Hathaway struggled to raise her arm, trying to support herself, but she lasted only a second before her body collapsed to the ground again.
Xu Mu walked up to Hathaway and set his longsword against her neck. "Not so tough now, are you?"
Hathaway lifted her head, staring at Xu Mu who was inches away, then finally closed her eyes.
"Winning by sneak attack—what kind of hero does that? If you're going to kill me, just do it!"
"I never claimed to be a hero."
Since Hathaway was lying face down, Xu Mu rested the blade on her back.
With a light slash, the tank top she was wearing split open.
Hathaway, who had shut her eyes, snapped them open again. "Xu Mu! What are you doing?"
"Didn't I just say? Five minutes is more than enough for me."
Xu Mu grabbed her golden hair and said in a low voice, "I can be patient."
The cross-shaped pupils in Hathaway's eyes suddenly contracted, turning into two intersecting thin lines.
"Xu Mu! You shameless bastard! You're despicable!"
"You were going to kill me. Being shameless is nothing compared to that."
After careful, methodical work, the wrapping was peeled away like layers of a bamboo leaf.
Hathaway's face darkened, her chest heaving violently.
But the power inside her body refused to circulate. In the end, tears slid down from her eyes.
This time, it wasn't the nerve stimulation from before—these were real tears.
"Actually, I could let you go."
Xu Mu said with a smile. "Help me kill Ye Chen, and I'll set you free."
"Fine! I agree! Just let me go first."
Hathaway gritted her teeth.
"Heh, watch your expression. The way you're glaring at me like you want to eat me alive—there's no way you'd actually help me."
Xu Mu pulled out a pill of Liuwei Dihuang Wan he'd bought from the pharmacy and shoved it into Hathaway's mouth.
She immediately tried to spit it out, but Xu Mu grabbed her throat with one hand and forced her to swallow.
Of course, the Liuwei Dihuang Wan was just a front. His other hand had already released the tiny gu worm from the Soul-Devouring Sacred Gu, letting it crawl into her body through her wounds.
The Saint Light Clan was the biggest force Xu Mu had encountered so far. If she found out she was merely infested with a gu, she might find a way to get rid of it.
"Cough! Cough!"
Hathaway coughed violently. "You! What did you feed me?"
"Poison. Every month, you'll need to come to me for the antidote. Otherwise, your entire body will rot and fester until you die."
Xu Mu said calmly. "Now, answer me one more time, properly—help me kill Ye Chen. Do you agree or not?"
"I'll kill your whole family! Xu Mu! You bastard!"
Hathaway finally broke down. Who did she think she was?
One of the geniuses of the Saint Light Clan. People her age were just barely crossing the threshold of the Holy Knight Order.
And she had already become the Second Captain.
Yet today, this shameless scumbag had forced her to swallow some kind of poison.
She refused to let her pride be trampled like this. Rather than live under someone's control, she'd rather die.
"Looks like you don't agree then."
Xu Mu took out a pen from his storage space.
He walked up to Hathaway and began drawing on the "rice dumpling."
"To be honest, I know a thing or two about painting. Let me draw a little pig first, and then you can rate my artistic skills."
As Xu Mu spoke, he suddenly spat on his hand, then rubbed away the spot where the pig's nose was. "Sorry, messed up. Guess my technique still needs work."
"Xu Mu! Die! You deserve to die!"
Hathaway had never endured such humiliation.
Especially the feel of the pen tip against her body—it was driving her insane.
"Hmm, I've noticed the contrast between pale skin and a black pen looks pretty good. How about I just draw a full Qingming Shanghe Tu?"
Xu Mu said casually. "I'll record a video of it. Next time I run into other Saint Light clan members, we can watch it together."
Hathaway, who had already resigned herself to death, felt her nerves tighten again at those words.
She could die—that was one thing. But if that video got out, where would her parents' faces be?
"Xu Mu! Stop! I'll help you kill Ye Chen. I'll help you!"
"What took you so long? Once Ye Chen is dead, I'll give you the complete antidote."
Xu Mu smiled and put away the pen. "And don't resent me. You were trying to kill me first. I've already gone easy on you."
Hathaway's gaze was calm as still water. She clenched her fists tightly and realized she could move again now.
But her joints were still stiff. She'd have to wait a little longer.
Xu Mu sat right in front of her and asked with a grin, "Would your church accept someone like me?"
Hathaway gave him a cold, sideways glance. After a long pause, she said flatly, "As long as your background is clean and you pass the review, yes."
"So can I join the church right now?"
Xu Mu chuckled.
"I'm not the review officer... Xu Mu! I'll kill you!"
Hathaway roared.
...
Meanwhile.
Outside, a brawl had already broken out.
Although Ye Chen's cultivation wasn't the highest here, he was still the most dazzling presence.
The two remaining experts from the Eternal Life Research Institute saw this and joined Ye Chen's side, hoping to wipe out Xu Mu's people.
Yang Lielan never expected that this man named Ye Chen would be so difficult to deal with.
Her consecutive attacks were all blocked, and he could even counterattack.
"Don't panic! Leave this man to me!"
After taking two elixirs, Chen Xuan charged at Ye Chen once again.
"Pathetic clown! A mere Grandmaster, and you dare to face me!"
Ye Chen waved his hands at Chen Xuan repeatedly. Not only did golden dragon claws shoot from his palms, but the dragon phantom behind him suddenly lashed out at Chen Xuan with its claws.
Terrifying golden lights rained down on Chen Xuan.
Boom!
Chen Xuan's body erupted with golden energy as well.
He gripped his wood-chopping knife with both hands and slashed down fiercely.
Golden light mixed with countless arcs of electricity blocked all the attacks.
Whoosh!
Ye Chen's figure suddenly shot out from the golden glow, his dragon-scale-covered hand reaching for Chen Xuan's head.
Chen Xuan immediately retreated and hurled his knife again.
Boom!
Their golden qi clashed, spreading in all directions.
The onlookers were stunned.
How could a Grandmaster at peak stage and an early Transcendence cultivator cause such a massive commotion?
Crack!
Ye Chen's dragon claw suddenly caught the blade of the knife, while his other hand stabbed toward Chen Xuan's face.
"No wonder you're Brother Mu's enemy—you're tough!"
Boom!
Chen Xuan gritted his teeth and released even more qi, his golden lightning surging wildly.
Yang Lielan, watching from afar, was shocked. At this critical moment, Chen Xuan had actually broken through to the Transcendence realm.
Bang!
Their qi collided once more, and both Chen Xuan and Ye Chen were knocked back simultaneously.
Chen Xuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and grinned. "Brother Mu's elixirs really work. I actually made it into Transcendence."
"So what if you're Transcendence?"
Ye Chen roared. "I'll still kill you!"
Rumble!
Just then, the golden orb in the distance suddenly exploded.
When Ye Chen saw this, the smile on his face grew even wider. "Hahaha! Xu Mu is dead! We've won this time!"
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
