In the predawn hours.

Chu Mu, already dressed, stood in the courtyard, blade in hand.

He stepped forward and struck. Each swing of the blade was as heavy as a mountain, surging with Power.

Although the progress of his Qi and Blood Cultivation appeared extremely slow on the Light Curtain Panel, its effects on his body were a near-transcendent metamorphosis.

With every move and form, the surging Power in his strikes was now more than double what it had been before he began his Qi and Blood Cultivation.

His heart pounded powerfully, and scalding Qi Blood coursed through his body. In the slight chill of early spring, this fusion of ice and fire caused white mist to swirl and disperse around him, making him look just like a legendary Immortal.

Time passed. At some unknown moment, his fierce and powerful slashes suddenly paused. After a brief halt, the light of his blade flared brilliantly. In that instant, its ferocious momentum seemed to have leaped to an entirely new level.

The figure holding the blade seemed lost in the moment, striking again and again without pause.

’Entering the Hall and the Room!’

Chu Mu’s eyes lit up as he looked at the Light Curtain Panel in his vision.

[Name: Chu Mu]

[Skills: Basic Blade Technique (Entering the Hall and the Room) 3/2000]

[Body Refining Technique (70/1000)]

[Spiritual Radiance Value: 123.4%]

He stared for a moment, then closed his eyes slightly. He could instantly and clearly perceive the surging Qi Blood within his body. With every breath, as the Qi Blood circulated, his entire being felt as if it had been thoroughly connected, filled with an inexhaustible, surging power!

However, his attention was not on his Qi Blood right now. Gripping the hilt, he slightly raised the tip of his lowered blade.

Chu Mu focused his mind, carefully sensing the fluctuations of Power coming from the hilt.

From Beginner’s Practice, to Initial Glimpse, and now to Entering the Hall and the Room!

The literal meanings of the names alone were enough to reflect the progress of his Blade Technique.

’The Blade Technique at the level of Entering the Hall and the Room...’

’My control over Power seems much more refined, much more effortless.’

’And...’

A flicker of surprise and doubt crossed Chu Mu’s mind. ’It seems... now that my Blade Technique has reached Entering the Hall and the Room, it’s easier for me to focus my mind?’

Chu Mu wasn’t entirely sure. He set down his Long Saber and closed his eyes to feel it out carefully.

The moment he closed his eyes, the sensation of his Qi Blood became clear in his mind.

Chu Mu had experienced this feeling many times before, but in the past, he always had to calm his mind and quiet his Qi first to achieve such an effect.

But just now, a second ago, he had been thinking about his Blade Technique reaching Entering the Hall and the Room, his mind filled with stray thoughts...

’So... does the Blade Technique at the Entering the Hall and the Room level involve the Divine Soul?’

Chu Mu’s gaze flickered. After a moment of thought, he couldn’t find a reason to refute his own speculation.

After all, practicing the Blade Technique day after day should, in a sense, also temper the ethereal Divine Soul.

It was like how when a person focuses on a particular skill for a long time, they eventually become intimately familiar with it, and their spirit naturally becomes extremely focused.

Perhaps it wasn’t just the Blade Technique. Since coming to this world, he had almost never been without a book in his hands. That long-term focus was also clearly a form of mental concentration.

Moreover, Qi and Blood Cultivation was, in a way, another form of meditation. Sensing and manipulating his Qi Blood was also an extremely mentally taxing task.

Essence, Qi, and Spirit complement each other. No matter how profound the Divine Soul might be, it should still have a growth process, just like Essence and Qi.

As Chu Mu pondered this, he looked over at the medicinal herbs drying to the side. Among them... there seemed to be quite a few spirit-calming medicines.

’Could I, perhaps, start from this angle?’

’On one hand, use Qi and Blood to nourish the Spirit and the Blade Technique to temper it.’

’On the other hand, I could study medicines for Qi Blood and also research medicines for Concentrating Spirit or perhaps even for Divine Tempering... ’

’A two-pronged approach, to strive for an early Divine Appearance and step onto the Immortal Path!’

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Chu Mu’s gaze once again fixed on the Blade Technique section of his Light Curtain Panel.

The change in his Spirit from his Blade Technique reaching ’Entering the Hall and the Room’ was subtle, and it was possible other factors were at play.

But it seemed to prove that these seemingly ordinary moves of the Basic Blade Technique were perhaps anything but ordinary when practiced to a high level!

Chu Mu recalled the various fantasies from his past life and gripped the saber’s hilt once more. His previous indifference toward the Blade Technique had largely faded away.

With a light flourish of the blade, a flash of light glinted, and the cold steel edge slid with utmost precision into its sheath.

Such a free and easy motion was clear proof of the precision of his current Power control.

Even Chu Mu himself was a little surprised. Although he could sheath his blade like this before, it had always been the result of deliberate and careful effort.

He could never have done it so effortlessly!

Drawing the blade, clearing the sheath, and sliding it home!

Chu Mu repeated the motion several times, thoroughly enjoying himself.

TAP, TAP, TAP...

Just as Chu Mu was marveling at his new skill, the faint sound of hurried footsteps came from the street outside his courtyard.

Immediately after, dozens of armor-clad, weapon-wielding Inspectors sprinted past the open courtyard gate, their hurried footsteps echoing.

Wangcai, who had been lying quietly in a corner of the yard, was startled by the commotion. He shot up and started barking ferociously at the gate, baring his teeth.

"Wangcai, come here!"

Chu Mu called out sharply. The fiercely barking Wangcai immediately switched to a whimper, wagging his tail as he scurried to Chu Mu’s side and rubbed his head nonstop against his pant leg.

Chu Mu rubbed Wangcai’s head, his gaze turning back to the gate. A squad of Inspectors had just passed, and now more were sprinting by in scattered groups.

Then, a piercing whistle tore through the morning’s tranquility!

Chu Mu subconsciously started to get up, but the step he was about to take halted abruptly.

’I’m currently on leave, recovering from an injury sustained in the line of duty...’

’This assembly whistle has nothing to do with me.’

"What’s happening?"

Chu Mu’s expression grew solemn. He walked out the gate, and his eyes were met with a scene of utter chaos.

After several recent incidents, Nanshan Town had already gathered more than half of Qinghe County’s armed forces. Furthermore, Li Jinghong had repeatedly expanded the local Inspector garrisons and transferred Inspectors from other regions into Nanshan Town.

By now, Nanshan Town had become a full-blown military stronghold.

On ordinary days, it was quiet, and one couldn’t see much of a hint of this. But right now, it seemed the streets were filled to the brim, with armor-clad, weapon-wielding Inspectors sprinting through every corner!

’Thirteen Inspection Offices, one County Patrol Inspection Camp, and the three Hundred Households of the Nanshan Inspection Office...’

Chu Mu mentally reviewed the information he had gathered these past few days.

Even by a rough estimate, there were at least two thousand Inspectors currently in Nanshan Town, all of them gathered here by the will of a single Thousand Households, Li Jinghong.

This could no longer be described as mere warmongering. It could only mean that worldly rules held no sway over Cultivators!

Otherwise, how would a mere County Captain, a trifling Thousand Households, dare to make such a massive military move?

Not to mention privately recruiting Inspectors and expanding the official rosters of the various Inspection Offices!

In a normal secular dynasty, such audacity from a minor Thousand Households would likely be punished by more than just the execution of his entire clan!

And now, for such a massive military force to be suddenly and fully mobilized... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Chu Mu looked toward the mining mountain. Amidst the sprawling, verdant mountain range, only the mine was a patch of earthen yellow.

Just like the thick, rolling smoke rising from the ironworks, it was utterly conspicuous...

...