Da Xuan Martial Saint

But Chen Mu merely shook his head.

Then,

he leaped up, abruptly swinging his blade.

The Golden Corpse moved fast, not attacking Chen Mu, but instead immediately placing its thick arms, emanating a faint golden luster, in front of its neck and head, shielding its vital parts.

Yet, Chen Mu's expression remained unchanged. In the depths of his eyes, amid that pitch darkness, a breeze emerged, gently attaching itself to the blade of the Fine Iron Knife. In an instant, amidst a whirlwind, a flash of lightning appeared, illuminating his eyes and causing a streak of lightning to spread rapidly amidst the mingling breezes on the blade.

A Startling Wind-Thunder blade!

Hisss!

The combined forces of wind and thunder passed by in a flash.

Chen Mu's figure swept past the Golden Corpse, appearing directly behind it, continuing towards the desiccated figure.

Behind him,

the Golden Corpse stood frozen, black lines simultaneously appearing on the two raised arms before the neck, spreading backward, past the neck, then its entire head along with both arms slowly slid forward along the black line.

Thud, thud, thud.

A massive head and two arm sections fell to the ground, making muted thuds, their surfaces smooth and glowing with a faint golden light, as if they were not made of flesh but forged from gold and iron.

The headless Golden Corpse remained upright, not falling over, but no longer moving; only Chen Mu's figure continuously moved forward with calm steps.

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A deathly silence.

Whether it was Xia He or Xu Hongyu, they were frozen in place, watching Chen Mu's figure as if they were statues.

Apart from the rustling of the wind in the forest, only Chen Mu's footsteps could be heard, his expression indifferent as he took steps forward.

Actually, at first,

he felt that Xu Hongyu's judgement had no issues - in the quiet deep night of the dense forest, there was no need to tangle with unknown enemies, unclear in both number and origin, let alone knowing if there were other ambushes.

Not until twenty Silver Corpses appeared, including a Golden Corpse, forcing him to take action to break the siege, did everything come to an end... He had always been one to strike decisively.

The Golden Corpse was strong.

According to records, ordinary Bone Tempering Minor Achievement might not be able to overcome it; at least Bone Tempering Major Achievement was needed to contend with it.

But that was all.

Corpses were unversed in Technique, Momentum, or Artistic Conception; even though their Physique could compare with horizontal Bone Tempering training, in Chen Mu's eyes, they were merely passive targets. The only difference lay in whether he could penetrate their defenses.

And the answer was clear. Perhaps the opponent could block one strike with the Xun Wind Artistic Conception, but they could not block his combination of Xun Wind and Thunderbolt Artistic Conception in the "Startling Wind-Thunder."

This was also the strongest Blade Technique he had created to date.

He had always wanted a suitable target to test its power, and today, his wish was finally fulfilled. A Physique as strong as horizontal Bone Tempering training, yet still unable to withstand this strike!

"Thunderbolt?"

The dehydrated figure's shriveled and sunken eyeballs were almost bulging out of their sockets, and his withered face even displayed an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

Xun Wind! Thunderbolt!

The young man before him, no older than thirty, not only had refined his Body Tempering Method to such an extent but even mastered two of the Qiankun Eight Phases Arts. What kind of monster was this!

Not to mention in Yu County, even in the entirety of Yu State, he was a true prodigy, capable of being listed among the true teachings of the Seven Profound Sect!

Cold sweat drenched his back in an instant. Watching Chen Mu stride forward, he suddenly realized and without hesitation, turned and desperately fled into the ancient woods behind him.

Amid terror,

he sprinted hundreds of feet under the night sky.

Then his speed slowed down, and he began to breathe heavily... As a Corpse Refiner, using his vitality to refine and control corpses naturally left him weak.

"Those Silver Corpses attacking the two women, he has to save them, I still have a Golden Corpse, he can't just bypass it to kill me; as long as I can delay him for a moment, I can escape. I'm familiar with these mountains, and it's nighttime, he will find it hard to locate me."

The desiccated figure gasped heavily but dared not stop, forcing himself to continue forward, his thoughts in utter disarray.

Having fled some distance,

he slowly stopped, clutching his violently heaving chest, twisting his head to look back.

He saw only darkness behind him, no figures in sight.

He let out a slight sigh of relief, then turned his head back around.

Then, his entire body suddenly stiffened on the spot.

Only to see.

Less than three feet in front of him, among the ancient trees, the dim moonlight shone on a face. The expression was indifferent and bland, merely staring at him—it was none other than Chen Mu.

"You mentioned your master earlier, so it seems you truly are a remnant of the Heavenly Corpse Sect. How many people are in your group, and besides your master, who else is there?" Chen Mu slowly began.

The withered figure's dry, bark-like face twitched slightly. Hearing Chen Mu's words, a look of fear suddenly appeared in his sunken eye sockets as if he recalled something extremely terrifying.

"I..."

He looked at Chen Mu, struggling to squeeze out a word, then suddenly black, tainted blood flowed from his mouth.

His whole body softened and collapsed to the ground, his life force swiftly fading.

Chen Mu's figure flickered to his side, bent down to examine him, and slightly furrowed his brows.

Dead.

It was unclear what method he used to commit suicide; it seemed to be some kind of poison.

Such a figure, who could command two Golden Corpses and twenty Silver Corpses and dominate any lesser place, displayed a look of fear from just a few questions and died so cleanly and neatly by suicide. It was hard to imagine what sort of terrifying person his master must be.

However, thinking about the Heavenly Corpse Sect's cruel and evil methods, one could somewhat understand.

After a brief contemplation.

Chen Mu still stretched out his hand and picked up the withered figure's corpse. After swiftly moving through the dense forest, he quickly returned to the earlier clearing and threw the withered figure's body amidst the pile of Golden and Silver Corpse Puppets.

"Dead, committed suicide, didn't get anything out of him."

Chen Mu shook his head as he spoke and looked towards Xu Hongyu and Xiao He.

All was silent.

At this moment, both Xu Hongyu and Xiao He were speechless, with their eyes wide open, staring directly at him.

Seeing this, Chen Mu picked up the Fine Iron Knife in his hand, walked towards Xiao He, and sighed heavily.

"You've discovered my secret. To keep it from leaking, it seems I have no choice but to silence you."

Whoosh.

A stroke of the knife wind swept past, cutting off a branch above Xiao He's head.

"!"

With a scare, Xiao He stepped back twice, revealing an expression that screamed 'are you serious?'

Chen Mu sheathed his knife and chuckled lightly.

Xiao He sneaked behind Xu Hongyu, looked at Chen Mu with blinking eyes, and still said nothing.

Chen Mu turned his gaze to Xu Hongyu, who was also looking at him. For a moment, it was unclear what her gaze meant—was it confusion, shock, or something else? It remained silent for a while until Xu Hongyu finally spoke in a low voice:

"He Mingxuan... did you kill him?"

"Mmm."

Chen Mu replied, his expression serene.

Perhaps his progress in power was somewhat astonishing, but by now, he was no longer a person without the means to protect himself, especially not in front of Xu Hongyu and Xiao He. There was nothing he particularly needed to conceal.

"Then, Yu Yao also..."

"I saved her."

Xu Hongyu looked at Chen Mu, murmuring, "Also, Xiao He's earlier dangers, you also intervened to help... No wonder these incidents all seemed abrupt and seemingly unlinked. It was you all along... now it all makes sense..."

Chen Mu examined Xu Hongyu carefully for a moment, then turned and said, "This is not the place to talk. Let's leave the mountains quickly tonight. This person is highly likely a remnant of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, and there might be other accomplices around."

"...Alright."

Xu Hongyu slightly bowed her head and responded.

Chen Mu briefly checked the withered figure's body, but found nothing on him except a strange object shaped like an infant's skull, presumably a tool used to control the corpse puppets. So, he tucked it away.

Throughout the process, Xu Hongyu kept her head down, lost in thought, while Xiao He stayed by her side, sneaking peeks at Chen Mu until he finished sorting things out and began walking away. Only then did she finally whisper her first words:

"Are... are you really Chen Mu?"

"Probably."

"Uh, you're not really going to silence us, right?"

"I'll consider it."