**Chapter 88: The Tianmo**
"The Village Chief was pulled into the vortex by that demon — will he be..."
Qin Mu's thoughts raced with dread. He looked back — he was close to the Fengdu gateway, and the fog hadn't reached it yet. If it rose higher, he'd lose it.
"The Village Chief is incredibly powerful. He'll be fine! I must leave first — I can't be his burden!"
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The gray fog was thick, the footsteps within chaotic — some from behind, some from the sides, some blocking his path to the Fengdu gateway. The sounds were disorienting, coming from every direction at once, making it impossible to tell friend from foe.
Qin Mu steadied himself and sprinted toward the gateway. A massive shadow lunged at him from the fog, its form barely visible in the murk.
Without thinking, he thrust with sword-fingers. The Shao Bao Sword leaped from the fish-dragon on his back, slicing through the mist like lightning and skewering the shadow!
Whoosh — the sword carried the shadow backward, and with a thud, it was pinned to a stone pillar.
Qin Mu ran past the pillar, beckoned the sword back, and the fish-dragon swallowed it.
The shadow's corpse fell — a hideous creature covered in fish scales with webbed feet, its body twitching in death throes.
Its qi hadn't dissipated, coiling around its body like a blood-soaked serpent. Qin Mu inhaled a foul stench and felt dizzy — this was a poisonous technique!
Then he felt the painting the Deaf had drawn on his body with flood-dragon blood grow warm. The poison vanished.
"A spirit cultivator? I actually killed a spirit cultivator?"
Qin Mu paused, remembering — when he activated his qi to drive the sword, the Great Furnace hidden in his chest by the Mute roared to life, multiplying his qi a hundredfold!
That furnace had boosted his qi to the level where a single sword-stroke could kill a spirit cultivator!
Even better, the furnace only amplified his qi when he drew upon it. When he released it, his power returned to normal. This meant minimal strain on his body.
It was like a water jar holding three buckets — pour in ten and seven overflow. But the human body had nowhere to overflow; too much and you'd burst. The Mute's furnace lent him a hundred times his normal qi, which returned when unused.
Qin Mu ran at full speed, mind racing. "So with this power, I can perform spirit techniques? Against the Tianmo, I'm not without fight!"
The furnace gave him a hundredfold qi boost — more than he'd ever dreamed. His fist arts and blade arts, previously mundane, could now be elevated to the level of spirit techniques!
The skills Old Ma, the Butcher, and the others had taught him — what would they look like at the spirit level?
His speed increased as he unconsciously applied the Heaven-Thieving Leg Arts to his running. Qi surged through his legs.
Qin Mu howled, stomping down. The air compressed beneath his foot into a gale — wind born from his own step!
With that stomp, he realized the sky was his to walk on — everywhere was ground, everywhere was a place to land!
His speed skyrocketed. He strode across the air, bursting from the gray fog, his figure soaring above it, hurtling toward the Fengdu gateway!
A massive figure lunged from the fog — a creature wreathed in flames, like it was made of molten rock, its fist heavy as a mountain, hammering toward Qin Mu!
Qin Mu's speed built to a piercing scream. The butcher's blade flew from the sheath on his back into his hand!
Sunrise Over the Eastern Sea, Thousand Layered Waves!
The blade erupted with blinding radiance — like a blazing sun leaping from the sea, a thousand waves stacking forward!
Clang, clang, clang — the impacts were relentless. Qin Mu collided with the colossus and bounced away, sheathing the blade, sprinting onward.
Crack, crack, crack — stones rained down, followed by a massive head rolling across the ground. The lava giant had been disassembled by his blade technique.
This was spirit-level blade work. The lava giant was a spirit cultivator with powerful abilities, but it was still weaker than the Butcher's blade technique!
Lightning crackled in the sky. A handsome youth rose from the fog below, electricity dancing between his fingers. He spread his hands, weaving a net of thunderbolts that slashed toward Qin Mu!
"Green Dragon qi spirit technique? Stronger than Old Ma's fist technique?"
Qin Mu roared and threw a punch. His qi transformed into dragons — forty-five types of dragon-force — Nine Dragons Reining Wind and Thunder!
Forty-five green dragons roared, thunder and lightning erupting, engulfing the handsome youth.
Their fists collided. The youth froze in mid-air, then exploded into forty-five red dragons that burst outward!
"I'm this powerful?"
Qin Mu was startled. He'd seen the Nine Dragons' might in Old Ma's hands, but Old Ma was Old Ma — of course his was powerful. Now, elevated to spirit level, Qin Mu realized just how devastating the Eight Thunder Moves truly were.
But the commotion would alert every Tianmo in the fog!
He heard the whistle of incoming projectiles and grimaced. The demon god had scattered countless Tianmo — without a terrain advantage, he couldn't withstand them all.
The Fengdu gateway was near. Suddenly, dark demonic clouds rolled ahead, blocking his view. Qin Mu sighed and dropped back into the fog.
A massive head emerged from the black clouds — bearded, fiery-eyed — scanning about.
The clouds shrank rapidly, and the head shrank with them. When the clouds had contracted to about a zhang across, they revealed an ugly woman with yellow teeth like crude nails, carrying a blood gourd taller than a man on her back. The shrinking cloud was being sucked into the gourd's mouth.
Another woman soared above the fog — beautiful, fair-skinned, with a slim waist and full figure, but behind her lashed a thick, long scorpion tail.
The two women scanned the area without spotting Qin Mu. Then a sword screamed from the fog. The scorpion-tailed woman had no time to react before a blade flashed across her neck!
She clutched her neck, trying to put her head back, but it slid away.
The Village Chief's most basic sword technique: the cleave.
The ugly woman shrieked. Her gourd-spewed demonic clouds erupted, and within them stood a giant — upper body only — its two mountain-sized fists hammering down toward where the sword had come from!
Boom.
A muffled impact. A grunt from within the fog. The ugly woman's eyes lit up as the half-body giant hammered away!
The giant struck hundreds of times. The ugly woman saw blood splattering on its fists and smiled, sinking into the fog to stand on solid ground.
Her spirit weapon was extraordinary — this blood gourd. The half-body giant within was the technique she cultivated, but through the gourd's nurturing, it had been forged as hard as steel, devastatingly powerful.
She walked to where the giant had been striking and found a shattered corpse — not a human, but one of her own kin!
Then a chill pierced her back. The Shao Bao Sword thrust through from behind.
Qin Mu had silently closed in, withdrawn the blade, and vanished into the fog. In the thick mist, trained in the Heaven-Thieving Leg Arts, he was the perfect assassin!
He prowled through the mist, tracking sounds, striking with blade or sword — each blow lethal!
The gray fog thickened until even the Nine-Layer Divine Eye couldn't see far.
A black tentacle swept past. Qin Mu stood perfectly still, letting it pass. Hissing sounds came as fine threads flew past, connecting into a web.
The threads vibrated — something was stepping on them, pulling them taut, creating sounds like plucked strings.
More threads appeared, gradually surrounding Qin Mu. More tentacles whipped through the fog, trying to flush him out.
Qin Mu frowned. His qi flowed into the white glove. The threads of the Great Nurturing Heavenly Demon Sutra unspooled like impossibly fine serpents.
The threads crept along the web, moving from strand to strand. The glove dissolved until only five finger-caps remained on his hand.
He could feel the Tianmo's presence now — a spider-like creature, weaving its web through the fog, trying to trap him. The threads were nearly invisible, but through the Nine-Layer Divine Eye, Qin Mu could see them clearly.
He stepped carefully, avoiding the threads. Each one hummed with malevolent qi — touch them, and the spider would know exactly where he was.
The Tianmo spider was clever. It had woven a web across the entire area, turning the fog into a killing ground. Every step Qin Mu took risked detection.
But Qin Mu was cleverer. He moved slowly, methodically, his feet finding the gaps between threads with practiced precision. The Heaven-Thieving Leg Arts had taught him to move unseen, to walk where others could not.
He crept forward, the Fengdu gateway growing closer with each step. The spider's threads grew thicker, denser — it was closing in, tightening the web.
Then Qin Mu saw it — a massive shape in the fog, eight-legged and glistening, its eyes burning with hunger. The Tianmo spider.
It hadn't seen him yet. The web trembled, sensing vibrations, but Qin Mu's movements were too light, too careful.
He drew the Shao Bao Sword. The blade gleamed in the dim light. One strike — that's all he needed.
The spider shifted, its legs clicking against the ground. It was turning, scanning for prey. In moments, it would see him.
Qin Mu lunged.
The Shao Bao Sword pierced the spider's body, sinking deep. The creature screamed, a high-pitched shriek that echoed through the fog. Its legs thrashed, web lines snapping in every direction.
Qin Mu twisted the blade and pulled back. Dark blood sprayed across the mist. The spider collapsed, its legs curling inward.
One down. But there were more.
The fog churned with movement. More Tianmo were coming, drawn by the spider's death scream. Qin Mu wiped the blade clean and ran.
The Fengdu gateway loomed ahead, its ancient stones visible through the thinning fog. He was close — so close.
A shadow dropped from above. Qin Mu dodged, rolling across the ground. A massive claw smashed into the earth where he'd been standing.
He looked up and saw another Tianmo — a winged creature with razor-sharp talons and a beak like a sword. It shrieked and dove at him.
Qin Mu met the attack with the butcher's blade. Steel clashed against talon, sparks flying in the fog. The creature was fast, but Qin Mu was faster.
He spun, dodging a slashing talon, and drove the blade upward into the creature's chest. The Tianmo screamed and fell, its wings beating weakly.
Qin Mu didn't wait to watch it die. He ran, the Fengdu gateway growing larger with each stride. The fog was thinning — he was almost out.
Behind him, the sounds of pursuit grew louder. More Tianmo, drawn by the commotion. He could hear them — footsteps, wings, the scrape of claws.
He burst through the gateway and into the gray mist beyond. The fog here was different — lighter, less oppressive. This was the edge of the Realm of the Dead.
Qin Mu didn't stop running. He ran until his legs burned, until his lungs screamed for air. He ran until the sounds of pursuit faded into silence.
Only then did he stop, gasping for breath, the Shao Bao Sword still clutched in his hand.
He was alive. He had made it.
But the Village Chief was still back there, trapped in a vortex with a demon god. And the Tianmo infested the fog like a plague.
Qin Mu leaned against a stone pillar and closed his eyes. The battle had been fierce, but he had survived. The Mute's furnace had given him the power he needed. The Deaf's painting had protected him from poison. The skills of the village elders had saved his life.
He opened his eyes and looked back toward the fog. Somewhere in there, the Village Chief was fighting. Qin Mu had to believe his mentor would survive.
But first, he needed to rest. The battle had drained him, and more Tianmo could be lurking in the mist.
He sat down, the Shao Bao Sword across his knees. The fish-dragon on his back hummed softly, as if sensing his fatigue. Qin Mu stroked its scales and smiled.
"We made it," he whispered. "Now we wait."
The gray fog swirled around him, thick and silent. Somewhere in the distance, a Tianmo howled. Qin Mu tightened his grip on the sword and kept watch through the night.
Dawn would come eventually. And with it, answers. He hoped.
For now, he would wait, and fight, and survive. That was all he could do.