The instant he sensed the terrifying pressure descending from overhead, Mo Chen used Ghost Shadow Step without a single conscious thought!
In a crisis, instinct really was what saved your life.
After dodging with Ghost Shadow Step once, Mo Chen immediately used the Earth-Escape Technique again and burrowed underground.
Rip!
The demon cultivator's enormous claw had almost grazed Mo Chen's scalp, then gouged three claw marks into the earth and stone near the riverbank.
After several exchanges, both sides had exhausted their overt and covert tricks, yet neither had injured the other. This left the white-robed demon cultivator momentarily stunned. She hovered in midair, pondered for a few breaths, then pushed the coffin off the cliff with another swipe.
Mo Chen used Earth Escape to travel from the clearing beside the cliff into the mountain woods before poking his head out to investigate.
Only after the demon cultivator had vanished and the fluctuations of spiritual power she left behind had dissipated did Mo Chen emerge fully.
"It seems this fiend is responsible for most of the grave disturbances circulating through the nearby villages and towns."
Mo Chen's expression grew grave as he pondered.
But... why had this demon taken only the dead woman's arms instead of carrying away the entire corpse?
That meant the demon cultivator's objective had never been the corpse itself. Rather, the corpse's arms were what she truly wanted.
But why insist on waiting until after the burial? With her cultivation, she could have gone straight to the Li Household's courtyard in broad daylight and stolen the corpse.
Unless the demon cultivator had been waiting for something.
Mo Chen thought again of the young man in town.
He was a mortal whose Heavenly Secret Lock had been opened, yet he had no cultivation. He lived halfway up