Chapter 143: Eightfold Transcending Mortality, Second Layer Perfection

Chen Mo looked at the greyish-blue stone slabs beneath his feet; the ground, or rather the entire secret chamber, was a seamless whole.

No matter how one looked at it, it did not resemble a building, but rather a stone cave carved out of a mountain range, and it was carved as a single piece, leaving no traces of human craftsmanship.

There was no light source in the entire secret chamber, yet it appeared very bright; Chen Mo even used Inner Qi to block the other several exits, but the secret chamber remained extremely bright.

This light appeared in an extremely abrupt and eerie manner, as if it were a law naturally existing here.

Chen Mo hammered the ground with force; he did not know exactly what material these stones were, but they were very sturdy.

Even with a casual punch, he possessed nearly ten thousand jin of force, which would definitely shatter ordinary bluestone, yet the Gray White Stone beneath his feet showed no reaction at all.

Chen Mo did not strike with his full strength; before confirming whether it was safe, such an attempt might lead to bad results.

If there really were no other way to escape this place, then it would be fine for him to conduct some experiments.

With two Giant Hammers in his hands, he temporarily put one away, and Chen Mo used Inner Qi to condense his form, surveying several dozen zhang around his body to ensure that danger was kept to a minimum.

He stepped forward cautiously, examining the four corridors; each corridor was exactly the same as the other three.

They were greyish-white throughout, nine feet high and one zhang wide, appearing as if naturally formed, without any traces of excavation.

The corridors were very long, spanning several dozen zhang, and at the end of the corridor was a layer of pale grey mist; no matter how one looked, it could not be seen clearly, and he did not know where it led.

Chen Mo pondered for a moment and rummaged through his Storage Bag.

Finally, he found a jar, and a sour aroma that whetted the appetite continuously emanated from within the jar.

At the bottom of the jar there was still quite a bit of unfinished kimchi, including green and red chili peppers, radishes, garlic slices, green beans, and so on.

This had originally been prepared for him by Zhao Yu, for him to bring and eat slowly on the road.

Now, there were still some vegetables left in the jar, along with a considerable amount of kimchi brine.

Chen Mo took out a thin hemp rope, tied it to the ear of the jar, and slowly let out the hemp rope in his hand as he walked toward the east corridor.

He could not see clearly what the situation was outside the corridor, nor could he be certain if it was safe.

But one thing could be determined: at least this place was relatively safe, as he had conducted multiple explorations and nothing had gone wrong.

Therefore, he had to ensure that he could walk out and definitely be able to walk back safely.

This way, even if he could not find a way out and did not know how to escape this place, he could at least establish a safe point.

Chen Mo slowly let out the hemp rope and stepped into the corridor; after walking another several dozen zhang, the view suddenly opened up.

Chen Mo's brows were tightly locked, and he accelerated his pace forward, because he saw a kimchi jar in the secret chamber before him, with a hemp rope still tied to it.

He had walked in a straight line the entire way, and as a Martial Artist, his perception could not be wrong, and poisoning was even more impossible.

Then there was only one possibility: the corridor he had just walked through utilized some kind of spatial Secret Technique.

Therefore, even though he walked in a straight line, he still appeared in this secret chamber.

Chen Mo slowly exerted force to pull the hemp rope, and the kimchi jar indeed moved along with it.

It seemed his deduction was correct, only he did not know if only this corridor was like this, or if all corridors were the same.

Chen Mo immediately pulled the hemp rope back carefully, made a mark on the corridor he had already walked, and turned to walk into the west corridor.

The path was exactly the same, and he almost replicated his previous way of walking.

Chen Mo's brows furrowed even deeper; he felt as if he had fallen into a loop, and if he could not find a way to solve it, then being trapped to death here was only a matter of time.

He still would not give up, and with the remaining two corridors, he prepared to try them one by one again.

After walking through four corridors, he returned to this secret chamber again.

When he stepped into this place for the fourth time, Chen Mo sensed that something was wrong; there was something behind him.

It was not following him, but was clinging to his back, its hands and feet like ferocious iron claws, tightly gripping his shoulders.

Chen Mo could even vaguely feel the slippery aura emanating from this human figure.

His own Inner Qi had no effect on it whatsoever; fortunately, he had his Heavy Armor with him, which was the only thing separating it from his body.

Borrowing a glimpse of peripheral vision, Chen Mo could see clearly that there was a person clinging behind his armor.

Of course, he was not sure if that thing was a person; this humanoid object had slender limbs, yet its torso was very bloated.

Rather than a person, it was more like a humanoid spider.

It had no clothes and was just stuck tightly to his armor like that.

It seemed to have been dead for a long time, with a layer of wet, slippery, greasy oil seeping from its body surface; just one look made one feel extremely uncomfortable.

Chen Mo's expression was calm as he carefully observed the other party's movements.

Aside from clinging to his body, it had no other movements.

Chen Mo rummaged through his Storage Bag but did not find a mirror, only a water skin.

Pouring clear water onto the ground, Chen Mo could see very clearly through the water's reflection that there was nothing on his armor.

Not only with Inner Qi, but even when he touched it with his hands, or even used Blood Qi to try to make contact with this human figure, there was no reaction at all.

It was as if it did not exist in this world; no matter what, he could not make contact with it.

Chen Mo took a few deep breaths, trying his best to calm himself down.

Looking at the other corridors before him, he did not rush to pass through them again.

He could already roughly determine why he could see this black shadow and why he could not touch it.

Because he was highly likely in contact with another world, according to what was recorded in the Xuanhuang Indestructible Body.

When a Martial Artist cultivates to the Second Layer Transcending Mortality perfection, opening all five senses allows one to come into contact with another world, so he was now taking this step.

It was just that compared to actively opening the five senses, he was taking this step passively.

This was only because his own divine sense and physical perception were far superior to Martial Artists of the same realm; otherwise, he might not even have been able to discover this black shadow behind him now.

He was now like an ice cube floating in the sea; every time he passed through a corridor, he sank a little deeper into the sea.

When he was completely swallowed by the entire deep sea, it would be impossible to estimate what would happen.

And what was certain was that he could only see this black shadow behind him now, but could not exert any influence on it.

Conversely, the same was true; he had not completely entered that world, so it could only be seen by him.

Chen Mo put away the kimchi jar, took out a Putan, and sat down cross-legged.

Even leaning against the wall, he could feel this black shadow still behind him.

Chen Mo meditated to regulate his breathing, his expression calm, without any sign of haste.

Because he knew that being anxious was useless; if anxiety could solve problems, he would be more anxious than anyone right now.

He took a few deep breaths to keep his mind steady.

He immediately took out all the spoils he had obtained earlier, one by one, and began to sort out the items he could use immediately.

There were fifteen bundles in total, containing not many sundries, only Blood Essence Stones and Mirage Spirits that were relatively easy to carry.

Added together, there were ninety-one Blood Essence Stones and one hundred and thirty-four Mirage Spirits of various colors.

These had all been tested by him one by one and were continuously absorbed into his body.

The Qi and Blood accumulated within the Transformation Pearl was also constantly climbing, reaching as much as eighty percent directly from sixty percent.

Chen Mo carefully tied up these bundle wrappings one by one again; if he needed hemp rope later, these things could replace it, allowing him to travel another dozen zhang.

After finishing this, he took out the Storage Bag of that Innate Martial Artist.

A Storage Bag cannot hold another Storage Bag inside; the two spaces would repel each other.

Chen Mo now had three Storage Bags on hand, all tied to his waist.

He did not intend to keep them all; he would consider selling them later, keeping only two for himself.

Opening the Storage Bag he had just obtained, there were too many various resources and sundries inside.

As an Innate Expert, since he intended to flee, there was no doubt that before leaving, he would inevitably take away all the supplies his faction had stored in Luantian Valley; this was a considerable portion.

One hundred and thirty-one Blood Essence Stones, two hundred and seven Mirage Spirits, thirty-one types of various heavenly treasures, plus twenty-five Origin True Stones and a lot of gold and silver.

There were only two weapons and Dharma Artifacts, which were most likely the private collection of this Innate Martial Artist.

In addition, there were many sundries, along with a large number of Demon Sect classics, cultivation techniques, and books on various crafts.

It could be said that by leaving with these things and finding a place not easily discovered, one could rebuild a Demonic Path legacy.

Chen Mo certainly had no use for these Demonic Path techniques and classics, but he could turn them over to the Imperial Court later as spoils of war.

Taking the various spoils out of the Storage Bag, Chen Mo began to refine and swallow them one by one.

Qi and Blood flowed into the Transformation Pearl like river waves.

The final twenty percent of Qi and Blood needed was also quickly replenished; he didn't even need to use those heavenly treasures, as Mirage Spirits and Blood Essence Stones were enough.

Looking at the now-full Transformation Pearl, Chen Mo immediately underwent a new round of rebirth.

With the Transformation Pearl complete and the five senses fully opened, a Martial Artist can glimpse another world.

This state can be controlled; if he does not wish to glimpse it, he can seal his five senses in time.

Conversely, if he continued to run in the corridor, the situation of being truly dragged into the water would be irreversible.

Chen Mo took out incense and lit it, allowing his mind to calm down and making it easier to remain steady.

The surroundings were not safe, so he had to release his Inner Qi to stand guard for himself.

Fortunately, during this process of rebirth, he did not need to be fully focused and could still spare thirty percent of his mental energy to observe the outside world.

Countless Blood Qi surged within his body, nourishing his entire physical body from the inside out.

For the sake of speed and safety, Chen Mo did not even enter the fetal breathing state this time.

Because once he entered the fetal breathing state, he would be unable to observe the outside world, and since danger could occur here at any time, he had to be on guard.

Fortunately, his physical body was strong enough now; although he had triggered martial arts techniques many times before, erupting with power far exceeding his own, it only caused his Qi and Blood to vibrate, and there were almost no hidden injuries or ailments within his body.

It only cost a negligible trace of Qi and Blood to erase these problems.

Immediately following this, Chen Mo welcomed another transformation, with Blood Qi surging to wash over his body.

His whole body seemed to be connected as one, and between every breath, mysterious divine light flowed.

This is what is called the physical body becoming holy, where Ten Thousand Laws Cannot Invade.

It means cultivating the physical body to an extremely high realm, even capable of becoming a world unto itself, unaffected by external laws.

Chen Mo was currently walking this path; blood-colored rays of light flowed within his internal organs, and mysterious patterns faintly appeared between his muscles and bones.

Golden rays of light flowed within his blood; the quantity was far greater than last time, which was a manifestation of the further transformation of his physical body.

Chen Mo's physical body was not necessarily indestructible now, but the vast majority of attacks could not hurt him.

Not only that, many Martial Artists' Inner Qi would be directly weakened when striking him.

If one unit of Inner Qi caused one hundred damage to others, it might only be ninety-five when it landed on him now.

This was the initial peculiarity brought about by the physical body becoming holy and Ten Thousand Laws Cannot Invade.

It was very weak now, but as the physical body continued to strengthen, one day he would truly reach this step.

With his physical foundation strengthened, the Heaven and Earth Furnace operated desperately, wanting to continuously draw Heaven and Earth Power from the outside.

Chen Mo was very cautious; he was not sure if any problems would occur by drawing Heaven and Earth Power here.

But currently, breaking through his strength was the most likely and safest way to break the deadlock; of two evils, choose the lesser.

Even if it was dangerous, he had to make an attempt now.

He very cautiously drew Heaven and Earth Power from the outside, and if there was even the slightest hint of something wrong, he would stop immediately.

However, as the Heaven and Earth Furnace continued to draw and refine Heaven and Earth Power from the outside, Chen Mo could clearly feel the difference.

The Heaven and Earth Power flowing outside was upright and peaceful, without any hidden dangers, and it was very easy to draw and refine.

He felt as if he were in a Dongtian Fudi, where the Heaven and Earth Qi was full and pure, allowing practitioners to take and use it freely.

Even so, Chen Mo did not lower his guard, and at a steady and slow speed, he continuously drew Heaven and Earth Power from the outside to help his physical body complete its transformation.

During this process, his internal Qi and Blood continued to climb, finally reaching sixty-seven thousand catties of force.

The improvement brought to him by this transformation was not insignificant; not only did it initially manifest the peculiarity of the physical body becoming holy.

The Xuanhuang Indestructible Body had also reached the second level of perfection, providing him with an increase of fifty-four thousand catties of force.

Even without relying on Inner Qi or using any martial arts techniques, relying solely on the Qi and Blood of his physical body, Chen Mo was enough to defeat an Acquired Perfection Martial Artist.

If he had the bonus of martial arts techniques and added his own Inner Qi on top, even against an Innate Martial Artist, Chen Mo would have the confidence to cross blows with them.

Most importantly, by utilizing his Qi and Blood, he could now simultaneously open his five senses to catch a glimpse of another world.

Chen Mo put away the Putan and came to the center of the secret chamber, once again employing the Army-Breaking Stance to fully stimulate his own Qi and Blood.

His physical strength was further stimulated; now, with a shake of his arms, he possessed a massive strength of one hundred thousand jin.

He felt the Blood Qi within his body constantly surging and churning, like molten lava.

Chen Mo shifted his focus to mobilize his Blood Qi, gradually augmenting his five senses, and a brand-new world appeared before his eyes.

(End of this chapter)