Chapter 2879: Dealing With A Weak Ambush

เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 มี.ค. 2569 18:38

The first wave struck with terrifying speed—blades of dark qi arcing through the trees like falling stars. The cursed cultivators surged forward in silence, movements twisted and jerky like marionettes on broken strings. But Lin Mu did not move. He assessed the cultivators, finding them relatively weak. "Just some spirit cultivators and three immortals?" Lin Mu was wondering if they were taking them as a joke sending such people after them. He raised a single hand, palm outward. "Clear." A golden wave of immortal qi tinged with Sword Intent rippled from his body, sweeping across the battlefield in a radiant pulse. Trees swayed, the mist parted, and the incoming attacks evaporated midair, as if swallowed by the sheer weight of his power. The cursed cultivators faltered, their momentum breaking as fear trickled into their blank eyes. "Now," Lin Mu said, his voice quiet. Meng Bai vanished in a flash of light, reappearing in front of the nearest enemy. His spear drew a brilliant arc through the air, striking cleanly and sending the man flying into a tree. The cursed qi flickered violently before dispersing with a painful screech. "I'll take the left flank!" Meng Bai called out, already moving to intercept three more. He was now at the Peak of the Nascent Soul realm and could easily handle cultivators at the Dao Shell realm and even the Dao Embryo realm. While some Dao Embryo realm experts might be challenging to him, the ones before him were far too unfocused. They had raw power but no skill due to the curse they were under. Lin Mu stepped forward calmly, each movement fluid and precise. He didn't need a blade—his strikes were refined, honed through years of tempering. One attacker lunged at him from behind, dagger raised. Lin Mu's elbow struck backward without looking. A crack echoed through the forest as the man crumpled under his Body Cultivation's might. The man was unconscious before he hit the ground. Three more surrounded him, channeling cursed arts that summoned grotesque beasts from their shadows—wolf-like figures with too many teeth and hollow eyes. Lin Mu inhaled softly. "Calming Heart Sutra—True Internal Resonance." Illusory Golden lotus petals bloomed from beneath his feet, rising into the air like fireflies. The cursed beasts howled, disintegrating mid-pounce as the scripture's pure light seared through the corrupt energy animating them. This was one of the methods of application that Lin Mu had learned over the years after reaching the Fourth Stage of True Internal Resonance. He could control the Buddhist Aura to attack and defend as he wished, though it still consumed his qi unlike the passive aura. But against corrupted energy it was perfect and so was the Healing Heart Sutra, but that was a lot more taxing on Lin Mu and he didn't wish to use it unless absolutely necessary. He had only used it to purge the corrupted cultivators before when mere Buddhist Aura did not help as well. It could certainly restrain their corruption but cleaning it was more Healing Heart Sutra's forte. The cultivators fell to their knees, clutching their heads, dark mist leaking from their mouths like ink. In moments, the battlefield tilted in Lin Mu's favor. Meng Bai, though far less experienced, moved with remarkable sharpness—his spear techniques swift, instinctive. He didn't just fight; he adapted. One cursed attacker tried to wrap him in chains of spirit flame, but Meng Bai drew a rune mid-air, activating a talisman and blasted the foe with an elemental surge of wind and frost. "Heh, I have been studying!" he shouted proudly, kicking another enemy into a nearby boulder. "Don't get cocky," Lin Mu said. Then his eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right. The enemies were weak—weaker than expected. But it wasn't just their power. Lin Mu felt it in the air: a pulse… a distant call… like a beacon resonating with the cursed energy in their bodies. They weren't just corrupted. They were connected. Suddenly, a mark lit up on the forehead of one fallen enemy. A strange sigil—a vertical eye wreathed in thorns. Lin Mu's eyes sharpened. "That mark…" Before he could analyze it further, the sigil flared violently and the body began to dissolve—first into smoke, then into shadow. One by one, the other fallen enemies followed suit. Their cursed energy flared, surged, then burned out, leaving only ash and cracked earth behind. Even the cursed aura they left behind was being scrubbed from the forest. "Self-erasing traps," Lin Mu muttered grimly. He turned to Meng Bai, who was panting, wiping blood from a shallow cut on his cheek. "They're not supposed to win. They're here to delay… and to test." "To test us?" Meng Bai asked, voice low. "They were far too weak. They even sent spirit realm cultivators which they shouldn't have with me being here. They probably sent them in consideration for you. As if they wanted to test your power too." Lin Mu spoke. "Whoever sent them wanted to measure our strength and disposition… maybe even to leave a trace behind for someone else to follow." He looked toward the direction the illusionary women had vanished in. "The seduction, the ambush, the cursed link—all too well organized for random bandits." He raised a hand and let his immortal sense stretch across the clearing, sweeping every inch for lingering traces. In the place where the sigil had flared, he found a faint resonance, barely visible to ordinary senses. "…They were branded," he said slowly. "Like tools. Not disciples." A chill breeze passed through the clearing. Meng Bai stepped beside him. "What now?" "We find the next trail," Lin Mu said, rising onto Little Shrubby's back. "These women, this ambush—it's only the start." He glanced at the horizon, eyes glinting with purpose. "The Great Burden Monastery lies ahead. And I have a feeling we'll find more answers waiting for us there." As the first rays of dawn pierced the woods and mist retreated from the trees, Lin Mu and Meng Bai soared onward—leaving behind the ashes of deception, and flying toward the truths hidden deeper in the world.

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