Da Xuan Martial Saint

On the city pass.

Already stationed soldiers spotted Chen Mu arriving below the city pass.

"It's a disciple from the Seven Profound Sect!"

"They're finally here."

"Quick, lower the drawbridge and report to the commander!"

Some of the soldiers on the city pass showed joy amid the chaos; some clumsily lowered the board specially used to let people onto the ramparts, while others swiftly ran to report to the commander of the Yunlu Pass.
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However.

Before the soldiers could lower the drawbridge.

They saw Chen Mu standing below the city pass, looking up, and then lightly stamping his foot.

Whoosh!!

The yellow sand around him seemed to be drawn by some force, rapidly gathering under his feet and then piling up, solidifying into a faux-mountain-like stone pillar that lifted him up.

The sand gathered faster and faster, and Chen Mu stood on the pinnacle of the stone pillar, reaching higher and higher; in a blink of an eye, a pillar a hundred yards high appeared before the city pass, elevating Chen Mu to the level of the pass!

Then.

Chen Mu stepped forward with a plain expression, moving from the top of the stone pillar to the city pass in one step.

It was at the moment he set foot on the city pass that the pillar, which had risen from the ground to elevate him there, suddenly disintegrated back into yellow sand and scattered amidst the vast sand sea.

The nearby soldiers, stunned by the sight, quickly reacted, and a commander-looking figure immediately came forward and respectfully saluted Chen Mu, saying:

"Yunlu Pass vanguard commander greets the true disciple!"

As the soldiers stationed at Yunlu Pass, although they did not recognize Chen Mu, they recognized the unique attire of the true disciples from Spirit Profound Peak of the Seven Profound Sect, which he was wearing. They also had a rough idea of the spectacle of Chen Mu ascending the pass and knew it was not some Immortal Trace but likely a deep 'Gen Mountain' Artistic Conception.

Chen Mu's gaze swept over the surroundings, then turned to the commander and asked:

"I am Chen Mu, where are Brother Chu and Sister Meng?"

"Uh..."

The commander seemed a bit surprised, but promptly replied, "Replying to True Disciple Chen, the sand calamity in Sha Prefecture began showing signs two days ago. You are the first to arrive; the commander is waiting for you inside the pass."

Chen Mu was not surprised upon hearing this.

Although he set out later than Meng Danyun and Chu Jingsui, they each led a large group of inner and outer sect disciples from the Seven Profound Sect, and with their varied levels of strength, naturally, their progress was slower. It was normal for him to arrive sooner.

The only thing that slightly surprised him was that he arrived first despite leaving last and did not encounter the teams of Chu Jingsui or Meng Danyun on the way. But since Sha Prefecture's terrain was open and the sand and earth's veins were complex, it was normal to have just missed them.

"Alright, lead the way."

Chen Mu said calmly, nodding his head.

Yunlu Pass, as one of the seven main passes of Yu State, or rather Sha Prefecture, was historically a post held by the Da Xuan Dynasty Court and came under the direct jurisdiction of the North Garrison Government without taking orders from the Yu State Government Office.

But as the Da Xuan Dynasty's power waned and Yu State was carved up by the Seven Profound Sect, Yunlu Pass became a part of the territories overseen by the Seven Profound Sect. Including the commander of Yunlu Pass, Xiahou Yan, who originated from the Seven Profound Sect and was once a Left Protector of Spirit Profound Peak and one of the former true disciples. He was appointed much earlier than Chu Jingsui and later became the commander of Yunlu Pass.

This was also one of the reasons why Spirit Profound Peak was responsible for Yunlu Pass.

In fact, each of the seven main passes in Sha Prefecture was managed by one of the Seven Profound Sect's Seven Peaks.

Yunlu Pass was massive.

The Yunlu City Pass, built atop a hundred-yard-tall earthen wall, almost qualified as a small city in itself, with many uniquely shaped dome buildings scattered over it. At its heart was the Garrison Prefecture.

Before long, Chen Mu arrived outside the Garrison Prefecture. Before he could enter, a figure greeted him, looking to be in his fifties or sixties with graying temples but still robust. Upon seeing Chen Mu, he laughed heartily and said:

"I've long heard of Junior Brother Chen's name. Today I finally get to meet you in person. You have an extraordinary presence, really living up to being one of the top talents on the rookie list."

"Senior Brother Xiahou is too kind,"

Chen Mu replied with a smile, raising his hands in a salute, "This 'top talent' thing is just being at the right place at the right time for me."

Although Xiahou Yan was not a disciple of Qin Mengjun and was even of the same generation, after all, he was a true disciple of Spirit Profound Peak and had been a Protector, so they were linked by the same lineage. Additionally, the rules of the Seven Profound Sect stipulated that all true disciples, regardless of how many generations apart, were allowed to address each other as brothers as long as they hadn't stepped into the Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster realm.

"With Junior Brother's talent, I think it's the other way around; had you been in time, how much less would you be compared to the top ten on the rookie list? You wouldn't fall behind Zhou Hao from the Great Profound Peak," Xiahou Yan cheerfully said.

There were not many on the rookie list with both talent and comprehension at the top of the charts, and it was well-known that Chen Mu started practicing martial arts later; just two years earlier would keep him from falling behind the twentieth rank, potentially even making it into the top ten. After all, Zhou Hao was now ranked ninth.

"How could I compare myself to Senior Brother Zhou."

Chen Mu shook his head, steering the conversation away from this topic, "How is the situation with the sand calamity right now?"

Upon hearing Chen Mu ask about the sand disaster, Xiahou Yan's gaze sharpened as he solemnly leapt up, landing on the dome of the Garrison Prefecture and spoke, "Junior Brother Chen, take a look."

Swoosh.

Chen Mu also stepped out, arriving atop the circular rooftop of the Garrison Prefecture that defended against the sandstorms, and looked into the distance.

From here, the view extended past the city pass, revealing the endless desert beyond where sandstorms could be vaguely seen sweeping across in multiple directions, although most were still quite far away.

"The aspect of the Xun Wind has almost reached its extreme..."

Gazing into the vast Sand Sea, Chen Mu's eyes flickered with a trace of light.

Ever since he set foot into the border of Sha Prefecture, he noticed an increasing presence of the Xun Wind as he traveled, while the aspect of the Kan Water continuously weakened, reaching an almost extreme state of mutual diminishment and growth at Yunlu Pass.

In such an environment where dust filled the skies and fierce winds howled, it was like a dream for martial artists who mastered the lineages of the Xun Wind. If they were to clash with martial artists of the Kan Water lineage here, those of the same rank would find themselves under extreme suppression by the harsh conditions of nature, easily tackling three to five opponents without much effort.

"Since the signs of the sand disaster appeared two days ago, it has mostly taken shape over the last two days. Just yesterday, some border passes were swept by the sand disaster and there were also attacks by magical beasts, causing quite a few losses."

Looking at the sandstorms on the horizon, Xiahou Yan said gravely, "Junior Brother Chen might not be very familiar with Yunlu Pass. The pass covers an area stretching over two hundred li, with a defense post stationed every one or two li. They're normally responsible for monitoring the movements outside the pass, while during sand disasters, they are tasked with repelling the magical beasts within the sandstorms."

With Xiahou Yan's explanation, Chen Mu quickly gained a comprehensive understanding of the entire Yunlu Pass.

The first was the continuous, two-hundred-li 'Yunlu Wall', which—it was said—was constructed by the founding Martial Emperor of the Da Xuan during the establishment of the dynasty. He led numerous grandmasters who practiced the lineages of Gen Mountain and Kun Earth to deploy formations here, drawing power from the Earth's Veins to create the structure. After more than a thousand years, serving as the border defense of Yu State and undergoing several renovations, it remained quite intact to this day.

However, compared to the main sect of the Seven Profound, the power of the Earth's Veins here was much weaker, especially because most of that power was used to maintain the city pass, which soared hundreds of feet high and stretched over hundreds of li.

Inside the entire two-hundred-li span of the Yunlu Wall was an interconnected formation vein. Even during sandstorms when the sky was obscured by yellow sand and visibility was lost, any defensive post could transmit messages to the Yunlu Main Pass in real-time through this interconnected formation vein.

Of course.

Communicating via fluctuations of the Earth's Veins wouldn't be very detailed because, essentially, it is just subtle undulations between the Earth's Veins. Therefore, the messages were quite simple, generally differentiating the attack situations into several threat levels. For example, level one corresponds to an incoming sandstorm without magical beasts, necessitating only caution, while level two indicates an attack by magical beasts but not exceeding the third rank, and so on.

The former was about asking for assistance from nearby defensive posts, hinting at attacks by sandstorms and magical beasts but not an extremely dire situation. The latter was more serious, often involving fifth rank or even sixth rank magical beasts.

"So you're saying, when the sandstorm hasn't struck, or in certain areas, there are essentially no magical beast attacks?"

Chen Mu asked Xiahou Yan.

"Not entirely absent, but the number is very small. Weak magical beasts get caught in the storm, while stronger ones have a bit of intelligence—they know that attacking the city pass without the cover of a storm is akin to seeking death and won't rashly attack."

Xiahou Yan explained.

Then, he leapt down from the dome of the Garrison Prefecture and gestured for Chen Mu to follow. They proceeded into the interior of the Garrison Prefecture until they reached an innermost spiral staircase leading downward.

Chen Mu followed Xiahou Yan further down, and after descending dozens of feet, they arrived at a very spacious inner stone chamber. In the center of the stone chamber was an irregularly shaped earthy yellow stone. Chen Mu recognized it as one of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items, the Earthly Elemental Stone.

At that moment,

the Earthly Elemental Stone emitted specks of earthy yellow light.

Nearby, there were more than a dozen slightly larger Earthly Elemental Stones, connected in a line, with the subtle flow of the Earth Pulse's Power faintly discernible.

The Mysterious Primordial Earth Formation!

"This is the formation base that has maintained the Yunlu City Pass for a thousand years without falling over two hundred li..."

Chen Mu murmured to himself as he looked at the arrangement in the stone chamber, and then he looked around to see several guards around the formation base, each with one hand on an Earthly Elemental Stone, sensing the minute fluctuations within the formation. The aura that emerged from them was neither from Gen Mountain, nor Dui Ze, but was also not the complete Kun Earth. Instead, it was the Earth Spirit Artistic Conception within the Five Elements Artistic Conception.

Xiahou Yan looked at Chen Mu and smiled, saying, "Junior Brother Chen seems to be proficient in the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception. You could try and sense the flow of the Earth Pulse's Power within the Earthly Elemental Stone, but Gen Mountain is still slightly off, making it difficult to sense the finer parts."

Upon hearing Xiahou Yan's words, Chen Mu walked over with some interest and placed one hand on the surface of an Earthly Elemental Stone, then gently closed his eyes.

In an instant,

his entire being connected with the Earthly Elemental Stone. Then, through the Earthly Elemental Stone, he sensed a long, continuous Earth's Vein, which was in a very stable and settled state.

At this time, Xiahou Yan continued, "If Junior Brother Chen's Gen Mountain Artistic Conception were to step into the second phase, he should be able to sense the positions of all the strategic nodes of Yunlu Pass. However, if one wants to sense fluctuations from the nodes and use this to determine the distress signals from various locations, that's not something the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception could achieve. One would need the Earth Spirit Artistic Conception of the Five Elements, or the complete Kun Earth Artistic Conception from the Qiankun Eight Phases to do so."

After listening to Xiahou Yan, Chen Mu nodded slightly with his eyes still closed.

He had roughly understood the essence of how Yunlu Pass communicated with each other through the Earth Vein Formation—simply put, each node had a smaller Earthly Elemental Stone, which created vibrations to transmit information to the main pass.

If one only practiced the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception, indeed it would be very difficult to sense such subtle fluctuations, and even the nodes further along the Earth's Vein would be quite vague.

Just as Chen Mu was meticulously sensing past each node along the Earth Vein, his whole being suddenly froze, because he perceived that one of those nodes, like a taut string, suddenly vibrated.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Six rapid and continuous vibrations transmitted along the Earth's Vein.

Thereafter,

Chen Mu opened his eyes to see several nearby guards, who were receiving messages from various places with their hands on the Earthly Elemental Stones, all turn pale almost in unison, nearly everyone's eyes snapping open.

"The twenty-third southern pass, emergency monster attack alert, a Sixth Rank monster has appeared!"