Paradise and Hell

Xu Mu glanced at Yang Lielan and asked curiously, "Sister, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Yang Lielan quickly shook her head.

Xu Mu continued carving on Chen Xuan's hand, and meanwhile took out a transfer token and handed it to Chen Xuan.

"By the way, Old Chen, take out your phone and snap a photo."

Xu Mu opened his storage space and took out the photo Ji Liang had given him.

The woman in the picture wore a simple casual dress, her jet-black hair tied into a single ponytail that reached all the way down to her rear. The bangs on both sides of her face were also very long, reaching her shoulders, and her eyes were extremely deep.

Judging from her appearance alone, she looked at most thirty years old.

Chen Xuan took out his phone and snapped a picture. "Done. Long hair, easy to remember."

Xu Mu nodded, put the photo away as well, and said, "Let's move out."

The group began climbing the rocky mountain peak before them. The place was bare, with not a speck of green anywhere around.

They quickly reached the summit and gazed into the distance.

Still rocks—rocks of all shapes and sizes. Not even a single tree, let alone a blade of grass.

"This world really is desolate."

Xu Mu stepped forward a few paces, then suddenly froze in place.

"What's wrong, Brother Mu?"

Chen Xuan took a step forward and also stopped in his tracks. "This should be a formation, right?"

"That's right. No wonder Senior Ji Liang said that even a celestial who has surpassed the ninth rank would fall for this formation."

Xu Mu smiled and raised his hand. "It really is formidable."

"What do you mean? Is there something special about this formation?"

Yang Lielan stepped in and asked.

"A formation is all about stability and balance," Xu Mu explained. "If one part is strong, then there has to be a part that's weak somewhere else."

He casually carved a rune, and a rectangular golden shield materialized upright in front of him. This was the only formation he had drawn from the lottery yesterday.

"This formation is extremely powerful. The defense it produces is five or six times stronger than the defensive power of your own qi. Because it's so strong, even ninth-rank formation masters typically use this fifth-rank formation when defending."

Xu Mu walked to the front of the shield and stabbed it repeatedly with a dagger. The golden shield didn't budge an inch.

"But no matter how strong the front is, the back has to be that much weaker. If balance isn't maintained, the formation can't exist."

As he spoke, he walked to the back of the golden shield, and with just one finger, he jabbed hard.

The golden shield shattered into fragmented runes and broke apart on the spot.

"Brother Mu, I get what you mean now. This Heaven-class formation is an open-area formation," Chen Xuan said as he stepped back out of the formation, then stepped back in. "Smaller formations tend to trap people inside, but this Heaven-class formation doesn't. That proves it has given up that aspect."

"Exactly. You got it in one. Since the formation gives that up, it must have a correspondingly more powerful ability in exchange."

Xu Mu spread out his perception. "Let's go."

Rumble!

Not long after they set off, a battle broke out down below. But the distance was too far, and Xu Mu's perception couldn't reach that far, so they could only continue moving forward at great speed.

"Watch out."

Xu Mu said to the two people beside him.

Through his perception, he spotted two black-robed figures hiding behind a stone forest not far away. They were either fighting each other or preparing to ambush others.

Boom!

Suddenly, one of the black-robed figures lunged toward Xu Mu's group.

Seeing this, Yang Lielan immediately pulled out her crimson-tasseled spear.

She gripped the spear with both hands and leaped toward the black-robed figure.

Just then, another black-robed figure flew toward Xu Mu from another direction.

"Brother Mu, I bet they're here for you," Chen Xuan said as he pulled out a cleaver from his person. "Mountain Cleaver!"

Buzz!

A massive axe phantom slashed toward the incoming black-robed figure.

The black-robed figure flickered through the sky, dodging Chen Xuan's strike.

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, Chen Xuan's giant axe slammed into the rocky ground.

To Xu Mu and Chen Xuan's surprise, the rocks below didn't crack at all.

Just as Xu Mu was stunned by this, the black-robed figure had already reached him.

Xu Mu raised his hand and activated the fifth-rank formation, the Golden Shield.

Boom!

A thunderous crash—the black-robed figure's attack smashed into the fifth-rank formation.

The formation lasted only a single second before shattering completely.

The disparity in qi was simply too great.

Boom!

Another thunderous crash. Behind the shield, Xu Mu swung his fist with full force, meeting the opponent's fist head-on.

"Looking for death!" the black-robed figure sneered. "You think breaking your shield will weaken my power?"

Bang!

The two fists collided, and the black-robed figure's strength continued to surge.

Xu Mu's body was sent flying backward.

Boom!

A heavy crash—Xu Mu smashed into a massive boulder behind him. The immense impact made the surrounding ground tremble violently, yet the boulder behind him remained completely unscathed.

"Die!"

The black-robed figure slashed across the air, and five yellow claw marks, each over ten meters long, shot toward Xu Mu in an instant.

Buzz!

The moment the claw marks touched Xu Mu, they vanished.

The next instant, Xu Mu switched places with Yang Lielan, who was fighting in the distance. Over there, she had nearly finished her battle—just a few exchanges had left her opponent severely wounded.

Whoosh!

The five claw marks suddenly descended upon the head of the other black-robed figure.

That black-robed figure tried to escape, but his body was too badly injured to react in time.

Boom!

The five claw marks struck his body. Blood splattered, staining the surrounding rocks a deep red.

On the other side, seeing this, the black-robed figure immediately fled into the distance, knowing full well he was no match for Yang Lielan.

Yang Lielan didn't give chase, since the mission this time was to protect Xu Mu and Chen Xuan.

She walked over and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Xu Mu hadn't used any techniques at all just now—he had relied purely on his physical body and qi to withstand the blows.

He simply wanted to see how strong his current physique was.

He found that when the fists collided, his arm was only slightly numb. Apart from that, there was nothing wrong.

He walked over to the black-robed figure on the ground, waved his hand lightly, and the black robe crumbled, revealing an old man with a tattoo on his face.

"Who are you? Why did you try to kill me?"

Xu Mu asked with a smile.

"I... I am—"

As the old man spoke, he pulled out a small sphere from his body and crushed it hard.

Bang!

White smoke spread outward, but just as the smoke began to fade, crimson qi emerged around Xu Mu's body, blocking the smoke out.

"Don't hit me! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

The old man smiled and looked at the qi around Xu Mu. "I surrender, don't kill me. If you think what I say is wrong, you can kill me then."

"No need. I already know."

The qi around Xu Mu didn't retreat back into his body. Instead, it transformed into over a dozen swords, all shooting toward the old man.

"Damn it!"

Hatred and reluctance filled the old man's eyes, and he was finally skewered into a pincushion by the blades.

"Seems like the Immortal Life Research Institute really holds a grudge against me."

Xu Mu walked over and used his Devouring Soul Sacred Gu to consume the corpse. Just as he crouched down to pick up the ring, the environment around him shifted.

He had been standing on a rocky mountain peak, but now he found himself inside a stone palace.

Ahead of him, a woman carved from stone appeared.

The stone woman's lips moved slightly, and her voice carried over. "You killed someone, didn't you?"

"That's right, but he struck first."

Xu Mu said indifferently.

"You have killed someone. Only two paths lie before you—on the left is the paradise of ultimate bliss, on the right is hell. Choose."

As the stone woman spoke, on the left and right behind her, two pitch-black cave entrances appeared.

...

"What's going on? Where's Brother Mu?"

Chen Xuan crouched down and picked up the spatial ring from the ground.