Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

"Do you have any last words?"

"Changfeng County, Lower Mountain Village, please I beg you, senior, deliver this silver to my son... His name is Zhao Xingzheng. My death is well-deserved, but he has nothing to do with it..."

Zhao Qing spoke resolutely without begging for mercy, fully understanding that as a man of Changping Dao, death was inevitable. Only when mentioning his son Zhao Xingzheng did a trace of reluctance and guilt show in his eyes as he trembled and untied a blood-stained money bag from his waist to hand over.

The money bag was not bulky, estimating it to contain less than ten taels.

"Alright."

With those words, Su Mu received the money bag and thrust forward with a spear, and with a flash of crimson, Zhao Qing’s head shattered with a ’poof,’ and his body collapsed loudly.

Su Mu then searched Zhao Qing’s belongings, retrieving over a thousand taels in silver notes, several bottles of pills, and a Martial Arts Secret Manual from the corpse.

"’Gale Triple Arrows’... Eighth-Grade Archery Skill? Quite rare."

Su Mu stored all these items into the Sumeru Ring. Zhao Qing wisely didn’t request Su Mu to deliver the silver notes taken from Taiping Dao, knowing Su Mu wouldn’t agree and would instead slay Zhao Qing on the spot.

Su Mu swallowed several Blood-Strengthening Pills and, with a tremor of his spear, inscriptions and three Artifact Patterns glimmered and quickly transformed into a crimson glow.

"Sizzle!"

Sparks flew, without emitting a piercing sound, as the Crimson Flame Spear Tip penetrated the metal door smoothly, as if it were pierceing a block of tofu rather than a heavy metal door.

"Not yet fully activated, the sharpness and lethality... have increased by at least thirty percent compared to before!"

With a flick of Su Mu’s wrist, the crimson glow swiftly swept across.

"Boom!"

Crimson light flashed on the metal door, bursting it open with a tumultuous fall, causing the entire underground chamber to tremble lightly, revealing a faint golden glow emanating from the dark room.

Su Mu’s eyes flashed as he quickly traced the source of the golden light, with the flickering fire on the torches outside the dark chamber illuminating the silhouette within the chamber.

It was a figure, completely naked, emaciated to the point of being unrecognizable, sitting cross-legged on the ground, resembling more a dry corpse nailed in place by steel nails than a living person.

Su Mu’s gaze narrowed, forming a sharp contrast with the figure who seemed on the brink of exhaustion. From shoulder blades to limbs, abdomen to wrists, and even palms, the entire body was pierced with three-inch steel nails.

At this moment, fresh blood poured from the key points where these nails penetrated, surrounded by crushed stone powder, indicating the commotion that shook the dungeon earlier was evidently caused by this ’dry corpse.’

These blood-soaked steel nails were connected to special iron chains as thick as a baby’s arm, dozens of them tightly embedded within the chamber’s rock walls.

"Was it... you... who killed... Gongsun Xin?"

The ’dry corpse’ did not open its mouth, but instead, its abdomen trembled, and a hoarse voice mixed with the sound of chain rustling echoed within the stone room.

Ventriloquism?

This dry corpse is not simple!

Su Mu’s eyes narrowed as he entered a transformed state, noting the elder’s body circulated with a faint golden glow, especially around the brow.

But this glow was different from the Destiny Glimmer seen before.

"Not Destiny Glimmer!"

Even setting aside the golden glow, the elder’s body and Life Force were extremely strong, the strongest Martial Artist Su Mu had encountered, still surviving despite such imprisonment.

"So what if it was?"

The ’dry corpse’ suddenly fell silent for a few breaths, then burst into a wild laugh, the hoarse voice no longer as crude or stagnant.

"Killed well, killed well!"

A grand voice echoed within the cavity, shaking the rock burst, stones crumbled, and the ’dry corpse’ pierced by dozens of steel nails sealing its meridians and acupuncture points emitted sounds akin to rushing rivers.

Pill Force?!

Su Mu’s eyes flickered, familiar with this Power, instantly recognizing the ’dry corpse’ was channeling Pill Force, being the first martial artist other than himself in the Qingyun Three Counties to have mastered Pill Force.

Quickly, Su Mu’s gaze fell on the seven scars atop the ’dry corpse’s’ head.

Monk?

Su Mu’s eyes flashed, recalling memories from a past life. Though not religious himself, Su Mu’s elders did believe in Buddhism, taking him to temple worship since childhood.

Being so influenced, Su Mu knew some Buddhist matters, such as the meaning behind the scars on a monk’s head, connected with their cultivation.

Monks with six scars typically were old monks with many years of cultivation, while those with more, often nine scars, were usually abbots or hosts of esteemed large temples.

Contemplating rapidly, Su Mu guessed the identity of the person before him.

"A Vajra Temple monk?"

"Amitabha Buddha... Young benefactor, this humble one, Zen Heart, greets you." The dry corpse’s arms were locked by chains unable to form a prayer gesture, speaking a Buddhist Verse with the golden glow across the brow conveying a solemn presence, contrasting sharply with the prior manic demeanor.

"You, young benefactor, have a connection with my Buddha, even within the martial arts you practice contains traces of my Vajra Temple’s Buddhist teachings."

"Ah, so it’s a high monk of Vajra Temple, why have you fallen into such circumstances, senior?"

Su Mu acknowledged genuinely, indeed his cultivated martial arts bore traces of Vajra Temple’s teachings, thus believing Zen Heart fivefold, while feeling no hostility from him, yet remained vigilant.