Devour

The Yellow Turban Warriors patrolled in a very regular pattern between the palaces. If they didn't want to fight, it would be easy for Cheng Bai and others to dodge them with their agility and speed, and quickly ran to the second palace.

The tall stone statue standing in front of the gate is shaped like an ox, with a white head, huge horns, a single eye and a snake tail. This race of monsters has been encountered on the Ladder of All Things.

Li Tong, not forgetting the tour guide, explained: "The second palace, the Ox, is guarded by the demon king Fei."

There was also an ancient skeleton sitting in the hall. It was even bigger than the one in the Rat Palace, with a human body and an ox's head. A tattered double-headed giant axe was discarded in front of it, and it looked very miserable.

Cheng Bai commented: "It is different from the Fei I met before. How can it be half beast and half human? The same is true for Zhu Ru. Is it because of how much higher its strength is?"

Li Tong said unconcernedly, "There's nothing strange about that. Once a demon king who has cultivated to a certain level has mastered the art of transformation, he can open up his spiritual intelligence and change into a human form. His combat power is not low at all."

Blackfly and Smoker can both transform into human form. They have already awakened their intelligence and are able to act easily, which is quite rare in the Qiongqi Continent.

The Smoker continued, "Not all demons rely on transformation to awaken their spiritual intelligence. A few have awakened their spiritual intelligence early, but have not yet mastered the transformation. It is already very good for them to be able to change the size of the world in the pot."

For example, Qi Bin and Qu Cong are of this type.

Cheng Bai took a closer look at the fatal wound on the skeleton. The head was twisted off by someone. The challenger was so powerful that he completely suppressed Fei.

Fei is famous among the major demon tribes for his great strength and unbreakable body defense. This demon king is particularly amazing. His bones are harder than pure gold. When he was alive, his strength was more than ten times that of anyone he had encountered before, but he was suppressed and killed by a stronger force.

Cheng Bai evaluated the explosive power of this fatal attack and secretly admired it, praising: "This Fei King is stronger than Zhu Ru. After a few rounds of fighting, he was torn apart by the Locking Technique, a fatal move. If the challenger is Shi Qi, his strength is far superior to mine. Even if he transforms into a tyrant, he is obviously inferior."

Li Tong smiled and said, "Dabai, don't underestimate yourself. Shi Qi spent his entire life to reach the fifth level of Jianmu, and it was difficult for him to make any further progress. You have been practicing for too short a time. The third level of Jianmu is truly powerful. With time, you will surely surpass it."

Cheng Bai silently speculated on the meaning of the six moves of the Bliss Fist, and thought to himself: "This martial art is extraordinary. It can incorporate any moves into it and encompass everything. The higher the level of cultivation, the greater the effect. No martial arts I have seen so far can compare with it. No wonder Shi Qi carefully engraved it on the Zhenwu Stone Bed."

The third palace is the Tiger Palace. The guardian stone statue in front of the door has a majestic physique, a human face with tiger claws, a tiger body with nine tails, and its color is like smoke and haze. It is the demon king Luwu.

Walking into the palace, there were pits and holes everywhere from the ground to the ceiling. Only fragments of ancient bones were left scattered on the ground, and there was not a complete body.

Cheng Bai looked around and carefully observed the fist and foot marks from the fight. From them, he could vaguely see the residual aura of martial arts and the hidden laws of secret arts. He said, "It was a fierce battle. Lu Wu was stronger than the previous two and could compete with Shi Qi, forcing him to use all his killing moves. Unfortunately, he was still defeated by the Six Paths of Bliss Fist and was tragically torn into pieces by the Shattering Word Technique."

From this, we can infer how fierce the battle was. It was a decisive battle similar to that with the Faceless Commander. Both sides used secret techniques to strengthen their bodies. Every punch hit the flesh, every move was dangerous, and they refused to give an inch, as if they wanted to burn their lives out. The tragic scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere was horrifying.

The Smoker felt the bloody scene and judged: "Lu Wu can be considered a distant relative of our clan. He has outstanding combat power and is hard to match with those of the same realm. Even if he is defeated by Shi Qi, it is still an honor to lose."

Li Tong said: "The demon kings guarding the twelve earthly palaces have practiced for more than ten thousand years. There are differences in strength among them. The ones with outstanding strength can catch up with the ancient gods. Those who can pass Lu Wu's level have entered the late stage of the state of no thought."

Cheng Bai experienced the mysteries of the boxing moves from the broken traces, and verified them with what he had learned. He was quite enlightened and could not help but secretly surprised: "Good boxing skills, very inspiring, I have improved a little bit."

Li Tong asked curiously: "How much is one point?"

Cheng Bai gestured as if he was pinching a piece of booger, and said leisurely: "For others, a little bit of possibility is what they want in their whole life, but for me it's just a tiny bit."

Li Tong laughed dryly twice, and the smoker twitched his lips and remained silent.

Cheng Bai looked at all the remaining traces and delayed for a long time before the group went to the fourth palace.

This is the Rabbit Palace. The guardian stone statue is a small, rare monster, the Jade Rabbit, a legendary pure and elegant moon elf that symbolizes good fortune.

The human skeleton lying dead in the palace was unexpectedly huge, dozens of meters long.

Cheng Bai was stunned and asked, "Is this the Jade Rabbit? Why does it look like a giant to me?"

A closer look at the skeleton revealed that it was a female giant, which was quite rare among demon kings. It seemed that the challenger had no mercy on women.

Li Tong was not surprised and said, "This size is not very big among the demon kings. It's just a transformation."

Judging from the traces of the battle, Yutu's strength was almost the same as Luwu's, but he was defeated much faster. He could not withstand the challenger's fierce attack and was completely defeated. The giant blood jade pestle he was holding was even broken into several pieces.

Cheng Bai experienced the battle process from the wreckage of the fist prints and was amazed: "From the Tiger Palace to the Rabbit Palace, after the battle with Lu Wu, Shi Qi's realm has improved. It is obvious that his strength is higher. Yutu is not enough to match him."

Li Tong smiled and said, "In a life-and-death duel, those with extraordinary talents are most likely to break through. If Shi Qi was only in the late stage of the Wu Nian realm in the Tiger Palace, he would have reached a higher level in the battle of the Rabbit Palace and stepped into the threshold of the Wu Xiang realm."

Cheng Bai identified the material of the weapon: "This jade pestle is made of a whole piece of blood jade, polished and refined. Although it is not inlaid with a crystal core, it has twenty-four rune prohibitions. It is at least a high-quality spiritual weapon. It was on my blood jade fishing rod, but was destroyed by my bare fist."

Looking closely at the broken part, the broken piece of blood jade pestle showed fine cracks and could no longer be used as a small piece of material. It was destroyed by the multiple punching forces of the "Break" and "Lie" techniques, and the force was used to perfection.

Cheng Bai had a deeper understanding of the Six Paths of Bliss Fist. He said thoughtfully, "If the physical body is invincible, why does it need to rely on treasures? Or if the physical body is cultivated into a magical body, isn't that the great way of martial arts?"

Li Tong said: "There are thousands of great ways, each with its own unique abilities. There are countless masters of the past who have similar ideas. The Seven Treasures Golden Body follows the path of refining the flesh into a human-shaped treasure, but it may not be suitable for everyone, and there are ways to restrain it."

The Smoker grinned and said, "The path you seek must be suitable for yourself. Everyone has different sources of power when they step towards the extreme."

Cheng Bai's mind was full of brilliant ideas, and he couldn't help dancing with joy. He suddenly said, "I understand."

Continuing to the next palace, the mountain becomes more dangerous, with steep cliffs that seem to be cut by knives and axes, reaching straight into the sky.

The fifth palace is called Chenlong Palace. The guardian stone statue in front of the gate is a blue dragon. It is blue-gray in color, with claws like halberd blades, a scaly body and spines on its back. Its appearance is somewhat similar to that of a black dragon, and it looks majestic.

There was a complete dragon skeleton in the palace, which was longer and bigger than the Nether Bone Dragon and even bigger than the skeletons in the previous four palaces combined. It did not have any human form. Although only the skeleton was left, it was still moving with its teeth and claws bared, as if it were lifelike.

Li Tong commented: "The blue dragon guarding this palace has reached the late stage of the Wuxiang realm, with pure true dragon blood. Its strength ranks among the best among the twelve earthly branches, and it is several times stronger than Lu Wu. Yet it was defeated by the challenger. Shi Qi is indeed extraordinary in combat power."

Cheng Bai walked around the corpse and said in surprise, "I can't find any wounds. How did it die?"

Compared with the previous skeletons, it is impossible to determine the cause of Canglong's death. It seems that it did not participate in the battle. It stood in the palace in a fighting posture and turned into dry bones forever.

Li Tong thought for a moment and said, "The mystical arts are infinite and varied. Many of them can kill people without causing any injuries. The details may only be known by the two parties involved."

Cheng Bai looked at the skeleton carefully. It was stronger than King Fei and probably not inferior to the Ancient God Son. He pondered and said, "Cang Long's body is strong, far stronger than the previous demon king. The enemy has suddenly become much stronger. I'm afraid Shi Qi doesn't have much chance of winning. This is the inadequacy of physical training. If others are stronger than you, you become a piece of tofu dregs. If he didn't have other abilities, Shi Qi should have fallen in Chenlong Palace."

The Smoker guessed, "Perhaps Shi Qi had some powerful treasure in his hand at the time, and he used it in a hurry, killing him instantly."

Cheng Bai thought for a moment and said, "That makes sense. It's probably a powerful treasure that can only be used once. Shi Qi realized that Cang Long was difficult to deal with, so he used it."

After turning around a few times, the Smoker saw that Cheng Bai was watching with great interest, so he asked, "Master, do you want to make dragon bone soup?"

Cheng Bai shook his head and said, "Dragon bones are extraordinary, containing the mysteries of the Great Dao, and are extremely powerful. They are unique among all races, and there is even a realm of 'transformation into a dragon' in the cultivation system, which shows their extraordinary significance."

Li Tong said: "It is rare that you can think of the key point now. The realm before and after the dragon transformation is mainly to condense the Dharma body, and the combat power will naturally be far beyond the physical body. Before that, you need to go through the five mysterious realms and gather enough magic power before you can leap into a dragon."

The smoker watched for a while and said with a wry smile, "I can't see what it is."

Leaving the Chenlong Palace, we head to the sixth Sishe Palace. The guardian stone statue is a coiled giant snake, with its head raised and its tongue sticking out, as if it is about to choose someone to bite.

The Si Snake Palace is located halfway up the mountain and is the largest one seen so far. The huge snake-shaped skeleton displayed in the palace is broken into ten pieces. If it were intact, it would probably be even bigger than the Azure Dragon.

Li Tong identified it, "It's a Bashang snake, a rare giant snake of the demon tribe. A young snake is big enough to swallow an elephant. An adult Bashang snake can coil around a mountain, with its head at the top and its tail at the foot. It's said that anyone who sees a Bashang snake will die. I didn't expect it to die here."

The Smoker said solemnly, "It is said that the Bashen has the highest physical growth limit among all the monsters. Once it transforms into a dragon, it will grow rapidly and look down on everything. Even real dragons are afraid of it."

Cheng Bai carefully examined the wound and judged the course of the battle: "He used the palm knife to cut him, and used the splitting and piercing techniques to the fullest. Compared with the previous Gongs' performance, Shi Qi's cultivation level has increased in this battle, and his strength has become stronger."

Compared with the previous traces of battle, the fractures on the skeleton were more crisscrossed and neat, which made Cheng Bai very excited and itchy, as if he had witnessed that thrilling battle with his own eyes.

Li Tong said: "Among the twelve earthly branch guardians, Bashe is not as good as Canglong, but at least he is better than Luwu and Yutu. When a strong person meets a stronger one, he becomes stronger. It is not surprising that he breaks through his own limits and goes further in a life-and-death duel."

The Smoker echoed, "The strong prey on the weak, and the strong all climb to the top by stepping on the corpses of others."

Cheng Bai smiled and said, "The geniuses who have passed through the twelve palaces have overcome all difficulties and risen to the top. No wonder it is called the City of Promotion."

After studying for a while, Cheng Bai and his party turned and headed for the next palace.

The seventh is the Wuma Palace. The stone statue in front of the gate is a Pegasus with wings on its back, a black head and a white body. However, the palace is empty and tidy everywhere, with no signs of any fighting.

Cheng Bai recalled, "I once heard Master Shi talking about how Senior Shi Qi's mount was a powerful Pegasus horse. It was truly a whirling horse that came and went like the wind. Could this be the origin of this?"

Li Tong continued, "Tianma is close to living creatures and is not good at fighting. He is the weakest among the twelve earthly branches. He followed Shi Qi to Shanhui City, but when he came back, Tianma was nowhere to be seen."

Cheng Bai thought of Xiao Bai and said casually, "In that case, Senior Shi Qi's seclusion may be related to this."

Continuing deeper, we arrived at the eighth Weiyang Palace. The stone statue in front of the door has a one-horned sheep body, long ears and sharp claws, and is as white as silver. It is the mythical beast Bai Ze. The palace is also empty, like a bare shell of a home.

Li Tong reminded: "Look, they left something behind."

If it weren't for Cheng Bai, he would have almost overlooked the ordinary broken brick on the ground. The broken weapons left behind in the palaces ahead were definitely not ordinary iron tools. Li Tong didn't care about them, but he paid special attention to this thing.

Cheng Bai picked it up and took a closer look. His knowledge of weapon sect had enabled him to identify many rare treasures. He immediately found something unusual and said in surprise, "This doesn't look like a treasure. There are no runes or spiritual energy. It's just an ordinary brick."

Looking around, the Sheep Palace was neat and tidy, with no damage anywhere. Where did this brick come from?

Li Tong pointed out: "It is precisely because it is an ordinary thing that it is placed here that it is particularly different. It is not a treasure, it is not a material object in the Shengjin Pagoda, it is not within the control of Shichi, and it can be taken away at will."

This made sense. Cheng Bai looked over the brick and felt that the texture looked familiar. He couldn't remember where he had seen it before, so he put the brick into his treasure bag.

The ninth is the Monkey Palace, whose guardian stone statue is a giant ape with white head and bare feet, the vicious beast Zhu Yan, who is well-known among the major demon tribes for his divine power and divinity.

Sitting in the palace was the skeleton of a majestic giant ape; a closer look revealed that the skeleton seemed intact, but there were two huge fist marks on the ground in front of it.

Cheng Bai carefully examined the traces, pondered for a moment, and asked in surprise, "Could it be that Shi Qi was fighting with Zhu Yan Shen Yuan Wen at that time?"

Li Tong asked curiously, "What is a literary duel?"

"Each of you will make a fist mark and hit the ground, and it can also be used to test the level of your cultivation." After Cheng Bai finished speaking, he compared the characteristics of the two fist marks in detail.

Zhu Yan's strength is at the top among the Twelve Earthly Branches. His fist hits the ground like a meteor, creating a huge pit bigger than his body. The surroundings are shattered into pieces, and the fist marks and fingerprints left behind are clearly visible, with his strength unparalleled.

A little further away was an equally huge palm print, which carved deep and clear marks on the ground like cutting tofu, with a force that was decisive and forceful.

In terms of destructive power and range, the two sides are evenly matched.