Chapter 144: Five Senses Opened, Witnessing the Ancient Divine Beast

The Five Senses are: eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and body.

The Daoist schools call them the Five Senses, and further say that when the Five Senses are clear, the True Qi is stable.

Chen Mo, however, did not rely on True Qi to enter this state, but rather on the strength of his Blood Qi, which had reached an extreme level of vigor.

As all Five Senses were opened, Chen Mo felt that everything he saw and heard was vastly different.

Even his bodily perception, or sense of touch, was stimulated by his Blood Qi, leading him into a different kind of world.

The secret chamber before his eyes was no longer a secret chamber, but a Cultivation Cave; there were Ever-Bright Lamps on both sides, only they were not lit at the moment.

An extremely intense, nauseating stench of a corpse kept rushing into his nasal cavity, even flowing into his mouth along the nasal passage, making one want to vomit.

Chen Mo had killed many people, and it was not as if he had never smelled the stench of a corpse before.

But this smell still made him feel an instinctive nausea; it was just too disgusting.

Furthermore, in an instant, the figure on his back became much heavier, weighing at least several thousand catties.

Originally, he could only feel the sliminess on the other party's body, but now he could even see corpse oil dripping down bit by bit.

Blood Qi surged to envelop Chen Mo's hands, and he slowly adjusted his posture.

The black shadow clinging to his back seemed to have sensed that Chen Mo was now in the same realm as itself.

It made a rustling, strange sound in its mouth; Chen Mo heard it clearly but could not understand it.

But these things were no longer important; he suddenly twisted his body and exerted force, locking the black shadow with his arms and performing a full-power over-the-shoulder throw.

"Boom!" Inside the Cultivation Cave, countless dust and smoke were kicked up; the black shadow was very sturdy, bearing Chen Mo's full-force strike without suffering too much damage.

He did not hesitate, grabbed the black shadow's slender arms, swung it up again, and smashed it against the ground repeatedly.

After slamming it twenty or thirty times, the black shadow finally reacted.

A slit opened in the middle of its stomach, and a strand of intestine slowly probed out from within, followed immediately by countless more strands of intestines; at the tip of each strand was a small black shadow, repeating this process.

One look at this made one's scalp tingle, and it pulled one's entire consciousness into it, leaving time only to look at all this, unable to spare the mind to think of other things.

Chen Mo bit the tip of his tongue to regain his senses and kept his eyes tightly shut, yet he still could not forget everything he had seen before.

However, a pair of Giant Hammers had already been taken out; the Greedy Wolf Style stimulated his strength to six times its normal level, and he smashed both hammers downward into the ground with a bang.

"Boom!" In a trance, Chen Mo felt as if something had exploded, scattering everywhere; if not for his Inner Qi and Blood Qi protecting his body, he would inevitably have been contaminated.

Opening his eyes, the original black figure had already disappeared, leaving only a pool of black oil stains on the spot.

This oil stain was still squirming and surging at this moment; looking closely, one could discover that there were still countless dense, water-drop-sized black figures above the oil stain.

Chen Mo used his Blood Qi to restrain it, and his gaze swept over the Ever-Bright Lamps in the secret chamber; there was indeed no lamp oil inside.

Sending the black oil stain into the lamp, Chen Mo concentrated his Inner Qi into a single point and lit the Ever-Bright Lamp.

His Yang-attribute Inner Qi was extremely refined, so using it as a fire source to light the lamp was naturally no problem.

The originally dim cave instantly lit up, revealing its original state.

The material of the cave was very special; faint purple cloud patterns flowed on the cyan stone, not carved, but the original patterns within the stone.

Chen Mo took the Ever-Bright Lamp down from the cave wall to use as a light source.

Now that his own Five Senses were in another world, what he saw and perceived was naturally completely different; the original four corridors had been reduced to only two, leading to the left and right directions.

Chen Mo took out a hemp rope, tied one end to the lamp stand on the wall, and walked to the left holding the hemp rope.

Walking this time, the view suddenly opened up, and Chen Mo entered another new secret chamber; this chamber was still empty, with only a Putan carved from jade.

The Putan looked quite normal and did not exude any evil aura.

Chen Mo touched it lightly with his Inner Qi condensed into form, and the Putan had no reaction.

After a moment of thought, he cleared out an empty Storage Bag and then carefully placed the Putan inside.

He could not clearly see what use this Putan had, but since it could be taken away, and it was something that could be obtained in this area.

Then he would just take it first; perhaps it would be useful later.

After taking the Putan, Chen Mo held the oil lamp and continued walking forward.

After passing through two more empty secret chambers, Chen Mo suddenly saw a person.

The key was that this person was an acquaintance, none other than the imperial clan's Innate Expert, Zhao Xuanxin.

Upon seeing Chen Mo, he also seemed very surprised.

"Little friend, why are you here?" Zhao Xuanxin's tone was kind, with a smile on his face.

Chen Mo, however, dared not relax easily; under normal circumstances, even if two people entered the same Mirage Sea, it would be impossible to meet.

Of course, the current situation was different; the white mist was not a normal Mirage Sea, and he had opened his Five Senses to enter another layer of the world.

Then, encountering any situation was possible.

But even so, an acquaintance met under such circumstances could not be guaranteed to be a real acquaintance.

"I have been suppressing bandits outside the valley these past few days, and the white mist suddenly spread within the valley, which is how I was pulled in." Chen Mo said with a smile, but his feet did not move at all.

"So that is how it is." Zhao Xuanxin revealed an expression of sudden realization.

"Senior, as far as this junior knows, it seems impossible for two people to enter the Mirage Sea at the same time, so where exactly are we now?"

Chen Mo asked the question with a smile, his Blood Qi circulating throughout his body, once again driving his strength to the limit.

"This, well!" Zhao Xuanxin's tone paused, suddenly stalling.

Chen Mo's full-power hammer had already been swung out; the Eighteenfold Vibration Force erupted, shattering the Zhao Xuanxin before him almost instantly.

The very first moment he saw the other party, Chen Mo had realized something was wrong.

Although the other party's face showed surprise, it was not overly surprised; most importantly, it was normal to be surprised to see him, but to have no vigilance at all was very abnormal.

Furthermore, there was another reason he could strike with full force: if the person were truly an Innate Expert, they would inevitably be able to catch this strike of his.

After all, this strike of his did not erupt with his sixfold strength, but only utilized the Eighteenfold Vibration Force; an Innate Martial Artist would definitely be able to catch it.

If the other party could really catch it, then he could probe further.

If they could not catch it, then it meant the other party was not the Innate Expert he was familiar with at all.

The Giant Hammer emitted eighteen waves of concussive force in succession, turning the opponent into a mass of flesh and gore; Chen Mo gave a shake with the oil lamp, and this mass of flesh and gore dissipated completely at an extremely fast speed.

Yet the lamp oil inside the oil lamp increased by quite a bit all at once.

It seems this oil lamp truly possesses great wonders; if the oil lamp is already so extraordinary, it seems the owner of this cave dwelling must definitely be a rare powerhouse as well.

Inspecting the entire cave dwelling again, this place appears to be a place for alchemy, with many medicinal herbs placed about.

However, these medicinal herbs have experienced who knows how many years, and now they no longer possess any medicinal potency, turning into powder at the slightest touch.

There are also many porcelain bottles, with medicinal pills stored inside.

But the result is the same: they have the appearance but no medicinal potency.

Chen Mo searched continuously among the rows of medicinal pill racks, and finally found a Blue Jade Medicine Bottle.

This medicine bottle is very small, with Heaven and Earth Power circulating upon it, so the medicinal pills inside this bottle still retain some medicinal potency.

Chen Mo did not dare to eat this medicinal pill directly first; he carefully stored it into his Storage Bag, and then continued to explore this place.

The hemp rope was exhausted, so he took out a new bundle, and when that was exhausted, he tore the previously obtained parcel and clothes into cloth strips, connecting them bit by bit.

After walking another few hundred zhang, the view before him suddenly opened up.

Chen Mo did not appear outside Luantian Valley; before him was an endless sea, and in the sea were islands, and on the islands were Three Divine Mountains, towering who knows how many tens of thousands of zhang high, thrusting straight into the clouds of the sky.

Connecting above to the Heaven and Earth Essence and the rosy light of the sun and moon, thick and pure Heaven and Earth Essence poured down onto these Three Divine Mountains like a rushing river.

The seawater surged and rolled, constantly crashing against the reefs, emitting bursts of sound waves.

Scattered around the islands were hundreds of divine lights, and supreme powerhouses walked upon the clouds, constantly arriving from afar to the Three Divine Mountains.

"Da! Da!" Two crisp sounds came, and Chen Mo saw a divine being wearing a moon-white robe, possessing three eyes, standing on top of a Water Qilin, constantly rushing toward the immortal island.

That Water Qilin was nearly a hundred zhang tall, its whole body wreathed in blue light, every scale the size of a house; as it paused and stayed, it appeared extremely majestic and divine.

On its body, it also carried many three-eyed divine beings.

As they arrived near the immortal island, those three-eyed divine beings leaped down from its body one after another.

That Water Qilin also became smaller and smaller, finally being only a zhang or so.

"Ang!" A high-pitched and joyful dragon roar sounded.

A green dragon, several thousand zhang in length and wreathed in verdant vitality, came from afar.

The moment Chen Mo saw the green dragon, he felt his entire body's Inner Qi vibrate; that surging and active vitality was resonating with the Inner Qi in his body.

However, in just an instant, the green dragon had already disappeared, hiding within the Three Divine Mountains.

Immediately after, some Divine Beasts that only exist in ancient myths arrived one after another: Phoenix, Peng, Qiongqi, Golden Crow, Kui Ox, Bai Ze, and so on; these Divine Beasts that originally only existed in ancient classics were now being seen by Chen Mo with his own eyes.

"Fellow Daoist, are you also here to listen to Senior Zhao Xuanxin preach?" A gentle greeting sounded, and Chen Mo turned his head to look.

He saw a youth with a gentle smile on his face, wearing a moon-white robe and looking to be fourteen or fifteen years old.

However, looking at him again, he discovered that the other party was not talking to him, but was chatting up a girl of sixteen or seventeen.

Not only was he not talking to him, the other party could not see him at all.

Chen Mo leaped up, flying into the sky above this island to observe the surroundings carefully, checking to see if any acquaintances were present.

Soon he discovered a person wearing red clothes, with a tall stature; it was none other than Senior Chu Tianxiu.

He was currently looking excited, gazing from afar at those three immortal mountains.

When Chen Mo was negotiating peace with Great Li, he had met him a few times; they hadn't spoken much, but they had at least met.

It was just that he could not be certain if the Chu Tianxiu before him was truly Chu Tianxiu.

After all, since he could see a fake Zhao Xuanxin, it was also reasonable to see a fake Chu Tianxiu.

However, regardless of who was real or fake, he had to go and see him first.

He looked excited and did not reveal any confusion or shock, clearly knowing what place this was, or at least having heard the rumors.

Chen Mo's movements were fast, but before he approached Chu Tianxiu, the other party had already discovered him.

"Why are you here? Aren't you outside the valley? Could it be that this Mirage Mist has covered even you!

But even so, you shouldn't be here!" Chu Tianxiu looked vigilant, his five-foot long blade in hand ready to move; if there was the slightest thing wrong, he would strike with all his might.

"Reporting to Senior, I was indeed outside the valley. That white mist expanded and not only covered the entire valley, but even the area within a thousand miles could not escape it.

This junior wanted to flee, but failed to escape, and was thus dragged in, just now falling into that cave dwelling. This junior used Blood Qi to stimulate my five senses, and only then did I walk out from it."

Chen Mo's tone was cautious as he slowly recounted his situation.

Hearing this, Chu Tianxiu's vigilant expression eased by thirty percent, and he immediately asked again, "Then do you know which force I come from, and what my name is?"

After he finished asking this, the weapon in his hand tightened unconsciously; if Chen Mo answered incorrectly, he would strike with all his might.

"Senior comes from the Baisheng Blade Sect, surname Chu, given name Tianxiu." Chen Mo smiled, feeling confident, and gave the answer.

Only then did Chu Tianxiu nod, basically letting down his guard against him.

"Then does Senior know this junior's name, and which force I come from?" Chen Mo's gaze was piercing as he asked in a deep voice.

He did not know whether the person before him was truly Chu Tianxiu or a Mirage Beast, but one thing was certain: such Mirage Beasts should not know things that he himself did not know, yet they could evolve into faces he had seen before.

The reason he asked just now might have been to trick him, wanting to know the true identity of this face he wore.

And Chen Mo had never exposed his own identity information in front of him; if he could not say it, that would prove he was definitely not Chu Tianxiu, but a Mirage Beast.

(End of this chapter)