Baby with Daoist Monarch System

At this moment, the bald man was a bit anxious.

After all, Xu Ran was the first person in such a long, long time to enter this trial, and with high probability, also the last one to step into the Nine-Layered Giant Tower’s trial.

If he really could peacefully cultivate inside the Nine-Layered Giant Tower for hundreds of years, then when he walked out of the tower, he’d absolutely be unmatched under heaven!

Moreover, with the physique of the [Innate Saint’s Sacred Body] at Great Success, living to that age would be as easy as breathing.

How nice it would’ve been to just follow the plan step by step.

Who knew he’d suddenly come up with this kind of method.

Wasn’t this just directly making the bald man’s heart jump into his throat!!!

”Although doing this is extremely dangerous—one misstep and you could die on the spot.”

”But judging from the current results, this method really can let you rapidly and successfully temper the First Stage of the calf bone!”

This leg technique trial stage.

You only needed to successfully temper your calf bone to the First Stage, and the second checkpoint would then open.

”You absolutely can’t do this for the next checkpoint!” The bald man thought of the trial coming up. ”What’s next is made of real, physical things!”

With that, his gaze pierced through the void, landing on Xu Ran, who was standing in the Dueling Arena.

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When Xu Ran successfully tempered his calf bone and pushed it through the First Stage of tempering—

The instant his foot landed on the stake, a ringing metallic clang sounded out, like an extremely heavy steel pipe slamming straight into the ground.

Only, that sound wasn’t from an actual steel pipe, but from Xu Ran landing firmly on the stake, the metallic clang produced by his calf bone.

”Why do I feel like my body’s gotten even lighter!?”

Xu Ran had just steadied himself on the stake when his face lit up with joy. He looked down at his pant leg that had been burned away by the flames.

”Looks like my method is really effective!”

Xu Ran tore open the pant leg that had been ruined by the flames with one hand, while turning his head to look at the stakes behind him.

”Hm?!”

He hadn’t even had time to fully savor the joy of having just found a way to clear the stage when everything before his eyes suddenly changed.

He saw—

The hundreds of stakes that had previously been swallowed up by flames, now reappeared in Xu Ran’s field of vision.

Only, compared to before, these stakes were even closer to the magma, at a rough estimate only about ten meters away.

And above the stakes, countless dark clouds had gathered overhead, as if they were holding some kind of ”dark-cloud assembly,” and streaks of white light flickered within them.

”Is that Lightning in the clouds?”

Xu Ran stared at the dark clouds and muttered.

You barely needed to check to be sure of something like this.

Rumble-----

Sure enough.

Just as Xu Ran finished speaking, a peal of thunder rolled out from within the clouds, and with a flash of white light, a bolt of white Lightning came crashing straight down, coincidentally striking one of the stakes.

The stake that was struck turned pitch-black all over, as if it had been burned by fire, and fine cracks spread across its surface.

”Didn’t expect you to temper your calf bone so quickly, and even so fast reach the First Stage!”

At this moment, the dark clouds split open, tearing a rift and revealing a pitch-black space before Xu Ran’s eyes—that was the image of the void.

Then, a bald man with bronze-colored skin stepped out from within.

It was the bald man tearing open the void and appearing in front of Xu Ran.

But right now, Xu Ran wasn’t interested in why the bald man could emerge from the void; he was far more curious about what he’d just mentioned—tempering the calf bone.

”Calf bone tempering?”

Xu Ran asked.

Being unashamed to ask questions was one of his better traits.

What’s more, he already understood from the trial itself what the purpose of this trial was—to teach him the most basic things in cultivation, including all kinds of techniques and skills.

For someone like him, who knew absolutely nothing about cultivation in the Origin Realm, this was extremely helpful and would save him from taking a ton of detours.

The bald man could only rub his forehead with a helpless smile.

”As expected, you really don’t understand a thing!” The bald man let out a bitter smile. ”For you to cultivate to this level like this, I have to admit, your potential is the greatest I’ve ever seen in my life!”

Xu Ran didn’t care about the bald man’s words at all.

So what?

I’ve already cultivated to this level—is anything else still important?

Not important.

Isn’t there someone right here to answer all my questions?!”

The basics can be filled in later. But chances like this—once gone, they’re gone for real.

Knowing that Xu Ran knew nothing about these things, the bald man began to explain.

”Cultivation of the Leg Technique has three stages.”

”First Stage: tempering. You need a large amount of Bone Forging Liquid, Spirit Grass, and Beast Blood to specifically forge the calf bone. Once you succeed, the calf bone will take on a cyan color, and every time you land, it will ring with the sound of clashing metal!”

As he spoke, Xu Ran looked down at his own calf.

He discovered golden lines etched across the surface of his calf and couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

Why is mine golden?

Before Xu Ran could ask, the bald man already saw the confusion on his face and directly explained.

”Gold is the exclusive mark of the [Innate Saint’s Sacred Body]. So anyone with the [Innate Saint’s Sacred Body] physique, once they temper their calf bone, will have golden patterns!”

”This golden light isn’t going to keep shining forever, is it? That’s way too high-profile!”

Xu Ran asked aloud.

After all, if his calves were constantly glowing gold, it would be a bit too eye-catching.

If this couldn’t be fixed, then once he went home and moved back into the Xu Family courtyard, he wouldn’t even need candles at night.

But in that case, Xu Binghu and Lian Ji wouldn’t be able to sleep at all.

With such a massive lightbulb right next to you, who could sleep?

”Relax, the glow will disappear very soon!”

”The glow appears because your calf bone has just been successfully tempered and entered the First Stage. You could say your calf bone has evolved. Your body hasn’t fully adapted yet, so it looks like this!”

”After some time, the glow will fade.”

As soon as he finished speaking—

The bald man’s face, which had just been bathed in golden radiance, suddenly lost all its light.

The golden glow from Xu Ran’s calf bone vanished.

That was fast.

He’d just finished talking and it was already gone.

Seeing this, Xu Ran shook his leg a couple of times. Without the golden glow, it did look a lot more natural.

”Ahem!” The bald man coughed lightly and continued, ”Second Stage: meridian circulation!”

”Spiritual Qi must circulate through fixed meridians!”

”These fixed meridians are: the Three Yin Meridians of the foot – the Chong Meridian – the Dai Meridian. Run thirty-six Circulations every day, and after seven times seven, forty-nine days, you can successfully enter the Second Stage!”

As he said this, a strangely gloating expression appeared on the bald man’s face for some reason.

That’s right!

The Second Stage of calf bone tempering was something you had to build up with time.

Only by running Spiritual Qi through those meridians continuously for forty-nine days could you fully open them up and achieve the effect of meridian circulation!

Moreover, trying to run Spiritual Qi through the meridians was just as dangerous as using Spiritual Qi to impact acupoints.

You needed absolute control over Spiritual Qi. Otherwise, one slip and you’d end up exploding your own body.

They said forty-nine days, but in practice, any cultivator who’d tempered their calf bone to the Second Stage couldn’t possibly manage even one Circulation per day, let alone thirty-six.

This process also cost an enormous amount of time.

Hearing this, a smile couldn’t help but creep onto Xu Ran’s face.

Meridian circulation—now that he was very familiar with.

From the moment he was born, his meridians had been constantly washed by Innate Qi.

And during that process, Innate Qi had continually nourished his meridians.

Aside from substances even stranger than Innate Qi that might completely destroy them, his meridians were abnormally tough.

Spiritual Qi washing?

That was child’s play.

Then—

Xu Ran closed his eyes, and the Spiritual Qi within his body began to circulate. In the blink of an eye, it flowed into his meridians without any obstruction whatsoever.

”Hm?”

The bald man sensed something was off. He looked at Xu Ran and his eyes instantly went wide.

”You’ve already started?”