Da Xuan Martial Saint

Yu Family compound.

In the east, deep within the inner courtyard, a practice room.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!

Chen Mu practised in a dimly lit, air-tight secret chamber, swinging his fists continuously like a tiger demon on the hunt. Each punch he threw was wide and fierce, with a threatening and vicious momentum.

Amidst his movements, the actions stirred the bones throughout his body, occasionally producing a cracking sound. It was not the sound of bones breaking, but the robust bones, tendons, and membranes working in concert to unleash the harmonious roar of sinews and skeletons.

He didn't know how long he had been training.

Finally, Chen Mu stopped.

He called up the system panel to take a look.

[Tiger Demon Bone Tempering Technique (55%)]

[Experience: 12 points]

It had been a month and a half since he last accompanied Xu Hongyu to the market. Time passed.

Encountering the true disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect and that mysterious Taoist had made Chen Mu keenly aware of his own lack of strength. Therefore, he spent the past month and a half almost entirely indoors, not even visiting Xu Hongyu.

With such extended intensive practice, the benefits were significant. His progress in bone tempering had surpassed the halfway mark, not far from major achievement. His current strength had improved significantly compared to before.

However.

For the present Chen Mu, what concerned him more was the cultivation of artistic conception.

Even if the realm of bone tempering reached perfection or its limits, it would still not be a qualitative change. It would still be challenging to bridge the gap between bone tempering and the Five Viscera Realm. Only by advancing further in the artistic conception, taking the Thunderclap Artistic Conception to the second step, could he achieve a transformative breakthrough.

Previously.

The true disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect he encountered was merely extending his Heart Sword Artistic Conception, and it did not even amount to a confrontation, yet Chen Mu could clearly feel that compared to it, his Wind Thunder was decidedly inferior.

Probably, in the Qiankun Eight Phases Map, one would need to grasp at least three artistic conceptions or one of the Qian Heaven Kun Earth to match it.

However, for him at the moment, there was no need to pursue multiple conceptions. If he could just advance the Thunderclap Artistic Conception to the second step, that alone would constitute an absolute suppression of any first step artistic conception, without the need to compete at the same realm.

If only he had the artistic conception maps of Qian Heaven or Kun Earth.

Chen Mu felt a slight regret in his heart.

With his current understanding of artistic conception, Qian Heaven and Kun Earth each constituted half of the Eight Phases. If he could master either Qian Heaven or Kun Earth, then perhaps he could focus solely on cultivating Qian Heaven Artistic Conception, and the other Wind Thunder conceptions would improve alongside it.

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After all, Wind and Thunder inherently belong to Qian Heaven, forming part of its overarching diagram.

"It's a pity even the Demon-Slaying Office doesn't have the overall chart of Qian Heaven Kun Earth..."

Unlike the Six Phases such as Wind, Thunder, and Fire, the overall diagrams of Qian Heaven and Kun Earth were rarely circulated in their imprinted forms.

The reason is quite simple. The difficulty of cultivating Qian Heaven and Kun Earth is almost insurmountable, requiring at least a foundation in the Three Phases. Furthermore, even top talents peering at superior-grade imitative diagrams or even more originative Qiankun diagrams could hardly comprehend them.

With hardly any audience, they are naturally much rarer and even harder to find in remote places like Yu County.

[Martial Arts: Thunderclap Artistic Conception]

[Experience: 9995 points]

[Available Projections: 0 times]

Chen Mu took a glance at the system panel's section on Thunderclap Artistic Conception, then withdrew his gaze, stepped out of the secret chamber, washed up in the adjacent room outside the dark room, went back to his bedroom, and took out the Thunderclap Diagram.

From going out to slay demons, to the drought and demon chaos, more than three months had passed. Although sometimes he hadn't had the opportunity to study the Thunderclap Diagram amidst the chaos, he had been accumulating experience all this time and was about to gain another opportunity for projection.

"I wonder if this projection will allow me to step into the second phase."

Chen Mu murmured to himself.

After mastering the first step of the Thunderclap Artistic Conception, he had already projected once before. It only led him to a deeper understanding of the Thunderclap Artistic Conception, seeing it more clearly, but still not touching it, not reaching the second phase's 'tangible' realm.

Visible, tangible, body-mind union.

These three descriptions referred to the three steps of artistic conception and were quite straightforward.

In the process of studying the Thunderclap Diagram, he didn't solely rely on the experience provided by the system panel. In fact, during his comprehension, he had some insights of his own, but compared to the system's projections, these personal realizations were minor, far less significant than the progress from a single projection.

Soon.

Chen Mu collected his thoughts.

He focused his consciousness, perceiving only the Thunderclap Diagram.

Night had fallen, and although Chen Mu's bedroom was unlit by candlelight and the moonlight outside was extremely dim, even a slight glimmer of light meant that his field of vision was almost no different from daylight to him now.

Without warning.

The dim clouds suddenly shrouded the pale moon, erasing the faint light.

Chen Mu shook his head, picked up the flint by the bed, struck it twice to light an oil lamp, brightening his bedroom with a soft glow. He then continued to study the Artistic Conception Map.

The flame flickered.

The moonlight was dim.

Suddenly, Chen Mu's senses sharpened.

It was at this precise moment that a sword tip silently pierced through the wooden panel in front of his window, thrusting towards his throat. Before the sword tip appeared, there was no sign or aura, but when it did stab forward, in an instant, it burst forth a terrifying evil qi and sharpness like a sea of corpses and blood.

In this moment of dire peril, Chen Mu had no time to draw his sword, but he remained calm amidst chaos. His right hand, which had been pressing down on the Thunderclap Diagram, shot up suddenly, with a faint glint of lightning flashing between his fingers, unleashing lightning-fast speed.

His index and middle fingers joined together like a sword, delivered a sideways strike, and hit the side of the sword tip that was piercing towards him.

Ding!

It was just a crisp and faint sound of metal clashing.

But in that instant, the internal energy within the entire bedroom seemed to flip the heaven and earth over, and the surging evil qi on the three-foot sword blade that pierced through the wooden board was forcefully struck by a strand of lightning and exploded within it.

And it didn't stop there; as the Thunderbolt Artistic Conception burst forth within the evil qi, it scattered a portion of the piercing killing intent. What followed was a wild gust of sweeping wind that suddenly emerged from within the lightning, completely churning up all the killing intent into disarray.

This was actually Chen Mu's first true experience of Artistic Conception clashing!

In the past, he had never encountered an opponent who possessed Artistic Conception. His encounter with the true disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect in the market could hardly count as a clash, but this time it was a genuine, head-on confrontation.

The sword that stabbed at him contained not only sharpness and speed but also the very real presence of Artistic Conception—the terrifying energy that seemed to turn the entire bedroom into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood in an instant. It was none other than Qiankun Eight Phases, which led Chen Mu to think of only one source.

"Blood Hidden Pavilion!"

A cold light flashed through Chen Mu's eyes.

His Sword Finger collided with the sword blade. After forcefully scattering the might of the Artistic Conception on the opponent's sword blade with his Wind Thunder Artistic Conception, it also caused the sword blade to bend sharply and move away from his neck.

Boom!!!

Immediately after, Chen Mu drew his sword with his left hand and fiercely slashed toward the windowsill.

The entire windowsill and part of the wall were blown apart in an explosion, unleashing a roar that seemed to shake the ground, as the blade enveloped in Wind Thunder struck directly towards the shattered wall outside, at a figure cloaked in black with a blood-colored mask.

One couldn't see the face under the blood-colored mask, but a pair of eyes revealed a clear shock.

Whoosh.

The sword light whirled sideways, stirring up another wave of Blood Fiend energy, colliding with Chen Mu's blade light. After a violent explosion, the Blood Hidden Pavilion assassin let out a muffled grunt, was thrown backward and vanished into the night outside the courtyard.

The huge commotion nearly awakened everyone in the inner and outer courtyards, creating a chaotic uproar in an instant.

Chen Mu stood with his sword, his gaze cold as he looked out into the night. He didn't pursue but remained vigilant, paying attention to the movements around him until Wang Ni and others from the side room ran out in alarm.

"Old, Master..."

Ku'er and Le'er, seeing the nearly completely shattered bedroom and the figure of Chen Mu standing with a sword, were momentarily at a loss for words.

Following that, the house servants also quickly rushed into the courtyard.

"Brother?!"

Chen Yue leapt over the courtyard wall and landed in the yard, also looking surprised at Chen Mu's condition and the nearly torn-apart bedroom.

Seeing Chen Yue land in the courtyard, Chen Mu's expression softened somewhat before he turned to the servants with a calm voice, "A mishap while practicing my sword. Don't be startled; everyone can leave."

The servants exchanged puzzled glances.

But given the situation, they didn't dare to interrogate further and withdrew one after another.

Chen Yue approached Chen Mu, her eyes reflecting seriousness as she observed the scene in the courtyard. "Brother, what exactly happened just now?"

"An assassin from the Blood Hidden Pavilion."

Chen Mu stepped back into the bedroom, picked up the Thunderclap Diagram, and said indifferently, "Indeed, quite remarkable. The method of concealing internal energy is no ordinary feat, being able to silently infiltrate the Yu Family residence and come to the outside of my bedroom. Worthy of being a major Demon Sect with influence across the State Government Office and Prefecture City."

That person just now was also extraordinary in strength. Not to mention the Artistic Conception, even his Body Tempering realm alone was at least at the Major Achievement of Bone Tempering. He was clearly intent on a one-strike kill, aiming to kill me instantly without even allowing me to let out a sound.

But unfortunately,

The Blood Hidden Pavilion miscalculated my strength.

Or rather, up till now, the entire Yu County only knows part of my true strength, which are Xu Hongyu and Xiao He; even the Yu Family patriarch, Yu Zuyi, is in the dark. The Blood Hidden Pavilion might have gathered detailed intelligence, but they are still newcomers in Yu County. They couldn't possibly have accurate information about me.

With that person's skills, even if I were at Tendon Changing Perfection and possessed an Artistic Conception, I would have died silently, without any chance to resist or struggle, not even able to make a noise.

"Blood Hidden Pavilion?!"

A trace of shock appeared in Chen Yue's eyes, and she quickly looked outside.

But Chen Mu shook his head, "No need to look anymore, he has already escaped, he can't be caught."

That assassin from the Blood Hidden Pavilion's strength was formidable; within the entire Yu Family, probably only one or two people could confront him. Even Yu Zuyi might not be sure of victory. Even if they assembled a force for a search, it would be meaningless.

As for reporting upwards, it's even more useless. Firstly, there's no evidence, and secondly, even with evidence, it doesn't matter. The Blood Hidden Pavilion is a Demon Sect; they act according to their own rules, following only their own way.

"But brother, you were targeted by the Blood Hidden Pavilion; what should we do now?"

Chen Yue's face turned slightly pale.

"It's nothing."

Chen Mu shook his head and said, "Although the Demon Sect doesn't follow laws and acts as if they don't exist, they have their own set of rules. The Blood Hidden Pavilion values stealth and leaves no trace. If the assassination fails, they cancel the mission and won't strike a second time, unless someone else puts me on their list again…"

At this point,

a cold light flashed in Chen Mu's eyes.

In Yu City, the only one he could think of who would make a move on him was the He Family. As for the Xue Family or the Xie Family stirring up trouble deliberately, it was highly unlikely because the price for hiring the Blood Hidden Pavilion was steep.

The strength he had revealed was not weak: Tendon Changing Realm, Horizontally Trained Body, Xun Wind Artistic Conception. He guessed the He Family must have spent a considerable sum this time. For a second attempt, it was doubtful that the He Family could afford the price.

As for the Blood Hidden Pavilion's failed assassination attempt on him, there was no need to broadcast the incident. Drawing too much attention wasn't a good thing, and on the Blood Hidden Pavilion's side, they would be even less likely to spread the word.