Chapter 491: Broken Arm Revenge

The box fell silent again, an extreme quietness. No sound could be heard, not even breathing.

Qin Mu moved freely and silently in the darkness. A faint sound broke the stillness: a single drop of sweat had fallen, splashing into a pool of blood. The owner of the sweat drop immediately shifted their feet, then felt a sudden sharp pain in their chest as a bamboo staff pierced their heart.

Qin Mu pulled the bamboo staff from behind the person and moved forward silently. Behind him, the sound of a falling body echoed. This sound immediately triggered a violent commotion. Many outer-domain devils around him attacked, unleashing their divine abilities and bright spirit weapons towards the source of the sound.

Amidst the flickering divine abilities and spirit weapons, Qin Mu moved like a phantom inside the box, claiming the lives of one practitioner after another. When the light vanished and complete darkness returned, several practitioners staggered before collapsing to the ground. Silence returned once more.

The interior of the box, measuring a hundred zhang across, was not small; it was roughly the size of 130 to 140 mu of land. Hundreds of people distributed within such a space would certainly not be crowded, even with a massive creature like the Dragon Qilin. However, for practitioners of divine abilities, the space felt incredibly cramped. To them, divine abilities could arrive instantly, and powerful ones could even sweep through every corner of the space.

When Qin Mu collected them into the box, everyone panicked and immediately started fighting fiercely. This was why the box violently shook at first. That was the darkest and most chaotic moment. Everyone attacked in every direction for self-preservation, and a significant number of strong practitioners died at the hands of their own allies.

This chaos didn't last long, as a powerful practitioner from the Celestial Realm immediately spoke out, telling everyone not to panic. That Celestial Realm practitioner was intelligent, but in the next moment, Qin Mu assassinated him. Another wave of chaos ensued. Qin Mu, wielding his staff, killed people amidst the disarray; even practitioners from the Celestial Realm couldn't escape his close-quarters combat.

After this chaos subsided, someone tried to open the box to let in some light, but was then stabbed to death by Qin Mu with a single staff strike. During this time, several more life-or-death struggles occurred. Now, everyone inside the box felt endangered, suppressing their heartbeats and holding their breaths. Even their wounds were kept in check, preventing blood from flowing out, lest it alert Qin Mu.

They even had to keep their eyes closed, as their eyes would betray their positions in the darkness. These practitioners often cultivated eye-based divine abilities, causing their eyes to emit light, which undoubtedly made them the perfect targets for Qin Mu. Qin Mu was like a bat in the darkness, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. Any sound would alert him and draw his killing intent. This suffocating darkness concealed a demon king ready to claim their lives at any moment.

The box opened and closed, spitting out a few more corpses. The instant the box opened, light streamed in from above, chilling everyone inside to the bone. They scrambled, daring not to remain in place. After a brief moment of chaos, the sounds of colliding divine abilities and falling bodies echoed once more, and a few more people died in the confusion.

"I can't take this anymore!"

An "outer-domain devil" finally broke under the terrifying atmosphere, his mind collapsing. He unleashed all sorts of divine abilities and spirit weapons in every direction, screaming, "No one is getting close to me! You die! You all die!" His divine abilities were immensely powerful, easily piercing through the hundred-zhang space. His spirit weapons were also exceptionally sharp, sweeping in all directions and forcing those hidden in the dark to resist.

A great chaos erupted inside the box. Shouts of killing filled the air, and all kinds of spirit weapons and divine abilities bombarded chaotically. After a long while, the mad practitioner stopped, panting heavily. All sound around him ceased, leaving only his ragged breaths.

"Are they dead?"

The mad practitioner was stunned, then both shocked and delighted. He burst into laughter, "You're all dead! All of you! I survived, only I am still alive!"

*Thwack—* A bamboo staff pierced into his mouth and out the back of his head.

The box opened and unfolded on all sides, light spilling in. It was still the hundred-zhang space, but now only Qin Mu, the pale-faced Ban Gongcuo, and the trembling Dragon Qilin, who was crouching in a corner, remained. He had shrunk to just over a zhang long, hiding behind a pile of shelves. His thick hide meant he was largely unharmed, but his body was bristling with spirit weapons of all sizes. Among them, several swords were clearly Qin Mu's flying swords, indicating that many attacks had landed on him during the chaos. Despite shrinking his massive body as much as possible, he inevitably took many hits.

On the ground, corpses lay scattered everywhere, each dead in a different way. Some were killed by a bamboo staff, others had their heads cleaved by swords, some were hung in paintings with their heads erased. There were also a few oxen and sheep, practitioners stabbed like hedgehogs, some crushed by a sword pellet until their bones were shattered and sinews snapped, and others pulverized by the True Dragon's Lair.

However, more people had died at the hands of their own allies. The situation at the time was simply too chaotic. Everyone, in a desperate attempt to survive, had to kill each other. Only a minority, at most thirty percent, had died at the hands of Qin Mu, Ban Gongcuo, or the Dragon Qilin.

Ban Gongcuo wiped the bloodstains from his face, still shaken by lingering fear. In the pitch-black space, Qin Mu had collided with him more than once. If Ban Gongcuo hadn't unleashed the unique skills of the Golden Palace and been recognized by Qin Mu, he feared he too would have been killed by Qin Mu. During the chaos, he sustained many injuries and eliminated many opponents, but the most dangerous encounter was when Qin Mu engaged him in close combat. It nearly cost him his life!

Although Ban Gongcuo dodged Qin Mu's killing blow, a bamboo staff pierced his chest, creating a bloodied hole, though he narrowly avoided his heart. A pig-slaughtering knife almost severed his artery at the neck, but he twisted his neck into an astonishing curve, barely avoiding the blade. Although Qin Mu recognized his divine abilities afterward and stopped attacking him, Ban Gongcuo always suspected that Qin Mu had recognized him much earlier and had simply wanted to take the opportunity to kill him along with the others. Of course, he had no proof, and it wasn't the right time to bring it up.

Qin Mu was covered in bloodstains. He limped as he dragged corpses out of the box, one by one. He too had sustained many injuries; when the chaos erupted, his situation had been incredibly perilous, and he had almost died from the rampaging divine abilities and spirit weapons attacking from all directions. Among them were even several powerful Celestial Realm practitioners, whose divine abilities were stronger, and whose primordial spirit attacks were terrifying. If any of their attacks had landed solidly, even with his True Dragon Overlord Body activated, he would have undoubtedly died. He was still hit by many divine abilities and spirit weapons. If that "outer-domain devil" hadn't suddenly gone mad, it would have been difficult for him to be the last one standing.

Ban Gongcuo also stepped forward, and the two of them strenuously lifted out the corpses one by one, throwing them into the darkness, neither speaking a word. Not long after, all the corpses had been thrown out. Qin Mu kept the spirit weapons of these "outer-domain devils," placing them into his Taotie Bag. He then recovered the spirit weapons he had abandoned during the fight.

*Puff, puff, puff—* Several streaks of bloody light emerged from the Dragon Qilin's body as a few flying swords flew out and merged with Qin Mu's sword pellet. The Dragon Qilin looked at his still-bleeding wounds, then at Qin Mu, and cried out, "Cult Master, did you stab me?"

"I didn't. Don't talk nonsense, it was an accidental injury," Qin Mu flatly denied.

Ban Gongcuo hesitated for a moment. While the Dragon Qilin was licking his wounds, he activated his saber pellet, and several sabers detached from the Dragon Qilin's hindquarters, merging with the pellet. The Dragon Qilin was furious. "Great Venerable, you stabbed me too?"

Ban Gongcuo coughed up blood repeatedly and looked at Qin Mu, who pretended not to notice. Ban Gongcuo mumbled, "An accidental injury, it must have been an accidental injury…" He hesitated, then said, "Cult Master Qin, do you have any more dragon's saliva? Give me some, I'm injured too."

Qin Mu opened his Taotie Bag and took out a few bottles of dragon's saliva. Ban Gongcuo hesitated, not daring to take them, and scratched his head. "Using Cult Master Qin's dragon's saliva to heal… I suddenly feel a bit uneasy. I'm not entirely sure if applying it to my wounds will heal them or make me suddenly die from poison."

"Use it or don't," Qin Mu said, opening a bottle of dragon's saliva and applying it to his own wounds.

Ban Gongcuo looked at the Dragon Qilin, who was activating his Qilin fire, melting the spirit weapons embedded in his body into molten iron. Catching sight of Ban Gongcuo shamelessly approaching, the Dragon Qilin immediately flared up. He turned his hindquarters towards Ban Gongcuo, revealing several deep wounds, and angrily retorted, "Is licking wounds fun? If you want me to lick yours, you lick mine first!"

Ban Gongcuo's face was as black as charcoal. He cautiously said, "I just came to borrow some dragon's saliva, not to lick. Please, have pity…"

The Dragon Qilin, still soft-hearted and unable to bear it, spat out a large mouthful of dragon's saliva. "Lick it yourself!"

Ban Gongcuo scraped up some dragon's saliva and applied it to his wounds. They each treated their injuries. Qin Mu also got some more dragon's saliva and applied it to the saber wounds on the Dragon Qilin's hindquarters. After resting for a moment, their legs still felt weak.

In the darkness, footsteps approached. Qin Mu struggled to his feet and activated his Danxiao Heavenly Eye to see. A figure emerged from the darkness, clad in a blood-colored cloak. Ban Gongcuo also staggered to his feet, opened the large gourd behind him, and a blood waterfall flew up, hanging suspended in the air. The Dragon Qilin scrambled up, but his limbs were too weak to support his body. Feeling it would be more comfortable to sit, he sat down and began cultivating his true fire.

Qin Mu's hands hung limply; he couldn't lift his sword pellet. He could only gently flick his fingers, and from the pellet, the Carefree Sword flew out, floating at his fingertips, incredibly tiny. The approaching figure was a youth with a long saber on his back. He didn't come closer but stopped, cautiously surveying the hundreds of corpses ahead. He stood in the darkness, yet the monsters within the darkness seemed to ignore him. This darkness appeared to affect only the people of this world, posing no threat to an outsider like him.

"Killing a scout squad from my Heavenly Court's Spirit Cultivation Army, you are truly formidable!"

The youth with the long saber on his back shook his cloak, which was covered in blood. His gaze met Qin Mu's across the darkness as he said in a deep voice, "I am Luo Wushuang of the Spirit Cultivation Army. Do you dare state your name?"

Ban Gongcuo chuckled. "Luo Wushuang, Spirit Cultivation Army? Never heard of it. Kid, you've got guts. Come on up and die!"

The youth with the long saber said indifferently, "I, Luo, greatly admire you all for being able to kill so many experts with just two people and one beast. Your skill is not weak, but they were merely scouts. The Spirit Cultivation Army, however, is formed by selecting the rising elites of the Heavenly Court; these scouts cannot compare to us. For primitives from the Supreme Emperor era to possess such ability, it is truly respectable, which is why I asked for your names, so you might at least leave a reputation after death. Since you don't wish to, then…"

He resolutely drew his saber and slashed it down against the wind. In the air, a streak of saber light, like a bolt of silk, descended and rapidly multiplied: one became two, two became four, four became eight, and eight became sixteen, splitting successively. By the time it reached Qin Mu and the others, it had transformed into an overwhelming torrent of saber lights!

Ban Gongcuo roared, his hands suddenly clasped together, and the blood waterfall transformed into a blood buddha that met the saber lights. It shattered instantly amidst the blades, but the impact from the blood buddha caused the saber lights to become momentarily unstable. Ban Gongcuo collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his magical power depleted.

Qin Mu flicked his fingers, and the Carefree Sword whizzed out, piercing through the saber net with a series of clinks. In an instant, it arrived beside the youth. He unleashed his final sword move, leaving himself with no means to defend. The Dragon Qilin roared, and his dragon scales flew out simultaneously, each massive scale forming one of ten thousand great shields that blocked in front of Qin Mu.

The youth's movements were unpredictable as he dodged the sword light, blocking with his horizontal saber. His saber technique was masterful, possessing a unique and magnificent quality. Qin Mu wielded his sword with his last reserves of strength and vital energy, performing the eighteen unpredictable sword forms. When his final move was unleashed, the youth, Luo Wushuang, let out a muffled groan as his saber-wielding right arm was severed. He raised a hand to grab his severed arm, then instantly retreated, appearing about a li away.

"Who are you? State your name!" he demanded sharply.

Qin Mu judged that his vital energy was almost exhausted and he could no longer fight his way a li further. He immediately withdrew his sword, and the Carefree Sword spun lightly around him, making it seem as though he still had strength to spare.

"Cult Master of the Heavenly Saint Sect, Qin Mu."

Qin Mu smiled, then said leisurely, "Beside me is the Great Venerable of the Loulan Golden Palace."

Ban Gongcuo's expression subtly changed.