"Impressive!" Qin Mu circulated the Creation Heavenly Demon Art, sealing his divine soul, his heart filled with solemn respect.
The techniques of the Loulan Golden Palace were extremely wicked, using souls for cultivation. Whether human, demon, or divine beast, all souls could be used for practice.
Ban Gongcuo's gaze was not an ordinary look, but contained a divine skill targeting souls. One glance and the skill would act upon the opponent's soul. Without defense, one could truly be killed by his gaze alone!
The Creation Heavenly Demon Art was precisely effective against such soul-targeting divine skills. Of course, this was also because the power of Ban Gongcuo's eye technique was not so strong that even the Creation Heavenly Demon Art couldn't defend against it.
If his eye technique targeted not the soul, but the physical body or the Dao Heart, the Creation Heavenly Demon Art would be powerless to stop it.
"Heaven Blade's sword technique?"
Ban Gongcuo's raised eyebrows relaxed as he spoke: "Does the Heavenly Records Tower contain such a technique?"
"The Heavenly Records Tower doesn't, but I do." Qin Mu smiled, then raised his hand to grip the handle of the butcher's blade.
The moment his palm touched the handle, every book and paper in the Six Harmonies Hall rustled and turned, as if an invisible giant had struck a blade, raising a howling wind!
Opposite him, Ban Gongcuo's face was blown into wrinkles, a few strands of hair silently snapping off.
Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, and others felt a slight tremor in their hearts, thinking: "Cult Master Qin's ability has improved again. His blade has developed blade intent! He just went home for the New Year—how did his blade technique improve so much after just one holiday?"
They had all followed Qin Mu to the Southern Borderlands to suppress rebellion, fighting through life and death together, knowing his abilities. At that time, his blade technique was already formidable, but far less so than now.
Developing blade intent from sword technique meant a qualitative leap in swordsmanship, not something that could be achieved in just a few days of hard practice!
What they didn't know was how difficult Qin Mu's New Year homecoming had truly been. It could be called a journey of nine deaths and one survival—facing ambushes from all sides, endless pursuit and interception, bloody battles day after day, enduring countless hardships before finally returning to the Village of the Broken Elders in the Great Ruins.
And even at the Village of the Broken Elders, he hadn't enjoyed a peaceful New Year. After the holiday, he had fought daily against the village elders—the Butcher, Old Ma, the Cripple, the Blind One, and others all sparred with him, explaining their various insights, and the Village Chief, such a powerful cultivator, practiced with him as well.
This single New Year homecoming had improved Qin Mu's abilities as much as two or three years of hard cultivation would have.
Not only had his blade technique made a qualitative leap, but his sword arts, movement techniques, Buddhist arts, hand skills, vision, and Dao Heart had all undergone qualitative improvements!
Ban Gongcuo's eyebrows twitched slightly as Qin Mu's blade intent pressed upon his brow, as if this strike could unsheathe at any moment—and once unsheathed, it would cleave his brow!
Just as he was about to react, Abbess Hongfa suddenly stepped between them, intercepting Qin Mu's blade intent.
"This is the Six Harmonies Hall—a place to cultivate the six harmonies and open the divine treasures, not a place for you to fight and brawl."
Abbess Hongfa swept her gaze over both of them, speaking calmly: "The Imperial Academy has its own rules. Those who cultivate in my Six Harmonies Hall are my disciples and must follow my hall's regulations. You've just barely broken through to the Six Harmonies Divine Treasure—divine skills are barely at the beginner stage, foundations unstable yet. Why so much fire?"
Ban Gongcuo showed a smile: "Abbess is right. Cult Master Qin, I'll come another day to learn from your Heaven Blade." With that, he turned to leave the hall.
Qin Mu walked alongside him, smiling: "Why wait for another day? Isn't class over now? Right now is perfect. Once we leave the Six Harmonies Hall, the Abbess can't control us anymore."
Outside the hall, two great shamans from the Loulan Golden Palace stepped forward, one on each side, following behind Ban Gongcuo. One of them spoke softly: "Why is Cult Master Qin so eager? If your hands are itching to fight, we attendants are always available to accompany you."
Inside the Six Harmonies Hall, Wei Yong, Shen Wanyun, Qin Yu, and others filed out. Qin Yu frowned: "Cult Master Qin is being a bit too aggressive. After all, Ban Gongcuo is a foreign envoy who came to our country to study. Even if they were enemies in the past, etiquette must be followed—no offense can be given."
Monk Yunque nodded: "Indeed a bit aggressive. Cult Master Qin must have some grudge with him?"
Qin Mu glanced at the two great shamans from the Loulan Golden Palace, speaking leisurely: "I've been to the Loulan Golden Palace. One cauldron of medicine knocked out nearly all the great shamans of the Golden Palace, scaring even the Shaman King into fleeing. You two were also knocked unconscious by me, weren't you?"
The two shamans' faces darkened, remaining silent.
"Or perhaps... were you beaten by me?"
Qin Mu thought, but had no memory of it, shaking his head: "Probably because I killed too many in the Loulan Golden Palace, I don't remember the two of you. On that golden path of the Loulan Golden Palace, corpses tumbled down one after another, blood staining the golden path red. With my two blades, I cut down outer disciples, then inner disciples, then the Shaman Sovereign's own disciples. How many shamans and great shamans did I kill? A hundred? Not a hundred, but at least eighty. I killed until the shamans and great shamans of the Golden Palace were terrified, none daring to move."
The two shamans' faces grew increasingly dark, their hands trembling slightly. One shaman's body gradually emitted golden light, his head transforming into a bird's head, screeching sharply: "That was because I wasn't at the Golden Palace! I was traveling abroad! If I had been there, ten of you wouldn't have been enough to kill!"
Behind them, the students of the Six Harmonies Hall followed, and hearing Qin Mu speak of this, they were all deeply shaken, somewhat horrified.
Though they were classmates with Qin Mu, they had no idea he had blocked the gates of the foreign holy land—the Loulan Golden Palace—and even killed so many of their masters!
"I know now!" Wei Yong suddenly blurted out: "I know who defeated the Dao Child and the Buddhist Child!"
Qin Yu, Shen Wanyun, and others were shocked beyond measure, exclaiming: "You mean when the Dao Child and Buddhist Child blocked the gates, it was Cult Master Qin who defeated them?"
Monk Yunque said: "No wonder, truly no wonder! I wondered which master had defeated the Buddhist Child and Dao Child without even leaving a name. It was Cult Master Qin!"
Si Yunxiang's beautiful brows furrowed slightly, feeling somewhat displeased, muttering: "The Buddhist Child was clearly defeated by me..."
Shen Wanyun said in a low voice: "I heard rumors on the road that the Buddhist Child died, killed by our very own Cult Master Qin."
Yue Qinghong whispered: "Not long ago, the Crown Prince plotted against the Emperor, attempting to seize the throne. I heard it was Cult Master Qin who led the Heavenly Saint... the Heavenly Demon Cult's masters into the Imperial Altar, and Cult Master Qin himself beheaded the Crown Prince!"
They exchanged the rumors they had each heard, growing more shocked the more they spoke. The classmate Qin beside them had actually done so many earth-shattering things!
Abbess Hongfa glared at them: "You lot, stop blindly discussing! And in the future, stay away from Cult Master Qin. After all, he's the Cult Master of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Especially you, Yunxiang—you've been getting too close to him. If he pulls you into the Heavenly Demon Cult, your life will be ruined!"
Si Yunxiang was rather helpless: "Understood. I'll definitely cut ties with him."
Abbess Hongfa raised her voice: "Cult Master Qin, this is the Imperial Academy, not your Heavenly Demon Cult. The Academy has its rules, the State of Yankang has its laws. Tone it down!"
...
"And then I looted the Loulan Golden Palace's treasure vault."
Qin Mu walked forward at a leisurely pace, his expression indifferent, turning a deaf ear to Abbess Hongfa's words, continuing: "Your Golden Palace had accumulated treasures for so long—various heavenly materials and earth treasures, various spirit weapons and rare artifacts—I took them all. However, I didn't take a single one of the Golden Palace's own treasures, leaving them all on the ground for you. A thief never leaves empty-handed, but even thieves have principles. This much I understand."
Ban Gongcuo's expression remained unchanged, but the two Golden Palace shamans behind him could endure no longer.
Suddenly, the bird-headed shaman let out a piercing shriek, shrill and extreme, the sound like silver needles stabbing into human brains, piercing into souls.
Amid the shriek, this shaman's back erupted with brilliant golden wings that spread wide. With a mighty flap, countless golden sword-feathers shot forth, converging into streams in midair, golden light piercing toward Qin Mu from all directions!
Simultaneously, this shaman raised his feet, which had already transformed into golden bird talons, incredibly sharp, capable of splitting stones, clawing toward Qin Mu's head!
"The transformations in the Shaman Sovereign's Lou Luo Jing—truly interesting. You must be a disciple of the Shaman Sovereign, already having cultivated divine skills."
Qin Mu's eyes lit up. Behind him, the two butcher's blades leaped out. Only a dense, endless clanging of metal was heard, like a torrential storm of plum blossoms. In an instant, blade light erupted, breaking through the golden sword light!
The blade light stretched like silk, reaching three zhang and seven chi in length. One horizontal, one vertical—an endless line of heaven, severing a bird claw in a single stroke.
The next moment, Qin Mu closed in, his reverse hand lifting a blade.
Drawing the blade from the forbidden.
The great blade rose, cutting open abdomen and belly.
Before the great shaman's body could even fall, the other shaman behind shook his body, transforming into an elephant-headed giant with fists like small hills, punching toward Qin Mu!
Qin Mu released the blade and turned, his qi erupting with explosive force. The ribbon holding his hair snapped with a crack, his black hair shooting straight up, driven skyward by the surge of qi.
Boom!
The two fists collided. Every muscle in their bodies bounced and twitched, some muscles even writhing like pythons beneath the skin.
On Qin Mu's body, qi coiled like a green dragon. The Nine Dragon Emperor Art and the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra activated almost simultaneously, as if a great Buddha sat in solemn meditation, dragons coiling around the Buddha's form. With a thunderous roar, another punch struck forth!
This great shaman was like a golden elephant god, immensely powerful, his fists and feet containing incomparably brutal force, each strike like a giant cleaving heaven and earth.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Three punches collided between them. Qin Mu withdrew his fist, dispersing his terrifying aura, all the dancing muscles on his body calming. But that elephant-headed great shaman roared furiously, throwing yet another punch toward Qin Mu's face, vast and mighty, raising a howling wind.
Before this punch could land on Qin Mu, sudden explosive cracks rang out from within the great shaman's body. In an instant, every bone in his body shattered, muscles disintegrated, qi collapsed—he collapsed to the ground like a lump of wet mud, with only breath leaving his mouth, none entering.
Qin Mu's three punches—his fist force and intent had penetrated directly into the great shaman's body, smashing his bones, muscles, and qi into complete ruin!
Behind them, every student of the Six Harmonies Hall stood rooted in place, jaws hanging open. Abbess Hongfa felt ice-cold throughout her body. Qin Mu was simply an out-of-control barbarian, killing two foreign envoys with three fists and two blades—right within the Imperial Academy itself!
Qin Mu ignored them, turning to face Ban Gongcuo with a smile, looking nothing like a murderous brute who had killed in a fit of anger: "Who will come drag away the bodies and clean the floor? Little Prince, how's my skill? Feeling any impulse to make a move yourself?"