This Is the Fruit of Our Hundreds of Years of Labor

Chen Xuan's face grew darker and darker as he watched. If Xu Mu died, the Sunlight Clan would free up their forces, and in that case, the few of them might die here too.

Yang Lielan and An Linghui quickly retreated, falling back to Chen Xuan's side.

It wasn't just them—everyone else around also stopped, all eyes turning toward the center of the golden light.

When they saw that two people had emerged, everyone present was stunned speechless.

Xu Mu was standing there perfectly fine, though his clothes had a number of holes in them and there was a faint trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. He looked energetic and spirited, nothing like someone who had been injured.

On the other side, Hathaway had also changed back into her black robe, and she had even pulled the hood up over her head. She didn't want the people around her to see the bruises on her face.

Ye Chen's gaze turned icy cold when he saw this. He demanded sharply, "Hathaway, what do you mean by this?"

"Nothing in particular. We fought and became best friends—that's all."

Xu Mu smiled at Ye Chen. "And we're planning to take your life."

"Impossible! Hathaway, tell me yourself!"

Ye Chen refused to believe it.

Hathaway didn't say a single word. She transformed into a beam of golden light and suddenly lunged at Ye Chen.

"Damn it!"

Ye Chen's eyes were nearly splitting with rage. Ye Tong had been taken from him by Xu Mu, Meng Wanyue had followed Xu Mu as his subordinate, and now Hathaway, whom he had just met, had also been stolen away by Xu Mu.

He wouldn't accept this!

[Destiny Power -20]

Boom!

With a single strike, Hathaway sent Ye Chen flying.

"Xu Mu! Let's kill them fast! Those two are from the Eternal Life Research Institute!"

Yang Lielan, wielding a long spear, charged at an old man not far away.

An Linghui and Chen Xuan launched their attacks as well.

Now that Hathaway had sided with Xu Mu, the two members of the Papal Order also stopped fighting him.

Xu Mu realized he didn't even need to lift a finger.

He looked around, searching for the two bodies that had been killed earlier. An ultimate realm expert—the Devouring Spirit Sacred Gu would definitely enjoy feasting on those.

It was only now that he realized the Devouring Spirit Sacred Gu's own powers had never really come into play. Instead, it was these little gu worms that kept playing a crucial role every time.

He needed to properly nurture the sacred gu in his possession and let it spawn more offspring.

But after searching all around, he couldn't find the bodies anywhere.

Xu Mu immediately stepped onto a large tree and swept the surrounding area with his perception.

He noticed that there were fewer people around him now, but the bodies of those missing ones were nowhere to be seen either.

"Strange... is there someone else here who also needs corpses?" Xu Mu muttered.

As he spoke, another body dropped from the sky in the distance—it was the member of the Eternal Life Research Institute that Yang Lielan and Chen Xuan had killed together.

Xu Mu kept his eyes on that corpse.

About a few dozen seconds later, the body slowly began to sink into the ground.

Seeing this, Xu Mu immediately flew over and landed right in front of the body. He crouched down and pressed his hand against the ground, sensing that there was a teleportation array beneath the corpse.

Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, Xu Mu and the body vanished together from that spot.

The two of them kept falling downward, eventually arriving in a pitch-black cave.

Using his perception, he quickly turned around and saw two hooded figures behind him.

"Xu Mu?"

A familiar woman's voice came through.

"What a coincidence."

Xu Mu turned around with a smile.

Sheng Qiu took off her black hood, revealing her young, youthful face. She said expressionlessly, "You've already obtained the treasure from one area. You're not allowed to take any more."

Xu Mu was a bit caught off guard when he heard this. "I thought you were going to ask me to hand over the treasures."

"No. I don't want to fight you."

Sheng Qiu glanced at the other woman beside her. "Gezi, take this corpse down below."

"Alright."

The hooded woman walked over to Xu Mu, bent down, grabbed the corpse by the ankles, and dragged it toward the depths of the cave.

Sheng Qiu hesitated for a moment before saying, "If you don't take the treasure, I'll let you come along."

Xu Mu nodded with a smile. "I promise. The main reason I came here was to find someone, and I've already found that person."

"Good."

Sheng Qiu nodded, then turned around. "Follow me."

Xu Mu followed behind Sheng Qiu, quickening his pace to catch up. "In the cave earlier, I only saw two bodies. One of them had several tons of spirit stones in his space ring, along with some heavenly treasures that had lost most of their medicinal properties."

Sheng Qiu said softly, "Well, it's been a long time."

"But on the other person, I found an Earth-grade cultivation technique."

Xu Mu pulled out an oval-shaped black token from his robes. "Here, take it."

Sheng Qiu froze on the spot. "I never said I wanted it back."

"But it's something from your clan after all. Take it."

Xu Mu grabbed Sheng Qiu's hand and placed the technique scroll in her palm.

Sheng Qiu used her qi to scan it briefly, confirming that it was indeed an Earth-grade technique from the Great Wilderness Clan.

[Hao Gando +1]

She glanced up at Xu Mu once more, then put the technique away without standing on ceremony.

Xu Mu didn't mind at all. To him, Earth-grade techniques were no longer worth his attention anymore.

In his current battles, he used Heaven-grade and even Divine-grade techniques.

Besides, he was deeply curious about Sheng Qiu.

Why was her affinity toward him so high? And if it was just because he was handsome, why was her filial piety score also in positive numbers?

"Sheng Qiu, I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen you before somewhere."

Xu Mu said tentatively.

"I've never seen you before."

Sheng Qiu said calmly. "If the videos of the Martial Seal Championship count, then yes, I did see you once before."

Xu Mu was at a loss for words. He had thought this woman had met him in person before, which was why she held him in such high favor.

Under Sheng Qiu's lead, the two of them reached the deepest part of the cave.

The woman named Gezi placed the corpse in front of a stone statue.

In addition to this new body, there were already four corpses lying here.

Sheng Qiu walked up to the stone statue and pressed her hand against it. Immediately, a faint black glow emanated from her body.

Bam!

A black light rippled over the surface of the statue as well. These lights gathered above the statue, eventually taking the shape of a transparent silhouette of a woman.

This woman's face was impossible to make out—just a vague human shape.

"Elder."

Sheng Qiu lowered her head slightly.

"Finally, another of my kin has come. Though it feels to me like I merely took a nap."

The apparition said with a smile.

"What is this? Is she real?" Xu Mu asked from the side.

"Is it you?"

The apparition turned her gaze to Xu Mu. "I used to be real, but not anymore."

As soon as she finished speaking, all the corpses in the area were enveloped in blackness and vanished from sight.

With the corpses gone, three tunnel openings appeared high up in the cave.

"So it turns out corpses alone were enough to solve it. No need for us to kill each other at all," Xu Mu said with a laugh.

"Top-tier formations rely on deception."

Gezi smiled at Xu Mu. "Though, of course, if they killed down to the last two, they'd have found the openings too."

Xu Mu gave a wry smile. "These Heavenly Dao-level formations are incredibly intricate indeed."

"This is the result of several hundred years of our work."

After Sheng Qiu finished speaking, she flew straight toward the highest cave entrance.