“Did she use this fine thread to control the sword? With only a thread this thin, how could she make her sword turn?”
Qin Mu had no time to ponder the mystery behind it. He immediately sprinted. He only heard a ‘thwack’, as the sword brushed past him and stabbed into a large tree, embedding itself deep into the trunk.
The sword seemed alive, vibrating twice inside the tree trunk, but failed to pull itself out. Shortly after, the woman floated over, her slender hand grasping the sword’s hilt, and pulled it from the trunk. She said in frustration, “My White Tiger qi essence is still not strong enough, I can’t control it like moving my own arm…”
“Junior Martial Sister Qing, you can turn your qi essence into silk threads and control a sword to kill enemies. That is already quite extraordinary.”
The man who walked on water with her approached, then said gently with a smile, “What you lack is not cultivation, but experience. This time, Master brought us to the Great Ruins to train; the goal is to cover this weakness. Before, we only trained on our own, lacking real combat experience. And now, this little devil child is our chance for real combat. You will definitely master the technique of controlling a sword with qi very soon.”
The other three youths arrived, and one of them smiled and said, “This little devil child turned into a deer, and deer are naturally very agile. No wonder he could dodge Senior Martial Sister’s sword.”
That Senior Martial Sister Qing’s spirits lifted again. She once again controlled her sword and thrust it toward Qin Mu, laughing coquettishly, “Senior Martial Brother Qu, don’t intervene just yet, leave this little devil child for my sword practice.”
Senior Martial Brother Qu was the youth who walked on water with her. Hearing those words, he nodded and smiled, “Three Junior Martial Brothers, let us watch Junior Martial Sister Qing’s sword arts together.”
Qin Mu exerted all his abilities to dodge the sword light flying from behind him, feeling bewildered, “Controlling a sword with qi? Could the silk thread in that woman’s hand not be real silk, but her vital energy? Vital energy can do such a thing, controlling a sword? Can I do it too?”
He had learned butcher’s knife skills from Butcher. Butcher only taught him to control the knife with his hands, but never taught him how to control a knife with vital energy. He knew absolutely nothing about this.
Seeing that Senior Martial Sister Qing controlling her sword with qi, Qin Mu’s mind began to wander. If vital energy could control a sword, could it also be used to control other things?
However, that Senior Martial Sister Qing chased him again with her sword, leaving him no time to ponder. Moreover, right now he had been transformed into a reindeer by Granny Si; his limbs were restricted, and the vital energy within his body had also stagnated, not as active as usual.
Slash—
The sword light flashed, attacking from behind and slashing Qin Mu’s back. Qin Mu only felt a cold sensation on his back, followed by a spreading burning pain. He knew his back had been injured by Senior Martial Sister Qing’s sword.
“This is bad. Even though reindeer are fast, their movements ultimately aren’t as agile as my own body. I was turned into a deer by Granny, and now that I’m injured, it seems I won’t be able to escape…”
Just as he thought this, he suddenly felt his mouth tear open.
It wasn’t actually tearing; rather, the mouth part of the deer skin had detached from his body!
Qin Mu immediately remembered that when Granny Si told him to run quickly, she had secretly pulled out a needle from between his eyebrows. This needle was none other than the needle locking the Heaven Soul!
In an instant, his head slipped out of the deer skin.
Behind him, the sword qi split the air, whistling as it slashed toward him. Qin Mu exerted all his strength to lunge forward, freeing himself from the deer skin, rolling and tumbling for a dozen zhang. Then, he sprang to his feet, stretched his legs, and ran as fast as he could.
Behind him, the deer skin was shredded to pieces by the sword controlled by Senior Martial Sister Qing’s qi. The sword moved like falling petals, darting back and forth as fast as lightning. It was obvious that while this woman was chasing and trying to kill Qin Mu, her sword arts had progressed by leaps and bounds!
Breaking free from the restraint of the deer skin delayed Qin Mu for a moment. A youth sprinting across the leaves above the forest landed from the sky right in front of him, blocking his path.
The distance between them was only two or three zhang. Such a distance could be covered in the blink of an eye. In the next moment, the two would collide head-on!
Qin Mu had no time to change direction, and no other thoughts crossed his mind. His body subconsciously executed the leg technique taught to him by Cripple. With his head pointing down and his legs kicking up, his foot swept out like a whirlwind!
“Green Dragon Arms!”
The youth looked a few years older than Qin Mu. He showed a mocking smile and parried with both hands. His arms emitted a turquoise light, and dragon claws covered in dragon scales emerged from the skin of both his hands. Moments later, Qin Mu’s leg clashed with his arms. Two sounds of striking steel rang out. The smile on the youth’s face hadn’t even faded before he let out a muffled groan, unable to stand firm, and was forced back by the sweep of Qin Mu’s leg.
The clothing on his arms exploded and shattered, both sleeves fluttering away like paper butterflies, fabric scraps scattering in the air. It revealed that his arms seemed to be engraved with dragon claw tattoos, dragon claws coiling around his arms.
However, after blocking Qin Mu’s two heavy kicks, both his arms instantly became red and swollen.
“There are iron blocks on your legs?”
The youth trembled from the pain. He was both shocked and angry, his gaze fixed on Qin Mu’s feet: “Your shoes are made of iron too?”
Qin Mu pressed both hands against the ground, landed his feet, and sprinted away swiftly.
But the youth’s words also reminded him. It was true, iron blocks were tied to his legs. Grandpa Cripple, who taught him the leg arts, required both his legs to be bound with iron blocks; they were not to be removed whether he was sleeping or walking, and had to be worn at all times.
Lately, seeing his body growing stronger and his strength increasing, Grandpa Cripple had also made the iron blocks tied to his legs heavier. Not only that, Grandpa Cripple had even asked Blacksmith Mute to forge a pair of iron shoes for Qin Mu, to add more weight.
A pair of thick-soled iron shoes weighing ten jin, and an iron block on one leg weighing twenty jin; thus, Qin Mu’s legs were bound by heavy objects weighing a total of fifty jin!
Grandpa Cripple told him to practice until he could no longer feel the weight of the iron shoes and blocks, only then could he remove them. Over these past few days, Qin Mu had gotten so used to the iron shoes and blocks that even while sprinting just now, he had completely forgotten he was running with such heavy weights.
It was just that he would definitely be caught if he stopped to take off the shoes and untie the bindings. He absolutely could not stop.
“Stomping Mount Sumeru to Dust!”
Mid-stride, Qin Mu suddenly stomped his right foot and executed the technique ‘Stomping Mount Sumeru to Dust’. The thick sole of the iron shoe he wore was stomped into pieces, splashing outward like mud, its fragments scattering in all directions.
At the same time, his calf muscles tensed, the muscle fibers in his leg bunching up and expanding outward. This caused the iron blocks to snap off and shoot out like arrows, embedding themselves into the surrounding trees.
Qin Mu stepped his other foot forward, stomped, and destroyed his iron shoe while releasing the iron block in the exact same manner.
Swoosh—
His body suddenly became incredibly light; a single step carried him to the top of the trees, startling even himself.
Qin Mu was barefoot, tiptoeing on the treetops, and his body began to glide downward.
Meanwhile, down below, sword light gleamed, thrusting up from below. What appeared right before his eyes were dozens of sharp sword tips!
Senior Martial Sister Qing was getting more proficient at controlling her sword with qi. She wasn’t controlling dozens of swords, but rather one sword that produced dozens of sword shadows!
Qin Mu suddenly recalled Grandpa Cripple’s words: “Don’t think about whether your foothold can support your weight. As long as you run fast enough, water is flat ground, grass is flat ground, air is flat ground, everything is a smooth path!”
He tiptoed and sprinted swiftly, while the sword light behind him soared into the sky, smashing the branches of the large tree he had just stepped on into splinters!
Two youths leaped and landed on the treetops, staring in shock at Qin Mu, who was stepping on the crowns of the massive trees and darting away like a storm. His footwork speed was truly astounding!
“This guy is younger than us, how can he be that fast? His cultivation level seems… seems to be slightly higher than ours…”
Just as the two youths thought this, they saw Senior Martial Brother Qu darting away like smoke to chase after Qin Mu, his speed even faster than Qin Mu’s.
“Senior Martial Brother Qu truly deserves his title as a peak Lingtai martial artist, his strength is far above ours.”
The two clicked their tongues in awe: “With Senior Martial Brother Qu taking action personally, this little devil child won’t be able to escape again.”
Right at this moment, a giant shadow suddenly emerged from within the forest. A furry hand the size of a woven mat swung toward Senior Martial Brother Qu, and a solid slap struck Senior Martial Brother Qu who was sprinting in midair!
Senior Martial Brother Qu spun like a top in the air, then was sent flying backwards, crashing heavily onto the ground. He rolled an unknown number of times before finally coming to a stop. The moment he sat up, he spat out a mouthful of blood and shouted loudly: “Don’t go over there! That is a Demonic Ape’s territory, there is a Demonic Ape living there!”
The other four immediately halted their steps. It was clear that the shadow in the forest was an enormous black gorilla, with blazing red eyes and protruding fangs. It beat its own chest with both hands in front of them. Its voice boomed like war drums: “Little One! Dead!”
Meanwhile, Qin Mu, who had been sprinting rapidly at the front, had also been slapped down by this Demonic Ape, falling beside the Demonic Ape’s massive foot, entirely motionless, whether dead or alive was unknown.
Senior Martial Sister Qing whispered: “Even Senior Martial Brother Qu was severely injured by one slap from this Demonic Ape, let alone that little devil child. He must be dead already, right?”
Before she could finish her sentence, Qin Mu, who was lying next to the Demonic Ape, slowly turned his head and opened his eyes, quietly observing the Demonic Ape. Senior Martial Sister Qing was scared out of her wits: “This brat isn’t dead?”
The pitch-black Demonic Ape roared a few times, and seeing that the group of people didn’t dare to advance, it stopped. It looked down at Qin Mu, stretched out two fingers, and flipped Qin Mu’s body over: “Little One, dead?”
Qin Mu’s eyes were wide open, blood flowing from his seven facial orifices, and even his tongue was sticking out. He was clearly very dead!
The Demonic Ape snorted twice, tossed Qin Mu’s “corpse” to the side, then sat down, casually uprooted a tree, and began eating the leaves from it.
“A Demonic Ape this fierce actually eats plants.” Qin Mu continued to bleed from his seven orifices, and with his eyes wide open, he secretly hitched his shoulders away.
The Demonic Ape suddenly turned its head, and Qin Mu’s “corpse” didn’t move at all. The Demonic Ape stared intently at him, but Qin Mu’s “corpse” remained motionless.
The Demonic Ape stretched out its finger and poked the “corpse”, finding that the “corpse” felt cold and had already gone stiff. The Demonic Ape was very satisfied: “Little One, dead.” It then paid him no more heed, turning its head and returning its focus to eating leaves.
In the distance, Senior Martial Sister Qing couldn’t help but say: “Big Guy, that little one’s corpse became stiff this fast, don’t you find it strange?”
The Demonic Ape seemed to understand her words; it smacked its own forehead and immediately turned around. However, the little one’s “corpse” shockingly stood up rigidly, and then sprinted away with lightning speed.
