Da Xuan Martial Saint

Chapter 741: Chapter 413: A Small Test of Skill_2

Chen Mu was only a little over thirty years old. Even though he was exceptionally talented, able to cultivate the Qiankun Domain and develop the Qiankun Martial Body, he must have devoted all his energy to achieving this. How could he still have spare time to perfect concealment and movement techniques to an unparalleled degree?

Could the gap really be so vast?

Fang Yuan sighed in his heart, but these thoughts were quickly dismissed as he still had a chance to cross the Blood Exchange Realm. As the saying goes, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. If he could survive this great disaster and endure a tribulation to meet a fortunate encounter, he might well succeed!

Reaching the Marrow Cleansing Realm and achieving Grandmaster status, who wouldn’t desire to cross that barrier and take the step of Blood Exchange?

However, this step was difficult. It wasn’t just about simply shedding and replacing the martial blood throughout the body. The change in martial blood would further stimulate all parts of the body, causing all acupoints to open. The Power of Heaven and Earth would permeate every limb and every minute detail!

In this process, the Soul Heart would also be subjected to the scouring and refining by the forces of heaven and earth, posing tremendous challenges. Any slight mistake, and at best the Blood Exchange would fail, damaging the Martial Body and causing regression in the Realm or even a loss of lifespan. At worst, one might even die on the spot.

This was known as the Life and Death Pass!

Whether one could succeed in Blood Exchange, those Grandmasters who had reached the perfection of Marrow Cleansing could, even if they couldn’t make an exact judgment, generally understand their own chances of success. Usually, they needed at least a 20-30% certainty before they would dare to attempt to make the breakthrough.

And the vast majority of Grandmasters did not even have that 20-30% certainty, making it difficult for them to have a resolute belief in success or an unstoppable confidence; thus, the probability of succeeding in Blood Exchange was even lower, and they would not make attempts lightly.

Like Jiang Changsheng.

He had been accumulating experience all this time by dueling with top Grandmasters from various factions, honing his Sword Dao, and striving to advance further by solidifying the foundation of his Martial Body until the last step. If it weren’t for Chen Mu, he could have defeated Absolute Blade in the Earthly Abyss and used Absolute Blade to refine his own Sword Dao, potentially already stepping past the Blood Exchange boundary by now!

Chen Mu was unaware of the complex thoughts in Fang Yuan’s heart. At this moment, he was merely concealing his aura, quietly following behind Fang Yuan.

This concealment was merely to see if Fang Yuan could lure out Ling Huan and Ling Ji, the two Spirit Ancestors. However, it was unclear whether it was due to Fang Yuan’s luck or Ling Huan and Ling Ji had ceased their efforts, but as Chen Mu followed Fang Yuan through the intricate canopy up and down, traveling hundreds of miles and nearing a large settlement, the other party never appeared.

“That’s the place.”

Fang Yuan had been leading the way up front the whole time. Although he couldn’t sense Chen Mu’s presence and did not know where Chen Mu was, he was aware that Chen Mu was nearby. He then stopped behind a clump of broad Xunmu leaves and pointed up ahead.

Looking ahead,

the terrain there was a sloping hill, or rather, it was a branch of the Xunmu, approximately several miles wide, growing obliquely upward and winding up to a place where several branches intersected.

This area was very flat and extremely large, spanning nearly twenty miles in diameter, filled with buildings both large and small — a substantial settlement of the Spirit People Race, similar to the one Chen Mu and others like Jiang Han and Yan Hong had attacked before.

“Not bad.”

Chen Mu’s figure appeared silently beside Fang Yuan, his gaze slightly towards the Spirit People settlement ahead.

Fang Yuan whispered, “Elder Chen, your concealment technique is masterful. Perhaps you could try sneaking into that settlement to destroy a formation node. Doing so could weaken a layer of the formation’s power…”

Initially, Fang Yuan did not believe Chen Mu could breach a major settlement by himself. After all, teams like theirs, comprising an entire team of twenty or thirty Grandmasters, might not be able to assuredly conquer a large settlement. Moreover, the teams of Grandmasters scattered in Xunmu Cave Heaven, joining hands, were not afraid of facing a single Spirit Ancestor alone or even had the credentials to surround and kill Heavenly Demon elderly ancestor, Yuwen Hao.

However, after witnessing Chen Mu’s concealment technique, his thoughts began to change.

The formations set up in these large settlements, though integrated with the entire Xunmu as a whole, had unique mechanisms for sensing and repelling non-Spirit Human presences. However, the formation’s sensing was, in the end, just a type of sensing, not absolute discernment.

Chen Mu’s concealment techniques, far superior to a typical Grandmaster’s and even surpassing peers of Blood Hidden Pavilion, under such circumstances might not necessarily be detected by the large settlements’ formation structures, possibly sneaking in quietly without triggering them.

Though risky to sneak in this way, once discovered inside, it was highly possible he could be trapped inside by the formation and unable to escape. Yet, if he could directly destroy a key node of the formation from inside, it would surely weaken the entire formation significantly. Then, even if exposed, the weakened formation might not be able to trap Chen Mu!

In such a scenario, Chen Mu might indeed be able to take down a large settlement!

If he could monopolize the resources of a large settlement…

Fang Yuan even found it hard to contain the excitement in his heart at the thought. Although the person who would monopolize the resources was Chen Mu and not himself, just watching such an event was enough to make waves in his heart.

Moreover, in such a situation, he could also play some role from the outside, at least distracting some attention from the Spirit People Race, providing Chen Mu with more space to maneuver. This way, he could play a role and thus have the face to claim a share of the benefits, even if just a small part, which would definitely be more than what he would get from dividing the proceeds equally with other teams.