This is no old woman — she is clearly a Valkyrie.

Yuejianli Qin turned to look at them. Through the tiny gaps in the gauze, she could see the two people in front of her.

The two of them, however, could not see her face.

“Senior, what’s going on?”

Chen Xuan drew his woodcutter’s knife.

“This woman is also one of the Three Noble Children of the Tengyu Clan.”

Li Hongdou’s expression froze. If this person joined the fight, rescuing Xu Mu would no longer be so simple.

“Don’t worry. I’m only passing through. I’m trapped by the formation and can’t leave for the time being. I’m not your enemy.”

Yuejianli Qin’s tone was calm.

Li Hongdou was only half-convinced, but she had no time to worry about it. In the distance, Xu Mu was still resisting, but each time, his opponent sent him flying.

The difference in their strength was simply too great. If this continued, Xu Mu would certainly die.

Li Hongdou transformed into a streak of light and flew toward Xu Mu.

Boom!

The sky rang out once again as Xu Mu blocked his opponent’s attack with his longsword.

But Susanoo’s terrifying strength still sent Xu Mu flying backward.

Just as Susanoo was about to continue his assault, a massive flaming sword, like a bolt of lightning, arrived before him in an instant.

Susanoo immediately swung the Sword of Ten Fists and severed the flaming sword.

Hovering in midair, he looked toward Li Hongdou, who was floating in the distance as well.

“You old hag, a mere second-tier fighter like you isn’t worthy of forcing me to act! Jiro Kurahashi!”

As Susanoo spoke, the seawater below suddenly exploded.

An old man emerged and appeared high in the air.

When Li Hongdou saw him, she recognized him as one of the two people who had blocked their path when they first entered.

“Lord Susanoo!”

“Leave this old hag to you!”

After saying that, Susanoo flew toward Xu Mu once more.

His body plunged into the seawater, weaving back and forth as he searched for Xu Mu.

Xu Mu was standing on the seabed. He had noticed earlier that after the formation took shape, everyone below had stopped moving.

At first, he had assumed they were trapped by the formation.

But just now, when he used Star Shift to transfer an attack onto someone else, he discovered that person had moved, even though they had ultimately failed to escape.

That had led Xu Mu to a possibility, so he had chosen to remain completely still.

As expected, the formation worked exactly as he had guessed. In this stretch of seawater, moving would cause a person to choke on the water.

But if one remained motionless, one could breathe instead.

Xu Mu was currently hiding inside a building. After altering his cultivation level, he observed Susanoo searching through the water again and again without finding him.

He then came to another conclusion: within the formation, anyone who moved would be discovered first.

That was why everyone had chosen to remain still once the formation activated. It was proof that they were allies.

“Old Chen, how did you get here?”

Xu Mu transmitted his voice to Chen Xuan.

“While searching for you, we ran into the Ghost Clan. They told us that you had come here.”

Xu Mu immediately thought of Gedo Kazuya. He had not expected them to encounter him as well.

He wondered whether this counted as the luck of the protagonist, Chen Xuan.

Xu Mu quickly told Chen Xuan what he had figured out about the formation. But the moment he finished speaking, Susanoo appeared before him.

Susanoo grinned. “Found you!”

Swish!

The longsword in his hand slashed horizontally toward Xu Mu, and a sword aura instantly shot out.

Xu Mu immediately raised his longsword to block.

Boom!

The powerful sword aura drove his body backward. He smashed through the building behind him and continued flying farther away.

While flying backward, Xu Mu used his perception to scan his surroundings and discovered that there were far fewer people nearby.

Before he could use Star Shift, Susanoo once again broke through the sound barrier.

The enormous friction between his body and the seawater caused the surrounding temperature to rise sharply.

The seawater evaporated on the spot, transforming into vast quantities of white vapor.

In the blink of an eye, Susanoo appeared before Xu Mu once more. The sword aura he had unleashed earlier had yet to dissipate.

Buzz!

Just as Susanoo was preparing to attack again, he realized that he had switched positions with Xu Mu once more.

The sword aura that had originally been aimed at Xu Mu was now flying toward Susanoo instead.

Susanoo immediately swung the Sword of Ten Fists and sliced the sword aura apart.

Xu Mu used Cloud Step and had already left the seawater, charging outward once again.

This couldn’t continue. He needed to find a relatively enclosed place and set off a firework for Susanoo.

With Susanoo constantly chasing and attacking him, Xu Mu did not even have time to figure out how to break the formation.

When he emerged from the seawater, Xu Mu looked toward the sky in disbelief.

Li Hongdou’s body was completely covered in red flames, transforming into a suit of fiery-red armor.

Her right hand gripped a flaming longsword nearly five feet long.

In her left hand was a black, broad-bladed short sword. It was only about a foot and a half long, but the blade was a full eight inches wide.

When Xu Mu looked up at the sky, he discovered that the battle had already ended.

The third-tier old man’s body had been cut in half at the waist.

Xu Mu’s eyes widened. He was not shocked that Li Hongdou had killed a third-tier expert.

After all, she herself possessed second-tier strength. Ji Liang had specifically sent her here to provide protection, which meant he clearly acknowledged her abilities.

What shocked Xu Mu was the fiery armor she wore. The front of it had two enormous curves.

They seemed almost comparable to Nalan Shisan’s.

That figure was completely inconsistent with Li Hongdou’s actual body shape. The armor must have been hollow inside.

At that moment, Susanoo burst out of the seawater. He looked up at the two halves of Jiro Kurahashi’s body as they fell from the sky.

Rage surged straight into his mind.

“Kurahashi!”

Swish!

A fiery figure shot toward Susanoo and arrived before him.

It was Li Hongdou.

Boom!

The flaming longsword in her hand collided with Susanoo’s Sword of Ten Fists.

Red and blue energies clashed against each other, and the resulting shockwave formed a spherical wave of force that continued spreading in every direction.

Even Xu Mu was sent flying by the impact.

“You’re asking for death!”

Susanoo’s eyes bulged with fury. Suddenly, violent winds erupted from around his body.

The gale transformed into a tornado and swallowed Li Hongdou whole.

Swish, swish, swish…

Countless flaming slashes shot out from within the storm.

Whoosh!

Li Hongdou’s figure also burst out of the tornado, continuing her battle with Susanoo.

She wielded one long sword and one short sword. Her speed was so great that afterimages appeared everywhere, and every attack was exceptionally fierce.

Each clash between the two caused the seawater throughout the ruins to churn violently.

Xu Mu was utterly stunned. How could this be an old woman?

She was clearly a Valkyrie.

Lin Ruoshi and Nalan Shisan also emerged from the seawater below and came over to Xu Mu.

“We need to leave!”

Xu Mu brought the two of them toward Chen Xuan.

“Brother Mu! Senior Hongdou is incredible!”

Chen Xuan was deeply shocked when he saw Xu Mu.

“She really is incredible—in every possible way.”

Xu Mu shifted his gaze to Yuejianli Qin.

“Where’s the exit from the formation? As long as you let us leave, I’ll solve your qi problem.”

“Then you’ve asked the wrong person. I don’t know either.”

Yuejianli Qin shook her head before continuing, “You need to be careful. Susanoo hasn’t shown you everything yet.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a dazzling blue light erupted in the distant sky.

Vast quantities of seawater surged toward Susanoo.

Seeing this, Xu Mu turned to the people beside him.

“Looks like I’ll have to step in.”