The bluestone bricks on the altar were crushed beneath his feet, dark energy surging around his robes and seeping into his pores, causing him immense pain.
But there was no time to adapt, as the skeletal ghouls had already charged.
Bang!
With fierce eyes, Xu Mu threw a punch forward, striking the ghoul’s face. The skeletal ghoul retreated, then was suddenly grabbed by him and hurled into the distance like a catapulted projectile, instantly clearing a large area.
Feng Tianzhu stumbled back half a step, shocked. He hadn’t expected Xu Mu, not being a supernatural, to possess such strength.
The mutated skeleton alone must weigh over three hundred catties, not to mention their strength and speed were far beyond ordinary people. Even the wildest warriors from the Golden Tent Royal Court would be roughly equivalent to him, right?
...
Xu Mu cleared the ghouls blocking his path and seized the opportunity to step into the center of the altar.
This was where the ghouls were summoned, where the dark matter was most concentrated!
"Are you mad?" Feng Tianzhu, his injuries mostly recovered, watched Xu Mu charge onto the altar. He paused slightly, then let out a sudden laugh, "Oh? You want to become a mutated being, kid? You're too naive!"
The mark on Feng Tianzhu's neck glowed faintly red. He beckoned with one hand, conjuring a long sword from thin air with his abilities. Within this altar, all his powers were amplified, including his physical body. Thus, he intended to use his sword to kill Xu Mu, with the goal of leaving a complete corpse.
Afterward, he would turn Xu Mu into his puppet!
"The dark energy here has been converted by the altar formation, making it exceptionally pure. If you had done this normally, with good talent and aptitude, you might have truly awakened your abilities."
"But now, the corruption to the body from this energy is too strong. You have no chance!"
Xu Mu let out a painful low growl. Stimulated by the dark matter, all his cells seemed to awaken. In his thick blood vessels, besides blood, there was a large amount of surging dark matter, permeating every corner of his body.
Yet, his heart seemed unwilling to succumb to this energy. It beat powerfully, and the polluted blood that returned to his heart, upon flowing out again, was still bright red, as if the darkness had been purified.
Xu Mu could hear the "thump-thump" of his heart, resounding through the entire space like war drums.
Feng Tianzhu's sword flowed with furious energy as he suddenly lunged at Xu Mu.
"Die!"
Facing the attack, Xu Mu gritted his teeth, sluggishly controlling his right hand to draw the hunting knife from his waist.
*Clang!* In an instant, the hunting knife collided with the sword, producing a crisp sound.
Though he was a beat slow, he had managed to block it. The purest supernatural energy was attached to the sword, making it weigh as much as a mountain.
Xu Mu stumbled back several steps, then with a clang, his sniper rifle, bearing the force of the sword, embedded itself directly into a stone pillar. He coughed up blood, and a stinging sensation spread through his entire body, as if his internal organs were being relentlessly eroded by the darkness.
How did it feel? It was as if sharp thorns had grown on originally smooth bones, causing pain with every slight movement.
There was also a swelling sensation between his thumb and index finger, as if a sixth finger was about to emerge...
He could barely hold the knife in his hand, let alone kill Feng Tianzhu?
"Sigh." Charles watched the scene, sighing with a slight headache.
He truly hadn't expected Xu Mu to do something so "reckless," charging into the darkness despite the risk of mutation, all to become a supernatural?
In fact, he hadn't told Xu Mu that holding his breath was completely unnecessary, because this body had already awakened supernatural abilities and was immune to the corrosion of dark energy; it would only provide him with power.
As for Xu Mu's current agony, was it merely psychological?
Charles frowned. It shouldn't be. If it were an illusion, Xu Mu wouldn't be unable to stand straight from the pain.
Could it be that when the two souls switched, their cellular tissues also switched?
...
"You're quite resilient!"
Feng Tianzhu's expression was ferocious. He circulated energy within his body, and large amounts of elemental energy surged through his meridians, making the sword's edge increasingly heavy.
Xu Mu endured with difficulty, trying to buy time. He could feel the force of the opponent's sword, comparable to a carriage pressing down on him.
And this level of strength was similar to his own relaxed state on a normal day.
Xu Mu gritted his teeth. If he had known Feng Tianzhu was going to charge, he wouldn't have walked into his trap. With his exquisite knife skills, he could have surely sliced the man into pieces!
"Shadow Flow!"
Feng Tianzhu roared, controlling his shadow to manipulate Xu Mu's body again.
He was only inches away from decapitating Xu Mu, so Feng Tianzhu decided to use his ability. Even if he couldn't fully control Xu Mu, it would distract him, and then he would kill him.
"Whoosh!"
A flash of darkness, and the shadow climbed onto Xu Mu's body. In this instant, Xu Mu suddenly had the urge to drop the hunting knife.
But fortunately, the searing pain in his lungs quickly jolted him back to his senses.
Seeing his ability ineffective, Feng Tianzhu was almost driven to madness. He couldn't understand what was happening.
Was he truly a failure? With the altar's amplification, he couldn't even kill an ordinary person!
"This knife looks familiar. What's your relation to the hunter from last night?"
Seeing more ghouls being summoned from the altar, Feng Tianzhu breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as he could keep Xu Mu trapped here, he would surely die when the ghouls attacked.
It was at this moment that he suddenly noticed Xu Mu's knife was identical to the one carried by a hunter he had killed in Fengqing Village the previous night.
And it seemed the swordsman whose face he couldn't clearly see, the one who had felled the horde of ghouls, had also used this knife. Could their knives have come from the same craftsman?
Feng Tianzhu narrowed his eyes. He recalled that during the mysterious night yesterday, he had led the ghouls driven out of the village back to the village and encountered a hunter who was about to leave.
The hunter had spotted him first and even fired an arrow at him, so Feng Tianzhu killed him.
During that encounter, he had almost met his end in a ditch, nearly being struck in the neck by this hunting knife.
"It really is you!" Xu Mu's gaze was sharp, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Just as he had suspected, Feng Tianzhu had indeed killed Wu Kui.
He recognized the knife, but there were only two such hunting knives in all of Fengqing Village. He had one, and the other was on Wu Kui!
"Heh heh..." The ghouls from the altar surged forward, letting out ear-piercing shrieks.
Xu Mu rolled his eyes, and the faces of those ghouls slowly merged with the face bleeding from all seven orifices.
"Uncle Kui?"
As if hallucinating, the young man's eyes became vacant, and he murmured the man's name.
At this moment, he seemed to have forgotten that he was fighting Feng Tianzhu, and had forgotten that his body was being corroded by dark energy.
Since he had forgotten, there was no longer any corrosion, pain, or weakness.
And so, his body was truly fine.
...