All the eerie abnormalities had vanished, but Zhong Shenxiu felt even more terrified.
He looked towards the blood pool and noticed that the blood within had dissipated completely. Through the torchlight and the semi-translucent water, he could see Jing Fan alone; Jing Ming had disappeared without a trace.
At this moment, Jing Fan had undergone a bizarre transformation.
On each side of his cheeks, a bloody slit had opened, revealing two faces that were both happy and angry.
Behind him, and in front of his chest, two huge lumps had bulged, pushing through the fabric of his clothes, as if nurturing some strange, twisted limbs.
"What... what’s going on?"
Zhong Shenxiu’s voice became somewhat hoarse, "Is Jing Fan turning into a monster?!"
"You really have no clue!"
Duan Mingyu observed for a while, pressed his palms together, and said, "Congratulations to Master Jing Fan for his profound enlightenment, and for breaking through to Grandmaster! This is truly a joyous occasion!"
"What? Break through to Grandmaster? Just ?"
Zhong Shenxiu pointed at Jing Fan in the pool, feeling like the Jianghu was truly incomprehensible.
"This is the ’body transformation’ of a Grandmaster, a necessary phase in the Marrow Refining stage, similar in nature to the ’Divine Transformation’ of a Great Grandmaster. Oh, I forgot you’re not from a major sect and wouldn’t understand this..."
Without any malice, Duan Mingyu chuckled, then explained to Zhong Shenxiu, "The three barriers of Martial Arts, you already know ’blood exchange’, and refining marrow is a transformation of life. To become a Grandmaster, one must pass this barrier of ’body transformation’!"
"So, this ’body transformation’ means turning into a monster?" Zhong Shenxiu felt chilled as he spoke, so according to this, those Grandmasters on the Earth and Heavenly lists were all...
"Of course not, the body transformation phase involves physical metamorphosis that must be suppressed to achieve Grandmaster status."
Duan Mingyu’s expression became very serious, "If one cannot suppress it, they turn into monsters devoid of humaneness, and once discovered by the major sects, they must be exterminated!"
"According to different cultivation scriptures, the ’body transformation’ that each martial artist faces is different. Monks who practice the ’Fighting Victory King Scripture’ have body transformations that are documented by our Su Yin Sword Sect as ’three heads and six arms’!"
"Alright..." Zhong Shenxiu was speechless.
He looked around, "Are we just going to protect the master here? Should we go outside and get some food and water?"
"That won’t be necessary. Each of the three barriers of Martial Arts is harder than the last, but the time to break through each is shorter. A martial artist needs around a hundred days for blood exchange. For the marrow-refining stage, according to records, it takes at most three days, even as short as half a day..." Duan Mingyu shook his head. "It is said that breaking through to a Great Grandmaster’s ’Divine Transformation’ often happens in an instant: either achieve enlightenment and witness the Spirit Mountain Tathagata or perish utterly, with no other possibility."
Regarding the breakthroughs of Grandmasters, some forces in Jianghu might still have records, but descriptions of Heavenly List Grandmasters, Divine Martial Artists, are only known to a few powerful factions.
Zhong Shenxiu seized the opportunity to inquire further.
Duan Mingyu smiled, "The threshold of Divinity, the breakthrough in Divine Transformation, I don’t know much either, just heard from my elders that it requires insight, sudden understanding, and great fortune to perceive the ’Path’ in the obscurity. Of course, the masters from Stone Buddha Temple see the Lingshan Tathagata..."
"Once one breaks through the threshold of Divinity, each Heavenly List Great Grandmaster possesses extraordinary divine skills, their spirit becomes immensely powerful, with various supernatural abilities, like ’soul lock’ over thousands of miles—just remembering a person’s breath allows tracking even if they flee a thousand miles. Moreover, a single glance can crush thousands of armies. Hence, at the level of the Heavenly List, mob attacks are absolutely futile, even if it’s a group of Earth and Human List Grandmasters, they stand no chance!"
"That’s how it is..."
After hearing this and slightly comparing it with what he knew, Zhong Shenxiu was sure that Duan Mingyu was not deceiving him.
But at the same time, his heart grew more alarmed.
’If blood exchange merely enhances the vigor of other species, Grandmasters undergo a physical mutation! That’s fine... but the Great Grandmasters facing the threshold of Divinity, so-called ’enlightenment,’ witnessing the Lingshan ’Tathagata’, what in the world are that ’Path’ and ’Tathagata’? Hmm...’
’I understand now... this world’s Martial Arts, despite its extraordinary and incredible nature, still follows some logic, missing the step of Cultivators refining the Evil God, how to ascend instantaneously? Naturally, one must use the power of evil gods, the so-called threshold of Divinity, likely attracts the attention of certain beings, using Their power to refine Divine Skills, right?’
This was bound to be highly dangerous not to mention.
According to Zhong Shenxiu’s esoteric knowledge, facing such beings presented a significant challenge.
Anyone who came into contact with such entities, if their own spiritual condition was not enough, would undergo unimaginable and irreversible changes.
For ordinary martial artists, this might be a blessing in disguise.
But for Zhong Shenxiu, he absolutely did not want this.
After all, undergoing physical changes was one thing; once he left this world, he did not need this body.
But if his spirit also underwent a transformation, that would definitely affect his original self in the main world!
"It’s over... even if I get the chance, I dare not face the threshold of Divinity... because it’s seeking death... no, being targeted by those beings, it’s worse than death!"
The threshold of Divinity for martial artists, in essence, meant confronting ancient gods!
Once he realized this, there were no more secrets about Martial Arts in this world for Zhong Shenxiu.
Blood exchange—enhancing life force!
Refining marrow—transformation of life quality!
Threshold of Divinity—metamorphosis of spirit!
The three stages of Martial Arts, just so simple, unadorned.
But at the same time, there was immense anguish.
"I was wrong... all along..."
"That Jing Ming... he might have been calling for Dharma; he might have been tricked by the contemporary Dharma Saint Monk... or perhaps he had seen another facet of the Saint Monk, learning about whom Stone Buddha Temple has always admired—the Great Demon! Or it might as well be called ’Da Mo’! After all, humans cannot truly pronounce the name of that being."
"Back then, the first generation saint monk of Stone Buddha Temple likely encountered ’Da Mo’ during the threshold of Divinity, thus named after it, and it was passed down, just with a pronunciation error..."
"And Jing Ming was somewhat unlucky, probably encountered the true appearance of the contemporary saint monk, got scared out of his wits, or went berserk?"
"Stone Buddha Temple just maintained surveillance, observing Jing Ming’s further descent into madness, then sent Jing Fan to handle it, because for Jing Fan, this could be his chance to breakthrough Grandmaster?"
"I’m fairly clear about the intricacies of this incident now, but..."
"I’m doomed, I can’t afford to confront an ancient god directly... That means... I’ll never be able to break through the threshold of Divinity, never make it to the Heavenly List, unable to fulfill my obsession, will I stay in this world forever?"
"Maybe I should just try committing suicide, see if I can go back? This world is so dangerous... I want to go home..."