Da Xuan Martial Saint

Stepping out of the He Family's silent chamber housing the Artistic Conception Map.

A bureau official from the Inspectorate approached, respectfully saying, "Sir, we have located the He Family's treasury of gold, silver, pearls, and jade; I have ordered men to guard it outside."

"Let's go."

Chen Mu nodded slightly and walked forward.

For him at this point, ordinary gold, silver, pearls, and jade were almost useless; the items he needed were often priceless, like the rare minerals used to forge treasured artifacts such as Silverstream mines. Although they are said to be worth hundreds of thousands of Silver Taels, they are extremely difficult to purchase and find in reality.

As one of Yu County's four major families, the He Family's treasury, besides gold and silver, might contain other rare treasures that were exactly what he needed, and thus it was worth personally inspecting.

Soon.

Under the guidance of the bureau official, Chen Mu walked around the large courtyard and arrived at the back, inside an inconspicuous little stone house guarded by several soldiers of the Inspectorate.

All the officials here were very astute; Chen Mu was the Inspectorate's Metropolitan Commander and the highest-ranking official currently stationed at the He Family's residence. Even though they all coveted the He Family's treasury, they still restrained themselves from entering without permission, waiting for Chen Mu to "inspect" it first before anyone else could officially screen it.

"Lord Commander."

The soldiers outside, upon seeing Chen Mu approach, knelt on one knee and saluted.

Chen Mu did not say much, but went straight into the stone house, which was filled with large wooden boxes. Opening one randomly, he found it packed full of flake silver ingots.

The amount of silver in one box was roughly ten thousand Silver Taels, and there seemed to be dozens of such large wooden boxes, amounting to at least several hundred thousand Silver Taels. However, compared to the He Family's wealth, this was but a drop in the bucket.

Chen Mu continued to walk further inside.

After passing the large wooden boxes of silver, there were piles of small wooden boxes in the corner. Effortlessly lifting the lid of one, he discovered a shine of Red Gold, consisting of individual Red Gold ingots.

The gold ingots in this small wooden box, when converted to Silver Taels, were worth at least a hundred thousand, and a rough count revealed at least twenty to thirty such boxes – amounting to millions of Silver Taels.

"The daily expenses from the public treasury alone are above millions of Silver Taels, and the actual circulating Silver Taels, seen in both the Inner and Outer Cities' storefronts and county estates accumulated, far exceed tens of millions," Chen Mu murmured as he picked up a gold ingot to weigh it.

Regardless of the He Family's entire holdings, just the gold and silver in this room were enough to make countless people envious or even insane – the alleys in the Outer City were so impoverished that it was doubtful whether ten Silver Taels could be collected from a whole alley, yet here millions of silver and gold were casually stored, creating a literal gold and silver fortress.

As both the Metropolitan Commander of the Inspectorate and the Demon-Slaying Office in the Da Xuan Dynasty Court, Chen Mu's combined annual salary was only one thousand Silver Taels; even with this salary, it would take ten thousand years to match the wealth of the He Family.

"In fact, tens of millions of Silver Taels is no small figure; if cost were disregarded, it would take only a few years to amass an elite army of ten thousand men all at the Body Refinement level," Chen Mu said quietly to himself.

An elite army of ten thousand Body Refinement martial men might seem unthreatening to Bone Tempering levels, and even less so to someone like him in the Five Viscera Realm, but that's assuming they have no leader.

If a genuinely skilled 'Military Formation' general were to take command, such an elite army could become quite terrifying.

Military Formation is essentially an Artistic Conception.

Military Formations leverage the opportune time and place… which naturally also encompasses people.

When tens of thousands of elite soldiers gather together, their surging Qi-Blood forms a unity under the Military Formation's conception, which, wherever it goes, can attack cities, conquer territories, and even, to an extent, obstruct the natural circulation of the Power of Heaven and Earth, posing considerable restrictions on martial men.

In plain words,

it's about artificially creating an 'opportune time and place.'
Continue your journey with empire

The Da Xuan Dynasty Court once had infamous armies known as the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. With Five Viscera Realm officers as Colonels, Six Viscera Realm as Commanders-in-chief, and Marrow Cleansing Realm as generals, they had eradicated countless sects that attempted to defy the Court.

However,

today, such soldiers no longer exist.

The 'Provincial Guard' in Yu County, for instance, although it also numbers in the tens of thousands, is at best a motley crew mixing Skin Toughening and Body Refinement troops; it might be considered elite in small Yu County, but is negligible relative to a State and poses no threat to warriors of the Five Viscera Realm or above.

If the He Family really were to spare no expense and mobilize their entire fortune to train such an elite force of tens of thousands, all armored and under the command of generals specially trained in Military Formations, they indeed could dominate Yu County and force everyone to avoid their edge.

But reality is.

Only the Court insiders practice the cultivation line of Military Formations, those who are not like Yan Jingqing, a nominal Inspector but actually a bureaucrat under the Seven Profound Sect; rather, true servants of the Da Xuan Dynasty Court – the He Family has no way to interfere.

Furthermore, if the He Family really dared to create such a commotion, training thousands of elite soldiers, and forging armors... then they probably wouldn't need him to take action, as the Seven Profound Sect would likely send an elder steward overnight to have a 'heart-to-heart' with the He Family.

So this was also a dead end for the He Family.

"In this world, the pinnacle of military troops is represented by the Da Xuan's Azure Dragon and White Tiger forces, and the peak of personal martial prowess is the end of the Martial Arts path, the Blood Exchange stage," Chen Mu continued, shaking his head slightly.

Though the annals of Da Xuan record some instances of Blood Exchange realm individuals being besieged and slain by the Azure Dragon forces, other banned texts also relate sword-through-army exploits of Blood Exchange stages where a single person swept through thousands of troops."

All these tales were compilations, their authenticity unknown, but the founding emperor of Da Xuan single-handedly stabilizing the nation was well-known across the world; reaching the summit of personal martial power was indeed the true invincible force in this world.

Not to mention in these troubled times when there were no longer forces like the Azure Dragon or White Tiger; even in times of peace, he would still follow the path of reaching the pinnacle of personal martial power, for ultimately this was where his unique understanding of Martial Arts excelled in the world.

Chen Mu turned a corner.

He arrived at the eastern side of the stone house.

Here, there was a staircase leading underground, which was not deliberately concealed.

After all, this was already the He Family's most core secret area. If there ever came a day when someone stepped into this place, it would mean that the He Family had fallen into utter ruin. Making any hidden mechanism to conceal it would be meaningless.

Chen Mu followed the staircase down and quickly reached the part of the stone house that was underground. There were very few things here, just a few small wooden boxes.

Bang.

Chen Mu kicked one open, revealing some ores inside, two of which glimmered with a silver flow and were exactly the Silverstream ores he had used for crafting the Silverstream Saber, both larger than the ones he had used before.

Chen Mu slightly shook his head. Now that he already had a Silverstream Treasured Artifact, wanting more was meaningless. Thus, he continued walking forward, kicking a few more boxes, and soon his gaze slightly sharpened as he looked into one of them.

This wooden box also contained several ores, one of which was wholly white like White Jade but had strands of golden threads intertwined within it, making it appear almost as if it was 'Jade Encased in Gold.'

"Gold-Inlaid Jade Ore."

Chen Mu stepped forward, picked up the ore, and weighed it, revealing a thoughtful expression.

Gold-Inlaid Jade Ore was only found at the center of some large jade veins with a very low probability. This material was not suitable for weapon forging but was very appropriate for crafting soft armor.

Ordinary mortal soft armors were almost useless for Chen Mu, but a 'Treasured Artifact' soft armor was different as it could withstand Yuan Gang True Essence. However, Treasured Artifact-level soft armors were much rarer and more precious than weapons, and just one piece of Gold-Inlaid Jade Ore was far from enough as it was only one of the primary materials.

After thinking for a moment,

Chen Mu still decided to keep the Gold-Inlaid Jade Ore.

Although with the speed of his progress in Martial Arts, he might not need this ore, if it could be crafted into a Treasured Artifact-level soft armor in the future, it would be good for either Xu Hongyu or Chen Yue.

Speaking of the soft armor Xu Hongyu wore under her clothing, Chen Mu had examined it closely before. Its quality was quite good, among the top in mundane grades, but it was not up to the level of Treasured Artifacts and was of little use in front of Yuan Gang True Essence.

Chen Mu continued forward.

He reached the very center of the underground secret chamber.

Here, a large piece of Cold Jade was displayed, almost the same size as his Flame Jade bed, emitting a faintly visible chill. Its quality was clearly superior, not inferior to the Flame Jade bed at all.

But such a large piece of Cold Jade was not considered a treasure here; it was merely placed there with three small wooden boxes stacked on top of it.

Chen Mu casually opened one, and a strong aroma of herbs emanated from it. Indeed, it contained some rare medicinal materials, with the first thing catching his eye being a piece of thousand-year-old Polygonum multiflorum, an excellent tonic for replenishing deficits, worth at least several hundred thousand taels.

The other medicinal materials also were not inferior in value, though not very useful for the current Chen Mu, but for those in the Bone Tempering Realm and below, they had excellent effects on enhancing Qi-Blood.

"Very good, finally got some decent items."

Chen Mu slightly nodded his head.

Actually, without these medicinal materials, just the large piece of superior Cold Jade was pretty impressive. If taken back to make another Cold Jade bed opposite his Flame Jade bed, it would be perfect for Body Refining in the 'Ice and Fire Dual Realms', enabling Xu Hongyu to give it a try.

After opening the small boxes on the left and right sides, Chen Mu then directed his gaze toward the central one and reached out to open it, his eyes suddenly lighting up slightly.

"So it was this thing..."

Inside the small box, there was only one item, a thumb-sized, earth-yellow pearl.

Although the Cold Jade bed limited the dispersal of the aura, the rich 'Earth Spirit Qi' from it still could not be completely concealed; it was one of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects, the 'Earth Element Pearl', which normally had to be handed over to the Seven Profound Sect. It was unclear how the He Family had acquired and secretly hoarded it.

Chen Mu picked it up with two fingers and studied it closely before his eyes.

He had read many books about Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects, could recognize it at a glance, and also knew its uses.

First, it could be placed above the head, suitable for studying the 'Earth Artistic Conception' among the Five Elements.

Second, it was suitable for studying the 'Gen Mountain' and 'Dui Ze' Artistic Conceptions in Qiankun, especially Gen Mountain.

Third, if crushed and mixed with some supplementary medicines for consumption, it could nourish the 'Spleen' and enhance the circulation of Yuan Qi in the Five Viscera, starting from the spleen and speeding up one complete refinement of the Five Viscera.

"This indeed is a good item, one that even the true teachings of Great Sects would vie for. It supports both artistic conception comprehension and the enhancement of cultivation in the Five Viscera Realm, no wonder the He Family was reluctant to hand it over to the Seven Profound Sect and secretly kept it."

Chen Mu shook his head.

The He Family had been established in Yu County for over a hundred years, not only amassing an excessive amount of gold and silver wealth, various rare ores, but also secretively keeping one Earth Element Pearl, truly a case of extreme greed that was infuriating.

He silently put the earth-yellow pearl into the pocket of his inner garment, keeping it close to his body and covering it with his own Yuan Gang to contain and conceal the Earth Spirit Qi from dispersing.

He was not a greedy person.

It was mainly because later when he went to the Seven Profound Sect, this Earth Element Pearl would mostly still be his, but by then, he would have to go through a big detour, passing through the Demon-Slaying Office and Affairs Hall, which would unnecessarily complicate things. Thus, to avoid too much trouble, it was better to keep things simple.