Da Xuan Martial Saint

However,

Even among grandmasters, there are disparities, just like in the Blood Exchange Realm, and the same goes for reaching the Unity of Heaven and Man.

Gongyang Yu, who is almost universally acknowledged to be among the top five peerless experts of his time, naturally possesses terrifying strength, but within the current Ninety-Nine State, there are also around twenty or so who have mastered the third step of Artistic Conception and stepped into the Celestial Human Level.

Among them, those ranked at the lower end, naturally, do not match the likes of Gongyang Yu or the master of Mysterious Heavenly Sect, and as far as Chen Mu knew, Yin Heng had once been hunted by a Celestial Human expert. Yet, he managed to escape unscathed and fled all the way back to the Seven Profound Sect.

"Celestial Human..."

Chen Mu shook his head slightly.

His current strength should be on par with Yin Heng and because he was cultivating the Qiankun Eight Phases, when it came to the art of self-preservation, Yin Heng was definitely not his match. Thus, unless he faced one of the top ten Celestial Human experts, even if he couldn't handle the others, he should still have a chance to retreat without being utterly powerless.

However, this level of strength was still not satisfying to him. Or rather, as long as there were threats in the world that could endanger him, he couldn't afford to let his guard down for even a day.

"Just two more steps."

Chen Mu looked up at the sky.

One more step forward was Marrow Cleansing Realm Perfection, then above that should be the limit of Marrow Cleansing.

No one could clearly articulate the gap between Celestial Human experts, since they were all already called 'Celestial Heavens,' and their deeds were rarely spread in the world. There wasn't even a clear ranking of their strengths, and of course, no one dared to rank those at the Celestial Human Level.

He didn't know to what extent the strength of those ranked at the top, like Gongyang Yu, could reach. But as long as he surmounted these two small steps and pushed Marrow Cleansing to its limit, the so-called life-and-death threshold of Blood Exchange would likely be as easy as snapping his fingers, with no bottlenecks!

What would his strength be,

compared to Gongyang Yu or the master of Mysterious Heavenly Sect and other such exceptional figures from the pinnacle of Celestial Humans?

Chen Mu's mind did not drift for too long, he soon gathered his thoughts and took out the Qiankun bottle to inspect and organize the remaining resources he had. Some of these treasures were materials for forging Spirit Weapons, others were remaining Body Refining Spiritual Objects.

"To evolve from Major Achievement to Perfection in the Martial Body, 12,000 Experience Points are needed, a twofold increase... If I use up all my remaining Body Refining Spiritual Objects, I should be able to gather around three or four thousand Experience Points."

After sorting through the remaining resources, Chen Mu revealed a contemplative expression.

He had previously tried it out on the system panel and had an idea of the Experience Points needed for the next breakthrough. Indeed, gathering 12,000 points was not easy. Although his venture into the Earthly Abyss had yielded resources worth at least seven or eight thousand points converted into Experience Points, that was, after all, obtained from within the Earthly Abyss.

The Earthly Abyss wasn't always accessible; moreover, part of the reason he had managed to collect so much was that the Ice State Abyss was in one of the most remote locations in Cold North and only opened once every hundred years or so, allowing a vast amount of resources to accumulate underground. Compared to the Earthly Abyss in other States of Da Xuan, the resources inside could not match the abundance of the Ice State Abyss.

"Now that the Ice State Abyss is closed, and there are no signs of any State's Earthly Abyss opening soon within the Da Xuan World, if I want to gather enough Spiritual Objects, my only options are the Outer Sea and the Great Wilderness."

Chen Mu pondered in his heart.

If he were to convert all the resources at hand into Experience Points, he estimated he would still need about eight thousand points to reach 12,000. If he stayed at the Seven Profound Sect to cultivate using the Qiankun Lock Dragon Formation, it would be a slow process, taking years to accumulate. Moreover, it was not safe for him to remain in the Seven Profound Sect for long; he had long considered leaving Yu State.

Furthermore, the most critical point was that even if he cultivated his Qiankun Martial Body to the Perfection Level, there would inevitably be a 'limit' to the Marrow Cleansing Realm. To reach that limit through the system panel, he would need even more resources than it would take to achieve Perfection.

Without a vast amount of resources, it would be insufficient to sustain.

The Earthly Abyss, Outer Sea, and Great Wilderness, each of these regions was known for their abundant resources.

Chen Mu had already planned his departure from Yu State a long time ago, and he had chosen the Outer Sea.

The Earthly Abyss required specific timing for access, so put that aside for now. The Great Wilderness was located at the extreme west of the Da Xuan World, and as far as Chen Mu knew, it was an extremely enigmatic place. Although rich in resources, it was also very dangerous. Countless grandmasters had gone missing in the Great Wilderness, and even those in the Blood Exchange Realm occasionally disappeared without a trace.

Of course, danger wasn't the key issue. The main problem was that, like the Earthly Abyss, the Great Wilderness was only accessible at specific times. What's more peculiar was that it seemed to manifest out of the 'Western Desert' in the far west of Da Xuan, like a 'mirage' that somehow appeared to be a real region.

One could only enter during specific periods, and at other times, it was nothing but an expanse of illusions, as insubstantial as a bubble upon contact.

Therefore, to explore the Great Wilderness, one needed luck, to happen upon an accessible 'Wasteland.' Once inside, one must return before it reverts back to illusion, or else one would vanish within it.

As far as Chen Mu knew, all those who disappeared in the vast Wasteland, whether grandmasters or those in the Blood Exchange Realm, none had returned. In the past, Chen Mu found this very strange, but now he had some speculation that these 'Wastelands' might each be a distinct 'Cave Heaven World,' only accessible at certain times and otherwise unconnected to the rest of the Da Xuan World.