Da Xuan Martial Saint

Suddenly, he opened his eyes.

Chen Mu looked at his own palm.

In his palm, a bundle of lightning writhed like thousands of snakes, continuously bursting forth with strands of luster and emitting a sizzling sound. It was no longer the faint traces of lightning he had barely managed to produce before. Instead, it seemed as if he was holding a bundle of real lightning in the center of his palm, existing there as if it were tangible!

Crack!

Chen Mu clenched his five fingers together, and the lightning made a cracking sound before being extinguished in his grasp.

"Artistic Conception is about gradually perceiving the nature of heaven and earth, getting closer to heaven and earth, step by step, and merging the power of heaven and earth. Using one's own perception, one can invoke a portion of heaven and earth's might."

"No wonder the second step of the Artistic Conception is a qualitative change."

"The first step of the Artistic Conception merely allows one to see one of the essential natures of the world. Even when you manage to harness it, you force it out with your own strength, draining your spirit and Qi-Blood."

"But the second step of the Artistic Conception is not about gathering with one's own strength. Instead, it truly touches upon a wisp of heaven and earth's might. It's a power borrowed from the world, seemingly inexhaustible."

Chen Mu slowly exhaled a breath, emitting a sigh.

He had heard.

That practitioners of the Five Viscera Realm, with their Five Viscera returning to the origin, could transform their own Qi-Blood into Yuan Gang True Essence, forming a perfect internal cycle, and being more capable of absorbing the breath of the world beyond. Compared to Martial Artists of the Bone Tempering Realm, the most significant change was in their endurance.

For one at the Bone Tempering Realm, although capable of easily crushing an ordinary Tendon Changing Realm Martial Artist, if surrounded by a group of elite Tendon Changing Martial Artists in armor, with a large number of Army Soldiers encircling them, they could still be worn down to death.

After all, being armored or not is a different concept altogether. Like the armguard soldiers outside the city, tens of thousands of elites, although all are Martial Men of the Body Refinement Realm, fully armed to the teeth, Martial Artists of the Bone Tempering Realm are not invulnerable all over their bodies.

If one stands still and gets stabbed by a Martial Man with a spear, injury is inevitable.

Not everyone has a horizontally trained body like Chen Mu.

Thus, if one falls into an encirclement by the armguard army, even if the commanders of the Bone Tempering Realm do not make a move, just the siege from those elite soldiers and Colonels alone would make it very difficult for a Martial Artist of the Bone Tempering Realm to breakout.

However, the Five Viscera Realm is different. With the Five Viscera returning to the origin and the cultivation of the Inner Breath Technique, unless there's a special 'Military Formation' that blocks heaven and earth, the Yuan Gang of the Five Viscera Realm will keep drawing from the world incessantly, with the Five Viscera transforming and absorbing it, nearly impossible to deplete.

That's one of the reasons why it's hard to kill someone from the Five Viscera Realm.

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After all, unless trapped by several contemporaries in a tight siege, they could just keep fleeing until the end of time. With their Inner Breath cycling on its own, it wouldn't matter even if they didn't eat or drink for a month.

If they cultivated to the Six Viscera Realm, their endurance would be even more prolonged and vast, almost capable of fasting, not needing food or drink for years on end without trouble.

To match someone from the Five Viscera Realm, mere strength is insufficient.

You also need a power source that is nearly infinite and comparable, or else even if you train to the Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound and achieve Flawless Jade Bones, refining your physique to the ultimate extent and being strong enough to clash with the Five Viscera Realm, if the opponent just drags out the fight, you are bound to lose once your Qi-Blood runs out.

But mastering the second step of the Artistic Conception is entirely different.

It's also a nearly infinite power, directly borrowed from heaven and earth's might, sharing a masterpiece-like similarity with the internal and external circulation of the Five Viscera Realm, its might being several times stronger than the first step.

"With this second step into the Thunderclap Artistic Conception, the Bone Tempering Realm is no longer a threat, but it's unknown how it would fare against someone from the Five Viscera Realm," said Chen Mu, slowly standing up and looking out the window with his hands behind his back.

The path to victory lies in the minutiae. When two beginners in martial arts face off against each other, often the braver one wins, with courage sometimes outweighing strength and technique. But as the Realm climbs higher, various factors can become the key to victory or defeat.

His advantage lies in his physique, being close to a Horizontally Trained Body with Major Achievement, which could be said to be far beyond an ordinary Martial Artist with Perfection in the Bone Tempering Realm. Stepping into the Five Viscera Realm does not significantly enhance one's own body, so in this regard, he might still hold an advantage.

As for the second step of the Artistic Conception, there is no clear conclusion when compared with the Yuan Gang True Essence of the Five Viscera Realm regarding which is weaker or stronger.

As for techniques,

he was probably not as good as those existing in the Five Viscera Realm.

After all, those who have cultivated to the Five Viscera Realm, either belong to families like the He or Yu, whose ancestors were immersed for many years, having far more experience in combat than him, or they were the prodigies of the Great Sects, with various inheritances at their disposal.

Unlike him, who could only rely on himself to practice, slowly comprehend, and gradually speculate on suitable techniques.

"Ah, right," said Chen Mu as he suddenly remembered something else. He then returned to the table, sat down again, and looked back at the Thunderclap Diagram.

As he expected, after reaching the second step of the Artistic Conception, there wasn't much more to perceive from the diagram; even Chen Mu felt that if he were to copy the diagram, he might create an Artistic Conception that was even deeper.

The level of the copied diagram was completely unable to keep up with the height of the second step of the Artistic Conception.

However,

what somewhat surprised Chen Mu was that even though this Thunderclap Diagram seemed like a waste of paper to him now, when he forced himself to contemplate it, the system panel still allowed him to gain experience!

The efficiency of gaining experience had decreased quite a bit, though. What used to take three months to accumulate ten thousand points of experience now took almost five or six months. Although it wasn't too long, upon a quick estimation by Chen Mu, he couldn't help but shake his head.

Stepping out of the first step of the Artistic Conception required only a single deduction.

But to take the second step, he had to use two deductions.

Without a doubt.

To truly comprehend the third step, the number of times needed would inevitably be more, perhaps four or five times, or even seven or eight times were possible. In this case, if he were to forcefully practice the Thunderclap Artistic Conception with the Thunderclap Diagram for the third step, the efficiency would be too low.

By comparison, it might be faster for him to start from the beginning with the Yu Family's Superior Grade 'Kan Water Diagram' copied by a disciple of the master painter, and practice the Kan Water Artistic Conception all the way to the third step than to forcibly practice the Thunderclap!

"If only I could get my hands on the 'Artistic Conception Map of the Eight Phases' or the legendary 'Primordial Eight Phases Diagram,' then I could find a place to squat for ten years and practice all the Qiankun Artistic Conceptions to the third step or even higher, becoming invincible in the world once I reemerge."

Chen Mu shook his head with some regret.

This, of course, was only his wishful thinking. After all, let alone the Primordial Eight Phases Diagram, even the rumored already shattered Artistic Conception Map of the Eight Phases would probably cause an uproar among the Great Sects like Seven Profound and Heavenly Sword if just one of them were to surface.

Although the Heavenly Sword Sect and Blood Hidden Pavilion do not practice the Qiankun Eight Phases, the Artistic Conception Map of the Eight Phases they represent is also an understanding of the essence of nature, a rare treasure in the world, which they could use for reference or to comprehend.

"It's also about time to take a look at the Yu Family's Artistic Conception Maps."

Chen Mu took a deep breath.

And the Bone Tempering Pills, it's about time to give the rest to Xu Hongyu.

Earlier, after he had achieved Minor Achievement in the Bone Tempering Realm, he did not immediately give the remaining Bone Tempering Pills to Xu Hongyu. Mainly because it was not yet time for her to attempt Bone Tempering, she was still contemplating Artistic Conceptions, adjusting her Qi-Blood.

As for himself achieving Minor Achievement in Bone Tempering in just a month, that speed was quite shocking, but as for Xu Hongyu, she was not shocked just once or twice, and even now, she continued to conceal for him the fact that he mastered two types of Artistic Conceptions, without even revealing it to Yu Zuyi.

As a Sect that follows the path of assassination, Blood Hidden Pavilion naturally has a formidable information network. If the news that he mastered two types of Artistic Conceptions were to leak to several people, the events of last night might have taken a very different turn.

Xu Hongyu thought and acted for him, which indirectly influenced the change today.

A gentle flicker passed through Chen Mu's eyes. He then put away the Thunderclap Diagram and exited the main entrance. The morning had already passed, but due to his orders, even maids like Wang Ni, Ku'er, and Ler were not allowed to approach the eastern wing where he resided.

It was not until this moment that Chen Mu looked at the debris on the ground, casually waving his hand several times to slice the broken wooden window frames and panels into neat chunks before lighting a fire to burn the debris on the spot.

His house was also built of pure wood, but the wooden materials were not particularly rare.

After burning the ruins to ashes,

Chen Mu then summoned the servants from the outer courtyard, instructing them to clean the yard and to call the Yu Family's carpenters to repair the house anew.

...

He Family residence.

Nestled in the northwest part of the compound was where He Guangxun resided.

It was early in the morning when he slowly opened his eyes, getting up from the slender jade arms of his two concubines. After composing himself, he let the two concubines assist him to dress and wash up. His gaze swept through the window, but his eyes flashed with irritation.

One and a half months had passed.

There was still no news from Blood Hidden Pavilion.

And according to the He Family's spies, there had been no change in the Yu Family recently, and Chen Mu was still alive and well.

"I've spent nine hundred thousand silver... The Blood Hidden Pavilion said that their assassination Blood Concealment never fails more than once in a hundred tries. How come it takes so long to kill a son-in-law of the Yu Family? He's not even a Sect Disciple."

He Guangxun grew more irritated at the thought.

He had never actually met Chen Mu, but he did not want to see him at all, hoping that Chen Mu would evaporate from his life early, leaving no trace, to avoid the possibility that Chen Mu might become a significant problem for the He Family.

However, he dared not urge the Blood Hidden Pavilion, nor did he dare to dictate what they should do. After all, in the current Wasteland County, it was difficult to determine which Great Sect was the strongest, but if there was one Sect that no one wanted to provoke, it was undoubtedly the Blood Hidden Pavilion.

Nobody wanted to mess with a Sect that specialized in assassination and live in fear day and night.

Nevertheless,

Just as He Guangxun's impatience grew and his anger was about to boil over, ready to lay hands on the concubine beside him, he suddenly heard the concubine exclaim in surprise, "Huh, why is there an extra package here? Who sent it?"

He Guangxun paused, glancing at it, his pupils slightly constricted. He saw that next to the windowsill of his bedroom, a black package appeared quietly, as if it had just materialized.

He Guangxun quickly stood up, and after his expression changed several times, he said in a deep voice,

"Everyone, leave!"

The two concubines looked at each other, not daring to question further, and swiftly dressed and exited.

He Guangxun then approached the windowsill and slowly opened the package, only to find it contained a pile of torn fabric pieces and random objects, with a piece of yellow paper at the very bottom, on which were written cold words in a slanted script.

[The intelligence does not match, task temporarily halted, or an additional payment of nine hundred and ten thousand, two thousand silver notes is required]

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