Chapter 355 - 326: Fallen?

Chapter 355: Chapter 326: Fallen?

Chu Mu had no idea how long the slaughter had lasted.

He only knew that amidst the surging tide of people, he had swung his blade as he pleased, one strike after another. As his Sword Intent erupted, flashes of light from his blade were followed by fountains of blood.

Blood stained everything, bodies piled up, and the wide street had turned into a river of blood.

Xu Changqing had long since woken up. However, it was clear that for a Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm, the price for unleashing that sword strike—whatever the method—had been steep.

Even though he was awake, Xu Changqing remained under the protection of several Longevity Sect disciples, taking no part in the bloody slaughter.

In the sky, the battle between Golden Cores was still raging. The Demon Cultivator was formidable. Despite being severely injured, he was not at a disadvantage, managing to fight a Late Stage Golden Core expert to a standstill with just his fists and palms.

"Die!"

As another strike of his blade fell, beheading a Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivator and obliterating his Divine Soul, Chu Mu finally managed to pull himself back from the bloody haze.

The once-surging tide of demons, though the bitter fighting continued, was no longer as overwhelming as it had been at the start.

Only the countless severed limbs and mangled bodies served as a testament to the brutality of the recent battle.

Chu Mu pulled back, but after just a few steps, he suddenly froze.

He scanned his surroundings. In this sudden slaughter, the so-called Jieyin Demon Sect had surely suffered heavy losses, but by the same token, the Longevity Sect’s losses were clearly not small either.

Of the tens of thousands of Cultivators in the Chu Capital, the ten thousand-plus in the North City had already been captured by the Demon Cultivators. Their fate was likely grim.

In the South City, there were at least twenty thousand Cultivators. In this one battle, under the charge of Demon Cultivators who fought without fear of death, at least several thousand Cultivators had fallen.

With so much bloodshed, the entire city was now steeped in it.

And now, all this accumulated blood...

Chu Mu looked at the ground. Within his Divine Sense Perception, the ordinary earth seemed to have come alive.

The accumulated blood was seeping into the ground at a rather slow, yet extremely uniform, rate.

He snapped his gaze to the sky. The Golden Core battle was still ongoing, but at some unknown point, the entire sky had grown dark.

And this so-called darkness, under his Divine Sense Perception, was revealed to be nothing but swirling Demonic Qi!

It seemed that during the slaughter, the concentration of Demonic Qi within Chu Capital City had grown by a quantum leap.

He checked his own body and, as expected, found that wisps of Demonic Qi had unknowingly seeped into his body and Magical Power during the intense battle.

Looking around, he could sense a hint of madness in many of the Cultivators currently fighting the Demon Cultivators.

As all these sights registered in his perception, Chu Mu’s expression turned grave. With a single leap, he landed on a rooftop.

His Sword Intent flared, and True Flame engulfed his body. Within a few short breaths, the lingering wisps of Demonic Qi were completely purged.

"Fellow Daoist, can you still fight?"

Chu Mu asked.

Xu Changqing shook his head, his expression equally heavy. Clearly, he had also noticed this strange transformation.

Chu Mu asked again, "Several days have passed. Why is there still no sign of reinforcements from your Sect, Fellow Daoist?"

Xu Changqing shook his head in silence, obviously not knowing the reason either.

Chu Mu glanced at the still-deadlocked Golden Core battle in the sky, a heavy weight settling in his heart.

In a situation like this, the outcome of the battle was still undecided.

But one thing was certain: the Jieyin Demon Sect had already achieved its goal.

All this endless bloodshed was being devoured by something unknown.

And this unknown something was clearly part of a premeditated plot.

’A blood sacrifice...’

Chu Mu gazed toward a palace in the Imperial Palace. All the secrets were clearly buried beneath it.

Chu Mu asked, "Have you sent anyone to investigate that place?"

"The Grand Array at the Imperial Palace is still active, and there are many Demon Cultivators guarding it. We’re still trying to figure out a way in."

A Foundation Establishment disciple from the Longevity Sect standing nearby replied.

Chu Mu was speechless. This whole mess in the Chu Capital was simply absurd!

Located in the heartland of the Longevity Sect’s territory and serving as the Great Chu Capital, it had long been protected by Golden Core True Masters from both the five great Clans and the Longevity Sect during times of peace.

Even when chaos erupted and the Longevity Sect relaxed its oversight of the Chu Capital, there was still a complete system of order governing the city.

And yet, under these conditions, the so-called Jieyin Demon Sect still managed to pull off a grand deception and take over the entire city.

The City Defense Array was stolen, and the Demon Sect had set up all sorts of schemes throughout the city.

And somehow, none of it was ever detected...

Now that things had escalated to this point, several days had passed. Given the Chu Capital’s proximity to the Longevity Sect, a Great Power from the Sect should have arrived to suppress this long ago...

The entire situation in the Chu Capital reeked of strangeness.

"He’s about to win!"

Just then, Xu Changqing suddenly exclaimed.

"Hm?"

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow and followed Xu Changqing’s gaze. In the sky, the scales of the Golden Core battle had clearly tipped.

It seemed that the severe injury from Xu Changqing’s sword strike, combined with the prolonged, bitter battle, had left the Demon Cultivator Golden Core struggling to keep up.

Although he had transformed into his Demon Body again, he was now in steady retreat under the assault of the Cyan Bamboo Staff that filled the sky, a stark contrast to his earlier aggression.

Chu Mu was slightly taken aback, not quite processing what was happening.

After all, even though the Demon Cultivator Golden Core had been heavily wounded by that sword strike, he was still incredibly powerful. Just a moment ago, he had been completely overwhelming the Longevity Sect’s Golden Core True Master.

Now, in just a moment, the tables had suddenly turned.

BOOM!

The Cyan Bamboo Staff came crashing down. With a single strike, the Demon Cultivator Golden Core, who already seemed to be at the end of his rope, was smashed into the ground like a falling cannonball.

The Demon Cultivator Golden Core had just leaped back up when the descending Cyan Bamboo Staff sent him flying once more.

Even with his so-called True Demon Body, he was now in a pathetic state, almost unable to fight back.

The old man let out a low shout. The bamboo staff once again transformed into a colossal, sky-piercing bamboo. As he formed hand seals, a massive bamboo array took shape in the sky with the giant stalk at its center.

Countless smaller bamboo phantoms flickered around the illusion of the colossal bamboo.

"Suppress!"

The old man shouted, and the Grand Array suspended in the sky began to slowly descend.

The Demon Cultivator roared in despair, but it was useless against the fully formed Grand Array.

The Grand Array descended like a mountain crashing down, section by section. Before their very eyes, the Demon Cultivator Golden Core began to disintegrate within the array, shattering piece by piece like fine porcelain. His flesh and blood peeled away, bit by bit, and fell to the ground.

A mist of blood rained down from the sky, mingling with the gore already caking the ground. Amidst the slaughter, no one could tell that the remains of a fallen Golden Core expert were now part of the carnage...

’He’s dead?’

Chu Mu stared blankly at the blood mist filling the sky, still unable to fully process it.

He had experienced the formidability of the Demon Body firsthand.

With his level of Cultivation, he could normally dominate the Foundation Establishment Realm. Yet, facing a Foundation Establishment expert with a Demon Body had been one of the few times he’d been put on the back foot.

’And now, a Demon Cultivator Golden Core with that same True Demon Body had fallen so easily, and so anticlimactically...?’

...