Chapter 535: Black as Iron

The alluring woman, her waist supple like a willow branch swaying in the wind, walked towards him, swaying from side to side. She chuckled and said, "How tough are you? I just observed you; your speed was the slowest. Though it wasn't by much, it indicates that your physical cultivation is slightly inferior to the others. Even a small difference can mean a world of disparity in strength."

Her steps stopped precisely next to the flying swords Qin Mu had hidden underground, and she did not step into the encirclement of swords.

The flying swords Qin Mu had arranged underground were precisely the first stance of the Sword Diagram, "Sword Treaded Rivers and Mountains." As soon as the woman stepped into it, "Sword Treaded Rivers and Mountains" would activate, instantly tearing her to shreds and turning her into a blood waterfall within the landscape diagram!

However, her steps had stopped exactly on the periphery; she must have noticed something amiss.

Qin Mu's eyelid twitched, and he praised, "Truly clever. My dear sister, what is your name?"

"My name is Taporra Xiangyun, a disciple of the True Devil Gandharva."

The woman looked surprised and chuckled. "People from Grand Emperor Heaven, when encountering demons, typically shout and yell for a fight, never smiling. They're nothing like you, calling someone 'dear sister' as soon as you meet them. If everyone from Grand Emperor Heaven were like you, I wouldn't have needed to kill so many divine arts practitioners. I'm rather curious, what exactly is your background?"

Qin Mu opened his mouth, about to speak, when Taporra Xiangyun suddenly stomped her foot. The ground shook, and the flying swords immediately burst forth from the earth!

Qin Mu's expression changed slightly. He raised his hand, and all the flying swords gathered in his palm, clinking and colliding to form a sword pellet that was about to fall into his hand.

As he was recalling the flying swords, Taporra Xiangyun dashed forward at an astonishing speed, no slower than the flying swords. Before Qin Mu's sword pellet had fully formed, spider legs emerged from behind her. Eight spider legs furiously jabbed forward, clinking as they scattered the sword pellet!

This woman was incredibly clever. Her eight spider legs attacked like a furious storm, shattering the sword pellet and giving Qin Mu no opportunity!

"You really are the weakest one; I'll get the first merit!"

Taporra Xiangyun let out a light laugh. Two incredibly sharp bone spikes appeared in her hands, and she plunged them into Qin Mu's chest!

"Hmm?"

As soon as she pierced Qin Mu's body, she immediately felt something was wrong. The smile on the Qin Mu in front of her stiffened, then slowly slid down into a puddle of ink.

Not only did Qin Mu turn into ink, but even the wall of fire behind him, composed of Lihuo and demonic flames, turned into ink!

Taporra Xiangyun hastily turned her head to look. She found herself inside a picture frame, while outside the frame, another Qin Mu was walking towards her unhurriedly.

Only now did she realize that her previous pounce on Qin Mu had taken her into a painting!

"This is a painting? Why can a painting move and speak, leaving me unable to find any flaws?"

Taporra Xiangyun was greatly alarmed. She leaped up, wanting to jump out of the painting. She jumped with all her might, but still remained inside the painting. All around her was blank space, with only the ink marks on the ground still wet.

Taporra Xiangyun shrieked. Her eight spider legs behind her brandished and fiercely stabbed outwards from the painting.

*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh*, one by one, her spider legs pierced through the painting. Taporra Xiangyun's heart rejoiced, and she was about to tear open the painting and leap out.

But at this moment, Qin Mu blew a breath. The painting drifted and floated, falling into the wall of fire behind it.

Amidst the intense Lihuo and demonic flames, piercing screams echoed. The painting burned to ashes, and the ashes formed the shape of a spider woman, still struggling, before collapsing in the flames and becoming still.

"Sister Xiangyun, I truly wanted to fight you fairly, but there are too many masters here, and I need to conserve my energy for stronger opponents."

Qin Mu said apologetically, "You are indeed very strong and clever, but you are not yet my match..."

Suddenly, the earth beneath Qin Mu's feet violently bulged, kicking him high into the air.

The surging ground took on the form of a giant footprint. The moment it kicked Qin Mu up, *clink, clink, clink*, incredibly sharp stone spikes burst out from the footprint, shooting towards Qin Mu in the air!

Qin Mu was in mid-air. His sword pellet flew whistling towards him, and countless flying swords whizzed around, slicing all the stone spikes into pieces. Just as he was about to locate the enemy, the ground exploded again, and a giant rock hand formed from the earth lunged to grab him.

Qin Mu threw a punch downwards. His vital qi behind him seemed to explode with a loud bang, revealing a large volcano. The volcano erupted, and the power of his punch instantly surged.

His fist collided with the giant hand. Instantly, rocks shattered, countless stones flew wildly, rolling continuously, then gathered again to form a hand.

The hand clenched tightly. Demonic flames surged within the rock fragments, flowing between the stones.

"A Lava Giant from the Heavenly Devil Host?"

Qin Mu, meanwhile, was sent flying high, his arm almost broken. In a hurry, he looked down and saw the earth shaking as a Heavenly Devil Host member, transformed into a lava form, burst out of the ground.

As soon as this person landed, he let out a sudden, loud roar. Qin Mu, still in mid-air, was struck by the substantial sound waves, causing him to fall directly into the wall of fire.

"A mere chicken..."

The lava giant sneered and turned to leave. Suddenly, he looked puzzled and turned back to look. He saw Qin Mu floating within the wall of fire, but now Qin Mu had transformed into a bull-headed monster with a thick tail.

"My friend, could you finish your sentence before you leave?"

Qin Mu stepped out of the wall of fire. Demonic flames and Lihuo flowed out of the wall with him, transforming into two fire dragons that coiled beneath his feet. Qin Mu's expression was grim: "Not 'a mere chicken,' but 'worthless and easily defeated!'"

"Fire Star, Lord of Fiery Planet?"

The lava giant turned around, looking puzzled, and sneered, "The Lord of Fiery Planet can control fire, but it's divine fire. How did you master demonic flames? Do humans also have such exquisite techniques? No, this is a demonic cultivation art! Are you also one of us demons?"

He was even more bewildered. Qin Mu had now transformed into a bull-headed human monster, in the form of the Lord of Fiery Planet. He clearly possessed a divine body, yet he exuded monstrous demonic energy and controlled demonic flames.

Furthermore, Qin Mu had flame patterns all over his body, looking like burning fire. And one of the two fire dragons beneath his feet was a demonic dragon!

Only demons could master such exquisite divine arts!

Outside the heavens, the Lumberjack Sage and Black Tiger God watched this scene. Black Tiger God looked puzzled and whispered, "Master, did you feel it?"

The Lumberjack Sage nodded gently. "I did. Appearance is born from the heart. He is a demon born from the heart, with a demonic appearance."

Black Tiger God was puzzled and said, "But I clearly sensed something strange within him, like a demon, not just a human... Master, you're lying again, aren't you?"

The Lumberjack Sage frowned slightly and snapped, "When have I ever lied?"

Black Tiger God opened his mouth to speak, but seeing the Grand Emperor Heaven deities behind them, he quickly shut his mouth. He thought to himself, "I ought to give this old liar some face..."

The Lumberjack Sage's gaze flickered, remaining fixed on Qin Mu. It was unknown what he was thinking.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Bandhula opposite him. He saw that Bandhula was also looking at Qin Mu, appearing quite amused.

"Half a demon? His magic power is so formidable that he can fight evenly with Ishizumi Matsu, Suma's disciple, using his magic power to compensate for deficiencies in strength and physical body."

Bandhula suddenly chuckled, "Celestial Master, your successor is an interesting young fellow, half a demon..."

The Lumberjack Sage's heart tightened. He said calmly, "What demon? He's human; he merely cultivates demonic arts. As for demonic arts, who understands them better than I do?"

Bandhula chuckled softly and said no more.

The lava giant took a deep breath, his body rapidly expanding as he charged towards Qin Mu. "However, you're still a mere chicken! Your physical body hasn't even reached the level of a young True God. Even if you've cultivated into a Star Lord form, you're still vulnerable!"

Qin Mu's vital qi was almost berserk. The two dragons beneath his feet dashed forward, charging ahead. Behind him, specks of starlight emerged, and stars gathered one by one. Countless stars converged into a river, with starlight connecting each star.

If one could look closely enough, they would see deities standing atop each of these stars.

Those streaks of starlight were the radiance emitted by these deities.

Countless rays of light intertwined and intersected, forming a peculiar force field.

This was the divine art created by Li Tianxing after comprehending the unified cultivation method of the Grand Heaven Devil Sutra: Grand Luo Heavenly Star Palm Force!

In terms of divine arts, aside from true deities, Qin Mu had never seen a qi practitioner whose divine art was so exquisite!

The lava giant sneered. His huge fist smashed towards Qin Mu. With a loud bang, rocks shattered, and Qin Mu fell backward, then spun around and charged again.

The lava giant roared, his demonic flames intensified. He suddenly took a step and charged towards Qin Mu. The two clashed again with a deafening roar. The two dragons beneath Qin Mu's feet were shattered by the immense recoil, and he stumbled backward.

The lava giant's body was jolted, sending rock fragments flying in all directions. But then, streams of demonic flames pulled them back onto his body. The demonic flames that permeated his entire body were like his blood and his meridians, very peculiar.

But at this moment, the sword pellet struck, blending into his lava body along with the scattering stones.

*Swish—*

The eight thousand swords erupted, slicing through the spaces between the rock fragments and demonic flames. In an instant, they flowed like water through the lava giant's entire body, slicing through all his joints.

The lava giant froze for a moment, then collapsed with a crash.

Qin Mu crashed to the ground. He immediately rolled over and leaped up, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, still rushing forward furiously. Meanwhile, the eight thousand swords danced in the sky, and Qin Mu's sword-fingers flickered wildly as he sprinted.

On the ground, countless rock fragments and demonic flames rolled about, forming two thick stone legs. The rock fragments, mixed with demonic flames, flowed upwards, continuously piling up, rapidly forming a torso. The lava giant was about to reassemble his body.

His life form was extremely peculiar; he belonged to one of the few demonic races capable of reassembling their bodies.

"Sword Treaded Rivers and Mountains!"

In an instant, the eight thousand swords formed a landscape of sword light. The lava giant had just reformed up to his neck when he was swallowed by the "rivers and mountains," turning into countless shattered stones.

Qin Mu charged forward furiously. His left hand formed a 'yin' seal, his right hand an inverse 'yang' seal. His hands crossed into a cross shape, and he slammed them fiercely onto the sword diagram formed by "Sword Treaded Rivers and Mountains."

"Yin-Yang Overturning Hand, Overlapping Hand!"

The superimposed palm force of Yin and Yang erupted. Within the sword diagram, pure Yin qi and pure Yang qi mixed. Yang lightning and Yin lightning exploded with a roar. Shattered stones flew everywhere, clattering to the ground, and the last demonic flame extinguished.

Qin Mu leaned his hands on his knees, panting heavily, and spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. He turned his head to look at a demonic master emerging from a nearby hollow and said angrily, "Another one? I've already fought two battles. Can't you people find someone else?"

The demonic master walked over leisurely and smiled, "Who told you to keep forging whenever you had nothing to do?"

Qin Mu's face was ashen.