Chapter 52: Breakthrough, Eighth Stage of Heaven!

Red Willow Manor is located in Ning County, one of the nine counties under the jurisdiction of Nanyun Prefecture.

It is roughly one hundred li from Wulong Fucheng.

Chen Mu changed into fresh clothes, put on a human-skin mask on his face, urged his horse on at full speed, and arrived at Willow Tree Town near the manor around noon.

He made a few inquiries in town and learned the location of the manor.

Then, employing the lightness skill "Flying on Grass," he took the mountain path and hurried over.

When he reached the manor, the constables of Ning County had already collected the corpses one by one.

The manor's main gate was crowded with villagers from the surrounding area.

Several dozen people, fearful yet curious, craned their necks to look at the bodies lying on the ground of the manor's plaza.

"How terrible."

"Indeed. Who knows who did this."

"The old mistress was such a good person, yet she was killed too."

"The murderer is worse than a beast — they didn't even spare the young manor lord's five-year-old daughter!"

"Sigh~"

"……"

The crowd murmured among themselves.

Chen Mu stood at the back and listened for a while, then circled around to the side and approached the gate.

Immediately—

【Corpse discovered. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

【Corpse discovered. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

……

Card after card fell into his hands.

Chen Mu did not enter through the manor's main gate; he merely walked along the outer wall for a stretch and picked up a hundred and thirty-seven cards.

He did not linger.

Chen Mu left the manor and returned to Willow Tree Town.

On the way, he checked the cards.

Among them: six Strength Cards, twenty-eight Inner Force Cards, two Experience Cards, five Cultivation Cards, one Martial Demonstration Card!

One Memory Card!

Two Equipment Cards!

Three Skill Cards!

The rest were either Stamina Cards or Vitality Cards.

The five Cultivation Cards had time limits of one year, two years, two and a half years, three years, and one year respectively.

Chen Mu looked all around him, confirmed no one was present, then used these five Cultivation Cards one by one to cultivate "Sweeping Cloud Sword," finally raising this sword art to the realm of perfection.

It was only at this moment that Chen Mu understood why the final sword, the tenth sword of "Sweeping Cloud Sword," was so difficult to cultivate.

Because the "Tenth Sword of Sweeping Cloud" had touched upon the level of Sword Intent!

Sword Intent, Saber Intent, Spear Intent — these belong to the realm of spirit and conceptual power; below the Innate stage, very few people can give birth to them.

The tenth sword of "Sweeping Cloud Sword" only touches upon it lightly.

In other words, Chen Mu had, through the Cultivation Cards, forcibly touched upon this power.

Although it was only an initial contact, it was still one more trump card!

……

The two Experience Cards were still combat experience, though one of them was experience in fighting against many opponents.

Chen Mu used them in succession, strengthening his combat-oriented experience.

Of the two Equipment Cards, one sealed a pill recipe, and the other sealed a willow leaf.

Chen Mu did not unseal them and put them away for now.

The three Skill Cards recorded three martial arts respectively; one of them was the martial technique "Coiling Dragon Palm," at the realm of mastery.

This palm technique was rigid and fierce, attacking only and never defending — truly overbearing.

The second was also a martial technique, "Dragon-Catching Hand," used to seize and bind others, and also capable of grasping things through the air, at the Inner Disciple Realm.

The third was an internal cultivation method, "Earth Dragon Force," which recorded seven layers and could be cultivated to the Seventh Stage of Heaven.

Chen Mu had no use for it at the moment, so he put this card away.

"Dragon-Catching Hand" and "Coiling Dragon Palm" were then used in succession; within just a few breaths, he had learned both martial techniques.

Of the twenty-eight Inner Force Cards, the smallest contained half a month's worth of inner force cultivation.

The largest contained four and a half months' worth of cultivation!

Though it felt somewhat unkind, this harvest could be called Chen Mu's greatest ever.

The inner force cultivation accumulated from the twenty-eight Inner Force Cards exceeded three years.

He could now attempt to break through to the Eighth Stage of Heaven!

……

Returning to Willow Tree Town, retrieving his stabled horse, Chen Mu galloped all the way back to Wulong Fucheng.

Once home, he went straight into his room, shut the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, took out all the Inner Force Cards he had accumulated, and used them one after another.

Wave after wave of energy immediately propelled "Rolling Cloud Art" to circulate, increasing his cultivation as he charged toward the Eighth Stage of Heaven.

This impact lasted for over half an hour.

When only three cards remained, his whole body suddenly jolted; the open pores all snapped shut in an instant, then opened again.

In his dantian, internal force spiraled, alternating back and forth, coursing through the meridians of his entire body, circulating one into another.

Boom~ boom~ boom~

His heartbeat thundered, echoing in his ears.

The mist rising from the crown of his head, along with the sound of his heartbeat, slowly formed a vortex like the internal force within his body.

Inner and outer circulation, strength enough to lift a cauldron.

Eighth Stage of Heaven!

A breakthrough!

"Huu~~"

Taking a deep breath to calm his boiling qi and blood, Chen Mu opened his eyes and exhaled a stream of qi like an arrow, shooting out seven or eight meters away.

At the Eighth Stage of Heaven, both his fleshly body and internal force had doubled compared to the Seventh Stage.

The body Chen Mu had previously remodeled using Body-Strengthening Cards was now strengthened once again.

His pure strength alone had already exceeded ten thousand jin.

One must understand, this was the strength of a perfected Post-Heaven cultivator.

Chen Mu was currently only at the Eighth Stage of Heaven.

And the defensive power of his physique…

Chen Mu took out his long sword and drew the sharp blade across his arm.

"…"

Not a drop of blood came out, the skin wasn't even broken, only a faint white mark remained.

Under Chen Mu's gaze, that white mark vanished within three breaths.

"Horizontal Tempering, One Cauldron Body?"

Horizontal Tempering martial artists had a clear grading system, measured in cauldrons.

A One Cauldron Body could already make one invulnerable to blades and spears, impervious to water and fire!

Sharp weapons forged of refined steel could not breach his defense.

Ten thousand jin of strength, hard enough to withstand the Innate Realm!

That's right.

A Horizontal Tempering martial artist, once cultivated to the One Cauldron Body, could withstand the Innate Realm head-on.

Chen Mu had used a great many Power Cards; a single Body-Strengthening Card, combined with his breakthrough in realm, had actually achieved this.

"A pleasant surprise."

Chen Mu exhaled, calming his mind.

After resting a while, he took out the Martial Arts Card, used it, and deduced the continuation of the Coiling Cloud Art.

Buzz~

All the contents of the Coiling Cloud Art in his mind appeared repeatedly, linking front to back, continuously deducing until perfected.

When it stopped, the ninth layer of the Coiling Cloud Art had been successfully obtained.

From then on, the path before the Innate Realm was secure.

"Huu~"

Taking a deep breath, he slowly withdrew his cultivation.

Chen Mu took out the Memory Card and silently willed it to activate.

The next instant, a large swath of memories from a man named Yu San flooded into his mind.

Yu San was a guard at Red Willow Manor, as was his father before him.

Red Willow Manor was the foremost power in Ning County, and its fame was considerable even across the entire South Cloud Prefecture.

The Manor Lord, whose cultivation had reached the perfected Post-Heaven realm, had a wide circle of acquaintances and connections with all the major powers of South Cloud Prefecture.

With such a background, guards like Yu San lived very comfortably.

Until yesterday, when people from the Guo family entered the manor!

For some unknown reason, the Guo family's people suddenly struck, attacking the manor with a pincer move from inside and out, and an Innate Realm martial artist even took action.

In only a quarter of an hour, they slaughtered every single person in the manor!

The last image in Yu San's mind before death was of the Guo family's young master, Guo Jinquan, chopping off the Young Lady's head.

"The Guo family…"

Chen Mu exhaled.

The culprits who massacred over a hundred people in Red Willow Manor were actually the Guo family!