Three days passed within the blink of an eye.
Wang Tianmo sat crossed-legged, sweat dripping down his brow. His black robes were drenched in sweat. He has successfully managed to cultivate the supreme bone located in his left arm to the bone transformation stage, unsealing it.
Buzzz*
His left arm began to glow with profound light, illuminating the dim cultivation room. The light wasn't the golden hue of ordinary Qi, but a deep bright unknown color.
Crack! Snap!
The sound of dry twigs breaking echoed from within his flesh, followed by the wet, squelching sound of marrow shifting. It was a grotesque and agonizing process. The Supreme Dao Bone wasn't just growing; it was devouring the mediocre matter of his mortal skeleton to replace it with divinity.
Once the supreme Dao bones reach the bone transformation stage, you don't need to cultivate them further. They are indestructible and contain a sliver of the Grand Dao itself.
Tianmo stared at his left arm. The skin was translucent, glowing with a faint, pearlescent sheen. Beneath the flesh, he could feel the bone humming with power. It felt heavier, yet infinitely lighter, as if it existed in a different dimension of density.
It will take 21 more days to unlock the remaining 7 Supreme Dao bones. However, he didn't have that kind of time. The tournament was today.
He stood up, shaking off the sweat and residual fatigue. The pain of the bone transformation had been excruciating, like dipping his arm in molten lead, but the result was worth it.
He flexed his left hand. The air around his fingertips seemed to distort, reacting to the latent pressure of the Dao Bone.
"System, status."
[Host: Wang Tianmo]
[Meridians: 8/12 Main Meridians. 0/8 Extra Meridians - 23% awakening]
[Supreme Dao Bones: 1/268. Location: Left Arm, seven left to be unsealed.]
It seems the awakening of the zodiac meridians has also increased since, he has been cultivating earnestly under the starlight where the zodiac aligns. However, it isn't easy either, when Vermillion zodiac aligns, his entire body feels hot. When the Ice Palace zodiac aligns, his entire body experiences extreme cold.
***
The Azure Cloud Sect's Martial Arena was a colossus carved into the side of a mountain, capable of holding a hundred thousand spectators. Today, it was packed to the brim. The air vibrated with the collective excitement of the disciples, the roar of the crowd mixing with the clang of steel and the hum of spiritual energy.
Colorful flags snapped in the wind, representing the various peaks and families within the sect. High above, on the floating platform reserved for Elders and the Sect Master, the atmosphere was solemn.
Wang Tianmo sat on a stone bench in the waiting area, his eyes closed, ignoring the deafening noise, acting nonchalant and profound.
He wore his signature black robes embroidered with silver dragons, his posture relaxed, exuding an aura of calm that stood in stark contrast to the nervous disciples fidgeting around him.
Around one hundred among the new disciples have registered for the tournament. Most of them were at the Qi Refining realm, with a few exceptional ones at the early stages of Foundation Establishment.
He didn't even bother hiding his foundation realm aura. The Sect didn't make any restrictions on the cultivation level for the tournament. Anyone could participate, regardless of their realm the only criteria being newly recruited and age below 50.
However, most disciples in the Qi-refining realm have no hope of winning.
A tall, slender boy with a pockmarked face and a Foundation Establishment aura was pacing back and forth, his fists clenching and unclenching. He looked like he wanted to run up to Tianmo and challenge him. But the cold, arrogant aura emanating from Tianmo made him swallow his pride.
"Silence!"
The voice of the presiding Elder, a stern woman with a sword strapped to her back, boomed across the arena, amplified by spiritual energy. The crowd's roar died down to a murmur, then total silence.
"The New Disciple Examination is not merely a contest of strength," she announced, her gaze sweeping over the participants. "It is a test of will, a test of potential, and a test of ruthlessness. In the cultivation world, mercy is a luxury you cannot afford. If you are not prepared to bleed, you are not prepared to ascend. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Elder!" Many disciples roared in unison.
Tianmo didn't even open his mouth. He was too lazy to respond.
The Elder nodded, her expression unchanging. "Good. The rules are simple. You will be paired randomly. The winner advances; the loser is eliminated. The tournament will consist of three rounds. The top ten will receive the honor of entering the closed-door cultivation cave for one month. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Elder!"
She waved her hand, and a hundred jade tokens appeared in the air, each etched with a number from 1 to 100. They floated down to the waiting disciples, each landing in front of a different participant.
Tianmo's token was number 13. He picked it up without bothering to look, tucking it into his sleeve.
"The first round will begin immediately. Number One to twenty, come forward," the Elder announced. "Remember, the Azure Cloud Sect values winners. Do not disappoint us."
With that, she stepped back, and the arena's floor began to shift.
The stone platform split into ten smaller squares, each just large enough for two people to fight. Disciples with numbers one to twenty moved to stand at one end of their respective squares. Disciples were matched with odd and even— 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and so on.
Wang Tianmo was number 13, and he was matched with number 14.
The disciple who walked up to the platform across from Tianmo was a young man with a muscular build and a confident smirk. He wore a sleeveless robe, revealing arms thick with muscle. His aura was that of the fourth stage of Qi Refining.
"The name of this humble Daoist is Li Fang," he said, cracking his knuckles. "I look forward to seeing your skills, Junior Brother."
Most people who were eying Tianmo couldn't help but mock this foolish brat who has eyes but failed to see Mount Tai.
"Ha, look at him, he thinks he can fight against a foundation realm cultivator," someone said, chuckling. "The gap between Qi-refining and the foundation realm is like a chasm. The Qi and blood refinement difference is too much. He can't even touch the opponent."
Li Fang was a fool. But Tianmo wasn't about to correct him. He was a perfect lab rat.
"Begin!" the Elder shouted, her voice echoing across the arena.
Li Fang didn't waste time on pleasantries. With a roar, he charged at Tianmo, his fist glowing with Qi. He was using a fire-type technique, the energy shaped like a dragon's head.
Fire Dragon Fist! A low-grade technique.
Tianmo watched him approach, his expression unchanging. The arena was about 50 meters wide. Li Fang covered that distance in a heartbeat, his speed boosted by the Qi in his legs.
Tianmo didn't move. He didn't even bother to summon his weapon.
Li Fang's fist struck him in the chest.
Crack!
There was a sound of impact, but it wasn't flesh hitting flesh. It was the sound of Li Fang's fist shattering.
"Kya! My hand! It's broken!" Li Fang screamed, stumbling back, his right hand now twisted at an unnatural angle, the bones shattered to dust. The fire Qi around his fist sputtered out like a candle in the wind.
The crowd gasped in shock. Some people cheered, some booed, but most were stunned into silence.
Tianmo stood there, completely unharmed. His black robes didn't even have a wrinkle. He raised his left arm and flexed it. The air around him shimmered, as if reality itself was bending around the divinity in his bone.
"Supreme!"
"Wow... Its supreme aura."
"Holy, senior brother not only has powerful spirit roots but also the aura of a supreme."
"This is a Foundation Establishment cultivator? How is this possible? He is a newly joined disciple."
"This is too unfair! A foundation realm cultivator participating in the newly joined disciple tournament?"
"His defense is insane. How did he harden his body to such an extent?"
The Elder's eyes widened slightly, but she quickly composed herself. She could sense the supreme Dao bone. What a monster, Supreme Dao Bones and terrifying spirit roots, his future is boundless.
She bit her lips, if he wasn't a disciple of Great Elder Xuan Ji, she would have taken him as her personal disciple.
Li Fang fell to his knees, cradling his ruined hand. "M-Mercy! I surrender!"
Tianmo didn't even bother to respond. With a casual flick of his wrist, he sent a tiny burst of Qi towards Li Fang.
Pap!
A needle of light struck Li Fang in the forehead, knocking him unconscious.
The crowd erupted into chaos.
"Unfair! It's so unfair... How can a newborn calf fight a tiger?"
"He is just too powerful!"
"Wow, what a ruthless man!"
"Ah, what a cold man! Senior Brother is so handsome. I want to be his maid!"
Tianmo turned and walked off the platform, ignoring the screams and gasps. The Elder didn't even bother to call him back for the next round.
"He has already advanced to the next round. Prepare the next group of disciples," she announced, her voice cutting through the noise.
Tianmo returned to the waiting area, his expression calm as if he had just gone for a walk in the garden. The disciples around him couldn't help but stare, a mixture of awe, fear, and jealousy in their eyes.
The first round continued, with disciples fighting and losing teeth and bones. But none of them could match the casual, effortless victory of Wang Tianmo.
The second round began. Disciples number 20 to 40, went to the arena.
This time Li Chen was there. He was already at the late sixth stage of the Qi refining realm, and his enemy was a tall slender man in the early seventh stage of the Qi refining realm.
The slender man, seeing Li Chen's lower cultivation base, sneered. He wielded a long, flexible whip that crackled with lightning. "Junior Brother, don't blame me for being ruthless. In the arena, mercy is a sin."
Li Chen stood tall, his hands clasped behind his back. His expression was calm, almost serene like a typical protagonist wannabe Long Aotian.
Woosh!
Seeing no reaction, the man got more angrier. He lashed out with his whip. It cracked through the air, a bolt of lightning at the tip aiming directly for Li Chen's head. "Courting Death!"
Li Chen raised his hand, palm facing outward. A sphere of golden light erupted from his palm, deflecting the whip.
The slender man was shocked. He had never seen such a technique.
It was a defensive technique: Golden shield.
However, it's just a basic technique. The golden light was just the Qi manifesting in a visible form. It wasn't actually a shield.
He lashed out again, this time aiming for Li Chen's legs.
Li Chen's expression remained unchanged. He raised his other hand, another sphere of light forming.
Clang!
The whip was deflected again.
This time, the slender man was truly enraged. He charged forward, the whip coiling around his arm. He would fight Li Chen directly. "Take this you bastard..."
Li Chen closed his fists. He had a very powerful technique, the one he learned from the old man.
But he wouldn't use it unless he had to. He wanted to test his physical limits, a habit he had developed while surviving in the wild.
The slender man lunged, his fist crackling with lightning. It was a desperate, all-out attack meant to overwhelm Li Chen's defenses.
Li Chen didn't even dodge. He stepped forward, his movement fluid like water. As the fist came, he didn't block with a shield. Instead, he slapped the man's wrist with his palm, redirecting the momentum, and then drove his elbow into the man's solar plexus.
Crack!
Cough* Cough*
The man's eyes bulged. The lightning around him fizzled out as the air was driven from his lungs. He stumbled back, coughing blood, his face pale.
"I yield!" he gasped, falling to one knee.
The crowd looked shocked.
"Ridiculous! How can this be? The gap between the sixth and seventh stages of the Qi refining realm is too large!" someone exclaimed.
"Impossible! Did you see that? He didn't even use a weapon or a technique! Just pure body refinement!" another spectator cried out.
"He is just too strong!"
"Ah, what a ruthless man!"
Li Chen walked off the platform, ignoring the screams and cheers. He returned to the waiting area, his eyes meeting Tianmo's for a brief moment. There was a flicker of curiosity in his gaze.
"Interesting," Tianmo thought. The protagonist was stronger than he remembered. Or perhaps he was just lucky.
The rounds continued. Disciples fought, some using weapons, others using martial techniques. Some even used forbidden arts, but the Sect Elders watched closely, ready to intervene if things got out of hand.
Fifty disciples have ascended to the second round and the second round will take place after three days giving ample time for disciples to rest.
***
While the other disciples were frantically healing their wounds, swallowing pills, or praying to the heavens for a miracle, Tianmo was engaged in a different kind of cultivation.
He sat in the lotus position within the sealed confines of his cultivation room, his left arm extended. The Supreme Dao Bone within it hummed with a vibration that rattled the very air. It was hungry.
He had purchased a vat of 'Titan Bone Tempering Fluid' from the System Shop. It was a sludge-like substance composed of crushed beast cores and medicinal herbs that smelled like rotting flesh.
He dipped his left arm into the black sludge up to the elbow.
"Hiss..."
The fluid bubbled violently as it came into contact with his skin. The Supreme Dao Bone didn't just absorb the nutrients; it devoured them hungrily. The sludge turned gray, then crystal clear, in a matter of seconds.
The reason he chose to cultivate the Supreme Dao Bone on his left arm was related to the Heavenly Finger technique.
"Hmmm... Should I focus on Dual Cultivation or, awakening another supreme bone?"
This time he plans to unseal the Supreme Dao bones located in his spine.
A cultivator's spine is made out of 47 bones, and Tianmo has two Supreme Dao bones in his spine, one in the Cervical region and one in the Lumbar region.
The decision was made, he decided to unseal the Supreme Dao bone located in the lumber region.
"System, prepare the 'Void Spine Marrow'."
[Ding! Item prepared. Cost: 800,000 High-grade Spirit Stones.]
A small, pitch-black bottle appeared in his hand. The liquid inside swirled like a miniature nebula, cold enough to freeze air upon contact.
Such a fine product, people would kill an entire village for this.
Tianmo uncorked it and drank it in one gulp.
Gulp.
For a moment, there was silence. Then, the cold hit.
It wasn't a chill; it was a pure invasion. The liquid dropped into his stomach and instantly dissolved, shooting through his meridians and rushing straight to his spinal column.
"Ugh..."
Tianmo groaned, his back arching violently. His veins turned black as the Void energy sought out the Cervical Supreme Dao Bone located at the base of his neck.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The sound was muffled, coming from deep within his throat. It felt like a pair of icy hands were gripping his vertebrae and trying to wrench them apart.
It was painful.
His entire bones felt like they were infused with Ice Qi.
The pain was not merely physical; it was a spiritual assault on his very existence. The Void Spine Marrow felt like liquid nitrogen injected directly into his nervous system. It sought to erase his presence, turning his bones into empty spaces where reality did not exist.
He regretted gulping it down all in one go.
Tianmo's back arched so severely his spine nearly snapped. His skin turned pale, then translucent, revealing the blackened veins beneath. Frost began to form on his eyelashes and hair.
His long raven hair slowly turned into crystal white.
"Endure..." he gritted out through clenched teeth, blood foaming at the corners of his mouth.
The Primordial Dragon Bloodline roared in response, acting as the furnace to counter the absolute zero of the Void. Golden flames erupted from his Dantian, rushing up his spine to meet the invading cold.
Boom!
Wooosh!!!
Steam exploded from his pores, filling the cultivation room with a thick, white mist. The clash of the two supreme energies, created a chaotic storm within his body.
Crack! Snap!
The vertebrae in his Lumbar region began to shatter. The mortal bone was being pulverized, reduced to dust to make way for the divine.
Tianmo's vision went white. He felt a sensation of falling, as if the floor beneath him had ceased to exist. The Void energy was trying to assimilate him, to turn him into a being of nothingness.
Wooosh!
The immortal-grade spirit root absorbed all the energy at a rapid speed, but the energy was too much. No wonder, just a tiny bit costs 800,000 high-grade spirit stones.
The Immortal Dantian was also refined as much as it could.
Second stage of the Foundation realm. (↑)
Early → mid → late → peak.
Third stage of the Foundation realm. (↑)
Early → mid → late → peak.
Fourth stage. (↑)
Early → mid → late → peak.
Fifth stage of the foundation realm. (↑)
Early → mid.
All normal bones: Bone forging → Bone tempering → Bone condensing.
"Ha..." Tianmo stood up with a smirk. The pain was worth it. His cultivation soared by leaps and bounds and even his bones have become stronger and denser.
Pity, Supremen Bones weren't benefited from it.
Tianmo stood up, his joints popping like firecrackers. He stretched his arms, feeling the new density of his bones. It felt as if he had replaced his skeleton with mithril.
He looked at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was still a shocking, crystalline white. He couldn't reverse it. He is now a different person. The white hair suited him, giving him an ethereal cold aura that matched his cold, arrogant eyes.
"System, status."
[Cultivation: Fifth stage of the Foundation stage (Mid)]
[Bloodline: Primordial Dragon bloodline(Sealed, 5% unsealed)]