The Person Behind the Scenes Appears

“Sorry. This is pretty much a bodily instinct. I tried my best to look away, but I still couldn’t help myself.”

Xu Mu wasn’t lying. He picked up the clothes from the floor and tossed them to the women in front of him.

Each of them took her clothes and used them to cover her body. With silver needles still stuck in them, putting their clothes back on wasn’t very convenient.

“What exactly is going on?”

Bai Shanh u first covered her legs with her clothes before turning to Xu Mu.

“I’m not entirely sure, but the formation controlling you is strange. It’s different from traditional formations. It seems more like a combination of a formation and a cultivation technique,” Xu Mu explained. “Simply put, this isn’t an illusion formation, and it has nothing to do with your mental strength. It’s a formation that controls the muscles in your bodies.”

“I understand. In other words, your physique is much stronger, so the formation couldn’t control you.”

Yong Tan pondered for a moment before speaking.

“That’s probably the reason. But this matter isn’t that simple.”

Xu Mu walked back toward Yong Tan. “Since it isn’t an illusion formation, but one focused on controlling the body, why did it control your vocal cords and make you call me ‘husband’?”

“Wasn’t that something you admitted yourself earlier?”

Yong Tan glared at him irritably.

“Brother Xu Mu, I think I understand what you mean. Are you saying that someone behind the scenes has been watching us all along?”

Su Yuewei suddenly grew solemn.

“Exactly. That person behind the scenes heard our conversation, so everything you said was being manipulated by them.”

Xu Mu thought for a moment before continuing.

After all, he had already seen quite a few enormous secret realms and battlefields of the gods.

Not all of them were necessarily filled with the dead.

For example, there had been the person Xu Mu encountered who tried to seize his body.

Although that person’s physical body was gone, their soul had attached itself to a formation.

The expressions of the three women turned extremely ugly.

In other words, there was still someone deep within this battlefield of the gods. That also meant there probably weren’t any treasures here—the treasures might have already been taken by that person.

“All right. Next, I’ll examine your bodies.”

As he spoke, Xu Mu removed the silver needles from Yong Tan’s body.

The formation relied on the qi within their bodies to operate. He wanted to see whether it would dissipate completely once their qi vanished.

If the formation reappeared as soon as their qi recovered, things would become troublesome.

As Yong Tan’s qi slowly returned, the formation from earlier did not reappear. Only then did Xu Mu breathe a sigh of relief.

“Looks like it worked.”

Xu Mu removed the silver needles from the other two as well. “You can get dressed now.”

Yong Tan and Bai Shanh u both looked somewhat embarrassed.

Su Yuewei, on the other hand, joked, “Regret it? That was quite a good opportunity just now.”

“I have a wife.”

Xu Mu’s expression turned serious.

“Men like you really do exist in this world? Or is it that you simply don’t find us attractive? After all, you’re a descendant of Yan and Huang. There are indeed quite a few people who look down on so-called foreigners like us.”

As she spoke, Su Yuewei glanced at Bai Shanh u. “But that doesn’t seem right either. This little sister from the White Tiger Clan looks almost exactly like you humans, aside from her eye color.”

For some reason, Bai Shanh u also wanted to know the answer.

In any case, she was considered a beauty even within the White Tiger Clan.

Not only had the young talents of the White Tiger Clan pursued her, but outstanding young men from the Vermilion Bird Clan had also courted her—only to be rejected in the end.

Could it be that she simply wasn’t Xu Mu’s type?

“You don’t need to worry about that. But if you insist on an explanation, then I’d say you’re too small.”

Xu Mu gestured with his hands. “My father told me from a young age: bigger is better, and better means bigger!”

Of course, that definitely wasn’t the real reason.

Still, among the three women before him, only Su Yuewei was reasonably attractive.

But compared to Xu Ningbing, Fu Jinyu, and the others, they were still lacking.

If the three women before him really possessed figures on that level, the impact would have been much greater when they threw themselves at him.

“Tch! How vulgar!”

Yong Tan curled her lips. “What’s so good about being that big? It’s not convenient at all when fighting.”

“Exactly.”

For once, Bai Shanh u actually agreed with Yong Tan.

“Let’s go.”

Now that Xu Mu knew how to resolve the problem, he left the room, intending to remove the formation from Chen Xuan as well.

However, just as he reached the door, he noticed Chen Xuan suddenly move.

Chen Xuan left the room and quickly ran toward the distant palace.

Xu Mu hesitated for a moment, but chose to follow.

Logically speaking, Chen Xuan should be fine. Even so, Xu Mu still had to keep up with him.

“This place is extremely sinister. I can’t protect you forever. If you’re not afraid of dying, then follow me.”

After saying this, Xu Mu opened the door and ran toward the golden palace.

“Xu Mu, aren’t you going to take care of your friend?”

Bai Shanh u called after him. She didn’t know that Chen Xuan had already left.

“Don’t ask so many questions.”

Xu Mu kept Chen Xuan within the range of his perception the entire time.

At last, Xu Mu followed him all the way to the golden palace. Through his perception, he discovered that the guards outside the palace seemed to be nonexistent, standing completely motionless.

The moment Chen Xuan entered the golden palace, he vanished from Xu Mu’s perception.

Xu Mu immediately followed. When the group reached the palace, they found the guards charging straight at him.

This further confirmed that there was indeed a hidden hand controlling the formation from behind the scenes.

Xu Mu immediately rushed into the palace.

Once again, he found himself on a vast stone-paved road, as if he had returned to the place where everything had begun.

But this time, things were different.

Xu Mu looked at the shattered stone road and crouched down to feel it. This seemed to be a real place.

“Xu Mu, look!”

Bai Shanh u suddenly pointed into the distance.

Xu Mu saw weathered skeletons lying in the cracks between the stone slabs.

Based on this single detail, Xu Mu determined that this place was real.

Just then, Xu Mu raised his head and looked toward Chen Xuan, who stood on the steps in the distance.

“Old Chen, what are you doing? Hurry up and come down!”

Xu Mu shouted at him.

“You really aren’t a man. I offered all three of those women to you, and you still wouldn’t take them.”

Chen Xuan spoke in a flat tone, and the voice was still unmistakably his.

But Xu Mu knew that the person speaking was the one controlling Chen Xuan.

“I have no connection with you. Why would you offer those three women to me?”

Xu Mu walked toward Chen Xuan one step at a time.

Chen Xuan, however, retreated step by step, moving up the higher stairs. “I advise you to stay right where you are. If you take another step, I’ll tear off one of your brother’s arms first.”

Only then did Xu Mu stop.

He considered whether he should take the risk.

Logically speaking, Chen Xuan was a protagonist. He certainly shouldn’t die here.

But protagonists with severed arms weren’t unheard of. What if Chen Xuan really did lose one?

“Who exactly are you? What do you want?”

Xu Mu raised his head and demanded an answer.

“My goal is simple. This is my home, and I want you all to get out.”

Chen Xuan continued, “Fine. I agree. Since there’s a living person here, there probably aren’t any treasures anyway.”

Xu Mu smiled and said, “Let him go, and we’ll leave right now.”

“You go first. Then I’ll let him go!”

Chen Xuan said coldly.