The green-skinned man smiled as he saw Shi Mu’s body lifting-up in the air. It seemed that he had expected this to happen. He held his bow in one hand, and pulled its string with the other. He then loosened it.

　　‘Whoosh!’

　　An arrow approached Shi Mu’s chest with an ear-piercing sound.

　　The Sky Splitting Bow and Wind Chasing Arrow had never missed their target within a distance of five-hundred feet. Shi Mu was only three-hundred feet away from the arrow at the moment.

　　A green arrow-light flashed, and got submerged into Shi Mu’s body with a ‘puff’ sound. Then, a blood light appeared.

　　The green-skinned man smiled in an evil manner. Shi Mu’s body had moved a little even though it was a matter of life and death. His movement had saved his vital parts, but the Wind Chasing Arrow had entered his body. This hit would certainly reduce Shi Mu’s battle efficiency.

　　However, the green-skinned man’s smile began to vanish.

　　Shi Mu’s figure didn’t stop its movement as he had expected. Instead, he covered a distance of two-hundred feet in a blink of an eye. He wielded the black blade, and it got transformed into a scarlet-red light. The blade-light then flashed as it made a long cut.

　　The scarlet-red light transformed into thirteen blade-lights in a flash, and dispersed in all directions.

　　Suddenly, a dreadful heat-wave hit the green-skinned man.

　　The green-skinned man was startled; so much so that he couldn’t even draw out his iron mace from his back. But, his long white bone bow flashed a ray of light that rose several feet high. His bow was as big as a human. Waving rays of light started to come out of it in a circular pattern.

　　Only the whooshing sound coming from the movements of the metals could be heard.

　　The waving light rays extinguished. Therefore, most of the blade-light was dodged by him. However, two or three red blade-lights collided with his body.

　　‘Boom!’

　　The red light shielding the barbarian’s body flashed and blocked the attack. But, he still got wounded.

　　Shi Mu didn’t wait for the green-skinned man to relax. He opened his mouth and shot a mouthful of white Qi. The green-skinned man was taken aback.

　　The Qi Explosion Technique!

　　‘Bang!’ a rupturing sound was heard.

　　The red shield around the barbarian’s body became fragile by the continuous bombardment of the Qi Explosion Technique. Finally, it got shattered.

　　The green-skinned man’s face was dripping with blood. He let out a pitiful scream.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes flashed with various emotions. But, he didn’t have the slightest hesitation on his face. The black blade in his hand transformed into a red light. ‘Puff!’ A loud sound was heard as the light pierced the green-skinned barbarian’s chest. He got nailed to the ground, and blood started to pour out of his body.

　　Shi Mu gasped for breath. He then drew two steps backwards, and knelt on the ground.

　　The arrow had made a big hole in Shi Mu’s lower abdomen; so much so that his organs were faintly visible. Blood was spurting out of the big hole in a continuous manner.

　　Fortunately, Shi Mu had cultivated the Art of Breeding a Strong Evil Ape. So, his body was far more tenacious than an ordinary person’s. Otherwise, his body would’ve given up a long time ago, and he would’ve collapsed on the ground.

　　Shi Mu looked at the green-skinned man lying on the ground. The red light around his body had dissipated. Shi Mu let out a sigh of relief as he saw this.

　　It was clear that the green-skinned man couldn’t survive since his heart had been pierced.

　　Shi Mu took out a Rejuvenating Charm paper from his bosom, and stuck it on the wound in his lower abdomen. Suddenly, Shi Mu’s wound started to get healed.

　　However, something strange happened at the same time.

　　Suddenly, the body of the green-skinned man started to swell-up. Red rays of light started to emanate from the back of his body.

　　Shi Mu shouted out loudly, “There’s no use”. He then pressed the green-skinned man’s body under his foot. His body was again pressed down to the ground.

　　This action affected the wound in Shi Mu’s lower abdomen; it had become a little sluggish.

　　“You despicable human… die right here!”

　　The green-skinned barbarian man looked-up. His bloody face exposed an evil grin, and his bloodshot eyes turned redder.

　　The red light rays started to emanate out of his body once again. His body then started to swell-up like a balloon. Then, it exploded and split open. A rain of blood could be seen in every direction.

　　Then, a snake-shaped red light emerged out of the blood. It flashed and got submerged into Shi Mu’s body with a lightning speed.

　　Shi Mu was taken aback. He rolled over on the ground a few times. Then, he crawled up.

　　Shi Mu had just started to examine the situation of his body when he felt a burning hot sensation within his body. It seemed as if a raging fire had emerged inside his body. He felt as if his body was burning.

　　He let out a stuffy groan. He felt as if a strange kind of lava was circulating in his body. It heated-up his entire body and got scattered in his veins. A layer of red light began to appear all over his body as it had appeared around the green-skinned man’s body.

　　A ‘splashing’ sound was heard.

　　Shi Mu knelt on the ground because his body was in severe pain. He was trying to get up. Beads of sweat were tumbling down from his forehead in a continuous manner.

　　Fortunately, the burning sensation dissipated quickly. In fact, it had vanished in a short span of ten breaths. It seemed as if it was an illusion.

　　Shi Mu sat down slowly; he was exhausted. He started to pant heavily. There was a doubtful expression on his face.

　　He finally stood-up after a long while.

　　He felt absolutely normal; except for a little bit of heat. The wounds on his body had got healed miraculously.

　　“What does this mean?” Shi Mu muttered.

　　He looked at the green-skinned man’s body with a crazy expression on his face. It was clear that he wouldn’t do anything beneficial for him.

　　Shi Mu stood motionless, and pondered for a while. He then shook his head and decided that he shouldn’t think about this for the time being. After that, he picked-up his black blade that lay near the body of the green-skinned man.

　　The rat’s nest stronghold wasn’t too far away from this place. Shi Mu was afraid that this fight might’ve drawn the attention of other barbarians in the stronghold.

　　Shi Mu put his black blade in its sheath that had been tied to his back. Suddenly, he was startled.

　　He felt a number of bursts under his robe; he started to struggle fiercely. He lifted his arm to check. The bursts revealed faint red lights on his chest under the clothes.

　　Shi Mu’s complexion changed. He pulled open the front of his robe and saw that there was a blood red python pattern on his chest. He was surprised; he didn’t know when it had appeared on his body. It was clearly a barbarian totem.

　　“This is…”

　　Shi Mu recalled the green-skinned man’s expressions before the explosion – his eyes were filled with hatred and there was a mocking expression on his face. Shi Mu’s heart sank.

　　He almost fainted for an instant. However, he controlled himself and stood-up again.

　　Shi Mu took a deep breath to calm down his troubled mind.

　　He remained motionless for a short while. Then, he looked around. After that, he picked-up the long white bone bow and the bronze mace that lay beside the green-skinned man’s body, and started to advance towards a distant place with a lightning speed.

　　It was extremely important to leave the place as soon as possible.

　　Shi Mu was familiar with this place. Moreover, he had outstanding eyesight. It helped him to move away from that place in order to avoid the invasion of the barbarians. He finally arrived at the Lan city stronghold after two hours.

　　Several other charm magicians who had luckily escaped from the barbarian attack on the rat’s nest stronghold were already there. The entire Lan city stronghold had been lit-up brightly. The stronghold had strictly imposed the martial law. A team of disciples from the union had been assigned to patrol the nearby places in order to avoid barbarian attacks.

　　Shi Mu was allowed to enter the city once he showed the identity of the union.

　　The charm magicians who had escaped from the rat’s nest had assembled somewhere inside the main hall of a building of the city.

　　The rat’s nest stronghold had more than twenty charm magicians. However, only less than ten people were assembled in the main hall. Most of them were the people who had run away from the northern exit with Shi Mu earlier.

　　Many people had several wounds on their bodies. However, their faces were beaming brightly since they had survived the attack. Two or three people were discussing something.

　　“Brother Shi, are you alright?” A green-robed young man came running towards Shi Mu as he entered the building. It was Feng Li.

　　Shi Mu nodded.

　　Feng Li let out a sigh of relief. He was about to say something when his complexion changed. He seemed flabbergasted.

　　Shi Mu’s vision flashed as he looked at Feng Li’s changed expression.

　　He was about to say something when several other charm magicians who had escaped with Shi Mu walked towards them.

　　“Oh! Everyone escaped successfully. That’s great!” Shi Mu looked at the people as they approached him. He couldn’t help but smiled.

　　“We were lucky that we had Brother Shi with us. Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for us to run away,” one of the men thanked him. Several other people had an expression of gratitude on their faces.

　　“Where’s Brother Qing Feng…” Shi Mu raised his brow. Suddenly, he realized that he hadn’t seen Qing Feng since he had arrived there.

　　“Brother Qing Feng was with us a moment ago. Then, he was called for questioning by the Elder Masters of this stronghold,” Feng Li said.

　　Shi Mu loosened up as he heard this. Qing Feng was one of the few people in the rat’s nest with whom Shi Mu had a good relationship.

　　He continued to talk to the other charm magicians for the next few hours.

　　Suddenly, a ‘creaking’ sound was heard. An old man in a white robe pushed open the door and entered the hall. There were several other people behind him.

　　Shi Mu looked at the people along with others. It seemed that this man was a high-level Xian Tian warrior.

　　“The Union has already been informed about the attack on the rat’s nest stronghold. It’s not easy for all of you to escape the barbarian attacks repeatedly. So, stay in the Lan city for now… and take rest for some time,” the white-robed old man looked at the charm magicians and spoke.

　　Shi Mu and others didn’t seem to have any objection. So, they all nodded in unison.

　　The people behind the white-robed man set to work quite quickly, and arranged separate places to reside for Shi Mu and the others. It seemed that this stronghold was quite spacious.

　　After an hour… in an attic room of the building…

　　Shi Mu paced back-and-forth in front of his bed. His brows were knitted tightly. He seemed restless.

　　He had escaped from the trouble. Moreover, he had obtained a bow and arrows of formidable magic power. However, a strange snake design had appeared on his body.

　　His body didn’t seem unusual now. But, Shi Mu was still restless.

　　Suddenly, a knock on the door was heard.

　　Shi Mu raised his eyebrows. He then opened the door of the room to find Feng Li standing outside.

　　“Oh! It’s Brother Feng. Please come inside. I wanted to discuss something with you. In fact, I was looking for you…” Shi Mu’s heart moved. He quickly moved aside to let Feng Li enter the room.

　　“Brother Shi, how do you have an aura of a barbarian totem around your body?” Feng Li looked around the entrance of the room. He then closed the door and stepped inside. He looked at Shi Mu from head-to-toe and spoke in a low voice.

　　“So, it’s actually a totem…” Shi Mu’s heart sank. He knew it beforehand. But, he felt more depressed as Feng Li confirmed it. He forced a smile on his face.

　　He sighed. Then, he took off his clothes and revealed the python design on his chest.

　　Feng Li’s complexion changed as he looked at the python totem.

　　Shi Mu’s heart sank as he saw the strange look in Feng Li’s eyes. He then got dressed again.

　　“It happened when I was running away. I had a battle with a totem warrior. After that, his body exploded and left this totem behind…” Shi Mu carefully narrated the story of his fight with the green-skinned man in detail.

　　Feng Li lowered his head and started to ponder.

　　He raised his head after a long time. There was a feeling of understanding in his eyes.

　　“It seems that Brother Feng has understood the situation,” Shi Mu looked at him and said.

　　“I was very young when I left the barbarian tribe. So, I’m not aware of a lot of things about barbarians. I can’t say anything for sure… but I can tell you what I’ve understood,” Feng Li said with hesitation.

　　“Brother Feng, there’s no harm in saying what you think,” Shi Mu said.

　　“I remember… when I was very young… I had heard about an ancient barbarian technique. It was called the ‘Eternally Doomed Soul Spell’. Your situation seems quite similar to that,” Feng Li said.