Da Xuan Martial Saint

Chen Mu's eyes, deep and secluded like a tranquil abyss, gazed at the dozens-of-zhang deep pit he had created with a single strike.

You should know that this place was a hundred zhang underground, where the Earth Pulse's power flowed. Here, those in the Five Viscera Realm could hardly take a step, and it was not easy for those in the Six Viscera Realm to move around. To create a pit a couple of zhang deep with a single move was very difficult, yet Chen Mu's strike had pierced through several dozen zhang. From the surface, it was nearly a hundred and fifty zhang deep.

You must know that back when he was in Yu County, during the tide disaster when he explored underground, the depth of the cave was only a bit more than a hundred zhang—never exceeding two hundred zhang. There, at such depth, he had to exert all his power just to damage an inch of rockbed.

And now, he could, even during a period when the Earth's pulse was stable, rely on his own martial power to pierce through layers of earth, reaching depths of over a hundred zhang, or even two hundred zhang underground. For him now, such depths posed no danger nor could he be trapped to die underground.

Step.

Chen Mu's right hand casually motioned, and the earth and rocks below churned and surged, lifted by his power, bringing up the demon corpse of the Eighth Rank Demon Venerable Kun Jie. This Eighth Rank of the Demon Venerable was not completely dead yet, but at this moment, he was gasping his last, on the brink of death.

For the current him, the top Grandmasters indeed were no longer his match, nearly equal in strength to Jiang Changsheng, the Demon Jade Venerable. Under his hand, they could not withstand even two moves; one would injure them, and two would nearly kill them.

"Besides Yuwen Hao of the Sky Demon Sect, is there a second Heavenly Demon?"

"Is the original founder who established the Sky Demon Sect still alive?"

Chen Mu looked towards the dying Demon Jade Venerable, his gaze without much change, only asking two questions in a calm tone one after another.

The Sky Demon Sect now has two publicly known Eighth Rank Demon Venerables and one Ninth Rank Heavenly Demon ancestor, but it is unclear whether there are other concealed characters. The current Chen Mu is not particularly concerned about the number of typical Demon Venerables of the Sky Demon Sect. After all, even the likes of Demon Jade Venerable find it difficult to withstand his one or two moves.

Only a Ninth Rank Heavenly Demon still posed a threat to him; it was the only matter he was concerned about at the moment.

"Cough... Cough, cough..."

The Demon Jade Venerable was in disarray, his life force shattered. He continued to cough up two mouthfuls of dark blood but did not answer Chen Mu's questions. Fixating on Chen Mu with a vacant gaze, he murmured, "Qiankun Martial Body, if only I knew earlier... I should have..."

Kun Jie fell at the hands of Chen Mu. It was after Chen Mu ascended to the top of the Yunni Sky Steps and displayed the Qiankun Artistic Conception that he began to judge. He had always thought it was a trap set by the Seven Profound Sect, ending in death for all involved. Only afterward did he vaguely guess that perhaps Kun Jie and the others had made a move against Chen Mu, unexpectedly finding that Chen Mu had cultivated the Qiankun Artistic Conception, resulting in defeat and death.

The key point was that, during that period, he also had the chance to act against Chen Mu. Although Chen Mu had just started to emerge on the Wind Cloud List at that time, according to the intelligence available, he had not yet broken through to the Six Viscera Realm. If he had taken some risks and sneaked into Yu State, with his mighty strength as the Demon Jade Venerable, taking Chen Mu by surprise and resolving him would not have been a difficult task.

However, he could not have imagined that Chen Mu would enhance his strength step by step in such a short period, rising to the top three ranks of the Wind Cloud List and further astonishingly reaching the rank of Grandmaster, cultivating the Qiankun Martial Body!

Looking at the extraordinary talents throughout a thousand years of Da Xuan, none were as exaggerated as Chen Mu—not even the legendary Da Xuan Martial Emperor at this age with such horrific Martial Arts cultivation and progress!

A monster among monsters!

If he had recognized the horror of Chen Mu earlier, at the risk of delaying the conflict in Ice State and taking some risks, he would have personally made the trip to Yu State to deal with Chen Mu. Then there would be no subsequent events, and he would not have ended up in his current predicament.

But there are no what-ifs in life, everyone underestimated Chen Mu, and now it's too late to deal with him.

Considering the schemes Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion plotted against Chen Mu, the rumors about him being eroded by demonic Qi now seemed like a joke. Chen Mu's appearance here as a Grandmaster showed the rumors of demonic Qi erosion must have been baseless.

The Demon Jade Venerable looked at Chen Mu, and suddenly, a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes, his tone strained as he said:

"I became a Grandmaster at forty-eight, and at the age of one hundred twenty-one, I joined the Sky Demon Sect to extend my lifespan, transforming into a demon body. It's been seventy-four years since then... Who doesn't desire immortal life? Even if you have an extraordinary talent, and you might become someone like the Da Xuan Martial Emperor in the future, in the end, you cannot withstand the erosion of time, you are just a handful of yellow earth."

"With your gifts, if you cultivate the way of the Heavenly Demon, stepping into the Tenth Rank might not be impossible. At that time, you would be able to suppress the world with your martial power, your lifespan could coincide with that of a thousand-year dynasty. Even with your capabilities, you might push the Heavenly Demon's path to an unprecedented higher level, creating a new pathway for an era—it's also not impossible."

Hope appeared in his look towards Chen Mu.

If a person like Chen Mu turned to the path of the Heavenly Demon, then he would undoubtedly become an unparalleled, strongest of the Heavenly Demon lineage. At that time, by following Chen Mu, the Sky Demon Sect might not need to struggle in such bitter, cold lands and could hope to rule the whole world.

However.

Facing the words of the Demon Jade Venerable, Chen Mu simply replied in a flat tone.

"The Body Refinement Technique of the Sky Demon Sect does have some extraordinary aspects."

"But I am not interested."

Bang!

As his words fell, Chen Mu flicked his finger, and the gaze of the Demon Jade Venerable instantly froze, followed by his entire face shattering like porcelain, his demon power and vitality completely scattering and fading away.

At Chen Mu's current level, whether it's the path of good or evil, it's no longer so clear; each pursues the enhancement of oneself, the elevation of the essence of life itself. However, in his view, the Body Refinement Technique of the Sky Demon Sect was indeed a deviant path.

Like the Demon Venerable Mo Yu.

His son, Kun Jie, died at Chen Mu's hands, and he too was gravely injured by Chen Mu. There were multiple Demon Venerables from the Sky Demon Sect who had perished under his hand. Even at such a time, they still harbored an eager hope that he would join the Sky Demon Sect and eventually lead the Heavenly Demon lineage to rule the world.

What humanity, what good and evil, what right and wrong... All concepts of personhood had completely vanished from the eyes of existences like the Demon Venerable Mo Yu. They only lived to stay alive, lost in confusion without any sense of self. To Chen Mu, such an existence was no different from being dead.

In fact.

The Demon Venerable Mo Yu's Demon Body was exceptionally formidable, and all aspects of his abilities had reached their limits.

But even the strongest Eighth Rank in the Heavenly Demon lineage could not reach the standard of a peerless Grandmaster. They had lost their own will, nor did they have any state of mind, which meant that their overall power was always one notch lower.

Seventh Rank Demon Venerables were inferior to ordinary Grandmasters.

An Eighth Rank Great Demon Venerable could never achieve peerless levels.

Ninth Rank Heavenly Demon ancestors were the weakest in the Blood Exchange Realm.

As for the Heavenly Demon ancestor Yuwen Hao from the Sky Demon Sect, according to what Chen Mu knew, whether facing Seven Profound Sect's Supreme Yin Heng or one of the two Supremes from the Ice Extreme Palace, he had never had a good record and ultimately retreated in defeat.

As for the Tenth Rank?

It had never appeared in history.

There do exist Tenth Rank spiritual creatures, which can rival the top existences in the Blood Exchange Realm, the same ones who dare to call themselves 'Saints'. But that was the pinnacle, and individually, their martial prowess was still no match for the founding Martial Emperor of Da Xuan.

The Sky Demon Sect's method of Solidifying Refinement of life force was indeed remarkable. In the future, Chen Mu might be able to extract some insights and see if he could create a legitimate practice method, but he was not in a rush for now.

Hiss!
Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

Looking at the corpse of the Demon Venerable Mo Yu, Chen Mu quickly sensed it before raising his hand and slashing through the air, cutting the corpse apart. From within the Demon Corpse, he soon found a sack similar to the crop of Hou Liao.

It was stuffed full to the brim with various items, all of which appeared to be of extraordinary value at first glance, especially a large Jade Vase that, upon a slight shake, he roughly guessed, contained the Mystic Tortoise Demon Blood.

"Mystic Tortoise Demon Blood..."

Chen Mu muttered to himself.

This substance indeed had a lot of medicinal value, and it had a certain effect on Grandmasters tempering their Martial Bodies, but it required a specific Medicine Powder Prescription and the combination of other Spiritual Objects.

Initially, Chen Mu had obtained less than half a bottle from Hou Liao, but at that time he did not need it and had traded it for the tempering-type Spiritual Objects he required. Now, this large bottle could be kept for his own use.

Following that.

Chen Mu felt behind the large Jade Vase for an extremely small Jade Vase. This vase was entirely different, icy cold to the touch, even colder than real ice.

"Finest Cold Jade... No, could it be Millenary Mystic Jade from Ice State?"

Chen Mu only took a brief look at it in his hand before identifying its material. The Millenary Mystic Jade itself was a material that could assist in refining Spirit Weapons; the Cold Soul Spirit Blade was mixed with this substance, signifying its considerable worth.

A small Jade Vase made from such a material, whatever it contained inside, was undoubtedly of even greater value.

"Indeed, it's not bad."

Chen Mu only opened the lid for a moment before closing it again.

But in that moment, an extremely dense Demon Qi spread out. It appeared to be the same substance as the Mystic Tortoise Demon Blood, but the degree of concentration was utterly different, clearly indicating this was a rarer Mystic Tortoise Essence Blood, or rather, Mystic Tortoise Heart Blood!

The Demon Blood from a Seventh Rank Black Jiao was the main component for refining the Tendon Changing Pill. Not to mention the blood of an Eighth Rank Spiritual Creature, the Essence Blood of a Ninth Rank Mystic Tortoise, indeed, was exceptionally valuable and very useful for Chen Mu at this point.

At least.

If he had a specific Medicine Powder Prescription, his progress in refining his Martial Body would surely leap forward greatly.

For Chen Mu at this stage, comprehending the Qiankun Artistic Conception to the Domain level was a qualitative change in strength. However, cultivation of his Martial Body was likewise steadily advancing. His Martial Body was still at the initial stage, and if he could refine the Qiankun Martial Body to Great Perfection, reaching the Marrow Cleansing Realm's limit so that the marrow was like mercury, even without the Qiankun Domain, relying solely on his Martial Body, he could perhaps still contend with Heavenly Demons!