Gold Town was doomed.
All the members of the Gold Sun Sect had been killed as well.
Li Mu’s murderous look made everyone as quiet as a cicada in winter.
They all started to worry about their own safety.
Li Mu had killed Zhou Changfa, an elder of the Gold Sun Sect, in three or four moves. At this moment, even if all the people in the market square teamed up, they might only be able to resist two or three strikes that Li Mu launched.
Moreover, the terrifying Broadsword Intent he could emit out of thin air was invisible and soundless. It was also a remarkable skill useful in a chase in that no one could outrun it.
Everyone began to associate what they just saw with the rumored killing maniac in the battle of the Tomb of the God of Sin. The combination of the rumors and reality made everyone even more frightened.
“Will we be silenced?”
“Very likely, isn’t it?”
All the people now looked at Li Mu as if they were looking at a grinning god of death walking toward them. The fear of death quickly washed over them, suffocating them.
Some people on the periphery, with their legs twitching and stomachs lurching, turned around and attempted to run.
“Whoever runs away will die.”
Li Mu’s eyes swept around, and his killing intent was obvious.
Hearing this, no one dared to run away anymore.
Of these people, of course, the stout merchant and the bald man beside him, who was strong as a black iron tower, were the ones most afraid of Li Mu.
Previously, they had completely offended Li Mu and regarded him as a weak and easily-bullied low-level cultivator in the Worm Realm. But now, they knew that they had made a dreadful mistake.
As expected, Li Mu looked over at the stout merchant.
The stout merchant was scared. He forced a smile and said flatteringly, “I was really blind. How could I have failed to notice that you were the God of Massacre…”
“Whack!”
Li Mu directly slapped him on the cheek, which shook with his layers of fat. “Do you still have the face to laugh? How can you put on such an ugly smile? Do you not take me seriously? Now, I want to see you cry!”
The stout merchant grabbed his cheek, feeling a little confused. There was a clear five-fingered palm print on his face. With the layers of fat on his face still shaking, he hollered, “You want me to cry?”
What kind of request was this?
When the others around him heard this request, they were also a little stunned.
They had heard of people ordering others to drop to their knees, to beg for mercy, or even to call out names… But Li Mu simply asked him to cry. No one knew what he was getting at.
That was really absurd.
“You can’t cry, can you?” Li Mu smacked him on the face again and yelled, “Then I’ll keep hitting you until I see some tears.”
“Slap, slap, slap!”
More slaps in the face were heard.
The stout merchant’s face suddenly was swollen like a ripe peach, and the fingerprints on his cheeks bulged. Although he was confused, having been living in this society for so long, he was able to adaptable to the circumstances. So, in the next moment, the stout merchant immediately knelt down on the ground and howled at the top of his voice.
Li Mu smacked him a few more times and said, “Your howling is just unbearable. Stop it and laugh now!”
The stout merchant was speechless.
The people around were also at a loss for words.
Even a fool could tell that Li Mu was deliberately humiliating the stout merchant.
“Hoot!”
The Astral Origin Beast called Flattop made a noise. It was especially ear-piercing in the midst of the dead silence.
The bald, black iron-like man was startled.
In particular, when Li Mu’s eyes fell on him, he felt like he was about to collapse. Then, in haste, he attempted to throw out Flattop, who was under his armpit.
But this Astral Origin Beast had gotten its teeth into the arm of the bald, black iron-like man. No matter how hard he tried to fling his arm, he was still unable to get rid of Flattop.
“Hehe, the Astral Origin Beast is famous for being vengeful. Whoever ticks it off will be chased by it for the rest of his life. There is no way to get rid of it.” The wretched old Taoist by the side grinned when he saw this scene, revealing two large golden teeth.
Seeing that Li Mu was walking toward him, the bald man became desperate. He raised his hand and was about to kill Flattop. If the beast continued to make a scene and provoke the murderous maniac, Li Mu, it would get him into trouble as well.
He then threw a punch toward Flattop.
A flash of broadsword light zoomed past.
Li Mu made his move.
The bald giant’s arm was sent flying.
“Argh…” the bald guy screamed.
He stared at Li Mu with a mad look on his face. The excruciating pain unleashed the ferocity in his nature as he rushed at Li Mu with a roar.
With a casual slash, Li Mu directly knocked him down to the ground.
As the Broadsword Intent of Slight Snow circulated, the blood, muscles, and bones of this expert in the Mortal Realm were instantly turned into snowflakes, which flew out and scattered in the air. There was a kind of strange beauty in the deadly strike.
The arm that Flattop was still clenching in its mouth suddenly turned into snowflakes as well. It looked around blankly, as though it didn’t understand what had happened. Then, it sniffed about, turned around, and galloped to the leather bag dragged by several guards.
The guards didn’t dare to stop it.
Li Mu said, “Open the bag.”
The stout merchant hurriedly said, “Quick, open the bag. Open it.”
The guard unfastened the bag, from which rolled out a little boy who was tied up and gagged, with wounds all over his body and blood dripping from the corners of his eyes. He was obviously very weak.
Flattop cried out anxiously and hurtled over to the little boy. It rubbed its head against the little boy’s cheek, stuck out its pink and tender tongue, and licked the little boy’s blood from his wound.
The saliva of the Astral Origin Beast seemed to have a magical healing power. As the beast licked away the blood, the wounds began to heal and the boy slowly came to his senses.
Li Mu looked at the stout merchant and asked, “What’s going on?”
The stout merchant smiled obsequiously and said, “My dear God of Massacre, this Astral Origin Beast is a descendant of the King Astral Origin Beast. It has remarkable abilities. I’m willing to offer it to you…”
“Whack!”
Li Mu raised his hand and gave him another smack in the face.
“Call me Wild Broadsword. God of Massacre sounds awful,” he bellowed angrily.
Li Mu wanted to take this opportunity to create an arrogant image in order to provoke the various sects in the universe. That could create illusions and cloud the enemy’s judgment. Therefore, he decided to use a new nickname.
He chose that one because he wanted to emphasize his fearlessness.
The stout merchant’s face was now as swollen as a cooked pig’s head. But he did not dare to disobey Li Mu’s orders. So, he continued, “Yes, yes, yes. My dear Wild Broadsword, this Astral Origin Beast is the descendant of a King Beast. It…”
“Whack!”
Li Mu gave him another slap. “Is it really yours? How can you give me something you don’t own? Who told you to smile so hideously? Now, I want to see you cry!”
The stout merchant was on the verge of going crazy.
However, without showing the slightest backbone, he immediately began to howl again.
Li Mu glanced around and said to the crowd, “Listen up. Don’t leave. Stay here and continue to watch the fun. I haven’t finished my stone gambling yet.”
Did anyone dare to move?
No, certainly not.
Like children in kindergarten, everyone stood still and continued to watch Li Mu pick the stones. Anyway, it would be fine as long as this Wild Broadsword didn’t start to kill people.
Li Mu walked up to the black-cloaked vendor.
“Sir, do you have any Primordial Stones better than those? Show me all of them. I’m a little addicted to this game, and I want to practice my skills again.” He was quite polite to the mysterious black-cloaked vendor.
After all, just now, whether it had been intentional or not, this vendor had helped him trick the stout merchant.
Moreover, the black-cloaked vendor had insisted on sticking to the principles of a Primordial Stone master. Such a man was much better than those scumbags in the universe who took advantage of other people whenever they could.
Despite the shocking turn of events, the black-cloaked vendor still maintained the same kind of detached calmness. At this time, he was not afraid of Li Mu. He said, “Better Primordial Stones? Haha, there are still so many unpicked Primordial Stones left. Aren’t those enough for you?”
Li Mu shook his head and said, “They are all common stones. At most, some may have the gold-colored fairy crystal.”
“Oh?” There was a glimmer of light in the owner’s eyes. He then amazed, “Hahaha, you don’t even care about the gold-colored fairy crystal? You sure are the Wild Broadsword. You’re really wild!”
Li Mu said, “It’s not easy to meet a stall owner who can collect ores from the forbidden mining area. Naturally, I hope to see a real divine-level Primordial Stone. This kind of opportunity doesn’t come along every day.”
Li Mu had examined all the Primordial Stones at this stall, but he did not find the one that had emitted the strange fluctuation between life and death that he had sensed before. However, the previous feeling was absolutely not just an illusion. Li Mu was sure that it had come from this stall.
So there was only one possibility—
The stone that contained the strange energy had been put away by the mysterious black-cloaked vendor.
That was Li Mu’s deduction.
He wanted to give it a shot.
The black-cloaked vendor smiled playfully and thought for a moment. Then, as if he had made up his mind, he said, “There is a divine-level Primordial Stone, but I’m afraid that you can’t open it. Mind you, I don’t have the nerve to open it myself. Well, you can take a look.”
He made an ancient gesture with both hands and retrieved a large stone out of the storage space.
This Primordial Stone was two meters high, with a diameter of about half a meter. It was cylindrical, as though it were a hall pillar hauled from an ancient collapsed temple. Its surface was mottled and rough, and the star patterns were dim. There was also some faint black moss covering it, but no fluctuation of Spiritual Qi could be sensed.
Was this the divine-level Primordial Stone that the black-cloaked vendor referred to?
The people around who were forced to watch the fun were a little suspicious when they saw this Primordial Stone.
It looked like a worthless stone.
But Li Mu’s eyes lit up in an instant.
Because he immediately felt the strange energy fluctuation between life and death that he had felt before. The energy fluctuation that could distantly respond to the Xiantian Skill was distinctively emanating from this cylindrical Primordial Stone, which was extremely easy to detect.
As expected!
Li Mu was overjoyed.
He was right.
He looked at the black-cloaked vendor and said, “Sir, this Primordial Stone…”
The black-cloaked vendor did not wait for Li Mu to finish and said, “This Primordial Stone is priceless. If you can open it, it will be yours. I won’t charge you a dime. But if you can’t open it, then you shall leave it here. That would mean you are not destined to have this Primordial Stone, and so you should not take it by force.”
“Oh?”
Li Mu was dumbfounded.
“Interesting.
“It’s really interesting.”
All of a sudden, he became even more curious about the mysterious black-cloaked vendor.
“Please lend me your knife,” Li Mu said.
Without speaking, the black-cloaked vendor gently patted the stone box beside him, and the fin-shaped stone knife turned into a stream of light and flew toward Li Mu.
Li Mu grasped the stone knife and felt its weight.
“It’s so heavy!”
This seemingly thin and short fin-shaped stone knife actually weighed more than a million pounds. Holding it was like holding a huge stone mountain.
It was indeed a treasure, very extraordinary.
Fortunately for Li Mu, he was a monster with infinite strength.
After getting used to the weight of the stone knife, Li Mu adjusted his posture and recalled the movements the black-cloaked vendor had made when he cut the other stones before. He slowly reached out and chopped at the cylindrical divine-level Primordial Stone.
Seeing this, the black-cloaked vendor shook his head slightly.
“What a rookie!”
It was utterly impossible to crack open this Primordial Stone.
He had come to his own conclusion.