Chapter Seventeen: Hook of Vastness

  The already somewhat chilly mountain forest was even more like a land of the dead when that black cloud floated near, gloomy and putrid!

  Mu Shan saw the black cloud rapidly flying towards his hiding place, and was shocked. He arched his back, and with a burst of strength, he kicked against the tree trunk, trying to escape. But unexpectedly, the speed of the black cloud suddenly increased, and it enveloped Mu Shan's head from above.

  A faint chill emanated from the dark clouds, causing Mu Shan to shiver as if he were in an icy cavern.

  The low, muffled moans sounded like the mocking laughter of evil spirits from the depths of the underworld, continuously echoing into Mu Shan's ears.

  "What kind of wild kid are you? You've run into me, and it's just your bad luck!"

  The young man who appeared in Tianyin Village earlier slowly emerged from behind a large tree, with a cold smile on his face as he looked at the place shrouded in dark clouds.

  Rolling black air, slowly rising from the young man's body, like flames from hell, casting a demonic glow on him: "Xuē Gōu, you've gone the wrong way. In this desolate mountain wilderness, what kind of soul can you bring back for me?"

  Mushan's five senses were far superior to those of ordinary people, and even from a distance, he couldn't stand the foul odor that the dark cloud carried with it. As soon as he was enveloped by the dark cloud, he suddenly felt dizzy, his breathing became labored, and he even had a faint feeling of suffocation!

  "What the hell is this, it's so smelly! Even if I fell into a toilet pit, it wouldn't be as disgusting as this!" Mu Shan's angry shouting voice echoed through the mountains and forests with great momentum.

  Immediately, Mu Shan's figure darted out from the treetops and rapidly fell to the ground, then sprinted towards the distance, wanting to get as far away as possible from that black cloud that could suffocate him.

  "Impossible……!" The young man's eyes widened in shock, as if he had seen something unbelievable. He muttered to himself: "The plague of the dark hook is something that even those who have achieved some success in cultivating immortality dare not touch, yet this little brat was able to escape unscathed from the black cloud released by the dark hook!"

  The young man's gaze quickly swept across the distant mountains, where the giant python that had been hunted down by the dark cloud earlier was now nothing but a mass of blackened flesh and blood, with some disgusting pus oozing out.

  The young man quickly converged the black flames on his body, and then tapped his toes on the ground, hiding himself in the treetops, coldly staring at Mushan: "Is it that this kid has some kind of poisonous treasure? Or is it that this kid was born with a natural immunity to any poison?"

  In the eyes of the youth, a faint glimmer of light was constantly flashing, apparently calculating something: "If it's the latter, then this little guy is probably the descendant of some divine demon. If that's really the case, then the value of this little guy is far more precious than the Huangquan Pearl!"

  Although Mu Shan had always felt that someone was secretly watching him, he had never been able to find out who it was. Now, being pursued by the hook and busy escaping with his life, he didn't have any spare energy to pay attention to the movements around him.

  Mushan's martial arts qualifications were one in ten thousand, and he had made some small achievements in practicing the "Cangyun Jue". Adding to that his incredibly powerful physique, which was far beyond human comparison, his speed had already reached the level of lightning. However, compared to the hook behind him, he was still half a step behind.

  Mu Shan wasn't afraid of the hook behind him, but he couldn't stand its suffocating stench. He had thought to just leave it alone, but unexpectedly, the hook didn't intend to let him off that easily, still following closely behind Mu Shan, as if determined not to rest until it had devoured him!

  "The tiger is not showing its might, you think I'm a sick cat! Want to fight? Come on, what's afraid of you is your grandson!"

  Mu Shan was at the age of vigorous blood and energy, seeing the hook's ferocity, a surge of anger suddenly rose in his heart. His right foot stomped on the ground, stopping his body, twisting his waist, drawing out the sword from his waist, its momentum like a cold awn piercing into the dark clouds!

  "This disgusting smell, I'm afraid that within three days, no matter what you eat, it will all make your stomach turn! Mu Shan had already held his breath, but unfortunately he could still smell that nauseating stench, as if the smell had already penetrated deep into his bones."

  Dark clouds surrounded him, and Mu Shan vaguely saw a huge figure flying towards him from the front.

  That thing, resembling a flying bird, has a body the size of a tiger, with a pair of sharp claws, and the cold light on the claw blades is exceptionally clear in this dark cloud!

  "No matter what kind of demon or monster you are, now that you've encountered me, I'll definitely chop you into a million pieces!" Mu Shan's long sword, carrying an invisible and condensed aura, pierced through the dark clouds like a boat sailing against the wind, stabbing towards Xuan Kou's forehead!

  The hook is not stupid and will not use its own brain to collide with the enemy's sword tip. With a flick of its wings, it rises high, its sharp claws, like a curved knife, grab towards Mushan's forehead!

  "Clang...!" A loud sound of metal clashing, suddenly spread out from the dark clouds!

  The tip of Mu Shan's sword pointed at the center of Xuan Huo's claw, but it was like stabbing into steel and couldn't pierce through its skin.

  "Dare to compare strength with me? Ha ha, a beast is just a beast!" Mu Shanli's power started from his feet, passed through his waist and transmitted to his arm, combined with the internal force circulating inside his body. The two forces merged perfectly into one, instantly forcing the hook to retreat step by step!

  "Clang!" The sharp claws snapped shut, and the icy cold blade instantly severed Mu Shan's long sword.

  Mushan's broken blade had a certain distance to impact, like a battering ram crashing into the claws of the hook, knocking its body out of the dark clouds!

  "Ah!" The dark hook let out a startled angry roar, losing the cover of the black cloud, its figure was finally clearly exposed in the line of sight of Mu Shan.

  All I saw was its general appearance, like a black duck, with a long beak and an arc-shaped edge, like an eagle's mouth, and behind it was a tail like a mouse, quite comical!

  It swiftly leapt to the side of a large tree, and then its agile claws grasped the trunk, quickly climbing to the top of the tree, hovering in mid-air, gazing down at the dark cloud that had submerged Mu Shan.

  "Damn thing, where did it go!" Mu Shan saw the hook disappear from his line of sight again and immediately rushed out of the black cloud's shroud. Just as he was about to celebrate getting rid of that disgusting cloud, he suddenly felt a strong gust of wind coming from behind his head, and without thinking, he hastily dodged to the side.

  "Ahh...!" A dark, arrow-like mist emitting a thick, foul odor brushed past Mu Shan's coarse linen shirt, narrowly missing him.

  The black fog slammed into the big tree behind Mu Shan without making any sound, but it brought about a scene that made Mu Shan's hair stand on end.

  Only to see that the giant tree, about three people hugging together, quietly cracked in the midst of the black air's corrosion. The tree trunk, over ten zhang high, under Mu Shan's horrified gaze, slowly and silently fell down, splashing up a sky full of dust!

  Mushan woke up with a start, his hands flying quickly over his body. As soon as he thought about how he had recklessly charged into the dark cloud just now, his heart suddenly felt chilled to the bone.

  The young man looked at everything in front of him, silently watching the belated Mu Shan. His lips moved lightly and he disdainfully spat out two words: "Idiot!"

  "Huh? That is... the Holy Spirit Stone!" The young man's gaze fell on Mu Shan's robust chest. There, the silver chain holding the Holy Spirit Stone had become extremely fragile under the erosion of the dark clouds, as if a mere gust of wind could snap it!

  "The Holy Spirit Stone didn't show any changes, which means this kid doesn't have any special bloodline inheritance. If he had some kind of treasure that could counteract poison... the possibility can be ruled out directly." The young man's eyes showed a hint of disappointment as he gazed at Mu Shan's remaining pants, muttering to himself: "So why isn't he afraid of the plague toxin? And how did he get his hands on a Holy Spirit Stone, which isn't something any ordinary mountain village kid can possess? Looking at his martial arts skills just now, they're at most mid-tier acquired skills, and it's really hard to tell what school or sect he belongs to... what's this kid's background?"

  Mushan directly pulled down the sacred spirit stone from his chest, holding it in his left hand. He then glanced at the broken sword with countless notches on both blades and disdainfully threw it aside. Lifting his head, he stared intently at the hook on top of the tree!

  The hook and the bird did not dare to make a move, staring at each other, one was unable to fly in the sky, the other had scruples and did not dare to take action rashly.