Da Xuan Martial Saint

Chapter 280: Chapter 221 Yunlu Pass Chapter 280: Chapter 221 Yunlu Pass “`

Having crossed the borders of Yu County, he stepped into Sha Prefecture, and without traveling far, the environment of heaven and earth shifted abruptly.

He saw the once verdant mountains and valleys gradually turning into a landscape eroded by windswept sands, its amber hue taking over, and the various bushes and groves significantly diminished.

“So this is Sha Prefecture.”

Chen Mu ambled across the wilderness, each step covering dozens of yards, discerning the direction towards Yunlu Pass as he went forward, all while carefully sensing the subtle changes in the environment between heaven and earth.

Qiankun Eight Phases, encompassing all things under the heavens, moving from the lush and fertile central Yu State to the most desolate Sha Prefecture didn’t affect him at all, and he could clearly feel the minute changes of heaven and earth.

Very obviously.

The Power of Heaven and Earth of the Kan Water Sect weakened greatly upon entering Sha Prefecture.

If a martial artist who solely cultivated the Kan Water Artistic Conception, like Xu Hongyu, were to come to Sha Prefecture, her strength would at least drop by two or three tenths, marking it as an extremely unfavorable environment for her.

But at the same time, the Power of Heaven and Earth of the Xun Wind lineage greatly strengthened, it was a clear case of one declining as the other prospered.

“Yu State’s Seven Prefecture, Yu County is the most flourishing center, Yu County is the furthest and most secluded when separated by Yu County, and this Sha Prefecture is the poorest in resources… Well, this so-called ‘resource’ is only relative to ordinary people, in truth, such an environment just lacks lush water and grass, but other types of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects are not less in the slightest.”

Chen Mu recalled the many descriptions of Sha Prefecture among the seven prefectures of Yu State.

In truth, Sha Prefecture could also be considered to have benefitted from a misfortune; precisely because it was mostly covered by desert, with thousands of miles of desolation where no man roams, it didn’t have to worry about raids by foreign races like the Huns, unlike the borders of Ice State, North State, and several others.

“However, I’ve only traveled a dozen or so miles deep into Sha Prefecture from Yu County, and the changes in heaven and earth are already this great; even though they are all within the same realm, why is there such a huge disparity?”

Chen Mu walked amidst the boundless Gobi, seemingly merging with the landscape.

In his past understanding, Qiankun Eight Phases and the cycle of heaven and earth should be like the cycle of the Five Elements, constantly rotating to achieve a balance.

This was the case in Yu County as well as Yu County, but Sha Prefecture was markedly different.

It wasn’t merely a shift in temperature but seemed as if a part of Kan Water had been inexplicably suppressed.

Before he had set foot in Sha Prefecture, he thought that the situation there was due to the environment affecting heaven and earth, that the desert and Gobi had appeared first, causing the Kan Water lineage to be suppressed, but now it seemed exactly the opposite.

It was the most fundamental change in heaven and earth, where the Xun Wind grew stronger and Kan Water weaker, that determined the environment and landscape of Sha Prefecture.

The Way of Heaven.

Takes from the surplus to supplement the insufficient.

Logically, under the circulation of the Way of Heaven, the Qiankun Eight Phases should always maintain balance and not exhibit such anomalies where one grows at the expense of the other, as it is only the human way to take from the insufficient to complement the surplus.

Chen Mu thought of this, and suddenly had an idea.

He activated the Qiankun Artistic Conception, and for a moment, the Power of Heaven and Earth within dozens of yards around him were encompassed by his will.

Then with a wave of his hand, the Eight Phases began to turn; the previously strong power of Xun Wind was forcefully suppressed, and through the rotation of heaven and earth, eventually transformed into a part of Kan Water’s power, supplementing the deficiency of Kan Water.

However.

Once Chen Mu ceased using the Qiankun Artistic Conception and released control, he quickly sensed that the nearby power of Kan Water gradually faded, returning once more to the state where Xun Wind was strong and Kan Water was weakened.

Sensing this situation, Chen Mu furrowed his brows slightly, looking down at the Gobi below him.

He, of course, could not permanently change the environment of heaven and earth, but his previous actions were intended to see why the Power of Heaven and Earth here exhibited such strange conditions, and indeed, they allowed him to glimpse a few clues.

The change originated from underneath.

Or perhaps,

From deep within the Earth’s Veins.

But after Chen Mu closed his eyes and sensed carefully, connecting himself with the Earth’s Veins and extending the exploration of the Kun Earth Artistic Conception to its limit, he still only sensed the vast flowing power of the Earth’s Veins and didn’t detect anything else.

“There might be something in the deep underground of Sha Prefecture causing the entire area to be in this unbalanced state of Xun Wind and Kan Water, but it is too deep for my current sensing abilities to reach.”

Chen Mu’s eyebrows knit slightly together.

After mastering the Qiankun Artistic Conception, his perception under the Earth’s Veins could actually reach quite deep, almost a hundred yards, but even that was still far too shallow for the vast expanse of the earth, just scratching at the surface.

“I’ll look it up in the books when I get back.”

Chen Mu made a mental note and then without lingering further, continued on his way.

If he could detect the anomaly here, then grandmasters and even Martial Saints in the Blood Exchange Realm, whose realms were higher than his, would definitely be able to sense it too, but no one seemed to pay special attention to Sha Prefecture.

This indicated that either he was wrong and there was nothing beneath the Earth’s Veins, or the Martial Saints of the Blood Exchange Realm couldn’t detect what was happening deep under Sha Prefecture.

In Chen Mu’s estimation, the latter was also quite likely, because after all, this was an anomaly that could affect the circulation of the Power of Heaven and Earth across thousands of miles in a single prefecture; even for Martial Saints of the Blood Exchange Realm, they too were minuscule in the face of such an immense expanse of heaven and earth.

Continuing forward,

Chen Mu subconsciously called out the system interface to have a look.

He didn’t expect to see anything noteworthy, but this glance almost made him stop in his tracks, revealing a hint of surprise.

[Martial Arts: Qiankun Artistic Conception (Step Two)]

“`

[Experience: 479 points]

Just from his brief study of the changes between heaven and earth just now, he had actually gained more than a hundred Experience Points!

Keep in mind,

now that the Qiankun Artistic Conception had taken its second step, Experience Points were rather difficult to come by; he needed to ponder over the Qian Heaven or Kun Earth Diagram for at least a day and a half to earn those hundred-odd points.

And just now, it had only been a little while?

“It seems that in the cultivation of Martial Arts, integrating knowledge and action indeed yields results for me as well.

Spending several days closed off, pondering Artistic Conception Maps, is not as productive as coming to Sha Prefecture and studying the changes of heaven and earth for a short time,”

Chen Mu muttered to himself.

If it wasn’t for the urgency of the sand disaster, requiring him to hurry to the border of Sha Prefecture, he would have liked to find a spot to stay and study the changes of heaven and earth for ten days or half a month before proceeding.

However, Chen Mu was also aware that gaining Experience in this way, just like contemplating Artistic Conception Maps, would gradually decrease as his understanding of heaven and earth deepened, but this was indeed a faster path for him.

At least.

Without the original or copied Eight Phases Diagram in hand, walking through the mountains and rivers to study and comprehend the changes of heaven and earth was far more effective than those Imitative Diagrams.

As for whether obtaining the copied or original Eight Phases Diagram would make progress faster, he was not sure.

After all, the former was already rumored to be broken and hard to find, and the latter had become a legend, not seen in a thousand years.

Besides.

The reason he could gain so much experience from a brief study of the changes of heaven and earth was also absolutely related to his mastery of the complete Qiankun Artistic Conception.

If at this time he had only grasped a few Artistic Conceptions like the Xun Wind, the Kan Water, and the Kun Earth, even if he could feel the peculiarities of the environment in Sha Prefecture, he would not be able to study and seek their essence through the transformation of the Qiankun Eight Phases.

Mastering Qiankun is an entirely different realm from other Martial Artists.

The way of man is to reduce the deficient and supplement the abundant.

No matter which Artistic Conception is cultivated, as long as it isn’t the complete Qiankun, one exerts all their effort to convert all other powers of heaven and earth into the one they need most.

Like Meng Danyun, who naturally wishes the entire world consisted of nothing but wind and water, desiring the absence of everything else.

The same goes for many other Martial Artists.

If one dedicated to cultivating only the Xun Wind came to Sha Prefecture, they too would yearn for the already scarce Kan Water to all transform into the Xun Wind for their use…

Such is the way of man.

However, when one masters the complete Qiankun Artistic Conception and embarks on the unique ‘Way of Heaven,’ they aim to reduce the abundant and supplement the deficient, seeking the most perfect balance through the rotation of the Eight Phases between heaven and earth.

Situations like ‘Wind growing at the expense of Water’ have no impact on their strength.

Moreover, the more balanced the Eight Phases, the easier they are to control.

…

Swish, swish.

Chen Mu’s footsteps didn’t stop across the vast Gobi; apart from his initial brief study of the changes between heaven and earth upon first entering Sha Prefecture, he used the rest of the time to travel.

In just less than a day and night, he had crossed half of Yu County from the center of Yu State, then traversed half of Sha Prefecture, and finally arrived at a vast city gate.

At first glance,

the grandeur of the gate exceeded all the city walls he had seen.

Even the State Government Office of Yu State couldn’t compare to the splendor of this gate.

It stood between heaven and earth with surrounding continuous and towering earthen walls, over a hundred zhang high!

The stretching earthen walls, like cliffs rising from the ground, extended to the horizon in both directions!

“It really is…

spectacular.”

Chen Mu looked up at the majestic city gate appearing at the end of his sight, unable to help but show a hint of amazement.

In fact, after reaching the end of this border gate, the ground beneath his feet had almost no stones left; one might say it was virtually a vast expanse of yellow sand.

Yet in such a sandstorm-filled sky, there were earthen walls as high as a hundred zhang, rising abruptly from the flat and desolate sandy land, blocking the sky, like a mountain range, keeping most of the sandstorm outside the border.

Chen Mu was clear in his heart.

Ordinary people, no matter how numerous, couldn’t build such a border.

It was far beyond the capability of ordinary mortals, and even Martial Artists at the Tendon Changing and Bone Tempering Realm couldn’t achieve the construction of such a gate in the vast sands.

This must have been the work of not just one Grandmaster, but even Martial Artists at the Blood Exchange Realm who wielded the power of Gen Mountain or Kun Earth, with the aid of favorable timing, Earth’s Veins, and the skill of Formation—it was such that this grand gate could rise from the ground, akin to a divine or Immortal Trace.

Step, step,

Chen Mu quickly recovered from his shock and continued to move forward, eventually arriving at the base of the gate.

Looking upward, he saw massive and majestic inscriptions carved from red rock on the back of the gate.

Yunlu Pass!