Chapter 320 - 294: One Year (2)

Chapter 320: Chapter 294: One Year (2)

Especially in the last half-year, the dozens of outpost camps outside Jingmen City had been almost completely wiped out!

Just from what he knew, in the past six months, the Righteous Alliance had lost nearly a hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators!

With such a terrifyingly intense war, even as an Artifact Refiner, he couldn’t avoid becoming collateral damage.

After all, if you walk by the river often enough, your shoes are bound to get wet.

Although he, an Artifact Refiner, was only responsible for logistics, he still frequently traveled between the various outpost camps and Jingmen City.

Being ambushed and killed like this had almost become the norm.

This was undoubtedly a vicious cycle.

After all, the Righteous Alliance was a massive organization, battling the Longevity Sect in Jingmen, along the Chu River, at Nanshan—nearly across the entire Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World.

And Jingmen was just one of the main battlefields.

If it were just the Cultivators serving as cannon fodder, it wouldn’t be so bad. They could simply increase the rewards to attract more of them.

The Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World had no shortage of Cultivators.

But practitioners of the Hundred Skills of Cultivation Immortal were clearly different.

Every single one, even those who only specialized in a single branch of a single skill, required time and a wealth of resources to train.

Under this vicious cycle, as far as he knew, the Jingmen front lines were already facing a severe shortage of the most common skilled Cultivators, such as Artifact Refiners, Spirit Plant Masters, and Array Masters.

Take this time, for example. Of the dozens of skilled Cultivators on the Flying Boat, at least half would die in this ambush.

For him, the greater the shortage of Artifact Refiners, the more frequent the missions became, and the higher the rewards grew.

Over the past six months, in their efforts to recruit him, an Artifact Refining Master, he had made a fortune. He’d even gathered enough Spirit Medicines to concoct several batches of Gong Palace Pills.

His Early Stage of Foundation Establishment Cultivation, bolstered by a mountain of Elixirs, had advanced by leaps and bounds.

He was not far from the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.

He had also obtained most of the Spirit Medicines required for the improved Spiritual Milk Pill he had designed, with only a few remaining.

Of course, with greater benefits came greater risks.

If it weren’t for the tempting benefits offered by the Righteous Alliance, given the current grim situation, he probably would have skipped town long ago.

He wouldn’t be in this mess right now!

Sensing the chaos behind him—the rain of fire from the exploding Flying Boat and the ambushers who had already charged out—Chu Mu’s mouth twitched. He ignored it all and focused on fleeing for his life.

To dare launch such an ambush, it was obvious there had to be several Foundation Establishment Cultivators involved.

He had no intention of being a hero. It wasn’t his responsibility, and he didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble.

’Better you die than me,’ he thought. ’Everyone for themselves.’

Chu Mu glanced at the Righteous Alliance Cultivators scrambling to escape. The flow of his Magical Power quickened, and his speed as he flew away increased considerably.

"Stop!"

Just then, a sharp cry rang out from behind him.

In his Divine Sense Perception, an afterimage flickered, closing in on him at an almost unimaginable speed.

Chu Mu froze for a moment, but a gust of wind was already upon him from behind.

He dodged aside, and in that instant of movement, he finally got a clear look at his attacker.

A human body with two wings and a nose like a hawk’s beak.

’Is this a person or a Demon?’

Chu Mu was stunned, but he quickly realized what was going on.

He had probably encountered a Cultivator who practiced bloodline Cultivation.

’The bloodline of some kind of flying avian Demon Beast?’

Looking at the man’s strange appearance and recalling his almost unimaginable speed, Chu Mu wondered internally.

But the hook-nosed Cultivator didn’t seem inclined to give Chu Mu time to think. His afterimage reappeared, and a second later, his claw-like hands shot straight for Chu Mu’s head.

’Does part of his body transform into a Demon Body during combat? Or is this a negative side effect of his bloodline?’

Chu Mu couldn’t help but ponder this as he dodged away.

He was long familiar with Demon Beast Bloodlines, but while he had heard of bloodline Cultivators, this was the first time he had actually seen one.

The hook-nosed man’s eyes were filled with savagery. Whether it was the influence of the Demon Beast Bloodline or his own nature, every move he made after cornering Chu Mu was a killing blow.

After a brief struggle, Chu Mu retreated while dodging, intending to put some distance between them.

The hook-nosed man didn’t seem to notice. His attacks remained ferocious, and relying on his speed that far surpassed ordinary Cultivators, he kept Chu Mu locked in place.

This incessant harassment finally stoked Chu Mu’s True Flame.

He didn’t want to cause trouble, but that didn’t mean he would remain indifferent while being relentlessly hunted down.

After a chase of over a hundred miles, Chu Mu abruptly stopped his fleeing figure. His cold gaze instantly locked onto the attacking hook-nosed man.

He had already probed everything he needed to.

The man’s bloodline focused on Flying speed, followed by the physical strength it granted him.

Beyond that, he had yet to see any other techniques.

He swiped his hand, and the Minghong Saber appeared in his grasp.

This time, he didn’t dodge or evade. Instead, he took the initiative and charged forward.

As the claws swung at him, he raised a hand and caught them. His own formidable physical Power was no less than that of the Demon Body before him.

The hook-nosed man seemed to sober up slightly, clearly astonished.

This time, Chu Mu clearly wasn’t going to give the man a chance to be surprised. With a flash of his saber, he aimed straight for the man’s head.

The man tried to dodge, but the claw held firmly by Chu Mu acted like a rein, holding him fast.

He let out a roar, a ruthless look on his face. The wings on his back suddenly folded, enveloping him completely like Vajra Sword Feathers.

The saber fell, but it only produced the clang of metal on metal, leaving nothing but a faint white mark on the folded feathers.

Chu Mu’s expression shifted slightly. The saber’s edge flowed, descending upon the man’s exposed claw. With a swift motion, the claw was severed.

As blood spurted out, a sense of inexplicable danger washed over him. Chu Mu abruptly retreated. With a wave of his hand, four Cyan Wolf Puppets materialized, forming the Array of the Four Symbols and trapping the hook-nosed man, who was still enveloped in his oval-shaped feathers.

Sure enough, the next second, the Vajra Sword Feathers erupted outwards like countless Flying Swords!

The Array of the Four Symbols surged. The four Cyan Wolf Puppets roared as countless Array Prohibition Chains coiled around the man, ultimately containing the explosive blast of Sword Feathers to that tiny space.

The man’s expression was drained; the earlier explosion had clearly taken a heavy toll on him.

He looked at Chu Mu again, the savagery in his eyes replaced by a deep sense of dread.

Chu Mu’s eyes narrowed, his expression indifferent.

Without the slightest pause, he stepped forward and swung his saber.

Compared to before, his downward strike was no longer just pure Power.

With the clear guidance from the Longevity True Inheritor’s legacy, even though he didn’t know the specific Secret Skill, he could still follow the map to find his treasure.

One slash contained a three-pronged attack originating from his Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

The sharpness of his Divine Soul attacked his opponent’s Divine Soul. The sharpness of his Magical Power eroded his opponent’s Magical Power. The Power from his physical body shattered the Demon Body!

In the past year, this move... had seemingly never failed.

After taking the hit, the man had nearly half a wing sliced off, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

And then, the scene repeated itself.

Only this time, it was the hook-nosed man who was fleeing.

But trapped within the Array of the Four Symbols that Chu Mu had prepared, no matter how fast the man was, he could only twist and turn within the ever-shrinking confines of the Array.

While dodging Chu Mu’s deceptively casual strikes, one after another, he continuously begged for mercy.

How could Chu Mu possibly pay any attention to the man’s pleas? With a thought, the Array of the Four Symbols formed by the four Cyan Wolf Puppets compressed even further, shrinking the man’s space to survive.

The saber in his hand moved faster and faster, its flashes of light falling like raindrops.

"You’ll die a dog’s death!"

In just a few dozen breaths, accompanied by a final, wretched curse, a single slash beheaded the man, and he died.

Chu Mu reached out, collected the man’s corpse, and sealed it away. Without lingering for a moment, he leaped into the air, and a Flying Boat materialized.

He stepped onto the Flying Boat. With a slight thought, the vessel’s Array Prohibitions activated. In an instant, it shot into the clouds and vanished from the sky.

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