Da Xuan Martial Saint

Hum!

Accompanied by Chen Mu's single thought and movement, he exchanged ten thousand experience points for an opportunity to deduce, and then proceeded to deduce the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception.

Almost in an instant, a flood of complex memories and insights surged into his mind like a torrent.

He saw himself walking among the vast mountains, climbing to the summit, overlooking the sea of clouds and mountains.

He saw himself transform into a rock, standing on the mountain top, enduring the wind and sun without changing through the ages.

He saw Heavenly Thunder rolling, fierce winds howling, blazing flames surging, and floods billowing… He saw the vast sea turning into mulberry fields, saw bamboo and woods thriving, fruits ripening and falling, children who went up the mountain to pick peaches turning into withered old men but the mountains always remained the same.

Suddenly.

All of it disappeared.

In its place appeared myriad threads of essence, representing the nature of the Gen Mountain's phase between heaven and earth, appearing within his sight. He just lightly reached out and grasped one of them, and in a flash, he felt utterly immovable, heavy and profound.

Crack!

The wooden tub beneath Chen Mu, seemingly unable to bear his body weight at that moment, emitted a shattering sound, awakening Chen Mu, but the water in the tub continued to seep out from the broken bottom.

"This is the mountain's momentum, this is the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception."

Chen Mu stood up from the tub, his gaze penetrating the clear water to observe the fine cracks he had pressed into the bottom of the tub.

With that moment, wielding the power of the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception, his own weight seemed to have increased manifold suddenly, so much so that the bottom of the tub could not bear it and cracked.

"Among the Qiankun Eight Phases, the artistic conceptions of wind, thunder, and fire all belong to Qian Heaven and are the easiest powers to merge. Besides that stands the unmovable and profoundly heavy Gen Mountain, reaching from earth to heaven, and is in no conflict with the other three phases of wind, thunder, and fire."

Chen Mu lifted his right hand, which initially emitted blazing flames. Then, under strands of fierce wind, the flames condensed into the shape of a Fire Blade, and then wisps of Thunder Arcs intertwined over the Fire Blade, and finally, his entire arm became heavy, as if weighing thousands of pounds.

However, he ultimately did not swing this strike, waving his hand to make it completely dissipate instead.

In fact.

Cultivating multiple artistic conceptions is not easy, especially blending the powers of different artistic conceptions, and it's not that simple. The reason Chen Mu had always found it easy to merge the powers of various artistic conceptions was because he practiced in the most correct direction of Qian Heaven, and they also all belonged to the Qiankun Eight Phases.

Like Kan Water and Separating Fire, these are completely opposing affinities. If one were to cultivate only these two artistic conceptions, even if both were advanced to the second step, when deploying them, it would be nearly impossible to blend them without any loss, and the power exerted would hardly reach two portions, often at most one and a half or even less.

But the three phases of wind, thunder, and fire are similar, and Gen Mountain has a special affinity, having no conflict with any other artistic conception except for Dui Ze, so having advanced to the second step of the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception, Chen Mu could still easily unleash the fusion power of four artistic conceptions, which is a true burst of four portions of the Heaven and Earth's Might.

However.

Next up, Kan Water and Dui Ze will not be so easy.

According to Chen Mu's judgment, after mastering Kan Water and Dui Ze, although he would become more versatile, capable of securing advantage in various environments, blending these six artistic conceptions into a single burst, unleashing a complete six portions of Heaven and Earth's Might, would be extremely difficult, nearly impossible even.

To change this situation, the only way would be to comprehend the most core Qian Heaven and Kun Earth!

Plainly put,

The lineage of the Qiankun Eight Phases, after all the twisting and turning, cannot bypass Qian Heaven Kun Earth ultimately. Even if the other six phases are mastered, conflicts among themselves prevent them from coalescing into a whole, just like the Pavilion Master of Mysterious Mechanism who cultivated the Four Seasons Artistic Conception, where adjacent seasons can synergize better, but opposites like the midsummer and harsh winter, similarly suffer from conflicts making a perfect fusion difficult.

But once Qian Heaven and Kun Earth are mastered, it will be entirely different, with no conflicts between them.

In the Seven Profound Sect, Zhou Hao of the Great Profound Peak, who mastered Gen Mountain, Kan Water, Dui Ze, and Xun Wind artistic conceptions, had advanced them all to the second step early. However, he did not continue to cultivate Separating Fire and Thunderbolt but has been focused on the crucial Kun Earth Artistic Conception; however, the Kun Earth Artistic Conception is too difficult, and in the records of the Ranking of New Stars, his Kun Earth Artistic Conception only reached the first step.

If the Kun Earth Artistic Conception were to advance to the second step, his strength would undoubtedly greatly increase. Against Zuo Qianqiu, the top of the New Stars, even if he might not necessarily win, he would at least not lose within four strikes.

"Cultivating four artistic conceptions of the Qiankun Eight Phases reaches a bottleneck before mastering Qian Heaven and Kun Earth."

Chen Mu mused to himself.

Of course, if it were just for enhancing the might of artistic conceptions, one could even cultivate other artistic conceptions outside the Qiankun Eight Phases, such as the Four Seasons, yet the completely different systems of these artistic conceptions are basically much harder to integrate and blend.

Any artistic conception of the Four Seasons, once advanced to the second step, possesses about two portions of might. However, if a cultivator of the Qiankun Eight Phases were to also cultivate one of the Four Seasons to the second step, it would not likely result in a simple addition. Instead, due to the difficulty of integration between different systems, it would cause conflicts and lead to an actual increase in might far less than two portions.

One might say.

Whether it's Yin Yang, Five Elements, or any other kind or lineage, cultivating multiple artistic conceptions always has its limits, unless one completely fuses and comprehends the truly complete Yin Yang or even Five Elements Artistic Conceptions.

"Being able to exert one portion of Heaven and Earth's Might belongs to the threshold of the Five Viscera Realm."

"Having three portions only counts as average strength,"

"Reaching four or five portions is considered among the best."

"Around seven portions, you are considered extremely strong in the Five Viscera Realm, even capable of surpassing some weaker Martial Artists of the Six Viscera Realm."

"Reaching ten portions is basically the peak of the Five Viscera Realm, nearing the limit of this level."

"As for exceeding ten portions... If you can achieve that level by relying solely on your own without the aid of a Spirit Weapon, it means you must have completely mastered the Artistic Conceptions of Yin Yang, Four Seasons, Five Elements, and advancing into the second step during the Five Viscera Realm. That would take you to that domain which is also the pinnacle of the Five Viscera Realm, and still quite strong even placed within the higher Six Viscera Realm."

Chen Mu looked up at the ceiling, his gaze seemingly piercing through the dome toward the sky.

Now, without using the Evil-Breaking Thunder Spear, solely with his own strength, he could also unleash a burst nearly equal to seven portions of Heaven and Earth's Might, which was even stronger than many who had barely stepped into the Six Viscera Realm. If the rankings of the newcomers were reset at his current level, he could easily break into the top twenty.

However, he still had some gaps compared to the top figures like Zuo Qianqiu and Yuan Yingsong.

Both of those could unleash a power around nine portions, making them the best of this generation.

Soon.

Chen Mu gathered his thoughts and looked again at the system panel, which still had over twenty thousand remaining experience points. Without much hesitation, he exchanged these points for two more chances of deduction and started deducing again.

With the consumption of experience points and deduction chances, another wave of complex memories and insights surged into his heart.

In the midst of it all,

Chen Mu seemed to see again the mountain that stretched up to the heavens towering before him, then his entire person aimlessly stepped forward, but this time there was no stepping into the void. Instead, on that mountain, silently appeared layer upon layer of stairs stretching forth, so many steps that he could not see where they ended.

He continued to ascend step by step, not knowing how far he had walked, only feeling his limbs becoming heavier and heavier, as if turning to stone, increasingly difficult to climb, until finally stopping at a spot.

Looking back around.

It seemed as though he was still at the foot of the mountain.

After Chen Mu's thoughts gradually recovered, he did not hesitate and deduced once more. Experience more tales on empire

Then another complex wave of memories and insights surged, giving strength to his rigid and petrified body to continue climbing up the mountainside, step by step, growing difficult and heavy, once again stopping, but this time looking back, he could no longer see the foot of the mountain.

Looking upwards, he still could not see the summit.

Not knowing exactly where he was on this stretch of stairs.

At last, all the illusions disappeared.

Chen Mu's consciousness returned once more to the room, the bottom of the wooden barrel having unknowingly sprouted cracks with water gushing out, soaking the entire room and seeping out along the threshold.

"Ah, Brother Mu, why is it all wet?"

Wang Ni, who had been waiting outside, came in holding a clean white towel.

"The barrel broke, it's okay,"

Chen Mu responded evenly, stepping out of the barrel and not taking the towel offered by Wang Ni. With a slight shake of his body, numerous fine droplets of water sprayed off him like glass marbles, scattering everywhere.

Wang Ni was not surprised by this scene, only her cheeks slightly reddened as she stepped back a few steps, placed the towel down, and then brought over the clothes prepared for Chen Mu.

Chen Mu let Wang Ni help him dress, while sensing the changes in his Gen Mountain Artistic Conception.

"Indeed, after stepping into the second step, continuing to deepen the understanding hasn't brought about any substantial changes. The two deductions only increased the might of the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception by about a quarter portion,"

Chen Mu thought deeply, not surprised by this.

Between the second and third steps of an Artistic Conception, the gap is like a chasm, a process of accumulation, not resulting in a great qualitative change. According to his understanding, from the very beginning of the second step to reaching its limit and touching the bottleneck of the third step, the might would only increase about twice.

For Gen Mountain Artistic Conception, if one could reach the limit of the second step and touch the boundary of the third step, then the power of Heaven and Earth one could mobilize would be about two portions.

And the deeper one cultivates any Artistic Conception, the easier it is to lose oneself in it, requiring the solidifying of the Martial Arts will to control it.

"Looking at the current situation, it probably takes eight or nine deductions to cultivate an Artistic Conception to the limit of the second step, and the actual increase is only 'one portion' of Heaven and Earth's Might. Compared to that, indeed nurturing a second Artistic Conception boosts strength even more. No wonder Sister Meng said, in the Five Viscera Realm as long as one Artistic Conception reaches the second step, it's better to cultivate other Artistic Conceptions too. It seems it's not just for a single reason."

Chen Mu remembered the knowledge about cultivating Artistic Conceptions that Meng Danyun had told him long ago.