Chapter 847: Chapter 570: Divine Skill—Nine Tribulation Lotus (Monthly Ticket Request)
He stretched out his palm. On his finger bones, nine-colored radiance flowed; lotuses were born in the void, leisurely rotating, sacred and demonic at once.
The power of the Heavenly Tribulation was absorbed by his Seven-Colored Glaze Bone, transforming into the current Nine-Colored Skeleton. The key to this was the [Revolving Dao]. He discovered that the form of the tribulation closely resembled the [Doomsday Mill] he had observed during Unity of Heaven and Man, so in that final spear strike, he fused the Revolving Dao into it, successfully prying open the Eight-Colored Grinding Plate.
To destroy the grinding plate by brute force was impossible.
He had previously claimed he was ten percent certain to survive the tribulation because he used others’ tribulations as reference cases. But, when truly overcoming it, he realized that due to the particularity of the World Dao, his tribulation was unprecedented.
The Dragon King, though Eight Tribulations, faced them in turns rather than in the way Lu Chenzhou experienced—attacking all at once.
The degree of difficulty could not even be mentioned in the same breath.
If Lu Chenzhou could not comprehend the Revolving Dao—
If Red Lotus Demon Venerable had not lent a hand, using the Destruction Dao to help the Revolving Dao swiftly reach Fourth Rank and Entering Dao, his odds of surviving would likely not even reach eighty percent.
This cruel was the reality.
The World Dao—its power was beyond question.
But its difficulty also soared without limit.
In the unseen order of the cosmos, destiny is decreed.
Red Lotus thought the addition of a ninth tribulation made Lu Chenzhou’s ordeal harder, not knowing that what Lu Chenzhou awaited was just that ninth tribulation.
After breaking through the tribulation with Revolving Dao, Lu Chenzhou was instantly enlightened, once again entering Unity of Heaven and Man. He used the opportunity to comprehend his divine skill in the shortest possible time.
Thinking thus, he looked toward the Martial Arts Tree.
[Martial God Spear: Perfection]
[Divine Power: Nine Tribulation Lotus]
[Quality: Lower Grade·Twenty-seven Patterns]
[Level: Basic Level]
[Introduction: Infusing the powers of metal, wood, water, earth, fire, wind, thunder, ice, and destruction into one spear via the Revolving Dao, burning all energies, a nine-colored red lotus of three hundred kilometer diameter blooms amidst heaven and earth, capable of instantly unleashing ninefold the power of an ordinary strike.]
[Note: Self-created divine skills can be upgraded with spear skill advancement and quality ascension. Non-self-created divine skills can neither be upgraded nor improved in quality.]
"Divine Power·Nine Tribulation Lotus—this is the divine power of my ’Martial God Spear’, a power that will accompany me all my life. When my spear skill reaches Ninth Rank, it will ascend and become a Great Divine Power!"
To self-create a divine skill—there is true substance in that.
If he cultivated a Supreme Divine Skill created by another, any divine skill born of it would also belong to another, with its quality fixed. Unless one could convert another’s Supreme Divine Skill into a self-created martial arts, which is extremely difficult, for once martial arts reach the Seventh Realm they essentially become finalized. If one seeks to create their own supreme martial art, the time is before the Seventh Realm; any additions afterward, at most, are minor innovations—hardly genuine creation.
Thus, all ambitious martial artists blaze their own path before the Seventh Realm, rather than walking in others’ footsteps.
In the End of Dharma era of Da Xia, the Seventh Realm consisted almost exclusively of Dao Pioneers, all having self-created Supreme Divine Skills.
But in the new age, some of the Seventh Realm pioneered their own Dao, while others followed established paths—the latter languishing in the lower grade.
Merely, for most in the Seventh Realm, talent alone rarely reaches into the Eighth Realm or beyond. Thus, whether or not they pioneered their Dao is of little consequence; what matters is to comprehend divine skills early and soon wield formidable strength.
Of course, there’s another way: without pioneering one’s Dao, it is possible to hope to comprehend a Great Divine Power by directly leaping ahead and learning a Great Power Skill, such as the ’Mountain Moving Scripture’ or ’Chasing Light Chapter’. Upon reaching proficiency, a Great Divine Power naturally emerges. But this means that, before reaching the rank of Great Power, the cultivator has no divine skill to use, for divine skills are only born of perfected cultivation techniques. This curtails the cultivator’s ability in early duels—forcing them onto the ’late-bloomer’ path, enduring in the early stages.
"Ninefold the power of an ordinary technique."
Lu Chenzhou murmured in his heart.
Currently, in the Seventh Realm, without activating the Kun Character Technique, a casual blow bore the strength of twenty million tripod weights; nine times that amounted to 180 million. Back when he witnessed Yellow River Old Ghost and companions’ battle, the divine skill of an average Seventh Realm was only thirty or forty million tripod weights, with the most destructive—such as Li Xiuying’s [Extinction Divine Sword]—hitting sixty million.
Blood Flood Dragon Demon Venerate, in the Middle Stage of Seventh Realm, could throw out thirty or forty million at will; as for divine skills, Lu Chenzhou didn’t know. He intended to find an opportunity to test it.
After the Seventh Realm, every minor hurdle was a new layer of heaven.
He hadn’t experienced the late stage up close, but guessed it easily surpassed one hundred million. As for the Peak of Seventh Realm, currently in the Xia Realm, only Priest, Dragon King, and Emperor Shitian remained at this stage. Judging by the Dragon King’s state, the Eighth Realm wasn’t far—these figures stood at the pinnacle even among the Three Thousand Worlds.
And the Eighth Realm?
Without an array or spiritual weapon above Eighth Rank, even if a hundred Seventh Realm martial artists attacked, they would be crushed one by one. An Eighth Realm could destroy millions with an idle blow; Lu Chenzhou had observed such from afar within Aurora Palace.
[Eternal Immortal’s Sketchbook] recorded:
"Divine skills are in three grades: high, middle, and low. High Grade Divine Power is a Great Divine Power. Self-created martial arts divine skills all begin as Low Grade, and even within Low Grade skills, the difficulty level and martial arts vary widely. This difference reveals itself most clearly in the number of divine patterns."
With this thought,
Lu Chenzhou’s mind entered the Inner Scenery Land.
Where once the Inner Scenery Land had been mountains, rivers, and land,
now, it was a starry sky.
In the endless deep space, time and space seemed not to exist. Lu Chenzhou, with a single thought, traversed billions of light-years.
The stars streamed past like rays of light.
He arrived in an unfamiliar sea of stars, amid a nebula—the birthplace of fixed stars. At its heart, nine colored stars were linked, forming a star map.
Within the star map, one could faintly see a nine-colored lotus spinning,
setting the entire nebula in motion.
"This is the first Divine Storage I have created—the place where the Divine Power·Nine Tribulation Lotus is nurtured. Other Seventh Realm Divine Storages are like grotto heavens, but mine is a nebula hundreds of light-years in diameter."
Lu Chenzhou couldn’t help but laugh and cry.
The World Dao—far too unique.
"Martial artists always name their Divine Storage. My first will be called [Nine Tribulations Star Lotus Map]."
Lu Chenzhou looked around in all directions.
"Where is my Primordial Spirit?"
Suddenly, a snoring sound echoed in his mind.
With a flash of comprehension, his awareness sank, entering a red star. There, at the core, where nuclear reactions raged and temperatures soared to the hundreds of millions, only beings like Great Power or special existences such as Red Lotus Demon Venerable could survive. Any other living creature would be reduced to particles in an instant.
"Hoo-loo-loo..."
At the star’s core was a gigantic egg cloaked in red scales, its surface etched with three profound and intricate divine patterns—winding and twisting.
Together, they formed a message:
[Primordial God·Beast]
[Power: Destruction (Revolving)]
[Rank: Fourth Rank]
"Is this the Primordial Spirit that my divine skill nurtures? Wasn’t it supposed to be twenty-seven divine patterns? Could it be...?" Lu Chenzhou’s gaze shifted to other stars, finding a pale blue one to enter.
Sure enough, inside was another egg, its surface covered in grid-like heavy armor. Within, a serpent-headed, turtle-bodied, dragon-clawed beast coiled, water swirling all around.
[Primordial God·Turtle]
[Power: Water Element]
[Rank: Third Rank]
He checked them one by one.
"Fire Sparrow, Golden Tiger, Wood Dragon, Earth Duke, Thunder Peng, Wind Snake, Ice Spirit..."
Nine types of Primordial Gods, each with three divine patterns, totaling twenty-seven.
So that’s how it is: just this one divine skill, yet nine primordial spirits are nurtured.
It appears as nine types, but in essence, they are interchangeable.
Nine-in-one—they may be called the Nine Tribulations Primordial Spirit.
[Eternal Immortal’s Sketchbook] explains: Among Low Grade divine skills, there are nine classes; three divine patterns is the lowest potential, with the weakest power at the same realm, and almost zero chance of advancing to Middle Grade.
Theoretically, with every three divine patterns added, the divine skill moves up by one class; and since nine is the ultimate number, the highest grade is twenty-seven patterns.
Such a divine skill will very likely advance to a Great Divine Power in the future, and even rank among the best of them."
He didn’t know about the Dragon King, but the divine skill [Heaven and Earth Changing] self-created by Eternal Immortal also had twenty-seven divine patterns;
Bai Feng’s [Heavenly Escape Mysterious Light], Yaochi Immortal’s [Earthly Desolation], Four Symbols Personnel’s [True Spirit Four Changes]—all have twenty-four divine patterns;
Similarly, Xuanwu Daoist’s [True Martial Daluo], Dragon and Tiger Heavenly Master’s [Golden Core Nine Revolutions], all are top three classes;
Other Seventh Realm, as long as they self-create martial skills, their initial divine skill is mostly mid-three classes.
But if they walk the path of another’s Supreme Divine Skill, no matter how High Level that skill, the initial divine skill birthed will at best be mid-three class, and many are low-three class.
Imitators can never match the originator.
Even with the same Great Divine Power, his [Star-picking and Moon-taking] was never as powerful as when performed by Lord of Yuan Mountain himself.
Unless your mastery of Power Extreme surpasses the master—blue outclassing indigo.
"As for the Primordial Spirit’s rank, it corresponds to my Dao Understanding—the Primordial Spirit is the embodiment of the Dao."
He departed from the Inner Scenery Land.
Lu Chenzhou dragged his skeletal body.
On the earth, shocking traces of lotus flowers remained.
Chen Beiming and the others rushed over.
Old Chen hesitantly gazed at the nine-colored skull before him.
"Is that Friend Lu?"
The skull nodded slightly, revealing a chilling smile.
"Yes."
The voice was hoarse and low.
The eight Seventh Realm experts remained alert.
"Friend Lu, you haven’t been seized by another?"
"Could it be the work of Red Lotus?"
Lu Chenzhou’s aura truly didn’t resemble one at ease.
"I have been tainted with too much power from the Heavenly Tribulation. My physical body cannot recover in a short time—it will resolve after some time."
Lu Chenzhou explained.
Only after he did his utmost to prove his identity did Chen Beiming and the rest lay down their weapons and relax.
"Congratulations, Friend Lu!"
"Congratulations on Breaking Through Seven!"
"Tianxia has gained another Seventh Realm!"
"Friend Lu, was that last move a divine skill? To think you could command the power of the Eight-colored Heavenly Tribulation—unbelievable."
"Eight tribulations? No, that was Nine Tribulations Seventh Realm. Luckily, Red Lotus self-destructed, or it would have died of rage."
The crowd offered their congratulations one after another.
Although he was but a skeleton, the surging, invisible Qi-Blood of over 1,500,000 burned like a Great Sun.
Among the eight present, the strongest Qi-Blood belonged to Alcohol King, who had entered Seventh Realm earlier and was a fighter, but even so, he only had 1,300,000; next was Chen Beiming, with 1,100,000 Qi-Blood.
In other words—
In terms of cultivation, Lu Chenzhou was already the top figure among humans; as for power, it went without saying. Even before tribulation, he had surpassed Chen Beiming and ascended to first place on the Heavenly Person List.