Chapter 102: The Divine Ability Practitioner
"It really is the son of the Corpse Immortal Sect's Sect Master..."
Qin Mu's face darkened. Wasn't this too much of a coincidence? The Sect Master's son just happened to attack him, and just happened to be so weak that he couldn't even withstand a single strike from his sword.
This time, the Corpse Immortal Sect would definitely not let him go!
Before the flying corpses in the air even got close, he caught a whiff of a foul, rancid odor. These flying corpses had dark green fingernails, clearly poisoned!
"It's corpse poison!"
Qin Mu smelled the odor and immediately identified the toxicity. The Pharmacist had taught him pharmacology, which included distinguishing different types of poison and medicine from various smells. Qin Mu had practically been force-fed medicine by the Pharmacist since childhood, and his ability to identify medicinal properties and toxicity was extremely high.
These dozen or so corpses had corpse poison on their fingernails. If they pierced the skin, first the blood would coagulate, then the muscles would stiffen, becoming hard as rock and impervious to blades, and finally consciousness would fade and the soul would disintegrate!
Qin Mu sprinted, but the flying corpses behind him were faster, closing the distance between them.
One after another, yellow talisman papers spread forward through the air, and the flying corpses above leaped repeatedly, about to catch up with them!
Behind him, He Yin waved his hand, and a fire bird flew through the air with flapping wings. Even before it got close, waves of scorching heat rolled over them, kicking up a hot wind that instantly dried the green grass on the ground, draining it of all moisture!
This person was probably cultivating both the spell arts and the flying sword path—practicing the spell arts school and the sword control school simultaneously. This kind of situation had been rare in the past, but the Imperial Preceptor of Yankang had made sweeping reforms, breaking old conventions and gathering all the sects of the world for the imperial court's use, shattering many inherent barriers. The divide between schools was no longer so deep, which led to this kind of convergence.
Evil sects like the Corpse Immortal Sect had also taken advantage of this great transformation to improve their own sect's techniques and divine abilities, developing many new spell arts and divine abilities.
"No, it should be three schools! The techniques these flying corpses are using belong to the combat arts school!"
Qin Mu frowned, then suddenly put force into his steps. His body moved like a dragon, winding and weaving as he ran, dodging the flaming bird that struck from behind.
Unexpectedly, the flaming bird exploded with a thunderous boom. The fire detonated, forming a massive fireball seven or eight zhang in diameter that expanded rapidly. The surging shockwave and blazing flames slammed Qin Mu away!
Before Qin Mu even landed, he saw yellow talisman papers fluttering through the air as eight or nine flying corpses stepped on them, passing through the explosion's flames and charging at him!
These flying corpses were all at the Five Luminary realm, on par with martial arts masters. Their bodies had been refined to be as hard as spiritual weapons. Their techniques were simple—sweeping, chopping, shearing, thrusting—but if he were surrounded, there was no way he could escape.
Flying corpses chased him on the ground, flying corpses attacked from the air, and He Yin struck with divine abilities. The situation was extremely unfavorable for him.
The yellow talisman papers fluttered through the air, cutting through the air at high speed with a sharp whistling sound. He Yin appeared to be driving the talisman papers, but in reality he was using sword techniques—and extremely exquisite ones at that, not much inferior to the sword arts of the Lijiang Sword Sect.
The most critical thing was the talismans drawn on the yellow papers with cinnabar and blood. They gave him a very bad feeling.
If they were ordinary paper, they would certainly not be as powerful as a sword, but with talismans drawn on them, it meant the talismans contained hidden power!
Qin Mu was mid-air. Without hesitation, he used the Creation Demon Heaven Technique to seal his own soul, then vibrated his primal energy, shaking the little fox out of his bundle. His ten fingers moved rapidly, tapping points on her body to seal her soul within her as well.
Fox Ling'er was poked and prodded by him, feeling both shy and annoyed. She squeaked and burrowed back into the bundle, refusing to come out.
Sealing the soul required tapping points on hidden parts of the body. After all, she was a female fox, and she was somewhat shy about it.
Qin Mu had no time to worry about such things. Yellow talisman paper was paper money burned for the dead. Drawing talismans on yellow talisman paper meant the power of the talismans was likely aimed at the soul. If he collided with these yellow papers, the talisman power would erupt and might damage his soul, so he sealed his soul in advance to avoid being caught off guard and falling victim to it.
Whoosh—
The yellow talisman papers in the air spread down, and with them came eight flying corpses. The papers flew out from both sides of Qin Mu, and the eight flying corpses surrounded him, closing in from all directions.
Qin Mu was in mid-air, his body beginning to fall. Below, five tattered flying corpses leaped up, attacking him from below!
At the same time, yellow talisman papers threaded through the crowd of corpses.
"Hold!" He Yin shouted.
One yellow talisman paper suddenly ignited. The runes written in cinnabar and blood did not disappear but floated in the firelight, growing larger and larger, shining down upon Qin Mu!
Qin Mu seemed completely unaffected. Behind him, the fish-dragon leaped up, opening its mouth to spit out a sword. The youth from the Crippled Elder Village burst forth with primal energy. A thick strand of primal energy, as thick as an arm, wrapped around the Shaobao Sword as he pressed his fingers together and slashed horizontally.
Sword-Slashing Technique!
Sword energy tore through the air, and a flying corpse's head tumbled from its shoulders.
He Yin, who was rushing over at full speed, was startled. One after another, the yellow talisman papers erupted with power, trying to hold Qin Mu in place.
His Holding Character technique was meant to immobilize a person's three souls and seven spirits. If the soul was held, the body could not move either. But that Holding Character talisman just now had failed to take effect, which puzzled him.
The power of the runes on the other yellow talisman papers erupted. Strange runes appeared before and behind Qin Mu, yet he was not held in place at all. He pressed his fingers together and flicked upward, and the Shaobao Sword transformed from the Sword-Slashing Technique into the Sword-Lifting Technique, cleaving another flying corpse in two from bottom to top. Then it shifted into the Sword-Wiping Technique, and the Shaobao Sword circled around a third flying corpse's neck.
The tip of the Shaobao Sword pointed outward, and the cloud sword formed a circle, tracing a full revolution. Around him, flying corpses' heads dropped to the ground one after another!
In the blink of an eye, all eight flying corpses had been slain, tumbling to the ground.
Cloud Sword Technique.
Qin Mu's sword technique was extremely fast. The simpler the move, the faster the sword came out. With the Shaobao Sword's sharpness, he had already slaughtered all eight flying corpses before they could even reach him!
He Yin's face twisted with pain. Flying corpses surrounding an enemy was a surefire way to deal with experts who cultivated combat arts or spell arts, but against a sword cultivator like Qin Mu, it was somewhat difficult.
Especially when the sword cultivator's sword was incredibly sharp—it was practically a hard counter to his flying corpses.
He had used corpse-nurturing grounds to refine his flying corpses. Their bodies were extremely tough, and ordinary spiritual weapons couldn't harm them at all. Moreover, the flying corpses had no souls or spirits, so soul-targeting spells were useless against them as well.
Qin Mu's horizontal slash looked completely ordinary, but it had directly taken heads off. Clearly, this sword was a treasure that surpassed most spiritual weapons!
He Yin quickly halted and recalled the five flying corpses below. More yellow talisman papers flew out from the sword pouch on his back, cutting toward Qin Mu!
Qin Mu took the opportunity to land, facing He Yin, but his steps were retreating. He used the Heaven-Stealing Leg Technique that the Cripple had taught him, sprinting backward. Even moving in reverse, his speed was in no way slow.
Shing—
Sword light flashed as Qin Mu controlled the sword with his energy, stabbing toward the incoming yellow talisman papers.
Boom!
A violent explosion rang out. The moment the Shaobao Sword intercepted the first yellow talisman paper, the talisman on it detonated. The power of the rune on that paper erupted, setting off the runes on the other papers in a chain reaction. A series of explosions followed, and Qin Mu was struck by the shockwave. His chest shuddered violently, the air in his lungs almost completely squeezed out. His entire body was sent flying backward against his will!
He flew more than ten zhang before Fox Ling'er in the bundle quickly cast a spell, summoning a fierce wind that countered the terrifying impact and finally brought Qin Mu to a stop.
However, the strand of primal energy connected to the Shaobao Sword had also been shattered by the terrifying explosion. The Shaobao Sword whistled through the air and disappeared into the darkness.
Qin Mu landed, took a long breath, and coughed violently twice. Despite his preparations, his internal organs had still been injured by the explosion. This was only because he was wearing clothes made of hundred-poison golden silkworm silk. If he hadn't had this outfit, that explosion would have cost him his life.
"Still not dead?"
He Yin pulled out a jar of foul-smelling medicinal paste and tossed it to one of the flying corpses, then immediately flew at Qin Mu. His yellow talisman papers contained fire divine abilities that could cut and kill opponents, or explode. The physical damage from the explosion was secondary; the greatest damage was the thunderous sound produced by the blast!
If one faced the thunderous impact of the explosion directly, even if the three souls and seven spirits weren't shattered, they would be shaken out of the body and destroyed in the blast!
Qin Mu had actually blocked the explosion and also blocked the thunderous sound that could obliterate the three souls and seven spirits. This truly surprised him.
But blocking that one attack meant nothing. His extremely sharp sword had been blasted away, its location unknown, and he had been injured by the talisman explosion. Now, the only path left for Qin Mu was death!
Instead of retreating, Qin Mu advanced. He took the scabbard from his back and actually used his energy-controlling-sword technique, treating the scabbard as a sword to thrust at He Yin. At the same time, his footsteps shifted like a ghost, erratic and unpredictable, rapidly closing in on He Yin!
He Yin sneered. His primal energy erupted, forming a flaming bird that swooped at Qin Mu. Meanwhile, yellow talisman papers fluttered out from the sword pouch on his back, one after another, flying toward Qin Mu to cut him down!
Qin Mu's steps grew increasingly erratic. Suddenly he let out a sharp shout and thrust his fingers forward!
Sword-Thrusting Technique!
The scabbard whistled toward He Yin. He Yin sneered, and a yellow talisman paper flew out from his sword case, meeting the scabbard.
Qin Mu's thrust carried considerable power, but the mouth of the scabbard was facing him, not the sharper tip. Even if it hit him, it wouldn't do much damage.
He only needed to detonate one talisman to block Qin Mu's attack and blast the scabbard away!
Just then, the scabbard suddenly transformed. Its mouth opened into a fish-dragon with a gaping maw, lunging at his face.
He Yin's heart jolted. Then he heard the sound of something cutting through the air behind him. The Shaobao Sword that had been blasted away by the explosion was whistling back, stabbing toward his back!
He Yin dodged aside, about to evade both the Shaobao Sword and the fish-dragon formed from the scabbard, when suddenly a furry little head popped out of the bundle on Qin Mu's back. It opened its mouth and spat out a whirlwind, freezing his body for a single instant.
He Yin broke free of the whirlwind, but felt a chill at his rear shoulder. The Shaobao Sword pierced into his shoulder blade, punching clean through it, carrying a spray of blood as it flew into the fish-dragon's mouth!
Qin Mu had landed a hit. He was about to press the attack when suddenly the flaming bird engulfed him in blazing fire, and then yellow talisman papers flew into the flames one after another.
Boom!
A violent tremor shook the area. Qin Mu spat blood and was sent flying backward. His primal energy swept up the Shaobao Sword, and he crashed into the mountain forest with a thunderous impact. Then he turned and leaped, sprinting away, vanishing into the night with a whistling sound.