He looked at the shattered rocks on the ground and his pupils slightly contracted. He slowly released his aura bit by bit. "You look easy to bully, but your abilities are extremely strong. Even though you don't have the aptitude of a true god, your abilities are already there. You're no weaker than Shu Yao, Huang Yue, and the rest. I really wish I could know how many of your abilities are you still withholding after the battle between you and Shi Quansong. Is this peach easy for me to pluck?"
On the ground, flying swords gently floated up and Qin Mu straightened his back while taking in deep breaths. Suddenly, his breathing returned to normal and he smiled. "Ever since I've become the Heavenly Devil Cult Master, no one has said that I look easy to bully. If you want to pluck this peach, why don't you try it for yourself?"
He'd been breathless moments ago, but now it was as if there was nothing wrong with him.
The devil expert smiled slightly. "Shi Quansong's abilities are extremely powerful, to the point that even I needed to be somewhat wary of them. After a life and death fight with him, your injuries can't be light. You suppressed your breathing, but you can't hide your injuries. However, don't worry, if your abilities are strong enough to threaten me, I will turn and leave to find other people."
He surveyed the surroundings and said leisurely, "After all, there is still an unknown number of opponents hidden in this forest so I have to preserve my strength to deal with them, right?"
His voice had a devilish ring to it as though he was a kind neighboring brother who was really concerned about the other. However, Qin Mu's mind was still clear.
He was the Heavenly Devil Cult Master. Even though he frequently called himself Heavenly Saint Cult Master, there were numerous great experts that were proficient in the devil path in Heavenly Devil Cult. Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures were extremely strange and changed along with the heart.
"If there was devil nature in one's heart, Great Educational Heavenly Devil Scriptures would hold devil techniques, and if god nature was in one's heart, they would be righteous.
As Heavenly Devil Cult Master, Qin Mu wasn't at the level where he could be bluffed by the devil voice.
He didn't believe even one word that the devil expert had said!
Those words were for Qin Mu let his guard down. All that nonsense about turning to leave and having an unknown number of opponent hidden—if he believed it, he would die!
Qin Mu stood still, not moving. Eight thousand swords were strewn at random in the air and floated around him. They were waiting in the battle array of Sword Treading Mountains and Rivers to unleash its power.
The devil expert suddenly moved, rushing straight at Qin Mu. The energy which exploded from the corporeal body of this young true devil was terrifying. When Qin Mu's Sword Treading Mountains and Rivers was released, he was ready to rush through them.
Qin Mu shouted out, and Sword Treading Mountains and Rivers still managed to trap his body. The devil expert then took out a huge flag and swept it toward the sword light—a huge chunk went missing from the picture of mountains and rivers.
"Formation expert!"
Qin Mu was astonished. The huge flag was stabbed into the ground where it spread open and revealed countless devil markings. They swirled around, and an eye took shape.
The devil expert fell back and jumped inside it, vanishing without a trace. The Sword Treading Mountains and River exploded, but it couldn't do anything to that devil flag. It was evident that the devil flag was an unusual treasure.
Qin Mu was about to mobilize Carefree Sword to cut it apart when the devil expert appeared behind him. Qin Mu swung his sword there, but another huge flag appeared. The devil expert jumped into it to disappear again, causing his attack to miss. Only a huge flag was left in the ground.
Soon, there were eight flags around Qin Mu. They spread out, and the end of each flag connected to another one, forming an octagonal formation that took up the area of a sport's field. In the center of each flag, there was an opened devil eye.
Qin Mu frowned as trails of devil qi shot out from the devil eyes, bombarding him.
Vital qi around his body rose and transformed into a huge bell that was there yet not there. Around the bell's wall, countless lightning markings coiled. He was using Fifth Ancestor Human Emperor's Five Thunder Heaven Raising Bell!
Clang, clang, clang!
Loud explosions rang out as Qin Mu struck outward from the inside of the bell, fighting with the trails of devil qi. Five Thunder Heaven Raising Bell was sometimes big and sometimes small, sometimes powerful and sometimes weak.
In the meantime, the devil flags swirled continuously, and the devil qi from the devil eyes was sometimes thick and sometimes thin, sometimes strong and sometimes weak. This caused the bell to ring continuously and churn Qin Mu's qi and blood.
He moved, and Five Thunder Heaven Raising Bell also moved with him. However, the devil flags outside also moved along with him.
Five Thunder Heaven Raising Bell was Fifth Ancestor Human Emperor's ultimate art which mixed corporeal body divine arts with lightning divine arts. Five lightning were the five big thunderclouds, and he used his strong corporeal body to execute them to form bell markings. Every punch and every kick would cause the five bolts of lightning to spread, and the bell would contract before expanding. The power of the five thunderclouds could increase by a lot, so it was the most suitable to destroy devil techniques.
Yet now, Qin Mu couldn't break it.
He suddenly transformed into the form of Saturn Sovereign. Gate of Heaven Influence appeared behind him and he spun around, sweeping it past the eight huge flags. Soon though, it was shattered by the beams of the devil qi.
Gate of Heaven Influence hadn't managed to force out the true form of the devil expert.
"Eyes awaken!"
Layers of formation markings swirled in Qin Mu's eyes, and he looked around himself. Yet no matter in which direction he turned, he couldn't find the devil expert. He could only see figures moving quickly through the flags as though they were phantoms.
Within the formation, the huge bell that was struck by the devil qi didn't completely disperse it. Instead, they moved in fine lines that could be seen by the naked eye. Those lines were laid in the space and sliced it into numerous chunks. Each cubic space had runes of the devil path continuously forming inside.
The devil was a formation expert. The attack earlier had been a diversion while his true goal was to trap Qin Mu in his killing formation and purifying him!
In this way, he could preserve his strength to deal with other people.
He was planning to use the smallest amount of energy possible to get rid of Qin Mu.
The human youth's magic power far surpassed that of his peers, and his divine arts were overbearing and fierce. There were many people that could force him to guard, but only a few strong practitioners like First Ancestor Human Emperor and Village Chief could be able to suppress him on the same realm. However, the devil expert he now faced was also one of them.
First Ancestor and Village Chief were experts that had entered the path, so it was not surprising for them to be able to that. However, the devil expert was of the younger generation. From just this point, it could be seen how profound were his formation attainments.
"Formation skill?"
Qin Mu suddenly dispersed Five Thunder Heaven Raising Bell and stretched his hand to grab his sword pellet with a tight grip. Fine flying swords flowed out like water and transformed into a huge spear.
If anyone was to look at it in detail, they would see that it was constructed from countless fine flying swords which were moving non-stop. Every sword was executing Spiral Sword Form, and the tip of the spear was Carefree Sword that was incomparably sharp.
At the same time, runes appeared around Qin Mu's body. They weren't powerful divine arts markings, but symbols of algebra and mathematics, taiji diagram, wuji diagram, sun and moon runes, five elements runes, six directions arrays, eight trigrams arrays, sixty-four hexagrams. They were changing continuously, constructing a kind of system that calculated the isometric space.
The runes changed irregularly, calculating the formation's structure that was formed by the eight devil flags. Countless runes bounced around, and the calculation speed was dazzling to behold
Qin M focused his vision, and his body moved with the spear. It flew out like a dragon covered in silver light. Every beam of devil qi hit by it was shattered.
Suddenly, the eight flags swayed and were taken back. The formation of the devil expert was broken, and his true form was revealed. He swept up the flags and immediately left. He laughed and said, "It's rare to meet an expert skilled in calculations! Your abilities are very strong, farewell!"
The flag covered him, and he instantly vanished.
Qin Mu stabbed the huge spear in the ground, his spirit unrivaled. He didn't relax at all.
After a moment though, his aura suddenly weakened and he coughed up blood. He gasped for breath and sat down on his butt.
At that moment, the devil expert appeared behind him like a phantom and stabbed his huge flag which like a spear at Qin Mu. He laughed again. "You truly have no more strength left so I'm back again!"
A strange smile appeared on Qin Mu's face. He was sitting with his back toward the devil youth as the huge spear in his hand separated into two huge knives. Holding one of them properly and the other in reverse, he hid one behind his back to block the huge flag that came straight for his heart. The other knife was hidden in front of his chest.
Qin Mu spun around and slashed with the huge knife which he'd held at the front at the huge flag.
The devil expert was astonished, and the flag in his hand swayed until both of his arms went numb.
"Do you know the sure kill technique of the battle technique school?"
Both of them were leaning forward, and Qin Mu spoke into his opponent's ear. His feet were off the ground, but he was still sitting, as though that devil's move had turned him around like a spinner.
This was a trick that Butcher had frequently played on Qin Mu when he had no legs. It was used to test his move—Raising the Knife from Forbidden.
It was the most dangerous move among Butcher's knife skills!
The devil expert moved irregularly and his body shifted like a phantom, but he could never shake Qin Mu off. His speed was indeed faster, but Qin Mu stuck to his back as though their bodies were glued together.
The devil expert's figure transformed continuously, and his body movements were truly strange and unpredictable. In time, he managed to shake off Qin Mu and was delighted. He could finally deal with him face to face.
At this moment, Qin Mu's voice came from beside his ears. "What's your name?"
"My name is..."
Knife light shone, and Qin Mu raised his blade with a reverse grip. The devil expert couldn't even finish his answer before the power of this move burst forth.
"Sorry, I didn't let you finish speaking."
Qin Mu put away his knives. They flowed down from his hands like quicksand, changing into a sword pellet.
The devil expert's belly was sliced open, and his corporeal body collapsed on the ground.
Qin Mu let out a shaky breath and shook his head. "Another expert and I will be dead."
He tilted his head to listen, but there was no noise in the mountains surrounding him. After a moment, he repeatedly weakly, "Another expert and I will be dead."
The majestic mountains in the surroundings still had no movement.
"Weurgh—"
Qin Mu opened his mouth and spat out blood before collapsing onto the ground. He twitched twice and gave a kick with his leg before taking his last breath.
The surrounding mountains were still silent, without any movement at all.
Qin Mu's face turned green and his body grew stiff. His blood and flesh hardened, but there was still no movement in the surroundings. After a moment, Qin Mu got up and went back to the wall of fire to forge his flying swords without a change in expression.
A female devil on a mountaintop raised her head and watched the youth from above. She then suddenly turned around and left without any hesitation.
'The forging brat is even more devilish than me. I can't provoke him!'
At that moment, Huang Yue stopped and raised his head to look at the mountain top. There was a person carrying a long knife standing upright there.
"Zhe Huali!"