"High Priest of Heimiao Village!"

"Li Xiaofeng!"

"It's that beast!"

The people of Bai Miao Village were instantly enraged, yet a hint of fear lingered beneath their anger. The High Priest's fearsome reputation had truly seeped into the very bones of every member of the Li Clan.

"Since you're seeking death, I'll be happy to send you on your way," Lin Mu said, glancing at the sky before casually throwing a punch toward it.

BOOM!

The projection of the High Priest was shattered with a single blow. Faintly, an enraged roar echoed from the distance.

"Lin Wudi, I swear I will kill you..."

Lin Mu simply curled his lip and said nonchalantly, "If threats were effective, your Heimiao Village would have unified the Li Clan long ago."

Seeing Lin Mu shatter the High Priest's projection with one punch, the people from Bai Miao Village erupted in cheers. In their hearts, Lin Mu was now a god.

"Master, I will go with you tomorrow!" Li Xiaotian said earnestly as he approached.

"Good."

「Dawn had just broken.」

On a mountaintop dozens of miles from Bai Miao Village, Li Xuan and her companions stood with tense expressions, gazing in a certain direction. Standing before them was a slender young man with a calm demeanor.

"Mr. Lin, that's Heimiao Village over there," Li Xuan said, her tone heavy as she pointed to a distant village.

The stakes had been made clear to Lin Mu: Xiao Su and the others were dead, and the High Priest had issued a challenge via a projection in the sky. But Lin Mu remained unfazed. Thus, she had no choice but to lead the able-bodied youth of Bai Miao Village, those who could still fight, to follow him. The conflict between Heimiao and Bai Miao had already reached a dire point. It was time to risk it all.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Lin Mu surveyed the location of Heimiao Village. He noticed that above the mountains behind the village, the clouds were dense and grim, lingering without dissipating.

Lin Mu's lips curled into a smirk. "These clouds are quite interesting," he said, as if he had found something amusing.

Immediately, Lin Mu began walking towards Heimiao Village, and Li Xuan's group hurried to keep pace. Along the way, however, they discovered that the village was completely unguarded. It was as if the entire population of Heimiao Village had vanished into thin air.

"Master, be cautious. It could be a trap," Li Xiaotian warned.

"He's right. That beast Li Xiaofeng is incredibly treacherous. Everyone, be careful," Li Xuan added.

"It doesn't matter," Lin Mu replied with a faint smile. "In my presence, all schemes are shattered with a single punch."

His expression was calm. He had dared to accept the invitation because he was supremely confident in his own strength. Li Xuan and the others, however, did not dare to be so careless, and their nerves were stretched taut. They did not possess Lin Mu's overwhelming power, which was capable of Shattering Thousand Laws.

The group delved deeper into Heimiao Village. Aside from the faint scent of blood hanging in the air, they didn't see a single soul. The source of the blood was a great hall within the village—though calling it a "great hall" was an overstatement. It was merely a rudimentary stone house.

As the group approached the hall, a sight that made their pupils constrict appeared before them. The hall was piled high with corpses of all kinds: human, animal, snakes, insects, and other vermin. The bodies were in a horrific state, like desiccated corpses, as if all their flesh and essence had been devoured.

At the very center of the pile of bodies sat an old man in a black robe. His head was bowed, his long hair obscuring his face. In his hands, he cradled an ancient, small cauldron.

"High Priest!"

Upon seeing this man, the expressions of Li Xuan and the others turned incredibly grave. Li Lai let out a frightened cry and subconsciously moved closer to Lin Mu.

"So, you're Lin Wudi?"

An ice-cold voice arose as the old man slowly lifted his head, revealing a face completely covered in tattoos. His face was a canvas of so many overlapping patterns that it was impossible to distinguish what they depicted. The only clear features were his eyes. They were sunken, harboring two bead-sized flames that emitted a cold, spectral glow. He looked like a Ghost.

"You are the High Priest of Heimiao Village?" Lin Mu asked, stepping into the hall and looking at the old man indifferently.

"Heh heh. You've finally come!" the High Priest sneered, his voice dripping with venom. "My disciple and junior martial brother both died at your hands, and now you've killed my clansmen as well. This hatred is so deep that not even all the waters of the Yellow River could wash it away."

"I don't know who your disciple and junior martial brother are, but looking at you, they couldn't have been good people. Killing them was no loss," Lin Mu replied nonchalantly.

"Good! Very good!" the High Priest laughed in a fury. "In that case, I'll make sure you die knowing the reason! My junior martial brother's name was Ding Fengqiu, and my disciple's was Yuwen Jing. They were killed by you, were they not?!"

Realization dawned on Lin Mu.

"What an unexpected bonus on this trip," Lin Mu smiled. "It seems you're also with the Dark Web."

"Dark Web? I know nothing of it!" the High Priest sneered. "But all my kin died at your hands, so you must die as well!"

"Li Xiaofeng, I think you've truly gone mad!" Li Xiaotian stepped forward and declared, "All those years ago, you led a rebellion and committed the abhorrent acts of patricide and betraying your clan. What right do you have to say such things now?"

His hatred for the High Priest seeped into his very bones. He had come this time with the intention of killing the man with his own hands.

"Li Xiaotian?" The High Priest seemed to have just recognized him, and a grotesque smile twisted his lips. "Excellent. Since you've all come, then all of you shall remain."

As his words fell, he slapped the small cauldron in his hand.

CLANG!

The cauldron's lid flew off, and a skeletal scorpion shot out from within. Its tail quivered, letting out a sharp, piercing scream.

As the sound rang out, everyone felt an unnaturally cold aura wash over them, flooding their minds. Their heads spun, and many of them staggered, unable to stand firm. At the same time, streams of black mist seeped from the countless corpses on the ground, coalescing into spectral faces contorted in silent screams.

"This is... the Soul Devouring Gu from the Li Clan Ancestral Code!" Li Xuan's face paled, and she retreated in horror. "It's rumored this Gu is incredibly difficult to cultivate, so destructive to the natural order that our ancestors sealed it away. I can't believe you secretly cultivated it!"

The Soul Devouring Gu could control ten thousand Gu—even ten thousand ghosts! It was the true Gu King of Gu Kings!

"So that's it!" Li Xiaotian suddenly understood, his voice filled with hatred. "You betrayed the clan all those years ago just to refine the Soul Devouring Gu, and now you've even slaughtered the people of Heimiao Village! Li Xiaofeng, you are utterly heartless!"

He finally understood why everyone in Heimiao Village was dead. They had been killed by their own High Priest.

"Hahaha, so what?" the High Priest jeered. "A general's success is built on a pile of ten thousand bones. It is their honor to contribute what little they could to my Soul Devouring Gu!"

"Madman!" the crowd cursed, but the sound from the Soul Devouring Gu was becoming too much for them to bear.

Li Xiaotian spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground. "Master, go, quickly! This Soul Devouring Gu attacks the soul directly! There's no way to block it!" he yelled, urging Lin Mu to escape while enduring the agony racking his soul.

"That may not be the case."

Lin Mu smiled faintly. His qi sank into his Dantian. His lips moved slightly, and then he let out a powerful roar.

"Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds!"

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