Chapter 210

The clouds rise like an ocean, palaces layered upon layers, seeming illusory and dreamlike, hazy and distant.

"Is this the Divine Weapon Secret Realm?"

Qin Shuo curiously scouted the surroundings.

He discovered that, aside from the Ten‑Thousand Ren Divine Mountain that reaches straight to the Heavenly Gate before him, the surrounding area was nothing but a vast expanse of white mist.

As for that Ten‑Thousand Ren Divine Mountain, its vegetation was lush and a gentle breeze blew.

On the mountain, ancient medicinal herbs gave off fragrance, the peaks flowed with splendor and color, and it was covered with divine vines and fine trees, like a hidden immortal mountain from myth and legend.

"The plants here…"

Qin Shuo bent down and pulled out a few stalks of glossy, jade‑green grass; with a light blow, those stalks turned into clouds of mist.

Meanwhile, in the same spot, several identical stalks of grass grew again.

"Is this… true qi taking form?"

Qin Shuo felt uncertain, and after pulling a few more stalks from the nearby mountain path, the same thing happened—they dispersed as soon as they left the soil.

"It's not true qi, it's essence qi!"

He took a deep breath, lifted his head to gaze at the divine mountain towering over ten thousand ren, and his heart couldn't help but throb.

Such a massive peak, if it were entirely formed from essence qi…

Just thinking about it made Qin Shuo's chest burn with excitement.

Gathering the essence of heaven and earth, filling the hundred orifices, and refining the viscera—this is something every martial practitioner must persist in throughout their life.

Even a Martial Saint must likewise inhale and exhale the essence of heaven and earth to nourish body and spirit, thereby prolonging life.

A Martial Saint lives for three hundred years.

Many believe this is because a Martial Saint's body contains an abundance of heavenly and earthly essence, so that flesh, sinews, and bones have already given rise to spirituality, allowing them to live far longer than ordinary people.

When a Martial Saint passes away, the place where they transmute into the Dao gathers heavenly and earthly essence, forming a Divine Ability Secret Realm.

Later generations who cultivate within a Divine Ability Secret Realm receive nourishment from heavenly and earthly essence, making their progress naturally swift—covering a thousand miles in a day.

And this is also one of the fundamental reasons why the Martial Saint lineage can endure and flourish.

At present, this Divine Weapon Secret Realm seems to be equivalent to a Divine Ability Secret Realm, and perhaps even more mysterious.

After all, he had never heard of any Divine Weapon Secret Realm capable of condensing heavenly and earthly essence into a Ten‑Thousand Ren Divine Mountain like this.

Moreover, the mountain's vegetation is lush and its strange rocks jut out; if all of this is transformed from essence qi, then cultivating here would likely yield effects even more astonishing than those of a Divine Ability Secret Realm.

"I just don't know whether one can cultivate here relying solely on consciousness to enter."

Thinking this over, Qin Shuo began to sense the Taotie Cauldron.

"I can sense it!"

Qin Shuo's eyes lit up.

Not only could he sense the Taotie Cauldron, he also perceived the Jue Tian Blade Intent, the Gong Gong Fist, and a colossal Xuan Whale stretching who knows how many miles.

Whale Swallows the Four Seas!

Without any hesitation, Qin Shuo directly activated the Divine Person Secret Method he had learned from the Bu Zhou Stone Box.

In an instant, fierce winds surged like a tide toward Qin Shuo's position at the mountain's base.

As the essence within the Divine Weapon Secret Realm gathered, Qin Shuo felt his spirit nourished like a spiritual spring, becoming fuller and more vigorous.

Whoosh!

With a thought, Qin Shuo withdrew from the Divine Weapon Secret Realm and opened his eyes in the stone chamber.

The sensation of being nourished by a spiritual spring did not fade; it was brought back into his flesh.

Rich essence qi flowed from his spirit to his limbs, cleansing his body and increasing both his spirit and blood.

"It actually works!"

Qin Shuo was overjoyed.

Previously, when he used Whale Swallows the Four Seas in the outside world, it was like gathering water droplets in a desert—even after an hour he might not absorb much heavenly and earthly essence.

But with this Divine Weapon Secret Realm, isn't it equivalent to sitting atop a vast sea, so he no longer needs to worry about a lack of essence?

"It truly is a blessed land!" Qin Shuo couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

No wonder Nie Lao Deng was willing to trade a divine weapon for this secret realm with him.

With such a marvelous place in hand, within ten years Wind Thunder Valley will surely produce outstanding talents, heavenly prodigies like dragons, and will not fall short of those holy lands that inherit the Martial Saint legacy.

"How did you come out?"

Sensing the fluctuation of qi within the stone chamber, Nie Jin Feng pushed the door open and entered.

When he noticed the vigorous, almost overflowing heavenly and earthly essence within Qin Shuo's body, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily, feeling somewhat displeased.

Could this kid be a reincarnated Martial Saint?

He actually mastered the method of carrying essence with his spirit back into the flesh this quickly.

You should know that when he first entered the secret realm, he spent considerable effort to figure out a technique for inhaling and exhaling essence with his spirit.

Yet he, this brat, grasped its essence in no time at all.

You should know that those who undergo the Divine Weapon Trial merely enter the secret realm with their consciousness while their bodies remain outside.

Therefore, the breathing method previously used outside to inhale and exhale heavenly and earthly essence cannot be employed within the Divine Weapon Secret Realm.

To absorb the essence within the secret realm, one must use a special secret method to vibrate the spirit, thereby wrapping it up and returning together to the flesh.

Such a technique is not recorded in ordinary martial arts.

He too spent about half a year before he figured out the way.

Originally he thought that after this brat entered the Treasure Mountain and couldn't bring anything back, when he came to him for help, he would then pass on the technique.

But unexpectedly, the other party mastered the method of communicating with heaven and earth through spirit in just a few breaths.

Moreover, seeing the concentration of essence and qi on the other person's body, this method of wrapping essence and qi is actually better than the method I have been exploring for over ten years, with an even better effect.

"How did you do that?"

Although he felt a bit jealous inside, Nie Jin Feng still couldn't help but be curious, wanting to know how this youth managed it.

Before meeting Qin Shuo, he also considered himself one of the few talents among the eight prefectures of Yunzhou.

Since he began practicing martial arts, he encountered no obstacles, advancing with unstoppable force.

But after meeting Qin Shuo, he discovered that the other's talent on the martial dao path could no longer be described as mere talent.

At least, at that age, he could not reach the other's current achievements.

"That's how you did it!"

Qin Shuo shrugged, wearing a simple, unremarkable expression, which almost made Nie Jin Feng storm out in anger.

This brat……

The Great Valley Master Nie felt stifled in his heart.

Originally he still wanted to have a word with this brat, but now he had no mood at all, coldly giving a sentence before turning and leaving.

"First ascent: remember to give it your all; the higher you climb, the greater the benefits, and the higher the chance of gaining the divine weapon's approval."

"This old fogey really is dying to save face!"

Qin Shuo felt amused inside.

It's a pity that his Whale Swallowing Four Seas is the divine will inherited from Gong Gong; even he doesn't know its operating principle, so he naturally couldn't pass it on.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be stingy about sharing and exchanging.

Recentering his mind and spirit, he sensed the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow.

Qin Shuo closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found himself back at the foot of Myriad Ren God Mountain.

He looked up; the bow was entirely crimson, as if forged from molten lava, like a great scarlet sun hanging at the mountain's peak.

A faint emanation drifted from the divine bow, as if anticipating his ascent.

He approached the stone steps of the mountain and saw a slab formed of essence, with words appearing on it:

"【The divine weapon has a spirit; without fate, one cannot see it……】"

"【Myriad Ren God Mountain, without extraordinary talent and unyielding will, one cannot reach the summit!】"

"【Only by reaching the absolute peak can one see the divine weapon!】"

……

Qin Shuo read it word by word; the stele detailed Myriad Ren God Mountain and the rules of ascent.

This mountain was formed by an ancient divine person using great supernatural power and great will, condensing the essence of heaven and earth; anyone who climbs it must endure the pressure of that ancient divine person's will.

Without extraordinary aptitude and the determination to fear countless dangers, there is no possibility of reaching the absolute peak.

"The pressure of the divine person's will……"

Qin Shuo's thoughts turned, and he inevitably recalled the will of Gong Gong inside the Buzhou Stone Box.

"Could this secret realm have been left behind by the ancient divine person Hou Yi?"

Thinking thus, he had already arrived before the first stone step.

Here, he saw another stele.

The difference is that the characters on this stele vary; they are the names left by climbers.

"【Jian Yin, Martial Dao Master, Four Symbols Condensing Gang, Arrow Intent Materializes, climbed a thousand ren!】"

Four Symbols Condensing Gang, Arrow Intent Materializes?

Could this be Nie Lao Deng? He actually used an alias.

However, with Nie Lao Deng's talent, he only managed to climb a thousand ren, showing that Myriad Ren God Mountain is not as easy to summit as imagined.

"【Zhong Yingxuan, Internal Organs Perfected, climbed a hundred ren!】"

"【Lu Jing Tian, Condensed Smelting Furnace, climbed a hundred ren!】"

"【Liu Wusheng, Martial Dao Master, climbed eight hundred ren!】"

……

Qin Shuo glanced over them; most climbers were below a thousand ren, with less than thirty percent above that.

But those who had climbed myriad ren actually numbered two……

"【Ye Mo Tian, Martial Dao Master, climbed myriad ren, comprehended the Sun-Shooting Arrow Method, Shatter Clouds, Break Moon!】"

Shatter Clouds, Break Moon?

Could this person be the old man who transmitted the Xiao Family Ancestral Arrow Method?

Qin Shuo recalled the old man he had seen in the illusion when he refined the Dragon Spine Splitting Heavens Bow.

His Sun-Shooting Arrow Method was inherited from that person.

"Ye Mo Tian?"

Qin Shuo chewed on that name, his gaze dropping to the last line, his pupils suddenly contracting.

"【Bu Jing Yun, Martial Dao Master, climbed myriad ren, comprehended the Sun-Shooting Arrow Method, Setting Sun Pierces Stars, Great Wind Chases Soul……】"