By the banks of Crescent Lake, Laborer Camp Dingyou.
Apart from the occasional footsteps of patrolling soldiers, silence pervaded everywhere else.
Inside the tent of the Logistics Army.
A wisp of black smoke silently appeared and vanished beside Chen Mu’s hand.
His eyes were slightly closed as he continuously uttered strange syllables.
In front of his eyes floated a semi-transparent grey wall, and Chen Mu watched as the proficiency slowly climbed.
He didn’t know how long he had chanted when suddenly a flood of insights surfaced in his mind.
It took a while for Chen Mu to snap back to his senses.
He couldn’t help but look towards the grey wall.
Five Ghosts Moving Mountain Curse: 1/10000/Seventh Rank;
“I’ve made a breakthrough…”
He lifted his hand and placed it before his eyes. With a thought, black smoke materialized out of thin air.
“Have I completely freed myself from the Curse Command?”
In his mind, amid the hazy mist, a cluster of light connected by points of silver thread shone brightly, like a flame burning behind frosted glass.
Unclear, yet conspicuous.
As long as he focused his attention on the dazzling cluster of light, he could easily open and close the Five Ghosts Bag and instantly activate Five Ghosts Moving Mountain!
But this was just a side effect.
Chen Mu looked at the empty air with complexity: “Ghosts…”
The laughing paper man marked with the character “Spring” appeared out of thin air.
The next moment, black smoke spewed out from it.
In an instant, a black smoke ball with a diameter of one meter tumbled into existence in mid-air.
The sweltering tent suddenly felt chillingly cold.
Chen Mu reached out towards the air, the cold and slippery touch sending shivers down his spine.
“So this is the true form of the Ghosts Paper Man.”
The Ghosts transformed into a paper man and then vanished without a trace.
“It’s a pity I’m not in Nanyang City, otherwise I’d celebrate at Chunfeng Tower no matter what.”
…
At dawn, the vast military camp slowly awoke from its slumber.
The lively personnel of the Logistics Army Section Dingyou began to prepare lunch.
Chen Mu stuffed a Bigu Pill into his mouth, took a deep breath, and slowly adjusted his breathing, starting the Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique.
He diced vegetables while sizing up his comrades.
This bunch had eaten their fill and slept well, each growing plumper!
Even the short and stocky Zheng Yuan beside him was becoming increasingly round.
At the moment, the other man was vigorously chopping radishes.
Without speaking, he chopped the wooden chopping block with a clang as if he had a grudge against it.
Chen Mu smiled wryly at this rancorous little fellow.
Is it just because I didn’t bring him special rations? He’s been ignoring me for days now.
With a thought, a radish from the basket beside him disappeared into thin air.
The next moment, an extra radish silently appeared in the short fellow’s bamboo basket.
The Five Ghosts Moving Mountain Curse advanced, and the Five Ghosts Paper Man acquired a Ghosts form.
The Ghosts could transform and become invisible; opening and closing the Five Ghosts Bag was no longer accompanied by rolling black smoke.
Chen Mu watched the oblivious short fellow and chuckled softly, “No need to thank me.”
Then he sent another radish the plump man’s way.
Half an hour later.
Short and stocky Zheng Yuan looked incredulously at the radishes in his basket.
Why are there still so many?!
If he couldn’t finish cutting them, he was about to collapse!
Chen Mu offered enthusiastically, “Need a hand?”
Experience more on M-V-L
“Thank you!” Zheng Yuan could no longer afford to be petty, his plump face full of gratitude.
Chen Mu was a good guy to deal with, truly helpful in difficult times!
Chen Mu beamed, “No need to thank me.”
…
Life in the Laborer Camp was repetitive and monotonous.
Chen Mu didn’t know about the work-life of other laborers.
In any case, his daily routine consisted of nothing but washing and chopping vegetables.
Maintaining the Cloud Mirage Breathing Method every day and watching the proficiency gradually increase, he found joy in the process.
“I heard that a lot of soldiers up on the mountain are dead,” Zheng Yuan said as he chopped vegetables and chatted.
“Oh,” Chen Mu responded mechanically, nodding along.
Most of his spirit was focused on the Divine Intent Diagram of the Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique, making his reactions somewhat slow.
Zheng Yuan, accustomed to Chen Mu’s absent-mindedness, continued on his own, “They say it’s because they encountered unclean things.”
“Just thinking about those things outside, I can’t sleep peacefully,” voiced Zheng Yuan with concern.
Chen Mu uncharacteristically snapped back to reality and gave Zheng Yuan a peculiar look.
You sleep next to Ghosts every night, and I’ve yet to hear your snoring quiet down one bit!
The short man hesitated for a while before whispering, “Some people in the neighboring camp ran away secretly, and there are whispers of it in our camp too.”
“What do you think?”
Run? With these black threads, who can escape?!
“I wouldn’t dare run,” Chen Mu said earnestly.
“Look at you, such a scaredy-cat!” Zheng Yuan mocked with a serious tone, “As the saying goes, the brave may die of daring, but the timid die of hunger. Dawang, you need to buck up!”
Hah!
The brave ones are the ones drained of their vital energy and die of hunger, while the timid ones get fed like pigs and grow plump and white.
Chen Mu glanced sideways at the short and stocky figure.
“Do you dare to run?”
“I don’t dare either,” the short and stocky figure said with a sheepish smile.
…
Late at night, in the tent of the Dingyou Camp’s Logistics Army. Chen Mu lay on a grass mat on the ground.
A clump of cold, dark smoke hovered in front of him.
He had been pondering over the uses of Ghost form lately.
“It allows for invisibility, making the activation of the Five Ghosts Moving Mountain even more stealthy.”
“It can touch physical objects, providing the capability for physical attacks.”
“It’s just a pity it can’t morph into something terrifying,” Chen Mu lamented. That was the strongest attack of the Ghosts.
Gurgle!
A sound like blowing bubbles into water with a pipe suddenly erupted next to his ear.
Chen Mu turned his head helplessly toward the short and stocky figure beside him.
The other person was lying on his back, mouth wide open, snoring loudly and contentedly.
Chen Mu glanced at the Ghost paper man floating above Zheng Yuan’s forehead, then back at the sweetly sleeping short and stocky figure.
A real talent!
The Mesmerizing Divine Smoke spread silently, and at once the tent seemed to hit a pause button.
“It’s quiet now…”
Chen Mu had just let out a sigh of relief.
Whoo!
A sudden whooshing sound came piercing through the air.
The short and stocky figure suddenly did a fish-flop, agilely leaping into the air.
Bang!
The Ghost paper man, caught off guard, was sent flying with a strike.
Chen Mu’s eyes widened in astonishment: “Did I use too much Mesmerizing Divine Smoke?”
The next moment, Zheng Yuan, who had been rebounded to the ground, popped back up with another fish-flop.
Chen Mu then realized that out of ten people in the tent, nine had, like zombies, sprung to their feet.
Something’s not right!
He quickly got up and stood like the others.
In the darkness, Chen Mu stared intently at the nine men.
All of them had their eyes tightly shut, breathing steadily, still deep in slumber.
Nine arms-length, hair-like black threads fell from the position of the Iron Bracelet as light as a feather.
The moment they touched the ground, they abruptly sprang up, shooting out of the tent like arrows.
Chen Mu quickly took out the live fish that had black threads attached to it.
The Tangshan Army had finally triggered the black threads!
As if answering a summons, the moment the live fish appeared, a section of black thread as long as a fingertip drilled out from within the fish.
Upon touching the ground, it abruptly sprang up and shot out a meter and two before landing.
Then it sprang up again and shot out another meter and two before landing again.
Chen Mu: “…”
Short and feeble?!
With such distinctive behavior, it would be hard not to be noticed!
Isn’t this just asking for trouble!
Indeed, it wasn’t long after it had bounced out of the tent for a meter and two that a thin, elderly man barged in.
“The same old man who checked the boat?” Chen Mu realized suddenly.
This old man was the designated person responsible for the black thread matters of the Dingyou Camp.
In his left hand, he carried a fist-sized three-legged bronze incense burner.
Inside it, there was a pale green liquid emitting a faint glow.
The green luminosity cast upon the old man’s cheek, making it look eerily sinister.
He walked around the tent with the bronze incense burner and stopped in front of Chen Mu.
Using the light from within the burner, the old man seemed startled by Chen Mu’s appearance: “Trash!”
“Such poor potential, no matter how much he eats, he won’t grow big Netherworld Threads,” the old man squinted his eyes.
He raised his right hand, revealing a gold-threaded white jade bracelet around his wrist.
With a slight shake, the jade pendants on the bracelet made a clear clinking sound.
“After draining him, just consider it using trash. It’s just one more deserter,” he said.
The next moment, a shadow suddenly flew out from within Chen Mu’s sleeve, heading straight for the bronze incense burner.
But halfway there, it vanished abruptly.
The thin, old man’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Five Ghosts Moving Mountain!”
Pfft!
Drops of blood splattered. The thin, old man disappeared into thin air.
Chen Mu opened his eyes indifferently, looking at the bloodstains on the ground, he couldn’t help but sigh.
“You weren’t satisfied even with a meter and two.”
“It wasn’t me who killed you, it was your greed!”