Chapter 160: Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Nine: Differences
"Stubborn and ignorant!" Chao Fang suddenly snapped back to his senses, his face turning gloomy at once.
He spread out the bright yellow scroll, rapidly reciting the Curse Command. More than ten groups of ghosts fiercely charged at Chen Mu.
The pale mist was blown away by the wind. The ghosts became completely invisible.
Chen Mu's entire body was covered in Soul Strength, his eyes constantly moving, trying to observe his surroundings as much as possible.
Bang!
A massive force suddenly struck his back.
Before he could react, a powerful force also came from his left side.
It was like flipping a switch. The immense power of a battering ram struck from all directions like raindrops.
"Overestimating yourself!" Chao Fang coldly stared at Chen Mu, who was being knocked around haphazardly.
The ghosts might seem formless, but their power was immense.
Upon a physical collision, an ordinary person could be shattered instantly. Even a Shell Soul expert, taking the hit head-on, could have their internal organs shattered and die.
A smug smile appeared on Chao Fang's face as he watched leisurely.
Since he had come and even utilized the Yin Spirit Strategy, the outcome was already predetermined.
This wasn't arrogance, but confidence gained from countless battles.
"Even the Spiritual Light of Body Protection from prestigious families can't stop them, let alone you? Hmph!"
He lazily looked at Chen Mu, "Stop struggling. Surrender, and you'll suffer less."
As if attracted by his voice, Chen Mu looked at Chao Fang listlessly.
Noticing the smugness on the other's face and feeling the impacts from all around, Chen Mu glanced at the Soul Strength covering his body, his face incredulous, "That's it?"
Aren't ghosts supposed to be terrifying?
How could they be so weak?
Could it be that this guy is performing for me?!
Chen Mu tentatively punched the air in front of him.
Squeak, squeak, squeak...
A cloud of black smoke suddenly emerged in front of him, with ear-piercing screams that startled him into continuously stepping back.
Upon closer inspection, he saw that one of the ghosts had been punched out of invisibility!
"I got it! These are ghosts reared by the Yin Spirit Strategy; how could domesticated ones be as fierce as the wild ones? They must have been weakened!"
"And I, am no longer the same 'I' as before!"
The overlay of seven Shape Cultivation Techniques had indeed caused a transformation.
Strength, speed, robust Soul Strength, had all long surpassed ordinary people's imagination.
Chen Mu immediately grinned at Chao Tianwang.
He focused hard on capturing the changes in the air around him, looking for the moment a ghost would materialize.
He had never noticed before, but now settling down, he finally discovered. Ghosts could appear out of thin air, but before launching a physical attack, they would stir the air slightly.
This was the flaw!
"Found it!"
His fists hammered down like mallets, smashing fiercely into the air.
Squeak, squeak, squeak...
The piercing shrieks shot up towards the sky.
The ghosts around Chen Mu were immediately hit into shifting between visibility and invisibility.
Enshrouded in swirling black smoke, with his body covered in black-glowing Soul Strength, Chen Mu looked ferocious, almost like a peerless demon!
Chao Fang's face changed dramatically.
How could this be? These are ghosts!
How many Shell Soul experts had died at their hands? How could one person possibly contend with the ghosts?
At that moment, Chen Mu suddenly reached out and grabbed into the air, pulling a cloud of black smoke out of invisibility.
Then it was followed by a series of relentless punches raining down.
The black smoke shrieked and tumbled incessantly as terrifying images surfaced on it.
But Chen Mu remained utterly unmoved.
"Five Ghosts Moving Mountain!"
He let out a low shout in his heart, and a vortex-like cloud of black smoke appeared in front of his fist.
Accompanied by his dark iron fist, it thunderously smashed forward.
There was a sudden piercing scream.
The ghost caught in Chen Mu's hand instantly exploded into fragments, leaving only specks of sparkling light floating in mid-air.
Chen Mu stared at his hands, momentarily stunned.
In the past, facing ghosts, he could only fight desperately for survival.
But now, things have finally changed.
He slowly raised his head, looking indifferently at Chao Fang.
Chao Fang's pupils involuntarily contracted, a sense of retreat rising within him.
Slaying a ghost by oneself?! Another power house with Soul Strength like Tu Shan?!
He regretted it, he should have agreed to the alliance earlier.
With Tu Shan involved, how the Thousand Mechanism Token would be distributed in Qingshan County was for him to decide!
But everything was too late.
"We miscalculated..."
Chao Fang glared fiercely at Chen Mu among the pile of Ghosts. Gritting his teeth, he turned and ran.
The expression on Chen Mu's face darkened: "Thinking of running away?"
His legs suddenly swelled up.
Bang!
The ground beneath his feet exploded!
He shot up like a massive iron ball, hurtling fiercely toward Chao Fang.
Chao Fang, sensing something, abruptly turned around only to see Chen Mu mid-air, his heart struck with terror.
He swung his right hand fiercely. Five or six clusters of black smoke suddenly appeared, slamming harshly into Chen Mu from the side.
Pff!
Chen Mu was knocked askew and fell to the ground.
Just as he tried to get up to continue the chase, a series of relentless hits came at him again.
Chao Fang's heart lightened, but he dared not pause for even a moment, turning his head and scrambling away in a disgraceful flight.
Chen Mu punched away an approaching Ghost and the Soul-Calming Stake suddenly appeared in his right hand.
He stepped forward with his left foot while he raised the Soul-Calming Stake behind him with his right hand. His whole body stretched back like a bow drawn to its limit.
He locked on to Chao Fang's heart with an ultimate throw.
"Got you!"
Whoosh!
Accompanied by a low muffled roar, the Soul-Calming Stake, like an arrow released from a bowstring, pierced through the air and instantly appeared behind Chao Fang.
Chao Fang only had time to fling the Yin Spirit Strategy behind him before the Soul-Calming Stake nailed him in the back.
Crack!
The sound of breaking bones echoed. Chao Fang's heart clenched, and his complexion instantly turned pale.
Yet he did not dare to stop; after a few bounds, he disappeared from view.
Chen Mu punched and kicked, hammering away at the Ghosts around him. At one moment, his punch suddenly hit nothing.
Chen Mu stopped his attacks and immediately sighed: "He still got away, huh."
"Forget it, the Thousand Mechanism Token is now securely mine."
He turned his head to look at the chaotic riverbank: "Can't stay here any longer."
A shadow emerged, enveloping and lifting him, cloaking and hiding him, and in the blink of an eye he disappeared without a trace.
...
In Dingyou Camp, inside the Logistics Army's tent. Nine people sat cross-legged on the ground, looking at each other.
"Dawang, did he run away?" a Logistics Army soldier asked cautiously.
"If he wanted to run, he would've done it long ago, no need to wait until today," another man shook his head.
"I'm just scared he got caught," Sun Enqi said, his face filled with bitterness.
I just told them to be careful this morning, and by afternoon he's caught. Have I become a jinx?
"No way," Zheng Yuan said, squinting his small eyes.
"We spend every day together, and no one knows when he dug that tunnel."
"Maybe he's been using an underground passageway to move in and out of camp."
"It's so secretive, no one could catch him."
The Logistics Army soldiers could not help but nod in agreement.
Zheng Yuan suddenly laughed: "Maybe he caught a big fish and couldn't make it back."
"All you think about is eating!" Sun Enqi scolded.
"I'm just trying to look on the bright side," Zheng Yuan defended with a chuckle.
"The key issue is when Dawang comes back, how are we going to cover for him?" Sun Enqi said anxiously.
"What's there to worry about?" Zheng Yuan said nonchalantly.
"We're just a bunch of civilians, and even if Dawang is labeled a deserter, at worst, we would only get a few strokes of the military baton."
"When that time comes, everyone can chip in some money to send over; a token gesture will smooth things over."
"Dawang has treated us to so much game, and we haven't even had the chance to pay him. Let's pool our money; it'll be like Dawang's treating," Zheng Yuan said cheerfully.
"That won't do," one of the Logistics Army soldiers objected: "You ate the most, so you should double what you pay!"
"Right, right, right... Zheng Fatty, you have to pay double!"
"Ha ha..."
Outside the tent, Chen Mu couldn't help but smile wryly.
Carrying a roast pig leg, he lifted the tent flap and walked in.
"I hear someone wants to give me money?"
All the Logistics Army soldiers turned toward Chen Mu in unison: "You heard wrong!"
"Hey..."