Chapter 1744 (Raw 1756, Raw 1755 Nonexistent):
Thirty-odd pieces of pureblood dragon bones, of which only a few were spine bones, would be worth two million Medial Grade Spirit Jades at most.
Senior Ma was clearly cheating Xiao Chen by saying three million Spirit Jades.
However, Xiao Chen did not have Senior Ma's connections and could not get so many dragon bones himself within three days. Hence, he did not say anything.
Xiao Chen returned to his residence and entered closed-door cultivation to cultivate the Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art's second layer.
Every day, he would observe the Dragon Pattern Cauldron, feeling for the meaning of the dragon and consuming the dragon bones to accelerate the cultivation of the Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art.
Seven days later, he finally succeeded in transforming the first bone of his body into a blue dragon bone.
In another three days, he transformed ten bones into dragon bones.
After he familiarized himself with the process and figured out the trick to it, his cultivation speed increased rapidly.
In half a month, he transformed half of his two hundred six bones.
In one month, he finished transforming all his bones into dragon bones.
Now, his entire skeleton was a complete set of Divine Dragon bones.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes and looked at the Dragon Pattern Cauldron in front of him again. He vaguely felt like he could sense more from it.
The dragon veins and dragon bones in his body seemed to have some sort of connection with that meaning of Divine Dragons, allowing him to feel closer to that Dragon Pattern Cauldron.
Using pureblood dragon bones, Xiao Chen had spent only one and a half months in total to transform all his bones into dragon bones.
He was still rather satisfied with this speed.
Xiao Chen's Vital Qi increased from five Cauldron Force to six Cauldron Force.
More importantly, cultivating this Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art invisibly tempered his Vital Qi.
As a result, his Vital Qi contained the meaning of the Divine Dragon when he punched.
A scary, audible dragon roar would accompany the explosive sounds the bones in his body gave off, and a seemingly solid Dragon Might would spread out from his entire body.
Some spirituality appeared in his eyes, making them bright and expressive, touching the hearts of others. His visual observation of things became even more meticulous.
All these were the benefits of cultivating the Divine Dragon Body Tempering Art.
"There is still half a month left. It is time to break through the bottleneck of the Minor Primal Core Realm."
Xiao Chen put away the Dragon Pattern Cauldron. Then, he took out Medial Grade Spirit Jades and placed them in the formation in the cultivation room.
Any professional cultivation room would have formations like the Spirit Gathering Formation, which allowed one to absorb the essence of the Spirit Jades with even higher efficiency.
After filling all the indentations in the formation, Xiao Chen closed his eyes and circulated the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation.
The formation activated silently, and the formation lines flashed with dazzling spiritual light.
Spiritual Energy gathered at the center of the formation, where Xiao Chen was, turning into many fine streams.
After this Spiritual Energy flowed through the meridians throughout his body, it poured into the 9-Star Primal Core.
With the infusion of Spiritual Energy, the fingernail-sized crystalline 9-Star Primal Core looked resplendent and dazzling, scintillating with light.
Xiao Chen glittered from the inside out.
As he sat cross-legged, his body slowly floated into the air. His long hair fluttered about as he showed a solemn and dignified expression.
Xiao Chen's foundation was firm in the first place. He did not encounter any particularly difficult bottleneck while moving from Minor Primal Core Realm to Major Primal Core Realm.
Furthermore, he had made ample preparations. The process of breaking through the bottleneck went very smoothly, without any problems at all.
One hour later, the Medial Grade Spirit Jades in the formation turned into powder and scattered with the wind.
The surrounding spiritual light quickly dissipated as the resplendent, crystalline 9-Star Primal Core absorbed all the light.
Then, the Primal Core started spinning continuously, forming a huge whirlwind in Xiao Chen's body.
This stirred up his Veritable Essence Energy, cleansing his entire body, his internal organs, every cell, and every pore.
Xiao Chen broke through the bottleneck, and Veritable Essence Energy cleansed his entire body, improving his physical body and physique, once again.
After a while, he opened his eyes. A brilliant light flashed in them as his entire body radiated sharpness. A rampant gale surged through the place.
A tyrannical aura spread out from inside Xiao Chen's body.
If someone else were here, they would have difficulty associating Xiao Chen's current aura with the normally withdrawn and low-profile white-clad youth.
With a thought, Xiao Chen quickly withdrew the aura that he gave off.
All the sharpness immediately vanished.
Xiao Chen regained his peaceful appearance. His aura appeared to be exactly the same as before he entered closed-door cultivation.
"Early-stage Major Primal Core Realm. I'm finally no longer in the Minor Primal Core Realm. I still need to continue catching up," Xiao Chen muttered to himself in encouragement.
Right now, Xiao Chen could not be said to have completely changed, not showing any qualitative difference. However, he truly had grown stronger.
He no longer had to worry about the drain on his Veritable Essence Energy for his various killing moves, able to execute them many times now.
---
At noon, after Xiao Chen came out of closed-door cultivation, he unexpectedly received a guest.
The visitor was Xiao Chen's neighbor, an old man on Senior Ma's team.
"I am Meng Zhuang. When I learned that Brother Xiao lives beside me, I wanted to come and visit. Unfortunately, Brother Xiao was in closed-door cultivation for the past two months, and I did not manage to find an opportunity to do so."
Meng Zhuang introduced himself politely. He had personally witnessed Xiao Chen catching Xiahou Yun's sword with two fingers and gasped in amazement, feeling exceptionally shocked.
Xiao Chen said politely, "Actually, I'm the one lacking in manners."
Meng Zhuang smiled and said, "It's fine. Brother Xiao, you have been in closed-door cultivation for the past two months and probably do not know that a storm has been brewing in the northern city of Dragon Flame City. Undercurrents are flowing, and people from all walks of life are here. It is no longer a very peaceful place."
"Is it because of the ancient transportation formation's activation?"
Meng Zhuang nodded and said, "It is not just the strong teams of Dragon Flame City preparing to go all out. Several of the Rank 5 sects and Noble Clans of the Great Thousand Realms will also use this activation of the ancient transportation formation for their own experiential training."
When Xiao Chen heard that, he felt startled. "The Rank 5 sects and Noble Clans are taking action?"
"Exactly. The time it takes to repair and activate the ancient transportation formation is increasing. This time, it took one hundred years. Next time, it might be two hundred years, even five hundred years. Naturally, the nearby Rank 5 sects and Noble Clans won't give up this opportunity."
Meng Zhuang paused for a moment before continuing, "However, not that many came. The Dragon Flame Ancient Land's hinterlands are quite extensive. It won't be that easy to meet them."
Xiao Chen gently rapped on the wooden table and muttered, "There are Sovereign Personages in Rank 5 sects. The Noble Clans have inheritances from the predecessors. Neither of them is easy to deal with. If we meet them, it will be problematic."
[TL Note: The Chinese have a similar expression to knock on wood. It is basically to ward off the bad luck of having what was being said happening.]
"We can only pray for good luck. Furthermore, Senior Ma is very experienced. He has been into the depths of the Dragon Flame Ancient Land in the past and more or less understands how to avoid danger."
Meng Zhuang thought highly of Senior Ma's strength and experience.
"Also, our team can rank in the top five within Dragon Flame City's northern city. Aside from a genius like Leng Feng, there is also Xiahou Feng. These two can rival Star Venerates."
Rival Star Venerates?
There were really a lot of strong people on the team. Those that could rival a Star Venerate would definitely be extraordinary.
"What about the Ghost Saber?"
Since Meng Zhuang was speaking about the team, Xiao Chen asked about that masked bladesman.
Meng Zhuang appeared puzzled as he shook his head. "I'm not too sure. He always acts alone and does not have much of a presence. He joined the team only in recent months, not as senior as Leng Feng and Xiahou Feng."
Meng Zhuang continued chatting idly for a while before taking his leave.
This could be considered as having a familiar face. When adventuring in the future, they could look after each other at a crucial moment.
---
Three days later, Senior Ma assembled the entire team.
The team consisted of more than one hundred people, which somewhat surprised Xiao Chen.
The weakest members were Major Primal Core Venerates. All of them radiated sharpness and a firm and steady aura. These were all geniuses and outstanding talents capable of fighting above their cultivation realm.
As the sect elites of the nearby dozens of astral clusters, all of them were extraordinary.
Senior Ma appeared proud and magnificent. Leng Feng and Xiahou Feng, whom Meng Zhuang mentioned, flanked him.
Indeed, that Xiahou Feng was as Meng Zhuang said; he could not be underestimated. When he stood next to Senior Ma, his aura did not pale in comparison at all.
"Depart."
---
At the ancient transportation formation in the center of the northern city:
A tall platform stood there. Forged of precious and divine materials, it was ancient and had seen great changes. Ancient dragon script was carved on it. It was majestic and boundless, unfathomable.
During ancient times, such transportation formations were known as Dao Platforms. They allowed travel to the three thousand great realms, to the seven forbidden seas, to the world between Yin and Yang.
[TL Note: The world between Yin and Yang refers to a place in between life and death. Yin represents death and Yang represents life. So it's an in-between land of sorts that the living might accidentally wander into.]
However, right now, the dragon texts were incomplete, and the tall platform was dilapidated from age.
Currently, the Dao Platform could bring out only ten or twenty percent of its original effects.
The experts of Dragon Flame City had already gathered nearby. The Dao Platform flickered with light, sending the cultivators in the city to the unknown regions of the Dragon Flame Ancient Land in batches.
"Hold on to this talisman bamboo strip. When necessary, crush it, and it will send you back to the Dao Platform. It can be considered a life-saving talisman. However, it takes some time to activate the talisman, so be careful."
Senior Ma started to distribute the talisman bamboo strips. When he got to Xiao Chen, his sharp eyes noticed something different about him.
"Young Master Xiao, your complexion is pretty good. After two months of closed-door cultivation, your strength has improved a lot."
Xiao Chen received the talisman bamboo strip. Then, he said indifferently, "It is all thanks to Senior Ma's dragon bones."
At the mention of dragon bones, Senior Ma remembered that he had cheated Xiao Chen, so he smiled abashedly and continued distributing the talisman bamboo strips.
When Senior Ma finished, someone on the Dao Platform contacted him. Then, Senior Ma waved his hand wide, and everyone on the team climbed onto the Dao Platform.
After a while, the Dao Platform gleamed with divine light. A door of light appeared.
This was the Dao Door. After going through this door, one would enter the Dragon Flame Ancient Land, going to a mysterious part of the interior that many had not been to before.
When Xiao Chen walked through the Dao Door, he immediately felt his physical body and soul turn distinctly heavier.
Boundlessly ancient Great Desolate Eon Dragon Might covered the place, a lingering, inextinguishable, ancient aura that had been through the baptism of many epochs.
When the Great Desolate Continent shattered into countless pieces, it turned into thousands upon thousands of great realms.
For some reason, some shattered pieces with that ancient aura were not destroyed, lingering until today.
An endless, boundless desolate land filled Xiao Chen's vision. It was dark, strong winds howled, and dust spread throughout the place.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
After a while, the other members of Senior Ma's team appeared beside Xiao Chen, one after another.
Cultivators who were sent in the same batch on the Dao Platform would not arrive too far apart. Every batch would be sent at random to the same area in the depths of the Dragon Flame Ancient Land.
Two batches would rarely be sent to nearby locations.
"Gather up."
Under the leadership of Senior Ma, Leng Feng, and the other elites, the people of the team started to assemble.
Leng Feng looked around at the horrible environment and asked, "Senior Ma, where are we now?"
At this moment, everyone could only rely on the experienced Senior Ma. Xiahou Feng and Leng Feng, the two young experts, were at a loss.
After Senior Ma arrived, he showed a rather grave expression. He had adventured in the hinterlands before and knew of its dangers.
"It is hard to say. The hinterlands of the Dragon Flame Ancient Land are extremely vast, way too vast, filled with unknown areas. All of you, form groups and carefully explore the surroundings. Do not take any risk and rush into danger."
After directly entering deep into the interior, skipping many barriers, there would definitely be fortuitous encounters. However, even more so, there would definitely be danger.