Murder

Regret sneaked its way into the breathless audience's brains that stopped moving for a brief moment. Mu Yu stood still, eyes closed, right arm fractured and still in an empty spirit state. The fight triggered his spiritual energy quality's change. The clash against the Kuai Jian led him to the answer he sought. His damaged meridians rapidly healed.

"He's ascending! Kill him now!" shouted Pill Cauldron Sect's Shi Yun.

Kuai Jian and Man Jian brought the best out in each other when they fought as a team. Accordingly, as soon as Man Jian broke free of Mu Yu's poison, he charged Mu Yu. "You're dead!"

Alone in his own world, focusing on ascending, Mu Yu was oblivious to the encroaching danger. The dragon vine charged Man Jian and sprayed a blast. Man Jian sliced the blast and kicked the dragon vine back, sending it crashing into Mu Yu. Blood ejected from Mu Yu's mouth whilst his consciousness was plunged into darkness.

Shi Yun and others blasted off toward the dragon vine.

"What's your issue with killing cultivators? I keep telling you it's good riddance. Look at them. They want everything. They're the plague of this world." The thrilled voice of the wood demon reverberated in Mu Yu's mind as it took over his body.

Right before the moment Mu Yu crashed into the ground, Xiaoshuai pulled him by the collar and struggled up into the air, reducing the impact slightly.

"I shall avenge my junior!" snapped Man Jian.

"Mu Yu, you all right? Wake up! He's coming!" cried Xiaoshuai, assessing Mu Yu's injuries.

Mu Yu's right arm had recovered and injury free. However, Xiaoshuai didn't know how to respond to the foreign aura he didn't recognise.

Scowling, Man Jian lunged, leading with his sword aimed at Mu Yu's chest. Mu Yu's eyes flew open, white eye white and black eye black. Linden tree patterns ran from the top of his arm downward. He caught Man Jian's sword. Man Jian tried to drive forward fruitlessly. He tried pulling it back, but it wouldn't move, either.

"The cultivator purge… shall start with you!"

A smirk crept up onto Mu Yu's face. He summoned a punctured version of Shadow Splitter to his free hand. Terrified, Man Jian instinctively realised his sword and jumped back.

"Let's sharpen the wood spirit with your blood," remarked Mu Yu, running his hand along his sword to greet his old friend. "There's no escape for you."

Mu Yu moved behind Man Jian as fast as a blink. Mu Yu's voice sent a chill down Man Jian's spine; it was energetic, yet murderous. Man Jian's legs shuffled away from Mu Yu. After only his first step, a sharp pain shot up to his head from his neck, wiping out his conscious. He saw himself keeling over as his eyes began to close. He looked up from the ground to see a blood, like a geyser, spraying from his neck. He fought to open his eyes, but it just wasn't going to happen. The sound of his head hitting the ground was the authoritative gavel taking the words right out of the crowds' mouths.

Mu Yu checked out his wood spirit sword. The blood on it seeped into the sword, closing the holes found on it. The faint green glow was a sign it was upgrading. He raised his head and swept his gaze over the enemies around and licked his lips.

"Let's go," proposed one of the cultivators.

The cultivators left without a moment of hesitation. Mu Yu zipped over and thrust his sword through the chest of a cultivator from behind. The victim reached out in desperation, trying to grasp at straws. Alas, his lifeline left his body before he could do as much as call for help.

"Stop! Stop!" called Mu Yu, forcing the white and black glows out from his eyes.

The six shocked survivors watched the black and white lights return to Mu Yu's eyes.

"It's my duty to slay cultivators," the voice in Mu Yu's head asserted.

"It's not," Mu Yu inwardly disputed. "They have their reasons for existing. Give me back my body."

"Your naivety will cost us our lives. Did you not see them try to kill us?"

"I can kill them on my own!"

Mu Yu grabbed his head and grimaced as he fell to the ground. Curled up, he rolled around on the ground as he tried to wrestle over command of his body. People headed over to his location after hearing his grunts. The dragon vine leveraged their moment of distraction to rush back to his side.

The six cultivators gave each other a nod. Shi Yun summoned his magical weapon and launched an attack at Mu Yu.

"Hmph."

A hand slithered out from nowhere and broke the magical weapons of the six. The party crasher effortlessly sent the six flying with an effortless, fatal swing. The party crasher than performed a hand sweep, taking Mu Yu, Xiaoshuai and the dragon vine with him.