Facing Lin Mu, who slowly surfaced from the mist, the masked man — still mired deep in the red quagmire — after a brief moment of shock, instead swiftly regained his composure.
As a top-tier assassin who had walked the edge of life and death for years and survived a hundred battles, his mental fortitude was naturally exceedingly formidable.
"Playing tricks with ghosts and spirits."
Beneath that cold mask, the masked man let out a hoarse, snarling laugh.
He knew very well that if he could not deal with this opponent before him today, then the mission to decapitate Lin Feng would naturally be nothing but a fool's dream.
Without any nonsense, the masked man most decisively reversed his grip on the bone blade and drove it ferociously into the sticky, dark-red quagmire beneath his feet.
"Rise!"
Accompanying a low shout, the Primeval Essence within his aperture surged wildly.
Borrowing the immense reactive force transmitted from the bone blade churning at the bottom of the quagmire, along with the eruption of the Gu worms in his legs, his whole body — like an enormous grey crane — abruptly tore itself up from the ground!
The instant he broke free, the masked man did not pause in the slightest.
Bone blade in hand, he carved out a ghastly-white arc of death through the air, carrying an air-rending shriek as it hacked straight at Lin Mu's face!
Facing such a fierce onslaught, Lin Mu was neither anxious nor flustered, the depths of his eyes utterly clear.
"Earth Ring Body, rise."
His mind stirred slightly, and several layers of thick halos instantly condensed around Lin Mu's legs.
As the light burst forth, Lin Mu's speed surged astonishingly over an exceedingly short distance.
His toes tapped lightly against the leaf-strewn muddy ground, and his whole body slid backward exceedingly smoothly, hugging the edge of that fatal bone blade's razor edge.
The strike came up empty, and the masked man immediately raised his blade in pursuit.
The two of them were like two intersecting afterimages within the dense forest, one chasing, the other fleeing.
Wherever they passed, shrubs shattered, fallen leaves danced wildly, and in but a moment, the two had already moved far from the frontal battlefield, arriving at a desolate stretch of land.
The towering ancient trees around them grew ever denser, utterly blotting out the moonlight. All was silent, leaving only the two men's hurried footsteps and the rustle of friction from their clothes.
This, however, was naturally a wordless tacit understanding, for what both of them wanted was a one-on-one duel that would absolutely not be disturbed — one where they could cut loose completely.
Swish!
Lin Mu halted his steps at a relatively open clearing in the woods, turned around, and coldly regarded the masked man, who — following like a shadow — came to a stop a dozen or so paces away.
The masked man gripped his bone blade, breathing steadily.
Those eyes hidden behind the holes of the mask fixed unwaveringly upon Lin Mu, and in a hoarse voice he slowly spoke:
"I've misjudged, it seems."
"To think that a mere Black Blood Stockade would still be hiding a figure like you. Rank 2 peak stage? And so young at that…"
Facing the enemy's probing, Lin Mu's tone was cold as frost, and he responded blandly:
"And what use is it, now that you know?"
"Dead men can't pass on messages."
This taunt, plain as could be, clearly enraged the masked man, who regarded himself as the hunter.
He engaged in no further verbal sparring. He merely let his footwork surge in speed in an instant — noticeably three parts faster than during his earlier pursuit!
Swish, swish, swish!
The masked man's movement technique was exceedingly bizarre. He did not charge in a straight line, but instead wove and darted around Lin Mu at exceeding speed.
And that cold, deathly aura radiating from him had already locked down every scrap of space around Lin Mu, like an invisible giant net, utterly sealing off Lin Mu's retreat.
What a seasoned, ruthless movement technique!
Lin Mu's heart tightened slightly. He pressed his fingers together like a sword, and two dark-golden edges of Metal Rend Leaf Gu shot out along the trajectory of the enemy's weaving.
However, the masked man's exceedingly rich combat intelligence was displayed to the fullest in this moment.
He seemed to have completely seen through Lin Mu's attack range and methods, and the bone blade in his hand was whirled into a mass of ghastly-white light, impenetrable and airtight.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Though the edges of the Metal Rend Leaves were indestructible, under the masked man's parries they were all forcibly knocked flying and deflected away by that inordinately long bone blade!
For a time, Lin Mu had actually fallen into the awkward predicament of his reach being too short.
This masked man was clearly a veteran of one-on-one death-matches.
He perfectly exploited the length advantage of the bone blade in his hand, as though dancing on the tip of a blade, always keeping the combat distance between them locked firmly at the extreme edge where Lin Mu's Gu worms could least bring their power to bear.
Hiss!
After several exceedingly perilous close-quarters exchanges of push and pull, Lin Mu's garments were slashed with several gashes, and, rarely, several bloody wounds were even added to his body!
Had he not long been nurturing the Rank 2 Dust-Washing Gu — which, through the imperceptible influence accumulated day by day, had greatly cleansed his mortal frame and elevated his physical constitution and blood-and-qi foundation— then with the feeble body he had possessed when he first entered Rank 2, facing this kind of high-intensity combat, he would likely have long since collapsed from exhaustion and excessive blood loss.
This old fox!
Even as Lin Mu used the Earth Ring Body to dodge in wretched fashion that bone blade — clinging to him like a disease gnawing at the bone — he gritted his teeth inwardly.
He realized that the masked man was clearly guarding deliberately against any hidden trump card he might possess.
Strike once and withdraw, never greedy for merit, leaving himself exceedingly ample contingencies and room to evade.
Lin Mu had originally planned to take a blade in exchange for forcing his way into close range, then seize the enemy off guard to activate the Jade Tendon Gu's exceedingly terrifying overbearing-body counter-damage, dealing his opponent an unexpected killing blow.
But the masked man's push-and-pull, slippery as a loach, gave him no close-quarters melee opportunity whatsoever to bring the Jade Tendon Gu's effect into play!
It could be said that in pure combat intelligence and control of the situation, this assassin who had licked blood for years was even, faintly, above Lin Mu!
"Damn it…"
A fine layer of cold sweat seeped from Lin Mu's forehead, and, rarely, a trace of anxiety surfaced in his eyes.
I haven't even forced out the true killing Gu worms in his aperture, yet my Primeval Essence is already a quarter spent!
If this went on, it would be exceedingly dire!
Watching the battle sink into a quagmire, unable to form any effective and fatal attack relying on either the Metal Rend Leaf Gu or the Earth Spike Gu— even that four-Gu encirclement formation that had once instantly slain Tie Xiong could not be deployed, because of the push-and-pull of the distance.
Riiip—!
In the very instant Lin Mu's mind stirred, trying to find a way to break the deadlock.
Accompanying an exceedingly ear-piercing sound of tearing cloth.
The masked man seized this exceedingly minute opening, and the bone blade in his hand, like a venomous serpent, slashed up viciously from a dead angle, gouging fiercely across Lin Mu's flank!
Blood spurted wildly, a ghastly wound a full half-foot long tearing open in an instant!
"Ngh!"
Lin Mu let out a muffled grunt, and, borrowing the stimulus of the pain, abruptly burst backward in retreat.
He immediately mobilized the Primeval Essence within his aperture, trying to activate the Rank 2 wound-healing Gu to forcibly close this wound deep enough to expose bone.
However.
With one strike landed, how could the masked man let slip such a heaven-sent opportunity?
"Only thinking to heal now? Too late!"
The masked man let out an exceedingly cruel, cold laugh.
Within his aperture, an exceedingly obscure and malicious light instantly lit up.
Rank 2 — the Heal-Forbidding Gu!
This Gu worm was born specifically to counter medical means!
A strand of bizarre light flashed and vanished, landing precisely along the wound the blade had left on Lin Mu's waist.
In an instant, the green light of the wound-healing Gu that Lin Mu had activated, the moment it touched that ashen-red aura, actually gave off a "sizzling" sound and was instantly dissolved clean away.
Not only that, but that malicious aura also burrowed frantically into the surrounding flesh along the wound, allowing the injury to only grow worse and worse in a vicious cycle!
Watching as Lin Mu's figure finally showed a sliver of exceedingly fatal sluggishness due to the wound.
The masked man pressed his advantage in pursuit, giving Lin Mu no chance to catch his breath at all.
He once again activated another Gu worm within his aperture.
Rank 2 — the Grey Ray Gu!
Buzz!
Upon that already inordinately long, ghastly-white bone blade, a layer of exceedingly thick grey airflow, seemingly corporeal, instantly attached itself.
Under this layer of grey aura's enhancement, the attack range of the bone blade actually forcibly surged by nearly a foot!
And its swinging speed broke through the resistance of the air, so fast that one could only see a blurred mass of grey death-storm in midair!
"Die!"
The grey net of blades descended like Mount Tai bearing down, utterly shredding every path of survival for Lin Mu.
Amid this dire crisis, Lin Mu's breathing had grown heavy to the utmost.
Though he still had a few Gu worms in hand, in order to preserve his Primeval Essence for whatever contingencies might arise later, none of them could be used rashly.
At present, it seemed he had fallen into a true dead end.
But.
When Lin Mu's bloodshot eyes fixed unwaveringly upon the bone blade before him — which held every advantage of "length"— a flash of lightning suddenly split apart the heavy gloom within his mind.
His eyes abruptly lit up, as though he had thought of something.
That's it…
An inch longer, an inch stronger — isn't that right?
Lin Mu's gaze suddenly turned exceedingly ferocious. He abruptly stamped his foot, and the Primeval Essence within his aperture surged out wildly.
Want to play weapons with me?
Boom!
He abruptly activated the Rank 2 Earth Spike Gu!
An enormous rock spike, a full thigh's thickness, burst up without warning from the mud where the masked man had planted his feet!
This exceedingly sinister and immensely powerful strike forcibly forced the masked man — right at the climax of his offensive — to forcibly withdraw his attack and leap backward several zhang away in exceedingly wretched fashion.
Borrowing this breathing room, snatched from a hair's breadth of peril.
Lin Mu did not retreat. He abruptly turned his head, and his right hand most decisively reached for the back of his own skull, seizing that Rank 2 Gu worm — the one that had all along been lurking at the tip of his hair, disguised as an ordinary strand with no sense of presence whatsoever.
Come, Stick Insect Gu!
Lin Mu let out a fervent, low roar in his heart.
He grasped that "strand of hair," and abruptly flicked his wrist.
In the blink of an eye!
That Rank 2 Stick Insect Gu, disguised as a strand of hair, instantly shed all its disguise, and in the space of a blink transformed into a staff — its entire body black as ink, its texture hard, a pure black long staff!
Feeling the cold sensation transmitted from the staff's shaft.
Lin Mu slowly raised his head, and from those pitch-black eyes erupted an absolute fervor and confidence that only he himself could understand.
"Since you want to play with weapon length…"
Lin Mu whirled the long staff in his hand through a highly ornamental flourish in midair, then leveled it diagonally at the masked man across from him, and said blandly:
"Then let me show you a taste…"
"…of what a full-achievement speedrun player of Black Myth: Wukong in my past life is really worth!"