Chapter 313: The Sect Gate
Chapter 313: The Sect Gate
Seven Mysteries Sect.
The sect gate, shrouded in mist, stood amidst towering green peaks, unchanged from years past, as if frozen in time for decades, even centuries, enduring the entire lifespan of ordinary mortals. The Seven Mysteries Sect remained one of the top sects in the province, still possessing the heritage of the Blood Exchange Realm, but its glory days were long gone, and it had slowly fallen into decay.
Chen Mu walked along the spacious mountain path, heading towards the sect gate.
"Protector Chen," a sect elder guarding the gate called out, recognizing Chen Mu despite his plain attire. The elder quickly bowed and watched as Chen Mu entered the mountain.
Shi Bian, the Right Protector of the Great Profound Peak, stood nearby, gazing at the scenery. He spotted Chen Mu and, after a moment's hesitation, respectfully cupped his hands in greeting.
Although Chen Mu was still the Protector of the Spirit Profound Peak, everyone knew that with his third place on the Gale Wind Rankings, his status was now on par with a Peak Lord Elder. He could even directly assume the role of Peak Lord without any issues.
Peak Lord Elder.
This was a position in the Seven Mysteries Sect that demanded respect from all Protectors and elders, who would proactively bow in greeting.
Even though Chen Mu wasn't officially a Peak Lord Elder yet, someone like Shi Bian, the Protector of the Great Profound Peak, wouldn't dare to be negligent in his presence. Shi Bian was around the same age as Chu Jing Su but much older than Chen Mu.
As Chen Mu walked away, Shi Bian let out a sigh of relief, then shook his head, expressing a hint of sentiment.
"Brother Chu, when you come out of seclusion, you'll have to treat me to a good jar of wine."
Shi Bian vaguely recalled that a few years ago, when Chen Mu first entered the sect, he had received instructions from Qi Zhiyuan to welcome Chen Mu. However, Chu Jing Su had intercepted him and sent him away with a bribe.
Initially, Chen Mu was to choose any peak except the Great Profound Peak, but Chu Jing Su had stopped him. Then, Meng Danyun led Chen Mu to the Spirit Profound Peak. Shi Bian had a connection with Chu Jing Su and felt that the Spirit Profound Peak had been struggling in recent years, so he considered it a favor.
But what happened next was beyond his expectations.
After joining the sect and becoming a disciple of the Spirit Profound Peak, Chen Mu's progress was astonishing. From the Profound Gate Breakthrough to the Ascend Cloud Veil Heaven Rank, killing Shitu Shu, and even slaying three Venerables of the Heavenly Demon Sect... In just a few years, Chen Mu had achieved the unimaginable.
Back then, Chen Mu had just entered the Five Viscera Realm and was considered a talented true disciple. For Shi Bian, Chen Mu was a junior by several generations, but now, even if he met Chen Mu, he would have to proactively greet him.
Even now, Shi Bian still felt a sense of incredulity. The strangeness of the world's events was unparalleled.
Moreover, what made him secretly lament was that if he had welcomed Chen Mu back then, and taken him on a tour of the Seven Mysteries Sect, perhaps they could have developed a connection. Even a casual acquaintance or a slight connection with a Peak Lord Elder could have been immensely beneficial, but now, he had no ties to Chen Mu, and it would be difficult to establish a relationship.
...
Chen Mu walked along the mountain path, familiar with the route from previous visits. As he continued, a towering stone stele appeared on the side of the path, engraved with the three gilded characters, 'Seven Mysteries Sect'. The majestic aura emanating from the inscription remained undiminished, but to Chen Mu, the feeling it evoked was now different from before.
When he first entered the sect, he had just reached the early stages of the Five Viscera Realm, and gazing upon the stele, he felt as if he were observing a distant heaven and earth. The realm it represented was far beyond his reach.
But now, after several years, he had broken through the Profound Gate, entered the Bone Marrow Realm, and cultivated to the Grandmaster Realm!
Although his Martial Body had just formed, and there was still a long way to go, compared to the lofty Blood Exchange Realm, he was indeed only one realm away. The inscription on the stele no longer seemed as lofty, and he could now vaguely glimpse some of its profound mysteries and intentions. He could almost see a solitary figure inscribing the stele, hidden within its words.
Even the mountain path he walked upon and the earth pulse pressure beneath the mountains no longer gave him the same sense of awe and boundless wonder as they did a few years ago.
Despite still being unable to compare with the power of the Earth Pulse within the Heaven Earth Dragon Lock Array of the Seven Mysteries Sect, he now felt he had gained some qualification to perceive it.
"The third step of Earthly Firmament Intention and this Heaven Earth Dragon Lock..." Chen Mu murmured to himself.
Indeed, after reaching the Grandmaster realm, his perspective and level had changed. In the past, when he was at the Muscle Realm, he had passed through this mountain path countless times, but this time, the changes he felt were significant.
It was like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, or a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, even if it was just a newborn dragon, it was still a dragon, transcending the mortal realm, and experiencing things the Muscle Realm could never comprehend.
One of these was the profoundness of the third step of intention.
Even though Chen Mu had heard about it countless times and seen it in various martial arts books, the third step, compared to the second step and even the domain, was indeed a brand new and profound height.
Chen Mu understood that even if the domain was cultivated to its utmost, even if he were to cultivate the Heaven Earth Domain in the future, it would be impossible to permanently alter the flow of heaven and earth within a limited area, even if it were just a single mountain stele.
But the founder of the Seven Profound Sect had achieved this.
The entire mountain stele had already distorted and altered the flow of heaven and earth, creating a small patch of 'drought' within the marshland of the rainy season, which would not change with time, always maintaining its 'drought'.
"To permanently alter the environment of heaven and earth, even if it's limited to this small area of a mountain stele, is indeed awe-inspiring. Only by comprehending the essence of heaven and earth can one achieve this."
Chen Mu marveled.
In fact, 'permanent' was a bit of an exaggeration. He could clearly judge that the power of this place would gradually assimilate with its surroundings within a hundred years, and the pressure and remnants of the realm would disappear without a trace.
However, even so, being able to maintain this power for hundreds of years was still a marvel to Chen Mu, a Bone Washing Grandmaster. Indeed, in the Blood Exchange Realm, not everyone could fully grasp the third step's realm.
This version of the book is flawless!
Currently, Chen Mu's realm was somewhat lacking. It had been several years since he cultivated the Heaven Earth Body Technique, but he still hadn't cultivated the Heaven Earth Domain, which was indeed a bit of a waste of his talent.
However, the Body Tempering cultivation was still more important, occupying most of his time. Otherwise, if he were to abandon Body Tempering and focus solely on comprehending the realm, he would have already stood at the level of the domain.
"The power of earth pulses is indeed profound and boundless, but it's not something that humans can fully control. Even the Heaven Earth Dragon Lock Array would likely struggle to truly unleash its full potential. Otherwise, even in the Blood Exchange Realm, it wouldn't be considered formidable under this power." Chen Mu, through the mountain stele, slightly sensed the Heaven Earth Dragon Lock Array.
This mountain stele was actually one of the array points.
When he was at the Six Viscera Realm, he had only roughly sensed the Heaven Earth Dragon Lock Array's earth pulse power a few times, and then lost interest because it was beyond his comprehension at that time. In front of it, he could only feel like an insignificant ant.
Now, as a Grandmaster who had cultivated the Heaven Earth Body Technique, when he observed and sensed it again, it was a different feeling. He could sense the boundless and profound power of earth pulses, which was beyond human reach and difficult to quantify with 'shares'. It might even reach tens of thousands.
But at the same time, Chen Mu clearly realized that such a profound and mighty power of heaven and earth couldn't be completely controlled by humans. Even the Heaven Earth Dragon Lock Array, which had been established for hundreds of years, wouldn't be able to do so. To mobilize even one-tenth or one-twentieth of this power would be unimaginable.
However, with his current strength, even if he could only mobilize one-tenth or one-twentieth of this power, it would still far surpass the Blood Exchange Realm. But the issue was that such mobilization would be extremely awkward and slow, and it wouldn't be very concentrated. Even if it were ten times stronger than the Blood Exchange Realm, they could still leverage and entangle, and it wouldn't be easily suppressed as long as they didn't confront it head-on.
On the other hand, the Bone Washing Realm below the Blood Exchange Realm, due to the significant gap and not yet reaching the true might returning to self, would have little power to resist under this boundless power of earth pulses.
Of course, for Chen Mu now, if he wasn't standing within the sect but was several dozen li away from the sect, he would still have the confidence to break free from the suppression of the Heaven Earth Dragon Lock Array. After all, this non-human power was harder to control the further away one was.
In other words, the current Chen Mu, if he didn't get too close to the sect, maintaining a certain distance, the grand array of the sect wouldn't pose much of a threat to him.
However, doing so was still somewhat dangerous. After all, the Heaven Earth Dragon Lock Array's control over the power of earth pulses was truly astonishing. If one were to be locked onto and couldn't move away, even a Blood Exchange Realm expert might be crushed to dust.
"Back then, when my master was ambushed, it should have been a Blood Exchange Realm expert. From several dozen li away, they actively disturbed the earth pulses, clashing with the dormant power of earth pulses from a distance, which led to the various array points receiving counter-shock impacts..."
Chen Mu glanced at the sect and spoke to himself.
For him now, such a thing was indeed still a bit difficult to achieve. Although he could observe the sect from several dozen li away, it was still difficult to disturb the earth pulses from such a distance. That ability was almost beyond the scope of martial arts, akin to a divine ability.
Back then, when he learned about this, he was shocked by the might of the Blood Exchange Realm, unable to understand how it was done. But now, he could roughly understand that it must have been at the Blood Exchange level, controlling the third step's realm to attack the earth pulses from afar.
(End of Chapter)
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