Chapter 366: Where the Sword Points, All Are Ants!
"Hurry, faster!" Li Zhou fought back his exhaustion, urging the people behind him to quicken their pace.
The Saintess had left Bai Miao Village a day ago. Given her speed, she couldn’t have reached the Xing Family’s territory yet. However, they needed to find her before the Xing Family did and get her out of Southern Sky.
"Brothers, pick up the pace!" Li Tong said in a low voice, wielding his Miao Knife. "We absolutely cannot let the Saintess marry into the Xing Family!"
"Right!" the hundreds of Bai Miao Village warriors roared, their eyes filled with determination.
"Good!" Li Zhou shouted. "You are all worthy sons of the Li Clan! The Xing Family has gone too far, forcing our Saintess to go to them alone. This is a great humiliation for our clan!"
"Yes!"
"We won’t allow it!"
"Let’s attack the Xing Family and take back the Saintess!"
Seeing his invigorated clansmen, Li Zhou felt a deep sense of relief. Although some were cowards, the Li Clan was not short of hot-blooded men. These men, in particular, had all practiced the body-strengthening techniques passed down by the Miao King, and their strength had increased significantly. Even against the Xing Family, they now stood a fighting chance!
"Li Zhou, Li Tong, how dare you defy the clan’s orders and flee on your own? You deserve a thousand deaths!"
Just then, an icy voice dripping with killing intent sounded from behind them.
Li Zhou spun around, his expression changing instantly. "Everyone, run! It’s Elder Quan Heng!"
He recognized the man. It was Elder Quan Heng, who was close to Zhao Xi. He was also a coward who had strongly advocated for the Saintess to be married off to the Xing Family.
"You’re not going anywhere!" Quan Heng moved with incredible speed, catching up in the blink of an eye. Behind him, a large, armed group swarmed in to surround them. They were men from the Quan and Zhao Families, brought by Quan Heng. Every one of them held a weapon, their faces etched with murderous intent.
"Quan Heng, what do you think you’re doing?" Li Zhou’s face turned grim as he watched Quan Heng’s men encircle them.
"What am I doing?" Quan Heng snorted. "Li Zhou, the union between the Dragon of the Xing Family, Xing Chong, and the Saintess is a match made in heaven and a great fortune for our Li Clan. What are you planning to do, bringing all these men here?"
"Don’t you know perfectly well what we’re doing?" Li Tong pointed his knife at Quan Heng and said coldly, "Old man, you want to use the Saintess’s marriage to the Xing Family to save your own skin. You’re shameless! You don’t deserve to be a member of the Li Clan, let alone an Elder!"
"Li Tong, whether I deserve it or not isn’t for you to decide!" Quan Heng’s face darkened. "But if you dare to sabotage this momentous alliance, you will be treated as a traitor to the clan!"
"Pah!" Li Tong spat contemptuously. "You old traitor, siding with outsiders. You really think I don’t know what you’re plotting? You want to trade the Saintess for your own gain? Dream on!"
"Dream on!" the hundred warriors from Bai Miao Village roared, raising their knives to confront Quan Heng without a trace of fear.
"Fine, fine, fine!" Quan Heng sneered. "Since you refuse to see reason, don’t blame me for being ruthless!" With a wave of his hand, he commanded coldly, "Kill them!"
"Kill!"
Quan Heng’s followers immediately charged toward Li Zhou’s group.
"You all go! Catch up with the Saintess! I’ll hold them off!" Li Zhou roared, brandishing his knife as he rushed forward. His strength had increased rapidly, and dealing with these men from the Zhao and Quan families was almost effortless. In the blink of an eye, he had cut down several of them.
"Let’s go!" Li Tong grit his teeth, leading the others away. As long as they could find the Saintess and stop her from reaching the Xing Family, their mission would be a success.
"Hmph!" Seeing Li Zhou slay several of his men, Quan Heng’s face turned ugly, and he charged forward himself. "Do you really take me for a mere decoration!"
As a leading figure of the Tongren Quan Family, Quan Heng’s strength was not to be underestimated; his cultivation had already reached the Internal Energy Early Stage. Although Li Zhou had trained diligently, he had only achieved External Strength and was no match for him.
Quan Heng threw a palm strike, sending Li Zhou’s knife flying before landing a fist squarely on his chest.
"Pfft!" Li Zhou spat a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward, his face turning deathly pale.
Grabbing a knife from one of his men, Quan Heng slowly approached Li Zhou, his face filled with murderous intent. "Brat, you dare ruin our plans? I’ll send you to meet King Yama!"
"Brother!" From a distance, Li Tong saw this, and his eyes instantly turned bloodshot. He started to run back to help.
"Go! Don’t worry about me!" Li Zhou yelled with all his might, his eyes filled with resolve. "Find the Saintess! Tell her I did my best!"
"No!" Li Tong roared, pushing his companions away. "You guys go find the Saintess! Hurry!" He ran back alone and helped Li Zhou to his feet.
"You idiot!" Li Zhou roared in anger. "Why did you come back?"
Gritting his teeth, Li Tong replied, "Brother, we’re family. If we die, we die together!"
The two brothers looked at each other and shared a small smile. They nodded silently, preparing to launch one final, desperate attack.
Quan Heng smirked. "Tsk, tsk. Such a touching brotherly bond. In that case, allow me to fulfill your wish!"
As he finished speaking, he raised the knife and brought it down in a vicious arc.
"If you kill them, I will annihilate your clan."
Just then, an utterly cold voice echoed from the heavens. Everyone looked up to see a dark figure appear in the distant sky. It was far away at first, but in the blink of an eye, it was right before them.
"Huh?"
Li Zhou and his brother sensed something was wrong. They stared, wide-eyed, at the approaching figure. As it drew closer, they were so terrified they nearly collapsed.
It was a gray dragon, and standing atop its head was a man.
The man waved his hand lightly, and the dragon vanished, leaving behind only a streak of light that shot into the sky, seemingly hiding among the clouds. He then leaped, plummeting from a thousand meters in the air.
THUD!
The ground trembled violently as he landed, shaking the earth and splitting it with several fissures. The man stood there, right in front of them.
"Miao... Miao King?!" Shock, then ecstasy, then utter astonishment washed over the faces of the two brothers.
The Miao King had come out of seclusion?
Lin Mu gave the pair a slight nod.
"The Miao King? What Miao King?" Quan Heng snorted, but then his pupils shrank as realization dawned. He stammered, "You... You’re the Miao King?!"
However, Lin Mu didn’t even spare him a glance. With a casual wave of his hand, Quan Heng was sent flying. Before his body could even hit the ground, it was shredded into fragments as if by thousands of strands of Sword Qi, exploding into a shower of flesh and blood.
"Ah!"
The men from the Quan and Zhao families screamed in terror, their eyes filled with horror as they stared at Lin Mu. What kind of sorcery was this? With just a wave of his hand, he had turned Quan Heng into mincemeat.
"Run!"
After a panicked exchange of glances, they all scattered, fleeing frantically in every direction.
"Since you’ve come, you might as well stay," Lin Mu said, his eyes narrowing slightly. He raised his hands and grasped at the sky.
A resonant cry echoed from the clouds as the gray dragon poked its head out before transforming into an Ancient Sword that shot out in all directions.
Then, Li Zhou and his brother witnessed a scene they would never forget. The air filled with crisscrossing Sword Qi, which split into individual threads, each one accurately pursuing a fleeing man and piercing straight through him.
"Aaaah!"
In just a few seconds, the dozens of men Quan Heng had brought were all dead on the ground. Every single one had been pierced through the brow or chest by a sword, dead beyond any doubt.
Looking at the two stunned brothers, Lin Mu said, "You two, hurry back to Bai Miao Village. I will bring Ling Qing back."
By the time they snapped out of their daze, the Miao King was gone.
Li Tong couldn’t help but swallow hard, his voice hoarse. "Brother, was that really the Miao King?"
"I think... it had to be, right?" Li Zhou was still reeling from the shock. The scene he had just witnessed could only be described with a single phrase: where the sword pointed, all were mere ants.