Chapter 724: Entering the Dao Through Martial Arts
"Overlord Body?"
Hu Bugui and Senior Brother Lu exchanged bewildered glances, lowering their voices. "Which divine race's physique is that?"
The two were completely baffled. Having lived long in the Oxherd Realm's heavens, rarely venturing out, their knowledge of the outside world was nearly blank.
Hu Bugui had traveled with his parents in his early years, but after settling in the Oxherd Realm, he devoted himself entirely to cultivation and never left. Senior Brother Lu had lived there since childhood. Thus, neither knew the legend of the Overlord Body.
In truth, before Qin Mu left the Great Ruins, the world had scarcely heard of the Overlord Body. It was only in recent years that it gradually became known, yet even now, few could explain what the Overlord Body truly was, distinguishing its finer points.
The Village Chief, after all, was an honest man and rarely promoted the Overlord Body outwardly.
Beside Qin Mu, the woman was still shaken, hurriedly touching her neck, not yet recovered from her shock.
Qin Mu turned his head and smiled. "Sister, you were just beheaded by the Execution God Blade on the Execution Platform, and your primordial spirit was severed. I used Nether Realm techniques and Creation divine abilities to reattach it. Fortunately, I arrived quickly—the Execution God Blade hadn't had time to drain your vital energy and blood. Otherwise, I could only have saved your primordial spirit, and restoring your physical body would have been much trickier. In that case, I'd need to prepare medicine and refine pills, but my Taotie pouch is still with Fatty Long. Going back and forth would waste more time."
The woman finally came to her senses and quickly expressed her gratitude. "I am Si Meixue. Thank you, junior brother, for saving me."
Qin Mu replied hastily, "Sister, it was merely a small effort, hardly worth mentioning. Wait a moment—there's still a blood mark on your neck. I'm quite skilled in beauty-preservation techniques; let me help dissolve it. Please don't move."
Si Meixue chuckled. "You have such a sweet tongue. If I weren't already married with two children, I might just run away with you..."
"Sister, please don't speak."
Qin Mu's expression turned serious. Tiny runes flickered from his fingertips as he carefully repaired the blood line on her neck, speaking softly. "It's hard to completely remove the scar with just techniques. I'll need medicinal herbs to make an ointment for application. Unfortunately, my Taotie pouch isn't here..."
He was bare-armed, standing very close to Si Meixue, making her feel a bit uneasy. She thought to herself, "I married too early. I should have taken more time to choose..."
After treating her for a while, Qin Mu let out a breath and smiled. "Sister, this blood mark has faded a bit. When we leave here, I'll refine some ointments for you. Apply them on time, and no trace will remain. Also, I just reattached your head, so don't exert yourself too much. If you do, it might suddenly fall off."
Si Meixue was startled and quickly held her neck, not daring to move. She sighed bitterly. "I originally couldn't get past the Execution Platform. Being saved by you got me through, but now the Jade Capital is even more hopeless—I can't possibly cross it, and my head might fall off at any moment. I'll accompany you there, but I won't enter the Jade Capital."
On the other side of the Execution Platform, Senior Brother Lu steadied himself and stepped onto it.
Before he could even stand firm, two streams of blood essence on the platform transformed into bloody light, coiling around him. Senior Brother Lu hastily flicked his fingers, trying to repel the blood essence.
He was imitating Qin Mu's method. Qin Mu had first used the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Sounds to vibrate his vital energy, forcing the blood essence spinning rapidly around his neck to retreat, then used finger strength to push it back.
But he underestimated the power of the blood essence. The moment his finger touched it, a *chi* sound rang out, and suddenly a section of his finger vanished!
Startled, Senior Brother Lu rolled backward off the platform. But in that instant, the blood essence had already wrapped around his neck. As he rolled down, his head was gone from his shoulders.
Si Meixue was about to speak when Qin Mu vanished from her side. The next moment, he charged across the Execution Platform, forced back the blood essence, picked up Senior Brother Lu's head, and reattached it to his neck using the same method. He comforted him, "Don't worry. Having your head temporarily separated from your body isn't fatal, but it can't stay off too long. Too long, and you'll die. I once heard from the Nether Realm's City Magistrate that after death, you can still return to the living within the first seven days. You're not truly dead yet; you can still come back... Don't move—you still have a finger to reattach..."
Hu Bugui coughed to get his attention. "Brother Qin, Senior Brother Lu is from the Martial Luo Tribe. You've attached his head backward. He's trying to signal you. He has faces on both front and back, but there's still a distinction. Look at the leopard pattern on his neck—the finer side is the front face, the coarser side is the back."
Qin Mu examined it, his face flushing slightly. Suddenly, his primal energy transformed into a sword light, slicing off Senior Brother Lu's head again.
Senior Brother Lu was terrified, but Qin Mu quickly adjusted the direction and reattached it.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Qin Mu's eyes sparkled with encouragement. "Senior Brother, want to try again? This time, roll to the other side of the platform. Even if you get beheaded again, I can still reattach it. That way, you'll have passed the trial!"
Senior Brother Lu shook his head frantically, smiling bitterly. "No need. I've tried once. My strength isn't enough to cross the Execution Platform. I'll stay here and wait for you to return. I just remembered—I have a wife and children at home..."
Though he had come with a death-defying resolve for this trial, having his head chopped off repeatedly—even if it could be reattached—was an experience he couldn't bear.
Qin Mu didn't insist and crossed the Execution Platform again.
Hu Bugui lifted his foot and stepped onto the platform, one step at a time. Senior Brother Lu and Si Meixue watched him nervously. Hu Bugui was the last hope of the Oxherd Realm. If he couldn't cross the Execution Platform, the entire Oxherd Realm would be wiped out!
Only Qin Mu, an outsider, had managed to cross. The face of the Oxherd Realm's martial artists would be utterly lost!
Qin Mu also watched from the platform. Hu Bugui walked forward unhurriedly, step by step, as if taking a leisurely stroll. Yet around him, dozens of Hu Buguis appeared, attacking in all directions!
It was as if he had suddenly gained dozens of clones, his offensive striking like thunder, forcing the blood essence back so it couldn't get near!
Those phantom figures weren't clones—they were afterimages from his attacks moving so fast that, to the naked eye, it seemed like dozens of him appeared simultaneously.
What impressed Qin Mu most was that Hu Bugui still appeared to be walking unhurriedly. That was the terrifying aspect of his martial arts.
"Entering the Dao through the martial soul—that's martial arts. Hu Bugui must be on the verge of entering the Dao through martial arts, right?"
Qin Mu was a bit puzzled. Under the Southern Heavenly Gate, Hu Bugui's strength hadn't been this formidable. He hadn't achieved entering the Dao through martial arts then. Now, he seemed to be on the cusp of it.
"Brother Hu is truly a genius."
Qin Mu couldn't help but admire him, thinking to himself, "I relied on the Overlord Body's comprehension to grasp my own technique's Dao and the sword's Dao before I was twenty. But he, with his own true ability, has comprehended entering the Dao through martial arts! Such talent is admirable."
He didn't realize that Hu Bugui's breakthrough on the Execution Platform was actually thanks to him.
Hu Bugui and Qin Mu were friends, not rivals, but Hu Bugui couldn't help feeling a secret competitive spirit.
Qin Mu not only brought him pressure but also motivation, even inspiration, pushing and driving him to make a further breakthrough.
It was like the time Qin Mu met Xu Shenghua on a painted boat upstream on the Golden River. They met casually, drinking tea on the boat. Qin Mu, feeling the pressure of the "fake Overlord Body," turned that pressure into motivation, falling into a state of enlightenment and, together with Ling Yuxiu, creating the Primordial Spirit Guidance.
Hu Bugui's state was the same.
Qin Mu watched Hu Bugui's every move on the Execution Platform with intense focus. This moment was critical. If Hu Bugui's enlightenment was interrupted, re-entering that state would be as hard as reaching the heavens. Filling in the missing parts of one's enlightenment was the most difficult—Qin Mu knew this well from experience.
He had once had his enlightenment interrupted. Back then, he escaped from Fu Riluo and traveled from the demon territory to Li City. On the way, he unconsciously entered an enlightened state, but was besieged by demon experts, forcibly breaking his enlightenment.
The state of enlightenment was something one could encounter but not seek. Even gods and demons with endless lifespans might only experience it a handful of times in their entire lives.
Even the most gifted geniuses wouldn't exceed ten times.
"As an Overlord Body, I've only had three or four times."
Qin Mu's eyes locked onto Hu Bugui's figure. This man was definitely a martial arts prodigy. Unfortunately, the Execution Platform wasn't very large, and he would soon walk off it!
Once he left the platform, the external threat of the two blood essences would vanish, and the pressure would drop sharply, waking Hu Bugui from his enlightened state.
When Qin Mu's enlightenment was interrupted, it was because of a sudden surge in pressure.
Both a sudden increase and a sudden decrease in pressure could break the enlightened state.
Finally, Hu Bugui stepped down from the Execution Platform. Qin Mu's battle intent surged, and he suddenly attacked Hu Bugui!
Si Meixue cried out in alarm and tried to block Qin Mu, but the next moment, Qin Mu manifested three heads and six arms, sending her flying with a few punches and kicks!
With a *boom*, Si Meixue crashed into the walls of the Jade Capital, quickly clutching her head to keep it from falling off, her heart full of confusion. "Why is Brother Qin attacking Senior Brother Hu?"
Qin Mu moved at lightning speed, leaving trails of afterimages. He pushed the Stealing Heaven Divine Legs to their limit, his six arms flailing, his attack speed so fast it was dizzying!
He wanted to use pressure to keep Hu Bugui in his enlightened state, allowing him to complete his entry into the Dao through martial arts!
Hu Bugui continued walking forward, his attack speed growing faster and faster, blocking all of Qin Mu's strikes. His afterimages multiplied, and the power of his physical divine abilities surged.
Qin Mu had initially been controlling the power of his techniques, but he soon felt Hu Bugui's counterattack intensity skyrocketing. His eyes lit up, and he unleashed even fiercer attacks, continuing to pressure Hu Bugui, squeezing out more of his potential!
The afterimages around Hu Bugui had already reached a hundred, and the number was still growing. Yet he maintained that unhurried walking posture.
The two fought their way into the Jade Capital, charging into this celestial city.
Si Meixue held her neck with one hand and attacked Qin Mu with the other. Suddenly, with another *boom*, she was punched out of the Jade Capital, feeling deeply wronged. "You call me sister, but you hit so hard..."
The two burst into the first divine hall of the Jade Capital. Guarding it was a village woman from Qin Mu's home village. Though a woman, she had the bearing of a general. Seeing the two charging in, she was about to intervene but suddenly realized Qin Mu's intention. She suppressed her vital energy and cultivation, not disturbing them, and let them pass through the hall.
"Hu Bugui is entering the Dao through martial arts. He might be the first to cross the Heavenly Palace through the realm of life and death."
The woman clasped her hands behind her back, her eyes gleaming like starlight as she watched them smash the back door of the hall to pieces. She murmured softly, "No. He'll be the second, because..."
She walked out of the ruined back door of the hall, looking up at the lofty Lingxiao Treasure Hall above. "He doesn't have a Divine Bridge either. Martial arts has an insurmountable mountain, and he is that mountain. He is the true number one in martial arts!"
Zhaizhu is on the high-speed rail, heading straight to Shanghai. This time, it's not for a meeting, but for Yuewen Group's Star Academy Advanced Seminar, where authors go for further study. Well, Zhaizhu is a lecturer, going to teach. There's also an interview this afternoon. As for today's second chapter, I'll try to be on time. Even if I have to stay up late to write it, rest assured!