The graveyard mountain was swept by a cold wind, the tree shadows swayed erratically, and wolf howls occasionally echoed, making it particularly eerie.
Xu Mu carried an aw
...
The two souls switched places, and the real Xu Mu returned from the Celestial Palace.
"Careful!"
Charles, who had exited the Celestial Palace a step ahead of Xu Mu, saw the surrounding woods and immediately understood what had happened.
After a reaction time of 0.0001 seconds, Charles quickly warned Xu Mu:
"Watch out, there's a stone ahead!"
*Swish!*
Xu Mu's eyes snapped open, and his mind went blank. He hadn't even realized he was running. Even with Charles's warning, he could only watch helplessly as he tripped.
"Damn it!"
With a *thump*, Xu Mu lost his balance and, amidst a flood of confusion and panic, tripped and fell face-first into the dirt.
"Pfft," Xu Mu came to his senses, spat out the sand from his mouth with disgust, bared his teeth, and stood up. Upon seeing his surroundings clearly, he was suddenly stunned.
"Where the hell is this!"
The young man turned and looked around, scratching his head in confusion.
He was still holding a hunting knife in his right hand, with some dried bloodstains faintly visible. Looking around, the forest was dense, a cold wind was blowing, and a familiar mountain range was visible in the distance... He was in some mountain forest!
"Did I sleepwalk?"
Xu Mu's expression was odd. He clearly remembered meditating at home, so how did he end up on a mountain after waking up!
"This is the border between Xishan and Mudi Mountain, not far from where you need to go."
Charles floated out of Xu Mu's body and immediately recognized the location.
"As for why you are here..." Charles's eyes held a hint of apology, "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you about this."
"When your soul entered the Celestial Palace, this body was in a masterless state. Any life form inhabiting your body could claim it. So, it must have temporarily borrowed your body while you were practicing."
After speaking, Charles respectfully stepped aside.
Xu Mu furrowed his brow, then nodded thoughtfully.
If he entered the Celestial Palace, someone else could possess his body? That was truly dangerous!
"You're telling me this now, Charles. You have ill intentions."
"I should go to the Celestial Palace less in the future!"
Xu Mu glared at Charles with a cold smile. How could this robot possibly forget something so important?
The only explanation was that Charles was deliberately hiding it from him.
As for the purpose...
"Human hearts are unfathomable!" Xu Mu sighed. Whether human or machine, one had to rely on the strong. And compared to that entity, he was clearly the weaker one.
Charles chuckled awkwardly by the side. Xu Mu then took out a pre-prepared map from his pocket and carefully compared it with the surrounding terrain before he could vaguely find his location.
The sky was getting late, and time was running out. He had to hurry to find that person's stronghold.
...
Time passed quickly.
Xu Mu moved through Mudi Mountain, knife in hand. He gently pushed aside the bushes ahead, stepped forward with his left leg, and landed on the ground without making a sound.
He was being so cautious because Xu Mu had neared the location marked on the map as the Totem Church's stronghold.
There were beings at the third stage here. Xu Mu didn't want to be discovered by them first and die in vain!
"Are you sure their stronghold is here, Charles? I've been searching for over half an hour!"
Ahead was another small hill. Aside from the crescent moon and swaying trees, there was nothing else. Not even a single bird had been disturbed.
"Of course, I saw it with my own eyes," a line of text appeared before Xu Mu's eyes.
"Hiss... Then what's going on?"
Xu Mu stopped, looked around at the surrounding terrain, and scratched his head.
According to the markings on the map provided by Charles, he had been wandering around the enemy's "lair" for over half an hour.
Although the marking was just a general direction, even with bad luck, he should have found it by now!
Unless he had come to the wrong place, and the map was wrong?
Xu Mu twisted his stiff neck, closed his eyes, and sighed:
"It was so dark at the time, I really suspect you mistook the place."
As soon as he was questioned, Charles immediately popped out of his body and vehemently retorted:
"Host, please note, I am the only one on Blue Star..."
"Alright, alright, I know you're awesome. Then tell me now, where are the people of this Totem Church, and why aren't they here!"
—Xu Mu interrupted Charles, patting his forehead impatiently.
"That night, I was definitely in this vicinity. I clearly saw an altar."
"In the center of the altar, there was indeed a young man, about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. On his neck was carved a wolf with three heads."
...
"A three-headed wolf?" Xu Mu frowned. He had only heard of Cerberus, but this was the first time he had seen a three-headed wolf.
"Oh, I remember now. The symbol of the Totem Church seems to be that."
"Can you use your abilities to show me what happened that night?" Xu Mu asked Charles.
"Of course," Charles replied. At the same time, his body floated into space, and silvery-white information streams fell on different points, forming a realistic black and white image.
Mudi Mountain, woods,異鬼 (yì guǐ - strange demons/monsters), and a young man in plain clothes who was slaughtering a horde of them.
Seeing this, Xu Mu suddenly exclaimed with a hateful expression:
"He really liked playing with knives. No wonder I wasn't sharp when chopping thorns earlier. It got dull. It's all his fault!"
"That's because you've been holding a gun for too long and have become weak," Charles simulated a bean-sized bead of sweat and replied speechlessly.
"Heh heh." Xu Mu gave a cold laugh, then turned his attention back to the image.
Speaking of the training in the Celestial Palace, it was truly brutal. Since it was his first time handling a gun and time was tight, Charles made him run, jump, and shoot with the sniper rifle for several hours without stopping. Who wouldn't be tired!
"He's really quite fierce," Xu Mu grinned, looking at the image in the air with an expression of astonishment. In the image, the young man continuously raised and lowered his arms, and the 異鬼 (yì guǐ) in the ghostly night were all cut down like cabbages, one after another.
Even a large, powerful King Kong beast charged over roaring, but it couldn't withstand a single slash from him. Such strength was indeed far beyond his own.
"Look carefully, this is the altar."
As the image progressed, after killing a large number of 異鬼 (yì guǐ) and a few mutated tree demons, a massive altar finally appeared in the picture.
The markings on the ground seemed to be some ancient script. Five stone pillars stood at different corners, each topped with an oil lamp. The strong wind howled, but it couldn't extinguish them.
And in the center of the altar stood a black-robed figure whose face was indistinct. Seeing Xu Mu charging towards him with a knife, he let out a strange smile and instantly vanished.
And clearly, Xu Mu could see a drawing of a three-headed wolf-dog on the person's neck. That was undoubtedly the symbol of the Totem Church.
"Alright, I admit your eyesight is quite good," Xu Mu twisted his neck. "I just don't understand. Although the Totem Church is an evil organization on par with the Four Great Abnormal Human Organizations, it's supposed to be active in the southern region of the Golden Horde, not here, invading our small villages!"
Charles closed the image and did not answer. These were things Xu Mu had to explore himself. He had provided Xu Mu with clues and weapons, and had done his best. His scales could not tilt again.
Xu Mu walked cautiously, constantly pondering information about the Totem Church in his mind.
The Totem Church was one of the darkest and most evil organizations after the apocalypse on the Eurasian continent. They were often active in the remote and vast southern region of the Golden Horde. They had many followers and primarily conducted arson, murder, and looting against the nomadic peoples on the grasslands by summoning skeletons and controlling 異鬼 (yì guǐ).
Even worse, they were enthusiastic about refining humans into puppets, then sending them into cities to instigate suicide attacks, intentionally creating sources of pollution, and harming the peace of the Hundred Tribes Alliance.
The Golden Horde and several forces within the Hundred Tribes Alliance had joined hands to clear them out multiple times, but with little success. This was because their leader, known as an unparalleled strategist, was able to escape danger every time, despite the vast disparity in strength.
"Host, I think, perhaps you should pay attention to your left. It seems the altar has been found!"
Charles returned to Xu Mu's mind and reminded him.
Xu Mu immediately lowered his body, pressing himself flat against the ground, crawling slowly like a lizard in a tropical rainforest.
In fact, he had just heard the roaring flames, and although it was hundreds of meters away, it sounded as if it was right beside his ear.
Finally, after crawling up a gentle slope, Xu Mu saw a patch of light about a hundred meters away. There were five points of light, and the sound of burning came from here, just like in the image Charles had played.
Xu Mu's hearing was far beyond that of ordinary people, but his eyesight was average. Fortunately, he was wearing night-vision goggles, and the rifle on his back could magnify targets many times.
"It's him, the guy with the mark on his neck!"
The light in Charles's electronic eye flashed. From a hundred meters away, he could directly see two black-robed figures in the center of the altar.
One was thin and humble, the other tall, holding an exquisite and slender scepter.
Xu Mu tamped down the dirt beneath his feet, making it as smooth as possible, then removed the sniper rifle from his back and placed it in front of him.
Looking at the two figures in the scope, he excitedly licked his dry lips.
"Finally, I found you!"
...