Watching the Mountain

Chapter 210: Chapter 146: You Come Along Too

"What’s going on?"

After breaking free from that strange state, Xu Ran asked Shen Wuchen with a look of utter confusion.

He knew the other man possessed a Mental Realm that could create the illusion that ’I can beat him’.

But that kind of Mental Realm was merely an illusion. It didn’t actually change a person’s thoughts, let alone to this extent where it was practically altering his very mind.

Besides, although Shen Wuchen had comprehended a Mental Realm and condensed a Golden Core, he followed the path of the Flying Immortal Stream. For him, the Mental Realm was merely a tool to help form the Golden Core; it couldn’t enable him to achieve the Transformation Dao.

In other words, his Mental Realm was still just a Mental Realm; it hadn’t reached the level of the Dao.

"Er..." Shen Wuchen, who had just been looking rather proud, froze when he heard the question. After a moment’s hesitation, he turned his face away and replied stiffly:

"It’s my special technique."

Xu Ran wouldn’t dare say he was the person who understood Shen Wuchen best in the world. After all, there was still Ye Qingyue, who was willing to sever her own path of cultivation for him.

But as his master, he certainly knew him well enough.

The moment he saw Shen Wuchen’s guilty reaction, he knew the young man couldn’t explain what was happening either and could only offer such a perfunctory answer.

Seeing this, he let out a sigh of exasperation. "So you don’t even know yourself, do you?"

Shen Wuchen stiffened. He turned back, retorting with a deadpan expression:

"I know how to cultivate it."

Xu Ran nodded slightly. ’I get it.’ He inexplicably knew how to cultivate it and how to use it, but he couldn’t explain the specifics. Or rather, he knew, but didn’t know how to put it into words.

If this had happened to any other Cultivator, they probably would have already suffered from cultivation deviation. But with Shen Wuchen, Xu Ran felt it was perfectly reasonable.

The young man’s Mental Realm had also appeared just as inexplicably back then. Only by seizing that opportunity was he able to master it and break through to the Golden Core Stage.

He then turned his gaze to Zhang Zhentian.

Zhang Zhentian smiled faintly and replied, "Junior Brother Shen’s technique is still a Mental Realm, one that has touched upon the level of Law. Most importantly, his Mental Realm has no offensive properties. This prevents his opponent from sensing any malice, unlike with other Mental Realms, so they can’t instinctively raise their defenses with willpower."

"A Mental Realm that has almost reached the level of Law can, once it creates an emotional resonance, even twist a person’s thoughts."

Xu Ran clicked his tongue in amazement. "Can a Mental Realm really reach such a level?"

Zhang Zhentian shook his head. "No, an ordinary person’s Mental Realm certainly couldn’t do this. But Junior Brother Shen is different. His Mental Realm can reach this level because of Celestial-Human Communication, which has created a resonance with the Laws of Heaven and Earth."

"To put it more directly, this Mental Realm no longer belongs to Junior Brother Shen alone. It has been acknowledged by Heaven and Earth, branded, and now belongs to Heaven and Earth."

Xu Ran was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. He then looked at the expressionless Shen Wuchen in astonishment. ’Damn, this student of mine is really... full of surprises.’

He recalled the state he was in when facing Shen Wuchen earlier, unable to control his own thoughts. He frowned in contemplation for a moment before asking Zhang Zhentian:

"In that case, for those first two moves, you were basically forced to take the hits passively?"

Zhang Zhentian nodded. "That’s more or less right. Junior Brother Shen and I have sparred many times, so if I really wanted to resist, I could. However, for someone fighting him for the first time, caught completely off guard, it would be almost impossible to fight back in those first few moments of the battle."

Hearing this, Xu Ran’s brow furrowed tightly as he replayed the battle between Zhang Zhentian and Shen Wuchen in his mind.

Just now, Zhang Zhentian had been caught off guard and took two of Shen Wuchen’s attacks head-on, yet he was completely unscathed. This was why he was defeated on the third move.

This could only mean that Shen Wuchen’s attack power was far too weak to harm Zhang Zhentian. If his attacks were stronger—not enough to seriously injure Zhang Zhentian, but just enough to wound him—then the outcome of the battle wouldn’t have been so one-sided.

If nothing else, Shen Wuchen could have lasted at least two more moves.

And in a real life-or-death battle, those two moves could be the key for Shen Wuchen to turn the tables or even seize a chance to survive.

The reason the gap between a Flying Immortal Stream Nascent Soul Stage and an Ordinary Nascent Soul Stage was so vast came down to one crucial point: every single move from an Ordinary Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator contained the Power of Law.

Similarly, the reason there were no records in the Cultivation Realm of a Golden Core Stage Cultivator fighting across realms to challenge a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was also because Golden Core Stage attacks lacked the Power of Law. It was nearly impossible for them to break through the defenses of an Ordinary Nascent Soul.

Xu Ran frowned, thinking to himself, ’How can I get Shen Wuchen to grasp the Power of Law?’

He immediately looked at Shen Wuchen and asked, "Have you ever tried to borrow the Power of Heaven and Earth’s Law?"

Shen Wuchen nodded and replied, "I and the other Supreme Elders in the Sect who advanced via the Flying Immortal Stream have all tried. It’s basically impossible."

"Our comprehension of the Dao can barely reach the level of Law. Even if we could force it, our Divine Souls and bodies wouldn’t be able to withstand the Power of Heaven and Earth’s Law."

Xu Ran nodded thoughtfully. That made sense. Cultivators who advanced through the Flying Immortal Stream did so precisely because their comprehension was insufficient. If they could comprehend things at the level of Law, they could cultivate normally and would have no need to take the path of the Flying Immortal Stream at all.

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