The girl's eyes were red-rimmed. In the ebb and flow of their chase, her exquisite face held a hint of grievance, appearing pitiful.
Xu Mu's indifferent expression faltered. In that instant, it was as if countless atoms collided in his mind, positive and negative poles intertwined, and a myriad of thoughts flashed by.
Then, he stopped, allowing the dust-covered bright red official robe to grasp his shoulder.
Xu Mu and Charles exchanged bewildered glances, question marks popping up over their heads simultaneously.
How was this possible?
*Slap!*
After grabbing Xu Mu's shoulder, Yin Shuier's expression froze for a moment. Then, a smile appeared on her pale face.
"Finally caught you."
Yin Shuier's expression was triumphant. She turned Xu Mu's body around and then snorted coldly.
How could she still cry? That was merely a tactic to stall for time.
And then, she saw Xu Mu's eyes.
Perhaps it was due to the strange night, the fog was very thick. The young man's pupils seemed to be grayish-white?
Xu Mu remained expressionless, like a puppet.
But only Charles noticed that the jade pendant Xu Mu wore on his chest seemed to be trembling slightly.
His heart rate quickened.
The two froze in place, as if time had stopped.
...
"You... didn't sleep well?"
After an unknown amount of time, perhaps it was the fallen leaves from the mountaintop that startled Yin Shuier out of that mysterious state, she hurriedly turned her head, stuttering.
"No, I slept very well."
Bai Tong, with a blank expression, brushed past Yin Shuier and walked over to Liang Chen.
Since he couldn't leave by force, he had to resort to some stratagem. All is fair in war, it was simple, he could pretend to escort these two back to the city, and then go to West Mountain.
So Bai Tong walked up to Liang Chen and stood there.
Liang Jue glanced sideways at the young man, then immediately retracted his gaze, trembling all over.
Was he going to kill them to silence them?
On the other hand, Liang Chen's mind had already turned into mush.
Yin Shuier thanked him, was Xu Mu Yin Shuier's subordinate?
And now he was going to escort him back to Buluo City?
Thinking of Xu Mu's terrifying kick from before, and the horse smashed into a pulp at the bottom of the pit, Liang Chen couldn't help but shiver.
Furthermore, she had subdued three-stage ability users as her subordinates, so how powerful must Yin Shuier's background be? The governor of the Demon Extermination Division also seemed to have the surname Yin!
Yin Shuier took the pill, her complexion gradually regaining its color. She didn't mention that the night watchman of Heyano Village had tricked her. She decided to handle it herself.
Being tricked twice by two night watchmen in one day was too embarrassing.
"Lord Yin, this marten demon, is actually Xu..."
"They certainly deserve our thanks."
Bai Tong Xu Mu coughed lightly, interrupting Liang Chen's words. Then, under Liang Jue's terrified gaze, he leaned down and "helped" him up from the ground.
*Crack...*
A sharp pain from the cracking bones, but Liang Jue didn't dare to cry out.
At this point, he had understood the current situation. Xu Mu's identity was likely classified by the Demon Extermination Division, and even Yin Shuier didn't know his true strength, which was why he had interrupted Liang Chen.
And they had already provoked him, but it was a minor provocation, unlikely to lead to their deaths. Therefore, to survive now, they had to find a way to appease Xu Mu. He had to cooperate with Xu Mu's act!
"Chen'er, this marten demon did injure me quite badly, but luckily Young Master Xu is here. Let him escort us back to Buluo City."
With his ability protecting him, Liang Jue signaled Liang Chen with his eyes, hoping his foolish son's brain would have some sense and not mess things up again. This might be their only chance to survive!
"This... this."
Liang Chen looked at Xu Mu blankly, about to say something, when Bai Tong Xu Mu put an arm around his neck. Then, without looking back, he started walking towards Buluo City.
"I'll take them back to the city now!"
Yin Shuier stared at Xu Mu's retreating back, startled for a moment, then angrily shouted:
"Walk back?"
"What about the horses!"
...
In the West Mountain at night, atop a tree tens of meters high in the central region, stood an old man darker than the night.
The darkness here didn't refer to his skin color, but rather the energy fluctuations emanating from the elder, imbued with the purest essence of darkness. Any ghost that passed by him would be disturbed by this aura and willingly become his slave.
Even three-stage mutated great demons were no exception. That was why the berserk stone golem was under his control.
However, that three-stage stone golem, not being nurtured by a true dark origin, lacked any consciousness, its movements were incredibly stiff, possessing immense brute force but not good at killing. This was because among the second-stage ability users of the Demon Extermination Division, there was a cultivator who had awakened wind element abilities, allowing him to provide hurricane-like speed to everyone.
This clumsy behemoth couldn't possibly catch them.
"What the hell!"
Vilitan, with a voice like a strangled duck, let out a scream and stomped his scepter fiercely on the treetop.
Seeing the stone giant he controlled being toyed with by a bunch of second-stage ability users from the Demon Extermination Division, Vilitan couldn't sit still any longer. He decided to intervene personally.
From hundreds of meters away, he raised his scepter towards the rampaging stone giant.
"Strip!"
His words carried an infinite magical power. At the tip of the scepter, a ray of annihilating grey flashed past, stirring up turbulence in the air. Wherever it passed, all trees and ghosts sensed this power and dimmed.
Then, the energy entered the stone giant's brain. The behemoth, which had been swinging its fists and charging, making several Demon Extermination Division ability users lose their bearings, suddenly stopped.
"He... what happened?"
A second-stage ability user from the Demon Extermination Division stood there, exhausted and fearful.
After a recent mistake, he had been separated from the team. His companion's wind-attribute ability no longer provided him with bonuses, so his speed had become extremely slow. The hundred-meter-tall stone giant's fist was already above his head, as if he would be crushed into pulp the next second.
He knew that with his abilities alone, he couldn't possibly survive this punch. Even if he were a physical ability cultivator, it would be impossible. This had already surpassed the limits of human endurance. Unless he was a lord-level ability user who could forcibly isolate a part of the world, he wouldn't be able to withstand this punch.
Otherwise, even their division governor would be half-dead, let alone him.
"Xing Lu, hurry and retreat!"
The stone behemoth's body was slowly falling. It had lost its ability to move. Xing Lu had completely lost the will to resist. He subconsciously believed he couldn't escape this punch, but in reality, the stone behemoth's movements had frozen in mid-air due to Vilitan's influence, it had lost its consciousness!
Tuoba Ning roared loudly, flames surging under his feet, and violent air currents rushing towards the sky, as if trying to obstruct the descent of the mountain.
But this was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. In the face of absolute pressure from weight, his ability was useless. He could only watch as his companion was crushed to death.
*Boom!*
The stone behemoth transformed back into a normal mountain and descended. The fierce flames were dispersed. Tall and thick trees were crushed like tofu. The violent earthquake caused intense sound waves and air currents to surge into the air, spreading outwards like a storm, wantonly destroying everything around it.
Everything was flattened by this wave of air. Even several ability users from the Demon Extermination Division couldn't resist and were flung into the sky. Fortunately, with the wind-attribute ability user present, the elemental surge safely returned them to the ground.
"It... turned into a mountain?"