Chapter 121: A Narrow Encounter

After eliminating a rock scale snake, Chen Mu didn’t linger. He quickly left and continued his patrol along the line. Those with weaker strength were stationed at fixed observation points, responsible for transmitting messages, while the stronger ones naturally patrolled the line. He was responsible for the entire Wilderness Mountain range, minimizing the number of demons and preventing them from slipping through.

After patrolling for a while and eliminating a few more demons, Chen Mu sat down on a high slope. He pulled out a piece of roasted demon meat from his bag, ate it, and then took out a water skin filled with demon blood, drinking most of it. During a drought, water was hard to come by, but for martial artists, demon blood could also be consumed. It just didn’t taste that great.

Chen Mu stood up, holding the blood skin, and looked towards the distant Wilderness Mountain range. He suddenly grinned, feeling that his current attire had the feel of someone wandering the martial world, traveling to the ends of the earth. He was quite pleased for a moment. But just as Chen Mu raised the blood skin to drink the remaining blood, a muffled roar came from the distant Wilderness Mountain range, accompanied by a slight earth tremor that spread all the way to him.

"Hmm?"

"What was that…"

Chen Mu put down the water skin, his gaze focused, and looked towards the Wilderness Mountain.

…

West Hong Township.

Although it was named West Hong Township, it was actually located east of East Hong Township. The reason it was called West Hong was that it was located on the westernmost side of Huaiyu County, adjacent to East Hong Township, with the Wilderness Mountain as the boundary. At this moment, a number of figures were gathered in a certain location in West Hong Township. If anyone from Yu Prefecture saw them, they would mostly be shocked. Those gathered here were not unknown people in Yu City.

He Guangzong, the newly appointed Chief Constable of the South District! He Mingxuan’s elder brother, a top talent among the fourth-generation disciples of the He family, and a White Uniform Guard of the Demon Slaying Division, He Mingzhen! Zhang Heng, the Deputy Commander of the City Guard in the Inner City!

…

It could be said that any one of the five or six people gathered here was capable enough to take charge of the demon slaying affairs of West Hong Township.

"Everyone has worked hard." He Guangzong said to Zhang Heng and the others with a faint smile.

Zhang Heng said with a smile, "It’s nothing, just burying some small objects… But Brother He, can this thing really have the effect you said?"

He Guangzong smiled and said, "Actually, I don’t know either. It was given to me by the family head, and it’s just a trial run. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s just us making an extra trip. But if the unique ‘corpse qi’ inside activates, and it really does make the demons over there more manic, then the Yu family will have a good time hunting demons this time."

He Mingzhen’s expression was cold as he looked west, able to see the Wilderness Mountain not far away. He said in a deep voice, "Mingxuan died unclearly. The Yu family should repay this debt."

He Guangzong looked at He Mingzhen and shook his head, saying, "Actually, Mingxuan was likely not killed by the Yu family… But it’s not wrong to say that he died because of the Yu family. If there were no Yu family, no one would have killed Mingxuan."

"And Xu Hongyu…" He Mingzhen coldly said, "I hope she can survive this time and not die in the demon disturbance. That way, I can take her life myself in the future and pay tribute to Mingxuan’s grave."

He Guangzong looked at He Mingzhen and said, "Alright, now that we’ve finished our task, we should leave to avoid being noticed by the Yu family."

Zhang Heng and the others exchanged glances and nodded.

However, just as they were about to turn and leave, a sound like thunder suddenly erupted from the distant Wilderness Mountain range, like a mountain collapsing. Immediately afterwards, a strong tremor spread over. He Guangzong and He Mingzhen were stunned, all looking towards the Wilderness Mountain.

Soon, they saw a section of the Wilderness Mountain, where a raised mountain body had a pitch-black crack that stretched all the way up. Then, that half of the mountain began to crumble and collapse. Although it was still some distance away, the sight of the mountain collapsing was still quite shocking.

Zhang Heng quickly reacted. A light flashed in his eyes as he said, "Due to the drought, the Wilderness Mountain was already dry, causing areas with unstable earth veins to collapse…"

As he spoke, He Guangzong and the others also reacted. The collapse of a section of the Wilderness Mountain meant that the earth veins in that section were unstable, and there must be something unusual within. In this situation, it was easy to nurture high-quality rock jade and even other heavenly materials.

"Go!" He Guangzong’s eyes flashed, and he immediately spoke. Without hesitation, he headed straight for the Wilderness Mountain. He Mingzhen and the others followed quickly. It was too late to call for more men, so they only brought the few Blue Uniform Guards of the Demon Slaying Division and a few swordsmen from the He family who had entered the Tendon Transformation Realm.

Because they were not far from the Wilderness Mountain, the group soon arrived at the edge of the mountain range and then went deep into it. Along the way, when they encountered some manic demons, they easily eliminated them. There were five people present who were at the peak of Tendon Transformation alone. He Mingzhen, as the leading figure of the younger generation of the He family, and even the top talent, had now caught up to Xue Lin’s pace and had stepped into the Bone Forging Realm. He could casually eliminate some third-tier demons.

Although the Wilderness Mountain range itself was quite dangerous, the damaged area of the mountain was not in its inner perimeter, but only in the outer region. Moreover, the collapsing momentum was great, which often caused many demons to flee far away. Soon, the group came to the outer edge of the damaged mountain body.

After jumping along the broken rock layers, the group arrived in the middle of the mountain and saw a yellow jade stone about several yards wide in the center of the thick rock layers. These jade stones were all rock jade. The value of low-quality rock jade was generally low. But these jade stones with a width of several yards mostly seemed to be low quality at first glance, however the eyes of He Mingzhen and others now glowed.

Because, in the center of this large area of low-quality rock jade, there was a huge, almost three-foot wide, seven-foot long red jade stone that was completely glazed… It was a large piece of high-quality flame jade! High-quality flame jade itself was quite valuable. Even a small piece made into a jade pendant was worth hundreds of silver taels. The one in front of them could almost make a ‘flame jade bed’, the value of which was immeasurable!

Good! He Guangzong almost shouted "Good!" in his heart. But what kept him from doing so was that directly opposite them, in the broken rocks, stood another figure, also looking closely at that large piece of flame jade.

Although the sunlight was blocked in the middle of this mountain body, one could vaguely see that it was a figure in blue uniform.

A Blue Uniform Guard of the Demon Slaying Division?

After recognizing that blue uniform, He Guangzong immediately relaxed. A mere Blue Uniform Guard was nothing, and most likely was from the Yu family.

With this in mind, He Guangzong immediately gave Zhang Heng a look. Zhang Heng immediately understood. With a valuable item like a flame jade bed, it was impossible to let the Yu family share a piece of it. No matter who it was, they would kill them first. Thus, without a word, he held his short spear and quickly approached in the darkness.

However, before Zhang Heng could completely approach, the blue figure in the darkness slowly stepped out of the shadows. "Master Zhang of the City Guard, it’s been a while."

The blue figure looked at Zhang Heng, who was walking in the shadows, and said in a slightly light tone.

Zhang Heng was stunned. Then, looking at the blue figure, he felt that his face was somewhat familiar. Then he recognized him: "Who do I think it was? It’s you?"

He looked at the blue figure with a strange expression and suddenly chuckled, saying, "I remember that Xu Hongyu was in charge of East Hong, so it’s not surprising to see you here. Last time, Xu Hongyu arrived in time and saved your life, but I didn’t expect that you’d still have such bad luck. Today you’ve fallen into my hands again."

The blue figure who stepped out of the shadows was none other than Chen Mu! When the mountain body broke apart, his first reaction was whether a shocking demon had appeared. But soon, he realized that it wasn’t. It seemed to be caused by an unusual earthquake, plus the drought, which had cracked the mountain. Remembering some books he had read about such mountain collapses possibly containing treasures, he quietly approached to investigate.

Chen Mu didn’t look at Zhang Heng much. After saying a simple sentence, he continued to look at the large flame jade, then frowned slightly. The value of this large piece of high-quality flame jade was in its quantity, not in its quality. It was not easy for him to carry or hide. It would be good if it were a small type of heavenly treasure. He wondered if there were things like ‘Sumeru Rings’ or ‘Qiankun Bracelets’ in this world, which could store items. At least he hadn’t heard of it yet. Nor had he seen any such records in the scriptures.

Zhang Heng noticed Chen Mu’s gaze. He only assumed that Chen Mu was so attracted to the large piece of high-quality flame jade that he couldn’t look away. In his heart, he couldn’t help but shake his head. Unable to see the bigger picture, unable to survive, yet still obsessed with the treasure before his eyes, he didn’t seem to be anything special despite being a talent cultivated by the Yu family. He hadn’t needed to go to Wutong Li last time.

But since he had crashed into them this time, there wasn’t much else to say. With this in mind, Zhang Heng was too lazy to continue mocking him, and he even lost interest in tormenting Chen Mu. He flipped his right hand, and the spear in his hand broke through the air, towards Chen Mu, a silver flash in the darkness.

The rest of the He family members were partly observing and admiring the high-quality flame jade, but some were also looking towards Zhang Heng, such as He Guangzong. He knew that Chen Mu had a toughened body, and now had entered the Tendon Transformation Realm. Although Zhang Heng was at the peak of Tendon Transformation, he might not be able to end the fight quickly. In order to avoid unforeseen issues, it would be more appropriate for him to also make a move.

However, He Guangzong had only taken two steps before he suddenly stopped. He looked in Chen Mu’s direction, his pupils suddenly contracting as if he had seen something incredible.

He saw! Zhang Heng’s sharp and fierce strike, which contained two levels of momentum and fully unleashed the strength of the peak of Tendon Transformation, was now being blocked by Chen Mu’s raised right hand. His index and middle fingers had clamped the spearhead, and the tip of the spear was less than three inches from Chen Mu’s eyebrow, but could not move forward even a millimeter!

"Sigh…" Chen Mu’s sigh echoed through the mountain.

Bang!! Zhang Heng’s face was filled with shock and disbelief. Chen Mu’s two fingers suddenly twisted, and a great force forcibly twisted the entire spear shaft. Then, he released it forward. Zhang Heng could no longer hold the tail of the spear. Shocked, he tried to dodge, but it was completely too late. With a spray of blood, the twisted spear shaft had pierced through his chest, leaving a gaping blood hole in the middle of his chest!

"You…" Zhang Heng looked at Chen Mu in disbelief. Before he could utter another word, blood gushed out of his mouth. He felt the strength in his body quickly being drained away, his entire body softening, taking two staggering steps and collapsing against a jagged rock.

Until the moment his consciousness completely dissipated, his eyes still showed an expression of disbelief. This was impossible. He was a dignified Deputy Commander of the Inner City, with his peak of Tendon Transformation, and mastery of two spear techniques. Yet his full-force strike had been blocked by Chen Mu with just two fingers, and in a single counter-attack, had crushed all his tendons, bones and strength!