Da Xuan Martial Saint

But speaking of Chen Mu on this side,

he walked along the riverbank, at the same time relying as much as possible on the Gen Mountain Artistic Conception to distinguish the tremors of the Earth's Veins. However, it was high tide now, and the flow of Earth's Veins was extremely chaotic. Since it was his first time attempting to explore the veins, he inevitably felt very unfamiliar.

Several times he mistook the signs as a prelude to an Earth's Veins eruption, but after rushing over, he would wait a while, only to see the accumulated energy of the veins quickly subside again, leading to a wasted trip with nothing happening.

"The flow of these Earth's Veins really is unreasonable,"

Chen Mu shook his head and pondered to himself, "Nevertheless, it is still because my perception range is too small, only capable of capturing some traces, just like a blind man feeling an elephant, unable to discern the whole."

But these few rounds were not entirely without benefit; at least he now had a general understanding that the accumulation in the Earth's Veins was a sign of an eruption, but a sign did not mean an eruption was guaranteed. Furthermore, if the accumulation was not intense enough, it wouldn't erupt either.

Moving forward through the fog,

after taking a few steps along the muddy riverbank, Chen Mu's gaze suddenly flickered.

From the mixed flow of the Earth's Veins beneath, he captured yet another unusual sign!

Whoosh!

Chen Mu immediately stepped forward, rapidly following the trace of the flow, running swiftly along the riverbank for several hundred yards. After a rough discernment, he leaped into the river.

The torrential river was about to sweep him downstream, but his entire body was like a heavy stone, sinking all the way to the bottom, his feet plunging into the muddy riverbed. Then he moved forward through the mud.

After barely two steps,

a glimmer of light flashed across Chen Mu's eyes.

"It's here!"

This time it wasn't another false alarm. Almost at the next moment, the accumulated Earth's Veins he had sensed finally erupted thunderously, transforming into a surge of muddy water, blasting open the water surface, spewing murky silt dozens of feet into the air!

And almost as soon as the muddy surge had subsided, revealing a cavity in the silt, Chen Mu did not hesitate for an instant; he shot into the cave like an eel and swam deeper.

In the blink of an eye,

he continued along the muddy tunnel within the Earth's Veins, diving dozens of feet deep very quickly, landing in a small cave only about ten feet in diameter, his gaze swiftly scanning the surroundings.

The walls of the cave were covered, just like last time, with many minerals of various materials and colors.

However, this time, Chen Mu came prepared and with experience. He did not stop to inspect or sense his surroundings but instead took out a sack. With successive motions, he blew apart the muddy walls. Then, with a flick and expansion of the sack, he bundled various items and some muddy water inside before immediately leaping back the way he came.

The Earth's Veins eruption this time was smaller than the last, the tunnel even narrower, but Chen Mu moved quickly. Swimming along the muddy tunnel, he returned to the riverbed in an instant, while the tunnel below closed at a visibly rapid rate.

"Not bad,"

Chen Mu nodded slightly, then clutching the sack, he leaped from the river, quickly returning to the riverside.

By this time,

the sky was finally beginning to brighten faintly.

But the white fog still hung over the water, visibility as low as ever.

Just as Chen Mu, holding the sack that continued to leak muddy water, was making his way back onto the shore, the fog at his side suddenly dispersed slightly, and a sharp blade, emerging soundlessly from the fog, aimed directly for his throat!

Chen Mu, however, remained calm and unflinching, with not even a hand on his sword. Holding the sack in his right hand, his left made a sweeping motion, splashing out a stream of muddy water flowing from the sack towards the incoming blade.

Clang!

A stream of muddy water collided with the blade, emitting a heavy impact sound, and forcefully deflecting it!

And within that water splash, faint traces of Thunder Arcs could be seen; after deflecting the blade, they erupted along its length into a surge of thunderous light, instantly sprawling across the area.

The fog blasted open in the blink of the thunder, revealing a figure in a black robe, wearing a blood-red mask, enveloped by the thunderous light, letting out a muffled grunt, with eyes revealing a hint of shock.

Whoosh!

Another surge of water followed, and the black-robed figure, struck by the lightning and unable to dodge, could only watch helplessly as the silty stream, like a sharp blade, pierced through his chest, exiting his back and bringing forth a burst of blood.

"Is the intelligence of the Blood Hidden Pavilion so outdated?"

Even up to this point, Chen Mu's gaze remained indifferent. He flicked the sack to rid it of the mud and water, stepped forward, and with his left hand, removed the mask of the black-robed figure.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Underneath the mask was a face that appeared to be in his thirties or forties, with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. At this moment, he looked at Chen Mu with an expression of terror before collapsing with a thud, his life slowly fading away.

Chen Mu shook his head slightly as he looked at the corpse of the assassin from the Blood Hidden Pavilion.

During the day, in order to save someone, he had revealed the second stage of his power through both the Xun Wind and the Separating Fire Artistic Conceptions. However, it seemed that the Blood Hidden Pavilion had yet to update their intelligence about him, or perhaps Yu Jun had done some work to conceal the information for him, and very effectively at that, as it hadn't been leaked or spread quickly, making the pavilion still unaware of the situation.

But in reality, he hadn't specifically asked Yu Jun to do anything about hiding the news because by now, it hardly mattered anymore. The Heavenly Sword Sect had witnessed his Xun Wind Artistic Conception, Hua Nongying knew of his Thunderclap Artistic Conception... even if the intelligence between them hadn't yet fully exchanged, it was only a matter of time.