Black Rock Mountain, Chen Village.
At the fourth watch before dawn, Landuo, who was meditating in the talisman-making room, suddenly sensed something and opened his eyes.
In the center of the room, a virtual three-dimensional image was projected into the air.
The image showed a three-dimensional layout of Chen Village. Three red dots had rushed in from the southeast and were moving toward the villagers' residential area.
"Oh no! Enemy attack!"
Landuo moved at lightning speed, his first reaction to activate the defensive talisman array protecting the village.
The defensive talisman array naturally couldn't remain active all the time. Otherwise, no matter how many spirit stones Chen Mu had, he couldn't sustain the consumption.
But those three people were already inside Chen Village. The defensive talisman array was very effective against threats from outside, but of little use against those within.
Thoughts racing, Landuo went to the machine in the center of the room and tapped the air a few times. The runes on the machine flashed with light.
In the three-dimensional layout floating in the air, a translucent barrier enclosed the three red dots. They immediately seemed to lose their bearings and began circling in place.
Landuo knew the illusion array wouldn't hold them for long. He pulled a communication jade token from his chest.
The jade token was also a treasure artifact, purchased from the Myriad Treasures Pavilion. It could be used for short-distance communication.
"Clan Leader Chen, Martial Master experts have charged into Chen Village! Quickly, gather the village martial artists and have them enter the array core to strengthen the talisman array!"
"Understood! I'll act immediately."
The sound of rushing wind came from the communication jade token. Chen Hongjie was evidently already on the move.
After ending the communication, Landuo glanced at the three red dots in the air and frowned in thought. Then he began operating the machine in front of him again.
Those three had slipped into Chen Village without a sound, so they had to be at least as strong as Martial Masters. If they were outside Chen Village, Landuo wouldn't have feared them, but with them inside, it was hard to say.
"Boss, please hurry back! Otherwise, I might not be able to hold out..."
Inside Soul Severing Valley.
When Chen Mu opened his eyes, the sky outside was just beginning to pale.
After a night of cultivation, he had grown accustomed to the Qi Sea inside him.
With a Qi Sea, he found that he could mobilize spiritual power more freely, and the strength his body could exert had undergone a complete transformation.
Previously, when he jumped, threw a punch, or made similar movements, he could use Internal Force to enhance their power, but the Internal Force he could draw on was usually limited to the small amount of spiritual power stored in that particular part of his body. The main source of power was still his physical strength.
But now that he had a Qi Sea, he could rapidly gather a large amount of spiritual power in a particular part of his body, unleashing power far beyond his physical strength.
At this realm, physical strength was less important; everything centered on cultivating spiritual power.
After running for most of the previous day, Chen Mu felt a little hungry. He took a wheat cake and a water flask from his storage ring and began a simple meal.
As he ate, he stood up and walked around, stretching his muscles and glancing outside the tree hollow.
One look scared the soul out of him, and he nearly dropped the water flask in his hand.
Mingye, who had captured him yesterday, was not far below the tree hollow, poking around with a branch. She was clearly looking for him.
"Like a lingering ghost!"
Chen Mu grumbled inwardly. He had already been extremely careful, yet he hadn't expected her to track him here.
"All right! Then I'll see just how strong you are!"
He ate the rest of the wheat cake in one bite, swallowed a few mouthfuls of water, and brought himself into peak condition.
He pulled a yellowish-white weapon half a meter long from his storage ring.
This was the new Rune Gun Chen Mu had made only a few days ago. He couldn't be bothered to come up with a name, so he called it Rune Gun No. 2.
The main body of Rune Gun No. 2 was made from demonic beast bones. The bullets it fired were more powerful and faster than those of Rune Gun No. 1.
But that wasn't the most important part. The most important thing was that Chen Mu had overcome the difficulty of drawing fine runes. With the aid of precision instruments, he could draw complete runes on small objects.
Chen Mu now had several bullets covered in runes.
Those bullets bore several runes, including acceleration, armor-piercing, and explosive runes. Chen Mu believed that if an ordinary Martial Master were hit by one, it would definitely kill them instantly.
Chen Mu raised the Rune Gun and loaded a rune bullet into it.
But he didn't aim at Mingye immediately. Instead, he first aimed at the trees around her to get a feel for the angle.
Many experts had an instinct for danger and could sense when someone's Qi locked onto them. Chen Mu didn't dare be careless. This first shot was crucial; if she dodged it, hitting her with the next shot would be even harder.
Once everything was ready, Chen Mu immediately trained the sights on Mingye, locked onto her, and pulled the trigger in one seamless motion.
Bang!
Rune Gun No. 2 was much quieter than No. 1, especially when firing a rune bullet. It made only a sharp report like the buzz of a mosquito.
The rune bullet struck its target in an instant, followed by a tremendous explosion.
Boom!!
Mingye's body was flung more than ten meters away by the blast like a puppet, tumbling several times in a miserable state.
"Hahaha, let's see if you'll keep chasing me now!!"
Chen Mu laughed heartily and jumped down from the tree hollow.
The explosion had filled the air with dust, preventing him from firing another shot. Worried that his enemy might take a pill to recover, he hurried toward the place where Mingye had been flung.
As he drew closer, he could clearly see that half of Mingye's body was covered in blood and much of her flesh had been charred. She lay motionless on the ground.
But then Chen Mu's divine soul keenly sensed that her presence had not weakened, and he immediately retreated.
Whoosh! A streak of silver light flew straight at his face. Chen Mu hurriedly raised the Rune Gun in his hand to block it.
With a clang, the silver light was knocked away. He didn't dare linger in battle and turned to run.
Although he was now a Martial Master, the gap between Martial Masters could be enormous. Mingye was clearly already as strong as someone in the Late Qi Nourishing Realm. In a head-on fight, even ten cultivators in the Early Qi Nourishing Realm might not be a match for someone in the Late Qi Nourishing Realm.
Mingye climbed to her feet, her right arm hanging limply at her side. She struck several acupoints with her left hand, then lowered her head and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The killing intent on her face was almost tangible. She set off in pursuit of Chen Mu, taking out a pill and swallowing it as she ran.
Chen Mu burned a Windwalking Talisman and ran for his life. This time he didn't run aimlessly, but headed toward Chen Village.
When he had blocked the silver knife just now, he had noticed that it was far less powerful than before. It seemed that although Mingye hadn't died, she had been seriously injured, and her speed was bound to be much lower than before.
Chen Village wasn't far from here, only five or six kilometers away. As long as he could reach the village and operate the talisman array, he would no longer need to fear Mingye.