Chapter 13: Knock Dead

Senior Brother Qu finally panicked. "He's going to beat me to death with this small wooden stick, just keep hitting me until I die!" He truly wished the other person had a knife; even a blunt one would have been preferable.

The small wooden stick naturally wasn't very powerful, but after all the blows, the swelling on his head and face had turned into bruised pus pockets. The swelling had reduced his eyes to mere slits, and his vision was becoming increasingly blurred. The skin on his body was bruised black and blue, and some of his muscles had been beaten to a pulp. Qin Mu had given special attention to his joints. Qin Mu wasn't targeting the bones in the joints, but rather the ligaments and fascia. Senior Brother Qu's ligaments and fascia in all his joints were ruptured by the small wooden stick, causing him tearing pain with even the slightest movement. Being beaten to death little by little with a small wooden stick was the most terrifying ordeal. The intense pain and fear were prolonged countless times over, yet he couldn't die quickly.

At this moment, the stampeding herd above their heads vanished. They had fought their way out of the ruins' gateway, and the beast herd had dispersed. Qin Mu's strength was also gradually waning. After countless consecutive "knife swings," he couldn't keep going. He and Senior Brother Qu had been running and fighting beneath the giant beast's belly, not only dodging the opponent's sword but also avoiding the beast's hooves or claws. The continuous shifts in footwork had left his legs sore and swollen. When he trained with the Butcher, though the Butcher was often eccentric, he knew how to train moderately and wouldn't let him get overly tired. Now, he had no strength left to continue swinging the knife; he was holding on purely through willpower.

He knew that if he stopped, even if Senior Brother Qu had a shred of energy left and could move slightly, he himself would be decapitated. He could only keep hitting until Senior Brother Qu was dead!

Thud.

Senior Brother Qu finally gave out and collapsed to the ground, his precious sword clanging as it fell. Qin Mu dropped the wooden stick and grabbed the sword, but he couldn't lift it; his arms had no strength left. Qin Mu lifted his foot and slowly kicked the sword hilt, pointing the tip towards Senior Brother Qu. Senior Brother Qu could barely see what was happening and struggled to writhe, trying to avoid the sword tip. But his bones and fascia were almost completely ruined; he couldn't move his muscles even an inch. Unable to move, he could only watch Qin Mu laboriously adjust the sword tip's direction little by little, then slowly kick the sword, allowing the blade to gradually pierce his throat. Finally, the sword pierced his throat. Gurgling sounds came from his throat, and bubbles appeared in the blood. He soon breathed his last.

Qin Mu relaxed and collapsed to the ground. It was utterly exhausting; he had never been this tired before. A corpse lay beside him, and the feeling was truly unpleasant. Qin Mu tried to move his body but couldn't budge, so he gave up the idea. This wasn't the first time he had seen a corpse. The woman who crawled out of the ox hide by the river, and Senior Brother Qu's two junior brothers, had all become corpses.

Once, Granny Si took him to a neighboring village to help a woman give birth. Granny Si, besides tailoring clothes, also worked as a midwife, delivering babies for women in nearby villages. When they arrived, all the villagers were dead—men, women, old, and young, including the woman in labor. At that time, Qin Mu's mind went blank. He felt like he was floating weightlessly in the air above the village, looking down at the tragic scene below. Later, Granny Si woke him, saying he had been so frightened that his soul had left his body, that he had lost his spirit, and that she had pulled his soul back and put it into his body. Granny didn't say who killed the villagers, only that such things were very common in the Great Ruins, so...

"You must not leave your enemies any chance," Granny Si told him very seriously.

Senior Brother Qu's corpse made him uncomfortable, but the Great Ruins was a place where the strong preyed on the weak and only the fittest survived. Qin Mu had grown up there, accustomed to the fighting of strange beasts in the Great Ruins, so Senior Brother Qu's corpse was no different from the corpses of other strange beasts.

As he regulated his breathing, footsteps suddenly approached. Qin Mu barely managed to turn his head towards the sound, his heart startled. He saw Senior Sister Qing limping towards him, carrying a precious sword. Her face was swollen beyond recognition, like a pig's head.

Qin Mu struggled to his feet, his limbs and muscles throbbing with intense pain and swelling. He had to stop, panting heavily, and silently activated the "Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique." His vital energy slowly became active, gradually surging and flowing towards his sore muscles and torn tendons. Wherever the vital energy flowed, the swelling somewhat subsided, but his senses became even sharper, and a searing pain ensued.

Senior Sister Qing continued to limp towards him. This woman, who had fought Qin Mu using leg techniques, had her legs half-crippled by his kicks, and her face had endured countless blows. The cruelest was the final kick, delivered with Qin Mu's full force. That kick, like a venomous dragon's tail sweep, had flattened her once beautiful face, which was now so swollen it looked like dough left overnight. Her teeth were probably all gone, and saliva mixed with blood constantly dripped from the corners of her mouth. But her hand was steady, and the precious sword in it still gleamed coldly. Clearly, the hatred in her heart was immense; she wanted to tear Qin Mu into ten thousand pieces.

Qin Mu hastened to activate the "Overlord Body Three Elixir Technique," hoping to regain some strength, but the intense battle had left his body utterly exhausted. Only by opening the Spirit Embryo Wall and absorbing the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasure could one be considered a true martial artist. He was not yet a martial artist, yet he had managed to beat a martial artist like Senior Brother Qu to death, which was already a remarkable achievement. But that was all. He no longer had the strength to fight Senior Sister Qing.

Senior Sister Qing finally reached Qin Mu's side. She tried to speak, but her mouth and throat were too swollen to make a sound, so she raised her precious sword and stabbed fiercely at Qin Mu!

"What a lovely little girl, Granny truly likes her very much."

Senior Sister Qing's body suddenly stiffened. Her precious sword met an invisible obstruction and couldn't strike down. Her eyes showed fear as she saw a small old woman walking towards her, carrying a basket and tip-toeing with tiny steps. Senior Sister Qing's body trembled as she slowly retreated. Just then, a loud voice came from behind: "Mu'er, you used my Pig-Slaughtering Knife Technique with a small wooden stick, and it took you five thousand four hundred and seventy-six strikes to bring that boy down. And in the end, what killed that rascal was actually a sword!"

Senior Sister Qing laboriously turned her head and saw several strange-looking people approaching: a blind man using a stick to feel his way, a cripple missing a leg, a grotesque person with all four limbs severed, and a burly man with only an upper body and a face full of tough flesh. The burly man, who only had an upper body, was carried over in a bamboo basket, while the grotesque person with severed limbs was carried. All these people looked incredibly miserable. The only one who appeared somewhat normal was the middle-aged man carrying the bamboo basket, yet his face was completely ruined, as if the skin had been peeled off, making his features the most terrifying and ferocious.

The one who had just spoken was the burly man with only an upper body and a face full of tough flesh. Sitting in the bamboo basket, he was fuming, and from afar, he reprimanded Qin Mu: "It seems you still haven't trained enough! Don't talk about not having a knife, don't talk about a small wooden stick. As long as your knife technique is superb, you can cut him down with an empty hand!"

Qin Mu sighed in relief and said hoarsely, "Granny Si, Grandpa Butcher, Grandpa Apothecary, you're all here?"

Granny Si chuckled, "We painstakingly raised you, and this is your first time leaving home to spend the night outside with a strange girl. Of course, we were worried; of course, we had to come take a look."

Qin Mu blinked and tentatively asked, "How long have you been here?"

The Butcher grunted, "We were already here when you were fighting that boy under the beast herd's belly. Otherwise, how would I know you made a total of five thousand four hundred and seventy-six strikes?"

Qin Mu's face darkened. This group of old men and women had clearly been there for a long time, yet they let him fight for his life and almost lose it. Only then did he realize why the beast herd hadn't attacked him and Senior Brother Qu; it turned out they had been scared away by the Butcher and the others.

"People from other villages say Granny and Grandpa Village Chief are bad guys, is that true? But I think Granny and the others are good people; they must have thought I could defeat Senior Brother Qu, which is why they just watched..." he comforted himself inwardly.

"As an Overlord Body that transcends spirit bodies, for you to be beaten into such a miserable state, we are all very disappointed," the blind man said with a smile, leaning on his bamboo staff and speaking into the air.

Qin Mu coughed. "Grandpa Blind, I'm here."

"I know you're here." The blind man turned around and said with a smile, "You won against that boy using a stick, which means I taught well. But don't be proud; after all, you are an Overlord Body, so it's only natural that you're stronger than him! Your training will be doubled from now on, so don't pull a long face..."

The Butcher said coldly, "Blind man, he clearly used my knife technique, what are you so proud of? And what's the point of you muttering incessantly to a corpse?"