High-level martial arts: Starting with a heart of steel, stats crush everything.

But the Great Xia itself only had 48 people from the local military units back, and with one unit per province, only 15 people remained to be responsible for mobile support.

We don't even have enough for our own use, so we have no choice but to temporarily put aside requests for help from other countries.

Thirty-one days later, the situation in the entire Great Xia Dynasty was completely back on track. Apart from the casualties caused by the sudden expansion of the abyss rift, very few abyssal beasts were able to break out of the abyss rift.

This battle also resulted in the loss of twenty-six Grandmasters in the Great Xia Dynasty. Although twenty of them survived, their life force and Grandmaster essence were sealed.

"My grandfather's qi and blood circulation has been disrupted..."

Gu Feng looked anxious, but he knew that there was no use in being anxious; he was powerless to help.

"It's alright, at least I'm not dead."

Yang Zuo patted Gu Feng on the shoulder, unsure how to comfort him.

"My second and fourth uncles all died in battle. Now, besides me, the strongest person in the family is my father, but he is still a long way from becoming a grandmaster."

Gu Feng scratched his head. The competition among the various families in Yanjing was extremely fierce. Their Gu family had lost the protection of a grandmaster, so it was inevitable that they would suffer a blow.

"I'm not worried about anything else; I'll become a grandmaster sooner or later."

"But we got our manor in the suburbs from the Qi family. I'm afraid they'll take advantage of the situation and steal it back."

"You have no idea how petty those bastards in the Qi family are, their hearts are smaller than yours."

"Given the current situation, they won't do anything too outrageous, but they will definitely do something to disgust the Gu family."

"Acquiring land is nothing compared to what I fear most: they'll target Uncle Liang's martial arts school in Yanjing!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Wanglin and the others frowned.

"I don't think it's a problem," Joseph said after a moment's thought.

"How could nothing happen? Uncle Liang isn't very strong, and your aunt and uncle are just ordinary people."

Ma Wanglin was anxious; she even had the urge to ride Funi back to help.

"Have you forgotten that Laifu is protecting his uncle and aunt right now?"

Joseph's words reminded Gu Feng and the others that after Chen Mo left, they had sent Lai Fu to protect Chen Mo's parents.

"That's alright then. If the Qi family is blind to their own faults, then they're just unlucky."

Gu Feng's heart immediately relaxed. Lai Fu didn't care about family face; if he said he'd do something, he really meant it.

"I wonder when Chen Mo will be back. Sister Chen Yi doesn't have much time left..."

Ma Wanglin breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to worry about Chen Mo's safety.

......

At this moment, Chen Mo's condition inside the Abyss Mother Tree was not so good.

"Damn it, why does the reduction become more severe the closer you get to your maximum health?"

Chen Mo's body is now completely corroded, with not a single hair left.

His life points, which were as high as 75 billion, were now reduced to just over 40 billion. What's the difference between that and dying on the spot?!

"The energy is getting stronger; I think I've found the right place."

Feeling the increasingly severe reduction in life limit and the ever-increasing density of energy around him, Chen Mo was certain that he was on the right track.

With his eyes closed, the veins of the surrounding tree trunks appeared clearly in Chen Mo's mind.

That's right, after more than two months of hard work, Chen Mo finally mastered the sixth sense.

The sixth sense is not simply vision, but a very comprehensive new sense.

It is only when you realize that your location and structure are the most basic things.

Chen Mo can still sense the flow of life within the Abyss Mother Tree, and can even see the various energy nodes within its body.

Not far in front of him, the flow of energy was so bright that he could not look directly at it, and within that blinding flow of energy lay a void.

Even if Chen Mo didn't know what it was, he could roughly guess that it was something very important.

"The final Shadow Step..."

Based on the current distance, this Shadow Step would be enough for Chen Mo to enter the torrent of energy.

With his mind highly focused, Chen Mo activated Shadow Step again the instant it cooled down.

This time, Chen Mo had no more scruples and rushed towards the torrent of energy at full speed.

The Abyss Mother Tree also noticed the foreign object within its body that had been destroyed dozens of times, and began to focus some of its attention on Chen Mo.

The wooden structure began to twist, as the Abyss Mother Tree attempted to capture Chen Mo.

But how could Chen Mo, in his ghostly state, be bound by a simple wooden structure? He passed through the trunk of the Abyss Mother Tree without any hindrance.

The Abyss Mother Tree grew increasingly puzzled. She clearly sensed a foreign object within her body, yet she was unable to capture it.

After observing for a period of time, Chen Mo also discovered that even the fully mature Abyss Mother Tree was not so scary.

Besides being able to nurture abyssal beasts at the highest Heavenly Martial Realm, the Abyss Mother Tree can only rely on its almost limitless vitality.

His attack power is frighteningly low; he can only inflict true damage like Chen Mo.

That's about it, nothing particularly challenging.

Chen Mo was getting closer and closer to the energy torrent, and the Abyss Mother Tree's capture of him was becoming more and more intense.

When the Abyss Mother Tree realized that physical methods could not capture Chen Mo and that only energy methods could restrain him, Chen Mo had already rushed into that torrent of energy.

No, it's not a torrent of energy; to be precise, it's a pure, ownerless torrent of life essence!

The torrent of life essence washed over Chen Mo's body, and his life force was rapidly worn away in each wave of the torrent.

With his maximum lifespan rapidly decreasing at a rate of hundreds of millions per second, Chen Mo must hurry to find the heart of the Abyss Mother Tree!

After leaving the trunk of the Abyss Mother Tree and arriving at the core area, Chen Mo's vision was restored.

While Sixth Sense is convenient, it's still not as comfortable to use as Vision.

Looking at the ever-flowing pure life essence before him, Chen Mo opened his storage space and devoured it frantically.

"Where is the heartwood? Where is the heartwood?"

Chen Mo looked around, feeling anxious as his maximum lifespan rapidly decreased.

Boom!

A slow but strong heartbeat sounded, and Chen Mo suddenly looked up.

"Holy shit..."

"So, it really is a heart, even though it's called a tree heart?"

Looking up at the enormous heart thousands of kilometers away, Chen Mo was deeply shocked by the sight.

The milky-white heart beat powerfully, each beat accelerating the surrounding torrent of life.

This also accelerated the reduction of Chen Mo's maximum lifespan.

"How am I supposed to take this thing with me?!"

As Chen Mo pondered, he approached the enormous, milky-white heart. The closer he got to the heart, the faster his life limit was reduced.