Chapter 543 - 533: Beginner’s - : The Latter Half

Chapter 543: Chapter 533: Beginner’s Chapter: The Latter Half

"Hidden Sword Manor," Mu Chen said nonchalantly, before his eyes widened in shock. "What?! The Great Manor Master of Hidden Sword Manor!"

Seeing his expression, Chu Aoqing sighed in resignation. "With your strength and talent, even if you’re not a disciple from a Hidden Clan, you should at least be from the direct lineage of a major family in the Central State. I can’t believe it took you this long to react."

Mu Chen chuckled and shook his head. "Me? From the direct lineage of a major family? I’m just a commoner from a Remote Empire. Since your grandfather is the Great Manor Master of Hidden Sword Manor, does that make you... the Young Miss of Hidden Sword Manor?"

"Hmph." Chu Aoqing shot Mu Chen a sidelong glance, feigning annoyance. "You’re the ’miss’. The proper title is Great Young Miss of Hidden Sword Manor. Besides, you keep calling me ’Senior.’ It makes me sound so old. Can’t you call me something else?"

"Then what should I call you?" Mu Chen asked tentatively. "Don’t tell me you want me to call you ’Great Young Miss’..."

Chu Aoqing was speechless. She stared at Mu Chen and said, "Just drop the ’Senior.’ I’m not that much older than you. You can just call me Aoqing, or... Qing’Er..."

As she said that last name, a deep blush suddenly spread across Chu Aoqing’s cheeks, and she froze for a moment.

’What in the world is wrong with me? Why did I just say that...’

Other than her closest family, only Shan Ziyan had ever called her Qing’Er. After silently cursing herself a few times, Chu Aoqing adopted a ’what’s done is done’ attitude. The words were already out, and she couldn’t take them back. Composing herself, she looked at Mu Chen with a serious expression.

Mu Chen, however, didn’t overthink it. He simply felt that "Qing’Er" was a bit too intimate, so he said directly, "In that case, I’ll call you Aoqing."

Chu Aoqing let out a deep sigh of relief, as if she’d just been granted amnesty. Unconcerned with how close she was to Mu Chen, she exhaled, and he caught the full scent of her breath. It was a peculiar fragrance, completely different from Mo Qing’s or Mu Bingling’s. Chu Aoqing’s was more like musk—intoxicating.

Of course, Chu Aoqing was unaware of these details. She was just thinking that if Mu Chen had actually called her Qing’Er, she wouldn’t have known how to continue the conversation. And yet, when she heard his choice, she still felt a faint sense of disappointment.

"Um, when do you need me to go?" Mu Chen asked, breaking the somewhat heavy silence.

"Hmm?" Snapped out of her thoughts, Chu Aoqing considered for a moment before replying, "Not anytime soon, but if possible, I hope you can make it within a year."

’Within a year?’ Mu Chen groaned internally. He had an incredible number of things to do in the next year. First, he had to advance his Martial Artist Realm to the Emperor Realm. Second, he had to travel to Tingyu Pavilion; the matter concerning Qin Wu had been weighing heavily on his mind. Third, he needed to visit Profound Ice Valley to check on Bing’Er. On top of all that, it had been a long time since he had absorbed an Ultimate Attribute Spirit, and he needed to find another one soon.

All these tasks piled up like a massive boulder on Mu Chen’s chest, making it hard for him to breathe.

"You can’t do it?" Chu Aoqing’s face fell, a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

"No, no, of course I can." Seeing her reaction, Mu Chen quickly shook his head.

’Oh well,’ he thought. ’I already have so much to do, what’s one more thing?’ Releasing a soft breath, Mu Chen smiled. "It’s a deal, then. However, I probably won’t have any time for the next six months. My Cultivation has to be my top priority right now."

Chu Aoqing’s expression brightened instantly, and she beamed. "Alright, then I won’t disturb you any longer. You should get some rest."

With that, Chu Aoqing leaped gracefully off the large bed, slipped on her rabbit-fur slippers, and quickly exited the room. Just as the door was closing, her soft, enchanting voice drifted back, making Mu Chen’s heart tremble.

"Good night~"

CLICK!

Hearing the door click shut, Mu Chen finally allowed himself to relax. Being with Chu Aoqing was a constant trial. Her naturally bewitching voice alone forced him to summon every ounce of his concentration just to hold a conversation. That didn’t even account for her stunning face and mature figure; her every frown and smile was utterly captivating.

Feeling the involuntary reaction of his body, Mu Chen sighed in resignation. ’Terrifying.’ As he got older, it seemed his physical urges were growing stronger as well.

’I’d better start cultivating. Maybe that will help me cool down.’

With that thought, Mu Chen focused his mind, and the Forest of Myriad Manifestations began to operate smoothly. Thanks to the boost from the Illusion Spirit Contract, his Spirit Realm had already advanced from the Early Stage of the Kan Realm to the Middle Stage. If he hadn’t broken his previous limits, the power from signing and amplifying the Illusion Spirit Contract would have propelled him far beyond a single minor realm’s advancement. It might have even pushed him into what was currently the highest realm for humans: the Qian Realm!

As his Cultivation Technique circulated, streams of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi from the Outer Realm surged rapidly into Mu Chen’s body. While the Illusion Spirit Contract hadn’t directly raised his Martial Artist Realm, it had greatly amplified his Spiritual Power and physical fortitude. As a result, his speed of absorbing Primordial Power was now incomparably faster than it was before the Contract.

As he felt the river of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi flowing through his meridians, filling them to capacity, a faint smile touched Mu Chen’s lips.

’The benefits of this Illusion Spirit Contract are no joke!’

His Spiritual Power completely focused, and the Forest of Myriad Manifestations began to revolve at high speed. Within Mu Chen’s Sea of Souls, layers of rapidly spinning Spiritual Nets interwove, recreating a familiar scene. But to Mu Chen, these Spiritual Nets were completely different now. At the very least, their trajectories and speed were far clearer than before!

’Beginner’s Chapter, today I will conquer you completely!’

His Spiritual Power abruptly condensed, and with a SWISH, a Profound Jade Fan shaped like a Flying Shuttle emerged from between his eyebrows, hovering before him.

He needed no time to adapt; after all, it had only been three days since he had broken through the eightieth layer. A tether of force instantly wrapped around the Profound Jade Fan. With a mere thought, the fan shot forward at an astonishing speed. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! It crossed more than thirty layers of the Spiritual Net in a single second!

This was the power of the Illusion Spirit Contract!

Without letting up, Mu Chen’s Spiritual Power remained firm. The next second, another thirty layers of the net flew by. In just two seconds, he had broken through more than sixty layers of the Spiritual Net, completely shattering his previous record.

However, as the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan reached the eighty-first layer, the rotation of the Spiritual Net abruptly changed, shifting from horizontal to vertical.

The sudden shift in rotation caused Mu Chen’s concentration to falter for an instant, and in that moment, all the momentum he had built up collapsed. By the time he refocused his Spiritual Power, three seconds had already passed.

’The Forest of Myriad Manifestations is truly worthy of its name. I wonder if Sima Shanshan ever managed to clear this Beginner’s Chapter? Still... the Cultivation Technique may be rigid, but the person using it is flexible!’

With a grin, Mu Chen suddenly twisted his body. His upright seated posture shifted, and he lay flat, once again aligning himself with the direction of the Spiritual Net’s rotation.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Effortlessly, he broke through another sixty layers of the Spiritual Net in the blink of an eye. In less than ten seconds, he was halfway through the three hundred layers. But then, the remaining half underwent a drastic change.

’Why?’

Before, the pattern had been predictable: the nets would start slow, get progressively faster, slow down again, and then become even faster than before. But now, the Spiritual Nets Mu Chen was seeing were moving at an extremely slow speed!

They were so slow, he could barely perceive their rotation. Logically, this should have made it easier to pass through. But it was the exact opposite. Far from becoming easier, it had become so difficult that Mu Chen was brought to a complete standstill.

The reason was that the spacing between the nets had changed. If the original gaps were wide enough for the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan to pause between layers, the current gaps made it impossible to linger for even an instant.

This meant that for Mu Chen to pass through the remaining Spiritual Nets, he would have to predict the openings. He needed to anticipate the alignment of the gaps in the next ten layers, allowing the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan to pass through them all in one smooth motion with only minor adjustments.

But time ticked by, and still, Mu Chen didn’t move. He knew that once he entered the one hundred and fifty-first layer, he had two choices: either commit with absolute determination and the correct method, or fail.

Then, at that very moment, the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan under Mu Chen’s control finally moved. It shot forward, racing along a path he had identified. It was so fast that it pierced through dozens of Spiritual Nets in an instant. Furthermore, as it passed through, Mu Chen made almost no adjustments to its trajectory. It simply barreled straight ahead, smashing through a full fifty Spiritual Nets.

’That easy? Impossible.’

The moment that thought surfaced, Mu Chen felt his concentration waver. Instantly, the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan was torn to shreds by a Spiritual Net. His face paled. He knew he had failed.

’I knew it wouldn’t be that simple.’

With a wry smile, Mu Chen carefully replayed what had just happened in his mind. A moment later, it dawned on him. It turned out that beyond the one hundred and fiftieth layer, it wasn’t just the spacing that had changed. There were also subtle shifts in how the threads of each Spiritual Net overlapped with the next.

If he had looked closely, he would have noticed that the openings formed by the intersecting threads were just large enough for the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan to pass through in an instant. However, the alignment of an opening in one net with the opening in the layer behind it would be off by a subtle degree.

This slight misalignment wasn’t obvious at first, which was why Mu Chen was able to advance so easily just by plowing straight ahead. But the further he progressed, the greater this offset between the openings became. Eventually, it would become necessary to adjust the trajectory of the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan to pass through successfully.

’So that’s how it is. What a clever deception. But with no room to pause, how am I supposed to change the trajectory of the Spiritual Concentration Profound Jade Fan?’

A huge question loomed in Mu Chen’s mind. He wasn’t afraid of failing once. What he feared was not understanding why he failed. And even if he understood the reason, if he couldn’t find a solution, he would just keep making the same mistake over and over again.

’Practice makes perfect.’

After racking his brain to no avail, Mu Chen steeled himself and resorted to the most basic method: trial and error. He reasoned that if he tried again and again, he would eventually find a way to pass through perfectly. And so, immersed in the Beginner’s Chapter of the Forest of Myriad Manifestations, he began the long and tedious process of adaptation.