Chapter 562: The Poor Man's Way to Hone Divine Techniques

The moment the already zombie-like beings touched the Demonic Qi, their bodies began to transform…

First, their bodies swelled, their skin splitting open to sprout black scales. Their palms twisted into sharp claws, and barbs grew from their hands, feet, and elbows. Their eyes tore open to reveal savage, vertical pupils, and the corners of their mouths ripped apart to make way for sharp fangs. Their expressions turned crazed and vicious, as if they wanted to devour and destroy everything before them.

These beings had long been corrupted by Demonic Qi and fed Magic Crystals, all in preparation for this very transformation.

The black gas released by the Demonic Qi was merely a catalyst and a teacher: it triggered their transformation into the Demon Race and taught them the Spirit Devouring Technique, a method known to all demons.

Before the transformation was even complete, the first to finish changing—now Demon Soldiers—began to devour the beings beside them.

They tore and gnawed, consuming not only the flesh and blood of their former kin, but their spiritual essence as well.

As they devoured, they grew stronger. Their once-feeble auras surged with power. In mere moments, they broke through the Foundation Establishment Realm and began advancing toward the Golden Core Stage.

Chi Xiao did not intervene. Newly transformed demons were always like this. Only by surviving the initial slaughter could they have any chance of advancing through the ranks.

He himself had risen through the ranks in the same way. He had long grown numb to such scenes. Although seeing every Demon Soldier was like seeing his former self, any flicker of pity that arose in his heart was instantly annihilated by the vast Demonic Qi in his body!

After a brief slaughter, tens of millions of beings had been reduced to a mere million. And every one of these million demons now possessed the aura of the Golden Core Stage.

Such was the simple, brutal power of the Demon Race’s Spirit Devouring Technique!

Only then did Chi Xiao release a pulse of his aura, stopping the remaining Demon Soldiers from fighting. He wanted battle-ready soldiers, and the Golden Core Stage was enough.

Having dealt with the matter here, Chi Xiao walked toward the next Array.

That’s right. There wasn’t just one of these pen-like Arrays. There were many…

Meanwhile, Chen Dong was already bathing in Thunderous Liquid. Not only did he possess an exceptional Thunder Spirit Root and thunder-attribute Dao Essence, but his affinity for and resistance to thunder techniques had reached a monstrously high level.

He had to immerse his entire body in the Thunderous Liquid just to feel anything at all.

Lightning has its own ranks, and the Thunderous Liquid in the Demon Refining Pot was equivalent to the Enlightenment Stage, a realm above the Divinity Transformation Stage. This was likely Liu Ling’s doing; anything stronger would have been too much for Chen Dong to handle.

In other words, despite being only at the Nascent Soul Stage, thunder techniques from the Divinity Transformation Stage could no longer harm him, and even those from the Enlightenment Stage had minimal effect.

However, it was barely enough for him to use for comprehension.

Chen Dong felt like it was still missing something, shouting, “A little stronger! Just a little stronger!”

Although Liuli didn’t respond, the Thunderous Liquid seemed to hear him. It did indeed grow stronger, and a trace of crimson appeared within the world of woven white light.

The intensity of the Thunderous Liquid was now equivalent to the Mid-stage Enlightenment Realm.

The crimson lightning coiled right around Chen Dong’s body.

“Yes, yes, this is it! This is the feeling!”

Chen Dong let out a howl that was both pained and ecstatic as his body merged with the lightning.

One day, two days…

On the third day, a peculiar bolt of lightning was seen roaming through the Thunderous Liquid.

“AHAHAHA! To transform my body into the technique, the pinnacle of merging with the art itself! I did it! I actually did it!”

Liu Ling’s figure appeared before the peculiar bolt of lightning.

“As expected of you. You comprehended it so quickly! This is a state that most Nascent Soul Stage cultivators never reach in their entire lifetime.”

“But of course! Don’t you know who I am?”

Liu Ling nodded. “Then let’s move on to the next step!”

With a wave of her hand, Liu Ling transported Chen Dong to a World of Fire. Below him was flowing magma; above, endless flames.

“Embodying the technique doesn’t make you invincible. You must take your transformed state, merge with this Fire Realm, and become immune to the damage of this world. Only then will you have reached the second step of this art!”

Chen Dong gazed out at the World of Fire. “Don’t you know that aside from thunder, my best skill is the Fire Technique? This World of Fire can’t really hurt me.”

Liu Ling chuckled. “Of course I know. That’s why we’re starting with the easy one!”

‘So this was the easy part,’ Chen Dong thought. He then transformed into a bolt of lightning and began to roam through the flames.

‘It’s rare to find such a perfect training ground,’ he thought. ‘I can cultivate my Fire Divine Techniques while also comprehending the key to embodying the art. While cultivating Divine Techniques usually requires a massive amount of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, those are only to compensate for one’s own deficiencies. Once a technique is mastered to the Extreme Realm, it can also be elevated into a Divine Technique through countless cycles of comprehension and tempering.’

‘Considering how hard those Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are to collect, asking Liu Ling to provide them is just wishful thinking. This Demon Refining Pot contains nothing but things related to demons.’

‘However, in a perfect environment like this, it might just be possible to temper my Fire Technique into a Divine Technique through sheer effort.’

With that thought, Chen Dong summoned his Fire Phoenix to drift beside him, a ring of Sun-Burning True Fire also encircling his body.

He would force a qualitative breakthrough through sheer quantity.

While Chen Dong was training arduously, three figures were waiting anxiously outside the Guardian Array: a youthful-looking bald man, a cold-faced scholar, and a Sword Cultivator in green robes.

Though they appeared young, these three were true masters of the Divinity Transformation Stage. They were none other than the three great elders of the Human Race: Leng Xiuming, Baili Zhangtu, and Fu Jiange.

They represented the Human Race of the Floating Shadow Realm, awaiting the arrival of the Demon Race.

Perhaps because they were about to face a momentous decision, the three of them, friends for many years, did not exchange a single word.

Then, in the sky, a host of the Demon Race began to appear. All of them were Demon Kings, each representing an entire clan. Leading them was the elder-like Xuehou.