Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Chapter 153

The main residence of the Mu family, Cuiwei Pavilion.

Mu Lao Er strode into the courtyard, the bloodstains on his cleaver already dried to a dark brown.

In the courtyard, a dozen large wooden crates were lined up, their lids open, letting out a biting chill.

Mu Chenyuan stood in front of the wooden box, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

"The Qin family's Xuan Yin Cold Iron." Mu Lao Er took a big gulp of cold tea, wiped his mouth, and said, "It weighs about a hundred catties and is of excellent quality."

"Brother, with this batch of goods, plus what we've gathered from our warehouse, it should be worth about 100,000 taels of gold."

"Foolish!" Mu Chenyuan whirled around and slammed his hand on the table. "The Xuan Yin Cold Iron is inanimate! Apart from the pirates of Shengzhou and the madmen who rebelled in Ningzhou, who in Yongzhou could swallow so much of it all at once? Ten thousand taels of gold, in three days, where do you plan to turn these lumps of iron into cash?"

Mu Lao Er was stunned: "This—what do we do? We can't just wait for that guy from Canglu Mountain to come down and slaughter the whole family!"

"Not only that." Mu Chenyuan's triangular eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a chilling light. "That old bastard Qin Wang'an has been cunning his whole life. Do you think you can fool him by wearing a mask? He's probably already sent people to the Gu family. Once the Qin and Gu families join forces, the Mu family will be attacked from both sides!"

The courtyard fell into a deathly silence.

The veins on the back of Mu Lao Er's hand, which was gripping the knife hilt, bulged, but he couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Just then, Mu Yunchuan strode over from the corridor.

He glanced at the cold iron in the courtyard, then at his furious father, took a deep breath, and knelt down in front of Mu Chenyuan with a thud.

"Father, Second Uncle. Now that things have come to this, I have a way that might save the Mu family from annihilation."

Mu Chenyuan stared coldly at his eldest son: "Speak."

Mu Yunchuan carefully took out a roll of thin silk from his bosom and presented it with both hands: "Father, when the Living Immortal gave me the array diagram of the Mushroom Valley two years ago, I kept a close eye on things and secretly made a complete copy of the base map."

Mu Chenyuan snatched the thin silk and unfolded it to take a look.

The top is marked with seventeen red dots, one of which is the mushroom valley that has been destroyed.

"Fungus Valley is just a small node on the outermost edge." Mu Yunchuan swallowed hard, pointing to a huge red circle deeper into the forest on the array diagram. "Here, fifty miles south, at the edge of the Corpse Forest. The array diagram marks that the earth's energy here is ten times denser than in Fungus Valley. If we bring a spare bronze cauldron and guiding stone discs, and go here to draw energy—"

"We can condense at least dozens of earth vein crystals in a single day!" Mu Yunchuan raised his head, his eyes burning with fervor. "What this living god wants are crystals. As long as we produce far more than he expects, we can not only quell his anger, but we can even beg him to take action and destroy the Qin and Gu families for us!"

Mu Lao Er gasped, "The Forest of Withered Bones? We have to venture deep into the heart of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest! The elders said that a giant toad, the size of a house, dwells there; it's the territory of a true Inner Strength Realm or even Opening Aperture Realm beast! Setting up an array there is practically suicide!"

What's the difference?

"Second Uncle, we're going to die either way!" Mu Yunchuan's eyes were red-rimmed, his acting perfectly convincing. "A violent death at the hands of the Qin family, or being wiped out by a living god? Now we have to take a gamble! As long as we avoid that giant toad's nest and finish the battle quickly at the edge, we might still succeed!"

Mu Chenyuan stared intently at the red circle on the array diagram, his knuckles turning white from gripping it so tightly.

He was a suspicious man, but when faced with an absolute life-or-death crisis, he was also a gambler who dared to bet everything.

He couldn't afford to lose the legacy built by six generations.

"Second brother." Mu Chenyuan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was only resolute ruthlessness in his eyes. "Go to the secluded cave in the back mountain and ask Guest Elder Lin and Guest Elder Zhao to come out of seclusion."

Mu Lao Er was startled.

These two are late-stage Inner Strength Realm experts whom the Mu family has been supporting for ten years at great expense; they are the Mu family's true trump cards.

"Take all the elites of the Enforcement Hall above the Bone Forging Realm and go to the storeroom to retrieve the spare array plates and bronze cauldrons," Mu Chenyuan said, enunciating each word clearly. "Yun Chuan, you personally lead the way. Once you have the crystals, send them to Heron Mountain immediately!"

"Yes!" A barely perceptible cold glint flashed in Mu Yunchuan's lowered eyes.

At the edge of the Forest of Ten Thousand Poisons and the Forest of Withered Bones.

The towering black trees, like the claws of demons, pierce the sky.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of grayish-white bones, which made a teeth-grinding cracking sound when stepped on.

The miasma here has been largely dispelled by some unseen force, replaced by an extremely oppressive and stifling atmosphere.

Xu Hao sat cross-legged on a thick horizontal log, with the Devourer lying flat on his lap. The dark golden patterns seemed to flow slowly in the dark forest as if they were alive.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the LV2 blessed land scroll clearly reflected the activity within a radius of a hundred miles.

To the northwest, a line of more than thirty extremely bright spots of light were cutting into the Myriad Poison Forest at an extremely fast speed, heading straight for the Withered Bones Forest.

The three leading points of light were brimming with vitality, clearly representing three experts at the Inner Strength Realm.

"Mu Yunchuan is quite efficient; he's revealed all of the Mu family's assets." Xu Hao's lips curled into a cold smile.

He specifically chose the location of the withered forest on the array diagram.

This place is not only far from the true core nest of that half-step Tongqiao realm giant toad, but also has a low-lying terrain, making it a natural pocket formation.

Most importantly, underground here lies a main ley line that he had just repaired and channeled through the secondary nail array.

Xu Hao stood up, lightly touched the crossbeam with his toes, and silently disappeared into the shadow of the tree canopy above.

Half an hour later.

A rapid rustling sound broke the deathly silence of the withered forest.

Mu Lao Er led the way, carrying a horse-slaying saber with a few drops of green poisonous blood still clinging to its blade—they had already killed two groups of low-level beasts along the way.

Following behind him were two elderly men in gray robes, their breathing deep and their steps light; they were none other than Lin and Zhao, the two guest elders of the Mu family.

Further behind were Mu Yunchuan and thirty elite members of the Enforcement Hall carrying heavy wooden boxes.

"This is it." Mu Yunchuan stopped and pointed to an open space surrounded by huge skeletons. "The main node marked on the array diagram is in the center of this open space."

Lin Keqing looked around, his brows furrowing slightly: "The miasma here is thinner than in the outer areas, but I always feel—there is a chilling power underground."

"Of course, it's the location of the main ley line, so the aura is naturally extraordinary." Mu Yunchuan suppressed his nervousness and urged, "Second Uncle, seniors, hurry up and set up the formation. Staying in this hellish place for even a moment longer could lead to unforeseen changes."

Mu Lao Er waved his hand: "Get to work! Dig the well, lower the cauldron!"

Thirty elite soldiers immediately put down the wooden crates, took out specially made tools, and began frantically digging in the center of the open space.

They were all martial artists with immense strength, and in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a vertical well ten feet deep was completed.

The spare bronze tripod and guiding stone disc were quickly placed in place.

"Yun Chuan, activate the formation." Mu Lao Er gripped his saber tightly, warily watching the surrounding darkness.

Mu Yunchuan walked to the edge of the shaft, bit his fingertip, and dripped his blood into the main control array plate.

The array disc glowed faintly, and the underground guiding stone disc began to operate, attempting to forcibly draw power from the main vein of the earth.

However, the next moment.

A sudden change occurred.

The earth's essence that should have flowed into the bronze cauldron along the stone disc did not appear.

Instead, a deep, muffled rumble came from the depths of the earth.

"What's going on?!" Lin Keqing's expression changed drastically as he felt the ground beneath his feet trembling violently.

Mu Yunchuan staggered backward, his face pale: "I—I don't know! The formation was set up according to the diagram!"

In the shade of the tree canopy, Xu Hao looked down at the Mu family elites in disarray below, slowly raised his left hand, and snapped his fingers.

"Drain my earth veins? I'll give you something special."

With his will, the power of the blessed land was activated with a roar.

The extremely cold evil energy that had been suppressed deep within the secondary nail formation surged upwards through the vertical shaft that the Mu family had dug themselves!

boom!

A jet-black beam of malevolent energy shot out from the vertical shaft, soaring ten feet into the sky.

The first few elite members of the Mu family were frozen into ice sculptures by the extreme cold aura before they could even scream. Then, they shattered into ice shards all over the ground in the violent airflow.

"Retreat! Retreat now!" Old Mu roared, his eyes bloodshot.

But it was too late.

Xu Hao leaped down from the treetop.

The man was in mid-air when the Devourer was unsheathed.

The dark golden blade light, like lightning tearing through the night, carried a terrifying pressure covering an area of ​​ten zhang, and crashed directly into the center of the Mu family's elite formation.

"The Abyss!"

Within a radius of ten zhang, gravity increased dramatically.

Thirty elite warriors at the Bone Forging and Tendon Changing stages were all forced to the ground, the sound of bones shattering filling the air.

Lin Keqing and Zhao Keqing roared, unleashing their full inner strength and mid-stage inner power, attempting to join forces to resist the mysterious person who had descended from the sky.

"Ants."

Xu Hao's cold voice rang in their ears.

The dark gold blade swept across without any fancy moves.

Completely destroying everything in its path.

Two fine heads shot into the sky, their inner strength and inner power as fragile as a thin sheet of paper in front of the Devouring Abyss.

Mu Lao Er stood there dumbfounded, holding his sword, staring at the scene before him that resembled a battlefield of carnage, completely frozen in place.

Xu Hao, carrying a knife in one hand, slowly walked up to Mu Lao Er, stepping on the ice shards and blood on the ground.

There was not a trace of warmth in his dark golden eyes.

"Is the Qin family's Cold Iron any good?"

Mu Lao Er did not answer.

It's not that I don't want to answer, it's that I can't bring myself to open my mouth.

The weapon's special ability, "Abyss," continues to operate within a ten-zhang radius.

His vital energy was as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, and he couldn't even move his fingers.

The saber slipped from his stiff fingers, striking the broken bones with a dull thud.

Xu Hao stood in front of him, looking at him with the eyes of someone looking at a dead man.

"I'm asking you a question."

Mu Lao Er's knees snapped violently. Not from kneeling, but from being crushed by the immense pressure, which broke his kneecap.

"ah"

Screams echoed through the forest of withered bones.

The ashes scattered on the ground were shaken by the sound waves, causing a layer of white mist to rise.

Among the Mu family elites lying on the ground around them, there were still seven or eight who were not quite dead and were struggling to breathe.

Hearing Mu Lao Er's screams, the remaining men completely gave up any thought of resistance and even swallowed their groans.

Mu Yunchuan stood twenty paces away, his expression perfectly balanced—seven parts fear and three parts shock.

He was the first to retreat the moment the evil energy surged back, retreating swiftly and cleanly, thus avoiding the most powerful impact.

It wasn't desertion.

It was known in advance that something bad would happen.

Xu Hao had given him a message: Once you get there, retreat as far away as possible.

Mu Lao Er knelt on the ground, his knees and below twisted into an abnormal angle.

He tilted his head back, his face contorted with pain, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Xu Hao.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Xu Hao didn't reply, but simply picked up the Devouring Abyss and pressed the tip of the blade against Mu Lao Er's jawbone.

"You know more about the secret agents, properties, and treasuries that the Mu family has operated in Yongzhou over six generations than Mu Yunchuan does. Tell me one thing I don't know, and I'll live another quarter of an hour."

Mu Lao Er's eyeballs rolled violently in their sockets.

He saw the ground littered with severed limbs and broken ice, the headless corpses of the two guest ministers, and the bronze cauldron that Xu Hao had ruined by infusing with the earth's evil energy.

Even if you kill me—the Mu family will not.

He hadn't finished speaking.

The blade of the Abyss shifted half an inch.

Mu Lao Er's left ear fell to the ground.

The cut was clean, and the blade didn't even make a sound.

"I'll ask again."

Blood gushed from Mu Lao Er's earlobe, flowing down his neck and into his collar.

His pale face twitched a few times before he finally spoke.

"The Mu family—in the south of Yongzhou City—has an underground armory—three zhang below Mingcui Tower—containing the original martial arts manuals and alchemy formulas collected by six generations—I saw Mu Chenyuan put the key in a secret compartment in his study—"

"Anything else?"

"The Mu family has been secretly dealing with the rebel leaders in Ningzhou—this year they smuggled 30,000 catties of medicinal herbs into Ningzhou—in exchange for weapons and horses—only my elder brother and I know about this line of work."

Mu Yunchuan stood at a distance, his ears perked up.

The Ningzhou rebels? He had never heard of this line of events.

Mu Lao Er intermittently revealed seven or eight secrets.

From the drug mines that the Mu family secretly kept on the border of Zezhou, to the bribery list with the government and the Surveillance Bureau, to the old case of Mu Chenyuan's massacre of his family in the Southern Wilderness when he was young.

Each and every one of them is a handle that could cost the Mu family their lives.

People are especially honest when they are about to die.

"Are you done talking?"

Mu Lao Er gurgled in his throat: "I'm done talking—you, you let me have a Devouring Abyss Slash."

The head flew three zhang (approximately 10 meters) and rolled twice in the pile of bones before coming to a stop.

Mu Lao Er's headless body fell forward.

Xu Hao wiped the blood off the blade and turned to look at Mu Yunchuan.

Mu Yunchuan immediately knelt down with a thud: "Your subordinate is here!"

They reacted quickly.

"Go and retrieve the key to the underground armory that your second uncle gave you." Xu Hao's voice was devoid of emotion. "Deliver it to the backyard of Jishetang within three days."

"yes!"

"And another thing," Xu Hao said, walking up to Mu Yunchuan and looking down at him, "Mu the Second is dead, and so are the two guest elders. The Mu family's military strength has been reduced by more than half. Guess what your father needs most right now?"

Mu Yunchuan swallowed.

"need--

—A person who can stabilize the situation.

"You're very smart." Xu Hao patted his shoulder, the force just right, causing Mu Yunchuan's knees to sink down another half inch. "I won't teach you what to say when we get back. But there's one thing I need to know: Mu Chenyuan sent someone to plant even a single blade of grass in the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest."

Mu Yunchuan pressed his forehead to the ground, his voice firm: "This subordinate understands."

Xu Hao stopped looking at him.

He walked to the edge of the shaft and peered inside.

The bronze cauldron, which had been infused with the evil energy of the earth's veins, was completely ruined, its entire body covered with black, frozen cracks.

However, several of the guiding stone discs are still well preserved.

These stone discs are engraved with simplified guide patterns.

He put all the intact stone discs into the Sumeru Warehouse, and also took the broken bronze tripod fragments with him.

He glanced at the ground one last time.

Thirty-six corpses.

Two were at the Inner Strength Realm, one was at the peak of the Tendon Changing Realm, and more than thirty were at the Bone Forging Realm and Tendon Changing Realm.

The Mu family has more than half of its fighting force.

Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, Deep Pit Camp.

Xu Hao sat cross-legged above the secondary nail seal.

The scroll of the blessed land in the sea of ​​consciousness slowly unfolded.

His attention was not on the chaos in Yongzhou—the game was already on track, and he no longer needed to make any moves himself.

He was staring at the southernmost part of the scroll.

A layer of metal buried two hundred feet underground.

The level 2 blessed land perception is insufficient, and the patterns are not clearly visible.

However, after repairing the secondary nail, he inadvertently triggered a very brief deep resonance.

The feedback wave of the resonance passed through the two-hundred-foot-long rock layer, bounced off the surface of this metal layer, and returned.

The information returned was minimal.

There is only one word.

"Soldier".

Xu Hao looked down at the faint dark gold patterns next to the words "Shi Yuan" on the Shi Yuan Blade.

Is the metal plate deep within the painting the same as the Devouring Abyss?

The missing clue in the corner of the scroll reappeared, this time with two more words.

[Ancient—Soldier—Tomb.]

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