Chapter 161 Traveling Together in Desperate Circumstances

"You..."

Qi Huan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, the anger and absurdity on his face gradually replaced by a sense of helplessness.

"You really are my ancestor."

He rubbed the space between his eyebrows. His unhealed Meridians were still throbbing with pain. Gritting his teeth, he decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Fine, let's go. Staying here would just be stifling to death anyway. Dealing with Xu Changze's false civility makes me sick just thinking about it. It's better to fight Ghostly Creatures with real blades and spears; even if I die, it'll be a quick death."

His words were half out of spite and half sincere.

The future Xu Changze painted was certainly tempting, but Qi Huan came from the Prefecture System and saw through the double-dealing games of officialdom more clearly than most.

Following Xu Changze might bring temporary wealth, but in the end, he would likely be chewed up until not even his bones remained. In contrast, although Chen Mu acted ruthlessly and decisively, and was sometimes hard to read, at least... he was real.

Qi Huan flexed his wrist, his gaze gradually sharpening as the decisiveness and bravery of a Prefecture Banner Officer returned to him.

"We can go, but let me say this upfront: once we're inside, listen to me. When it's time to retreat, we must retreat. Don't get reckless. The Yangu Pit is no place for acting tough; that place is extremely sinister. I don't want to be collecting your corpse, and I certainly don't want to die in there with you."

As he spoke, he pulled his saber from under the bed, checked the edge, and stuffed several bottles of Medicinal Pills he carried with him into his robes.

Chen Mu looked at the persistence in Qi Huan's eyes and nodded.

"Fine."

The two said no more. They exchanged a glance, then leaped up, speeding toward the direction of the Yangu Pit.

The seeds of the Heart Demon had already been planted. At the edge of this peril-filled abyss, they quietly absorbed nutrients, waiting for the moment to break through the soil.

Yet Chen Mu seemed completely oblivious to this.

Or perhaps he simply didn't care.

...

At the edge of the Yangu Pit, a mournful wind howled as ten thousand ghosts wailed.

Chen Mu and Qi Huan stood side by side before a stone tablet—the boundary line marking the divide between safety and danger.

The three characters for 'Yangu Pit' on the stone tablet had long since blurred, covered in dark red moss that looked like it was oozing blood.

Behind the tablet lay an endless black valley.

There were no trees, no grass—only jagged rocks and skeletons scattered across the ground, half-buried in the black soil. Phosphorescent fire floated in the air, emitting an eerie green glow that was exceptionally bizarre.

"One more step forward, and we'll be in a true death trap."

Qi Huan took a deep breath, gripping his saber tighter.

Although his injuries were mostly recovered, his heart still felt heavy facing this ancient battlefield that had accumulated hundreds of years of resentment.

"Chen Mu, it's not too late to turn back now. This place... is even more sinister than the last time we came."

"You're too talkative."

Chen Mu interrupted him, his voice carrying an irrepressible irritability.

His gaze moved past the stone tablet, landing on that dense darkness. It felt as if something there was calling to him—not with a sound, but with an instinctive attraction.

It was the desire for slaughter, plunder, and becoming stronger; there, those desires could find the most absolute satisfaction. The sinister fire that had been churning in his chest since returning from Zuixian Tower burned even more intensely now.

Xu Changze's face, Wen Jingxing's shadow, the mountain of case files, Liu Ziming's worried eyes—all of it made him want to tear things apart, to destroy everything.

Only power, absolute power, could crush it all.

"Let's go."

Chen Mu spoke no further and stepped across the stone tablet.

The moment he stepped in, the temperature plummeted. It wasn't an ordinary cold, but a bone-chilling frigidity. Qi Huan followed close behind, shivering the moment he entered.

"This damn place..."

Before he could finish, the sound of dense friction suddenly erupted from all directions.

"Shasha, shasha..."

Chen Mu stopped in his tracks and looked up.

He saw the pale white skeletons scattered on the ground and half-buried in the soil begin to tremble slightly.

Skulls rotated, green light ignited in empty eye sockets, and finger bones scratched the ground, making a tooth-aching sound.

They broke free from the soil and stood up unsteadily. Some were whole, some were fragmented; most held rusted blades and swords, broken spears, or simply used their arm bones as blades.

There were hundreds, thousands—a dense mass surrounding the two of them in the center.

"Damn, we're starting this big right away?"

Qi Huan sucked in a cold breath, his hand gripping the saber slick with cold sweat. Chen Mu, however, laughed.

"Good timing!"

Before his voice faded, his body was already in motion.

He didn't use the extreme speed of the Divine Void Step, but rather a more direct and violent method.

He kicked off the ground and charged, his feet blasting a shallow pit in the black mud. Chen Mu was like an arrow released from a bow, crashing straight into the swarm of skeletons.

The soul-slaying blade unsheathed, its pitch-black body sweeping out.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

Three skeletons blocking his path shattered instantly, breaking inch by inch from skull to leg bone, turning into powder and dissipating into the night wind before even hitting the ground.

[Killed Low-Rank Resentment Bone Skeleton, plundered Lifespan: One Year]

[Killed Low-Rank Resentment Bone Skeleton, plundered Lifespan: One Year]

[Killed Low-Rank Resentment Bone Skeleton, plundered Lifespan: One Year]

The cold notification tones rang out like beautiful celestial music.

The corners of Chen Mu's mouth split into a nearly feral grin.

Not enough, far from enough!

More, he needed more!

The blade light rose again. This time he was no longer satisfied with simple sweeps; instead, he integrated the cleaving, hacking, lifting, and stabbing of the Broadsword Technique's Perfection Realm. Every strike was precisely aimed at the skeletons' joints or eye sockets, increasing his efficiency several-fold.

Wherever the pitch-black blade light passed, bone fragments flew and resentful fires were extinguished.

One, two, ten, twenty...

The System notification tones became almost a continuous stream. Although each skeleton only provided one year of Lifespan, with such numbers, the plundered Lifespan count on his panel began to jump rapidly.

Qi Huan watched from the side, dumbfounded.

He knew Chen Mu's strength had improved greatly, but this level of slaughter efficiency was simply unheard of.

While those Resentment Bone Skeletons were only low-rank Ghostly Creatures, an ordinary Dao Entry Realm Martial Artist would still have to exert some effort to deal with three or five of them. Yet Chen Mu was killing them as easily as chopping vegetables.

What alarmed Qi Huan even more was Chen Mu's state.

The light in those eyes wasn't right.

It wasn't the focus or sharpness of a Martial Artist in combat, but a hunger—a nearly greedy hunger for the act of slaughter itself.

"Chen Mu! Don't go too deep! We should stay on the edge..."

Before Qi Huan could finish, Chen Mu had already cut through the first wave of skeletons and was charging deeper into the pit.

"Keep up!"

Chen Mu threw back two words without looking, his voice laced with irrepressible excitement.

Qi Huan bit his lip and moved into action as well.

He knew saying anything now was useless; Chen Mu was beyond listening. All he could do was keep up and guard Chen Mu's flank and back.

He unleashed the Five Cloud Hands, his palm power blending hardness and softness. At times it was like drifting clouds, shattering several skeletons at once; at others, it was as condensed as a cone, piercing skulls and dispersing the resentful souls within.

His efficiency was far below Chen Mu's, but he was steady and reliable, clearing out any skeletons that slipped through the cracks.

The deeper they went, the stronger the Ghostly Creatures became. The Resentment Bone Skeletons were gradually replaced by other types of ghosts.

There were battlefield spirits with mangled bodies and rotting flesh; drowned ghosts with soaking wet bodies and long hair covering their faces; and even collections of evil entities formed from countless tiny infant spirits, emitting ear-piercing cries.

Chen Mu refused none of them.

The soul-slaying blade seemed to come alive in his hand. With every swing of the blade, it precisely claimed a life.

The power of the Soul-Loss Art was attached to the blade's edge, providing a natural counter to these Ghostly Creatures. Often, with a single slash, the creature's Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering would occur.

[Slayed Battlefield Remnant Soul, plundered Martial Dao Lifespan: Three Years]

[Slayed Drowned Resentful Ghost, plundered Martial Dao Lifespan: Two Years]

[Slayed Infant Spirit Evil Entity, plundered Martial Dao Lifespan: Five Years]

His Lifespan was growing frantically.

One hundred years, two hundred years, three hundred years...

Streams of warm, distinct heat surged into his limbs and bones along with the notification tones, replenishing the negligible exhaustion from earlier and bringing a tangible sense of growing power.

Exhilarating! This was too exhilarating!

This feeling of power growing visibly before his eyes was more intoxicating than any fine wine, any authority, or any beauty!