Transformation Diagram: Starting as a Skinny Dog-Chapter 593 - 381: Iron Tree Flowering

In the Hero King Realm.

The Dragon Horned Giant Crocodile, which had been roasted for half a day, was taken out of the Fire Beak Pot by Chen Ku. The scales had long been removed, and the entire giant crocodile glowed with a shiny red sheen.

Chen Ku could feel that even in just a small inch of the crocodile’s flesh, explosive Blood Qi energy was brimming.

Rip!

He reached out and tore off a massive crocodile leg, invoking the Gluttonous Snake Transformation, and began to eat. With a big bite, one third of the table-sized leg was gone, and as he chewed, he felt a surge of Vital Energy rushing into his body.

This is the Gluttonous Snake Transformation rapidly digesting.

A house-sized giant dragon-horned crocodile was thus consumed in less than half an hour under Chen Ku’s Gluttonous Snake Transformation.

Feeling the Vital Energy in his body being quickly digested by the Gluttonous Snake Transformation and integrated into his physique, it transformed into True Gang Qi.

Chen Ku felt his True Gang Qi surge just a little bit within this short half-hour.

This made him delighted.

He immediately began to operate the Immortal Law "Naughty Marrow Cleansing Technique," continuing to purify the True Gang Qi that had already been refined by the Gluttonous Snake Transformation, cleansing it towards the spinal marrow.

After a round of cultivation.

Chen Ku felt that as his True Gang Qi kept washing through his spinal marrow, snow-white crystalline substances began to emerge on the marrow.

This is the spinal marrow beginning to crystallize.

Chen Ku was even more pleased and said, "The blood and flesh of an Eighth Realm demon can make my cultivation advance so fast. It feels like it won’t be long before I successfully complete the second marrow cleansing, turning the marrow liquid into a snowy, lead-mercury state."

Thus, a day passed.

The next day, Er Lang returned from Yan Capital.

"This is a batch of treasure herb spiritual medicine and some seeds of Holy Medicine that I collected in Yan Capital."

Er Lang took out some bottles and jars from a storage pouch.

Chen Ku took them and smiled:

"Good, I’ve already manifested the Green Dragon Transformation. Next, the seeds just need to be nurtured daily with Green Dragon Qi in the medicinal garden. Before long, they’ll meet the needs for my Six-Eared Macaque Listening."

"I’ve also arranged a shop in Yan Capital, just missing your main incarnation to oversee it, then we can expand our business of the Dan Yuan Association to the provincial capital," Er Lang discussed his plan with Chen Ku carefully.

Chen Ku pondered for a moment.

"The forces in Yan Capital are too deep for an ordinary incarnation to handle. I plan to manifest the Tang Xuan Transformation here, and on this basis, add in the Xuanwu Transformation. Refining the shapes together, it’ll at least be enough to deal with Ninth Realm Second Layer individuals, but the Eighth Realm Evil Qi isn’t sufficient. We’ll need to let Loose Cultivators gather more demons; only then will we have enough Eighth Realm Evil Qi to manifest Tang Xuan."

"I’ll return to Qiu Dragon Mansion first; there are many matters to handle there," Er Lang said. "Once the Tang Xuan Transformation is manifested, have him come to negotiate with us."

Er Lang departed.

That night, Chen Ku roasted another Eighth Realm curved-horned goat.

The next day at dawn, just as the sky was getting light.

Dong!

With a bell toll, all the students came out of their respective residences and gathered in the General Hall.

This is a course that everyone in the Ten Halls must practice; no one can avoid it.

In the General Hall is a Martial Arts Heaven and Earth.

Because it’s the first day of teaching.

Today’s course in the General Hall is taught by the chief instructor, that former Martial Arts Top Scholar ancestor, Zu Dengfeng.

Early in the morning, a thousand people were gathered inside, listening attentively as this Martial Arts Top Scholar presented an ancient and modern history of warfare, analyzing classic battles between nations from various past dynasties.

Today, the focus is on a classic battle that occurred five hundred years ago, during the Great Hong dynasty, involving the Great Hong dynasty and neighboring Yuan Country Qi Cultivators.

It turns out that five hundred years ago, when the Great Hong dynasty was recently founded, half of the territory we know today as Daji belonged to Yuan Country.

It was after the Great Hong Ancestor ascended the throne that he dispatched the founding general, Duke Chang, who led the army in a decade-long northern expedition, gradually reclaiming half the land, forming today’s Hong Ji territory over two generations.

Five hundred years ago, the martial artists of Ji Country had experience and history of battle with Qi Cultivators.

However, at that time, Hong Country within was not solely dominated by martial practitioners; there were various other systems of cultivation.

Zu Dengfeng gave an example of a general named Zhang You under Duke Chang five hundred years ago. Despite exhausting his ammunition and supplies and having only three thousand troops to defend the city, he held out against fifty thousand Yuan Country Qi Cultivators for forty-five days, pinning down one-third of the enemy forces, providing invaluable aid to Duke Chang’s northern offensive against Yuan, and ultimately was conferred the title of Fourth Rank Duke.

All the students, including Chen Ku, listened carefully.

They knew that each lesson in the General Hall might become part of their combat experience against the Yuan Army after graduation.

In military tactics, the fundamental principles remain consistent; it’s all about the deceptive way, using emptiness as reality and vice versa.

After the morning session of the General Hall course.

In the afternoon, the students would attend their respective Major Study Hall sessions.

In the Destruction Hall.

The hall contained sixty-one meditation cushions, marking the positions for the sixty-one students focusing on Destruction Hall, including ten purple cushions where Wen Suzhen, Chen Ku, and other Immortal Institute disciples sat.

When a white-bearded elder entered the hall with his hands behind his back.

All students stood up:

"Greetings to Murong Palace Master."

The newcomer was the Instructor Elder of the Destruction Tower, also in charge of the Destruction Hall.

Murong Cheng’s gaze swept over the students rising from their mats, his eyes particularly focused on Chen Ku and Xue Bailiu, as he smiled slightly and addressed everyone:

"Everyone sit down. Today is the first lesson of our Destruction Hall, and I, as the Hall Master, will personally teach it. You all should have received the Destruction Hall’s curriculum by now. We will start with the ’Nine-Nine Forbidden Patterns’. However, before learning about the Forbidden Patterns, I will first discuss what Forbidden Patterns are and what the Destruction Tower is."

Everyone sat upright and attentive.

Especially Chen Ku.

He assumed an eager-to-listen posture.

After all, the reason he wanted to join the Divine Martial Hall was precisely for the Destruction Hall’s Forbidden Technique Finger.

"What do you think constitutes a ’law’? And why does our Destruction Tower aim to destroy it?" Murong Cheng asked the gathering.

The crowd began buzzing with discussion.

"What is a law?"

One student boldly answered, "It’s referring to the spells of a Qi Cultivator."

Murong Cheng shook his head, "Very superficial."

The crowd resumed their discussion.

Finally, Murong Cheng named and pointed at Chen Ku, smiling as he asked:

"Chen Ku, what do you think constitutes a ’law’?"

Chen Ku did not expect the Hall Master to call on him directly. He was lost in thought earlier, and now he attempted to answer:

"I’ve heard that the Destruction Tower has four style inheritances, namely Soul Stabilization, Sealing Origin, Forbidden Technique, and Life Destruction. These four styles all represent Martial Arts Divine Ability that seals heaven and earth and destroys laws. Especially the Forbidden Technique Finger, which is said to hold the divine power to prohibit the laws of heaven and earth. So... ’law’ refers to ’law’ in this context, right?"

"Both correct and incorrect." Murong Cheng shook his head.

He finally looked at Xue Bailiu and, with a smile, said, "Xue Bailiu, you being the third in Dragon Abyss have knowledge far exceeding all your peers here. You should know, right?"

Xue Bailiu remained seated, hands on his knees, and calmly replied, "The myriad things of heaven and earth, the universe as a whole, originally have something called the ’Dao’. The Dao is formless and appears differently to different people. Some enter the Dao through qi, creating the Immortal Dao and the Qi Refining Method for Qi Cultivators. Some enter the Dao through martial arts, creating the Body Method. Others enter through divinity, creating the Divine Soul Skill...

Between heaven and earth, first comes the Dao, then the law, and then skills are born from the law, forming different techniques.

Taking the Martial Path’s law as an example, everyone on the path of a Martial Practitioner is a successor of Martial Arts law. From it, various martial techniques and divine skills are derived and represent the techniques derived from Martial Arts law."

Murong Cheng nodded with a smile, "You’re right. So, what is the meaning of the Destruction Tower’s ’Destruction of Law’?"

Xue Bailiu slowly replied, "The Destruction of Law in the Destruction Tower aims to seek Dao by destroying law, intending to base disciples on the Dao rather than law. Therefore, the practice of the Destruction Tower lies in ’entering the Dao’. Upon entering the Dao, one naturally obtains the law, rather than relying on law to cultivate Dao. As Junior Brother Chen mentioned earlier, the Destruction of Magic Four Styles are techniques derived by the greats of the Destruction Tower after entering the Dao, rather than being martial techniques created thereafter."

Chen Ku seemed deep in thought.

Instinctively, his mind flashed to Wen Suzhen’s scroll, the ’Yankang Dao Map’.

The inheritance of the Ancient Yankang Emperor who led Wen Suzhen onto the path of Martial Arts cultivation also emphasized entering the Dao as primary, with law naturally ensuing upon entering the Dao.

At this realization, he instinctively recalled the nine Dao-seeking paintings.

Now, under the blessing of his Azure Dragon Supreme Talent, upon viewing the Dao-seeking paintings again, he seemed to have an entirely different understanding, as if delving deeper.

Previously, when looking at the Dao-seeking paintings, he could discern traces of martial arts, guiding his True Qi’s flow. Now, however, no martial traces could be discerned at all, and his True Qi did not move as a result.

What remained was the natural order of heaven and earth.

And just as Chen Ku was observing these Dao-seeking paintings, a newfound insight arose within him.

In the Destruction Hall, meanwhile...

The other students, all geniuses ranking within the top hundreds of the Genius List, each a chosen talent from the State Mansion, understood quickly.

Someone grasped a key point and spoke:

"Hall Master, directly entering the Dao might demand too much of qualifications and comprehension."

"What you say is true. While this path is indeed a grand one, it’s exceedingly challenging—akin to instant transcendence. Hence, the sages of Ancient Times subdivided the cultivation path, backtracking progressively from skill, to law, to Dao."

At this juncture, Murong Cheng shifted tones and said flatly:

"But the reason for doing so is to account for ordinary people’s qualifications. Yet, our Destruction Tower inherently is not a down-to-earth sect. From its founding to now, the entire sect merely holds one hundred and eight people, making it clear that our sect’s study and great Dao are not prepared for the mediocre. Only true Dao-worthy talents qualify to cultivate our Destruction Tower’s inheritance. So... though over sixty of you sit here now, by the semester’s end, fewer than one in ten may graduate."

These words made everyone pale, realizing the Hall Master was bluntly stating on day one that the Destruction Hall is distinct from other halls.

Seeing the students’ reactions...

Murong Cheng calmly spoke, "So, I have already discussed with the Academy that within this year, all of you are allowed one opportunity to transfer to another hall’s courses, to find a more accessible entry point."

Everyone fell silent, with a few already reconsidering.

Murong Cheng continued, "However, should anyone exhibit the qualifications of Dao-entry potential, then not only will they successfully graduate from the Destruction Hall, but our Destruction Tower will formally accept them as a True Disciple and grant them any one of the four inheritances."

"May I ask, what qualifies one as having Dao-entry potential?" a student boldly inquired.

Chen Ku also focused entirely because of what he heard?

A person with Dao-entry potential could become a True Disciple of the Destruction Tower and be granted any of the four inheritances?

Every eye turned toward Murong Cheng.

He then...

Murong Cheng brought forth from his sleeve an Iron Tree, planting it in the hall’s center, smiling as he said:

"This is an Iron Tree with a trace of our Destruction Tower’s Master’s Dao Rhythm. From today on, you can study it. If anyone comprehends that trace of Dao Rhythm, the Iron Tree may bloom. The one who makes the Iron Tree blossom shall have entered the Dao. And upon this entry, the Destruction Hall’s four courses would be mastered in a breath."