boy's bluff!

Chen Mu had been waiting for him to let out that breath!

Now!

"Die!"

With a furious roar, he poured out all his strength to knock Yan Rong's blade aside. The blade glow in his hand surged explosively.

Rip!

A crescent-shaped arc of dark, mysterious saber light slashed diagonally for nearly three meters.

Chen Mu leaped into the air, using the momentum of their passing forms to spin and slice across Yan Rong's throat in a single stroke!

"Impossible... How could I lose to trash like you!"

Yan Rong covered his wind-leaking throat with one hand, blood spraying madly through the gaps between his fingers.

He could no longer stand steadily. His broadsaber slammed into the snow with his other hand, and his eyes bulged like bronze bells.

"You talk too much."

Killing intent flashed violently in Chen Mu's eyes. Mustering the last of his strength, he delivered a savage two-handed diagonal chop.

A muffled rip sounded!

Cold light tore through the air, carrying a spray of blood across the sky.

With his hard body art broken, nothing could obstruct this slash any longer.

Yan Rong's entire upper body was cut in two by Chen Mu's saber, the wound beginning at his left shoulder and slanting down to the right side of his waist and abdomen.

[ Ding! Killed a Body-Tempering Fourth-Realm Martial Master. Seized Blood Essence: +300. Obtained Karmic Slaughter: +20 ]

Chen Mu gasped heavily. With a flick of his drawn saber, the vicious man's corpse split into two pieces, organs spilling across the ground with a wet rush.

He could barely keep hold of his saber.

But Chen Mu forced himself onward, walking up to the two remaining heavily wounded black-clad men. Holding his saber in both hands, he drove it down hard, piercing their hearts.

[ Ding! Killed two Martial Masters. Seized Blood Essence: +220. Obtained Karmic Slaughter: +10 ]

After confirming that the two had completely breathed their last, all strength drained from Chen Mu's body, and he fell backward into the snow.

He had won! A miserable victory!

He did not know how many bones in his body had broken. His arms had nearly gone numb, and his knees, arms, and shoulder bones were all fractured.

Yet as he lay in the snow looking at the sky, a ghastly smile still pulled at his lips.

"Ha ha ha ha..."

"What kind of bullshit expert? Nothing special!"

Chen Mu began laughing somewhat hysterically, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood as he laughed.

Very soon, he could no longer feel the pain.

As the Slaughter Register seized Blood Essence, a cold wind suddenly rose across the field.

Dark-red Blood-Killing Intent poured from several corpses and rushed into Chen Mu's body.

He immediately felt a surging current of heat flow into his meridians, and the wounds all over his body rapidly healed.

Just then, the moon reached the center of the sky.

Midnight had arrived. The Slaughter Register's settlement panel appeared, winding blood-red words emerging in midair.