A night had passed. Jiang Chen opened his eyes as sunlight streamed through the window, marking the arrival of a new day.
The morning sun and the mountain breeze both carried a warm, comforting feeling. Yet every martial artist knew that the real challenge had arrived.
Over the course of the night, Jiang Chen had made slight progress in cultivating the "Divine Demon Nine Transformations." At first, when he drew in the power of gold essence to temper his skin, there was always a stinging, needle-like pain.
In the beginning, the pain wasn't very noticeable. But as the cultivation deepened, it felt as though tens of thousands of embroidery needles on the surface of his skin were constantly piercing through.
Though the agony wasn't enough to break a person, it was certainly unpleasant.
Jiang Chen was someone with tremendous endurance. He didn't even furrow his brow, letting the gold essence continue to refine the skin across his entire body.
Time passed steadily. As his skin gradually adapted to the trial of the gold essence, the pain slowly faded away.
Jiang Chen knew that no body-refining divine ability was easy to cultivate. On the path of cultivation, one would inevitably endure countless inhuman trials and torments.
Regarding body refinement, there was a consensus in the cultivation world:
Body refinement—only those with extraordinary willpower could persevere. Body refinement was a form of self-torture; one needed the courage to cast oneself into eighteen layers of hell.
On the martial path, some people with mediocre talent relied on body-refining techniques to ascend step by step toward the peak.
It could be said that body refinement opened a path to the pinnacle of martial arts for many who lacked exceptional natural gifts.
However, this path was far more grueling than ordinary martial cultivation.
On the road of body refinement, those who truly reached the peak could be counted on one's fingers.
But once a body-refining practitioner attained the Grand Dao at the peak, their combat power would absolutely surpass others of the same rank.
Overwhelming combat ability, incredible explosive power, and an indomitable fighting spirit—these were the unique hallmarks of body-refining fanatics.
Jiang Chen's first layer of the "Divine Demon Nine Transformations" only refined the skin. All the pain was merely skin-deep.
The higher the layer, the greater the trial the body would face.
Jiang Chen understood clearly that choosing a body-refining divine ability meant he had to be prepared for the kind of agony found in eighteen layers of hell.
However, Jiang Chen was not a pure body-refining martial artist. He had various means, and during the body-refining process, he possessed many techniques that could slightly reduce the suffering.
*Knock, knock, knock!*
A knock came at the door. Recognizing the footsteps, Jiang Chen knew it was the second martial artist who called himself "Xiao Fei"—his neighbor.
He opened the door, and sure enough, it was him.
"Brother Panshi, it's almost time for the assembly. We should head over."
Jiang Chen nodded. He knew the rules.
Over these three months, every morning at the hour of Chen, they had to arrive at the Hundred-Battle Arena.
The Hundred-Battle Arena was built in the core area of the Xuanling District, with a total of one hundred fighting platforms. Every martial artist had to remain at the arena starting from the hour of Chen each day.
By the rules, starting at the hour of Chen each day, eight consecutive hours of fighting time would be in effect. During this period, every participating martial artist had to stay in the vicinity of the Hundred-Battle Arena and could not leave.
This was because every martial artist was not only a challenger but could also be challenged.
Of course, if a martial artist was challenged three times in a single day, he would be exempt from this rule and could leave early.
Once a martial artist accepted three challenges in a day, he would be removed from the list for that day and need not accept any further challenges.
This was, of course, a form of protection for the martial artists.
Otherwise, if someone had bad luck and was drawn seven or eight times in a single day, even if they weren't beaten to death, they'd be worked to exhaustion.
So, the maximum number of times one could be challenged in a single day was three.
Similarly, every martial artist was required to complete one challenge each day.
That meant every martial artist had to issue one challenge per day. Otherwise, within three months, it would be impossible to reach the required one hundred challenges.
Jiang Chen stepped out and left his door slightly ajar. He hadn't left anything inside, but he didn't want anyone entering his room and disturbing things either. So after leaving it slightly open, he made a few subtle marks.
If anyone moved his door or entered his room, he would be able to detect it upon his return.
"Brother Panshi, how prepared are you?" Xiao Fei asked tentatively.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "Pretty well. And you?"
Xiao Fei managed a smile. "My strength is far less than yours, Brother Panshi. I'll do my best."
His attitude was quite humble, but Jiang Chen could tell that Xiao Fei's true strength was definitely not limited to what he had shown.
The two walked out of the room. The other six sect disciples in the courtyard had already left early.
It seemed that to avoid awkwardness, those fellows had slipped out beforehand, fearing they might run into Jiang Chen and be ordered around like servants.