“Is Jin Tian really serious?”

　　“He’s wearing the Golden armor! He will certainly win unless he faces a Hou Tian warrior!”

　　“Haha, don’t you know his real intention? He brought us along for a hunt, and deliberately drove that fox into this field!”

　　“Haha, of course I already know. I just don’t want to embarrass him by revealing it. Look, he’s so angry with Shi Mu.”

　　These young men whispered and gloated over the explosive situation. They didn’t seem to care one bit if the two got into a fight.

　　A sharp noise pierced the air.

　　Jin Tian brandished his sword and rushed in Shi Mu’s direction. He then lashed two successive cuts at Shi Mu’s head.

　　However, the two sword shadows were cut in half mid-flight. The separation was so abrupt that very few were able to see it.

　　“Wow! Jin Tian’s ‘Shadow-Separating’ sword-play has reached this level!”

　　A young man remarked when he saw the technique.

　　The other onlookers also seemed to be amazed.

　　Peng!

　　Shi Mu displayed no intention to dodge. He moved one arm while his face remained expressionless. Shi Mu punched at sword shadow on the left. The left shadow turned out to be real sword.

　　Peng! The sword was flung out of Jin Tian’s hand. It was sent flying into the air, and then plugged itself into a nearby field.

　　Jin Tian loudly exclaimed in shock. He stumbled, and was forced to take a step back. The part between the thumb and the index finger of his hand had started to bleed since he had attempted to hold onto the sword.

　　Shi Mu left no time for his opponent to rest. He instantly shot his body ‘out like an arrow’ and rushed towards the young man.

　　He swung his big hands and slapped his opponent’s face twice — fiercely and mercilessly.

　　He hadn’t used his true strength. However, his current cultivation ensured that the slaps were powerful enough to beat Jin Tian into a spin.

　　Jin Tian stumbled and revolved twice. Then, he fell heavily on the ground — butt-first.

　　Both sides of his face had swollen-up, while his eyes seemed vacant. He was obviously unaware as to what had happened.

　　Meanwhile, Shi Mu had returned to his earlier spot in a flash. He was looking at his beaten opponent with cold eyes and folded arms.

　　The Jin juniors who had been laughing and discussing the situation fell into a silent and flustered shock.

　　“No way! How did he break the ‘Shadow-Separating’ sword-play?”

　　“Maybe it was a lucky guess!”

　　Jin Tian finally came to himself. He looked up and saw the man who had pushed him to the ground. His eyes were immediately filled with a frenzy of rage. He had turned red with boiling blood. He suddenly stood up from the ground and nearly flew to his sword. He let out a shriek as he pulled it out from the earth. Then, he wildly wielded his sword, and rushed at Shi Mu again.

　　However, he completely forgot to use his sword art. He seemed like a random lunatic who had wielded a sword.

　　Shi Mu snorted when he saw this, and confronted the sword empty-handed. His figure flashed to evade the sword without any difficulty. He then grasped the sword with a single hand. He did this at the speed of lightning, and comfortably took the sword from its owner’s hand.

　　Jin Tian was more than just startled. His bravado immediately receded, and his body subconsciously shot back.

　　However, Shi Mu did not move an inch. He held the sword at the hilt and the tip, and exerted force.

　　Crack!

　　The ‘glaring’ sword broke on the spot.

　　Shi Mu shook his wrist and the two pieces flew out like two glaring lights.

　　Jin Tian felt a cold breeze whizz past his ears. The two pieces had rubbed against his cheeks as they went past him. Two narrow wounds began to trickle-out blood from Jin Tian’s face as the pieces fell onto the ground in an upright position.

　　The Jin juniors who were watching the scene were flabbergasted by this sudden development.

　　However, the blue-robed young man burst into wild laughter when he realised what had happened. He wiped the blood trickling down his deathly pale face, and lowered his head to look at his injuries.

　　He laughed as he proudly questioned Shi Mu, “Would you really dare to kill me? You’re bluffing! What could you do to make me fear you?”

　　Jin Tian finished speaking, and then fumbled in his shirt. He took out a tube as big as his palm. It was glittering in a bright-golden color. There was a black hole on the front tip of the side of the tube; it was the size of a thumb.

　　“Jin Tian, have you lost your mind? You stole the ‘Tube of Flaming Wind’ from the manor!”

　　“How could you dare to do such a thing? That’s against our family’s rule! Don’t you dare involve us in this matter!”

　　“You will end up with broken legs if the Patriarch ever finds out about this!”

　　All the Jin juniors were frightened. They had grown pale when they saw the tube. Some of them shouted warnings after warnings to persuade Jin Tian; others began to whip their horses’ backs to flee.

　　It seemed as though the tube in Jin Tian’s hand was more terrifying than monsters and vipers.

　　“Humph! I won’t care about the punishment as long as I can avenge myself! Place me in confinement for three… or even five years! I simply don’t care!” Jin Tian gritted his teeth and cursed viciously. His cheeks had swollen up, and had been bleeding the entire time.

　　He pointed the tube at Shi Mu just as he finished cussing.

　　Shi Mu was unclear about the power of this tube. However, he gauged it to be dangerous to some extent because of the Jin followers’ twisted faces. He prepared himself since he had no intentions of confronting this attack with empty hands.

　　Therefore, he had rolled-on the ground, and had ducked behind the big horse at the time that blue robed youngster aimed the tube towards him.

　　“You bastard! Go to hell!” Jin Tian cried in a crazy voice. He then pushed a button at the end of the tube.

　　Something puffed out of the tube, and a blackish bullet rushed in Shi Mu’s direction at lightning speed.

　　“Goodness!”

　　“He did it!”

　　“Get off the horse!”

　　The Jin fellows were scared out of their wits when they saw this. Hence, they jumped off their horses as quickly as they could, and lay flat on the ground. Each one of them pressed their body close to the ground; none dared to move.

　　“Humph!”

　　Shi Mu did not flee. On the contrary, he let out a loud shout and grasped the two forelegs of the horse. He exerted strength and threw the huge creature that black bullet’s direction.

　　He stomped hard onto the ground simultaneously, and a small pit was formed.

　　Boom! A thunderous noise was heard. It was so loud that it almost shook the heaven and the earth.

　　The black bullet hit the horse at a distance of six meters from Shi Mu. And the horse immediately turned into an exploding blaze of fire. Masses of clouds rolled wildly in every direction, pushed by the scorching air that was covering the surrounding area of about ten meters. The clouds did not lift for a good breaths’ time.

　　Thud!

　　The body of the horse fell onto the ground. Half of it was already burnt. And the other half had turned into a blackish-coal like thing.