Transformation Diagram: Starting as a Skinny Dog-Chapter 420 - 277: The Nine States’ Impact

Inside the Martial Temple of Qiu Dragon Mansion.

A group of elderly scholars stared unblinkingly at the top-ranking name ’Dragon Abyss Nine States Genius List’ of Chen Ku on the golden list at the top of the great hall, as if it were flickering and jumping like a flash of spirit light.

It jumped consecutively from 964th place to 864th place, yet the upward trend had not ended.

"Did it just jump over more than a hundred places?"

The old scholar Xin Ruhai inside the Martial Temple was astonished, and exclaimed:

"This is simply outrageous."

Although they knew Chen Ku’s previous 964th place was the ranking he obtained when he passed the Military Scholar examination, evaluated according to the rules imprinted in the Martial Arts Heaven and Earth.

This evaluation was based on Chen Ku’s performance in the Martial Arts Heaven and Earth.

Ranking in the nine hundred might not seem impressive, but it was crucial to understand the massive population base from which this list was arranged.

The Dragon Abyss Province’s Nine States consists of 108 prefectures, with over a thousand counties, a total population of about 1.3 billion people.

In such a vast population base, any individual who can be called a ’genius’ would indeed be one in ten-thousand, or even one in a hundred-thousand in terms of qualifications and endowment.

Among 1.3 billion people, though 99 percent are ordinary people who are excluded, with no martial arts training, qualifications, or reputation, even so, there are still tens of thousands of people on the entire genius list.

It is imaginable how astonishing it was for Chen Ku to rank in the top thousand among tens of thousands of people on his first attempt.

And the closer the ranking is to the top thousand, the more difficult it becomes, akin to thousands upon thousands crossing a single-plank bridge.

Calculating with the Dragon Abyss Province having over a thousand counties, dividing the top thousand ranking, if one person among ten thousand in one county can enter the top thousand, that is already burning high incense, and this is under ideal circumstances.

In reality,

The larger the city, the more resources it has, and the more geniuses cluster, whereas in remote counties, the number of geniuses drops exponentially, involving some kind of ’wealth accumulation’ rule.

Thus,

Any genius within the top thousand from the Nine States is surely someone who has claimed the ’best’ title in a certain domain of their prefecture, be it the best sword technique, bladesmanship, speed movement technique, Qi power, or strength...

Consequently, with a single exertion, Chen Ku leaped across a hundred places, surpassing a hundred geniuses ahead of him, equivalent to him overturning all the geniuses in approximately a hundred counties in an instant.

Not only the elderly scholars inside the Martial Temple of Qiu Dragon Mansion were astonished.

Across the Dragon Abyss Province’s nine major states, 108 prefectures, and nearly a thousand counties, anyone recorded in the Nine States Genius List between 864th to 964th place also simultaneously received the news from their Martial Arts Gold Order.

Their ranking suddenly dropped by one place.

The ten individuals originally ranked 960th to 970th alongside Chen Ku saw it the clearest...

In Canglan Prefecture, a girl in a light yellow thin dress noticed her ranking dropping to 962nd while seeing the person originally ranked 964th...

Disappear beneath her ranking.

She had just checked her ranking yesterday.

Generally speaking, the genius list’s rankings rarely change in just ten days or half a month.

Therefore...

The result was obvious.

It was that the Scholar Chen Ku from Qiu Dragon Mansion, previously ranked below her, suddenly surpassed her today.

"Chen Ku, Chen Ku..." Huang Ruolan curiously walked toward the Martial Temple of Canglan Prefecture.

Suddenly being surpassed by someone ranked below.

She naturally wanted to see, now, how many places this person had surpassed her?

The change in rankings on the Nine States Genius List not only instantaneously drew the attention of all top thousand geniuses in more than a thousand counties within the Nine States.

Liang Province, Qianyuan Mountain.

Qianyuan Mountain is the only sect with a ’Zong’ prefix in the Liang Province region of the Dragon Abyss Province.

"In just one day, to elevate a hundred places, this explosive speed, if not due to special circumstances, then it signifies this young genius named Chen Ku is highly likely to enter the ’Dragon Abyss Hundred Outstanding’ before fifty when he steps down from the list,"

Inside Qianyuan Mountain, an old Taoist in a crane robe holding a horsetail whisk looked toward a mirror inside the grand hall, reflecting Chen Ku’s ranking, and softly praised:

"Such high potential."

"We can only see this person’s ranking, not his age, it’s hard to evaluate."

Another female Taoist chuckled softly:

"If it’s a Scholar in their thirties or forties, they would only have a few years before stepping down from the list; even if they can climb a hundred places in a short time, there are still eight hundred people ahead of them, the further the ranking, the greater the difficulty in surpassing them."

Since the Dragon Abyss Nine States Genius List houses geniuses, it must have an age limit.

Fifty years old is a threshold.

Martial Practitioners over fifty, no matter how strong their abilities and qualified to be on the list, are viewed as having lost potential, and cannot stand on the genius list.

Under these conditions, all geniuses on the list automatically step down at fifty.

Fifty years,

This age, among ordinary people, might already mean half their body is buried.

But for Martial Practitioners, with cultivation in the Inner Strength Realm, they can live up to two hundred years.

In the face of a two-hundred-year lifespan, fifty-year-old Martial Practitioners are equivalent to a normal person’s twenties.

Therefore, cultivating to the Five Realms before fifty is the minimum threshold for a genius.

"It shouldn’t be someone in their thirties or forties," the highly ranked elder from Qianyuan Mountain pondered: "I feel it’s more likely to be a younger person."

After all, how could a Scholar in their thirties or forties still be so vigorous and fierce, with such momentum to climb over a hundred places?

"It’s a pity, we are in Liang Province, and he is in You State. Although both are within Dragon Abyss Province, they are separated by fifty to sixty thousand miles, and we cannot investigate in detail. Otherwise, if he is truly a young prodigy, with the momentum of rising a hundred places in one breath, he would already be qualified to join our Qianyuan Mountain in Liang Province as a registered disciple," the Taoist sighed.

"That’s true. I bet by now the Destruction Tower in You State has already started gathering information on this prodigy," the elder of Qianyuan Mountain sighed, "You State indeed lived up to its reputation as the capital of Yan Country three generations ago. It’s a place of heroes and spiritual energy, and the frequency of geniuses appearing is much higher than in our desolate Liang Province."

The Taoist softly said, "But it’s precisely because of this that some who are qualified to join a sect in our remote Liang Province are highly valued, yet in You State, they might not even meet the qualifications for entering a sect; there are just too many geniuses."

The elder pondered, "Let’s keep an eye on it. If he truly is a prodigy and not immediately noticed by the Destruction Tower, perhaps we can try to find this person at Qiu Dragon Mansion."

Within the sect, there is also strength and weakness.

It seemed completely as predicted by the people of Qianyuan Mountain in Liang Province.

Sure enough.

In the territory of You State, in the only sect-level force, the Destruction Tower.

The mountains towered high, with tall buildings erected atop their peaks, stretching into the clouds, seemingly capable of plucking stars.

The Instructor Elder, Murong Cheng, responsible for conducting teachings in the Destruction Tower, also received messages delivered by some outer disciples from below.

Gazing at the words "Chen Ku."

He laughed heartily and said:

"Even if he rose a hundred places in an instant, isn’t he still in the eight hundreds? Is this enough to be worthy of joining our Destruction Tower?"

This wasn’t self-praise.

After all, those ranking in the top one hundred on the Genius List, each wanting to join these great sects, still had to be carefully selected and picked.

Why would a genius ranking in the eight hundreds need to be rushed into welcoming into the sect?

As Murong Cheng spoke, his gaze cast glances at the Nine Provinces Genius List on the table.

Sects like theirs, with close ties to the Imperial Court’s Martial Temple, had this kind of specially made list that could instantly see all the genius quotas.

Witnessing Chen Ku’s consecutive leap of a hundred ranks, continuing to climb, finally settling at a position.

Eight hundred fiftieth: Chen Ku, hailing from Qiu Dragon Mansion — the best Root Bone of the Sixth Realm in Qiu Dragon Mansion

"The best Root Bone of the Sixth Realm, rather nice evaluation... alas, still only ranked outside the eight hundreds..."

Murong Cheng casually covered the list, closing it:

"If he could reach the top five hundred, perhaps it would be worth an additional glance from me."

......

Chen Ku was unaware that his ranking had continuously risen over a hundred places, already creating a small news story across the many thousands of counties and several sects within the outer Dragon Abyss Province.

He just looked at his ranking on the Genius List, confirmed at eight hundred and fiftieth, and had an additional new record and achievement after his resume — the first Root Bone of the Sixth Realm in Qiu Dragon Mansion.

He thought to himself:

"They must have determined that the source of power in my recent attack on the Blood Maple King was not from a cultivation technique, but my inherent Root Bone..."

Thinking of this, a smile crossed his mind:

"I was worried earlier about whether the rules within Martial Arts Heaven and Earth could reveal my observed original form. It seems now they can only see some surface things, unable to penetrate my Transformation Diagram."

The strike that killed the Blood Maple Tree King, exhibiting the power of the Seven Dragons, roughly seventy hundred thousand pounds of force, only a few tens of thousand pounds were his own strength.

The power of more than six hundred thousand pounds of the Six Dragons was all from the augmentation on the Transformation Diagram, counted as his Root Bone’s strength.

As a result, Martial Arts Heaven and Earth also believed the same.

He slightly relaxed.

Then, he bathed in the golden light of Martial Arts Heaven and Earth, receiving the rewards after killing the Blood Maple Tree King.

[Scholar Chen Ku cleared the ’Blood Maple Forest’ in three breaths, setting a new record in Martial Arts Heaven and Earth]

[Regular clearance reward: Green Gold Cicada Molting (Top-grade Spirit Medicine)]

[Record-breaking reward: Earthfire Black Gold (Divine Weapon Level casting material)]

Chen Ku stretched out his hand, catching these two rewards falling from the golden light, and examined them closely.

The Green Gold Cicada Molting, only about three inches in size, neither gold nor jade in texture, gleamed with a metallic luster, had an aura of sharpness, and carried a rich medicinal fragrance.

The Green Gold Cicada is a top-grade spirit insect, said to live on absorbing metallic qi, an incredibly precious ’medicinal spirit insect,’ with its molted skin alone having the effect of a top-grade spirit medicine.

However, Chen Ku knew this was an important item to unlock the hidden levels in the Golden Light Forest.

Subsequently,

he looked at the fist-sized piece, like a piece of black gold, irregular and jagged, seemingly alive, glimmering with metallic radiance inside.

"Divine Weapon Level casting material, Earth Core Black Gold."

Chen Ku felt joy:

"The third piece of Divine Weapon Level casting material."

The last time he entered Martial Arts Heaven and Earth, he had already acquired two Divine Weapon Level casting materials.

One was the Jiuli Armor Leaf, from the protective spiritual treasure ’Jiuli Tongtian Armor’ of King Li of yore, inherently supernatural and rich in spiritual energy, a rare material for crafting various weapons and armors.

The other was the Thousand-year Cold Iron Essence, a human-head-sized piece, like a honeycomb indigo-colored ore, faintly emitting a supremely hard glow, obtained after breaking the record at the Five Elements Valley’s Sand Snake King stage.

"Three pieces of Divine Weapon Level casting material, theoretically, in terms of quality alone, are enough to forge a Divine Weapon Level weapon and armor."

Chen Ku mused:

"Though I’m still short of one hundred eighty thousand Martial Destiny, I can probably go to the Stone Tablet to see what kind of weapon these three pieces of Divine Weapon Level casting material can forge?"