Transformation Diagram: Starting as a Skinny Dog-Chapter 594 - 382: Second Marrow Cleansing

The iron tree blooms.

The students within the Destruction Tower were all captivated by the iron tree that Tower Master Murong Cheng pulled out from his sleeve and placed in the center of the hall.

Everyone stood in a circle around the iron tree.

"This isn’t really a tree at all; it’s completely a decorative piece cast from iron, without a trace of life inside. How could it possibly bloom?" Someone remarked after observing for a long time, even reaching out to touch it, expressing their doubt.

Chen Ku also reached out to touch this iron tree, discovering that the trunk was indeed metal, and even common pig iron, not any precious material.

"An iron tree blooms?" he murmured to himself: "To invoke life in metal, this..."

Murong Cheng looked at everyone and said, "The reason you think an iron tree cannot bloom is because, from ancient times, you have understood the rules of heaven and earth inherited from the ancient people’s concept of the natural Dao, making you subconsciously feel that metal represents end and killing, and wood represents life and growth. This has always been the law of heaven and earth, but that is merely the superficial law... not the Dao; Dao evolves everything in heaven and earth. If you can enter the Dao, you can ignite fire in water, and make an iron tree bloom."

Everyone seemed deep in thought.

"This realm is somewhat too lofty." Someone said with a wry smile.

Most people felt that this was a realm and field that ordinary people could not step into.

Xue Bailiu seemed to understand something, slowly saying, "Is this the founding concept of the Destruction Tower? Ascend in one step? Let someone start directly from entering the Dao. If one can enter the Dao, they are undoubtedly a rare genius, possessing cultivation, all methods return to one source, all skills and martial arts are mere tricks."

"Indeed, you all see the Nine-Nine Forbidden Patterns in your textbooks, the prohibitions formed by these forbidden patterns simulate the rules of the Tao of Heaven and Earth, integrating the Tao into the prohibition, this move... only those with Dao nature can achieve."

Murong Cheng said slowly:

"Most people shouldn’t think about making the iron tree bloom, but can start with forbidden patterns, which is also a method of entering the Dao, starting from understanding the prohibitions of heaven and earth, but it is also very difficult..."

The students looked at each other, understanding that two choices were being given.

Those confident in themselves can directly comprehend the iron tree. If they think they don’t have the Dao nature to make the iron tree bloom, they can comprehend the more straightforward forbidden patterns.

But even forbidden patterns directly touch the essence of the great Tao of heaven and earth.

"This is the Destruction Tower, skipping all intermediate cultivation laws, allowing students to start directly with the Dao, relying purely on hard understanding..."

Chen Ku somewhat understood why, as Murong Cheng said, although the Destruction Tower was the largest sect in the Dragon Abyss Province, it only had one hundred and eight inheritors.

If these one hundred and eight inheritors were all held to the standard of entering the Dao, it is unimaginable how powerful the Destruction Tower, formed by one hundred and eight Dao-entering experts, would be.

The Destruction Tower’s courses ended in the afternoon.

The next day, Chen Ku chose to go to the Qianyuan Hall, after all, he signed up for nine halls, and wanted to learn the inheritance of each hall.

Especially this Qianyuan Mountain.

According to Master Tian Hai, there is a pill called the ’Nine Dragon Pill’ in the Qianyuan Mountain. After taking it, one’s Nine Dragon Power can increase.

Chen Ku currently has a forty-eight dragon power, and increasing the strength by even one dragon is very difficult.

If he could get closer to the Qianyuan Mountain and obtain this Nine Dragon Pill, it would undoubtedly be greatly beneficial to his strength enhancement.

Moreover, he himself had a good impression of the old Taoist Gu Heng of Qianyuan Mountain.

In the Qianyuan Hall, the old Taoist Gu Heng was teaching today, and seeing Chen Ku unexpectedly among the elective students listening in the hall, his beard quivered with excitement, and he began enthusiastically lecturing on the inheritance of Qianyuan Mountain.

The Qianyuan Hall’s teaching material content also consists of three books, divided into "Wind and Fire Group Training Skill", "True Essence Relics Method", and "Central Altar Wuxu Yellow Qi".

The Wind and Fire Group Training Skill is a divine arts method of refining weapons and pills.

Qianyuan Mountain itself is one of the major sects that specializes in refining weapons and pills, developing and creating hundreds of kinds of divine weapons and even refining hundreds or thousands of top-grade spirit pills, and even Holy Pills.

It is said that the "Nine Dragon Pill" is a pill of the Holy Pill level. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The True Essence Relics Method is somewhat similar to the Imperial Enlightenment Sect’s Shaking God Dragon Elephant Particles, but while the Shaking God Decision’s Dragon Elephant Particles can theoretically be infinitely condensed, until every micro-particle of the body is condensed into Dragon Elephant Particles,

the True Essence Relic embarks on a path of specialization, condensing all its True Essence into a relic bone within the mud pill palace of the mind, continuously refining and purifying it, until it is mass-refined into a source of energy for one’s entire being, which can be continuously purified, ultimately evolving True Essence, a method leading straight to the Tenth Realm ’Primordial Heaven-level’.

The last one is a means of defense.

The Central Altar Wuxu Yellow Qi is a protective true qi, cultivating the divine treasure of the spleen palace in the central altar of the human body, nurturing a breath of Wuxu Yellow Qi, which, in a confrontation, can externally evolve into a golden lotus, standing on the earth, the true qi is endless, a protective divine skill similar to the ’Earth King’.

It’s evident from how the Qianyuan Mountain imparts these three divine skills to students of the Divine Martial Hall that it’s a carefully selected offering.

Especially the Wind and Fire Group Training Skill, which is an all-purpose solution on the battlefield, significantly cultivating a group of mature and talented ’Weapon Forging Masters’ and ’Alchemists’.

Imagine that, in a year, approximately a hundred or so Weapon Forging Masters and Alchemists directly join the battlefield as logistics, providing immense support in the rear for the forces resisting the Yuan Lu.

"Qianyuan Mountain, as one of the three major sects whose sects were destroyed by the Yuan Country and its mountain gates flattened, divulging such foundation-laying divine arts like the Wind and Fire Group Training Skill must indicate deep hatred towards the Yuan Country."

Like in the Martial Arts Stele Forest, Chen Ku spent less than half a day to initially comprehend the cultivation methods of these three divine skills, but... by his estimation, mastering these three divine-level martial arts to perfection would take at least three to four months.

After all, comprehending the concept and method of cultivation is vastly different from achieving great achievement, much less perfection.

Especially for divine-grade cultivation techniques, which are the culmination of the painstaking efforts of people with world-surpassing talent, each can reshape the martial order of an entire state mansion region.

...

Thus, Chen Ku’s upcoming days became unprecedentedly routine.

He first sequentially visited the nine halls, and after comprehending the basic cultivation methods of martial arts from the eight halls other than the Destruction Tower, he assigned his insights to several incarnations to remain in the Hero King Realm, helping him practice the eight halls’ martial arts.

As for himself, he spent most of his time in the Destruction Tower, engrossed in studying that iron tree.

At night, whether there was something or not, Loose Cultivators were sent out to gather more Eighth Realm Demons from the Five Elements Mountain Range, roast them with the Fire Beak Pot, and then completely ingest them with the Gluttonous Snake Body, transforming them into True Gang Qi for marrow cleansing.

Thus, amidst Chen Ku’s daily consumption of Eighth Realm Demons and his orderly cultivation process.

In the blink of an eye.

Twenty days passed.

On this day.

In the Destruction Hall, Chen Ku was still staring dazedly at the Iron Tree.

It’s visible.

After twenty days, there were hardly any students left in the Destruction Hall to keep watching the Iron Tree; most chose to diligently comprehend those Forbidden Patterns.

In front of the Iron Tree, only Chen Ku, Xue Bailiu, and eight other talents from the Immortal Institute remained.

Everyone who can enter the Immortal Institute has shown outstanding qualifications, root bone, and combat cultivation during the assessment of the Three Gates and feels challenged by tasks like the Iron Tree Flowering.

But those studying in the Upper Academy and even the Lower Academy have all given up.

Furthermore, because of Murong Cheng’s previous words, some people even transferred from the Destruction Hall to other halls, fearful they wouldn’t comprehend anything here within a year, lacking credits, unable to graduate, only to become a starting soldier on the front lines.

During these more than half a month, although he wasn’t aware of what others may have comprehended from the Iron Tree.

Chen Ku, indeed, gained some insights.

This primarily benefited from the scroll "Yankang Dao Map" obtained from Wen Suzhen’s cave mansion, plus his qualifications were first among this term’s students.

Twenty days’ time.

Chen Ku felt he faintly perceived a sliver of something from this Iron Tree.

Yet couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

According to Murong Cheng, it should be a trace of Tao rhythm left by the Destruction Tower Master on this Iron Tree.

Chen Ku occasionally felt bewildered as though the tree before him vanished.

Leaving only a more essential thing.

Vaguely.

He seemed on the verge of grasping it, yet it remained obscured by a layer of mist, unable to see clearly.

This also made him feel the difficulty of entering Dao, even with Azure Dragon Talent, Supreme Qualifications, so much time yielded only slight returns, hard to imagine what kind of Tao nature the one hundred and eight people of the Destruction Tower possessed.

And right as Chen Ku was perceiving the Iron Tree Flowering.

Boom~~

An explosive sound emerged within his body akin to a river bursting through a dam.

Boom!

In the Destruction Hall, all students turned from their meditation mats to look towards the source of the commotion.

Only to see.

Underneath Chen Ku, the ground acted like quicksand, absorbing the young man’s graceful form as it sank down.

"This is..."

Everyone present was in disbelief, all recognizing the situation.

"Chen Ku completed spinal cultivation, reaching the second marrow cleansing level."

Even Murong Cheng, while lecturing on Forbidden Patterns, raised an eyebrow abruptly, gazing at Chen Ku, with a strong shock surfacing in his seemingly calm eyes:

"Monster! Absolutely a monster!"

Before participating in the Divine Martial Mountain exam, during the bout with Jiang Hengchu, he was only at Seventh Realm Outer Firmament; a month later in the Martial Arts Stele Forest, he stepped into Eighth Realm Marrow Cleansing.

Now, twenty days later, he had completed the second marrow cleansing.

Though he knew Chen Ku obtained the Naughty Marrow Cleansing Technique in the Martial Arts Stele Forest, even an Immortal Law wouldn’t allow such rapid breakthroughs, unless he consumed top-grade Spirit Pills like food daily.

He didn’t know that.

Though Chen Ku wasn’t devouring top-grade Spirit Pills daily, he wasn’t far off, consuming one Eighth Realm Demon Beast each day, with its massive Blood and Flesh Essence Qi, only the Gluttonous Snake Body could digest.

If it were anyone else, such supplements would cause their Blood Qi to swell before breaking through, over-saturating themselves.

"Just as I predicted, over half a month, entering second marrow cleansing."

Chen Ku sensed his state, rose from the grand hall, apologized with a salute to everyone, began repairing the hall with the ’Kunlun Technique’ of the Five Thunder Technique, then calculated inwardly:

"At this speed, could I step into the Ninth Realm for Blood Exchange in six months?"

By graduation, would it be possible to transform myself into Innate Body, enter the Tenth Realm, and then onto the battlefield?