DEMON EMPEROR

CHAPTER 12: BONE TIERS

After the registration process was complete, Wong An led Ba Bel to the Bamboo Villa, Wong An's residence. Within the Earth and Sky Sword Sect, there were 100 villas for the hundred Elders of the Earth and Sky Sword Sect, serving as residences for the Elders and their direct disciples. Those who were not direct disciples of the Sect Elders would live in the Disciples' Pavilion, located not far from the Young Swords Pavilion.

"Bel'er, from now on, this Bamboo Villa will be your home." Wong An invited Ba Bel inside.

Ba Bel's gaze was filled with nostalgia; this place was the most comfortable for him, a place he could call home after losing his parents. It was here that Ba Bel spent much of his time in his first life, studying like a scholar. Yet, Wong An never forced Ba Bel to learn martial arts, instead allowing his disciple to study whatever he wished.

"Why are you still standing outside? Come on in!" Wong An broke Ba Bel's reverie.

Ba Bel and Wong An then walked into the Bamboo Villa. Wong An showed Ba Bel around the villa to choose his room. Since Ba Bel couldn't decide, Wong An gave him the largest room in the Bamboo Villa. Apart from Wong An and Ba Bel, no one else lived in the building. Wong An left Ba Bel alone in his room to rest, after which Wong An also retired to his own room to rest.

Ba Bel and Wong An met again after the sun had set for dinner together. Throughout their dinner, Wong An was continuously amazed by Ba Bel's skill with chopsticks and cutlery. This was because only children of nobles and royalty were capable of using chopsticks and cutlery correctly, having received early education in dining etiquette. After dinner, Wong An said, "Bel'er, since you can't learn martial arts yet, starting tomorrow, Master will teach you some basic knowledge such as reading, painting, and other things."

Ba Bel smiled awkwardly but didn't argue with Wong An. After dinner, Ba Bel and Wong An returned to their respective rooms.

That night, Ba Bel didn't sleep; he pondered what steps he would take first to change his life in this lifetime. "I want to train my body as soon as possible, but I'm sure Master won't allow it." Ba Bel intended to prove Chen Thai wrong and shame him by becoming the most talented disciple of his era, gaining resource support from the Earth and Sky Sword Sect, and simultaneously making Wong An proud for transforming a "trash disciple" into the most talented disciple in the Earth and Sky Sword Sect.

Unable to find a suitable solution, Ba Bel decided to transcribe the "Nine Demon Transformations Scripture" from his memory and also write down several important events he knew from his first life.

While writing the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture, Ba Bel checked the quality of his current bones and was disappointed to discover their quality. "Hmph... My current bone quality is only that of a yellow wolf's bones. The Earth and Sky Sword Sect won't be willing to expend its resources on a disciple with this kind of bone quality." Ba Bel clicked his tongue in annoyance at his current situation, as he possessed the lowest bone quality for a martial artist.

The problem was that Ba Bel also realized he couldn't immediately practice using the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture. If a martial artist wanted to store a large amount of internal energy in their body, they first had to train their body to be strong enough to contain all that internal energy.

In his previous life, Ba Bel discovered the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture when he was 65 years old, at which point he was already considered one of the top experts in the martial arts world. Ba Bel's body then allowed him to immediately practice the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture, but this time, the situation was different.

The first part of the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture was the formation of emperor bones, which greatly surprised Ba Bel when he read it.

A person's martial arts talent was typically judged by their bone quality and body structure. Martial artists could usually improve their bone quality with certain types of medicinal herbs and magical plants, but these were extremely difficult to obtain. Most people improved their bone quality through decades of arduous training, yet even then, it didn't significantly enhance a martial artist's bone quality.

The "Dragon Bone Formation" from the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture was a technique that allowed one to rapidly improve their bone quality without using any medicinal herbs or magical plants. According to the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture, a martial artist's bones were divided into several categories: wolf bones, tiger bones, dragon bones, and emperor bones.

Wolf bones were divided into three sub-categories: the weakest were yellow wolf bones, followed by black wolf bones, and finally wind wolf bones. The next stage was tiger bones, also divided into three: young tiger bones, fierce tiger bones, and iron tiger bones.

Dragon bones were divided into four: young dragon bones, earth dragon bones, sky dragon bones, and the strongest, divine dragon bones. Generally, ordinary humans rarely possessed bone quality beyond divine dragon bones. As for the emperor bone tier, it was divided into four: young emperor bones, earth emperor bones, demon emperor bones, and finally, sky emperor bones.

In his previous life, Ba Bel initially only possessed wind wolf bone quality, but after practicing the techniques of the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture, he was able to reach the Earth Dragon Bone tier. It was because of Ba Bel's bone quality that he was able to become the strongest emperor in his previous life. Ba Bel would need an extremely long time to achieve divine dragon bones. Therefore, he proceeded to the second part without fully completing the techniques described in that scripture.

"At least this time I have more time to train myself! This time, I will focus on forging my bone quality, and I must achieve Young Dragon Bone quality by the time I am 30 years old at the latest," Ba Bel tried to comfort himself.

He then continued transcribing the Nine Demon Transformations Scripture and important events from his first life into two separate blank books, which he had taken from the Bamboo Villa's library.