Martial Arts Sainthood Begins with the Tiger-Taming Fist

Chen Mo frowned slightly and cautiously walked around the edge of the large circle.

As he walked, he covered his nose, because the vermilion runes on the ground kept emitting a bloody smell.

"Could it all be human blood...?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder, and goosebumps rose on his arms.

Based on the vermilion rune patterns, he mentally assembled them into a complete image.

"When put together, they vaguely form a crescent moon pattern, and this crescent moon is actually crimson red, making the whole thing look like an array..."

Chen Mo murmured.

"The Black Tiger Gang is just a small gang; there's no reason for them to act so mysteriously. There must be a deeper secret hidden behind this rune..."

"But this matter is none of my concern right now. I should try to get out of here first, and then I'll ask Shen Qi for advice..."

With this in mind, he began searching for an exit by the light of the fire.

When he inadvertently stepped into the center of the "crescent moon pattern," the entire pattern suddenly shone brightly, overshadowing the flames in his palm.

This sudden scene made his hair stand on end, and he immediately tried to use the Luo Yan Step to escape.

However, an extremely powerful force, like a vortex, firmly imprisoned him in the center of the crescent moon pattern.

The crimson runes, carrying the stench of blood, rose straight into the air.

In an instant, the air was filled with an extremely strong stench of blood.

At the same time, the runes resembled scarlet beetles, wriggling and crawling on the ground.

At one moment, all the scarlet beetles crawled toward Chen Mo.

The sounds were rustling and suffocating.

Chen Mo had never seen anything like this before!

Even in his battle with Zhao Huayuan, a master of internal energy, he had never felt this apprehensive.

In desperation, he used every martial art technique and skill he could think of.

Dragon-Capturing Force.

Luo Yanbu.

Tiger-Taming Fist.

Iron Light Skill.

All efforts were in vain; the binding force applied to him showed no sign of loosening.

Time passed slowly, and the nearest scarlet beetles were only inches from his ankles.

At this moment, he had no choice but to fight with all his might.

He concentrated all his energy into the palms of his hands, summoning two blazing flames, and then used the flames to roast the scarlet beetle.

However, the beetles only paused for a few breaths in front of the flames before continuing forward, as if they had become familiar with the temperature of the flames.

The first beetle crawled onto my ankle...

Then came the second one... the third one... the fourth one...

At this final moment, Chen Mo only hoped that the Iron Light could resist for a certain period of time, so he mobilized the energy in his meridians and acupoints and released it completely.

In an instant, the muscles in his chest, abdomen, and arms became knotted and bulging, the veins on his neck stood out, and his acupoints bulged outwards, his whole body was filled with a powerful sense of strength.

At this moment, the scarlet beetle crawled to Chen Mo's waist and stopped.

This change aroused his suspicion.

The beetle is stuck on its abdomen, so what will happen next...?

Just as he was wondering, the first beetle suddenly burrowed into his flesh, and an almost unbearable pain swept through his body.

He couldn't help but let out a shout.

Immediately afterwards, the other beetles also burrowed into their abdominal skin, stopping an inch below the skin and not going any deeper.

Within a short fifteen minutes, all the "scarlet beetles" in the crescent moon pattern crawled onto his body and burrowed into his skin in different places.

Iron Mana Skill was utterly powerless against these scarlet beetles.

As time went on, the pain turned into a tingling sensation, and then into a burning sensation.

As the last beetle sank into his skin, Chen Mo suddenly noticed that the beetles had formed a crescent-shaped pattern on his abdomen, almost identical to the crescent-shaped formation on the ground earlier.

After a while, once the burning sensation subsided, the beetles that had penetrated the skin had turned into a liquid resembling vermilion pigment, seemingly flowing slowly beneath the skin.

"This is... the Crescent Moon Formation actually transferred to me..."

Faintly, Chen Mo sensed that the crescent moon formation beneath his skin contained an extremely powerful, yet also extremely dangerous, aura...

His heart sank immediately.

Although we have escaped this calamity for the time being, do we have to carry this item with us at all times from now on?

But what exactly is this thing? And what is its connection to human sacrifice?

While pondering.

The crescent moon formation on the ground dissipated, the binding force disappeared, and he instantly collapsed to the ground.

He popped another emerald green pill into his mouth, and after a while, his strength gradually returned. Before he knew it, cold sweat had soaked his whole body.

"We need to find a way out..."

He stood up and murmured.

It takes a full incense stick's time to circle around this space, and with the dim lighting, it took Chen Mo two incense sticks' time to explore it once.

On the last section of the stone wall, Chen Mo felt himself touch an iron mechanism and pressed it hard.

With a loud rumble, the stone wall indeed split in two, and light shone through the middle.

The long-awaited sunshine invigorated Chen Mo.

He climbed the upward steps, the sides of which were littered with rubble and ruins. Two large stones partially blocked the exit. He threw a punch, and the two stones shattered with a crash.

Then, he crawled through the exit and stepped onto the ground.

At this moment, Ye Zimou and Chang Hao, who were leading the search for the remaining bandits, saw Chen Mo's figure. At first, they didn't quite believe it, but then they both rubbed their eyes and found that they hadn't seen wrong.

The two rushed over.

"Brother Chen Mo! You're still alive!"

Ye Zimou was so surprised to see Chen Mo actually standing alive in front of him that he couldn't help but shout.

Chang Hao, who was standing to the side, also showed a look of surprise and then said, "I'll go and inform Brother Xie."

After Chang Hao ran off, Chen Mo and Ye Zimou followed slowly behind.

Ye Zimou suddenly remembered something and asked, "I heard that you and Zhao Huayuan fell into the cave together. You came out, but what about Zhao Huayuan?"

"I killed him."

Chen Mo replied calmly.

Upon hearing this, Ye Zimou was greatly shocked.

"What?! Brother Chen killed... Zhao Huayuan?"

Chen Mo nodded and briefly recounted the underground battle, omitting important details such as the Li Huo Xuan Gong (a martial arts technique), only mentioning that he used the Fu Hu Quan (a martial arts technique) to kill his opponent by surprise.

Ye Zimou was stunned. He knew that a master of internal energy was not so easily caught off guard.

He sighed inwardly, thinking that this young man who had only recently become famous was becoming more and more mysterious.

The two had only walked half a mile when Xie Jinyou and Chang Hao came towards them.

Xie Jinyou clasped his hands in a fist salute from afar, and as he approached, he said, "Brother Chen is truly a chosen one! To be in such a predicament and still manage to escape alive... By the way, what about Zhao Huayuan..."

"He was killed by Brother Chen Mo," Ye Zimou said.

Xie Jinyou and Chang Hao were both shocked when they heard this.

Zhao Huayuan was a genuine early-stage Transformation Realm expert, firmly ranking among the top eight in the entire Anyang County, yet Chen Mo was able to kill him despite being of a higher level...

Xie Jinyou suppressed his shock and said, "Lord Shen and the others are still on their way back. The four of us can catch up if we ride fast horses."