The Secret of Flesh and Blood Rebirth

The colossal stone claw descended, enveloping the five-colored skeleton king. It struggled but could not break free, held fast in the grip as if its very frame were about to shatter. The five-colored diamond bones groaned under the immense pressure, crackling audibly.

"Ah..." It released a terrified spiritual fluctuation. "How can this be?!"

A mere stone statue, yet unbreakable, unshatterable, and possessing such evil, demonic power—was it to be destroyed just for pursuing a yellow-diamond skeleton?

Terrified, the five-colored skeleton king screamed mentally. It had risen from a weak skeleton to a super-evolved being, surviving countless trials to reach its current height, unique among millions of fire-seed creatures.

"Do not destroy me..." It was filled with dread. Having endured so many tribulations to achieve its present state, it did not want to perish in an instant.

But this world was merciless.

Crack.

Bones as hard as five-colored diamond, surpassing even the ultimate yellow-diamond level, could not withstand the terrifying force of the giant claw. The translucent, glittering five-colored skeleton shattered.

Five-colored divine light dimmed as bone powder flew, colored lights streaming out.

The only remaining crystalline skull was flicked lightly by the petrified giant claw, splitting into pieces. The five-colored fire seed leaped and danced, like a shattered rainbow of divine light.

Xiao Chen, in his yellow-diamond form, shot out of the stone statue like a golden divine light, gathering the scattered five-colored fire seed in the sky. He had never imagined that, after escaping death, he would obtain a king-tier fire seed.

He did not rush to refine the powerful king fire seed but instead began to read its memories with his divine consciousness.

All powerful fire-seed beings had such an ability. Thus, each time a fire-seed being completed an evolution, not only did its fire seed grow stronger, but it also inherited the battle techniques and secret arts of the being it had destroyed.

Xiao Chen, however, had never done that. He always felt that inheriting the memories of the dead was like continuing part of another's life. If too many memories accumulated, would he still be himself?

The five-colored skeleton was an extremely rare super-evolved being in the world of the dead—one in a million—and a powerful follower of a sovereign. Its memories were undoubtedly a treasure trove.

Nevertheless, Xiao Chen had no desire to absorb its memories. He did not want to carry another person's entire existence. Instead, he chose not to absorb them but to read through the other's spiritual sea like flipping through a book.

Skipping over its life story, he soon found many valuable things. Fire-seed beings also possessed terrifying battle techniques, passed down from the sovereign Yitian. However, Xiao Chen did not place much value on them; he had already mastered enough ancient combat skills, but lacking flesh and blood, he could not use them effectively.

Soon, he discovered a dharma formula for cultivating the soul, remarkably similar to the "Weng" sound technique, and indeed a devastating killing move for fire-seed beings—profound and terrifying. But this was not what he needed either. The Eight Syllables of Origin were sufficient for him; so far, he had only cultivated one of the sounds. The fundamental reason was still the lack of flesh and blood.

Xiao Chen rapidly "leafed through" the king-tier fire seed's memories and finally found a shocking piece of information in an inconspicuous part of its spiritual sea—the secret technique for flesh and blood rebirth!

This was a secret art passed down from the Sovereign Yitian, but judging from the residual emotions in the five-colored skeleton, this king skeleton had not valued it at all.

In fact, on the Death Continent, almost no fire-seed being cared about whether flesh and blood could be reborn. In such a world, even if one had flesh and blood, it changed nothing. It was better to pay the enormous price to cultivate a useless physical body than to focus on training the bone body to become stronger.

In the world of the dead, only powerful fire-seed beings who had remembered their past lives, and world-shaking experts who had reached the sovereign realm, cared about whether they could recondense a physical body. Only they knew how important a physical body became at that level.

Xiao Chen read this memory with an excited heart. He had been thinking constantly about flesh and blood regeneration, about truly being reborn. For years, this had become a luxury.

His emotions could not calm for a long time. In the gloomy sky, he finally saw a ray of holy light shining down, and he felt that the road ahead was bright.

Reaching the sovereign realm required no conscious effort to condense flesh and blood; it could be done with a single thought. But before that, if one wanted flesh and blood rebirth, it could only be achieved through secret methods created by sovereigns for their talented subordinates.

Xiao Chen almost wanted to shout at the sky. In the five-colored skeleton king's memories, there were detailed secret methods. Flesh and blood rebirth was no longer a distant hope; the opportunity was right before him.

To be reborn, one must first cleanse the marrow, using powerful fire-seed energy to purge the dead marrow, filling the bones with pure fire-seed energy, refining a vast amount of fire-seed energy into life force, and activating the dead bones.

Then came the process of flesh and blood rebirth. During this process, besides requiring immense fire-seed energy, one also needed boundless life essence to supplement the need. Refining life source liquid for one's own use was the most effective method.

The various secret methods required very harsh conditions, which was why ordinary fire-seed beings shunned them.

After completely memorizing the sovereign's secret technique, Xiao Chen descended into the water with an excited heart, beginning the marrow cleansing process in the undersea world. The king-tier fire seed was powerful enough; he hoped it would be sufficient to cleanse the dead marrow, refine life force, and activate the dead bones.

This was an excruciatingly painful process. Cleansing the dead marrow was simple, but using the fire seed to refine life force and activate dead bones was a cruel and terrifying ordeal.

He had to shatter his own bone body, completely integrating the life force refined from his soul fire seed into the fragments, then slowly smelt the broken bones and reassemble the bone body.

Every bit of fire seed was fused into the shattered yellow-diamond bones, congealing inseparably with them. Truly feeling all this, the pain was unimaginable.

Activating dead bones was like undergoing hellish torment. An ordinary fire seed would likely break down from it.

But thinking of flesh and blood rebirth, Xiao Chen had to grit his teeth and endure this torture beyond death itself.

To his surprise, to refine life force and activate dead bones, the king-tier fire seed was nearly exhausted. Moreover, during this process, the scattered fragments of the white-bone king's fire seed from the seabed were also drawn together, and without exception, they were absorbed by his bone body.

This was a luxurious "waste." If he had simply absorbed the king fire seed, he could have risen an entire rank.

But this price had to be paid.

If he had absorbed the fire seed to advance a rank and become a king-tier fire-seed being first, then tried to activate his dead bones, the cost would have been even greater. To achieve flesh and blood rebirth at that point would require even more powerful fire seeds, inevitably needing to kill beings beyond the king tier.

All this was worth it. As long as he achieved flesh and blood rebirth, he would regain command of many divine abilities and combat techniques. Then, his cultivation methods would increase, and the speed of improving his strength would double.

This process of activating dead bones and cultivating the bone body did not seem to consume the time he could stay in this world. It lasted a full half a month as he continuously shattered his bone body and repeatedly smelted it in the undersea world.

After enduring such pain, it took another half month before everything was completely finished.

If before, Xiao Chen's soul was immaculate and emitted a sacred aura, now his divine charm was concealed, taking on an air of returning to simplicity. No matter how you looked at him, he no longer seemed like a yellow-diamond bone body, but rather like a being of flesh and blood.

At this moment, he already had the fluctuations of life. His crystalline bone body emitted the breath of the living. Flesh and blood rebirth was no longer a luxury.

At the same time, Xiao Chen was surprised to find that his soul fire seed had grown somewhat, and it was no longer confined to his skull but filled his entire bone body. It was no longer a condensed fire seed but a human-shaped soul.

Xiao Chen carefully examined his own changes and then discovered another startling fact: upon his soul were tiny points of light shining, like faint stars decorating the dome of the sky.

They actually corresponded to the acupoints he had when he had flesh and blood. Looking closely, their positions overlapped with those acupoints he had once divinely transformed.

This discovery shocked Xiao Chen greatly. Had the fruits of cultivating the Ancient Stele Method not been completely destroyed? Thus, he became even more eager for flesh and blood rebirth.

When Xiao Chen stepped out of the sea, he had an unprecedented feeling. Everything before his eyes was so vivid, and he felt that his spiritual perception had increased by a large margin.

This was the power of life!

Standing in the blue sea, Xiao Chen attempted to circulate the once-familiar Ancient Stele Method and found that it worked. Vague divine meridians appeared within his human-shaped soul, and primal energy of heaven and earth slowly flowed as it was drawn in.

He spent several days in quiet cultivation before the great stone statue, then stopped to consider the current situation.

Not long ago, he had stirred up a storm overseas, sowing seeds of suspicion among some races. Tensions between certain groups had likely become quite strained, such as the Giants and the War Clan, the Yasha, and fearsome powers like the Battle God Clan, the Skeleton Clan, and the Holy Dragon Clan could hardly be at peace.

If a major war broke out among the dominant races of the Hundred Clans, the results would be terrifying. However, for the human race of the Nine Provinces, it would be good news.

Xiao Chen looked at the colossal stone statue standing in the blue sea, feeling somewhat helpless. The interior of the statue was already riddled with large cracks, and it was only a matter of time before it completely collapsed.

Nevertheless, he decided to make full use of the statue before it truly shattered. If possible, he would lure the ambitious, human-hostile strongmen of the Hundred Clans here... and deliver a decisive blow, sweeping away all the kings!

As for driving the stone statue overseas to kill on all sides, that was impractical. The statue's interior was already full of large cracks, and it would likely collapse before it even reached the open seas. Moreover, if a few ancient relics suddenly emerged from the Hundred Clans, it would be even more troublesome. He did not believe that among the Hundred Clans, there were no ancient ancestors still existing.

When Xiao Chen walked out of the blue sea and entered the Nine Provinces, he found that things had been quite peaceful recently. The strongmen of the Hundred Clans had not caused much outrage.

He learned a great deal. In the years that had passed, too many things had happened in the Nine Provinces.

The five great realms—Mortal-Shedding, Spirit-Treasury, Sky-Mastery, Nirvana, and Deathless Longevity—had been established by the experts of the human world. Beyond these, the greater realms were rarely discussed, as cultivators of that level were not seen by common people.

But now, with the Hundred Clans appearing together, a golden age of cultivation had arrived. Experts surpassing the Deathless Longevity realm appeared frequently. The kings of the Hundred Clans could easily kill Longevity experts, and this terrifying realm was called Fish-Leap.

Fish-Leap was a great realm above Deathless Longevity. Although those who attained it possessed strength far beyond Longevity, the Nine Heavens of Fish-Leap came with nine trials.

As the name implied, a fish leaping over the dragon gate was an act against heaven, fraught with hardships. In the Nine Heavens of Fish-Leap, if one did not advance, they regressed and perished entirely. But if successful, it was like leaping over the dragon gate to become a dragon.

At that time, most of the foreign kings were experts of the Fish-Leap realm, at least at the Fourth Heaven of Fish-Leap, far surpassing Longevity experts.

As for the Yasha King, he was even more terrifying. Without a doubt, he had already crossed the Nine Heavens of Fish-Leap and broken into another great realm. That was why he dared to call himself a king. People called this realm the Perfected Man.

Both the Yasha King and the Battle God King were Perfected Men, having rebelled against heaven and succeeded in leaping the fish gate. From then on, their path of cultivation became much broader, and even if accidents occurred, they were difficult to destroy. This was the Perfected Man—a powerful and fearsome realm.

When Xiao Chen evolved to the purple-diamond bone body, he had already reached the Deathless Longevity realm. After evolving to the yellow-diamond bone body, his strength was on par with Fish-Leap experts. If he could evolve a five-colored bone body, he would reach the Perfected Man realm.

Since fighting did not consume the time he could stay in this world, Xiao Chen traveled along, learning many things. Finally, he arrived at a small coastal town, planning to cultivate near the sea and keep a close watch on the movements of the Hundred Clans.

He intended to go into seclusion for a while, then make his move to refine divine liquid and prepare for true rebirth.

Upon reaching this coastal town, he keenly sensed that it was no ordinary place—there were marks left by a super-strong expert!

When he left the town to cultivate by the sea, he found many sword holes in the cliffs and reefs, and various rocks vividly recorded the terrifying results of earth-shaking sword qi aftershocks.

When Xiao Chen punched open the sea and saw the seabed, he was even more shocked. The enormous sword scar on the ocean floor was like a great canyon, stretching over twenty li. This was the terrifying result of a casual sword strike.

After careful observation, he found that the seabed within a radius of several hundred li had been ravaged by heaven-rending sword qi. Although he had not personally witnessed that terrifying sword light, he could imagine how dreadful it must have been.

Who could possess such world-shaking combat power?

When he returned to the coastal town and asked around, he actually got some information. An old fisherman told Xiao Chen that a silent young man had often appeared nearby, seemingly chasing a snow-white little beast.

Xiao Chen was immediately startled. A snow-white little beast—could it be Keke?

"A very spiritual snow-white little beast. Many people have seen it. It used to often appear among the western cliffs, said to be planted all over with heavenly spiritual treasures..."

Many had seen this little beast. Sometimes, the little fellow would groggily visit some taverns, drop a heavenly spiritual treasure, then roll up a pile of delicious food and run away. Most of the time, the little thing was asleep in the mountains, but sometimes it would cry loudly, making all who heard it feel heartbroken.

Xiao Chen was certain—that was definitely Keke.

"Do you know who the young man chasing it was?"

"I have a vague impression. There seem to be many strange people living in seclusion around our town. Once, I saw a girl as beautiful as a celestial maiden who called that silent young man Zhao Chongyang."

"Zhao Chongyang?!" Xiao Chen was shocked.

"It seems so."

"What was that girl's name?"

"It sounded like Xuewu. She seemed to be chasing that little snow-white beast too."

Xiao Chen was deeply moved. Keke had once been hiding nearby. He wondered if she had already left.

"Brother Hai, wha-what a coincidence. Y-y-y-you're here too."

Xiao Chen was surprised. On a street ahead, he saw Jin Sanyi's figure, along with another familiar silhouette heading toward a tavern. It seemed to be... Hai Yuntian, whom he had not seen for years.

The sleazy Jin Sanyi, his peach-blossom eyes gleaming with a thief's light, stammered, "Br-br-brother Hai, I sw-swear I didn't really say you look like a woman last time."

The handsome youth walking toward the tavern was indeed Hai Yuntian. He was tall and slender, his features as beautiful as jade, far more handsome and beautiful than most women—he could even be called peerlessly elegant.

"Br-br-brother Hai, don't hold a grudge, okay?" Jin Sanyi blinked his peach-blossom eyes. "O-okay, I'll apologize. I-I-I take back what I said before. Br-br-brother Hai is a real man, an iron-blooded true man—he can shatter boulders on his chest and run horses on his arms."