Chapter 90: Horizontal Sword Knee Slash to Exorcise Evil Spirits

At the village entrance, the old man, smoking a pipe made of human bone, was visibly moved. He turned to face Qin Mu, who arrived with an imposing aura, riding a surging wave that roared and pressed down like an overwhelming force.

Water, if turbulent enough, can shatter, cut, and destroy anything.

This was the wondrous application of Black Tortoise vital qi. When Black Tortoise vital qi controlled water, and its speed reached forty-six zhang in an instant, it could cut through steel. Striking a person, it would undoubtedly slice them in two, proving unstoppable.

Qin Mu rode the wave, bearing down on the old man with overwhelming power.

With the power from the deaf man's painting, the dragon's precious blood, and the great furnace the mute man had hidden within him, Qin Mu was confident he could face anyone.

At the village entrance, the old man smoking the human bone pipe raised his hand, clashing powerfully with the overwhelming force of the approaching river. The entire river, surging like a giant python, disintegrated, transforming into vast waters that spread everywhere.

Simultaneously, with a light pinch of two fingers, the old man halted the momentum of the Junior Protector Sword as it lunged out of the water.

“Have you found Carefree Village?” the old man chuckled.

The moment the old man seized the Junior Protector Sword, Qin Mu’s hand already gripped its hilt. All the power within him erupted as he thrust the sword forward.

The old man's strength surpassed Qin Mu's expectations. However, with his Nine Heavens Divine Eye activated, Qin Mu could discern the shifting power within the elder.

When the old man raised his hand to block the river and gripped the sword tip, his strength had already reached its limit. Adding Qin Mu's own physical power at that moment would push him beyond what he could withstand.

The dragon's precious blood and the deaf man's painting had elevated his physical strength to its peak. The power his body could unleash was absolutely no less formidable than his current raging vital qi.

As the sword thrust forward, the old man's expression instantly changed. His two fingers failed to hold the sword tip, and the Junior Protector Sword pierced his palm before plunging into his chest with a soft hiss.

“Old man, I shall send you to Carefree Village!”

Qin Mu pushed off with his feet, using the Junior Protector Sword to ram the old man forward. Though the old man had been sitting still, he now dropped his legs, but even then, he struggled against Qin Mu’s astonishing power, his legs plowing two deep furrows into the ground.

Clang!

With his other hand, the old man swung his human bone pipe, striking the Junior Protector Sword heavily. Qin Mu’s arm trembled and went numb, forcing him to release his grip immediately. His vital qi then swept the Junior Protector Sword into a flat circle in the air, slicing towards the old man's neck.

Cloud Sword Form!

His sword art, guided by the village chief, consisted only of the simplest thrusts, clouds, and parries, yet its power was terrifyingly immense.

The old man hastily dodged backward, but the Junior Protector Sword continued its circling rotation, relentlessly pursuing his neck and forcing him into a constant retreat.

Any further retreat would bring him to the boundary marker of the Land of the Dead and Living.

Concurrently, the scattered waters rose once more, roaring in from all directions like giant pythons, coiling around the old man.

Suddenly, the human bone pipe in the old man’s hand flew up, blocking the Junior Protector Sword. A thick fog spewed from the pipe, and within the mist, wisps of smoke coalesced into screeching skull heads that lunged at Qin Mu, burrowing into his body to tear at his soul.

Qin Mu had sealed his soul using the Creation Heavenly Devil Art, allowing the smoke-formed skulls to gnaw and tear at him without being able to pull his soul from his body.

Qin Mu inhaled deeply, then forcefully exhaled a furious gust of wind!

Whoosh—

The fog and the skulls were dispersed with a single breath. Although Qin Mu had never learned wind-controlling spells or divine arts, his cultivation had been forcibly elevated by the deaf man and the mute man to an unimaginable level, transforming every breath into a potent spell or divine art.

As the pipe collided with the Junior Protector Sword, countless sparks flew from it, instantly transforming into fiery red lava that splashed towards Qin Mu. He swayed his feet, dodging the molten impacts, and his offensive grew even fiercer.

The giant pythons of water coiled around the man, and immediately, countless water swords pierced towards his body from all sides.

The old man’s pipe bowl suddenly expanded, inverting like a large black pot. It emitted a terrifying suction force, draining all the water, though the fire within the pipe was also extinguished.

Qin Mu's movements were ghost-like as he closed in, his arms a blur of fists and palms, assailing the old man relentlessly like a thousand-armed Buddha. Suddenly, his fist technique shifted, incorporating flashes of blade light. His unpredictable footwork made his attacks even more difficult to defend against.

The old man continued to retreat. Though his power still surpassed Qin Mu's, Qin Mu's movement technique, footwork, fist art, and blade art were all unfathomably unpredictable. In particular, the Junior Protector Sword was incomparably sharp; even the old man's pipe couldn't withstand it. The sword's techniques, though incredibly simple, were extremely effective, fast, and powerful, repeatedly piercing the pipe's defenses and striking directly at his weak points!

Qin Mu fought like a true sword master; despite the simplicity and crudeness of his techniques, they possessed a deceptive mastery that made them incredibly difficult to counter, forcing the old man to continuously retreat.

The village chief's simplest sword techniques, combined with the blind man's Nine Heavens Divine Eye, proved invincible!

The old man retreated another step, suddenly startled as his peripheral vision caught sight of a boundary marker.

It was the boundary marker of the Land of the Dead and Living.

Qin Mu raised his blade, closing in and pressing his body forward, about to lift his Pig Slaughtering Blade. The old man was forced to retreat. With that step back, all the flesh and blood on his body abruptly vanished, transforming him into a skeleton.

As Qin Mu stepped forward, crossing out of the Land of the Dead and Living, his bones instantly regained their flesh and blood.

The old man said nothing, turning to leap into the vast, boundless sea of fog. As Qin Mu's flesh returned, his physical strength would continue to increase, while the old man’s shedding flesh would lead to a decline in his power. With such a dramatic shift in their respective strengths, retreat was his only option.

Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. The old man was exceptionally strong; had the battle continued, Qin Mu feared he would have lasted only until the dragon's precious blood lost its efficacy, at which point, he would surely have perished.

He walked to the dock, where the sea of fog stretched vast and boundless, its end nowhere in sight. Faint lantern light vaguely shone from within the mist.

“Will the village chief make it in time?”

Qin Mu looked back, seeing dismal demonic clouds surging relentlessly from the Land of the Dead and Living. It was clear that powerful experts from the city had been dispatched to investigate. It wouldn't be long before the churning demonic clouds reached his location.

Qin Mu waited for a moment. The boat with the lantern drifted over, but the village chief still did not appear.

The demonic clouds were already very close; if he didn't leave soon, it would likely be too late.

Qin Mu took out a Fengdu coin and pressed it into a wooden stake on the dock, then boarded the small skiff.

The boatman, clad in a straw cape, plied his oars and steered into the sea of fog. Qin Mu stood at the bow, looking back, and his heart sank as he saw that the village chief still hadn't appeared.

The demonic clouds had already surged into the village and would soon reach the dock. However, by then, the skiff had already sailed into the sea of fog and disappeared from sight.

“The village chief is so capable, he will surely return safely!”

Qin Mu comforted himself, sitting cross-legged under the lantern at the bow. He took the Junior Protector Sword from his back, laid it across his lap, and quietly watched the swirling mist ahead. The power contained within the deaf man’s painting was already dissipating, the efficacy of the dragon's precious blood was fading, and the great furnace was also gradually dimming, on the verge of vanishing.

The small boat drifted gently, moving further and further away.

Suddenly, the mist beneath the boat surged, and a skeleton clad in ragged clothes leaped from the sea of fog, lunging at Qin Mu on board!

As if he had anticipated its appearance, the moment the skeleton's head broke the surface of the foggy sea, Qin Mu had already drawn the Junior Protector Sword from his lap.

Slashing Sword Form!

Qin Mu remained seated, gazing forward, and swung his sword in a flat, horizontal slash. The skeleton, still clad in its tattered clothes, hastily raised its human bone pipe, but it failed to block the stunning attack.

The Junior Protector Sword slashed across its neck before its human bone pipe could fully rise. With a swift movement, its head wobbled, then tumbled into the sea of fog, while its body landed on the boat, remaining upright in a pouncing posture, yet devoid of any power.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, watching you from beneath the boat.”

Qin Mu sheathed his sword, the patterns of his Nine Heavens Divine Eye gradually fading from his eyes. The power from the dragon's precious blood and the deaf man's painting rapidly receded. To the headless skeleton, he said, “You were lurking and swimming with the boat in the sea of fog; I saw you the entire time. I was waiting for you to deliver yourself to my sword, so I could slay you.”

The skeleton suddenly lost its cohesion, and with a clatter, it disintegrated into scattered bones on the deck.

Qin Mu looked at the human bone pipe that had fallen onto the boat, hesitated, then threw both the pipe and the scattered bone fragments into the sea of fog. Though the pipe was a powerful, high-grade spirit weapon, capable of matching the Junior Protector Sword in prolonged clashes, it had been forged from human bones, which Qin Mu found abhorrent, so he discarded it.

“Village chief, you must be safe…” the young man whispered, still seated under the lantern with his sword laid across his lap.

The small boat drifted towards towering mountains of white bones, heading for the entrance of this wondrous place.

Meanwhile, in the Land of the Dead and Living, a vortex suddenly materialized in the sky. It then split open, sliced in half by a dazzling sword light. The village chief, covered in blood, fought his way out, leaving a continuous stream of blood flowing from the vortex.

The bloody vortex hung in the sky, continuously bleeding, resembling a wound in the heavens.

The village chief turned, his ten fingers dancing as streaks of sword light shot from his fingertips, pinning into and sealing the vortex. Blood continued to pour from within, where a monstrous entity seemed to be furiously assailing the vortex's entrance, desperate to break free. However, the village chief's sword light held it at bay, preventing it from bursting forth, even for a moment.

The village chief breathed a sigh of relief and immediately headed towards the Fengdu mountain gate. Just as he was about to fly past it, he suddenly paused, noticing a strange creature standing atop the gate. It had a bird's head and two wings, standing on one leg with the other retracted beneath its feathers.