Volume 2, Chapter 576 The Ragged Man

A loud bang of gold and iron collided as sparks flew.

The big skull of the scorpion that was hit by the stave fell onto the ground. There were not many scars and bruising, only green blood sprayed out from its mouth.

The green scorpion roared in anger as its body struggled and twitched. Then, the strange patterns that were on its body began to emit dazzling green light.

The three yellow cages trembled fiercely as several cracks began to appear in the air. It seemed that it would break and collapsed in just a matter of time.

Shi Mu’s brows wrinkled and just as he was about to unleash two more banned-type charm spells…

The tail of the scorpion swayed for a moment then charged right at Shi Mu like a long sharp steel knife.

The next moment, the tail of the scorpion suddenly trembled and those long feet actually flew out, spurring towards Shi Mu.

Shi Mu’s face changed greatly. He was forced to put his charm spells on hold and ducked towards the side to avoid the attack.

Shi Mu’s two arms waved and the wishful steel stave danced in his hand, causing a huge windmill.

“The Art of A Thousand Blows!”

Cha! A burst of noise sounded as a stave that was of ten feet long emerged.

However, at this moment, a loud sound sounded. The three cages that initially imprisoned the green scorpion collapsed altogether. As the scorpion was free from its grasp, it locked eyes with Shi Mu in anger and charged towards him.

It could be said that it possessed a tyrannical presence in this cave. Except for a human being in the depths of the mine, he had never suffered such humiliation.

The two men who were in their profound cultivation who came into the mine eventually became a snack for him!

The scorpion let out a furious roar as it charged over with its mouth wide open, seemingly wanting to spray out venom again.

Shi Mu’s eyes lit up and the wishful steel stave in his hand disappeared without a trace.

With a wave of one hand, a faint slender black shadow flew out followed by a flash right into the scorpion’s mouth.

A black light shot from the mouth of scorpion right at Shi Mu.

Shi Mu had already taken a step down and turned back.

There was a glimmer of light in the green eyes of the scorpion. The black venom suddenly burst open, turning into a black poisonous rain, covering the range of a few square feet, shrouded Shi Mu into it.

Shi Mu’s face changed but he did not panic. His hands were like lightning as he waved out.

A blue symbol charm spell flew out and broke apart.

“Cha!” A blue ice wall that was few feet high appeared out of thin air, blocking off the poisonous rain.

For a while, the poisonous rain hit onto most parts of the ice wall. Although it was eroded out of a deep pit, it was able to block it out completely.

The green scorpion was furious and roared in anger as it charged head-on onto the ice wall, seemingly wanting to break it apart with brute strength.

“Enlarge!”

The scorpion felt a sharp pain and in the next moment. its head suddenly burst open. Its blood splattered in all directions followed by the stave smashing out of its skull from the inside.

The headless corpse of the scorpion fell to the ground. It struggled for a quarter of an hour before slowly dying out from life. It was certain now that the monster was clearly dead at this point.

Shi Mu slowly walked out from behind the ice wall as he applied some ointment onto his wounds. In just a blink of an eye, the bleeding stopped and his wounds to heal on its own.

He waved back, retrieving the wishful steel stave, and retrieved the scorpion demon’s demon pill. After that, he did not bother much and continued forward.

This time after walking for a few miles, he had yet to encounter any demons or monsters at this point.

His mind turned and finally understood. It was estimated that the scorpion was too powerful hence the other demons did not dare to approach where it was.

However, he did not care much about it. After a while, he would stop at his tracks and look around.

He realized the mine had gradually narrowed.

“Could this be the end…”

Shi Mu was intrigued and picked up his pace. Suddenly, countless squeaking voices sounded in front of him, as if a pack of bugs was traveling together in a night sky.

He glanced as he pressed his body against the wall as he slowly walked forward. As he walked through the corner, his face changed greatly.

It was seen that there were at least a thousand blue bugs in front of him. There were shaped like ants, gathering together into a stream and crawling up in full force.

They were not only on the ground walls but on top of the caves as well.

Shi Mu’s thoughts turned quickly. He began to tiptoe back silently without alerting those strange insects.

After a while, he had returned to the dead body of the dead scorpion.

His eyes flickered and he immediately grabbed hold onto the body, dragging it behind him as he headed towards the direction where the ants-like creatures gathered.

After a while, he had come face to face with the group of ant insects once more.

Shi Mu suddenly waved his hand and threw the huge body of the dead scorpion in the middle of a swarm of ants.

The smell of the dead scorpion spread in all directions. Followed by a huge vibration, the swarms of insects became chaotic as several black balls flew from the front and landed on them.

As soon as the black ball landed, it burst open, turning into black flames. It spread quickly in the mine and gave off a pungent smell.

The ant that was originally confused was now more chaotic than ever as they screamed in horror.

At this moment, Shi Mu’s figure flew within the black smoke but did not make much movement, He landed on his toes on the ground and there was not a single vibration from his movements. It was as if he was like a bird, flying towards the front.

The ants that were stepped on were in the midst of a chaotic frantic hence they had no reaction if they were ever stepped on.

Between a few breaths, Shi Mu successfully crossed through the swarms of ants. Seeing how he did not cause any attention from those ants, he was somewhat relieved.

He stooped and flew toward the front and soon came to the place where he had just encountered the ants. He slowed down his pace and continued forward.

He had yet to encounter any more strange insects as he continued forward.

Shi Mu looked around and realize the mine had indeed gotten lower in height than ever. However, a tall man could be seen.

His brows slowly wrinkled as his footstep became gradually lighter.

The nearby cave wall was extremely flat and so was the ground. It seemed that this cave had been used for cultivation by a group of people.

Shi Mu’s thoughts turned. Since the traitor had fled into this particular mine for the past three years, under such a harsh environment, it was only reasonable to say that he should have died from this ordeal. However, it was hard to say at some point.

There was another corner in front of the mine hole. Seeing this, Shi Mu stuck onto the wall as he slowly approached it with his eyes deadlocked in front.

His pupils shrank as he had reached the end of the mine. A stone room that was more than ten feet high could be seen in the corner of his eyes.

There are several simple stone benches and a stone table in the stone room.

At this moment, a ragged man was sitting at the stone table, seemingly biting something hard, not realizing Shi Mu was lurking right behind.

Shi Mu’s sight stayed on the man for a moment then looked around as his face changed slightly.

There was a black residual sword beside the figure. Based on the looks of it, it must be the Ancient Imperial Sword!

At this time, the figure suddenly looked up, grabbing onto the old sword as he turned around launching a sneaky sword attack.

“Woosh!” A blur of black sword shadow from the remnant of the sword flew towards Shi Mu’s direction at high speed.

Shi Mu’s face changed. It was impossible to channel one’s inner Qi here but how was it possible for him to shoot the sword right at him?

A sharp sound followed by the black sword shadow stabbed right into Shi Mu. It was as easy as cutting a piece of tofu, it pierced right into Shi Mu’s chest.

Shi Mu’s face changed greatly and rolled over. He was barely able to escape the sword from piercing into his chest. With his body rolling flat on the ground, he quickly got on his feet. A

“Who are you?! How dare you come here!” The ragged man asked in anger with traces of shock in his eyes.

Shi Mu turned and jumped up. At this moment, he saw the face of a sly figure. He was a tall man but his body was thin and skinny.

His face was slanted and filled with dirt. His face was blackish and flat, as if he had been burned by hot flames. No words could be used to describe how horrid he looked.

“I am Shi Mu, a disciple of the Holy Land of Qing Lan. You must be the traitor who stole the remnants of the Fang Clan?” Shi Mu looked at the person with sympathy in his eyes.

There was a bloody item on the side of the stone table. It seemed to be the insect’s leg. This ragged man must have been btiing onto the flesh of the insect as his lips were still stained with juice of the insect’s blood.

This cave did not have even the slightest aura of the Heavens and Earth and it could not be absorbed into his body.

In this current situation, even if someone is of either Earth Rank or Heaven Rank cultivation, without ingesting any food, they were surely starving to death.

“Traitor…?” The ragged man let out hoarse laughter as his laughter grew louder by the minute.

But the laughter was fulled of sorrow and anger.

“Please return the remnant of the Fang Clan. It’s not great living here too. If you return the sword and come along with me, we might be able to sort this out peacefully.” Shi Mu said as he recalled Fang Bo Zheng’s command to slaughter this man if Shi Mu ever encountered him. However, Shi Mu could not make such a move and sympathize with the ragged man’s predicament.

The ugly man suddenly looked up with hatred in his eyes. It seemed that no words could ease the man’s anger and pain, leaving Shi Mu shocked as well.

The ugly man shouted as his body flew forward with the sword in his hands appearing, followed by black shadows of countless swords.

With his arm moving, the black sword shadow turned out into more shadows, like a lotus blooming, stabbing right into Shi Mu’s head.

“Good swordsmanship!” Shi Mu’s eyes lit up and could not help but praised his skills.

Though they were unable to channel their inner Qi for this battle, this ragged man was still able to display such subtle swordsmanship. It felt like as if this ragged man had cultivated the Heavenly Stave Technique as well.

At this point, Shi Mu began to doubt, asking himself in his heart if he could beat this particular person in this battle.

His arm trembled as the wishful steel stave in his hand had morphed into several shadows of the stave, colliding with the lotus blooming shadow of swords.

“Bang!”

A burst of gold and iron slammed against each other. Shi Mu did not move but the ragged man’s face changed as his body was sent in a shock wave, flying backward as it got hit by Shi Mu’s stave.

Shi Mu’s eyes flashed slightly. Although this man’s swordsmanship was subtle, his strength was not on par with his.

The ugly man’s face was red and it seemed to have been injured. It was apparent that Shi Mu’s strength was much superior to his.

A few feet away, Shi Mu’s body changed and the next moment suddenly disappeared without a trace.

The ugly man’s face changed as he looked around hurriedly.

The figure behind him blurred out and Shi Mu appeared behind like a ghost. The wishful steel stave was like a poison dragon, wrapping tightly around the ragged man’s waist tightly.

The ugly man suddenly turned around and the sword in his hand crossed a graceful arc, managing to block the attack.

Shi Mu’s eyes lit up as he shook his head and moved his arms.

The wishful steel stave suddenly slammed into a fan-shaped phantom and hit on the sword with full strength.

Peng!

The ugly man even flew out with a sword in his hands, slamming into the wall and slipped onto the ground.

“Woosh!”

The ugly man spurted a large amount of fresh blood from his mouth. His body swayed back and forth as he tried to stand on his feet with the sword still tightly gripped in his hand.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep