After brushing the mud and grass off his body, Chen Mu settled back into the rocking chair.
“Though it only hovers a meter off the ground, not truly flying, it really is fast!”
Chen Mu thought about his recent experience.
Comparing it to car speeds from his previous life, it was definitely around one hundred forty or fifty kilometers per hour.
“Just that the endurance is a bit short,” Chen Mu grimaced.
Chen Mu glanced at the barely-changed Illusion Breaking Technique over the past two months.
Hundred Intentions Illusion Breaking Technique: 7893/10000;
Maybe I should practice more at night?
…
Half a month later, with the full moon high in the sky.
In the underground secret chamber, Chen Mu sat cross-legged, holding the Exquisite Jade Plate.
A deep chant echoed continuously within the chamber.
The black sphere in the middle of the Jade Seed had grown to the size of a soybean.
On closer inspection, it didn’t seem like a solid sphere, but rather like an unfathomably deep hole.
And it had some strange attraction, making one feel an urge to jump into it.
After a good while, Chen Mu snapped back to reality and turned to look at the small copper water clock beside him.
At some point, all the water in the quaint copper pot had trickled away.
“At least half an hour!” Chen Mu’s scalp tingled.
“I’m not practicing this wrong, am I?”
As the Illusion Breaking Technique neared its end, he’d often find himself lost in it without realizing.
Sometimes, he’d stare at the black sphere inside the Jade Seed, and an hour would pass just like that.
“What if I get stuck in there and can’t get out…”
Chen Mu shivered.
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“No, I mustn’t rush this, I need to take it easy…”
Although the insights brought by proficiency indicated everything was normal,
he still didn’t dare to practice too quickly.
It’s like how one instinctively closes their eyes when swimming or diving.
Faced with the Illusion Breaking Technique inching towards perfection, Chen Mu felt an instinctual sense of panic.
“Is this what Mo Wuzhou called piercing through the illusion? What if I can’t pierce through it…”
“Will I never be able to master it? Or will I be trapped and lose consciousness?”
“I wonder if there’s any way to help get through this.”
He thought hard but couldn’t figure it out. He lacked the basic knowledge in this area.
When he advanced his Spirit Armor Technique, it didn’t seem to have so many issues. He achieved it quite naturally.
“I’ll go to the Scripture Transmission Institute tomorrow,” Chen Mu scratched his head.
As he pondered his schedule for the next day, he habitually glanced through the perspective of the Five Ghosts Yin Spirit.
Then he noticed that in the Yellow Bud Rice Fields, a dozen or so white-striped black rats were crazily gnawing at the Yellow Bud Rice.
“It’s these damned things again!”
Ever since the Yellow Bud Rice began to grow,
the days were alright, but at night, many different sizes of exotic beasts would visit.
“Should I activate the Bewildering Miasm?” Chen Mu hesitated.
Now was not like before when he was in Tongtian Square on Low Mountain.
Back then, the place was secluded, with no one around for ten miles, except for Old Hao.
It’s not like now, where standing in front of the wooden house, turning his head, he could see the lights from his neighbors’ houses.
Clouds of smoke in the middle of the night would surely attract attention.
He always hesitated to do things that drew too much attention.
…
The Scripture Transmission Institute is now located above Cold Moon Square and below Cold Moon Pond.
The eight-sided wooden tower is gone, replaced by a sprawling cave system.
Glowing algae are placed everywhere inside, bright as day.
There are ventilation tunnels and air-exchange pines.
The air is even fresher than outside.
In the deepest part of a semicircular cave, dense square niches are carved into the inner wall, where the scripture scrolls are neatly arranged.
Chen Mu frowned, sighed, and put the scroll back, not having found any experience related to the Illusion Breaking Technique.
“As expected,”
Most of the scriptures in the Institute are aimed at disciples from the Lower Courtyard.
The ones who can attain Spiritual Light are rare, let alone Illusion Breaking. It’s understandable that there’s not much information on it.
…
Three nights later.
Chen Mu jolted awake from his cultivation, taking quite some time before his senses returned.
Beside him, the water in the bronze pot’s leak had once again dripped dry.
Chen Mu couldn’t confirm just how much time he had lost.
A feeling of haziness, having lost grasp of time, washed over him: just moments ago, he had been drawn into the Illusion Breaking Technique, unable to extricate himself.
“I can’t continue practicing this!”
The insight from the proficiency in Grey Wall still hadn’t indicated any danger, but he dared not continue.
It might become as smoothly mastered as the Spirit Armor Technique. But what if…
It took him quite a while to calm his emotions, and then Chen Mu inadvertently glanced at the Yellow Bud Rice Fields with the Five Ghosts Yin Spirit.
The calm within him was instantly disrupted.
“At least a half-acre!” Chen Mu’s face turned unsightly.
While he was engrossed in the Illusion Breaking Technique, some Exotic Beast had broken in. A half-acre’s worth of Yellow Bud Rice had been trampled and eaten.
“I must get the Bewildering Miasma out!”
He hadn’t planned on making money off the Yellow Bud Rice.
But at least he shouldn’t be losing money!
…
By the Cold Moon Pond, a three-story wooden building stood, constructed beside the water.
A wooden bridge extended from beneath the building into the pond, connecting to an octagonal pavilion.
Inside the pavilion, Song Wujie, with a pair of dark circles under his eyes and a pale face, sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion.
Small bumps, the size of peanuts, kept surfacing on his skin.
As soon as they appeared, they would split into two, then four, and move in different directions, as if insects were boring underneath his skin.
After a good while, his face regained calm, and Song Wujie opened his eyes, his pallor finally showing a hint of improvement.
“Why sit so far away? Come here!” Song Wujie looked at Liang Yi in the distance.
Liang Yi shook his head repeatedly, his honest face full of aversion: “Creeps me out!”
“What’s with that look! Insects are so cute, how can they be creepy!” Song Wujie frowned and scolded.
Liang Yi’s mouth twitched: “Your taste… is very unique!”
“That’s because you don’t understand appreciation!” Song Wujie pouted: “What’s the situation in the mountains?”
“Without the deterrent of the Cold Moon Toad, Exotic Beasts are continuously migrating towards Peng Yue Mountain,” Liang Yi said with a grave expression.
“How did the Upper Court respond?” Song Wujie asked, frowning.
“The Sect Master and the sage from White Tower clashed, and both are currently missing. The Upper Court can only hold its ground, not daring to act rashly.”
“We cannot expect effective reinforcement,” Liang Yi said with an ugly expression.
After pondering for a long time, Song Wujie narrowed his eyes: “Send people into the mountain, scatter them before they form into groups.”
“The hunting teams are already doing that, but the effectiveness…” Liang Yi shook his head.
Song Wujie glanced at Liang Yi: “Force all disciples from the Lower Courtyard to enter the mountain in batches, clear the Exotic Beasts in every direction without dead angles.”
Liang Yi’s expression changed: “The disciples from the Lower Courtyard lack strength, such an arrangement might result in significant casualties.”
“There will be even greater casualties once the Exotic Beasts form groups,” Song Wujie said calmly.
“If they are destined to die, then let them die with a bit more value.”
…
Two days later, under the wooden corridor.
A square table was filled with dishes.
Roasted, boiled, cold mixed – there were four large plates of just Exotic Beast Meat.
Shang Huan cradled a bone from an unknown Exotic Beast, sucking the marrow.
“Peng Yue Mountain lacks everything but Exotic Beast Meat.”
“Eating meat here is much cheaper than at Tongtian Square.”
Upon hearing this, Old Hao shook his head and sighed: “I would rather that they could be a bit more expensive.”
“There are always Exotic Beasts charging at the Yellow Bud Rice Fields in the middle of the night.”
“Look at these dark circles under my eyes.”
“I haven’t slept for two days straight!”
Old Hao put down his chopsticks, his face filled with sorrow: “You don’t understand, Old Li was just taking a…”
“He just dozed off, and then ten acres were completely ravaged by the Exotic Beasts,” Chen Mu interjected calmly.
“Ah, right…” Old Hao nodded vigorously.
Shang Huan’s face also showed a hint of melancholy: “Farming in the wilderness is really tough.”
“So you’re eyeing my Bewildering Miasma again?” Chen Mu rolled his eyes.
I’ve barely used it for two days!