CHAPTER 852: CHAPTER 575: 36 TRANSFORMATIONS (MONTHLY TICKET REQUEST AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTH)

"It’s thirty-six patterns."

The Eternal Immortal was silent for a long time before he slowly spoke:

"My thinking is still limited. For now, don’t tell others about your awakening of thirty-six-pattern Divine Power."

"Alright."

"Chenzhou, you have the potential to become a God. Really, it’s even greater than mine or the Dragon King’s."

The Eternal Immortal revealed a brilliant smile, pure and innocent as an old farmer rejoicing in a bountiful harvest.

Human civilization finally has hope, and it’s not just a fleeting, illusory chance.

He saw the reverberations of the future; dawn was drawing near.

"Chenzhou, do you have regrets?"

"Regret what?"

"Regret not making [Thirty-Six Transformations] your first and foremost foundation when breaking through to the Heavenly Realm. That determines your ultimate achievement in Martial Arts."

"I think it’s all the same. Compared to the transformations of Divine Power, it’s spear skill I pursue."

"Well said. The ninety-nine Extreme Realms theory for Divine Patterns was just something I speculated from researching the path of Qi Refiners. Don’t take it too seriously,

After all, our Martial Arts have no precedents out ahead that we can learn from—I can only refer to the path of Qi Refinement,

Their Immortal Techniques have the idea of ninety-nine prohibitions, so I habitually applied that to Divine Powers. In the end, it’s because my talent is limited.

The road ahead in Martial Arts is yours to walk. My experience can’t teach you. Martial Arts shouldn’t set limits—Dragon King was right."

The Eternal Immortal sighed in emotion.

The projection faded. Lu Chenzhou quietly pondered.

"As things stand, the upper limit for Low Grade Divine Powers’ Divine Patterns should be thirty-six? Looks like my ’Martial God Spear’ still has a lot of room for improvement."

"Though [Thirty-Six Transformations] is exquisitely mysterious and more complex, if we judge killing power alone, [Nine Tribulation Lotus] is stronger."

"Transformation Divine Skills shine in versatility and adaptability."

"If I need to escape, I can transform into [Wind Thunder Golden Peng], unmatched in tunneling speed, or into [Ancient Mirage Dragon] to trap the enemy in a mirage."

After resting, Lu Chenzhou leapt into the sky.

"Transform!"

A golden bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens, and a mesh of arcs spread out across a hundred miles.

Under the stunned gazes of several Artifact Spirits, a Golden Winged Great Peng, wings spanning a thousand feet, its form shimmering with illusion, soared into existence across the sky.

Its gaze was sharp, seeing ten thousand miles away.

Its talons were keen, able to easily tear apart Supreme Divine Weapons.

Dense Speed Extreme Dao Essence cascaded down, burning around it as golden fiery clouds.

In the Divine Skills section, golden lightning-scripted words surfaced.

[You have used Wind Thunder Golden Peng Transformation]

[You have temporarily gained the characteristics of a True Spirit Wind Thunder Golden Peng for one minute.]

[Your Lightning Dao attainments have been temporarily increased to Fifth Rank.]

[Basic Level • Thirty-Six Transformations may manifest only nine types of changes—you have chosen Golden Peng; eight spots remain. Upgrade to Intermediate Divine Power increases this to eighteen types of changes.]

[You are using "Fake Spirit Transformation" and cannot use the Wind Thunder Golden Peng’s innate Divine Skill "Sky-reaching Golden Light."]

[Sky-reaching Golden Light: a flap of the wings, 108,000 li; at perfection, leap outside all realms, beyond the Five Elements.]

Lu Chenzhou’s heart surged with excitement.

"Incredible—if I had the corresponding essence blood, one Thirty-Six Transformations Divine Power would equal thirty-six kinds of True Spirit Divine Skills. No wonder it’s thirty-six patterns. Absolutely insane."

Lu Chenzhou was certain it was Tree Bro’s power that helped.

Just by himself, there’s no way he could comprehend such a heaven-defying Divine Skill; it’s just too OP.

Divine Powers have four levels: Basic, Intermediate, High, and Top Level, corresponding to Martial Artist’s four minor realm divisions.

As cultivation improves, Divine Skills naturally upgrade, with power increasing accordingly.

With Early Stage of Seventh Realm cultivation, there can be up to nine transformations.

"For the remaining eight, I need to choose carefully—best if they’re in line with the Daos I comprehend."

With a thought, Lu Chenzhou flashed his wings and arrived instantly at the end of the grotto heaven, smashing into an invisible barrier.

"Little junior brother, this place is too small for you to stretch out. Wind Thunder Golden Peng is unrivaled among True Spirits in tunneling speed." The old turtle’s laugh echoed out.

"No wonder the Chasing Sun Dragon Emperor used Golden Peng Feathers to refine a Supreme Treasure—truly extraordinary," Lu Chenzhou said, resuming human form.

In the form of Wind Thunder Golden Peng, his normal tunneling speed reached three thousand times the speed of sound.

This ordinarily would require his ’Sky Escape Chapter’ to reach the eighth layer.

Now, with various forms of stacking, his tunneling speed could reach five thousand times the speed of sound.

This vastly surpassed the extreme limit of most Seventh Realm Peak experts; even many Eighth Level couldn’t match it.

"True Spirit—too strong."

"Of course. Pity I was born dull, or I too would’ve become a True Spirit by now," the old turtle sighed.

Lu Chenzhou had wanted to ask eldest senior brother for some Turtle Clan essence blood, but gave up.

Essence blood is too precious, the essence of blood, tied to life force and lifespan.

"Senior brother, how many True Spirits are there in the Great Wilderness?"

"I don’t know either. Innate True Spirits were born in Ancient Times, similar in number to the Great Wilderness Gods; maybe some fortuitously even became Gods."

"True Spirits can become Gods too?"

"Only Innate True Spirits can, maybe. So I’ve heard—some of the Gods in Divine Court were True Spirits who attained enshrinement."

The old turtle continued, "Innate True Spirits are also known as [Ancient True Spirits], unique in their era, requiring no cultivation or tribulation—born at Nine Realms, rival to Great Powers. For example, the Five Ancient Dragons representing Five Elements Power. Acquired True Spirits are like teacher; anomalies who attained Dao and became Great Powers, creating stable, inheritable True Spirit bloodlines—but successors must still cultivate and face tribulation."

He calculated on his fingers and said:

"As far as I know, there are over fifty types of Ancient True Spirits, and just over ten types of acquired ones."

"Wind Thunder Golden Peng is an Ancient True Spirit?"

"Yes."

Lu Chenzhou diligently questioned his eldest senior brother about True Spirits, memorizing what he learned.

"Junior brother, how many kinds of transformations does your Fist Technique have?"

"Thirty-six."

"? That many? In the former True Spirit Sect, most people had just one, with the extreme being the Spirit Ancestor’s True Spirit Nine Transformations."

The old turtle’s heart was a little numb—this little junior brother utterly defied convention.

"Little junior, this Divine Skill of yours is simply extraordinary and may one day allow you to become a God—never let your enemies know easily."

"Mm, I understand."

"List out your True Spirit roster for me to hear."

"Okay..."

Lu Chenzhou finished speaking.

The old turtle said, "For turtles, you can pick [Overlord]. That’s an Ancient True Spirit—both defense and power are outstanding. Most importantly, I carry a trace of Overlord bloodline."

He saw the old turtle transform, revealing his true form: a giant black turtle with a mountain on its back, dragon head, dragon claws, and a snake’s tail.

An overwhelming ancient awe swept forth.

Lu Chenzhou exclaimed, eyes bright: "Majestic!"

The giant turtle bit its tongue; a clump of burning, shapeless black-golden blood coalesced into a tiny turtle, falling into Lu Chenzhou’s palm.

"No Transformation Divine Skill can reach its peak without using True Spirit blood as a guide. My essence blood is Eighth Level—it should let you use it three times. If you face a deadly foe, transform into [Overlord]—I reckon you can briefly wield power close to Eighth Level." The old turtle reverted to human form, looking as steady as ever.

Lu Chenzhou stood rooted: "Senior brother, quickly take it back. At my strength, even Eighth Level can’t kill me."

"Take it. I must guard teacher’s inheritance in this grotto heaven and can’t act recklessly. Several times, when you were in peril, all I could do was watch—this will make up for it.

This bit of essence blood, a good sleep and I’ll recover," the old turtle said, yawning as he left.

Lu Chenzhou put away the little black turtle, feeling the surging qi-blood within.

"Just one drop of this blood equals ten of me."

He was stunned within. How strong is senior brother, really?

He’d seen Eighth Level before—the Black Mountain Demon Saint was such—but he was far inferior to senior brother.

He suspected that if Da Xia’s previous generation took on the Black Mountain the same way as before, they might not last ten blows facing senior brother.

Among Eighth Levels, the gap grows ever greater.

Those Eighth Levels close to Great Power can sweep aside a crowd of Black Mountain Demon Saints.

"And senior brother’s already ten thousand years old—being strong makes sense."

Lu Chenzhou bowed deeply from afar and left the grotto heaven.

...

"Cough, cough, thirty-six transformations."

The old turtle was still immersed in the just-past shock.

A human—if in the future he could wield the power of all Ancient True Spirits at once, how strong could he be?

You must know, some mighty Ancient True Spirits are already close to Gods.

Some kinds can even rival the Four Emperors, able to slay some lesser Gods.

For example, [Swallowing Sky Kunpeng] once, in a Divine War, swallowed an Evil God not weak at all, perishing together with it.

...

With the year’s end approaching,

the Daoist from Cui Shan of the original True Martial Palace and the Cloud Mountain Immortal of the original Huangshan Martial University have both broken through Seven.

Da Xia’s Seven Realms now number forty-four.

Under the eyes of all, the contests for the four Great Academics’ deans and the Tianxia Military Leader began.

...

Battle Realm, God and Demon Battlefield.

One by one, Seventh Realm experts clashed blades, their battles unrestrained and exhilarating.

Canglang Song swept across sideways, the arc light tearing open the starry sky, a majestic aura pressing down.

Another Big Spear coiled and weaved like the twisting Yellow River—softness and hardness intertwined, unceasingly sapping Canglang Song’s strength.

After thirteen clashes, the old Yellow River ghost was blasted off the battlefield by a spear.

He laughed and said, "I must admit my old age."

The gap was too large. He’d thought, since both were Early Stage of Seventh Realm, he could last at least a hundred bouts.

But faced with this, if he didn’t use Divine Skills, he absolutely couldn’t hold out.

But this was about determining winner and loser; using Divine Skills, life and death would become unpredictable.

Lu Chenzhou cupped his fist and smiled, "Thank you for yielding."

The audience was utterly unmoved by this.

In most people’s minds, Lu Chenzhou was already undoubtedly number one, beyond challenge.

The only suspense left was his match with Chen Beiming.

...

Time passed.

Lu Chenzhou next faced Heart Dream Emperor.

Before the fight, Heart Dream Emperor sent a message to Lu Chenzhou.

"Fellow Daoist, what about my earlier proposal?"

"The lady wishes to follow me?"

"Yes. I think highly of you and feel there’s a bright future with you," Heart Dream Emperor did not hide her intentions.

"Good... Let’s fight first. If possible, I’d like to witness the lady’s Divine Power."

"As you wish!"

Heart Dream Emperor’s figure merged with heaven and earth.

Pairs of Shiva’s Eyes appeared all through the surrounding void, opening wide.

Ten thousand beams of divine light shot from those eyes, tearing heaven and earth asunder.

Lu Chenzhou’s figure was fast to the extreme, leaving afterimages all over the stage—tens of thousands in number.

Each beam of divine light pierced only afterimages.

When Heart Dream Emperor reacted, her true body hidden in the void had already been found by Lu Chenzhou, with a cold Big Spear pressed to the back of her neck.

She shrugged in defeat, "I lost."

As a heart cultivator, tournaments weren’t her true stage.

Emperors preferred hiding their bodies where no one could find them, protected by special treasures, sending their spiritual embodiments out to roam and compete.

...

The matches continued.

Lu Chenzhou remained undefeated.

At last, he faced Chen Beiming, whose gaze was both excited and conflicted as he looked at him.

"Come—after this battle, Da Xia’s ship will be yours to steer."