Chapter 159: Chapter 158: A Blessing in Disguise

"Kid, hand over the item and I’ll spare your life!"

Seeing Chu Mu pick up the Wooden Box, the black-robed man immediately shouted.

Chu Mu ignored him and opened the Wooden Box on his own.

An ancient-looking Token appeared in Chu Mu’s sight. Other than that, there was nothing else in the Wooden Box.

’A Wooden Box hidden so secretly... just for this Token?’

"You’re courting death!"

"I’ll tear out your soul and use it to light a lamp!"

Seeing Chu Mu’s blatant disregard, the black-robed man flew into a rage. His already fierce Attack instantly grew much more torrential.

The Array Pattern enveloping the room began to shatter, the cracks visible to the naked eye.

Chu Mu gripped the Token, just about to use it as a threat, when he heard a loud crash. The door had been shattered! 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Kid, you’re dead!"

Along with the savage voice, before the black-robed man even arrived, a ray of golden light shot toward Chu Mu.

Chu Mu raised his hand. In the span of a breath, a Fireball condensed and he flung it out. Upon impact, the Fireball dissipated, but the golden light’s power didn’t diminish as it continued to fly toward Chu Mu.

Flipping and twisting, Chu Mu was like a nimble monkey, evading the pursuing golden light. Since entering the Cultivation Immortal Realm, he had spent years practicing his saber in a small room, so he had already adapted well to such confined spaces.

BOOM!

In the end, the golden light slammed into the wall, blasting a large hole directly through the wooden partition. As Chu Mu leaped away, he didn’t even spare it a glance, condensing another Fireball and throwing it straight at the doorway.

Immediately, another Fireball condensed. This time, however, he didn’t release it. Instead, he practically held it in his hand as he leaped up, swinging his arm to smash it at the black-robed man who was just stepping into the room.

"Hmph, parlor tricks!"

The black-robed man snorted coldly. A golden glow erupted from his body, enveloping him in a thin layer of golden light.

BOOM! BOOM!

After two resounding blasts, the two Fireballs—each powerful enough to pierce metal—struck the golden light, only causing it to ripple. They didn’t even singe the corner of the black-robed man’s clothes.

"Get lost!"

The black-robed man waved a hand, and Chu Mu was sent flying backward like a kite with a snapped string, finally crashing against the wall and tumbling to the floor.

Immediately following Chu Mu was another ray of golden light!

BOOM!

With another boom, a shockwave erupted. Chu Mu rolled to evade, his clothes tearing and bloody marks appearing on his skin. In his hand, he now held that mundane Iron Saber.

Seeing Chu Mu holding the saber, the black-robed man scoffed, "Kid, hand over the Token, and I’ll leave you a complete corpse!"

"Here!"

Chu Mu gritted his teeth and shouted, his Power surging as the Token shot through the air.

"Hahaha!"

The black-robed man laughed heartily, reaching out to catch the Token.

But at that moment, Chu Mu suddenly lunged forward. He raised the blade high, the invisible edge combining with the physical one. In that instant, the saber was a common saber, yet... it also wasn’t!

Seeing this, the black-robed man’s smile grew even more contemptuous. He snatched the Token with one hand and reached out with the other, intending to grab the swinging blade directly.

CLANG!

Nothing unexpected happened. A worldly Iron Saber was like a toy against the methods of a Cultivator.

The black-robed man gripped the blade tightly with one hand, his smile growing wilder. But in the next second, that wild smile froze.

The Divine Soul perishes, bleeding from the seven orifices.

Chu Mu remembered reading this exact description in a worldly medical text.

And now, the description from the book perfectly matched the reality before his eyes.

His smile was frozen, blood trickling from his seven orifices. The man still held the same posture as the second before, but his aura was completely gone.

Chu Mu let out a muffled grunt. Blood seeped from the corners of his eyes, his nostrils, his ears, and his mouth.

At the same instant, a pain like his head was splitting apart flooded his mind.

THUD!

With a dull thud, Chu Mu collapsed to his knees, clutching his head and trembling.

"Hhh..."

Chu Mu struggled to his feet. The piercing pain in his mind remained, but right now, he couldn’t afford to worry about it.

He snatched the Token from the black-robed man’s hand and stuffed it into his robes, then quickly frisked the body, stuffing all the spoils into his robes as well, before stumbling out of the wrecked room.

Dizzy and disoriented, Chu Mu could barely tell which way was which, but he knew one thing: he couldn’t stay in this Marketplace any longer.

Room 56 was rented in his name.

His name was on record at the Marketplace’s housing rental office.

If there was trouble, he would surely be the one to take the blame.

Especially after a deadly fight like this!

Staggering all the way, without the Valley Protection Array, any path could now be an exit from Jade Emperor Valley.

Likewise, without the Valley Protection Array, even though the Longevity Flying Boat still hung high in the sky, chaos was visibly spreading throughout the entire Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace.

In such chaotic times, who would want to continue wasting their life for a few Spirit Stones a month? Probably every Cultivator had the thought of scoring big and running.

Blending into the chaos, Chu Mu wasn’t too conspicuous. He didn’t take his usual route out of the valley; instead, he picked a random direction and plunged into the mountain forest.

It seemed the chaos in the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace had drawn the law of the jungle from outside into it. He sprinted through the forest and surprisingly didn’t encounter a single Cultivator.

Chu Mu gritted his teeth and pushed on, running all the way to the cave he had left for himself on Jade Pillar Mountain. Only after he pushed a boulder to block the entrance did he seem to run out of all his energy and collapse directly onto the ground.

「Five days and five nights passed.」

When Chu Mu woke up, the headache had subsided, but he was as gaunt as a withered tree. His face was dark, and with his disheveled hair, he looked no different from an old man on the verge of death.

"Hhh..."

Chu Mu struggled to sit up. The piercing pain in his mind returned, making him shudder uncontrollably.

He closed his eyes to sense his condition. It felt as if his Divine Soul had been torn apart. An indescribable, excruciating pain had taken root in his mind.

’My Divine Soul is damaged...’

Chu Mu’s brow furrowed, his expression turning grave.

A damaged Divine Soul was no small matter.

For a mere Qi Cultivation First Layer like him, it was a cataclysmic problem!

The Cultivation Immortal Realm had countless Treasures of Heaven and Earth, and countless items could repair a damaged Divine Soul. But without exception, they were all exceedingly precious—far beyond the reach of a mere Qi Cultivation First Layer like him.

’This is big trouble!’

A shadow of gloom fell over Chu Mu’s heart.

Out of nowhere, he’d been caught up in a disaster he had nothing to do with!

And ended up with a damaged Divine Soul!

Chu Mu closed his eyes to sense his condition again. After a long while, he slowly opened them. This time, the gloom in his eyes seemed to have dissipated somewhat, replaced by a hint of confusion.

’My Divine Soul is damaged, that’s true, but...’

Chu Mu closed his eyes again, sensing carefully.

The damage to his Divine Soul was very clear, but just as clear was a Long Saber engraved upon it.

It wasn’t the sharpness of the illusory blade he had sensed before, but a real, tangible, yet faintly visible illusory Long Saber, engraved right onto his Divine Soul!

Every time the illusory Long Saber flickered, his damaged Divine Soul seemed to contract along with it.

This feeling of refinement grew increasingly distinct. Chu Mu could even clearly sense that the damaged edges of his Divine Soul were being worn away, bit by bit, under this contracting refinement.

It was as if, under the refinement of the illusory Long Saber, his damaged Divine Soul was like a flesh wound on a human body: it was scabbing over, the scab was falling off, and then it would be completely healed.

Chu Mu wasn’t entirely sure, but as the illusory Long Saber continued to flicker and the refinement persisted, the piercing pain in his mind seemed to lessen.

"Is this a blessing or a curse?"

Chu Mu muttered to himself, growing more and more puzzled.

He hadn’t understood the sharp edge of the blade before, and now it had evolved into this illusory Long Saber?

...