**Chapter 90: The Blade Across His Knee**
At the village entrance, the elder smoking the human-bone pipe was moved to action, turning to face him. Qin Mu, ferocious and commanding, rode the surging waves crashing down like an avalanche!
Water, when fast enough, could shatter, cut, and destroy everything!
This was the Black Tortoise qi's power — commanding water. At a speed of forty-six zhang per instant, water could slice through steel. Against flesh, it would cut cleanly, destroying all!
Qin Mu rode the wavecrest straight at the old man, overwhelming force bearing down!
With the Deaf's painting activated, the flood-dragon precious blood, and the Great Furnace hidden within, he was confident against anyone!
The elder raised his hand. The collision with the oncoming river was catastrophic — the entire serpent-like river collapsed into rushing water in all directions!
At the same time, the elder's two fingers pinched together, stopping the charging Shao Bao Sword cold!
"Did you find the Carefree Village?" The old man chuckled.
In the instant the elder pinned the blade, Qin Mu's hand seized the hilt. All his power erupted, thrusting forward!
This elder was stronger than he'd imagined. But with the Nine-Layer Divine Eye, Qin Mu could read the flow of power within the elder's body.
The old man had used his full strength to block the river and pinch the sword. Adding Qin Mu's own physical force would exceed his limit.
The flood-dragon blood and the Deaf's painting had pushed his body to the absolute peak — his physical strength was now equal to his berserk qi!
The thrust drove the elder's expression to change. His two fingers couldn't hold. The Shao Bao Sword pierced his palm and stabbed into his chest!
"Elder — I'll send you to the Carefree Village right now!"
Qin Mu drove forward with his feet, the Shao Bao Sword slamming the elder backward. The old man's legs dragged furrows in the ground as he tried to resist.
Clang!
The elder swung his human-bone pipe, hammering the Shao Bao Sword. Qin Mu's arm went numb and he released the blade. His qi whipped the sword in a flat circle, slicing at the old man's neck!
Cloud Sword technique!
His swordsmanship, guided by the Village Chief, consisted only of basic thrust, cloud, and flick — but the power was devastating.
The elder dodged backward, but the spinning blade kept pursuing his neck, forcing him to retreat step after step!
One more step back and he'd cross the Realm of the Dead's boundary stele.
Meanwhile, the scattered floodwater reformed, rushing from every direction like great serpents coiling around the elder.
The elder's pipe flew up to block the Shao Bao Sword. A thick fog erupted from the pipe, the smoke condensing into skull shapes that shrieked and dove at Qin Mu, clawing at his soul.
Qin Mu used the Demon Art of Creation to seal his soul, letting the smoke-skulls tear at it without effect.
He inhaled deeply, then exhaled a blast of wind!
The fog and skulls were blown to pieces. Though he'd never learned wind techniques, with the power boost from the Deaf and the Mute, his very breath was a spirit technique!
The pipe clashed with the Shao Bao Sword, sparks flying from the impacts — each spark becoming molten lava that shot at Qin Mu. He dodged with fluid footwork, his assault growing more ferocious.
The floodwater serpents wrapped around the elder. Countless water-blades stabbed at him from every angle.
The elder's pipe expanded into a massive black cauldron that inhaled all the water — though the fire within was doused.
Qin Mu closed in with ghostly speed, arms blurring — fists and palms alternating like the Thousand-Hand Buddha, raining blows on the elder. His fist-arts shifted to include blade-light, footwork unpredictable — his attacks became impossible to predict.
The elder retreated steadily. His strength still exceeded Qin Mu's, but Qin Mu's footwork, fist-arts, and blade techniques were unpredictable. The Shao Bao Sword was especially lethal — no matter how simple its moves, they were fast, powerful, and repeatedly pierced the pipe's defenses to strike at openings!
Qin Mu fought like a sword grandmaster. Though his techniques were crude and basic, they carried the feeling of simplicity mastering complexity — deeply troublesome, forcing the elder to withdraw.
The Village Chief's simplest sword techniques, combined with the Blind One's Nine-Layer Divine Eye — unstoppable!
The elder took another step back and froze — his peripheral vision caught the boundary stele.
The Realm of the Dead's stele.
Qin Mu pressed in close, butcher's blade raised. The elder had no choice but to retreat. This step carried him out of the Realm of the Dead, and all flesh vanished from his body, leaving only bone.
Qin Mu stepped forward, crossing the boundary. His flesh regenerated instantly.
The elder fled without a word, diving into the fog-sea. Once Qin Mu's flesh returned, his power would surge while the elder's would wane. The gap was too wide — retreat was his only option.
Qin Mu exhaled. That elder was formidable. If the fight had continued, the flood-dragon blood would have worn off, and Qin Mu would have been the one to die.
He walked to the dock. The fog-sea stretched endlessly, a feeble lantern glow visible in the distance.
"Will the Village Chief make it in time?"
He looked back. Within the Realm of the Dead, dark demonic clouds were surging toward the dock. The city's powers were mobilizing. It wouldn't be long before they arrived.
Qin Mu waited. The lantern-bearing skiff appeared, but the Village Chief still hadn't returned.
The demonic clouds were nearly there. If he didn't leave now, he wouldn't make it.
He took out a Fengdu coin, hammered it into the dock piling, and boarded the small skiff.
The straw-coated boatman rowed into the fog-sea. Qin Mu stood at the bow, looking back. The Village Chief was still absent, and his heart sank.
The demonic clouds reached the village and were closing on the dock. But the skiff had already vanished into the fog.
"The Village Chief is so powerful — he'll return safely!"
Qin Mu told himself. He sat beneath the lantern, cross-legged, placing the Shao Bao Sword across his knees, watching the fog ahead. The power from the Deaf's painting was fading, the flood-dragon blood wearing off, the Great Furnace dimming toward extinction.
The boat drifted on, growing smaller in the mist.
Suddenly, the fog churned. A skeleton in tattered clothes burst from the fog-sea, lunging at Qin Mu!
As if he'd been waiting — the moment the skull cleared the surface, the Shao Bao Sword was already drawn.
Cleave!
Qin Mu remained seated, eyes forward, the blade sweeping horizontally. The skeleton raised its human-bone pipe in panic — too slow.
The Shao Bao Sword struck its neck before the pipe could block. The head wobbled and fell into the fog-sea. The body landed on the boat, still standing in its lunging posture, but utterly lifeless.
"I've been waiting for you. I watched you lurking beneath the boat the whole time."
Qin Mu sheathed the sword. The Nine-Layer Divine Eye's patterns were fading. The power of the flood-dragon blood and the Deaf's painting was draining rapidly. He addressed the headless skeleton: "You followed beneath the fog, and I saw everything. I was waiting for you to deliver yourself to my blade."
The skeleton collapsed into scattered bones.
Qin Mu looked at the human-bone pipe that had fallen onto the boat. After a moment's hesitation, he threw it and all the scattered bones into the fog-sea. The pipe had matched the Shao Bao Sword blow for blow — a formidable spirit weapon of the highest grade. But it was forged from human bones, and he wanted nothing to do with it.
"Village Chief... please come back safe..." The youth sat beneath the lantern, sword still across his knees, his voice low.
The boat drifted past the bone-mountains, heading toward the entrance of this strange place.
Within the Realm of the Dead, a vortex suddenly materialized in the sky. The vortex split open, cut in two by a dazzling stroke of sword-light. The Village Chief burst through, drenched in blood, the vortex streaming crimson behind him.
The blood-colored vortex hung in the sky, bleeding continuously — like a wound in the heavens.
The Village Chief turned, fingers dancing. Sword-light flew from each fingertip, pinning the vortex shut. Something massive raged within, attacking the vortex's entrance, trying to break free, but the sword-light held.
The Village Chief exhaled and headed for the Fengdu gateway. He was about to fly past when he stopped — atop the gate stood a bird-headed figure with two wings, standing on one leg with the other tucked beneath its plumage.