Chapter 136: Unceasing Cycle of Life

Chen Mu suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked at his palm.

In his palm, a cluster of lightning twisted like a thousand snakes, constantly erupting with bursts of light and crackling sounds. It was no longer the tiny sparks of lightning he had barely conjured before, but a true beam of lightning, resting in the palm of his hand, almost as if it had substance!

Pa-zi!

Chen Mu clenched his fingers, and the lightning made a pa-zi sound, before being extinguished and disappearing.

"Artistic conception is about comprehending the world step by step, drawing closer to it step by step, and integrating into it step by step. It is about using one’s own understanding to trigger a portion of the world’s power."

"No wonder the second step of artistic conception is a qualitative change."

"The first step of artistic conception only allows one to perceive an essence of the world, and when one reluctantly uses it, one is still forcing it out with one’s own power, which depletes one’s spirit and qi and blood."

"But the second step of artistic conception is no longer about gathering power through oneself. It is about truly touching a wisp of the world’s power, borrowing a portion of power from the world, a power that is almost inexhaustible."

Chen Mu exhaled slowly, letting out a sigh.

He had heard that.

Experts in the Five Viscera Realm unify the five viscera, turning their own qi and blood into primordial astral force, forming a perfect inner cycle. They can also absorb the outer breath of the world. Compared with martial artists in the Bone Forging Realm, the biggest change is their endurance.

A Bone Forging Realm expert, though able to easily defeat an ordinary Tendon Transformation Realm martial artist, would be exhausted if surrounded by a group of elite Tendon Transformation martial artists in armor, and further encircled by a large number of soldiers.

Armor and no armor were two different concepts. The Garrison Army outside the city consisted of tens of thousands of elites, all of whom were only Flesh Training Realm martial artists. But they were armed to the teeth, and even a Bone Forging Realm expert would be injured if hit by a spear wielded by a Flesh Training martial artist when standing still.

Not everyone had a toughened body like Chen Mu.

Therefore, if they were surrounded by the Garrison Army, even without the Bone Forging Realm commander taking action, the elites and colonels alone would be able to exhaust a Bone Forging Realm martial artist to death.

But it was different for those in the Five Viscera Realm. The five viscera were unified, and they had an Internal Method. Unless there was a special "military formation" to seal off the world, the primordial astral force of those in the Five Viscera Realm would be continuously drawn from the world and transformed by the five viscera, making it almost inexhaustible.

This was one reason why those in the Five Viscera Realm were difficult to kill.

After all, unless they were trapped by multiple experts of the same level, they could escape anywhere in the world. Their internal breath could sustain them, and even if they did not eat or drink for a month, it would not affect them much. If they reached the Six Bowels Realm, they would have an even longer endurance, with the ability to perform bigu, where they would not need to eat or drink for years.

To be able to match those in the Five Viscera Realm, pure power was not enough, they also needed a source of power that was almost comparable to it, one that was near "unceasing cycle of life." Otherwise, even if they reached the Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound, achieved a flawless jade bone, and had their body tempered to the extreme, their qi and blood would eventually be depleted and they would be defeated if their opponent continued to drain their energy.

But things were completely different after comprehending the second step of artistic conception.

This was also a kind of power that was close to unceasing cycle of life. It was the power borrowed directly from the world, with a similar effect to the internal and external cycles of the Five Viscera Realm. Its power was also several times stronger than that of the first step.

"With this second step of the Thunder artistic conception, there is no threat from the Bone Forging Realm anymore. I wonder how I would fare against a figure in the Five Viscera Realm."

Chen Mu stood up slowly, putting his hands behind his back, and looked out of the window.

The path to victory was about minute details. When two novices first sparred, it was often the case that the brave one would win when they met on a narrow path. Courage was more important than even strength and moves. But as the realms grew higher, many different factors could become key to determining victory.

His advantage lay in his physique. His toughened body, which was close to mastery of Bone Forging, was far superior even to a general Bone Forging Perfection expert. Entering the Five Viscera Realm did not greatly enhance the physical body. In this aspect, he might still have an advantage.

As for the second step of artistic conception, and whether it was stronger or weaker than the primordial astral force of the Five Viscera Realm, there was no clear conclusion.

As for techniques,

He was probably inferior to those in the Five Viscera Realm.

Those who reached the Five Viscera Realm were either the likes of the ancestors of the He and Yu families who had trained for an unknown number of years and had more experience in fighting than him, or they were the geniuses of various major sects with all kinds of inheritances.

Unlike them, he could only rely on his own practice, slowly comprehend, and gradually figure out the techniques that were suitable for him.

"Oh, right."

Chen Mu suddenly thought of something. He sat down at the table again, and looked at the Thunder map.

Almost as he had expected, after reaching the second step of artistic conception, looking at the Thunder map no longer gave him much more understanding. Chen Mu even felt that if he were to copy the map himself, he might be able to depict a deeper artistic conception.

The level of the rubbing map had completely fallen behind the second step of artistic conception.

But.

To Chen Mu’s surprise, even if this Thunder map was almost a waste of paper to him now, the system panel could still obtain experience from it if he were to try to understand it!

But the efficiency of experience gain had decreased a lot. In the past, he could gather ten thousand experience points in three months. Now it would take about five or six months. Although it was not too long, Chen Mu could not help but shake his head after a simple calculation.

It only took one deduction to step into the first step of artistic conception.

But it took him two deductions to step into the second step.

Without a doubt.

The number of times required to truly comprehend the third step would be more. It might be four or five times, maybe seven or eight times. If he were to forcefully train for the third step of artistic conception with this Thunder map, the efficiency would be too low.

Compared to that, he might be faster if he were to take the high-grade "Kan Water Map" copied by a disciple of the Painting Sage from the Yu family and started to train in the Kan Water artistic conception from the very beginning, training all the way to the third step.

"If only I could obtain the ‘Illustrated Eight Phase Diagram’ or the legendary ‘Original Eight Phase Diagram’. Then I could just stay in one place for ten years and train all the Qian Kun artistic conceptions to the third step or even higher, become invincible, and then go out into the world."

Chen Mu shook his head with a touch of regret.

This was naturally just his imagination. Not to mention the Original Eight Phase Diagram, but even if a copy of the rumored fragmented Illustrated Eight Phase Diagram were to appear, it would likely attract major sects like Seven Profound and Heavenly Sword to snatch it.

Although Heavenly Sword Sect and Blood Shadow Tower did not train in Qian Kun Eight Phases, the Illustrated Eight Phase Diagram represented an understanding of the essence of the world, a rare treasure that could be used as a reference or for comprehension.

"It’s almost time. I should go and see the Yu family’s artistic conception map."

Chen Mu took a deep breath.

And the Bone Forging Pill, it was almost time to give what’s left to Xu Hongyu.

After reaching the Small Accomplishment of Bone Forging, he did not immediately give the rest of the Bone Forging Pills to Xu Hongyu. She was not at a stage to attempt Bone Forging. She was still comprehending artistic conception and adjusting her qi and blood. Although his own speed of reaching the Small Accomplishment of Bone Forging in a month was rather shocking, Xu Hongyu had been shocked many times, and she had kept the fact that he had mastered two artistic conceptions a secret from even Yu Zuyi.

As a sect that focused on assassination, Blood Shadow Tower had a powerful intelligence network. If word had spread about his mastery of two artistic conceptions, last night’s situation could have had very different results.

Xu Hongyu was thinking for him and doing things for him, and it indirectly influenced the current changes.

An expression of warmth flashed across Chen Mu’s eyes. He then put away the Thunder map and went out the main door. It was already past morning, but because of his order, even the maids such as Wang Ni, Ku’er, and Le’er did not approach the East Side Room he was in.

It was only at this time that Chen Mu looked at the mess of wreckage. He casually swung his blade a few times, cutting the broken wooden windows and wall panels into neat pieces, and then lit a fire, burning the wreckage on the spot.

His room was also built purely out of wood, but the wood material was not considered rare.

After burning the wreckage to ash,

Chen Mu called for the servants of the outer courtyard and instructed them to clean up the courtyard, and to find a carpenter from the Yu family to repair the house.

…

He family residence.

Located in the northwest part of the courtyard, was the residence of He Guangxun.

It was the early morning. He slowly opened his eyes, got up from the delicate jade arms of his two concubines, and after composing himself, he had his two concubines help him dress and wash up. He looked out of the window, but a trace of annoyance flashed across his eyes.

A month and a half had passed.

There was still no news from the Blood Shadow Tower.

And according to the He family’s spies, there had been no changes in the Yu family recently. Chen Mu was still alive and well.

"I spent nine hundred thousand taels of silver… Blood Shadow Tower said that their assassinations were blood shadow without trace, and that they only failed one out of a hundred times. How could it take so long to kill a son-in-law of the Yu family? That person isn’t even a disciple of a sect."

He Guangxun felt very annoyed just thinking about this.

He had never even met Chen Mu before, but he did not want to meet him. He only hoped that Chen Mu would vanish from the world as soon as possible, and that he would not become a real threat to the He family in the future.

But he did not dare to rush the Blood Shadow Tower, nor did he dare to interfere with their operations, because in the current Yu prefecture, it was difficult to determine which sect was the strongest, but everyone was most unwilling to provoke the Blood Shadow Tower. After all, nobody wanted to offend a sect that engaged in assassination, as it would cause them to live in fear every day.

But.

Just as He Guangxun was getting increasingly annoyed and angry, and was about to touch his concubine, he suddenly heard his concubine make a surprised sound: "Huh, how did this package get here? Who sent it?"

He Guangxun was stunned. He turned to look, and his pupils instantly contracted. Next to the window sill of his bedroom, a black package appeared out of nowhere. It was sitting there quietly, as if it had just appeared.

He Guangxun stood up abruptly. After his face changed several times, he said in a deep voice:

"All of you go down!"

The two concubines looked at each other. They did not dare to ask further, and quickly put on their clothes and retreated.

He Guangxun then went to the window sill, slowly opened the package, and found that it was a pile of scraps of cloth and miscellaneous items. Only a yellow piece of paper was lying at the bottom, on which cold words were written crookedly.

[The information is not consistent. The mission is temporarily suspended. Or, pay an additional twenty-nine million one hundred thousand taels of silver notes.]

"???"