Divine Transcendence

The Tianxiang Auction was renowned far and wide, drawing cultivators from Leizhou’s sects and solitary practitioners, as well as those from other provinces and even from the Zhao Kingdom to the small city of Xiaohu.

However, not just anyone could attend this grand auction; an invitation was required, and the methods of obtaining one were shrouded in mystery. Those who sought an invite might not always find one.

Surprisingly, Gu Qiulong had one in his possession.

Yuan Ming, already intrigued by the Tianxiang Auction, now planned to see it for himself with the invitation in hand. He tucked away the invitation and took out a jade box to inspect its contents, which held three glittering crystals.

"These are top-grade thunder-attributed spirit stones," Yuan Ming thought with delight.

Spirit stones in the world were categorized by the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. However, there were also special types beyond these elements, with thunder spirit stones being one such rarity.

Formed from ley lines absorbing the power of thunder, they were much scarcer and more valuable than the common elemental spirit stones.

From Gu Qiulong’s memories, Yuan Ming learned that these thunder spirit stones, along with two thousand others, were the collective property of the Zhenling Sect. Gu Qiulong had recently acquired them through a trade with the Bai Luo Villa and had yet to hand them over.

Now, to Yuan Ming’s benefit, the spirit stones had fallen into his hands, a wedding dress made for another. Yuan Ming stored the jade box and briefly examined the remaining items.

The magical instruments were ordinary, while the pills included a bottle of detoxification pills, a bottle of healing pills, and several Four Spirits Pills. He collected these items and turned his divine consciousness towards the corpse-raising bag at his waist.

Inside the bag, the White Ape had finished devouring the Scaled-Tooth Tiger, its demonic aura surging unpredictably as if nurturing some significant transformation.

The Flower Branch had previously absorbed a great deal of dark energy in the underground palace of Snake King Valley and had made considerable progress in strength. Yuan Ming wondered if the White Ape could do the same.

After observing for a moment and seeing that the White Ape’s transformation wouldn’t cease anytime soon, Yuan Ming waved his hand and took out the Winged Hatchling. The black-feathered bird lay within a white net, still unconscious.

Yuan Ming placed his palm on the hatchling’s head and performed the Beast Taming Secret Art, channeling rolling dark energy into the young bird’s brain. The Winged Hatchling suddenly woke with a start, but its body was bound by the net and it couldn’t move, only managing to let out a few low chirps as Yuan Ming’s beast taming technique infiltrated it.

Perhaps because Yuan Ming had previously fed the Winged Hatchling with his own blood, it quickly showed affection towards him, and he successfully implanted the beast taming rune.

Communicating with it through his thoughts, Yuan Ming learned of the bird’s innate divine abilities.

The Winged Hatchling had three main abilities: the first was swift flight, as it was a thunder-attributed demon beast with lightning-fast speed, making it an excellent mount when grown. The second was the ability to cast thunder spells. The third was to fly into the clouds and control them with its own thunder energy, summoning thunderstorms. However, the young bird was still too small to utilize the full power of these abilities.

Yuan Ming nodded to himself; the Winged Hatchling’s three divine abilities were indeed extraordinary, no wonder Gu Qiulong would go to such lengths, risking his sect’s reputation and even committing murder, to seize it.

Yuan Ming took out a spirit stone and held it near the hatchling’s mouth. The bird immediately snuggled against his arm, chirping for food like a youngling begging its parents. Yuan Ming smiled and withdrew the spirit stone, causing the hatchling to express its displeasure. He tossed the spirit stone, and the bird caught it in its beak, swallowing it whole.

Its eyes closed slightly, showing a satisfied expression. Watching the adorable Winged Hatchling, Yuan Ming felt his childlike joy surge as he played with it before storing it in the spirit beast bag.

At that moment, Yuan Ming’s expression shifted as he turned his attention to the corpse-raising bag. A low growl echoed from within, indicating that the White Ape was undergoing some kind of mutation. The ape’s body now flickered with gold, gray, and black lights, creating an eerie sight.

The gold light represented the energy of the metal attribute, the gray light was the corpse refining power of the Heavenly Serpent, and the black light naturally came from the dark energy contained within the Scaled-Tooth Tiger it had just devoured.

The three colors of light flashed in turn, growing brighter and brighter, causing the corpse-raising bag to bulge and strain. Yuan Ming’s expression changed as he quickly released the White Ape.

The three-colored lights on its body became even more brilliant, and a surge of purple soul energy suddenly emerged in its sea of consciousness. This purple soul energy was incredibly powerful, rivaling Yuan Ming’s own and brimming with vitality, starkly different from the residual soul previously within the ape’s skin.

Yuan Ming looked on in astonishment. How had the White Ape developed a new soul? He suddenly remembered something and, with a flicker, appeared in front of the ape, pressing a hand to its forehead to perform the Beast Taming Secret Art.

The Beast Taming Secret Art taught to him by the Three Cave Lords allowed him to subdue only one spirit beast during the Qi Refining stage. Now that he had broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he could control up to three spirit beasts. Dark energy rolled out from Yuan Ming’s palm, embedding the beast taming rune within the purple soul energy in the White Ape’s brain.

The ape, unaware of the changes, had spontaneously developed a new soul, and the simple Hair-Drapping Technique was no longer sufficient to control it; the beast taming rune was necessary. Perhaps because it had just been born and didn’t know to resist, the rune was easily implanted.

Yuan Ming then stepped back, relieved.

The White Ape, now subdued, grew in power rather than diminishing. Its form was enveloped in dazzling golden light, and a powerful demonic force spread out, causing the entire silvery space to tremble but not collapse. A black iron nail was dislodged and struck the nearby wall with a soft clang—it was the Corpse-Sealing Nail that had been embedded in the White Ape’s head.

Yuan Ming collected the item, deep in thought.

After a few breaths, the golden light receded, revealing the White Ape’s form. Yuan Ming was prepared, but he was still taken aback by the ape’s appearance.

The White Ape had grown significantly taller, its white fur now a mix of white and gold, and its muscles were more pronounced, exuding a sense of oppression. However, the most significant change was not these; the third arm that the White Ape had previously grown had shifted from its abdomen to the left side of its back, and on the right side of its back, a thick golden arm had emerged, perfectly symmetrical to the left.

Yuan Ming’s eyes brightened; the White Ape’s transformation through the Hair-Drapping Technique had not progressed for a long time, but now it had finally broken through, growing a fourth arm. The White Ape slowly lifted its head, its eyes no longer filled with the usual ferocity and dullness, but clear and lucid.

"Master," the White Ape greeted Yuan Ming with a fist salute.

"You’ve developed spiritual intelligence?" Yuan Ming raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks to the master’s careful nurturing, I’ve been reborn," the White Ape said, moving its four arms and grinning. "Since you’ve awakened your intelligence, you should have a name. Let’s call you King Kong," Yuan Ming suggested. The White Ape didn’t care about the name and nodded in agreement.

Flower Branch poked its head out of the spirit beast bag, its wooden patterns parting to reveal two purple orbs that resembled eyes, sizing up King Kong with a cold snort.

"Bean sprout," King Kong said to Flower Branch, grinning.

"Monkey, who are you calling?" Flower Branch’s soul vibrated angrily, transmitting its fury.

"I’m talking about you," King Kong replied, able to hear Flower Branch’s transmission and laughing.

Flower Branch was about to retort when Yuan Ming raised his hand to stop them: "Enough, both of you." Flower Branch and King Kong ceased their bickering, but their gazes towards each other still held hostility.

Yuan Ming felt a headache coming on; even before King Kong had awakened its intelligence, Flower Branch had been unfriendly towards it, and now that both had developed intelligence, they would likely fight even more fiercely in the future.

He calmed Flower Branch down and used his divine consciousness to examine King Kong’s body. King Kong’s demonic power hadn’t increased significantly, but its physical strength had soared, especially the newly grown arms, which contained astonishing power.

"Good, it wasn’t in vain that I let you devour the Scaled-Tooth Tiger’s corpse. Do you know the origin of that dark energy?" Yuan Ming asked.

"That dark energy is demonic energy," King Kong hesitated before answering.

"Demonic energy!" Yuan Ming was startled.

"Master, do you know what demonic energy is? I don’t understand the meaning of these two words, but they suddenly flashed through my mind," King Kong inquired.

"I’ve read about it in ancient texts. There are countless cultivators in the world, not all of whom practice the path of immortality; some tread the path of demons, and these demonic cultivators use demonic energy," Yuan Ming explained after some thought.

"I see," King Kong nodded in realization.

"Demonic energy, demonic energy..." Flower Branch held its head with both hands, its soul vibrating intensely as if trying hard to remember something. When Flower Branch first awakened its self-awareness, it had developed several quite useful abilities.

After a conversation with King Kong, Yuan Ming learned that King Kong’s physical strength was formidable, especially the newly grown arms, which contained several times the strength of ordinary arms. King Kong, eager to show off, shook its new arms.

A surge of tremendous power erupted, causing a rumbling in the nearby void and stirring up a gust of wind, shaking the silvery light curtain once again.

"Not bad," Yuan Ming’s eyes lit up.

"It’s just a bit of brute strength," Flower Branch transmitted jealously.

"Besides strength, the spiritual root power of this Heavenly Serpent’s corpse has also been stimulated. King Kong can control the metal attribute spiritual power," King Kong shot out five golden claw beams from its fingertips, which looked exceptionally sharp.

"Do you have any other abilities?" Yuan Ming continued to inquire.

"There’s nothing else... wait, it seems like there’s something new in my mind. Is this a cultivation technique?" King Kong suddenly furrowed its brow and sat down cross-legged. The nearby spiritual energy of heaven and earth was drawn in and merged into King Kong’s body, not transforming into demonic power but instead strengthening its flesh.

"Using spiritual power to enhance the body, this must be a physical cultivation technique!" Yuan Ming’s eyes shone with excitement.

"It should be," King Kong opened its eyes.

"Does this technique have a mantra?" Yuan Ming asked eagerly. In the world of cultivation, physical cultivators were not as rare as soul cultivators but were still quite uncommon, and physical cultivation techniques were even rarer. Yuan Ming had been mixed up in the cultivation world for some time, having acquired many magical cultivation techniques, but he had not come across a single physical cultivation technique.

He still kept the Copper Skin Pill he obtained from Liu Su in his storage ring because he lacked a suitable physical cultivation technique. If he could obtain a physical cultivation technique from King Kong, his own body could be strengthened, increasing his self-preservation ability when facing enemies in battle.

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