Return to the Estate

"This is spiritual energy and spirit veins..."

Chen Mu murmured to himself.

The opening line of every martial arts book was the same—Heaven and Earth contain spiritual energy!

Every martial discipline had one or more fixed training postures. These postures were methods of aligning the body with Heaven and Earth, allowing the flesh to naturally absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and temper itself.

Before reaching Seventh Rank, practitioners could not use Spirit Sight to directly see these tiny particles, so infinitesimal they were nearly the smallest things in the world. But after reaching Seventh Rank, they could glimpse them directly through Spirit Sight!

Likewise.

Once a practitioner could look directly upon spiritual energy, they could also see the spirit veins spread beneath the earth.

This was the Capital of Great Yuan, where the Nine Dragons Convergence met. It could be called the place where spirit veins were most concentrated. Even beneath ordinary streets, spirit veins crisscrossed one another.

To see spirit veins was to have the ability to alter Feng Shui, sever spirit veins, and shape the layout!

A Seventh Rank practitioner might not be able to defeat a high-rank martial artist, but if they were determined to cause mischief, disrupting the spirit vein layout and turning yang into yin, it was easy enough to brew up a massive calamity!

It was precisely because practitioners could cause disasters even without being powerful that Great Yuan imposed restrictions upon them.

Wherever people lived, especially within the Capital of Great Yuan, no one was permitted to alter the flow of spirit veins or the Feng Shui layout without authorization. Any alteration had to be reported to the Directorate of Celestial Observation.

Of course.

Such restrictions were not particularly binding. Things were manageable in the Capital, where the Directorate of Celestial Observation monitored all directions and practitioners generally would not violate the ban on their own. But elsewhere in Great Yuan, it was simply impossible to keep them in check.

Chen Mu gently raised a finger.

At a shift of his thoughts.

The specks of fluorescent light visible through Spirit Sight silently drifted toward his finger, then merged into his index finger, causing faint motes of light to glow there.

Martial artists needed special postures to align themselves with Heaven and Earth and thereby draw in spiritual energy, but practitioners above Seventh Rank could use Mind-Soul Power to directly command spiritual energy.

"No wonder the books say that as long as practitioners above Seventh Rank are willing to spend some effort cultivating martial arts, their rate of improvement far surpasses martial artists with superior talent."

"Only a very small number of peerless geniuses can match a practitioner's cultivation speed."

Chen Mu revealed a thoughtful expression.

However, the enormous advantage practitioners possessed in cultivating martial arts only extended as far as Fifth Rank. Martial artists above Fifth Rank did not merely temper their bodies; they also needed a Martial Heart forged through thousands upon thousands of trials, as well as Martial Dao Intent personally comprehended, before they could climb step by step into the clouds.

And practitioners often lacked Martial Dao Intent. Their status was extraordinary, especially for those above Seventh Rank. Whether they pledged themselves to Great Yuan or joined any sect, they could enjoy inexhaustible wealth and glory.

Martial artists could stagnate and decline, their vital energy and blood weakening with age, but practitioners would not experience a decline in Soul Points even in the final moment before death.

The gentle land was the graveyard of heroes.

Very few practitioners, after enjoying the advantages brought by their exalted status, would still train bitterly in martial arts, fight others to the death, temper their Martial Dao Will, and scale the pinnacle of martial arts.

Looking over more than seven hundred years of Great Yuan's history, there had only been a handful of such practitioners. And they were no longer much like practitioners at all; it was more accurate to call them martial artists who used practitioner methods as support.

As for Chen Mu,

As the only person capable of raising a practitioner's rank, he was fundamentally destined to be unlike other practitioners. He could not simply lie flat and rot away after attaining an exalted position.

Just as Chen Mu's thoughts drifted afar, the carriage came to a halt.

"Second Master, we've arrived at the estate."

Ren Yan's voice came from outside.

Other than the Current Duke of Xuanguo Estate and the highly revered Old Madam, no one else was qualified to ride a carriage directly into Xuanguo Estate.

Even the two Eldest Sons of Xuanguo Estate could at most enter through the side gate on horseback.

Hearing Ren Yan's voice.

Chen Mu came back to himself, gathered his thoughts, lifted the curtain, and stepped down from the carriage.

He still had Spirit Sight activated. Now that he had reached the level of a Seventh Rank practitioner, even maintaining Spirit Sight continuously would not leave him overly fatigued.

At this moment.

In Chen Mu's vision, spirit veins intertwined and converged beneath Xuanguo Estate.

Though he could see only the tip of the iceberg within a few hundred paces, he could still tell that the arrangement of these spirit veins was orderly and layered, far beyond the scattered layouts outside.

Furthermore, Chen Mu's gaze swept over some of Xuanguo Estate's guards. These guards stationed merely at the gate all possessed dense vital energy and blood, with the cultivation of Eighth Rank martial artists.

Now, even when Chen Mu used Spirit Sight to examine Seventh Rank or even Sixth Rank martial artists, his eyes would no longer sting. Moreover, martial artists below Seventh Rank found it nearly impossible to detect the probing of his Spirit Sight.

Just like the guards at the gate.

They were completely unaware of Chen Mu's Spirit Sight.

"I wonder whether Xuanguo Estate has any practitioners... Hm, even if it does, they can only be Eighth or Ninth Rank. Without exceptional circumstances, practitioners above Seventh Rank could never pledge themselves to Xuanguo Estate."

Chen Mu pondered as he walked into Xuanguo Estate.

To ordinary people, Xuanguo Estate was naturally a colossal existence. Yet above Xuanguo Estate stood many princely estates, as well as the Imperial Family of Great Yuan.

Come to think of it, that previous incident of his 'encountering a ghost' had been somewhat strange.

Though he lived in a remote outer section of Xuanguo Estate, he was still within its grounds. And judging from the spirit vein layout he had seen, ordinary Netherworld Ghosts could not possibly appear within Xuanguo Estate.

If a ghost truly emerged, it would certainly be an extremely terrifying existence. It could not merely frighten him after a chance encounter; it would likely drain every last bit of his vital essence.

At that thought.

A faint glimmer flashed through Chen Mu's eyes, but he did not continue dwelling on it.

To the current him, such matters were nothing more than trifles. If someone truly wanted to scheme in secret, he could simply deal with them along the way.

He made his way back.

When he reached the courtyard, a Green-Clothed Maid happened to be closing the door to a side room.

The Green-Clothed Maid seemed to notice Chen Mu returning as she shut the door, but she showed no reaction. She simply closed it, her figure disappearing into the room.

Naturally, Chen Mu recognized the Green-Clothed Maid. She was Xiao Feng, whom he had not seen for many days.

Chen Mu thoughtfully activated Spirit Sight. Through the door, he carefully examined Xiao Feng, only to find that her vital energy and blood were ordinary, that she was not a martial artist, and that she possessed no Mind-Soul Power.

There was nothing wrong with Xiao Feng?

Chen Mu was somewhat puzzled.

He had suspected that his earlier encounter with a ghost might have something to do with Xiao Feng. Theoretically speaking, one of the three people around him ought to have a serious problem. That would better suit the treatment he ought to receive.

"Second Master."

Ren Yan spoke softly from beside him.

He knew that Chen Mu was now completely different from before. Seeing Chen Mu pause slightly, his heart gave a jump, and he wondered how Chen Mu intended to deal with Xiao Feng.

After a brief moment of consideration, Chen Mu said nothing and continued forward.

Only when he reached the main house did he pause to think, then say to Ren Yan:

"Keep an eye on her."

There was not much in his memories, and for the moment he could not think of anyone Xiao Feng might be connected to.

If Xiao Feng was connected to the ghost incident, he would drag out one or two of the little black hands behind the scenes and give them a good chopping. If she had no connection at all, that would instead disappoint him; Ren Yan could deal with her afterward.

"Yes, this servant understands."

Ren Yan naturally understood Chen Mu's meaning and immediately answered in a low voice. Knowing that Xiao Feng's fate would likely not be pleasant, he secretly thought that it served her right.