Chapter 241: Chapter 174: Stepping into the Third Realm
Chen Ku stared in astonishment at the red vertical mark on the young man’s forehead in the Transformation Diagram.
Is this not the image of the ’Spiritual Source,’ which resembles an eye, from Ma Mingfeng’s Mystic Gate inner scenery? Surprisingly, it has materialized between the eyebrows and forehead.
Another moment passed. Chen Ku then looked at the information about this Humanoid Transformation.
[??? (Unnamed Humanoid Transformation)]
[Transformation Level: Transform]
[Cultivation: Third Realm Jade Skin Peak (Gold Jade Level)]
[Root Bone: 10,000 jin]
[Qualifications: Prodigy]
[Talent: Spiritual Heavenly Eye]
[Learned Skills: Dragon and Tiger Great Grasping (great achievement), Fish and Dragon Hundred Changes Step (great achievement), Skill of Witnessing (Minor Achievement), Chestnuts from the Fire (Minor Achievement), Eyebrow-Level Stick Technique (great achievement), Nine Dragons Union (great achievement), Spear-shedding Technique (great achievement), Acupoint-Striking Hand (Minor Achievement), Ancient Elephant Fist (Minor Achievement), Mandarin Duck Leg Technique (great achievement), Catching Hand (great achievement), Shadowless Exquisite Bladesmanship (great achievement), Daughter’s Swordsmanship (great achievement), Butterfly Steps (great achievement)...]
Chen Ku looked at this dazzling array of Martial Arts experiences, all concentrated in one person. Most crucially, three of these five people were Psychics. Additionally, using Yao Wensu—the Incense Master and leader of the Peace Path Demon People—as the embryonic base, this transformation elevated Ma Mingfeng’s original Spiritual Endowment to a new level, on top of the existing Martial Arts.
[Spiritual Heavenly Eye]
That referred to the red mark on the forehead of this Humanoid Transformation.
Looking at the yet unnamed transformation, Chen Ku smiled with a hint of secretive delight known only to himself. With a Heavenly Eye on your forehead, I think... the codename ’Er Lang’ I once used as a Blade-Handler should suit you best.
He named this new Humanoid Transformation:
[Erlang Transformation]
The moment he equipped this transformation, BOOM!
An incredible power suddenly surged through his flesh and blood, seeming to reorganize their very structure. He could feel the regenerative capacity of his cells instantly increase more than tenfold, a tangible manifestation before his eyes.
Hmm, it smells so bad...
In an instant, Chen Ku felt that after equipping the Erlang Transformation, which was at the peak of the Third Realm Jade Skin, it was helping refine his physique. His hair instantaneously became oily, his face grew greasy, and the dark, oily residue beneath his skin was metabolized out of his body in a flash.
Suddenly, he seemed to have become a street vagrant who hadn’t bathed for months, covered in greasy bodily filth.
It smells so bad, so bad! I can’t stand it!
Chen Ku immediately re-equipped the Flower Fox Mink Transformation, Centipede Snake Change, Fire Beak Pot Transformation, and Hui Dragon Transformation. Then, he headed to the kitchen in his small courtyard, instantly boiled a large pot of water using the Fire Beak Pot, and carried two buckets of water to the bathtub.
He washed himself back and forth like this, three times! Only then did he manage to completely rinse off all the oil and bodily filth.
Right after he finished bathing, PHEW~~
Chen Ku suddenly felt his skin had become much smoother, and there was even an extra surge of Life Force within him, beyond what the Erlang Transformation provided.
Hmm? How do I feel...
He immediately, and tentatively, removed the Erlang Transformation.
To his surprise, he discovered that the Life Force in his flesh and blood remained even after he removed the Erlang Transformation. Yet, it didn’t come from the Wooden Ox within the Hui Dragon but from his own Cultivation Realm.
Is this, perhaps, the Erlang Transformation’s Great Achievement Jade Skin Realm directly refining my own cultivation to the Jade Skin level?
After confirming it again and again, he knew it wasn’t an illusion. He immediately began to review in his mind the ’Jade Skin Chapter’ Incantation that Shang Yunfang had recently given him.
With a slight effort of Cultivation, Chen Ku’s face turned purple-red, and his entire body seemed as if crafted from purple-gold metal. He had truly reached the stage of the Jade Skin Realm where his skin was like blood jade.
So that’s how it is, Chen Ku mused. The Jade Skin Realm itself is a process of shedding the old and growing new flesh. By nourishing the flesh and blood with one’s Inner Qi, all useless impurities inside and outside the body are expelled, achieving an effect similar to a thorough bodily refinement. Then, by enhancing the strength of the flesh and blood, one can, with a mere circulation of Cultivation, achieve skin like blood jade, skin like gold jade!
The Erlang Transformation was already at the Gold Jade level of the Great Achievement Jade Skin Realm. After it fused with me, it naturally activated the ’Jade Skin’ effect. It couldn’t tolerate impurities in my body, so it immediately began the refinement. Coupled with the massive Inner Qi throughout my body, this directly allowed me to effortlessly advance into the Third Realm.
This was because the Jade Skin Realm itself was quite magical. Once reached, the body would enter a state of ’passive repair.’ So, when Chen Ku activated the Erlang Transformation, his own body was also treated as a component needing ’repair.’
Even more so, when Chen Ku tentatively removed the Fire Beak Pot and re-equipped the Erlang Transformation, he could clearly feel his body still being constantly modified and cultivated by the Erlang Transformation.
Doesn’t this mean... in the Jade Skin Realm, I don’t actually need to channel Inner Qi myself? After equipping a peak Jade Skin Erlang Transformation, my body is naturally refined to a state as pure as jade?
He had thought that combining several Humanoid Transformations to achieve the ’Spiritual Heavenly Eye’ talent was already a great surprise. Unexpectedly, the Jade Skin Realm Incarnation itself was the greatest surprise. It was like having a personal, automatic cultivation artifact. At least, in the Third Realm, the Jade Skin Realm, Chen Ku no longer needed to put in his own effort.
Not long ago, I read in the Jianghu Mansion Report about Fu Huangfei, Chen Ku thought. This person was born with the Lesser Yang Fire Meridian, meaning his meridians were naturally open and smooth, so he didn’t need to cultivate laboriously. Reaching the Fourth Realm, ’Meridian-Opening,’ was as simple for him as eating and drinking. He was a Martial Path prodigy with an ideal physique, naturally suited for Meridian-Opening.
Chen Ku secretly rejoiced, I suppose I’m now experiencing the feeling of ’Natural Jade Skin’.
Then, he touched his brow and felt an instinct: This Spiritual Heavenly Eye... has already surpassed ’Spirit Witness.’ It no longer requires me to stare with both eyes to launch a Spiritual Attack. Instead, it launches invisible attacks from the non-existent ’Heaven’s Eye’ between my brows. In short, with a single thought, I can unleash spiritual power to attack others. It feels like it far exceeds the sum total of my previous spiritual power...
If previously, by layering many transformations, he could use the Skill of Witnessing to momentarily influence Instructor Chai Bao, the ninth expert in the city... then now, he felt he could extend that duration to a single breath—an inhalation and exhalation, about three seconds.
Three seconds!
This duration of control was terrifying.
Imagine, even a Fourth Realm Expert, if distracted for three seconds in battle, would be unable to dodge or channel their cultivation. They could only rely on their physical body to resist my Two Dragons and Seven Elephants... No, now with the addition of the Erlang Transformation’s Incarnation and its 10,000 Root Bone Divine Power, it adds up to the power of Two Dragons and Nine Elephants.
It was unclear whether a Fifth Realm Expert could withstand it. Chen Ku only knew that Fourth Realm Experts enhanced their body speed through Meridian-Opening. If they were controlled by the Spiritual Heavenly Eye for one breath, rendering their speed useless, then a single strike from his staff would undoubtedly be lethal.
However, just as he was delighting in this significant improvement in his strength:
[Xie Qingfeng intends to harm the Host...]
[Xie Qi intends to harm the Host...]
[Hong Tingshan intends to harm the Host...]
[Xie Jiu intends to harm the Host...]
...
In an instant, fifty or sixty urgent alerts popped up on the Transformation Diagram.
Before Chen Ku could even register his surprise, the heart-blood warning from the Nine-Colored Deer within his Hui Dragon Transformation immediately activated. His heart pounded violently as he sensed an intense threat approaching from outside the wall.
WHOOSH!
Immediately, he heard a familiar sound of something cutting through the air!
Divine Force Crossbow!
These three words barely flashed through Chen Ku’s mind before he unhesitatingly burrowed into the ground, emerging into the room next door where his mother, Hu Zi, and sister-in-law were.
Medicine King Hall had brought Chen Ku’s entire family to their grounds for protection. However, due to limited housing, this small courtyard wasn’t large. Chen Ku’s room was right next to the one where his mother, sister-in-law, and Hu Zi resided, all sleeping together.
BOOM!
The instant Chen Ku emerged from the ground, he saw a dozen crossbow bolts piercing through the wall, heading straight for him and his family on the kang bed behind him.
In a fraction of a second, through the vision of the Golden-eyed White Jade Eagle, Chen Ku saw the crossbow bolts appear to slow down. In a flash, he retrieved the Furious Ape Mighty Staff from his Storage Bag, swinging it with both hands to create an impregnable shield of staff flourishes!
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!
In an instant, all dozen or so arrows shot by the Divine Force Crossbows were blocked ten feet in front of him, deflected and sent flying!
Just as Chen Ku used his staff flourishes to block all the bolts aimed at this room, BOOM!
His own room was simultaneously riddled by dozens of crossbow bolts and collapsed.
At the same time:
"Ah!" "Ah!" "Ah..."
"Master!"
"Help!"
"Shopkeeper!"
Screams erupted from the other courtyards within Medicine King Hall. The hall’s masters and apprentices, including Lan Fuxi whom Chen Ku knew, cried out as they were struck by crossbow bolts.
It happened almost instantaneously!
Chen Ku’s expression changed drastically; he understood the situation immediately. The next moment, he let out a long cry that shook everyone inside and outside Medicine King Hall:
"Enemy attack! The Firewood Iron Shop is attacking!"