Chapter 143: Seed of the Heart

Li Mu still stood there.
Blood was flowing.
Dressed in green sharp armor, which had been blasted into fragments by the final wave, he bore dozens of wounds from which blood endlessly seeped out.
Yet his expression remained surprisingly calm, a hint of cool clarity gleaming within his eyes.
The green sharp armor was gone, and the dust array had also been damaged, but there had been a defense that withstood the remaining blow; otherwise, he would certainly have suffered far more than mere flesh wounds. It was the moonlight shroud bestowed by Madam Wang, a magical treasure that could be driven without true force. Carrying it upon his person to endure such an attack left the magnificent radiance of the moonlight shroud greatly dimmed.
With multiple layers of defense all breached, one could well imagine just how formidable Zhao Mo's supreme attack truly was.
"A cultivator of the Pulse Condensation stage is fundamentally different from the Spirit Building stage; they must never be underestimated."
When dealing with the wooden dragon last time, he had first gained the upper hand, preventing the wooden dragon from unleashing even half of its strength, and with such a capable helper as Li Ge, he had managed to win. Now, dealing with Zhao Mo alone—merely at the early stage of Pulse Condensation—made it so grueling for Li Mu.
Li Mu swallowed two pills and stared at Zhao Mo, standing as straight as a pole.
Zhao Mo was stunned.
He had swallowed a pill right as he descended from the sky, and even now, he was panting slightly. This single attack had consumed nearly all the true force of his Pulse Condensation stage.
Such a massive assault and continuous strikes, and yet it still failed to exterminate that Spirit Building cultivator?
He began to doubt his own power. Although others had always called him the worst Pulse Condensation cultivator in Round Wood City, he knew very well that within the Mingyu Valley, there were not many early-stage Pulse Condensation cultivators who could rival him.
Zhao Mo looked at the two Spirit Building cultivators beside him and shouted loudly, "Hurry up and kill him!"
The two cultivators exchanged a glance and, without the slightest hesitation, charged toward Li Mu.
During the recent battle, they had been unable to intervene, but right now was the prime opportunity. Although they did not know why the two had been fighting, killing the mere Spirit Building-stage Li Mu would allow them to gain Zhao Mo's trust and reap even greater benefits.
Unexpectedly, Li Mu's gaze bypassed them entirely and landed on the numerous immortal slaves standing far behind them.
These immortal slaves had clearly been coerced.
Many of them were covered in bloodstains, their eyes glazed with numbness. Some walked with a limp, while others already lay upon the ground, seemingly unable to rise ever again. Some women were unclothed, desperately trying to shield their bodies, among whom were several young children.
It was utter madness.
Having consumed the Spirit Returning Pill, Li Mu's true force recovered significantly. With a gentle wave of his hand, the dust on the ground seemed to come alive, surging toward the two cultivators.

Just as one of the cultivators was about to deploy his magical treasure, he was astonished to find that his legs had sunk deep into the sand at some unknown moment, making them utterly impossible to lift.
Li Mu no longer held back and clenched his fist fiercely.
Two miserable shrieks rang out from the mouths of the cultivators.
The dust array abruptly contracted and solidified, shattering the legs of both men. Before they could even cry out twice, they were engulfed by countless grains of dust and vanished from sight.
Zhao Mo looked coldly at the scene and suddenly shouted, "How is it that you still have the strength to fight?"
Li Mu answered with utmost candor, "Indeed, I still have Spirit Returning pills."
"Spirit Returning pills? How can that be? The Cloud Mountain Realm has never possessed such pills." Zhao Mo stared at the pill in Li Mu's hand, his mouth agape in sheer disbelief.
The efficacy of ordinary Qi Returning pills could not possibly compare to Spirit Returning pills; the gap was far too vast.
"These are of the top grade."
Hearing Li Mu's mockery, Zhao Mo felt his heart sink into despair. He instantly knew what he had to do, and leaping with both legs, a flying shuttle materialized beneath him as he soared straight toward the sky.
His cultivation power was clearly far greater than Li Mu's, but his consumption had also been much greater than Li Mu's, and at this moment, it was nearly exhausted.
Li Mu did not move. He glanced at Zhao Mo and first gathered up the dust scattered on the ground.
Boom!
Several sharp sounds echoed from the sky as the dark figure of Heizi struck precisely into Zhao Mo's chest. Lacking sufficient true force, Zhao Mo could not evade it, and the dark radiance pierced directly through him.
"How can this be? Why are there third-tier flying riding spirit beasts here? To encounter this, I've truly thrown it all away." Harboring endless confusion, Zhao Mo, who could have made a name for himself in Round Wood City, lost everything right here.
Within the Cloud Mountain Realm, flying spirit beasts were exceedingly rare. Because they hindered cultivators from traversing the skies, during the expansion of many newly formed realms, the primary objective of cultivators was the extermination of flying spirit beasts. After decades of slaughter, spirit beasts capable of soaring through the sky had become nearly extinct.
Li Mu's original plan for dealing with enemies and testing his strength had not involved sending Heizi into battle. But seeing Zhao Mo attempt to flee, Heizi, who had been waiting for a long time, seized the opportunity.
Heizi grabbed Zhao Mo in mid-air, plunged downward, and landed beside Li Mu.
Li Mu meticulously searched the ground, not letting a single grain of dust escape.
Much of the dust had suffered heavy impacts, damaging the runes and restrictive arrays, causing a temporary loss of spiritual energy that prevented Li Mu from recalling them with true force.
After half an hour of searching, the collection of the dust array was finally completed. Roughly ten percent of it was damaged, but fortunately, it was salvageable. Li Mu breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The captured immortal slaves stood motionlessly, watching Li Mu complete everything.
"Elderly folk, why do you not return home?" Li Mu asked, a flicker of doubt in his heart.
An old man stepped forward, confusion flashing in his eyes. "As immortal slaves, we know we cannot leave until our tasks are completed. Yet we beg the immortal master to show mercy and let the children return home; they are just little ones."
Having been beaten into submission as immortal slaves, the spirit of cultivators seemed ingrained in their very bones, leaving them capable only of suffering in silence. The others felt much the same, believing that Li Mu had killed the cultivator simply to seize the immortal slaves for himself, and they were utterly terrified of being implicated.
Li Mu shook his head. "You are all free to return. You may also take the belongings of those cultivators, and then you can depart. Do not linger here."
"Can we truly leave?"
The old man remained deeply skeptical.
"Of course." Li Mu nodded.
The old man hurriedly performed numerous bows, his voice trembling as he said, "Thank you... Immortal Master... for your immense grace. Thank you, Immortal Master, for your immense grace. We dare not touch these belongings; we will leave right now, at once."
The old man scurried back to the large group, shouting for the immortal slaves to depart. They walked slowly, their eyes still glazed with numbness, their steps still hobbled. Li Mu sighed slightly, his heart feeling heavy and wordless. Words felt futile here; upon arriving in this world, he had no obligation to judge the lives of its inhabitants.
At that moment, a young child emerged from among the crowd, walked straight up to Li Mu, and knelt before him, kowtowing heavily several times.
"I beg the Immortal Master to bestow upon me the Daoist arts! They killed my father, and I will kill them to exact vengeance! To wash away this hatred! Vengeance!"
Li Mu gazed down at him, as if seeing Li Si once more. His heart trembled slightly, and he said sternly, "Are you not afraid of death?"
"I am not."
Yang Shuang raised his head, ignoring the wounds on his face that stretched down to his neck. A stubborn resilience was deeply etched into his dark eyes, plain for anyone to see.
"Very well. Take all the belongings of those two cultivators."
Yang Shuang stood up and lunged like a madman toward the dead cultivators, his hands scratching frantically at them as if he wished to tear the very flesh from their bones.
Li Mu tore a piece of fabric from Zhao Mo's garments, used his true force to guide the blood, and inscribed a set of Qi Condensation immortal cultivation techniques onto the cloth.
"Since you are not afraid, take this and cultivate. If you die, you die—it simply means you lacked the fortune. If you survive, find a way to exact your vengeance yourself. Once you begin your cultivation, do not return to the village, lest you bring disaster upon them. We are all struggling fiercely in this chaotic world; helping you to this extent is all I can do. The rest depends entirely on yourself."