Chapter 580: Coming from an Improper Path

Qin Mu quickly withdrew his sword, looking at the tall elder in front of him with a mix of surprise and joy. "Grandpa Butcher!" he exclaimed delightedly.

Before he finished speaking, the other roe deer suddenly split open, and figures shot up into the sky, intercepting Tianfeng Hou who was lunging towards Reverend Sang Ye. Tianfeng Hou's sword light, aimed at Reverend Sang Ye, was now too late to change course.

A long spear transformed into a black dragon, dispersing the sword light. Tianfeng Hou's delicate body trembled violently. The great spear shifted and moved, its black dragon form striking at the core of each of her sword moves, disrupting her magical power and preventing her from fully unleashing the sword art's strength.

She had mastered the Way of the Sword, and her swordsmanship was arguably among the best in Taihuangtian. Of course, after Qin Mu opened the passage between Taihuangtian and Yankang, and Yankang's swordsmanship spread to Taihuangtian, her swordsmanship could no longer claim to be one of the best.

In Yankang, there were too many masters whose swordsmanship surpassed hers.

What terrified her was that this black dragon spear could use weakness to overcome strength, shattering her magical power!

Strange stars flickered in the sky, weaving a Great Luo Heaven Star Force Field. The moment she collided with the black dragon spear, an unexpected force suddenly struck her chest.

This was a unique divine ability, transforming the stars of the heavens into magical power.

In terms of divine ability variations, Yankang's powers far surpassed those of Taihuangtian.

Tianfeng Hou grunted, spitting blood, and retreated rapidly. Suddenly, a chill ran down her back as an elder silently appeared behind her, holding a knife. She stumbled back onto the elder's blade, which plunged into her back.

The knife's power wasn't strong; clearly, this seemingly simple and honest elder was only good at backstabbing, but lacked strength in his moves.

Tianfeng Hou swung her sword backward, but before the sword light could strike the honest-looking elder, another old man, carrying a furnace on his back, brought a hammer down!

Flames shot up from the furnace behind the old man with the large hammer. This strike was incredibly heavy and terrifyingly powerful; one blow shattered Tianfeng Hou's bones and tendons, sending her tumbling and rolling to the ground, bouncing high, falling again, and bouncing once more!

Despite her exceptional strength, which surpassed even Reverend Sang Ye's, she was still alive. Realizing she had fallen into an ambush and could not possibly defeat so many masters, she immediately fled, wounded.

She leaped for a hundred miles, then suddenly turned back to see an incredibly tall elder raising his hand, seemingly rolling up the sky.

Tianfeng Hou's heart jolted. The elder had bright, gleaming iron ears, and his body appeared incredibly massive and towering, larger than even true gods or demons. He seemed to be folding the space she was in!

"He can't possibly possess such terrifying magical power..."

The moment she thought this, she immediately realized that the iron-eared elder wasn't folding space. Instead, after being heavily wounded by the blacksmith, she had fallen into a painting.

She was now fleeing within the painting.

Tianfeng Hou immediately activated her divine sword, tearing open the space. The painting ripped apart, and a streak of sword light shot directly towards the iron-eared elder's face.

The iron-eared elder, seemingly peerless in his grandeur and awe-inspiring in power, was in fact not strong. Seeing the sword light approaching, he knew he couldn't block it and quickly turned to flee.

Suddenly, the black dragon spear pierced through, breaking up Tianfeng Hou's divine sword technique.

Tianfeng Hou leaped out of the painting, only to see a brawny man clad in mink fur charging towards her on a green ox. His saber technique was stunningly brilliant and complex, unlike any she had ever seen, containing within it spells and divine abilities of immense power!

She underestimated the saber's might and immediately suffered. With a flash of the blade, her right hand, holding the sword, was cleanly severed, and blood sprayed forth.

Tianfeng Hou grunted, grasping her sword with her left hand, about to stab the ox-riding strongman. But then, a beautiful woman cupped her palm, and space collapsed. Tianfeng Hou was irresistibly drawn into the woman's palm.

The blacksmith rushed in from the side, striking her forehead with a hammer. Tianfeng Hou became disoriented. Another short elder, wielding the black dragon spear, broke through her divine sword technique, strangely curving and twisting in the air, then piercing her chest.

Her face slammed into the beautiful woman's palm, and the Great Luo Heaven Star Palm power erupted, instantly rendering her entire face a bloody mess.

The woman's hands flew around her, moving swiftly, her fingers continuously pointing to seal Tianfeng Hou's soul and essence.

Tianfeng Hou fell to the ground with a thud, her soul unable to escape, sealed within her battered body.

She hadn't yet taken her last breath, her vision dim, when a man in a bronze mask swiftly approached. He inserted silver needles into her body, and the voice of the bronze-masked man, which seemed to grow more distant in her ears, chuckled, "As long as I'm here, she won't die. Don't worry, just extract her soul for interrogation."

Reverend Sang Ye stood there dumbfounded and bewildered. Before he even had a chance to fight Tianfeng Hou, she had already been dealt with by these strange individuals.

Nevertheless, Tianfeng Hou was indeed an extremely formidable being. Although her strength wasn't quite on par with a true god's, it wasn't far off, and Reverend Sang Ye knew he was definitely not her match.

Sang Ye had been prepared to sacrifice himself, but he feared Qin Mu would also perish with him. Fortunately, these strange individuals appeared from nowhere, launching a chaotic assault that severely wounded and sealed Tianfeng Hou.

Otherwise, he and Qin Mu would surely have met their demise.

Meanwhile, Qin Mu carefully reached out and pushed away the large saber resting on his neck. The Butcher grunted, and the saber was back on his neck.

Qin Mu pushed again, but the Butcher still kept the saber on his neck, clearly still angry.

Qin Mu cautiously said, "Grandpa Butcher, you were wearing roe deer skin, and Granny's spell was so masterful that I couldn't see through it. I didn't know it was you. If I had known, I would never have put a sword to your neck..."

"I don't care!"

The Butcher said coldly, "I painstakingly raised you, nurtured you to adulthood, and yet you try to kill me just because I spanked you. My heart is cold!"

Behind him, Huo Tuoluo's fingers suddenly splayed flat, then one by one they detached and fell to the ground, resembling fleshy pillars.

"Cough..."

A strange sound emerged from Huo Tuoluo's throat. He slowly moved his hands back, trembling as he reached for his neck. He tried his best to maintain his balance, not daring to move too quickly, cautiously shifting even a tiny bit.

However, before he could touch his neck, the head on his neck had already lost balance and slowly slid to one side.

Huo Tuoluo's hands sped up, grabbing for the head on his neck!

A loud thud echoed as his two hands met above his neck, while his head fell beside him. Blood spurted from his neck, staining his hands crimson.

"What a fast blade—"

Huo Tuoluo's head let out a piercing shriek. It hit the ground, rolled twice, and finally, the flames in its eyes extinguished, and it slowly closed its eyes.

Qin Mu was filled with envy and praised, "Grandpa Butcher's divine saber is truly miraculous; I'm nowhere near that level."

"Stop flattering me!"

The Butcher's face was grim, his hand holding the saber motionless, still resting it on Qin Mu's neck. "You're biased! You don't care about me! You care about those three scoundrels—the Mute, the Cripple, and the Blind—but not me! I just saw them having fun bumping into each other, so I bumped once, and then you tried to kill me!"

"Junior Brother!"

Ba Shan leaped off the green ox's back and rushed over, overjoyed. "Junior Brother! You made Teacher angry, didn't you? Teacher agreed to take me back as a disciple and let me rejoin the sect, but he stipulated that I speak more softly and less. They said they were coming to find you, and I said Little Junior Brother is clever and quirky and wouldn't cause any trouble. And indeed, he didn't! Teacher Heavenly Blade, why is your saber on Junior Brother's neck? Put it down quickly, we're all family here. What can't be solved with a few words..."

The Butcher swung his saber, and the large blade rested on Arch-Sacrificer Ba Shan's shoulder. Ba Shan immediately fell silent, not uttering a word, his face flushed.

Qin Mu said in surprise, "Senior Brother Ba Shan, Grandpa Butcher was just pretending to be dead. He didn't actually kick you out of the sect. Why are you re-apprenticing?"

Ba Shan suddenly understood, pushed the saber away, and his voice unexpectedly became one or two times louder as he angrily exclaimed, "Old man, you tricked me!"

The Butcher's ears buzzed from the roar, and he glared angrily at Qin Mu.

Qin Mu rubbed his backside, which was still burning with pain.

The Blind, the Mute, and the Cripple had hit him hard; his backside was almost a bloody mess.

"I should have suspected why those silly roe deer only aimed for me. Grandpa Mute, Grandpa Blind, and Grandpa Cripple are the worst. Even Grandpa Butcher is being led astray by them..."

The Blind man walked over, carrying the black dragon spear. He looked at Qin Mu and grinned. Qin Mu, with a stern face, walked towards Granny Si. The Blind man scratched his head and angrily shouted, "You pig-slaughterer, you betrayed me!"

The Butcher also felt a little guilty, scratching his head as he said, "What are you talking about? Old Blind man, don't go slandering me."

The Deaf man walked over and said, "I heard everything. You betrayed the Blind man, and the Mute and the Cripple were also betrayed by you."

"What could a deaf person hear?!" The Butcher laughed in exasperation.

The Mute's large hammer transformed into sword pellets and flowed into his box. He carried the box as he walked over, righteously proclaiming, "Aba, Aba!"

"Well said!"

The Cripple clapped his hands and said, "The Butcher just can't keep his mouth shut!"

The Butcher's eyes darted around. He took the saber off Arch-Sacrificer Ba Shan's neck and said amiably, "Ba Shan, I can't argue with them. You explain it for your teacher!"

Ba Shan clenched his fists, cracking his knuckles, and strode to the front of the group. He cleared his throat, about to speak, when Reverend Sang Ye asked, "Seniors, are you from the Heavenly Court?"

"Seniors? Heavenly Court?"

The Blind man tilted his head back, looking at the deity, and chuckled, "We are from the Great Ruins, not the Heavenly Court. And, if I may ask, how old are you, Senior Brother?"

Reverend Sang Ye smiled and said, "The Great Ruins is the original Founding Emperor Heavenly Court. I am twenty thousand and eighty-four years old this year."

The Blind man shrank his head and grunted, "I am five hundred and sixty-two years old this year..."

Everyone suddenly felt much younger, and couldn't help but feel refreshed.

Qin Mu went to Granny Si's side and saw her holding Tianfeng Hou suspended in the air with her magical power. She was using a method from the Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scripture to try and extract Tianfeng Hou's primordial spirit, intending to interrogate it.

The Apothecary was refining medicine nearby, using hallucinogens targeting the soul to soften Tianfeng Hou's resistance.

The Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scripture contained many extremely bizarre methods that seemed like demonic arts but could also be understood as righteous paths. Qin Mu had also conducted research in this area.

Not far away, Reverend Sang Ye looked over. Seeing Granny Si's methods, he felt some hesitation, thinking, "These fellow Daoists from the Heavenly Court seem to have somewhat questionable origins; they are even proficient in demonic arts... Hmm, Cult Master Qin also seems to have questionable origins..."