Secret Art Ascends, Golden Flesh and Jade Bones

Outside the gates of the Merit Office, Great Wall Prefecture.

The setting sun was red as blood. Its fading glow spread across the sky, casting a long, almost oppressive shadow from the black hall that symbolized absolute law and rigid hierarchy.

Chu Bai stepped through the vermilion gates of judgment and paused.

His Divine Sense reached into the Storage Bag in his sleeve, where the Merit Office's specially approved rewards lay.

Besides five thousand Spirit Stones and the life-saving Golden Merit Scroll, what interested Chu Bai most was the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation art he had been allowed to choose.

After a hurried look through the Scripture Repository, he had settled on an ancient text called the Five Phases Returning to the Celestial Palace Art.

It was not a technique of overwhelming slaughter, but its vision was lofty. It sought to unite the Five Phases and draw the spiritual vitality of all things into the celestial palace within one's body—the dantian—where it would flow without end.

It was a match made in heaven for his Cosmic Cycle Wheel Dao Foundation, which could command and transform the Five Phases.

With this art, I'll have a way to refine my Foundation Establishment spiritual power on the road.

Chu Bai's mind settled. Then he sensed something strange in his chest.

The Golden Shackles set upon him by the Purple Abode True Person trembled faintly the instant he crossed the threshold.

The guiding point showed him the way, but the shackles constantly reminded him of one prohibition—

He must not return south.

As long as he did not turn back, the pressure was slight. But if he thought of returning before traveling thirty thousand li, the shackles would become a death-dealing curse.

Chu Bai looked down at his clothes.

He wore no prison uniform,