"Demon Martial Artist?"
Su Mu’s heart stirred at the words. The red‑clothed woman before him really did resemble a Humanoid Demon Beast; her aura, her Qi Blood, even parts of her body carried the traits of a Demon Beast.
On his journey of thousands of li to Donglai County, Su Mu had once, by chance, heard similar rumors in a small county: it was said there were vicious Cultivators like Demon Fiends who fed on human hearts.
Su Mu had not treated such talk as mere ghostly tales. Wang Xuantian was a living example; moreover, after he wiped out the Black Mountain Army, the people of the Three Counties scrambled to escort Wang Xuantian’s corpse back to the Ancient Qingzhou, which was proof enough that such existences were exceedingly rare, and their bodies might well conceal some unknown, secret truth.
Back then, when Li Zhihe informed him, he had been extremely tight‑lipped, brushing past it with a single sentence, unwilling to speak in detail.
After traveling thousands of li, passing through many small counties and towns of Qingzhou to reach Donglai County, this red‑clothed woman before him was the second similar existence Su Mu had seen aside from Wang Xuantian.
"Should I say my luck is good... that I’ve been targeted?"
Su Mu’s brows faintly furrowed as he muttered inwardly. The instant he noticed something wrong with the red‑clothed woman’s aura, he hadn’t approached but silently withdrew to the rear of the crowd. On the second‑deck cabin, that burly man in the Red Demon Mask also stepped out.
Even so, he had still been locked onto by the red‑clothed woman, which left Su Mu rather helpless.
The red‑clothed woman’s gaze burned, fixing on Su Mu in the midst of the crowd as though she had spotted some mountain delicacy not seen in a hundred years.
The next instant.
The woman moved abruptly. Her little mouth snapped open, revealing a set of sharp fangs like those of a wild beast; a low growl spilled from her lips, shaking the mind.
"Woo‑woo—"
The low growl was truly like a Demon Beast raising its head to roar, stabbing like steel needles into the minds of everyone at the bow. Many people at once felt a stabbing pain in their eardrums, their faces turned pale as they groaned, their Spirits dazed for a heartbeat.
The red dress blurred on the spot, and in an instant she crossed more than a zhang and plunged into the crowd. On those slender, pitiably delicate hands, blood‑light surged, and Sharp Claws, cold‑gleaming to the naked eye, sprouted forth.
"Pupupupupu—!"
A blood‑colored phantom flickered past. The dozen‑plus Black Market guards whose Broken Blades had been severed were, in that instant of distraction, easily run through by those Sharp Claws and fangs, their Soft Armor pierced as if it were nothing, their throats and chests torn open, pierced through.
By the time a few of them came back to their senses, they were already at death’s door; they only had time to let out a few miserable screams before they toppled like wheat at autumn harvest, crashing to the deck. For a moment flesh flew and blood splattered, dyeing the Black Whale in red.
These dozen‑plus Seventh‑Grade Muscle‑Enhancing Martial Artists, whose strength was not low—if placed in the Qingyun Three Counties, they would be enough to form a major power in a single county—yet now, this many Seventh‑Grade Martial Artists were as fragile as paper before the Sharp Claws of the red‑clothed woman.
"A, a monster... run!"
The people on the first deck of the Black Whale were mostly Lower Three Grades Cultivators; among them were some Daoist Cultivators and Confucian Cultivators, whose Spiritual Power resistance was stronger than Martial Artists of the Same Grade.
They were the first to recover, and their faces all changed drastically. Many instinctively wanted to flee this place; the sound of bodies splashing into water rang out one after another as quite a few directly leapt off the Black Whale to escape.
Later, the Martial Artists who came back to themselves likewise followed suit. The red‑clothed woman did not pursue; her slit pupils, glimmering with blood‑light, only locked firmly onto Su Mu at the back of the crowd.
On the first‑deck cabin, no one dared meet her eyes; all hastened their steps and vaulted off the ship.
"Eat... eat you, and I might be able to assault an even higher Realm!"
The tips of the red‑clothed woman’s long hair flowed with a blood‑red hue in a strange manner, like living things. Greenish saliva trickled down from the corner of her mouth.
Judging purely by the abundance of Qi Blood, the red‑clothed woman sensed that Su Mu was slightly inferior to the burly Red Demon man on the second‑deck cabin.
Yet from Su Mu she smelled an extremely pure and delicious scent. This was something the Red Demon man on the second deck could not compare to at all. Instinct told her that if she drained all of Su Mu’s Qi Blood, her strength would advance yet another step!
"Run, we must run, hurry, come with me!"
The crowd in front split to both sides like birds and beasts scattering. The red‑clothed woman’s aura made hearts pound in terror. Beneath the Spirit Bird mask, the blue‑clothed woman’s eyes showed a trace of panic, and she immediately urged Su Mu to flee the Black Whale with her.
Only to find that at her side there was already no one. At some unknown moment, Su Mu, who had originally been standing in front of her, had fallen back to a zhang behind her.
"You, you..."
This scene angered the blue‑clothed woman; her fists clenched tight.
Su Mu remained unmoved, the brows beneath the White Ape Mask faintly knitting.
Since he began training in the martial path, he had killed no few people. The feeling this red‑clothed woman gave him was similar to Wang Xuantian, yet not entirely the same. This so‑called "Demon Martial Artist" was something he was facing for the first time; just how strong such an existence was, and what methods it possessed, he knew very little.
Yet he had already chosen to retreat, and the other side still pressed relentlessly.
"So be it... I’ll use you to test the progress of my strength over these past few months!"
Su Mu’s eyes narrowed slightly, a trace of ferocity rising of itself. One who trains in martial arts must first nurture three parts balefulness. The heart tempered beneath his chest began to pound powerfully, and his vigorous Qi Blood and Gang Force quietly surged.
"Woo‑woo—!"
The red‑clothed woman let out another low growl from her mouth and lunged at Su Mu like a mad beast. In her peripheral vision, the blue‑clothed woman wearing the Spirit Bird mask noticed that the man behind her still stood motionless, and her face instantly showed anxiousness.
But a gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall. The blue‑clothed woman circulated the Spiritual Qi within her body; Spiritual Light flashed in her hand as a Talisman appeared and was instantly activated.
Crackle.
A blue barrier sprang into existence out of thin air, yet before the blue‑clothed woman could escape, the figure of the red‑clothed woman in her pupils had already magnified without limit.
"Not good..."
The blue‑clothed woman’s pupils abruptly constricted. She had never imagined the red‑clothed woman’s speed would be so great. That blood‑colored phantom did not even glance at her; the sweeping demonic wind brushed past her shoulder with a sudden rush.