Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

"You really made it hard for us to find you. Killing you tonight would make the Yan Family remnants feel complete."

The cyan-robed scholar had an intense focus locked on Su Mu, while a slim, sinister-looking man standing behind him on the right coldly spoke. At his waist hung a slender sword, half a foot longer than the usual three-foot longsword.

Yan Family remnants feel complete?

The Black Swallow Lady's pupils suddenly contracted at these words, her emotions turning exceedingly angry as she shouted, "Where is my younger brother? What did you do to him?"

"Heh, your younger brother?"

Just then, the short, fat man with a face full of flesh like a meatball to the left of the scholar let out a fierce laugh, dropped his hand to his waist, and flung something out.

The cloth bag exploded in the air under the force, revealing the bloody object inside. That object fell to the ground and rolled towards the Black Swallow Lady; under the moonlight, it was clearly a head!

The head belonged to a boy no older than twelve or thirteen. The eye sockets were hollowed out, ears and nose cut off. Before death, he must have suffered inhuman torment, his face twisted abnormally.

"Younger brother!"

The Black Swallow Lady trembled violently, her face in unbearable pain. She could recognize at a glance that this was indeed her younger brother's head. Her little brother had unfortunately fallen into the hands of villains, who must have used inhuman means to torture him for her whereabouts before brutally killing him and leaving his body unwhole.

Su Mu's gaze fell on the head on the ground, his expression exceptionally calm. If the Little Doctor or Pharmacist were alive to see Su Mu's expression now, they would surely know that Su Mu had been truly enraged.

"Tortured to death and then using the victim's skull for such despicable acts... these people deserve to die."

Crack!

Just as the Black Swallow Lady cried out in grief, the head on the ground suddenly exploded, shooting out black needles like a downpour of deadly rain.

"You bastards!"

This scene caused the Black Swallow Lady's eyes to bulge with rage. Realizing the threat, she drew her longsword, whipping it around to stabilize the air into a sword net, blocking the incoming black needles.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The shimmering sword shadows sent most of the black needles flying, pinning them into the surrounding trees and mud.

But despite her dense defense, a lapse occurred; the Black Swallow Lady couldn't fully prevent the hidden weapon trap made from her relative's skull. Two black needles pierced into her left shoulder and her sword-wielding right arm.

"The steel needles are poisoned!"

A wave of despair surged in the Black Swallow Lady's heart. Instantly, her vision blurred, her face turned pale, and waves of paralysis swept through her body from the two wounds.

Could it be that she was going to die here?

Yet her great revenge remained unfulfilled, and her enemies were just before her—she felt unwilling!

In her bewilderment, the Black Swallow Lady planted her sword into the ground, gasping for breath. Remembering something, she mustered her last strength to cry out urgently, "Escape, quickly... otherwise, they won't spare you!"

As her voice faded, the thin, sinister man immediately spoke coldly, "I see that guy is with these Yan Family remnants, better to root out the problem and take him down too; he could be a good alchemy material..."

"Huh, where did that guy go?"

His words were abruptly cut off. The tall and short men on the scene furrowed their brows. Earlier, their attention was entirely on the Yan Family remnants, allowing that guy to escape under their noses.

Among the three, only the cyan-robed scholar's heart pounded heavily in his chest. Unlike the other two, he never intended to let Su Mu go from the start, secretly splitting a portion of his spiritual power to lock onto Su Mu, yet the latter vanished without a trace right under his watch.

What did this imply? He must have severely underestimated that guy's strength.

At this moment, the cicadas in the forest suddenly buzzed restlessly, starting like a light drizzle and turning into a thunderous roar in an instant.

A silhouette emerged from the darkness, holding a longsword.

"Stop pretending to be supernatural, die already!"

The lean, sinister man coldly announced, brandishing a sword that instantly separated into two, then four.

In a flash, the sword in the lean man's hand seemed to transform into four silver snakes intent on devouring Su Mu from different directions. The sword move was elusive, cold, and exquisite, testament to the lean man's mastery of swordsmanship.

"What a powerful sword strike... Even if I gave it my all, I would avoid its sharpness first," the Black Swallow Lady thought, sitting limp on the ground, feeling cold and overwhelmed with anxiety and guilt for dragging an innocent Su Mu into this.

"Second Brother's sword is becoming increasingly exquisite," the cyan-robed scholar privately breathed a sigh of relief, his mind at ease. Even he couldn't afford to underestimate such a strike and would need to exert his full strength.

Su Mu's expression remained unchanged. He felt the jade bone state of his body, channeling the pill force he hadn't used in a long time.

"Not a twentieth of what it used to be, but it's enough."

Whoosh!

Confronted with the cold and tricky strike of the lean man's sword that split into four silver snakes, Su Mu simply responded with a calm sword swing.

A gentle breeze suddenly swept through the dense forest, turning into soft, ethereal sword light that became hazy under the moon. The delicate sword light swirled like gentle breezes, akin to a torrential summer storm, instantly engulfing the four silver snakes.

"How, how is this possible?!"

The lean man's face drastically changed, as if witnessing something unbelievable. With a crackling, the four silver snakes were instantly shredded into countless fragments by the gentle breeze and rain, with the fine sword light weaving into a net, pouring down.

The man wanted to defend, but this sword strike was too fast. His own proud stroke was nothing more than brandishing a knife before Guan Yu in contrast to Su Mu's strike.