Chapter Ninety-Three: The Senior Disciple

“Verdant Edge Armor?”

Shen Bingxue looked at Li Mu with suspicion. “Where did this come from? You asked me about it before—don’t tell me you made this yourself?”

Li Mu handed her a jade slip and let out a soft sigh. “Pharmacist Shen, why must you always be so curious? Never mind. Try it when you have a moment.”

Shen Bingxue took the jade slip, her expression shifting in disbelief. “Three arts? Ah! Blossom Summoning Art! This is an art that is extremely difficult to practice even in the Meridian Refinement stage. How can it be inscribed onto this garment?”

“If you don’t believe me, then try it.”

With a touch of pride, Li Mu said, “Pharmacist Shen, I’m leaving for a while. Please take care of Ying’er for me. This time I may be gone for several days.”

Shen Bingxue was still studying the jade slip for the Verdant Edge Armor and seemed not to have heard him. After Li Mu departed, she likely grew impatient and put the Verdant Edge Armor on. Li Mu, whose spiritual sense spread far and wide, could not help but notice it and felt rather pleased.

She murmured a few incantations. In an instant, several petals of many colors blossomed over her shoulders, fragrant and delicate, tinting her cheeks with a blush and lending her a faint, spirited restlessness.

“So it is true.”

Shen Bingxue muttered to herself, a little dazed.

The Blossom Summoning Art was a highly peculiar Meridian Refinement technique. It could draw blossoms forth from one’s own body or from an enemy’s. When used upon oneself, it could restore strength, heal injuries, and sharpen the mind and spirit, making it comparable to a third-grade restorative treasure. But when used on an enemy, it produced the opposite effect, making the foe suffer greatly.

For Li Mu to obtain the Blossom Summoning Art was also a matter of great fortune.

When Shen Bingxue had once said it was beautiful, he had used a third-grade blossom flower. He had immediately felt that this flower was excellent.

That flower’s properties were then refined into Thousand-Transformation Steel, and from that refinement he obtained the Blossom Summoning Art. As for what the flower’s property was—besides its medicinal effect, it was the ability for blossoms to appear wherever they fell, blooming where they landed. To acquire such an art from the Spirit Tower was also a welcome delight for him.

Leaving the mountains, Li Mu headed north along the road.

He did not go hunting in the mountains, for he already possessed many first-grade beast cores. Besides, Sun Qi and the others could hunt spirit beasts in the mountains on their own and gather their own beast cores. Li Mu wanted to go and see for himself what the Great Wolf Plains were like, to find out just how formidable the ancestor of the Wolf Plains truly was.

He came upon a tribe.

It was not large, with not even a hundred houses. Li Mu therefore stopped, because he saw a cultivator there—an extremely arrogant cultivator at the Spirit Foundation stage.

“Immortal Master Mu, please show mercy and spare us a few more days. We truly have nothing left.”

Several old men knelt before the cultivator, pleading again and again.

Immortal Master Mu stood with his hands behind his back, eyes full of contempt as he looked down at them. “Show mercy? What mercy? Your tribe is so large, yet in an entire year you only turn over five beast cores to Patriarch Mu. Do you think I am easy to deceive? Holding back on the tribute like this—your entire tribe should be wiped out by savage beasts!”

An old man trembled as he raised his head. “Immortal Master Mu, we truly have none. A dozen of our people died trying to get those two beast cores. The rest—we will hand them over before the year is out.”

“Outrageous!”

Immortal Master Mu’s face darkened as he stepped forward.

His oppressive aura was terrifying, and the old men before him were frightened enough to involuntarily retreat.

With sharp eyes, the immortal swept over everyone. “Today, all of you had best be sensible and turn over any beast cores you are hiding. Otherwise, if savage beasts tear you apart tomorrow, do not say I did not warn you.”

The people nearby immediately erupted into noisy protest.

“Last year, the West Flow Tribe failed to turn in beast cores, and before the year was over the whole tribe was gone. That sight was miserable beyond words...”

“Sigh, we were once able to get by. Some hardship we could endure, but now that the Wolf Plains Ancestor has arrived, savage beasts come to invade us every day, and people die daily. We truly cannot live like this anymore.”

Listening to the crowd, Immortal Master Mu raised his hand and swept it out; those in front of him immediately collapsed to the ground. “A bunch of trash. All of you, shut up.”

The crowd instantly quieted, though many women still could not stop crying, their sobs stifled and low.

Li Mu stood in the distance and shook his head slightly. Just by looking at that man, he knew that this so-called Wolf Plains Ancestor was nothing but a Wolf Plains Fiend.

Watching the trembling crowd, Immortal Master Mu wore a look of satisfied cruelty, as though he were lecturing them in anger.

At that moment, a figure slowly stepped out from among the people and stood before him.

Seeing the figure, Immortal Master Mu’s expression changed. He hurriedly retreated several steps, and a whisk appeared in his hand.

“Ah San, why is it you again?”

The man called Ah San was clearly also a cultivator. His face was covered in scars, as though it had been scalded in the desert, and was truly frightening to behold. His voice was also hoarse, yet it carried a deep, bitter hatred. “No. I am Mu Crab!”

“Ah San, you are also a disciple under Patriarch Mu. Why do you repeatedly sabotage Patriarch Mu’s affairs? What exactly are you trying to do?”

Mu Crab bit his lip and said fiercely, “This is not the first time. Several times when the disciples of Patriarch Mu came to collect tribute, they were stopped by Ah San.”

Ah San stepped forward and spoke word by word. “What Patriarch Mu? That Wood Dragon is unworthy to be my master! Right now, I only want to kill men and exterminate dogs!”

“Today I’ll spare you. Once Senior Brother arrives, we’ll deal with you properly!”

He knew that the Ah San before him had once been the third disciple of the Wolf Plains Ancestor. In terms of cultivation and sheer strength, the other man far surpassed him. Mu Crab tossed out a furious threat and quickly took out a polygonal treasure, flying off into the air.

“If you want to leave, it won’t be so easy.”

Ah San stood on a sword and followed close behind.

The two of them fled and pursued at great speed. Li Mu certainly could not be left behind, so he kept pace from afar, following them unhurriedly.

Before long, Mu Crab was overtaken by Ah San.

“Ah San, Senior Brother—can’t you show some regard for our fellowship?” Mu Crab knew he was no match and called out in pleading tones.

That scar-ridden face revealed no discernible expression, only a hoarse voice, as though it had crawled up from hell itself. Listening to it made one shiver. “Fellowship? Back then, when your people slaughtered my tribe, did you ever think of fellowship?”

“That was not my doing. Besides, Senior Brother, you have already become a cultivator. Must you still care about the life and death of mundane people? We immortals should sever all distracting thoughts and pursue the great Dao of everlasting life. If doing so can increase one’s cultivation, then so what if even one’s own kin are all dead? Have you forgotten Patriarch Mu’s teachings?”

The whisk in Mu Crab’s hand trembled nonstop. He was clearly terrified.

“Heh. Patriarch Mu? Not worthy! I was only deceived once and ended up slaughtering many commoners. But now I have awakened. I want all of you to go and keep my family company in death!”

Ah San said no more. With a sweep of his hand, a black-and-gold spear shot out like lightning, striking straight toward Mu Crab.

Li Mu concealed himself behind a boulder a hundred paces away, listening clearly to the hatred between them. As for that Patriarch Mu, he only felt disdain.

He had never agreed with such feelings, nor had he ever intended to think along those lines.

But Ah San was not innocent either. He had also slaughtered many commoners, leaving no good deed behind. It was only because the matter had now reached him personally that he had finally awakened.

At that very moment, another cultivator suddenly descended from the sky, seated cross-legged atop a sandy treasure and landing between the two men.

From within the sandy artifact shot out a curved blade, which struck the rushing black-and-gold spear. With a sharp clang, the spear was knocked several feet away.

“Senior Brother! Senior Brother!”

Mu Crab’s face lit up with ecstatic joy as he shouted and cried out.