Temporarily Repelling the Enemy, Northern Barbarians Marching South

A sharp "whoosh" suddenly rang out in the alley. Before the crossbow bolt even reached him, Chen Mu felt waves of stabbing pain between his brows.

Startled, he let out a thunderous roar, smashed the bluestone bricks beneath his feet, and shot into the air to evade it.

But he was still too slow!

Luo Dalong was sinister to the extreme. He had feigned retreat to lure Chen Mu into pursuit, then fired this point-blank arrow almost directly at Chen Mu's face.

Though Chen Mu's reaction was already incredibly swift, the hidden arrow still tore through his waist, ripping out a spray of blood.

"Kid! You've been hit by Grandpa's poisoned arrow! Just wait for death!"

Luo Dalong had already vanished into the distance, leaving behind a venomous sneer.

Chen Mu had no time to chase him. Landing, he braced himself against his saber, murderous intent surging in his eyes like a tide.

He had been careless!

The arrow had been coated in Corpse Venom!

That crossbow bolt was clearly specially made, its edge tempered with sinister, baleful substances such as Corpse Venom. It was designed specifically to pierce a martial artist's Blood Essence and fleshly body!

Just as Chen Mu was about to slip away and find somewhere to treat his wounds, the Yin Extremity Profound Baleful Art within him began circulating on its own.

The Corpse Venom and Killing Intent were absorbed and devoured by the tyrannical Profound Yin True Qi in the blink of an eye.

In no more than two or three breaths, Chen Mu's aura had already steadied.

This surprised him somewhat. Then, a cold gleam bloomed in his eyes.

"He ran pretty fast..."

He had not expected Luo Dalong to escape. The secret of his Profound Yin True Qi probably could not remain hidden for much longer.

If he rashly pursued him now, he might run headfirst into a trap.

Fortunately, Chen Mu had roughly confirmed that A-Ning was safe, so he was no longer quite so frantic.

"I'll return to the martial academy first and find someone to help investigate."

Chen Mu immediately made his decision.

Since A-Ning was not in the enemy's hands, there was no need to fight them to the bitter end right now.

With the martial academy's connections, as long as A-Ning was still in the city, they should find her soon enough.

He did not dare linger. He swiftly searched Zhao Liqiu's corpse.

Chen Mu had no time to deal with the remaining lackeys. He only thoroughly looted Ghostfoot Seven, whom he had ambushed and killed earlier.

The results of searching the corpses surprised Chen Mu.

Zhao Liqiu carried a Yellow Grade Low-Tier Coiling Dragon Staff Technique, while Ghostfoot Seven carried a movement technique.

It was the Yellow Grade Mid-Tier Ghost-Shadow Step. Chen Mu flipped through it roughly and discovered that it was a footwork technique for close-range entanglement!

Once mastered, one could move like a ghost, shifting and darting within inches, swift as lightning.

This perfectly made up for Grass-Top Flight's shortcomings!

If the two were fused together, they might even advance another step.

Chen Mu was thoroughly satisfied. Taking his spoils, he strode away and swiftly returned to the Azure Dragon Martial Academy in the city's east.

"Ninth Senior Brother! You're finally back!"

Liu Meng had been pacing anxiously before the gate. The instant he saw Chen Mu return, he hurried forward.

"What happened?"

Chen Mu frowned and quickly stepped inside.

Liu Meng did not waste words. Pulling him along as they walked, he said,

"Master has gathered the disciples in the Martial Lecture Hall. There's something major to arrange."

"Something's about to happen in the city. The barbarians from the north have come."

Chen Mu's heart jolted. Suppressing all the questions in his mind, he followed Liu Meng briskly into the inner courtyard.

Along the way, he asked a few more questions and gained a general understanding.

It turned out Zhao Dong had long since sent people to wait for them. The moment Liu Qingcang and the others returned to the academy, he had sent someone to invite them.

Liu Qingcang had then sent Qin Tieya to make a trip and ask what had happened in the city.

When Qin Tieya returned, he brought back news.

Zhao Dong claimed that scouts outside the city had discovered several villages and towns in the north had been slaughtered and stripped bare by plunder.

It was almost certain that the foreign tribes beyond the pass had secretly come south to scout the way.

Before long, they would likely launch a large-scale assault on the border.

Everlasting Prosperity Town was originally a rear supply base for the border towns. If fighting truly broke out at the frontier, this place could forget about peace as well.

Once he understood the situation, the slight slackness Chen Mu had felt after his great rise in strength immediately vanished like smoke.

Forget a minor martial artist like him—even an Innate Realm expert like Liu Qingcang might struggle to withstand an invading army.

After all, the foreign tribes beyond the pass did not lack experts either!

Chen Mu had learned long ago that there were three great foreign tribes beyond the northern frontier, collectively known as the Northern Barbarians.

The ones marching south recently should be the Hu vanguard of the Grassland Golden Horde.

These foreign tribes were born with formidable physiques. An adult among them was comparable to a Body Tempering martial artist.

Among them were even Buddhist cultivators of the Esoteric Sect, serving with the army as Vajra protectors. Every campaign left mountains of corpses and seas of blood in their wake.

And that was not all. The Hu were merely the vanguard.

The greatest threat was the Heavenly Wolf Demon Court north of the Northern Sea.

Chen Mu had long heard that deep within the icy plains of the far north lay a blessed land called Moon Lake, which never froze throughout the year.

Within it lived the Howling Moon Sky Wolf clan, born able to assume human form. They also commanded demonic beasts beneath them, forming a great army of wolf cavalry.

Every deep winter, the Heavenly Wolf Demon Court joined forces with the Hu of the Grassland Golden Horde to march south, raiding the border and plundering what they could.

Besides these two allied forces, there was also the White Mountain Ghost Kingdom entrenched in the Yin Mountain Range.

Everyone in that kingdom cultivated barbaric witch curses, raised humans for life harvesting, drew souls and refined spirits, and often marched with the army as great shamans of the Northern Barbarian coalition...

The methods of those ghost cultivators in the rumors were remarkably similar to the Rakshasa Gate's style.

A flood of associations immediately surfaced in Chen Mu's mind, but none could be confirmed.

Now that traces of plundering had appeared near Everlasting Prosperity Town, this was clearly a sign that the Northern Barbarians were marching south.

Chen Mu could not help feeling heavily burdened as he followed Liu Meng to the Martial Lecture Hall in the courtyard.

The place was already packed with disciples.

All the registered disciples had gathered in the courtyard, awaiting orders.

When Chen Mu entered the hall, he found Liu Qingcang seated prominently at the head, in a tiger-skin armchair.

Qin Tieya sat upright in the first seat below his left hand.

Besides Liu Qingluo, his little junior sister seated beside him, there were also two unfamiliar male faces.

Yet anyone seated in such positions had to be Liu Qingcang's personal disciples.

"Ninth is here. Sit first."

Seeing Chen Mu enter, Liu Qingcang set down his teacup and directly motioned for him to take a seat.

Chen Mu did not dare look around too much. He first stepped forward and clasped his fists.

"Disciple Chen Mu greets Master. Greetings, Senior Brothers and Senior Sister."

The two men clasped their fists in turn and called him "Ninth Junior Brother." Their attitude could not exactly be called warm.

Qin Tieya, on the other hand, was rather gentle.

"Enough. Save your idle chatter for later."

"Ninth, sit first. Once everyone has arrived, listen to Master's arrangements."

Chen Mu immediately nodded, suppressed his stray thoughts, and sat beside Liu Qingluo in the third seat on the left.

Taking advantage of this moment, he glanced around.

Across from him sat a burly bald man.

The muscles on his shoulders and arms coiled like dragons. Judging by sheer presence alone, he was even more imposing than Qin Tieya.

However, Chen Mu could sense that the man's Blood Essence leaked outward. He was far inferior to Qin Tieya's superior restraint, in which nothing was revealed.

The other man sat opposite Qin Tieya. He wore a goat beard and blue cloth robes.

Rather than a martial man, he looked more like a yamen adviser, holding an abacus in his hand and flicking its beads.

"Little Junior Brother, what are you looking at? Where did you just go?"

Liu Qingluo leaned her face closer from beside him and sniffed at Chen Mu's scent. Suddenly, she covered her lips and gasped.

"Blood... You went and killed someone?"

Though she had tried her best to keep her voice down, what sort of people were seated in the hall?

At once, everyone turned to look at Chen Mu.

Liu Qingluo immediately realized she had caused trouble for Chen Mu. Panic rose within her, but she did not know how to cover it up.

Chen Mu secretly had a headache. He shifted a little farther from Liu Qingluo, then simply took the opportunity to rise and clasp his fists toward the seat of honor.

"Disciple has a matter to request. May I ask whether Master's earlier promise still stands?"

Everyone looked at him in surprise. He actually dared to change the subject and make a request at a time like this.

Liu Qingcang was also somewhat surprised. His tone revealed neither joy nor anger.

"Your master's promise naturally still stands."

"But Ninth, have you thought this through? If it is some trivial matter, you may simply have your Second Senior Brother handle it. There is no need to use this."

His words were calm, yet Chen Mu felt secretly grateful.

Liu Qingcang truly did not treat him as an outsider.

Chen Mu was not someone who repaid kindness with demands. Being accepted into the academy as a personal disciple had already left him completely satisfied.

This was the perfect chance to use up that additional request.

First, it would make the martial academy take the matter seriously and help search for A-Ning. Second, it would prevent others from looking down on him for no reason.

At once, he solemnly clasped his fists and said earnestly,

"Disciple does not dare conceal this. This concerns my wife's life—it is a matter of utmost urgency!"