Lord Xue Ying

Chapter 661: Eroding Bone Palace

Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations

After Xue Ying chatted with Monarch Hex Cricket for a while, he bid his farewell and proceeded to the Eroding Bone Palace.

"Hu."

He was continuously moving forward inside the Mirage world. Following the lead of the Three Devil Command Token, it was not long until he arrived at his destination.

"Mn?" He watched as a bubble appeared right in front of him. As soon as it enveloped him, he got a sensation similar to being shattered apart, and he disappeared from his original location.

...

Once he regained his bearings, he noticed a black lake right in front of his eyes, and at its very center many pillars going down deep. These pillars were propping up an ancient palace with some motley vestiges left on the main door. There were three words written on it—Eroding, Bone, and Palace.

With a single step, Xue Ying moved across a few hundred meters to arrive in front of the palace door.

'One of the Three Devil Palaces, the Eroding Bone Palace.' With another step, Xue Ying entered the palace, whose insides proved to be quite dilapidated. Since the palace door remained nearly always closed, the insides had slowly turned filthy. As he looked towards the walls, Xue Ying soon came across a large amount of densely written words; this was one of the three fundamental secret techniques, the 'Eroding Bone Secret Technique'.

"You came here using the command token… which means you're that soldier from the Destruction Legion, right?" Black water droplets began converging within the hall to form a black-robed old man.

"That's me," Xue Ying replied.

"The Eroding Bone Secret Technique is right there, so just hurry up and begin cultivating. If you do not succeed within 10,000 years, you can get lost," the black-robed old man hollered.

"Must the subordinates of the Ancestor Devil be so aggressive towards the soldiers of the Destruction Legion? We're not even in the third cosmos epoch anymore," Xue Ying muttered.

"Hmph." The black-robed old man gave a cold snort before going to a corner and sitting down cross-legged. He couldn't be bothered to even say another word.

Xue Ying did not attempt to bicker any further and instead looked upwards to carefully imprint the Eroding Bone Secret Technique in his mind. Now that he owned the command token, he was in no rush to actually cultivate this secret technique. If he could not succeed within 10,000 years and was thrown out, he could just continue cultivating outside. Once his cultivation succeeded, he could just come in again. As such, it would naturally be quite easy for him to eventually pass the trials. Such were the benefits of owning a command token.

With such a token, he could enter the Three Devil Palaces time after time, and he would have however many chances he needed.

As a result, back when he entered the first palace by coincidence was the only turning point, since he had to succeed on his first try.

'Eroding Bone Secret Technique?' Xue Ying nodded lightly after having finished reading through it. 'It goes in an entirely different direction compared to the Dissolving Blood Secret Technique, but cultivating one's bones is bound to be agonizing. I wonder why these three big secret techniques created by the Ancestor Devil as a base for his strongest absolute art—the "Myriad Devil True Body"—are so painful to train in?'

The Dissolving Blood Secret Technique, the Eroding Bone Secret Technique, and the Cultivating Heart Secret Technique were all very painful to cultivate.

The Dissolving Blood and Eroding Bone Secret Techniques were less so since they targeted the blood and the bones. Even in the worst case scenario, the pain would only slightly affect his soul.

But when it came to the Cultivating Heart Secret Technique… it purely targeted one's True Deity Heart.

Despite the pain, and even during the most intense moments, he would have to maintain his consciousness and continue cultivating. Xue Ying was lamenting over why the Ancestor Devil would have created such a secret technique. He was worthy of his status as the existence who created the Dark Abyss from how unique his ways of creating absolute arts were.

'I'll try starting my cultivation now. Hopefully, I will succeed within 10,000 years.' Xue Ying sat down cross-legged before starting his cultivation of the secret technique. Even his true body back at the Crimson Rock Mountain World immersed itself in pondering and cultivating it.

Over time, bones began gradually protruding from his skin to become visible to the entire world. In fact, these sparkling, translucent bones were connected to each other to form an entire body! The surface of Xue Ying's body was gradually being covered by a layer of bone, and he was slowly transforming in appearance into a literal man of bone.

"Pa!" The translucent bones broke down. Shortly afterward, 'pa pa pa', the bones covering the surface of his body also began breaking down. This was a result of a disintegration of the innermost structural makeup of the bones—almost instantaneously, every single bone within Xue Ying's body crumbled apart; there was not a single bone left. However, shortly afterward, his World Deity energy began transforming, and a new set of bones started growing once again to return him back to his original state.

Time passed in this manner, and a hundred years or so later, Xue Ying finally formed a layer of perfected bone armor. This armor was sparkling and translucent, and it formed a single piece. There was even a bone helmet over his head, which only revealed his pair of eyes.

'The first step was a success. Next step…' Xue Ying continued cultivating. One could see that the bone armor on the surface of his body was being eroded like rocks in the wind and the rain. The agonizing pain of this effect left Xue Ying unconsciously frowning. If previously he looked quite handsome in that sparkling, translucent armor made of bone, in the blink of an eye, all that bone eroded and took on a worn-out appearance.

'The Eroding Bone Secret Technique is truly fierce; this is erosion at its best.' Xue Ying was clear that this was only the first erosion technique. He would have to undergo three thousand types of erosion techniques before his cultivation could be completed.

However, what left everyone speechless about this technique was how useless it was in terms of improving its user's combat power. The only result of it was allowing a cultivator to increase their control over bones to an expert level.

...

Day passed after day, year after year.

The pain Xue Ying was feeling only became greater with time, but he was forced to suppress the feeling and continue cultivating. It was just because he knew that the Three Devil Palaces were one of the biggest opportunities left behind by the Ancestor Devil for his descendants that Xue Ying agreed to cultivate such a secret technique. Who would other cultivate an ability that caused such great pain yet had no benefits in terms of improving one's combat power?

"He~" A vague growl left Xue Ying's throat and his face contorted.

Such a level of torture caused his body to tremble, and he was only barely able to maintain his cross-legged posture. Regardless of his efforts, however, his legs and arms continued to tremble. This state had already persisted for three days or so.

Because he was now in the final stage of his cultivation, the pain he was feeling had also reached a maximum.

"Hong."

The bones in his body finally regained their usual calmness.

The sweat which had been leaving Xue Ying's body for a while all evaporated in an instant, and he finally let out a sigh of relief and opened his eyes.

"I succeeded." Xue Ying revealed a grin. Despite knowing that he could have as many tries as he wanted due to the Three Devil Palaces command token and that his chances of succeeding were very high, the satisfaction gained after knowing that he had succeeded still overwhelmed him. This was mainly because of how torturous this 3,000 years of cultivation had been.

Xue Ying looked towards that black-robed old man.

"Hong."

The aura within his body exploded, and at the same time, a colossal illusion appeared behind his back. It had the appearance of a four-legged beast with long hair. All four of this creature's legs were so gigantic that they seemed like pillars holding up the sky.

After seeing this totem, the black-robed old man said, "The Lofty Beast Totem, and you've succeeded in just three thousand years. Your comprehension ability is not half bad."

He had already heard of how Xue Ying had succeeded in his cultivation of the Dissolving Blood Secret Technique way before the set deadline, so he was not too surprised at this outcome.

Xue Ying's current mood was excellent. Now that he succeeded in his cultivation of the Eroding Bone Secret Technique, he was two-thirds finished with these three fundamental secret techniques, leaving behind only the Cultivating Heart Secret Technique as a final roadblock. The moment he succeeded in that as well… he would receive the inheritance left by the Ancestor Devil. This was seen as a great opportunity amongst Paragons, especially since most Paragons never even had the chance to enter the Three Devil Palaces. There were also some who did enter but were unable to take advantage of it. After all, cultivating the secret technique within a million years was actually tough for most Paragons. After all, a large portion of Paragons was used to a slow cultivation before opening their Dao as True Gods, and could easily have spent a few hundred million years in doing so. For such people, cultivating a secret technique in just a short million years was indeed rather tricky.

And if they were to fail their first attempt, the hopes of receiving another opportunity were nil.

As a result, there might be some people who successfully received the inheritance left behind in the Three Devil Palaces in this cosmos epoch, but they were few and far between.

'The Ancestor Devil would definitely treat his successors well.' Xue Ying was already looking forward to it. He then looked back at the black-robed old man who was wearing an ugly expression, and his heart could not help but jolt. "I might be a soldier from the Destruction Legion, and as such, I don't mind this unfair treatment at the moment. However, I hope you'll stop acting like this once I get through all the trials of the Three Devil Palaces."

"Now that you've succeeded, you must be ready to leave." The black-robed old man waved his hand.

A bubble appeared which enveloped Xue Ying, who then shattered apart and immediately disappeared from the palace.