Below Black Wind Cliff, a woman dressed in light blue armor was carefully traversing the mountain forest.
After a while, she arrived at the bottom of Black Wind Cliff. She looked up at the towering cliff face and frowned.
She hesitated for a moment, gritted her teeth, and climbed up the cliff face.
She was highly skilled and agile, able to climb dozens of meters up the cliff face in a short time, even using the smallest crevices as footholds.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Thump!
Suddenly, several small stones flew from a distance and hit the woman. She nimbly dodged most of them, but when she couldn't avoid the last one, she swung her hand and smashed it.
Whoosh...! Tap tap tap!
The trees in the woods began to sway, and then three figures emerged, quickly climbing the cliff face and chasing after the woman.
The woman quickened her pace, no longer slowly searching for a foothold. Her hands, like eagle claws, gripped the cliff face, creating five holes, and she rushed towards the summit.
Although the woman was fast, the three figures behind her were even faster. After a while, the three figures gradually approached the woman and attacked her with a blue-black shockwave.
Boom! Boom!
The woman struggled to dodge, forcing her to slow her ascent considerably.
Below the cliff, more than a dozen figures suddenly appeared, each one possessing considerable strength. They swiftly climbed the mountain, seemingly intending to attack the woman.
Upon closer inspection, the people attacking the woman were both men and women, and their appearances were no different from ordinary people, but their eyes were bloodshot, and they occasionally made hissing sounds, as if they had lost their minds.
"Get out of here!"
The woman was entangled by three figures and unable to move forward. She shouted angrily, and blue light appeared on her hand, sending one of the figures flying.
Riding on this momentum, she climbed up a further distance.
The figure that was knocked away rolled in the air, reached out and grabbed at the wall. Blue-black Spiritual Power formed a giant hand, pulling the body back to the cliff face.
Then, three figures surrounded the woman again, their bodies surging with blue-black Spiritual Power, forming sharp beams that slashed at her.
The woman appeared to be injured; after fighting for only a short while, blood was already seeping from the corner of her mouth.
A dozen or so figures below the cliff gradually caught up, blocking the woman's path.
By this time, she had climbed to a height of seven or eight hundred meters, but when she looked up, the cliff top still seemed to rise into the clouds, as if it had no end.
"Am I going to die?"
She felt utterly desperate; her Spiritual Power was almost depleted. But she refused to give up and wait for death. She gathered her remaining Spiritual Power in her hands and forcefully struck her opponent in front of her.
With a snap, her palm struck her opponent, unleashing a surge of Spiritual Power that sent him crashing off the cliff.
At that moment, he felt a gust of wind behind his head. She knew she couldn't escape, and closed her eyes as if relieved.
Suddenly, she felt a blur before her eyes, and a man appeared in front of her.
The man, dressed in a white disciple's robe, did not appear physically imposing, but possessed an aura as majestic as a mountain.
"Walk!"
The man in white was Chen Mu. He grabbed the woman's shoulder, activated the Instant Movement Talisman, and vanished from the spot in an instant.
A hundred meters above, his and the woman's figures reappeared.
Beneath his feet was a writing brush formed from Divine Soul, through which he could briefly fly through the air.
The dozen or so figures chasing the woman paused for a moment, then quickly spotted Chen Mu and his companion a hundred meters above them and immediately gave chase.
What's wrong with these people? Why are they chasing you?
Through his Divine Soul senses, Chen Mu discovered that the people chasing him had all reached the True Spirit Realm, but they were different from ordinary True Spirit Realm. Their Spiritual Power was extremely violent, as if they had been stimulated by some kind of force.
"My name is Wei Shuang, and I am a soldier of the Empire!"
These people have had their minds corrupted by the Otherworldly Demon Seed, turning them into Demon Slave, which is why they've come to hunt me down."
Wei Shuang quickly calmed down and explained.
Chen Mu, wielding his writing brush, flew much faster than the pursuing Demon Slave, and soon reached the mountaintop.
"Is there any hope for these people?"
Chen Mu landed on the mountaintop and asked the question.
"There's no saving them! Once they become Demon Slave, their self-awareness is erased. Even if they are saved, they'll just be walking corpses."
As she spoke, a hint of sadness flashed in Wei Shuang's eyes.
"Understood!"
Chen Mu placed Wei Shuang on the ground, then tossed out more than a dozen Spirit Stone. He made a hand seal, and a defensive array formed on the ground in a moment.
"You take a rest, leave the rest to me."
Soon, more than a dozen Demon Slave rushed up, hissing and snarling, and pounced on Chen Mu.
Knowing that these people were beyond saving, he held nothing back, taking out his Dharma-Breaking Staff and descending like a god, unstoppable.
Heart-Burning Flame!
After his Divine Soul realm was enhanced, the power of the Heart-Burning Flame surged, exerting a strong suppressive effect on these mentally deficient Demon Slave.
The Demon Slave seemed to have seen something terrifying; some stood frozen in place, some wailed incessantly, and some looked around in bewilderment, their strength reduced to less than one-tenth of what it once was.
Crack! Crack! Boom!
Chen Mu them down one by one with his staff, and in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, all the once arrogant Demon Slave lay on the ground, none of them escaping unscathed.
Out of curiosity, Chen Mu spared one of the Demon Slave, captured it, and infused it with his Spiritual Power, wanting to experience what this so-called Otherworldly Demon Seed was.
"No!"
Wei Shuang was shocked to see Chen Mu's actions and immediately shouted to stop him.
Unfortunately, it was too late; Chen Mu's Spiritual Power had already entered the Demon Slave's dantian.
Boom!
Chen Mu felt that the Demon Slave's dantian was like a burning furnace. His Spiritual Power had only just come into contact with it when it was as if it had been ignited, and his whole body began to stir restlessly.
"Is this the application of demonic energy?"
Although Chen Mu was startled, he remained calm, circulating the Acala Heart Sutra within his body. His heart was as firm as a rock, impervious to all attacks.
A stream of golden liquid Spiritual Power flowed from his dantian and entered the Demon Slave's dantian, suppressing the demonic energy within.
He then discovered that there was a drop of black blood in the Demon Slave's dantian, which was completely fused with the cultivator's dantian.
When Chen Mu focused his attention on the drop of blood, it actually trembled slightly, as if a will from a distant place was crossing time and space, wanting to descend upon him.
Chen Mu felt a sense of unease, and with a snap, he shattered the Demon Slave's skull with a single palm strike.
With the death of the Demon Slave, his dantian lost its activity and began to collapse.
His blood, having lost its energy source, finally stopped trembling, leaving only a wisp of will that entered Chen Mu's mind.
"You... are very good! I will come to find you..."
With a snap, the Demon Slave's dantian shattered, and the blood inside disappeared into the spatial turbulence.
"Young master? Young master? Are you alright?"
Called by Wei Shuang, Chen Mu snapped out of his daze, took a few deep breaths, and was still shaken.