Without a word, Qi Xuanheng found an empty 【Bone Lotus Seat】, knelt down, and bowed deeply.
A white light flashed again, leaping from the brazier and sinking into the 【Bone Lotus Seat】.
Qi Xuanheng felt a surge of energy flowing from the seat beneath him, traveling upward through his bones.
It was a cool sensation accompanied by a slight itch.
Once the transformation was complete, Qi Xuanheng stood up and brushed the dust off his knees.
"Elder Qi, how is it? Do you feel anything wrong?"
"Hahaha, wrong? It feels absolutely right!" Qi Xuanheng laughed heartily. "I feel completely light. My joints don't click anymore, and I feel twenty years younger."
As he spoke, Qi Xuanheng struck several martial arts poses. He moved with decent form, enough to impress a group of children, but to a trained eye, it was purely for show and lacked any real power.
"In the foundation stage of martial arts, there are the Five Refinements: Refining Skin, Refining Bone, Refining Blood, Refining Tendon, and Refining Organs. Only when all five are combined is the foundation of martial arts truly cast." After finishing his poses, Qi Xuanheng began explaining martial arts knowledge to Chen Xu.
"Among the Five Refinements, Refining Bone is the most fundamental. Blood is born from bone. Strong bones lead to vigorous qi and blood, and strong bones lead to healthy muscles and tendons. One could say that how far one can go in martial arts depends on whether they have a good set of bones.
In the world of Taikun, one of the five special dungeons, the top powerhouses mostly possess an innate Supreme Bone. From the very start of their martial path, they are stronger than everyone else.
Little friend Chen, although the boost from your Natural Wonder is far inferior to a Supreme Bone, the improvement is still substantial. Using it only to buff skeletons is a waste. Buffing Martial Artists is the true path!"
Chen Xu was a bit dazed by Qi Xuanheng's grand claims. Could the 【Bone Soul-Exalting Altar】 really be used on the living with such excellent results?
It wasn't that Chen Xu didn't believe him, but in his long-standing inheritance, there was no precedent of a living person receiving a blessing from a Natural Wonder.
Of course, this was likely because previous Lords of the Undead were all undead creatures themselves. The Natural Wonders they built were usually located in the Land of the Undead or worlds they had invaded.
Forget finding a living person, it was hard enough to find a fresh corpse in those places.
"Elder Qi, does it really have such a great effect? You aren't a Martial Artist, so could your perception be off? Why don't we call a Martial Artist over to test it again?"
"What you say makes sense. However, it is late now, and I don't want to disturb others. Why don't we test it tomorrow?"
"As you wish, Elder Qi. The Natural Wonder is right here anyway. I can't exactly run away with it."
"That works." Qi Xuanheng turned to his student and the two staff members. "Thank you all for coming tonight. Little Liu, thank you for your hard work as well. You three should head back first."
"You are too kind, Elder Qi."
With that, the three of them departed.
Seeing them leave, Chen Xu also planned to head out. The locations of the dungeons Xia Qiming had given him were outside West Wasteland City, and it would take some time to get there.
But when he reached the entrance of the secret realm, he noticed Qi Xuanheng standing still, staring blankly at the 【Bone Soul-Exalting Altar】.
"Elder Qi, aren't you leaving?"
"Oh, you go ahead, little friend Chen. Don't mind me. I need to organize my thoughts. It is an old habit of mine."
"Alright, then I'll be off."
With a wave of his hand, Chen Xu unsummoned all the skeletons in the secret realm and stepped out.
Ten minutes passed. Once Qi Xuanheng was sure no one else was coming in, he struck several martial arts poses again.
These poses, which Chen Xu had dismissed as flashy and impractical, were actually part of a set of Five Refinements techniques Qi Xuanheng had collected in his early years.
However, Qi Xuanheng lacked the root-bone aptitude to cultivate them. Since he didn't have a martial arts-related class, he couldn't use the professional system to bypass those requirements and force the cultivation.
In all the years of the dungeon era, there were items that could change one's root-bone. But those resources were never enough even for the Martial Artists themselves, let alone for someone like Qi Xuanheng.
But now, his root-bone had been improved, and the spark that had been buried in his heart for so long was reignited.
Among the people of Daxia, at least a third dreamed of being a martial hero, and another third dreamed of being an immortal cultivator. As for the remaining third, they wanted to do both.
And today, his dream was finally within reach.
...
The next day, following the markings on his map, Chen Xu arrived at the West Wasteland City branch of the military academy.
In a border city like this, even if it didn't face direct threats of dungeon invasions like Mohai City or Hanyuan Base, the military would still establish a branch specifically to train exploration teams to investigate the dungeons outside the city.
Chen Xu arrived at the branch and presented his identification, stating his purpose.
The guard at the gate took the ID and made a phone call.
Shortly after, an armored vehicle drove out from the branch. It was a familiar model to Chen Xu, the same type he had ridden in Mohai City.
The window rolled down, and a middle-aged man greeted Chen Xu. "You must be Chen Xu. Manager Xia mentioned you. I originally wanted to invite you inside for a seat.
But Manager Xia said you are a busy man with a heavy mission, so I drove out as soon as I got word from the gate. Jump in, I'll take you there."
Chen Xu took a few quick steps, pulled the door open, and hopped into the armored vehicle.
"How should I address you?"
"My surname is Huang. I am the captain of the West Wasteland exploration team. You can just call me Little Huang."
"Captain Huang, you must be joking. Looking at you, you must be in your forties or fifties. You can't be a teenager looking old, can you?"
"That's right, I'm forty-eight this year. Is it possible you are very young, Chen Xu? Manager Xia only mentioned you are a titled powerhouse, so I assumed you were older."
"Hahaha, I just became an adult this year."
"Just became an adult?"
Hearing this, Captain Huang's mind wandered for a moment. He didn't notice a large pothole in the road and drove straight over it. With a loud crash, the armored vehicle bounced into the air, gliding briefly at a low altitude.
Chen Xu thought Captain Huang just had a very aggressive driving style and silently buckled his seatbelt.
A silence fell over the vehicle after that as the two stopped talking.
Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the first dungeon.
"Chen Xu, these four dungeons are very close to each other, all located in this depression. Our exploration team has been inside. The monster types in all four are similar: kobolds, centaurs, and dwarves.
Kobolds are numerous but weak individually. Centaurs are natural warriors and archers with outstanding individual strength. Dwarves possess power that belies their stature and are skilled in forging."
After speaking, Captain Huang tapped his head. He had actually started giving instructions to a titled powerhouse. His professional habits were getting the better of him.
"Sorry, I'm just used to saying these things. Do you need me to wait for you here?"
Chen Xu waved his hand. "No need, I have my own transport."
Receiving the answer, Captain Huang drove away.
Since the exploration team had ranked these four as mid-tier dungeons, Chen Xu planned to split his forces into two groups.
Xuan Chu would handle one dungeon, while Bone Guard One handled another.
As for the other two, he opened his status panel and saw that his Black Knight skill had reached level 5, allowing him to summon three more Black Knights.
He would enter the dungeons first, deploy Xuan Chu and Bone Guard One, and then return to the Undead Kingdom to summon the new Black Knights.
【Destiny Seeker, entering unknown dungeon. Current exploration progress: 0%】
In the first dungeon, Chen Xu released Bone Guard One and its army of skeleton soldiers, letting it act freely. He also placed Sindragosa and the others in this dungeon. The dragon bones provided by the Dragon Cave had already been converted into new Undead Bone Dragons.
These new companions needed practice in team combat.
【Destiny Seeker, entering unknown dungeon. Current exploration progress: 0%】
In the second dungeon, he had Xuan Chu lead the Skeleton Archers to clear it. After all, there were still two more dungeons left, so he had to save some troop types for the upcoming Black Knights.
After making the arrangements, Chen Xu returned to the Undead Kingdom, prepared to appoint his new generals.
Having reached the mythic-tier, he had a new option for appointing generals.
In the past, when he conferred titles on Bone Guard One and the others, they had to earn merit before being rewarded.
Now, with the authority of the mythic-tier, he could reward them first and have them earn merit later. Simply put, it was like reversing the usual practice of making empty promises; he would give his subordinates the benefits first to motivate them to work hard and fight!
Rate on N.U.
