Myriad Manifestations Furnace

Cangwu City, underground black market beast-fighting arena, prison cell.

"Ah!"

With a scream, Lu Chen jolted upright, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the scene before him in disbelief.

Then pain lanced through his head, and he clutched it with a muffled groan.

Wave after wave of memories battered his mind until it swelled as if it were about to explode.

He had transmigrated? Cangwu City, a beast-fighting arena?

The shock on Lu Chen's face refused to fade.

Before transmigrating, he had also been in a beast-fighting arena—but that one had been inside a game, not the real world.

Back then, he had slain the final BOSS, triggering a violent explosion. His character had died.

But it was the game character that had died. How had he ended up transmigrating?

The boy whose body he had possessed was also named Lu Chen. After awakening an extraordinary bloodline, he had been stripped of it by his Lineage and sold to the beast-fighting arena.

As an orphan adopted by the Lu Family of Chixiao City, no one had stood up for him when his bloodline was taken. He had even been sold to the underground black market beast-fighting arena in Cangwu City.

Cold-blooded, ruthless, without a shred of humanity.

Utterly miserable.

The previous owner had suffered grievous injuries in the last beast fight. Not long after being dragged back to the cell, he had closed his eyes for good, giving Lu Chen the chance to transmigrate into his body.

Lu Chen touched his chest, a strange expression appearing on his face.

There had clearly been wounds there...

"Huh?" He felt a scorching heat from his chest, along with a glow.

He pulled open his clothes and froze.

An object was attached to the wound.

"Myriad Manifestations Furnace? The supreme treasure dropped by the BOSS!" Lu Chen's mind shook violently.

Then, with a hum, the Myriad Manifestations Furnace seemed to have absorbed enough of his blood. It emitted a bronze radiance and vanished into his body.

He lowered his head to stare at his lower abdomen, his mouth opening and closing before he fell backward.

Another torrent of information crashed into him, making his body convulse violently without control. His eyes rolled wildly, as though he had suffered an epileptic fit.

After a while, he calmed down, but his breathing grew heavier and heavier.

He was completely overcome with excitement.

A supreme Martial Dao treasure—the Myriad Manifestations Furnace.

Not only was it a treasure every Martial Dao Cultivator dreamed of, it also contained a Martial Dao supreme art: the Myriad Manifestations Furnace Art.

The Myriad Manifestations Furnace was merely the vessel of the Myriad Manifestations Furnace Art.

After cultivating the Myriad Manifestations Furnace Art, one could even forge a Myriad Manifestations Furnace.

The Myriad Manifestations Furnace Art was the true key.

"The first realm of Martial Dao... opens... 108 meridians, with twelve opened in each level." Lu Chen muttered, growing more and more exhilarated.

After the previous owner awakened his bloodline and entered the first realm of Martial Dao, the Meridian Opening Realm, he could only open eight meridians per level. Yet even that had made him a once-in-a-thousand-years cultivation genius. But twelve... then...

Before his bloodline had been taken, he had already reached the eighth level of the Meridian Opening Realm, opening a total of sixty-four meridians.

But because his bloodline had been stripped away, after one month his meridians had withered, and his realm had fallen to the third level of the Meridian Opening Realm. He could barely maintain the circulation of twenty meridians.

As the Myriad Manifestations Furnace released mysterious energy, the twenty-first withered meridian was forced open, followed by the twenty-second, the twenty-third...

Until all sixty-four meridians he had once opened were filled with surging energy.

Lu Chen let out a suppressed cry.

In less than a few breaths, he had completely recovered to the eighth level of the Meridian Opening Realm.

That familiar power had returned.

The wound on his chest had even scabbed over.

Yet he did not attempt to break through to the ninth level of the Meridian Opening Realm. Instead, he turned around and began attacking the four unopened meridians in the first level.

Although he had fused with the memories of this body's previous owner and knew that opening meridians and restoring them were two different things, the process would still be accompanied by agonizing pain.

But the moment he opened one, the pain nearly made him collapse.

Pain. Excruciating pain.

It was as if someone were using a sword to forcibly carve out a path through his body.

But the new soul, formed from the fusion of the previous owner's soul and his transmigrated soul, possessed greater endurance.

He endured the wave of pain without making a sound.

When the ninth meridian of the first level finally connected, boundless comfort followed.

"Three more Bull Strength!" Light flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.

Opening one meridian increased his strength by three Bull Strength, just as before.

Every additional meridian opened meant another three Bull Strength.

If he opened all thirty-two meridians left unopened across the eight levels, he would gain another ninety-six Bull Strength.

Without even changing realms, he could utterly crush Martial Dao Cultivators of the same realm.

As for immortal cultivators, he could beat them like dogs.

That was right—this world had not only Martial Dao Cultivators, but immortal cultivators as well.

Each had its own corresponding cultivation system.

The first realm of Martial Dao Cultivators was the Meridian Opening Realm, while the first realm of immortal cultivators was the Qi Refining Realm.

In the first realm, Martial Dao Cultivators already held the advantage, let alone after opening even more meridians.

He continued, opening the remaining four meridians of the first level in one breath before he had no choice but to stop.

The stored energy of the Myriad Manifestations Furnace had run out.

"My circulation of qi and blood has doubled!" Lu Chen sensed it for a moment, then clenched his fist hard.

Of course, this referred to the movement of qi and blood through the twelve meridians of the first level.

The other eight groups remained as they had been before.

Qi and blood surged from the first group of meridians into the second, its speed instantly halving, like a galloping wild horse charging into a swamp.

"The furnace..." A glint flashed through Lu Chen's eyes. With a thought, a bronze furnace appeared in his palm.

It resembled a teapot without a spout, its surface covered in mysterious patterns.

Its interior was hazy and impossible to see clearly.

"It can refine all things and extract their energy essence!"

Lu Chen let out a long breath and rose to his feet, walking into a corner of the cell.

Many demon beast Corpse Bones had been tossed there.

They were demon beasts he had slain and dragged back before. He had gnawed their flesh clean, leaving behind only smooth, gleaming white bones.

The Myriad Manifestations Furnace abruptly expanded. Its opening faced downward, and a suction force emerged, swallowing nearly half the bones.

Hum...

The Myriad Manifestations Furnace trembled violently. Waves of white ash poured from it, and soon a layer of snow-white bone ash covered the ground.

The impurities had been stripped from the bones, leaving behind energy essence.

"Huh? Why..." After the refinement was complete, Lu Chen examined it and froze.

Besides the energy essence, there was something else.

Three drops of silver-glowing liquid.

"Could this be something even more advanced than energy essence?" Lu Chen's spirits surged.

He tried circulating the Myriad Manifestations Furnace Art to absorb one drop, and his mind trembled.

It was marrow. It could increase the toughness of his muscles and bones and strengthen his physical body.

A single tiny drop had increased his strength by one Bull Strength.

Although the process of opening meridians also tempered the physical body, its effects were not even on the same level as absorbing and refining marrow.

One Bull Strength of physical power could only be gained by breaking through a minor realm!

But now, a mere drop of marrow had granted him one Bull Strength.

What if he continued?

An unexpected windfall.

He refined the remaining two drops of marrow in one go, gaining another two Bull Strength.

Together with the previous Bull Strength, it was equivalent to opening another meridian. Quite a boost.

And he could still absorb more.

Next, he collected all the remaining bones into the Myriad Manifestations Furnace for refinement. This time, he obtained two drops of marrow.

After absorbing and refining them, he used the energy essence from the Corpse Bones to open the remaining four meridians of the second level.

In total, he gained another fourteen Bull Strength.

"Fight, gather the essence of flesh and bone, slowly accumulate strength, and escape this cage!"

Lu Chen clenched his fists fiercely, his gaze turning ice-cold:

"Lu Family, Lu Ran, everything you took from me, sooner or later you'll spit it back out with interest!"

Creak...

As the iron door was pulled open, the sound of guards moving echoed through the prison corridor, accompanied by a shout:

"If you're not dead, make a sound! Get your asses up and prepare to fight!"

A new day, a new battle had begun.