At the foot of Liaoyin Temple on Wuliang Mountain, a great battle is about to break out.

When Li Mu took out the dagger, his divine sense was already fully activated.

As soon as Tu Laodao finished saying "Give me your life," his hands trembled, his blood surged, and his aura surged.

Immediately, a soft sword slid out from his right sleeve, and a lump of metal slid out from his left. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a nail.

Li Mu originally intended to finish the fight quickly, and now that he saw that the man surnamed Tu had the same idea, he decided to start the fight.

"Ping ping ping!!!"

Li Mu made the first move, and in a short period of time, the two had already exchanged more than ten blows.

The close combat was intense, with the constant clanging of swords against each other, seemingly evenly matched and with no clear victor.

Li Mushi was already feeling a surge of anger and shock, realizing that he had underestimated his opponent.

Before the fight started, I felt that the opponent's strength was probably similar to that of Mochizuki Yoshio, and that it shouldn't be too difficult to defeat him.

However, the last time he fought Mochizuki, it was just a friendly sparring match. Now, they are fighting to the death, which is a completely different matter.

After exchanging more than a dozen blows, Tu Houhong was also filled with doubt, wondering what Li Mu had gone through.

He was almost beaten to death by his own disciple before, but now he can actually fight back against me and doesn't seem to be at a disadvantage.

He had tried his best to overestimate the other party, but he still underestimated them.

If Li Mu hadn't been cultivating for a short time and hadn't lacked internal energy, he probably would have suffered a great loss.

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The battle did not stop because of the two's thoughts; on the contrary, their moves became even more ferocious and rapid.

After another twenty moves, Li Mu seized an opportunity and slashed a wind blade toward Tu Houhong's left chest.

Tu Houhong instinctively dodged, then slashed at Li Mu's right shoulder with his sword.

"puff!"

"puff!"

After two soft sounds, Tu Houhong's left shoulder was cut by the wind blade, and Li Mu's right shoulder also bled.

The fact that both sides were bleeding at the same time further fueled their determination to fight. In this life-or-death situation, it was either you or me who would die.

It must be said that Tu Daoren's use of the soft sword is different from Wang Yue's sinister style. His control over the soft sword is very skillful and ingenious, as if it were a living thing.

Li Mu had extensive fighting experience, but he was limited by his slightly insufficient spiritual power and was worried that his opponent might throw the nail in his hand at any time.

Taking advantage of a brief lull in the fight, Li Mu took out a Life-Giving Pill from his ring and threw it into his mouth. His spiritual power was immediately replenished, and his injuries were instantly healed.

Tu Houhong could clearly see the use of this ring; it was definitely a storage ring.

Then, a series of extremely fast sword moves were aimed directly at Li Mu, while at the same time, the Death Nail in his left hand was ready to take Li Mu's life at any moment.

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The reason Li Mu was always at a disadvantage was because he was wary of the nail in Tu Houhong's left hand, which affected his mind.

The most taboo thing in a fight is being distracted.

This is also Li Mu's own fault. At first, he felt he underestimated his opponent, but after the fight, he was too wary of him. The old hand was a little insecure.

If he adjusts his mindset, with his current strength at the late fourth level, he can completely crush a martial artist who has just advanced to the Earth Realm.

After receiving the elixir, Li Mu's mindset did indeed become much calmer. It was just a nail; he shouldn't be taking it too seriously.

The reason I haven't used fireball or invisibility spells is because I'm worried about revealing too much information. If I kill the opponent, what else is there to worry about?

This is due to the inertia of thought; constantly trying to hide things leads to losing one's true self and the drive to win.

If the Wind Blade technique were combined with the Invisibility Technique, and a few fireballs were thrown at any time, how could he have been beaten so badly by a mere early-stage Earth Realm cultivator?

Seeing that Tu Houhong had finally unleashed his full power, his soft sword dance leaving only afterimages, and the nail in his left hand poised to strike.

Li Mu completely let loose; if he didn't use any tricks, the monk Liaoyin in his consciousness would come over.

Li Mu didn't want to expose his methods to the monk, even though he had just saved the monk's life and there was no guarantee that the monk wouldn't blab.

As the swords clashed, Li Mu made himself invisible and then unleashed another wind blade.

"puff!"

"ah!"

With a scream, Tu Houhong's sword arm fell to the ground at shoulder height, and the nail in his left hand was knocked out.

Although Li Mu kept his divine sense focused on the situation, he was still hit in the left arm by two nails.

"puff!"

Hearing the screams, Li Mu did not stop. At the same time as he was hit by the nail, another gust of wind swept past, and Tu Houhong's left hand also fell to the ground.

.

Seeing that the senior monk was about to arrive, Li Mu decided not to delay any longer.

With a casual gust of wind and two fireballs, Tu Houhong, who was still in a daze, died on the spot.

Tu Houhong was stunned because he underestimated Li Mu's hidden weapon, the wind blade.

Previously, Li Mu's wind blade had only slightly injured him.

He didn't pay much attention when he saw Li Mu swing his left hand again.

He was thinking of risking injury himself to save Li Mu's life.

So, ignoring Li Mu's wind ninja, he directly fired the Death Nail.

The truth is, even the cautious Tu Laodao underestimated the power of Li Mufeng's blade, and thus lost his life.

Just as the senior monk arrived, Li Mu waved away the ashes on the ground.

When Fellow Daoist Tu died, his Dao vanished without a trace.

"Brother Li, where is Fellow Daoist Tu? Why is his bundle left here? Where did he go?"

The senior monk already knew the answer. He heard fighting halfway there, but the person was no longer there. This fellow Daoist Tu was probably dead.

However, without seeing it with one's own eyes, one cannot draw conclusions.

"Your fellow Daoist Tu has turned to ashes and gone to see the King of Hell."

Li Mu looked at the slow-witted monk and said directly.

After saying that, he slapped his left arm with his palm, and with two soft sounds, two iron nails were forced out of Li Mu's body.

Seeing that Li Mu easily forced the two nails out of his body, the big monk picked up a nail from the ground and looked at it.

"Huh! Could this be Fellow Daoist Tu's Death Nail? This is a good thing, a treasure made of meteorite iron."

Fellow Daoist Tu still has his baggage, his soft sword, and now even his nail.

Once the senior monk confirmed that the man was indeed dead, he began picking up nails.

Upon hearing that it was some kind of treasure, Li Mu picked up a nail from the ground. The nail was indeed quite good; it would be a sure thing to use it as a concealed weapon.

The two began picking up the nails on the ground. Although the senior monk started picking them up first, Li Mu used his divine sense to pick up two-thirds more.

Finally, the head monk saw that Li Mu hadn't given him the nails he'd found, so he gave all the nails he'd found to Li Mu.

Li Mu didn't want the bundle and the soft sword, but there were actually tens of thousands of yuan in cash in the bundle, which the big monk got for free.

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After the two returned to the mountain, the head monk went out to collect the animal traps, vowing to treat Li Mu to a good meal.

After Li Mu and the other senior monks left, they began the post-war debriefing.

In this world, the days to come will likely be filled with battles against these pure martial artists, an experience I never had in my previous life.

In a life-or-death struggle, how can one deal with these martial artists without overwhelming strength?

I've only encountered Tu Houhong in the early stage of the Earth Realm. What should I do if another one comes along, either in the middle or late stage?

If you encounter a Heaven Realm martial artist, how big is the difference in strength between a Heaven Realm martial artist and an Earth Realm martial artist?

If we encounter each other, should we fight? If we can't win, can we run away?

This series of assumptions made Li Mu's head throb; all of them boiled down to the word "strength."

Previously, I thought that after reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining, I would have some means of self-protection, but now it seems that it is far from enough.

In the short term, I need to play it safe and develop my strength as quickly as possible, speeding up my cultivation progress.

Otherwise, there is always the risk of being killed.