Run Brother Mu is about to launch a nuclear bomb.

“Immortal Gu, Demon Iron Armor—there’s no offensive Gu involved, yet the defense is extraordinarily formidable. Chi Ting’s Gu cultivation talent is exceptional; he must have further enhanced his Gu’s defense, enough to withstand the relentless tearing of the air and intense heat generated at speeds surpassing the sound barrier.”

Li Chenshuang looked up toward the heights and said.

“Then Xu Mu must be in danger,” Xianling Nan said grimly, even though Xu Mu kept switching positions with others using his cultivation technique.

But because Chi Ting was too fast, he still managed to land punches on him from time to time.

Given the full-force attacks, it was already impressive that Xu Mu had held on this long.

“Don’t worry. Haven’t you noticed that our enemies are decreasing in number?” Chen Xuan glanced up at Xu Mu flashing across the sky and smiled faintly.

After his reminder, Xianling Nan realized that several commanding-level experts had already fallen.

Only four commanders remained alive: Lao Jiexiang, Canlang Bao, Shao Tian, and one commander who was only at the third rank.

On their side, Xianling Qi and Pang Xun were both still alive and well.

However, as more people died around them, these commanders feared getting too close to Xu Mu and scattered, fleeing toward the distance.

Xu Mu, realizing he couldn’t catch the remaining commanders, had to initiate the next plan.

“Everyone, enter the ruins!”

He shouted loudly.

Afterward, he flew toward the ruins’ location.

Chen Xuan quickly said, “Let’s move!”

Xianling Nan followed closely behind.

Li Chenshuang first took control of two corpses and sent them into the ruins before following herself.

Xianling Qi and Pang Xun exchanged a glance and immediately flew into the ruins as well.

“Damn it! We can’t let them escape!” Lao Jiexiang shouted, ordering a relentless pursuit.

It was because of scoundrels like Xianling Qi that he had lost so many commanders—there was no way he would let them get away.

All four commanders gave chase, with Lao Jiexiang and Canlang Bao taking the lead.

Then came Shao Tian, a fourth-rank expert.

But the last third-rank commander didn’t enter; he immediately ran off in another direction.

He had always been a fence-sitter. Seeing so many commanders fall this time, surviving this long as a third-rank was already lucky enough.

He wasn’t about to gamble his luck by going in now.

Whoosh!

Xu Mu’s figure shot down like a cannonball from the sky.

The earth suddenly gave way, forming a large crater as countless clods of earth scattered in all directions.

Xu Mu immediately stood up from the crater, wiping the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, then turned and ran toward the ruins’ entrance.

Chi Ting cursed under his breath, “What the hell is going on?”

He had used full power—one strike was enough to destroy anyone below the third rank of boundary-breaking.

Yet, after several punches landed on Xu Mu, he only spat some blood.

This made no sense.

However, since Xu Mu was bleeding, it meant he was injured.

With that in mind, Chi Ting accelerated and charged into the ruins.

As soon as he entered the junction between the inner and outer worlds, his eyes suddenly widened.

He had passed through here before, but the terrain was completely different.

The surroundings were clearly forested mountains, but now, it looked more like an ancient town.

In the distance, the buildings were all made of stone, and the road beneath their feet was paved with stone slabs.

“Illusion Array!”

Chi Ting sneered coldly as he took in the scene. “Xu Mu, a mere illusion array like this, and you still want to take me down?”

His hand pressed against his face, and the black battle helmet slowly faded away, revealing his gaunt visage.

At that moment, a faint pink aura once again emerged from his body.

The aura gathered on both sides of his cheeks.

Finally, it transformed into two pink, winged insects.

The insects slowly merged into the sides of his face.

Swish, swish!

Suddenly, two pink eyes appeared on his cheeks.

These eyes looked like fried eggs—not growing out of his cheeks, but rather stuck onto them.

Like crawling insects, the two eyes moved: one climbed up to his ear, the other to the back of his neck.

The pink pupils continuously scanned the surroundings.

Just then, Chi Ting abruptly stopped. All four eyes on his face locked onto the figure ahead.

There stood a tall figure, a tribe elder of the Jiuli people who bore some resemblance to Chi Ting.

However, while Chi Ting had short silver hair, the elder’s hair was long and silver.

Unlike Chi Ting’s gaunt, skull-like cheeks, the elder’s face was somewhat plump.

“Heh! The Phantom Dream Soul Weaving Array. Looks like the top array master from the Sanitation Department is making a move.”

Chi Ting sneered, “They even dragged out my big brother, Chi Ji.”

Hidden in the distance, Xu Mu’s heart was shaken. He hadn’t expected Chi Ting to be so formidable, able to identify the array at a glance.

He recalled how before, Chi Ting was utterly defeated by Shen Tu Wan.

Xu Mu had thought the old man was just good at controlling corpses, with a high realm but weak actual combat power.

Turns out he had misjudged.

However, only within this array did Xu Mu have a chance to defeat him.

Drawing his long sword, Xu Mu crept closer to Chi Ting. Suddenly, one of the eyes appeared at the back of Chi Ting’s head, fixating on Xu Mu.

Chi Ting immediately turned, aiming a red spear attack in Xu Mu’s direction.

Xu Mu dodged swiftly, inwardly alarmed. At present, he was outside the array, not entering Chi Ting’s dreamscape, meaning Chi Ting couldn’t see him at all.

Yet, with the help of the bugs, Xu Mu could somehow sense his own presence.

However, he seemed only able to perceive human fluctuations, unable to fully fade into the illusion, nor break free from it.

“Xu Mu, stop hiding. If you’ve got the guts, come out and fight.”

Chi Ting looked around and shouted.

Xu Mu snorted coldly. This wasn’t going to work. It seemed he had no choice but to switch tactics and enter his “Overlord” mode.

Ignoring Chi Ting, he moved rapidly within the array, finally finding Chen Xuan and the others.

“Brother Mu, this array is seriously powerful. I even saw senior sister,” Chen Xuan smiled at Xu Mu.

“Quick, let’s get out of this array,” Xu Mu said to the group around him.

“Little brother, what about Chi Ting?” Li Chenshuang asked from the side.

“I’ve only got one move for now. If it doesn’t work, then we run,” Xu Mu replied.

Xu Mu spoke softly, "This old guy is pretty strong. I underestimated him before."

As he spoke, Xu Mu led the group away from the formation.

He said to the others, "You all try to run deeper into the ruins."

Ling Qi, curious, asked, "What are you planning to do? You know besides Chi Ting, there are two other fifth-tier experts."

"Run. That's what I'm doing."

Xu Mu glanced at Chen Xuan and said, "Old Chen, remember to take out the formation transfer."

"I know."

Chen Xuan nodded.

Xu Mu stepped back into the formation and vanished from their sight.

"Let's move quickly. Brother Mu is about to drop the nuke."

Chen Xuan roughly guessed what Xu Mu was about to unleash and hurried toward the depths.

Though puzzled, the others followed closely behind him.

Xu Mu returned to Chi Ting's side and suddenly unleashed his power to the extreme. A blood-red energy shot straight into the sky, then instantly compressed.

This time, he mobilized all the fire-elemental power within him; it was his first time doing so.

All that power was compressed into a fireball no bigger than a ping-pong ball.

But he still felt it wasn’t enough—the gap between them was just too wide.

Boom!

A pitch-black energy burst from Xu Mu's body, compressing again into a small black sphere.

"First time using this power. Make it count."

Xu Mu hurled the two spheres—one red, one black—toward Chi Ting.

He quickly pressed his hand to the ground, and just as the two spheres were about to hit Chi Ting, he immediately dispelled the illusionary formation.

Chi Ting noticed the surroundings returning to normal and looked around, only to find the two spheres already in front of him.