With the three men killed in a single strike, Lin Mu felt strange.
It was a new feeling that he had not felt before. It was like a mixture of joy, excitement and anger fused with anxiety.
"No use waiting then," Lin Mu let the Dark purple aura cover the three dead men.
~SHUA~
The corpses were entirely covered with the Dark purple aura, making it look like they were doused in a pool of ink.
The dark purple aura flickered for a bit as waves spread over it. Then as if gasoline was poured onto a small fire, the aura flared up!
It directly grew to three times its original size and spread in an area of two meters around Lin Mu. But that was not all as power seethed within Lin Mu's body too.
"This..." Lin Mu felt the aura directly multiplying his power.
It was similar in how Immortal Qi could amplify his strength as the dark purple aura was doing the same. As long as it continued to flow in his body, it would strengthen it.
As for where this strength was coming from?
It was none other than the souls of the three immortals that had been consumed!
But along with this, Lin Mu also felt something else.
"Wait... what are these memories..." Lin Mu suddenly saw hundreds of fragmented scenes appearing in his mind.
They were of the three men he had killed, as well as their actions. In some of the scenes, it was as if he was watching things happen from their point of view. It didn't take long for Lin Mu to figure out these were the memories of the three men he had killed.
The only thing was that they weren't complete.
'So this is what was meant by taking their providence...' Lin Mu realized.
After all, providence wasn't just in the form of cultivation, but also knowledge!
In fact, knowledge could be a lot more valuable than a cultivation base, depending on what kind of knowledge it really was. And now Lin Mu could peek into the secrets that someone held, as long as he had killed them and consumed their souls using the Murdering Heart Sutra.
"But this sutra... It will most certainly bring the worst kind of attention if others find out. This is something that everyone will detest." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
A few doubts rose in his heart, but then a placating feeling from the aura dispelled them.
"Let's see how strong this actually is..." Lin Mu withdrew Afternoon Pine, and held it straight.
~SHUA~
The dark purple aura flickered and a part of it flowed into the sword through Lin Mu's arm.
~Humm~
In the next second, the Immortal sword gleamed in a similar dark purple light.
~SLASH~
Finding it to be ready, Lin Mu slashed out with the sword, using its entire strength!
~TREMBLE~
The very air shook as the sword slash flew through the sky. Unlike the usual translucent color or the yellow color of the Metal Qi, the slash was dark purple. It left a lingering trail in the air before it transformed into the pine trees.
The pine trees looked rather ghastly with the dark purple aura overflowing from them.
Looking at the Qi skill that had transformed, Lin Mu was rather surprised.
"This is... certainly powerful." Lin Mu could tell that even without using sword intent, the power of his attack was already comparable to it.
'And this is only after absorbing three souls... how much more can this increase?' Lin Mu now desired to get more souls.
A smile appeared on his face, while the purple gleam shone in his eyes. This combined with the dark purple aura, gave Lin Mu a sinister appearance. All those that saw him at this time would feel fear unknowingly.
~WHOOSH~
But just as Lin Mu decided to act on it, he saw a red blur appearing in front of him.
"Are you okay?!" Little Shrubby asked with great concern.
He had sensed the change in Lin Mu and felt danger too. Because of that, he had rushed here quickly.
"Me..." Lin Mu heard Little Shrubby's words and snapped out of his state. "Ha... ha... HA..." taking long drawn breaths, Lin Mu gained control of his mind.
"Dispel the effects of the sutra." Xukong spoke.
"Yes." Lin Mu quickly chanted the Severing Heart Sutra, letting the Dark purple aura shrink back inti his body.
A minute later it was gone, and no traces could be felt, other than those that were left in the air.
Once Lin Mu was back to normal, he felt rather shaken.
"Seems like the Murdering Heart Sutra comes at a cost to one's mind." Lin Mu spoke in realization.
"Indeed. It is of the Devil Path, so this much was expected." Xukong agreed.
"No wonder it didn't show any difference when I used the beast souls. It wants human souls for growth." Lin Mu stated. "Though the increase is rather fast... almost as if I gained the entire cultivation base of those three men." But now that he felt his current state, the power was gone.
"Looks like you can only maintain that power when you have the Murdering Heart Sutra active." Xukong analyzed.
"I see..." Lin Mu now understood better about the workings of the Murdering Heart Sutra.
While it brought a lot of power, it was also with several conditions.
"You also need to be wary about the memories." Xukong warned. "Soul searching is a skill that is frowned upon and can also damage its user, but the effect of the murdering Heart Sutra is a lot stronger.
We can probably expect it to affect you even more. Especially since it allows you to gain memories from multiple souls." He explained.
Lin Mu nodded his head in acknowledgment. Now that he had dispelled the sutra, he did feel like his mind was a bit heavy.
The memories he had gained from the three men were still stirring in his mind.
