Da Xuan Martial Saint

Chapter 614: Chapter 363 Cave Heaven_2

However, for Chen Mu at present, neither iron ore mines nor Cold Jade mines were of any concern to him.

“The spot marked on the map is within this stone vein; there should be a cave here. But if this stone vein was formed by the compression of Earth’s Veins, why would there be a cavity inside?”

The image of the Demon Skin Map surfaced in Chen Mu’s mind again.

However, he soon shook his head slightly. The world was filled with many anomalies, especially within the Earth’s Veins. Ultimately, finding the cave hidden in this stone vein would reveal what was inside.

Chen Mu began a meticulous exploration along the stone vein.

If he were above ground, he could forcibly shatter the stone vein and make his way through, but here he could not. On one hand, although this stone vein was made up of various disordered minerals, it had formed into a whole; the power inside the vein was extremely robust and heavy. On the other hand, because they were beneath the Earthly Abyss, the environment here was even more difficult to disturb.

Fortunately,

this stone vein was not extremely large, stretching only about ten miles underground.

Chen Mu carefully explored each area, spending about half a day, and finally found a passage that had not closed off, leading inside the stone vein.

“It should be here.”

Standing at the entrance of the cave, Chen Mu gazed into the stone vein and after briefly sensing what was inside, he frowned slightly.

With his current sensing abilities, he could hardly discern the situation inside the cave. His sensing reach extended only about ten yards before abruptly stopping, leaving him without any clear perception.

However,

Chen Mu was now both skilled and bold.

No matter what was inside the cave, he was no longer so fearful. Even if he encountered a Ninth Rank Heavenly Demon, with his current strength, he could fight it. There were very few situations that could pose a threat to him.

Step.

After taking a step forward, Chen Mu entered the cave.

As soon as he stepped into the cave, he immediately felt a slight difference.

If outside the cave, on the exterior of the stone vein, the oppression from the Earthly Abyss on him was very intense, then as he stepped into the cave, that oppression from the Earthly Abyss immediately weakened.

This slightly surprised Chen Mu.

Since his arrival in the Earthly Abyss, he had never felt this before. The oppression from the Earthly Abyss had always increased as he went deeper, never weakening regardless of his location—except here, completely different.

“No wonder this place is so strange. Such intense pressure the Earth’s Veins, yet it hasn’t destroyed this cave or compressed the stone vein into a solid mass… What on earth is inside this cave that it can resist the Earthly Abyss’s oppression?”

Chen Mu stared into the depths of the cave.

His gaze could only discern darkness, unable to see any light or determine what was inside.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Chen Mu continued to delve deeper into the cave. As he went further, the oppression cloaking him from the Earthly Abyss grew weaker until he had gone about twenty to thirty yards deep into the cave, where the oppressive feeling vanished completely!

It was as if he was no longer in the Earthly Abyss, but had returned to the surface.

Thus,

Chen Mu walked a few more steps and the world in front of him suddenly opened up.

Above him, where there had been the rock walls of the stone vein, was now a void of deep black, its upper limits unknown, with its end faintly marked by countless fine white streaks. All around, as far as the eye could see, was also a scene of void.

At this moment, Chen Mu stood on the edge of a massive layer of stone that stretched for several miles.

Looking down,

he saw that the vast stone below him was also void, entirely floating in mid-air!

Looking ahead, he could see in the pitch-black void, numerous stones floating in the air, with the largest pieces stretching for several miles, resembling a floating island.

“This is…”

A flicker of emotion finally surfaced on Chen Mu’s face.

Although he had entered this place through a passage within the underground stone vein, he could ascertain that this place was no longer within the stone vein, not even within the Earthly Abyss; that’s why it was completely isolated from the oppression coming from the Earthly Abyss.

Cave Heaven!

This was a small Cave Heaven!

Although it existed in the center of the underground stone vein, it was actually another space entirely. The area within sight, though not very large, spanned at least several dozen miles, much larger than the stone vein outside.

About such Cave Heaven worlds, Chen Mu had seen descriptions in ancient texts, but only a single sentence.

—Cave Heaven, a rare sight in the world.

“Cave Heaven, so the Demon Skin Map recorded a place of Cave Heaven.”

A glint flashed in Chen Mu’s eyes.

A stone vein of just over ten miles in radius, but inside it could hold several dozen miles of space. He released his senses completely, keenly perceiving the interior of the Cave Heaven, and for a moment, he felt mysteries everywhere.

Making Mount Sumeru into a mustard seed, accommodating heaven and earth within a small space.

His mastered Qiankun Artistic Conception, which controlled the Eight Phases of heaven and earth, was nearly omnipotent, but it still could not affect the essence of the Void, and even with all his might, in a direct confrontation with a practitioner at the Blood Exchange Realm like Qin Mengjun, he could only create a few cracks.

“It seems, those Cave Heaven Spiritual Treasures, like the Qiankun Pot, are probably similar to this place.”

Perceiving the environment of this Cave Heaven, Chen Mu couldn’t help thinking of the Qiankun Pot, a treasured item listed in the Da Xuan Spirit Weapon Catalogue, famously claimed to contain the universe within a pot, though this was obviously an exaggeration.

Gazing at the void around him, the first thought that entered Chen Mu’s mind was whether he could obtain a Cave Heaven Spirit Weapon like the “Qiankun Pot” for himself, something he had long yearned for.

But there were also significant issues with this Cave Heaven.

If this stone vein were considered as a “Qiankun Pot,” then this “Cave Heaven Spirit Weapon” would be a bit too large!

The Qiankun Pot, even if its internal space is small, has a very small body, but this stone vein extending over ten miles could not possibly be carried out as a whole to be used as a Cave Heaven Spirit Weapon, that would be completely meaningless.

“It seems that every spirit weapon has a ‘refinement’ process, but I have never heard of how the Qiankun Pot is refined; could it be that the process involves… ”

Chen Mu carefully examined this expanse of Cave Heaven, showing a thoughtful expression.

He suddenly wondered.

Could it be that the Qiankun Pot once started as such a massive stone vein, and then through continuous tempering and solidifying refinement, it was gradually refined smaller and smaller until it finally became a “Qiankun Pot”?

If that was the case, it obviously wouldn’t work for him. Setting aside his limited understanding of the refinement methods, even if he was proficient, it would take a long time to gradually refine this stone vein smaller, clearly not something achievable in the short term.

But that was also normal.

If it were easy to refine, there wouldn’t be just one Qiankun Pot in the world; that one Qiankun Pot might even have been the result of several generations persisting until its final creation.

Having never encountered a Cave Heaven before, nor having seen a Qiankun Pot with his own eyes, Chen Mu could only have a partial understanding. After pondering for a while, he temporarily set aside these distracting thoughts and decided to carefully explore this Cave Heaven first.

This Cave Heaven was neither too small nor too large.

Spanning about several dozen miles with only seven or eight larger “islands” floating in the air, Chen Mu spent just a short while visiting these places, yet he didn’t find anything else of note.

Compared to the Earthly Abyss, this Cave Heaven was much too small to give rise to any rare Spiritual Objects, and even if there had been any rare Spiritual Objects, they would have already been taken by the person who refined the Demon Skin Map, leaving nothing here.

The only thing left unmovable was the Cave Heaven itself.

Perhaps that was why the person had refined a Demon Skin Map, recording this location for future use. But then something happened, causing this map to change hands several times, eventually ending up with him.