Chapter 191: Chapter 189: Skill of Returning to the Essence
"Uh... um, I’m just passing by..."
In the end, it was Chu Mu who broke the awkward tension.
He offered an awkward smile and took a tentative step back, hoping to extract himself from this unexpected disaster.
The man from the Longevity Sect was at the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer. Of his three pursuers, two were at the Ninth Layer and one was at the Tenth. ’None of them are to be trifled with!’
"Don’t move if you want to live!"
The moment Chu Mu took that step back, one of the three pursuers—a burly, scar-faced man—shouted the threat.
"They won’t let you go!"
The man from the Longevity Sect sneered. As he spoke, he pointed to the Longevity Sect Magic Robe he was wearing. He didn’t have to say anything more; his meaning was crystal clear.
In an instant, the embarrassed look on Chu Mu’s face vanished. He turned to the three men, and though he remained silent, his intention was equally clear.
"You can go."
One of them, a man with an aquiline nose, waved his hand dismissively.
Chu Mu’s gaze flickered. He glanced at the Longevity Sect disciple, whose expression had instantly soured, and began to back away without hesitation.
"Behind you!"
"It’s a sneak attack!"
Before Chu Mu could even turn, the Longevity Sect disciple’s shouts were followed by an overwhelming sense of danger washing over him.
His Divine Sense Perception immediately picked up a Flying Needle, appearing from nowhere, that pierced through the first three layers of his Flame Barrier with unstoppable force. The final layer was about to collapse.
In that split second, Chu Mu reacted with unprecedented speed, shifting the sections of his Flame Barrier that were protecting his other sides to intercept the incoming Flying Needle.
A series of shattering sounds echoed as the Flying Needle continued its relentless advance. Thankfully, at the last possible moment, he activated a Tier One Upper Grade Vajra Talisman, which just barely managed to block the Flying Needle Spiritual Artifact.
But the block didn’t last. Within a few breaths, the shimmering golden light shattered!
For Chu Mu, however, those few breaths were more than enough.
Using that precious moment of respite, he activated his Divine Wind Boots. In the blink of an eye, his stationary form dissolved into several afterimages as he dodged the incoming Flying Needle Spiritual Artifact.
Chu Mu’s eyes locked onto his attacker’s figure—a strikingly beautiful woman hidden in the dense woods in the opposite direction.
"Slaughter him!"
Behind Chu Mu, the aquiline-nosed man—the one who had just told him to leave—seemed emboldened by the woman’s arrival. With a fierce cry, a violent wave of Spiritual Qi erupted from him.
’There’s no escape!’
Attacks assailed him from all sides, cutting off any path of retreat. With a mere thought, Chu Mu materialized one Flame Barrier after another at a speed that would be unimaginable to a normal person.
Simultaneously, he activated another Tier One Upper Grade Vajra Talisman. A bell-shaped, golden shield of light materialized outside the layers of his Flame Barrier.
"Stop thinking about running! You take the left, I’ll take the right! We just have to hold out for about eight minutes. Eight minutes at most, and my sect’s reinforcements will be here!"
The Longevity Sect disciple was also completely pinned down. As he struggled to defend himself with a Shield Magical Artifact, he still managed to shout over to Chu Mu.
Chu Mu grunted in acknowledgment, accepting the temporary alliance.
’The last thing I want is to get involved,’ he thought, ’but it’s four against two, and all of them have a higher Cultivation than me. No matter how much I want to run, there’s no way out right now.’
"Wood!"
Chu Mu silently chanted, activating two Tier One Upper Grade Entanglement Talismans. They transformed into two arm-thick, bluish-green vines. Instead of targeting the beautiful woman and her deadly Flying Needle, he sent both vines, one from the left and one from the right, toward the scar-faced man.
Immediately after, he activated two more Talismans, instantly forming a pair of giant, man-high Wind Blades.
At the same time, one Fireball after another materialized, orbiting outside his Vajra Shield and Flame Barrier.
Within his Storage Talisman, the Minghong Saber, an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact that had yet to taste blood, was thrumming with anticipation.
Chu Mu ignored the scar-faced man, who was currently struggling against the two vines. His gaze remained locked on the beautiful woman who had nearly killed him moments ago.
’I hold a grudge.’
"Go!"
Two Tier One Upper Grade giant Wind Blades and eight head-sized Fireballs that had achieved the level of Returning to the Essence!
With a low shout from Chu Mu, the entire barrage locked onto the beautiful woman.
Faced with such an assault, the woman’s face paled in terror. She frantically activated one Defense Talisman after another, and even the others engaged in battle nearby looked on in shock.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
It was like a precision bombing. The giant Wind Blades were comparable to a full-powered strike from a Cultivator in the Late Stage of Qi Cultivation, and the Fireballs, having reached Returning to the Essence, were far more powerful than any normal Fireball Skill!
The entire payload slammed into the terrified woman. Flames flashed and Wind Blades shattered. Chu Mu continued to launch Fireball after Fireball, bombarding her with the speed of a machine gun.
Under the relentless bombardment, the defensive layers she had stacked with her Talismans shattered one after another.
"Brother, save me! Save..."
The woman’s cry was cut off mid-scream amidst the deafening explosions.
The roaring subsided. Once the blaze died down, nothing remained but a massive crater, still glowing with embers.
The woman had been turned to ash.
Chu Mu reached out, snatching the Flying Needle Spiritual Artifact out of the air before it hit the ground and tossing it into his Storage Talisman.
"You bastard! You’re dead!"
"You’re dead!"
The remaining men were overcome with rage.
The Longevity Sect disciple, on the other hand, burst into unrestrained laughter.
"Hahaha! A brilliant kill!"
"Fellow Daoist, I’ll make sure you’re rewarded for this!"
"My sect has a bounty on these Evil Cultivators!"
"Excellent."
A Fireball condensed, held ready but not yet launched, as Chu Mu turned his attention to the scar-faced man, who had just freed himself from the vines.
The battle, which had lasted barely a dozen breaths, had already led him to a very clear conclusion.
’Against Cultivators with a limited repertoire of techniques, my Fireball Skill—faster even than instant casting—is an undeniable killing blow!’
Take the woman, for example. Without a powerful Defensive Spiritual Artifact, she had to rely solely on Defense Magic and Talismans. Since she couldn’t instantly cast multiple defensive spells the way he could, she stood no chance against his relentless barrage of Fireballs.
Furthermore, she didn’t possess a Magical Artifact like his Divine Wind Boots, which would have allowed her to use a brief respite to evade the onslaught.
The result was clear: she was hopelessly overwhelmed by his Fireball bombardment and obliterated without a trace.
No matter how powerful her Flying Needle Spiritual Artifact had been, it was now just another one of his spoils.
In that instant, Chu Mu made a decision. As soon as this battle was over, he absolutely had to acquire a powerful Defensive Spiritual Artifact to shore up his own weaknesses.
Otherwise, if he ever encountered someone as proficient with Magic as himself, or a Magical Artifact like the Continuous Pearl Divine Fire Tube from Wei Wu Pavilion, he would be the one getting focused down.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, several more Fireballs shot forth.
This time, Chu Mu didn’t unleash another frenzied bombardment. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but that he couldn’t. Although the Rejuvenating Pill was constantly replenishing his Magical Power, the recent exchange of attacks and defenses had already drained more than half of it.
His Cultivation at the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer was, in the end, his greatest limitation.
Chu Mu wasn’t worried. The Longevity Sect disciple was clearly well-equipped; both his offensive and defensive measures involved Magical Artifacts. Although he was at a disadvantage against the two men ganging up on him, he wasn’t powerless and could clearly hold on for a while longer.
All he had to deal with was the scar-faced man at the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer. While his own offense was limited by his Magical Power reserves, defending wasn’t difficult thanks to his Divine Wind Boots.
"Kid, if you’ve got any guts, fight me head-on!"
"What kind of hero are you, just darting around like a monkey?!"
After just a short while, the scar-faced man was already growing exasperated.
Thanks to the speed of the Divine Wind Boots, Chu Mu twisted and dodged with ease. The man’s Flying Sword, a mere Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, couldn’t even graze him.
Chu Mu paid the man’s frustration no mind, continuing to twist and dodge. It was like he was toying with him, dancing on a razor’s edge while silently calculating his Magical Power consumption and recovery rate.
The Magical Power consumed by the Divine Wind Boots was only barely offset by the recovery from the Rejuvenating Pill. His already low reserves of Magical Power were still slowly dwindling as he continued to evade.
’Eight minutes.’
Soon, the answer surfaced in his mind.
’If I just keep dodging like this, I can last for eight minutes at most before my Magical Power runs out completely.’
Without missing a beat, Chu Mu pulled out a Lower Spirit Stone. As he continued to dodge, he began absorbing the Spiritual Qi from the stone to replenish the Magical Power in his Dantian.
With this, his dwindling Magical Power reserves finally began to increase rather than decrease.
’After I killed that woman, their pincer attack was broken. The scar-faced man can only flail about in clumsy frustration. It would be incredibly easy for me to leave now.’
But at this moment, Chu Mu had absolutely no intention of leaving.
Normally, the Illusion God Mask could easily conceal his Cultivation, and even his Divine Soul Aura—which was essentially an identification marker for Cultivators.
However, in the heat of battle, unleashing his Magic and mobilizing his Divine Sense so freely had undoubtedly exposed it. And with his Divine Sense exposed, his Divine Soul Aura was naturally revealed as well.
After all, the Illusion God Mask’s effect was merely to conceal his Divine Soul Aura, not to fundamentally alter it.
In a way, his disguise had already failed.
’My Divine Soul Aura was exposed during the fight. With that, they can easily trace the clues right back to my true identity... Chu Mu!’
Whether it was back at the Yutai Mine, at Li’s Ore Materials, or the multiple times he had rented residences in the Marketplace—before he started using disguises, he had always operated under his real identity: Chu Mu.
He had left too many obvious traces!
Chu Mu was furious. Absolutely furious.
’To be minding my own business and suddenly get dragged into this unforeseen calamity... it’s ruined all my plans!’
’And especially... this disciple from the Longevity Sect!’
Finally, as his Magical Power recovered past the halfway mark, all that frustration was unleashed upon the still-cursing, scar-faced man.
Chu Mu’s reasoning was simple.
’If there’s a loose end, I have to do everything I can to minimize the risk.’
’For instance, these three "Evil Cultivators"... and this disciple from the Longevity Sect...’
’First, a small goal: slaughter the three Evil Cultivators who wanted to kill me to keep me quiet!’
’When you strike a snake, you kill it. When you cut a weed, you pull out the roots.’
’I have to avoid any future retaliation!’
With that, a torrential barrage of Fireballs once again filled the forest.
The scar-faced man was even less well-equipped than the woman. His only Magical Artifact was a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact Flying Sword, and he seemed to have few, if any, Talismans.
Chu Mu didn’t even need to draw his trump card, the Minghong Saber. Under the barrage of Fireballs, the scar-faced man barely held on for a dozen breaths before following the woman’s fate and being utterly annihilated.
And just like that, the four-on-two battle in the forest became a two-on-two.
Under the power of Chu Mu’s Fireballs, which had reached the state of Returning to the Essence, the scales of victory had decisively tipped.
...
