Emperor's Fallen Double Pupils!

The first light of dawn broke through, and dew still clung to the academy paths paved with bluestone.

Mu Chen headed deeper into the Northern Spiritual Academy.

The students he encountered along the way looked at him with awe and curiosity.

Champion of the Spirit Road, Heaven Fusion Realm-these distinctions had long since spread throughout the Northern Spiritual Academy.

Mu Chen paid those gazes no heed.

At an unhurried pace, he passed through several courtyards and skirted a training ground, finally stopping before a plain, gray-white stone building.

This was the Spirit Art Room, where the Northern Spiritual Academy kept its Spirit Arts.

He had already learned every Spirit Art in the Mu Domain, and now he had come to see what the Northern Spiritual Academy offered.

As the saying went, more skills never weighed a person down.

Besides, the more Spirit Arts he mastered, the stronger the effects of his divine ability, the Chaos Dao Diagram, would become!

The interior of the gray-white stone building was more spacious than its exterior suggested.

Dark bluestone slabs paved the floor, polished smooth as mirrors and reflecting the patterns of light and shadow cast through the window lattices.

The Spiritual Art Room had two floors.

The lower floor was the Earth Floor, open to all students, while the upper floor was the Heaven Floor, accessible only to students promoted to the Heaven Class.

The Earth Floor was bustling at the moment, with many students browsing and searching for Spirit Arts.

When Mu Chen pushed the door open, the faint creak of its hinges made several students near the entrance raise their heads.

Gazes turned toward him one after another.

Some were curious, some awed, some envious, and one or two held poorly concealed jealousy.

Seemingly oblivious, Mu Chen walked straight toward the nearest row of wooden shelves.

He casually took down a jade slip.

"Crushing Stone Palm," a low-grade mortal-tier palm art. Once mastered, it could split rocks and shatter stone tablets.

Mu Chen did not disdain it. His aim was to comprehend all arts.

To use myriad arts as kindling and stoke the fire of the Dao Diagram.

With no more than a shift of thought, he grasped the entire essence of Crushing Stone Palm.

Mu Chen returned the jade slip to its place and turned to the next one.

"Wind-Chasing Step," a low-grade mortal-tier movement art emphasizing dodges and turns, with light, nimble footwork.

Take a slip, read, comprehend.

Mu Chen's movements were steady and rhythmic.

Take another, read again, put it back.

At first, some students still stole glances at him, curious about what this legendary figure was doing.

But when they saw him quietly browsing the lowest-grade mortal-tier Spirit Arts at an astonishing pace, many began to wonder.

"What is he... looking for?"

"Are those low-grade mortal-tier Spirit Arts still useful to him?"

"Could he be searching for some hidden secret manual?"

"What really needs doing is getting you to quit reading storybooks!"

Mu Chen turned a deaf ear.

His mind was completely immersed in the ocean of Spirit Arts.

Though low-grade mortal-tier arts were simple, they often pointed directly to the most fundamental forms of a particular use of spiritual energy.

The concentrated force of Crushing Stone Palm, the lightness of Wind-Chasing Step, the suppleness of Silk-Winding Hand, the ferocity of Mountain-Crushing Charge...

Countless transformations began with the fundamentals.

One slip after another.

Two hours later.

Mu Chen had learned every Spirit Art on the Earth Floor!

Mu Chen climbed the wooden stairs to the Heaven Floor and began another round!

As the sun sank behind the western mountains, Mu Chen slowly opened his eyes.

All arts return to one source, and the Dao lies within!

At its simplest, spiritual energy was water, and Spirit Arts were channels.

There were countless channels, but the water came from the same source.

Yet the course, width, and depth of each channel determined how far the water could flow and how much farmland it could irrigate.

Mu Chen sorted through what he had gained that day and felt he had benefited immensely!

I've gathered enough methods to kill enemies and safeguard my Dao. It's time to explore the Black Nether Abyss!

The Black Nether Abyss lay toward the south of the Northern Spiritual Realm, in one of its most remote regions.

Because it was so perilous, few people ventured here, leaving it almost devoid of human presence.

Here, the rolling mountain ranges seemed to have been severed by an invisible giant hand, replaced by a boundless expanse of darkness.

Mu Chen stood atop a barren hill and looked ahead.

Before him stretched a primeval forest of deep, dusky black.

The trees belonged to some unknown species, their branches and leaves pitch-black, twisted and tangled like ghostly claws, packed so densely together that almost no daylight penetrated.

Even in broad daylight, the forest resembled a light-devouring abyss, steeped in an oppressive gloom that would not lift.

More daunting still was the gray mist shrouding the endless black forest.

Death miasma.

Even Spirit Wheel Realm experts dared not carelessly allow this highly poisonous gray mist into their bodies.

Mu Chen showed little fear. Instead, a flicker of anticipation crossed his eyes.

With his Heaven Transformation Realm cultivation and true combat strength, he could go wherever he pleased here!

The gray death miasma hung low ahead like a heavy curtain, blending into the edge of the black forest until the boundary blurred.

Mu Chen stepped toward that light-devouring forest.

[Master detected entering the Black Nether Abyss.]

[Notice: Check-in is available in the current area. Check in?]

The familiar mechanical voice rang out.

Mu Chen paused slightly, surprise flashing in his eyes. He had already checked in across the entire Northern Spiritual Realm. Could he still check in within the Black Nether Abyss?

A few guesses formed in his mind as he silently said, Check in.

[Check-in location: Black Nether Abyss]

[Check-in successful!]

[Reward obtained: Emperor's Fallen Double Pupils]

[Traces left by a fallen emperor; twin pupils reflect the world, pierce illusion to reveal truth, and make all realms bow.]

Almost the instant the reward information appeared, a searing torrent that seemed to originate in the primordial wilderness erupted without warning from the deepest reaches of his soul!

His eyes grew warm, and the world sharpened once more. Mu Chen could distinctly sense a mighty power residing within his pupils!

He looked toward the Black Nether Abyss before him. The twisted, tangled pitch-black trees, the veins of their branches and leaves, and even the tiny cracks in their bark stood out with unprecedented clarity.

The gray death miasma shrouding the woods was no longer a seamless curtain either. He could clearly see where the circulating toxins were sparse or dense, and trace the miasma's slow, writhing movements.

Mu Chen summoned his spiritual energy. In the next instant, a beam of dark light shot silently from his right pupil and struck the forest!

Hiss...

A vast swath of forest was utterly annihilated in an instant, leaving neither a speck of dust nor a wisp of smoke!

Only a deathly still, pristine stretch of empty ground abruptly appeared within the once-impenetrable black forest.

These Emperor's Fallen Double Pupils are marvelous! Mu Chen was overjoyed, and his anticipation for the next check-in grew even stronger.

Deep within the Black Nether Abyss, the light grew dimmer.

Layers of twisted, pitch-black trees crowded together, their interwoven branches like the outstretched arms of monsters, tearing the already scant daylight into fragments.

Mu Chen walked among them.

His footsteps fell soundlessly on thick layers of rotting leaves accumulated over untold years.

Yet within roughly ten feet of him, a clear, untainted space remained.

The immense spiritual energy of the Heaven Transformation Realm flowed endlessly within him, naturally circulating across his body to form an invisible yet resilient barrier.

He made no deliberate effort to disperse anything. Simply walking was enough to keep all sinister things at bay!

"Awooo!"

The dense mist ahead and to one side suddenly churned, and a strange beast resembling a jackal, but with three blood-red eyes, sprang out!

Saliva dripped between its interlocking fangs, corroding the ground with a sizzling hiss.

Its aura rivaled the Spirit Wheel Realm!

Without breaking stride, Mu Chen released a wisp of spiritual energy from his fingertip. It condensed into a fine needle and cut soundlessly through the air.

"Hiss."

An instant kill!

Mu Chen continued onward, his methods simple and efficient.

He advanced, killing all along the way!