Chapter 170 Sealing the Wolf and Stealing Life

The two-hour journey was covered in just one and a half hours, thanks to the steed galloping at full speed, and they arrived at their destination.

Pulling the reins to a stop, Chen Mu raised his eyes to look around.

Before him, the mountain ridges undulated like a giant crouching wolf, presenting an overall iron-gray hue, with sparse trees and jagged rocks, exuding an aura of wild, cold desolation.

The air was permeated with a faint, rank stench.

The horse had a spirit and, sensing danger, hesitated and refused to move forward. Helpless, Chen Mu tethered the horse behind a hidden rock, patted its neck, and whispered,

"Wait for me here."

The horse snorted and rubbed its head against his hand, appearing quite uneasy.

Chen Mu looked toward the depths of the mountain ridges and spread out his perception.

The second layer of his Hunyuan Wuji Calamity Body had reached sixty percent, and his Hunyuan Calamity Astral Qi circulated throughout his body, elevating the keenness of his five senses to a new Realm.

A moment later, Chen Mu smiled slightly and sighed softly.

"Indeed, it was not a wasted trip."

With that, he tapped his feet using the Divine Void Step and darted into the mountain forest.

He did not head straight for the place where the Demonic Qi was densest, but instead moved quickly along the mountainside, capturing every anomaly with full focus.

About the time it takes to burn an incense stick later, he finally stopped at a shady mountain col.

The scent of blood here was exceptionally intense. Scattered on the ground were a few pieces of blood-stained coarse cloth, which appeared to be the clothing of an ordinary woodcutter. Beside it lay a rusty firewood blade, its body twisted as if bent by immense force.

A trail of blood wound its way, pointing toward a pitch-black cave entrance deep in the mountain col.

Chen Mu cautiously approached. The entrance was small, only wide enough for one person to bend through. Holding his breath and focusing his mind, he let his Hunyuan Calamity Astral Qi quietly cover his body, forming a faint dark-gold light shield, and bent down to crawl inside.

After advancing about twenty zhang, a low snoring sound came from ahead, along with the crisp sound of bones being chewed.

Turning a corner, the view suddenly opened up.

This was a natural stone chamber with mottled gravel. In the corner of the wall were piles of white bones—some human, some animal.

In the center of the stone chamber, a demonic creature was buried in its meal, its back to the entrance.

The demonic creature resembled a wild boar, covered in black hair, with bone spurs on its back and protruding tusks. Its mouth was stained with flesh and blood, but it clearly lacked high intelligence, focused only on enjoying its bloody meal, completely unaware of the danger behind it.

Chen Mu held his breath and observed his surroundings. There was no scent of other demonic creatures in the stone chamber; it was an excellent opportunity for a sneak attack.

His figure suddenly moved, pushing his Divine Void Step to the limit. He rushed behind the boar demon almost instantly, drew his long sword, and thrust it fiercely toward the vital spot on the back of the boar demon's neck.

"Pfft!"

Before the boar demon could let out a complete cry, it collapsed with a boom, the fierce light in its eyes rapidly dimming.

[Killed wild boar demon, plundered martial dao Lifespan: thirty-seven years.]

The System prompt was cold yet punctual.

Chen Mu withdrew his hand, without a shred of hesitation, turned, and left, darting toward the next point of Demonic Qi fluctuation in his perception.

The area of Fenglang Ridge was not small, and the demonic creatures were scattered, varying in strength. This was exactly what Chen Mu wanted.

Efficient, continuous, and risk-controlled plundering.

For the next half hour, Chen Mu moved back and forth through the mountain forest like the most seasoned hunter.

By a stream, he used his soul-slaying blade to shatter the skull of a ghost-faced toad that had been lurking underwater, specializing in devouring humans and livestock, plundering forty-one years of Lifespan.

Behind a pile of rocks, he encountered a pack of three iron-clawed wolf demons comparable to the Early Stage of the Dao Entry Realm. Chen Mu did not fight them head-on but used his movement techniques to maneuver around them, eventually defeating them one by one, plundering a total of ninety-six years of Lifespan.

Every kill was clean and efficient; he never wasted an ounce of energy and never lingered for a moment.

The plundered Lifespan, sometimes more, sometimes less, was like a trickling stream, eventually merging into a vast total.

Chen Mu's state of mind remained as calm as an ancient well; the slaughter was no longer a release but a precise harvest.

By noon, Chen Mu had fought his way through Fenglang Ridge.

Chen Mu sheathed his blade, untied the reins of his bay horse, swung onto its back, and looked back once more at the iron-gray mountains.

After half a day of raiding and countless demons slain, he had plundered a total of four hundred and twenty-one years of Lifespan. It seemed like a lot, but compared to what was needed for the second layer of the Hunyuan Wuji Calamity Body, it was still just a drop in the bucket.

He still needed more.

Chen Mu turned his horse around, prepared to return to Yunmeng City. The bay horse seemed to heave a sigh of relief, its hoofbeats becoming a bit lighter.

However, halfway there, Chen Mu suddenly remembered something.

This place was not too far from Sangye Village, just over ten miles away. Blind Li and that old dog that was quite human-like appeared in his mind. Although the old dog was dead, it was, after all, an old acquaintance and an old place.

Since the cat demon calamity had subsided and he and Liu Ziming had left Sangye Village, he had never returned. Blind Li was the new village chief, leading the surviving villagers to recuperate and rebuild the village. He did not know how they were doing now. Since he had time, why not pay a visit to the old place?

Chen Mu's heart stirred slightly, and he immediately turned his horse around and headed straight for Sangye Village.

The ground, having just rained, was slightly damp, and the horse's hooves kicked up fresh mud. He could see the outline of the village from afar, but the closer he got, the heavier the unease in Chen Mu's heart grew.

Something was wrong.

It was too quiet.

It was dusk, which should have been the liveliest time of the day in the village, with children playing, women cooking, and farmers returning home to rest from working the fields.

But looking out now, there was no one at the village entrance, no cooking smoke rising, and not even the sound of a dog barking or a chicken crowing could be heard. Only a thick, rank stench permeated the air.

Chen Mu's heart tightened, thinking this was bad. He tethered his horse at the village entrance, drew his long sword, and walked into the village.

After less than a hundred steps, Chen Mu saw the first corpse.

It was a middle-aged man, lying face up in front of his own door. His chest had been ripped open, his internal organs completely hollowed out, and the expression on his face revealed the terror and despair he felt before death.

Chen Mu frowned slightly and continued walking inward.

The second, the third, the tenth...

He remembered most of those faces; they were the survivors he and Liu Ziming had rescued that day.

There was the middle-aged woman who had been imprisoned in her home with numb eyes, now lying by the well, her head twisted at a bizarre angle, only a thin layer of skin remaining at her neck.

There were the young people who had supported each other after the cat demon calamity to walk out of their homes, reigniting their hope for life. Now, their bodies were discarded casually on the grain-drying ground, their limbs mangled and incomplete, as if they had been violently torn apart by something.

They were all dead; the entire Sangye Village had been wiped out, leaving not a living soul.

Flies buzzed, landing on flesh that had already begun to rot.

A deathly silence, a silence even more chilling than when he had first entered Sangye Village.

Apart from the sound of the wind and the buzzing of flies, there was nothing else.

Chen Mu stood at the village entrance, his gaze slowly sweeping across this purgatory on earth, his face devoid of any expression.

Only the hand gripping the sword hilt was clenched deathly tight.

Chen Mu stopped outside the gate of Blind Li's small courtyard. The gate was wide open, and the courtyard was equally silent.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside.

The scene in the courtyard was no different from the other houses; it was empty. The main door was left slightly ajar. Chen Mu pushed the door open and entered. The interior was simple: a bed, a table, and a chair. On the table sat half a bowl of corn porridge that had already dried and hardened.

Blind Li was not there.

Chen Mu exited the house and stood in the courtyard for a moment, knowing in his heart that Blind Li had likely not been spared.

He walked out of the small courtyard and stood on the slope at the end of the village, overlooking the entire Sangye Village.

It was lifeless. After the demonic calamity, there had been less than forty people left in the village, and now, these villagers who should have started a new life had ultimately failed to escape yet another disaster.