Main Text - Volume 3, Chapter 145: Lightweight Anklet (Seeking Collections)

By saying this, Yu Mu undoubtedly admitted that he was behind the matter.

Jiang Jialang, however, felt a secret remorse, cursing himself for being blinded by beauty. With no other choice, he said helplessly, "A few days ago, some desert bandits who escaped from the desert came here to fence their stolen goods, and that was how we learned about the Black Wind Ridge incident."

"Oh~ So it was them!" Looking at it this way, it was no longer surprising.

Jiang Jialang suddenly let out another exclamation, "Could it be that you obtained the Art of the Nine Dragons Overturning the Heavens from Black Wind Ridge?"

With a noncommittal and mysterious smile, Yu Mu replied, "It is my turn to question you, not yours to question me. You haven't answered my question yet. Speak~ Where is Shi Dali?"

"In the dungeon..."

As soon as Jiang Jialang revealed the location where Shi Dali was imprisoned, Yu Mu struck him unconscious with a single palm strike. He had already learned everything he wanted to know and had nothing left to ask.

Immediately after, Yu Mu summoned a specter, cast the Ghost Spirit Illusion Technique on Jiang Jialang, and completely erased all memories related to tonight. He then removed the pair of ankle rings from Jiang Jialang's legs, channeled spiritual Qi into them, and immediately wore a look of pleasant surprise.

The *Agile Spirit Ankle Rings*, an auxiliary-grade spiritual artifact (Grade: Lower Grade), possess dual Wind and Wood attributes and are forged from Maple Spirit Tree material. Worn on the feet, they increase speed by one hundred percent and agility by eighty percent. For wearers with Wind and Wood attributes, the effect is increased by an additional fifty percent; for those who dual-cultivate both attributes, the effect is increased by an additional one hundred percent.

*Such a great treasure! Paired with the Black Wind Boots, this speed will be unimaginably fast!* Yu Mu sighed inwardly.

The most important feature of this pair of ankle rings for him was the Wood attribute bonus. Encountering a spiritual artifact of the same attribute was an extraordinary stroke of luck.

The only regret was that he had never practiced the Dao of the Wind attribute, so he could not enjoy the Wind attribute bonus effect. Otherwise, with both the Black Wind Boots and the Agile Spirit Ankle Rings possessing Wind attribute bonuses, his speed would reach an unfathomable level.

After strapping the ankle rings onto his legs, he called An Shu in and said, "You go first and take this young lady directly to the Shi family. We will meet there shortly."

"What about you?"

"I am going to rescue Shi Dali."

"Ah~ Is Shi Dali here?"

Yu Mu nodded and said, "Mm~ After you go to the Shi family, regardless of whether they take action or not, you must inform them to launch a full-scale assault on the residence of the head of the Jiang family. Even if they cannot capture it, they must at least draw the experts away from there."

"Alright~" An Shu walked over to the bed and finally got a clear look at the woman's appearance.

Instantly, an overwhelming wave of humiliation and shame erupted within her. Turning back, she struck Jiang Jialang squarely on the crown of his head with a palm. With a sharp snap, blood sprayed from Jiang Jialang's seven orifices, and he died on the spot.

Yu Mu watched coldly from the sidelines without interfering. Although he had promised to spare Jiang Jialang's life, he was not so foolishly righteous as to forbid others from killing him. Jiang Jialang had only himself to blame for bringing this upon himself and crossing An Shu's intolerable bottom line.

After killing Jiang Jialang, An Shu wrapped the woman in a bedsheet and leaped out of the window.

Having summoned a specter to absorb Jiang Jialang's necrotic Qi—though weak, Jiang Jialang was still at the Golden Core stage, allowing the specter to successfully advance to a ghost—Yu Mu happily collected Jiang Jialang's spatial pouch and flew away.

Following the directions Jiang Jialang had provided, Yu Mu arrived at the back courtyard of the Jiang residence.

This place was the Jiang family's heavily guarded storage area, and it was also protected by a barrier array. Under such circumstances, sneaking in covertly was no longer possible.

However, Yu Mu did not need to enter through the perimeter. According to Jiang Jialang's description, Shi Dali was imprisoned somewhere underground here, which coincidentally played right into Yu Mu's greatest strength.

Transforming into a tunneling expert, Yu Mu plunged into the earth and instantly vanished without a trace.

Based on the changes in soil density, Yu Mu easily located an underground space.

"Another enclosed space!"

Upon entering the space, Yu Mu could not help but shake his head with a bitter smile. People in this world seemed to love burying important things underground.

This space was similarly small and equipped with a teleportation array. However, the difference was that no treasures were hidden here; only the dying Shi Dali was hanging by iron chains from an iron rack.

Entering the cell, Yu Mu noticed that despite being underground, the air was not stifling. Looking closely, he saw a fist-sized ventilation hole at the top. Yet, no sound filtered through, clearly having undergone soundproofing treatment.

As Yu Mu approached Shi Dali, the semi-conscious man seemed to sense someone drawing near and actually opened his eyes.

"You Jiang family old dog, if you have the guts, kill your granddad! Subjecting me to repeated torture and humiliation—and to think you are the head of a clan... Huh? Why is it you?!"

Shi Dali's eyes suddenly widened in utter disbelief, and he cried out, "You... how did you end up here?"

Stepping closer, Yu Mu discovered that Shi Dali was covered in wounds from head to toe, and his mind was somewhat hazy; he appeared to have suffered the most brutal devastation.

Yu Mu did not reply. This was no time for idle chatter. Shi Dali had a restriction placed upon him, which Yu Mu had spotted at a single glance upon entering. The restriction deployed was none other than the Jiang family's exclusive secret technique, the 'Nine Dragons Overturning the Heavens'.

After observing it carefully, he cautiously struck the barrier with a light palm strike. Immediately, a powerful rebounding force struck back, and its might had multiplied severalfold.

Bang~

Hit by the recoil, Yu Mu was heavily slammed against the wall.

*Incredible!* Yu Mu clicked his tongue inwardly.

This restriction was of a very high grade, having reached the fourth layer—a level Yu Mu had not yet touched. Although the impact left him wincing, his face betrayed a hint of joy.

The moment he triggered the barrier, the illusory image of a blue dragon appeared at a certain spot on the barrier. Without practicing the matching attribute of the Nine Dragons Seal, this illusion was completely invisible.

Among these four layers of seals, one of them was precisely a Wood spirit technique. Moreover, despite being a four-layer seal, its baseline was only at the Golden Core stage, which clearly meant that the person who set up this seal had one weak point stuck at the Golden Core realm.

This exact spot was the formation knot of the seal. Once he found the formation knot, Yu Mu had a way to unravel the seal. Swiftly executing a series of hand seals, he pressed them onto the spot where the formation knot appeared.

Shi Dali felt his body suddenly grow light, the binding sensation instantly vanished, and his spiritual power flowed smoothly once again—the seal had been lifted.

Yet, Shi Dali looked at Yu Mu with absolute shock: "How is this possible?! How did you do that?"

Having been enemies with the Jiang family for many years, the Shi family naturally knew how formidable the Nine Dragons Seal was. Moreover, this seal had been personally cast by the head of the Jiang family; how could it be so easily dismantled by a mere Golden Core cultivator?!

Just as Jiang Jialang had said, although the Nine Dragons Seal technique was powerful, as long as one grasped its core principles, breaking it was not actually difficult—much like the reasoning behind Jiang Jialang breaking Yu Mu's barrier.

Furthermore, what the Jiang family mastered was, after all, an incomplete technique, and the branch here practiced even more superficial skills. The true essence would never be passed down by the Jiang family to side-branch members like them.

Yu Mu still ignored him. After lifting the restriction, he discovered that Shi Dali's injuries were not as severe as they appeared on the surface. First of all, he had no internal injuries, and his Dao foundation was undamaged; he had merely suffered physical and mental torment.

Yu Mu relaxed internally and immediately cast a green radiance toward him. As the green light entered his body, Shi Dali's injuries and spiritual power recovered drastically and simultaneously.

Shi Dali was no stranger to this green light, as Yu Mu had used it against him during their battle with the chief bandit, though he had managed to dodge it back then.

As he experienced the miraculous effect of the green radiance, he instantly wished he could fiercely slap himself across the face a few times. Had he known it had such miraculous efficacy, why would he have subjected himself to today's suffering?

Nourished by the rejuvenating spiritual power, Shi Dali's strength had essentially fully recovered, and even most of his external injuries were healed. In a wave of joyful surprise, he let out a roar, bursting forth with spiritual power that shattered the iron chains binding his limbs.

Taking advantage of the moment, Yu Mu took a few sips of wine to recover his own spiritual power. Only then did he ask, "How were you captured by them? And why were you locked up here?"

Shi Dali said angrily, "Hmph~ Along my way, I killed quite a few fleeing desert bandits and seized their water supply to survive. Who would have thought that those very remnants would expose my whereabouts?

The moment I stepped out of the desert, those Jiang family cowards were already lying in wait. Taking advantage of my unhealed injuries, this pack of scoundrels captured me.

They didn't kill me simply to humiliate and torture me to vent their hatred. Besides, they likely committed some unspeakable misdeeds at Black Wind Ridge, so they were desperately trying to extract the detailed events of what happened there.

I refused to speak, which is why I managed to live until today. How did you know I was captured and imprisoned in this place?"