Chapter 275 Blood for Blood

Inside the temple, blood was splattered everywhere, and candlelight flickered.

Chen Mu knelt on one knee, his left hand supporting him on the cold bluestone floor, his right hand hanging by his side.

The piercing wound was still oozing blood, staining half his clothes red. He kept his head lowered, his chest heaving violently. With every breath, blood foam surged from his throat, and he looked as wretched as a dying dog.

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon looked down at Chen Mu from above, her fiery red tails swaying gently behind her. Her vertical pupils were filled with satisfaction, and her voice was shrill, yet every word felt like a needle.

Upon hearing the mention of Beimang, Chen Mu was slightly taken aback, then let out a low cough, spitting out a mouthful of blood foam.

The three cat demons also crowded around, circling Chen Mu. From time to time, they extended their claws to poke at him, as if toying with a dying prey.

"This lad is quite tough; he does not even make a sound despite being injured like this."

One of the cat demons grinned, revealing a mouthful of dense, sharp fangs.

"What use is being tough? Once we rip out his heart and liver later, let us see if he can still be tough."

Another cat demon extended its tongue to lick its claws, its eyes filled with greed.

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon waved her hand to signal them to be quiet. She walked up to Chen Mu, leaned down, extended her sharp nails, lifted his chin, and forced him to meet her gaze.

"Chen Mu, you have only yourself to blame for ending up in this state today."

The Five-Tailed Demon Fox spoke, her voice shrill and indescribably feminine, yet every word was filled with deep-seated hatred.

Chen Mu squeezed out a very low, muffled laugh from his throat, blood foam spilling from the corners of his mouth with the sound and dripping onto the ground.

"Waiting a long time... makes it worth it. I have already fallen into the trap, but before I die, I only want to ask you one question."

His voice was hoarse, but unusually calm.

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon raised an eyebrow, a flash of mockery in her eyes.

"Go ahead and ask, so you can die with understanding."

"Since when did you, the Beimang Fox Clan, start colluding with cat demons?"

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Cat demons? They have always been a part of the Beimang lineage, so why speak of collusion?"

The eyes of Chen Mu flickered, and upon seeing this, the demon fox became even more triumphant.

"Beimang Mountain stretches for a thousand miles and has been a place where demons have entrenched themselves since ancient times. Beneath Beimang, there are countless demons; cat demons, snake demons, and fox demons are all part of the Beimang lineage."

"You killed the cat demon Old Ancestor, who was a famous figure in Beimang back then, but later, when she arrived at Sangye Village, she happened to die at your hands."

"And the Five-Tailed Fox Demon you killed at the Yunmeng City God Temple was my own sister!"

As she spoke the last few words, her voice rose sharply, and the hatred in her eyes was almost overflowing.

"She cultivated for several hundred years and finally managed to reach five tails, only to be killed by your blade, and her demon core was even destroyed by you!"

"And my three nieces in Qinglin Town, who had finally managed to enter the Dao of cultivation, all died in Yunmeng!"

As she spoke, she stepped forward, her claws pointing directly at the face of Chen Mu.

"Tell me, should I not settle this score with you?"

Chen Mu listened quietly, and only after she finished did he slowly nod.

"You should."

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon was taken aback, not expecting such a reaction from him.

Chen Mu looked at her, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly to reveal a very faint smile.

"So, you have been watching me ever since I entered Jingzhou Prefecture?"

The fox demon came back to her senses and sneered. Her five tails swayed slightly, and a golden-red light could be vaguely seen circulating—a symbol of high cultivation.

"That is right. The day you entered Jingzhou Prefecture, our scouts were already watching you. We had eyes on every move you made in the Demon Suppression Division, but you stayed inside the Demon Suppression Division, so it was hard for us to make a move. We could only wait."

"Wait for you to come out on your own, wait for you to be alone, wait for you to reveal a flaw."

"But you would not come out. For several months, you only traveled back and forth between the Demon Suppression Division and those few villages. We were running out of patience."

As she spoke, her gaze fell on the right hand of Chen Mu hanging by his side.

"Until we discovered that dog."

"The previous life of the dog had a blood feud with our Beimang cat demon clan. After its Reincarnation, although it had not lost its spiritual nature, it was still just a cub and easy to deal with. The three of them watched it for a long time, waiting for the right opportunity to exact revenge. We hit it off immediately and devised a plan, waiting for the right moment to lure it out."

"Today, we finally waited for it."

She paused, her smile deepening.

"As soon as that kid surnamed Jiang carried the dog out of the Demon Suppression Division, we disguised ourselves as men who slaughter dogs and pigs, stepped forward, and asked for the dog."

One cat demon chuckled.

"That idiot was too busy bickering and thought heaven was helping him deal with the beast; he shoved the dog into our arms and left without even saying thank you."

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon also laughed, looking exceptionally eerie in the dim candlelight.

"We then used the Demonic Qi remaining on the dog to leave a trail all the way here to lure you. And you, Chen Mu, could never have imagined that from the moment you stepped into this temple, you had already fallen into the illusion we set up."

Chen Mu looked at the floor and did not speak.

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon became even more triumphant at this sight.

"This illusion uses the most powerful dream realm technique left behind by the Old Ancestor of the cat clan. Back then, when she ran rampant in Sangye Village, she relied on this trick—entering dreams to kill, undetectable and silent, so that people did not even know how they died."

"Combined with the illusion techniques of our Beimang Fox Clan, blending the real and the fake, it is indistinguishable. You thought you saw your colleagues? But in reality..."

She paused and pointed her claw toward the temple gate.

"The real Ling Xiaoning and Qi Huan are currently blocked outside the temple by a barrier; they have not been able to enter at all."

Another cat demon chimed in.

"That is right, they have been pacing outside for ages, circling the temple dozens of times, but they just cannot get in. That kid surnamed Qi was holding a Source Tracing Compass, spinning around like a headless fly, and could not find the door."

The eyes of Chen Mu flickered.

Ling Xiaoning and Qi Huan were blocked outside the temple by the barrier?

Then he could rest easy.

The Five-Tailed Fox Demon saw his silence and did not want to waste any more words; she just wanted to quickly exact her revenge. She raised her claws and gave a sinister smile.

"Chen Mu, you killed the cat demon Old Ancestor in Yunmeng, killed the City God, killed the magistrate, killed my own sister, and killed my three nieces. How majestic, how arrogant!"

"But who do you think you are? Do you think you can keep on killing until the end of time?"

She took a sudden step forward, her claws pointing directly at the face of Chen Mu.

"Today, I want to see what you, this arrogant god of slaughter, have to say when you are kneeling before me like a dog, waiting for death!"

Chen Mu finally raised his head. There was no expression on his face, only the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, as if he were smiling, or perhaps sighing.

"Truly a good strategy."

His voice was hoarse, filled with blood foam.

"From Yunmeng to the Prefecture, from Sangye Village to Qinglin Town, so many of your Beimang kin have died, yet you kept watching me, watching my every move, waiting for me to reveal a flaw. This patience, this forbearance, this scheming..."

He paused, coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining the bluestone floor in front of him red.

"I, Chen Mu, do not lose unjustly. Now that things have come to this, I will simply stretch out my neck to be slaughtered."