Da Xuan Martial Saint

Hisss! Hisss!!!

Almost identical ripples, like sword qi, burst forth from his fingertips, colliding and intertwining with the sword qi Xu Hongyu swung towards him. Although they looked almost indistinguishable and the power within them was nearly equal, upon collision, Xu Hongyu's sword qi quickly dispersed, while the sword qi from Chen Mu's fingertips only dimmed slightly and continued flying towards Xu Hongyu.

"The same Yuan Gang True Essence, the same power of artistic conception, the more skillfully and proficiently you grasp it, the higher the level of solidification, and the greater the power unleashed,"

Chen Mu stopped his movements and looked at Xu Hongyu as he spoke.

Xu Hongyu concentrated and waved her sword, parrying the incoming sword qi. Stimulating the Yuan Gang True Essence within her, she gathered a dazzling water light on the blade, which collided with and rubbed against the sword qi, but still, she was pushed back five or six steps before she finally managed to neutralize it.

Chen Mu lowered his hand and walked towards Xu Hongyu, seeing her still standing there motionless, looking at him, he couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, was my move just now a bit too heavy?"

"No."

Xu Hongyu shook her head, her eyes clear as she looked at the approaching Chen Mu and blinked, saying, "I just suddenly remembered the past, recalling the first time I met you, my husband. When you confronted the evil robber Tang Quan, you used a sneaky strategy, taking advantage of the fact he was heavily injured by me, before finally taking him down... Back then, I thought your Blade Technique was not too bad, you had courage, bravery and means, a material that could be shaped."

"And now?"

Chen Mu listened to Xu Hongyu's words and couldn't help but smile, also remembering the time long ago when, through deceits and a sneak attack, he had barely managed to handle the evil robber Tang Quan who had narrowly escaped from Xu Hongyu's hands. Back then, his Blade Technique had indeed just reached initial success, and the gap between him and Xu Hongyu at the time was like heaven and earth.

In just seven or eight years, even though Xu Hongyu's cultivation had climbed progressively from Tendon Changing Minor Achievement through Bone Tempering up to Five Viscera, making her one of the most outstanding among the younger generation in Yu County, the distance between them had now completely reversed.

Looking at Chen Mu approaching, Xu Hongyu lifted her head to gaze at the face she had been so close to beside their bed not long before, saying, "Now, you, my husband, seem to have somewhat the demeanor of a true grandmaster."

Although she hadn't seen many experts, back in Yu County, she had met protectors of the Six Viscera Realm from various sects and had accompanied the protector from Seven Profound Sect on many missions, but now comparing those people with Chen Mu, not to speak of strength, just in terms of aura alone, she could vaguely feel a subtle difference.

Aura is such an elusive concept, somewhat too intangible, yet Chen Mu standing there, although he looked so familiar, even knowing every part of him inside out, she still felt an indescribable feeling, as if it was confidence, or perhaps it was something else.

"A grandmaster's demeanor?"

Chen Mu looked at Xu Hongyu and smiled slightly: "My lady, don't praise too lavishly. Although I am ranked on the Wind Cloud List, I still have some distance from a true seventh realm grandmaster in terms of realm."

Of course, the distance was only in terms of realm.

Since he wiped out the Iron Hand gang and Cuiyan Mountain Villa along with many other forces, three months had passed.

Though the items plundered from those forces couldn't all be easily disposed of, for him, laundering them was quite easy. With just a bit of effort, he had managed to deal with almost everything, and although he couldn't exchange them all at once for cultivation-nourishing spiritual objects, he had already obtained quite a few, and the rest could be gradually exchanged at the Seven Profound Sect.

With these ample resources, his cultivation also climbed step by step, advancing a lot compared to three months ago.

[Six Viscera Sutra (91%)]

[Experience Points: 0]

This was displayed on the system panel.

Now, the tempering of his Six Viscera astonishingly reached 91% progress!

Although the cultivation of tempering the Six Viscera became increasingly difficult once he surpassed the 80% threshold, requiring more and more experience points for each progression, he still managed to smash through the ninety percent boundary with unstoppable momentum.

In fact, such a level of Six Viscera tempering was already beyond the reach of ordinary people. For example, people like Meng Danyuan, who had cultivated "three portions" of Yuan Gang True Essence in the Five Viscera Realm, upon entering the Six Viscera Realm, the vast majority only cultivate till what's called the perfection of the Six Viscera Realm, increasing only to about ten portions.

And according to the conversion comparison on his system panel, that would approximately correspond to about 70% progress.

Very few ever manage to temper up to 80%.

Now, with his Five Viscera at extreme tempering and Six Viscera tempered to 91%, the Yuan Gang True Essence he had cultivated in his body had reached a staggering forty-plus portions, almost comparable to some grandmasters with perfected martial bodies!

To know that for a grandmaster like Fu Jingyuan, who had tempered his martial body for decades, the Yuan Gang force his body could mobilize was almost at this level, the only difference being that his was a bit more solidified.

As for him.

He had achieved this extent in the Six Viscera Realm! Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

If this were known, it would shock many, because the gap between the Six Viscera Realm and the Marrow Cleansing Realm was tremendously vast, almost a qualitative change. The fact that Chen Mu could cultivate a martial body in the Six Viscera Realm that rivaled that of some grandmasters was astonishing indeed!

Of course.

Today, what he could compare to was only martial bodies like those of Fu Jingyuan, which were based on foundations like 'Midsummer,' 'Blood Fiend,' etc., or those that included a mix of elements like 'Fengshui,' 'Wind Thunder,' among two or three foundations.

Compared to the 'Qian Heaven Martial Body' cultivated by Qin Mengjun, there was still a gap.

But this gap was not significant, by his judgment, once he tempered the Six Viscera to its limit, even without stepping into the Marrow Cleansing Realm, the Yuan Gang force within his body could match top grandmasters like Qin Mengjun!

Once he stepped into the Marrow Cleansing Realm and cultivated a martial body, that would be a transformation; his strength and the solidity of his body would leap into a brand-new domain, where even just initially cultivating a martial body could make him almost invincible among Marrow Cleansing grandmasters!

At that time, he would truly not be far from the pinnacle of the current martial arts world.

Chen Mu's thoughts drifted as if merging into heaven and earth.

His martial arts will matched that of a grandmaster, his realm of strength aligned with a grandmaster, and his body was nearly reaching the stature of a grandmaster's martial body, naturally exuding a hint of a grandmaster's demeanor, which Hongyu's intuition grasped correctly.

Hongyu sheathed her sword and leaned beside Chen Mu, watching him quietly as he gazed at the sky, immersed in thought; she remained silent, feeling that staying with Chen Mu in this way, for any duration, was pleasant.

However.

It wasn't long before a voice was heard in the yard.

"Master, Protector Zhao has arrived."

So, he has finally come.

Chen Mu's thoughts converged, and his gaze fell back upon Hongyu, "Brother Zhao came looking for me, most likely there is something he needs to discuss, I shall go and see."

Although he had been staying at the State Government Office these past few months, making occasional visits to the Seven Profound Sect to give advice to juniors at Spirit Profound Peak, like Jin Ling'er and others, he had continuously kept an eye on the overall situation in Yu State and even across the Cold North.

In recent months.

For some reason, the attitude of the Seven Profound Sect had gradually changed, starting to get involved in the battles of Ice State. Noticing this, Chen Mu knew that his quiet days of cultivation wouldn't last much longer.

After all, as the protector of Spirit Profound Peak and a noted power on the Wind Cloud List, he was a significant combat force for the Seven Profound Sect. If the Seven Profound Sect intended to genuinely intervene in Ice State battles, it would only be a matter of time before an order involving him came.

The recent shifts in the situation in Ice State, with the Seven Profound Sect's involvement in battles against the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Heavenly Corpse Sect, probably also meant that Zhao Zhenchuan's visit was to bring dictated orders from the Seven Profound Sect. Chen Mu was quite calm about this since he had anticipated it; in fact, the lack of orders from the Seven Profound Sect letting him stay at the State Government Office for so long was slightly beyond his expectations.

Probably, it was because of earlier incidents of demonic qi contamination, although he had eradicated the demonic qi immediately, the Seven Profound Sect wasn't aware, hence there had been no reassignments concerning him.

"Hmm."

Hongyu nodded at Chen Mu.

Now, being a person of the Five Viscera Realm, she could take on significant roles like a steward at Seven Profound Sect or a head at the Demon-Slaying Bureau locally, a far cry from before. Although she spent most of her energy on insight and cultivation, she too was aware of the situation in Yu State and somewhat guessed it could involve Ice State matters, but wasn't certain of the specifics.