The sky was evening, and blackness gradually covered the gray.
In a superior room at the Green Cloud Inn, Xu Mu sat cross-legged on the bed. In front of him was a thick root of the Bianhua flower, its black and red strange patterns slowly appearing under his extraordinary abilities, emanating a dense aura of death.
Qiongqi lay sleeping soundly on the floor. Suddenly, it raised an eyelid, as if sensing something, and was about to wake Xu Mu, who was still cultivating.
In the next second, Xu Mu also opened his eyes.
"Quick, chase him! He's on the roof of the Green Cloud Inn!"
"Don't let him escape, surround him!"
Shouts from outside, accompanied by surging waves of powerful supernatural energy, indicated movement on the topmost floor of the inn. The pursuit caused the entire inn to shake.
Clearly, the people of Tuchen were hunting down the spirit.
Xu Mu's brows twitched. He put away the Bianhua root and took out the Dragon Seeking Ruler. It spun like a compass needle in the air, finally pointing its arrow resolutely to the south.
Xu Mu squinted. South? But he had just heard the pursuit, the sounds of footsteps, heading north.
"Let's go," Xu Mu uttered two words. He flipped off the bed, put on his shoes in a second, grabbed his hunting knife, and pushed open the inn door. Qiongqi followed closely behind. In mere seconds, they were outside the Green Cloud Inn.
In the night sky, Tuchen was filled with supernatural practitioners. Colorful energies bloomed towards the north, trying to find the vanished shadow.
Xu Mu stood still for a moment, then turned his body towards the south. He trusted the Dragon Seeking Ruler more than following the crowd.
Just then, a figure slowly flew through the night sky from the south. It was a burly man, his aura unstable, his face ashen. He was clearly one of the pursuers of the spirit.
"Damn it, I can't keep up," Ma Chuan muttered resentfully. He had been stationed at the outpost for hours, not even blinking. But in the time it took him to relieve himself, the spirit had committed another crime.
He had missed the best opportunity to pursue, and he wasn't a speed-oriented practitioner. All he could do was watch others leave him behind.
Ma Chuan landed on the street, cursing, and then looked up sharply. He saw a young man with a handsome face and a saber.
Ma Chuan rubbed his eyes and stared for a long time before suddenly recognizing the young man. It was the same man who had been entangled with his future wife, Le Lingyun, at dusk!
"Well, well, up late at night, are we? What are you doing out on the street with a saber?" His dejected expression vanished, replaced by an arrogant and irritating demeanor as he swaggered towards Xu Mu.
"What, you want to catch that spirit too?"
"You're so smart, you guessed it." Xu Mu looked at him and replied with a serious expression.
"Spirits aren't something just anyone can catch," Ma Chuan said, crossing his arms, his words full of mockery. "It takes talent. Without talent, you'll never catch a spirit in your life, understand?"
"I understand. Without talent, one truly can't catch it." Xu Mu scrutinized Ma Chuan from head to toe with feigned earnestness, then replied with a serious expression.
"How can you compare to me!" Ma Chuan immediately jumped up, his face red, pointing behind him. "If it weren't for some unexpected trouble, I would have caught that spirit by now!"
"What a shame," Xu Mu sighed and stepped forward, patting Ma Chuan's shoulder. "It's okay, there'll be another chance."
"Get your dirty hands off me!" Ma Chuan stepped back half a pace, swatting at Xu Mu with his muddy hand. Xu Mu's expression remained unchanged as he easily dodged.
"What, looking at you, do you still want to chase?" Ma Chuan hadn't noticed Xu Mu's speed and continued to mock, "There's no chance today. That spirit is very fast, you won't catch it. Wait for next time."
"Thank you for the reminder, fellow Daoist." Xu Mu cupped his fist in greeting, then continued walking south on his own.
Ma Chuan's expression changed, and he called out suspiciously,
"Aren't you staying at the Green Cloud Inn? Where are you going?!"
"Looking for the spirit," Xu Mu replied indifferently without looking back.
Ma Chuan's eyes widened. He found it utterly absurd and chuckled, "Hahahaha, didn't you hear what I just said? And the spirit flew north, why are you going south?"
"Looking for the spirit. I already answered that earlier," Xu Mu replied blandly.
"???"
Hearing this, Ma Chuan's brain went into a brief silence. Then, he clutched his stomach, shaking his head and roaring with laughter, muttering intermittently as he laughed:
"I've met an idiot."
"There's an idiot who can't tell north from south," and similar remarks.
Xu Mu ignored him.
When Ma Chuan finished laughing and was about to say something more to Xu Mu, he saw that Xu Mu was no longer on the empty street.
Hoo…
A gust of cold wind blew, and Ma Chuan involuntarily shivered. He then decided that catching the spirit tonight was hopeless and that he might as well go to the Green Cloud Inn for a meal. He walked in.
As he walked, he seemed to recall something amusing and let out a laugh like a domestic goose. The air was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
...
"In your human race, isn't the word 'idiot' used to describe him?"
In the night sky, Qiongqi followed behind Xu Mu, asking curiously.
"Don't insult idiots," Xu Mu replied seriously. At the same time, following the Dragon Seeking Ruler's guidance, he rode the wind across rooftops and finally stopped abruptly before a small alley.
Because he clearly saw, at the end of the alley, a shadow emitting a green light, busy fiddling with something.
Xu Mu glanced at the Dragon Seeking Ruler and confirmed that this was the spirit he was looking for. Then, carried by the natural wind, he slowly drifted towards the figure.
Silently, like a ghost.
As he got closer, he could clearly hear the "spirit's" constant muttering:
"Gui Liu Zhen Tu (Ghost Willow True Diagram), such a badass name, yet it's only a second-stage technique?"
"Gui Bei Luo Rong Jia (Turtle Shell Camel Wool Armor), boasting it's impenetrable to blades and spears, bah! Wearing such a heavy thing, how can you fight? The inventor of this thing must be sick in the head. Why don't you just research wearing a coffin on your body?!"
"Du Jiao Tong Ren (Unicorn Bronze Man), a consumable artifact, it has some use. Ji Han Xue Wu Yue (Extreme Cold Snow Mist Axe)... Feng Xue Long Ta (Phoenix Blood Dragon Tower)..."
The green-glowing shadow held a pile of stolen items in its hand, its face full of helplessness. Then, it angrily threw them all to the ground:
"What is all this trash?!"
"Is there not a single decent artifact in the entire Tuchen!"
It roared up at the sky, as if lamenting the injustice of fate.
But at that moment, it found a dark black saber suddenly appear before it.
"There is."
Xu Mu held the saber against its neck and replied with a smile.