CHAPTER 878: CHAPTER 601: DIVINE SKILL: MYSTIC SKY SHIELD

"Ten Feet Scripture".

This is a supreme cultivation technique personally developed by Lu Chenzhou, its name inspired by the Three Feet Scripture.

[Name: Mystic Sky Shield]

[Quality: Low Grade Divine Power · Twenty-seven Patterns]

[Level: Intermediate]

[Introduction: Power to Command Heaven, Gathering Heaven into Shield. By refining the "Mystic Sky Shield" with Yuji Dao, it can be used for body protection. The higher the level of Dao, the more Mystic Sky Shields one can manifest; before the Mystic Sky Shield shatters, it is immune to any physical attack. Current Number: 10,000.]

"Up to now, none of the divine skills I developed myself have ever been lower than 27 patterns in quality."

Lu Chenzhou stood in place and extended his right hand. The tangible Yuji Dao Essence diffused throughout heaven and earth, and he used his finger as a brush, Dao Essence as the ink, the world as paper, and drew a circle in the void.

Roar! The King Beast howled, the towering giant transformed into a golden light and charged straight forth.

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor muttered, "I’d like to see what tricks he can pull off in such a short time? Unity of Heaven and Man is impressive, but to rapidly boost one’s strength in so little time isn’t realistic."

Boom!

The massive mountain-like body of the King Beast, when ten feet away from Lu Chenzhou, seemed to smash into a wall of air, but the circle Lu Chenzhou drew in the void kept expanding and spinning, dispersing the impact force.

Crack—

The circle shattered, turning invisible.

The King Beast raised its claw; Void Dao Essence pierced through space and time to reduce Lu Chenzhou to dust, but was blocked at ten feet above his head by another circle.

Roar! The King Beast then snapped at Lu Chenzhou, swallowing him whole, only to see around ten feet from Lu Chenzhou’s body, countless overlapping circles emerged.

Lu Chenzhou was full of confidence.

"With Fifth Rank Yuji Dao, I can refine ten thousand Mystic Sky Shields; within ten feet I’m nearly invincible."

The King Beast wasn’t convinced and kept tearing at the circles with its sharp teeth. The circles spun against each other, dispersing force, making it feel like punching into cotton candy—soft and feeble.

Time ticked by second by second.

Ten minutes passed before the King Beast broke three thousand Mystic Sky Shields of Lu Chenzhou; at such a rate, it would take at least half an hour to destroy them all.

Until now, Lu Chenzhou hadn’t even lost a single hair; Mystic Sky Shield grants absolute defense—before this barrier is broken, there’s no aftershock, no force passing through.

This time, with Unity of Heaven and Man, Yuji Dao itself advanced further, reaching Fifth Rank (55%). Compared with just entering Fifth Rank, its strength was vastly improved.

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor’s mouth opened slightly, his pupils widened, as if witnessing something unbelievable.

"This... how is this possible? The kid actually mastered my ’Three Feet Scripture’ all on his own? Though limited by his realm, it’s rough and unrefined, but in essence, its principles are very similar to the Three Feet Scripture. In some aspects, he even improved upon my methods. Could it be he had already developed a Yuji Technique of his own, and this trial is just him showing off in front of me?"

He couldn’t imagine, just a single Unity of Heaven and Man, and this youngster could comprehend a Yuji Daoist Technique with the potential for advancement to Great Divine Power.

Is this some kind of joke? With ability like this, why come to me for apprenticeship—just do his own research!

The King Beast, still unable to harm Lu Chenzhou at all, grew furious, its heart thundering like an engine, its golden blood boiling, its single horn shimmering with golden light, which targeted Lu Chenzhou.

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor hurriedly sent a mental message to Lu Chenzhou:

"Careful, this is the Great Divine Power [Golden Light of Cave Universe]. Even after being weakened a thousand-fold, it’s enough to pierce through the defenses of anything below the Eight Realms."

Lu Chenzhou took a deep breath, burned all the Yuji Dao Essence in his body, and all six thousand remaining Mystic Sky Shields emerged, orbiting him like a legion of stars.

"Come on then!"

Whoosh! The Golden Light of Cave Universe ripped through space-time, landing ten feet from him in an instant, instantly penetrating more than a hundred Mystic Sky Shields, but new shields flowed in continually, protecting him from every angle, without the slightest gap.

The King Beast howled at the sky.

The golden light grew ever wider, like a golden river washing through, while Lu Chenzhou was the stubborn stone, unmoved by the current, bright moon shining on the great river!

minutes.

minutes.

Soon a quarter of an hour passed; by then, the King Beast’s projection grew dim, its power overdrawn and exhausted, and only thirteen shields remained around Lu Chenzhou’s body.

"So powerful, worthy of a Great Divine Power."

Lu Chenzhou truly marveled—if the Mystic Sky Shield weren’t at twenty-seven patterns, and was instead a lesser Yuji Divine Skill, it would have been no better than paper under such an assault.

Though he passed the trial, Lu Chenzhou was not especially excited; his purpose in coming was to learn the Three Feet Scripture. Yet unexpectedly, his battle with the King Beast serendipitously led him to create the Ten Feet Scripture. Although not quite at the level of a Great Power Skill for now, it was definitely the most suitable for him.

Lu Chenzhou suddenly had a realization.

"With my current enlightenment, I don’t really need to fixate on Great Power Skills—as long as I’m willing to spend time, keep fighting, eventually I can always develop one that’s right for me."

Still, since I’m here, I might as well also finish learning the transmission of the Three Feet Scripture as a reference. In fact, the reason I could create my own was because I had read the Three Feet Scripture: Mountain Chapter, and used some tricks from it.

"Congratulations—perfect clearance!"

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor could hardly hide his excitement in his tone.

Lu Chenzhou cupped his hands in thanks.

"Many thanks for your generosity, Senior."

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor waved his hand, and a small golden flask flew over: "This is a drop of King Beast Essence Blood."

Lu Chenzhou was startled.

"Essence blood?"

"That’s right. Ordinary blood doesn’t befit your performance this time." The Three Feet Dragon Emperor added, "But this truly is the last drop of essence blood. Once it’s used, there’s no more—don’t waste it."

Lu Chenzhou was elated beyond words.

"Thank you, Senior!"

Ninth Rank King Beast Essence Blood! That was far better than the Seventh Rank Ice Phoenix essence blood he got from that Phoenix Clan lady. They were both True Spirits, but the purity was completely different: one came from the True Spirit itself, the other was extracted from countless generations of its descendants.

If he could unravel the divine skill to transform into a King Beast, after taking this essence blood he could at least burst forth with mid-to-late Eight Realms power, maybe even higher.

Almost unrivaled in the Three Thousand Worlds!

This was a trump card of the highest order!

"This drop of True Spirit Essence Blood contains a thousand times your current power—if you use it to cultivate Transformation Divine Ability at your current level, you should dilute it by a hundred times before taking it. Otherwise, wait until after you advance to Eight Realms and your physique improves... otherwise, the instant you refine it into your body, you’ll explode from the energy alone—not to mention the King Beast’s will power within the essence blood."

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor warned.

"Thank you Senior for the reminder."

"What’s the name of that technique of yours? Did you develop it yourself or learn it somewhere else?"

"Er, Ten Feet Scripture, self-created by this junior."

"...So you mean it’s better than my Three Feet Scripture?"

"Right now it certainly isn’t, but in the future it definitely will be."

"You’re not exactly humble, are you?"

"I like to speak the truth, Senior."

"Hahaha, good! You’re a remarkable one. Reminds me of your civilization’s Dragon King—even more arrogant than you, but he really had the talent to back it up. Though, his performance in the second trial was not as good as yours."

"Taking a beating passively isn’t really his style."

Lu Chenzhou knew the Dragon King—the Dragon King probably came here just for fun, not taking it very seriously.

"Do you wish to continue?"

"Continue."

"The third trial is even harder! I want you to cultivate in seclusion on the Ancient Road, studying the Mountain and Sea Chapters of the Three Feet Scripture. You’re at the Seventh Realm, lofty above others, so mastering these Chapters of the Scripture shouldn’t be difficult. Therefore, I will focus on testing your speed of cultivation. Finish in one year—excellent rating, you’ll receive all methods from the Heavenly Chapter; within three years—good, you’ll receive the first eight layers, enough to allow you to cultivate to the Eight Realms; within five years—barely pass, you’ll only get the Seventh Layer."

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor stood arms crossed.

Compared to the first two trials, this round leaves even less room for shortcutting. It’s all about enlightenment; hard work doesn’t matter now, because any who could cultivate to Seventh Realm is an emperor of perseverance—casually staying shut in for a hundred years is nothing.

Lu Chenzhou hesitantly asked:

"That’s all?"

"That’s all. What? Thinking of giving up? Fine, once the third trial starts you can’t quit—you must reach at least the sixth layer before leaving. Someone once got trapped on the third trial for decades."

Lu Chenzhou thought to himself.

This is almost too simple.

Turns out the second trial is the hardest.

"Don’t be too confident, kid. You passed the second trial mostly thanks to some decent comprehension, but even more to luck—just happened to encounter Unity of Heaven and Man. But the Three Feet Scripture, as a foundational method, offers no shortcuts, nor any moments of inspiration like that. Unless you manage Unity of Heaven and Man again..." The Three Feet Dragon Emperor left, "When you’re done, call me. With your talent, there’s hope you’ll receive the full transmission."

Lu Chenzhou found a secluded spot, his mind filled with millions of lines of scripture from the Three Feet Scripture.

"No matter how many scriptures, in essence, they’re all different arrangements of Daoist Texts. Daoist Texts are just code."

First Layer—completed in three days.

Second Layer—completed in ten days.

Third Layer—completed in half a month.

...

Three months later,

Lu Chenzhou looked at the Martial Arts Tree.

[Three Feet Scripture: Sixth Layer (100%), cultivation method incomplete, please complete the following techniques.]

"Senior! Senior!"

He shouted into the wilderness.

The just-awoken Three Feet Dragon Emperor stirred.

"Finished?"

"Finished."

"Activate it for me."

With a single thought, Lu Chenzhou caused a hazy black radiance to shimmer three feet around him, making it look as if he were wrapped in a turtle shell.

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor fell silent.

Raising a hand, he poured billions of mysterious scripture runes into Lu Chenzhou’s Sea of Consciousness, the overwhelming information nearly bursting his spirit.

The Martial Arts Tree spun up.

[Three Feet Scripture: Seventh Layer (1%)]

Boom! The dim black glow transformed, revealing layered turtle shell plates, radiating a sense of great weight.

Lu Chenzhou sorted through the information.

"Hmm? Why are there ten layers?"

Wasn’t it nine layers before?

The Three Feet Dragon Emperor collected himself and said:

"Train to nine layers, and you’ll comprehend my strongest defensive divine skill in the Great Wilderness: [Three Feet None But Myself]; within three feet, I am invincible. Yet at the end of my life, slain by an Evil God, I suddenly grasped a hint of the truth of defense and sealed it within the legacy on this ancient road. Sadly, now that I am only an artifact spirit, I can no longer comprehend the Dao, nor do much else—so the tenth layer is merely a kind of inspiration. Whether or not you cultivate the Three Feet Scripture is unimportant; I only hope that this inspiration can aid you—perhaps help you comprehend the Supreme Realm of Yuji Dao,

Wuji!