There are altogether 29 bones in the skull. Generally, it could be divided into three parts.
6 ossicles, 8 cerebral cranium bones, and 15 facial bones.
The cerebral cranium bones are at the back, the facial bones in front.
Having already honed his ossicles, Fang Ping chose to hone his cerebral cranium bones this time. This was mainly because he felt that he could prevent getting snuck up upon from behind.
After honing the cerebral cranium bones, if he ever needed to make a hasty escape in the future while being hunted by others, the back of his head would have its own defense.
The size of the 8 cerebral cranium bones was on an entirely different scale to the ossicles.
The ossicles were the smallest bones in the human body. Judging from size alone, the bones behind the head were multiple times bigger.
Fang Ping guessed that the consumption would be much higher than honing the ossicles. He would not be surprised.
When Fang Ping tried honing 1%, his Wealth instantly dropped by 1 million!
“It really is 10 times more!”
Fang Ping was slightly speechless. His honing consumption was getting higher every day.
Although he claimed that he would not mind if it was ten times more and he had to consume a few billion, how could he truly just shrug this off?
“A few billion to hone the skull... Fine. I have nothing to lose!”
Fang Ping huffed. A few billion. He was really not losing much money. This was better than Old Man Li. The old man consumed so much Life Essence and had only honed the skull. Fang Ping figured that this bit of consumption was still something that he could afford.
...
Time ticked by.
A faint golden glow started flashing on the back of Fang Ping’s head now.
As one of the most important parts of the human body, the skull was closely linked to the golden body stage. Following Fang Ping’s skull-honing this time, the changes were much more significant compared to honing the ossicles last time!
“Other bones... are also changing!”
When Fang Ping finished honing a cerebral cranium, he noticed something odd.
Following his honing, other bones seemed to be responding and cooperating from afar. At this moment, the stagnant bones were seemingly beginning to stir and resuscitate!
Last time, Fang Ping could never get his bones to emit a golden glow.
He had only seen two non-Grandmasters emitting golden glows. One of them was Li Hansong and the other was Old Man Li who fiddled with his half-golden body.
Both of them were special cases. As for the rest of them, even if Wang Jinyang had honed his bone marrow, he was only emitting blood-tinted glow instead of a golden glow.
It was only now that Fang Ping realized that he was starting to emit golden light too!
“That’s not right. This... could this be a sign of the imperishable substance appearing?”
Fang Ping recalled something suddenly!
Perhaps skull-honing had something to do with the birth of imperishable substance?
Fang Ping suppressed such thoughts and continued honing his skull.
As the honing went on, the changes were growing more and more significant!
When Fang Ping had completed honing three bones, the area behind his head was already a dazzling gold!
At this moment, Fang Ping was really transforming into a Buddha!
...
MCMAU southern area.
Old Man Li had just rushed over. His jaw was about to drop to the floor!
He came looking for Fang Ping, wanting to bug the kid to open up the Celestiality Cultivation Room.
But... But he could not care less about that now!
“What the hell!”
Old Man Li figured that he might as well just bang his head on the wall and die. Provided that he could die from banging his head, that was.
“He’s honing his skull!”
“How is this possible!”
Old Man Li really wanted to spit blood. Just what rank was Fang Ping?
When Fang Ping first enrolled, there was really nothing too special about him. His thrice-honed bones did surprise people, though it was not like no one else had done it before.
Compared to people like Wang Jinyang, Li Hansong and Yao Chengjun, Fang Ping was not that superior either.
However, later on, Fang Ping was the first to expel his Mentality!
Then, he declared that his bone marrow had turned jade-like...Well, no one believed him then. Old Man Li scoffed at him. This bastard could trick others, but the powerhouses who had interacted with Fang Ping knew the inside story.
But very soon, Fang Ping went into the Catacombs. When he came back... he had indeed honed his bone marrow!
At that time, Old Man Li wanted to kill him so badly. It was infuriating.
Just two days ago, when they talked about Fang Ping, the powerhouses were still making fun of him, saying that Fang Ping’s brain was the only part left to hone...
Now... this little bastard was honing his skull!
Old Man Li rubbed his eyes again and again. This was the first time he was half-convinced that he was hallucinating.
How could it be!
“No... that’s not right. It is possible! Honing the skull requires Celestiality. He... He can!”
Old Man Li continued shaking his head. How did Grandmasters hone their skulls?
It was by converting Mentality and Vitality Force into Celestiality for honing. The skull was too solid and rigid. A typical form of energy could hardly complete it.
Old Man Li could only do it because he had an excess of Life Essence. He completed the transformation forcibly.
As for Li Hansong... who knew how his brain came about. That was a mystery.
“He’s honing his skull now... This means that he has completed honing his golden bones! He can expel Mentality and employ Mentality-Vitality fusion to convert into Celestiality. Who’s the Rank-8, really? Me or him?”
“Why do I feel like he’s more of a Rank-8 than I am!”
Old Man Li mumbled. There was not a moment when he had felt such a sense of inferiority.
Exactly who was the potential Rank-8 between them?
Other than not sealing off his Sanjiao Gate, Fang Ping seemed more like a Rank-8 compared to him, alright!
Seeing that the golden glow was getting more and more resplendent, Old Man Li took a deep breath, unleashing his Vitality Force and covered up the golden glow.
The other people in the southern area had sensed the Vitality Force on this side. They might have recognized Old Man Li’s aura, and therefore decide not to come and check.
Today, Li Changsheng was the School of Weaponry’s dean. In the university, Wu Kuishan was the only one who could control him. Even Huang Jing could not.
...
Fang Ping had sensed Old Man Li’s presence.
Even so, he ignored him.
He had a lot of secrets. However, Old Man Li knew a lot about them. In other words, all of MCMAU’s higher-ups knew a lot about it.
Especially in the past, when Fang Ping’s bone marrow was honed just like that. Everyone was just pretending like they did not know anything.
This was also Lu Fengrou’s idea. In the end, when Fang Ping had completely honed his bone marrow, even Lu Fengrou herself was stunned speechless.
He had already honed his bone marrow. Right now, Fang Ping was only honing his skull. It would be fine once he got used to it.
At this moment, Fang Ping had finished honing the fourth cerebral cranium.
Honing one bone would amount to a consumption that was ten times more than an ossicle—60 million Wealth.
Despite that, Fang Ping thought it was really worth it!
Too worth it!
Right now, the bones in his entire body were rejuvenated. It was as if he had activated the core, allowing the somewhat lifeless skeleton to come to life.
Initially, only the back of his head was glowing. Right now, Fang Ping’s entire body was glowing.
The Vitality in his body was surging at its maximum.
Fang Ping could even hear his bones stir. A layer of seemingly burnt ash-like substance on the outer layer of his bones was shredding.
“This... this is how skull-honing actually looks like!”
Fang Ping did not even pay attention to the painful swelling sensation coming from his head now. The changes in which he was shedding his mortal body and exchanging his bones had caused him to give up his initial plan to hone only a small portion of it.
As long as he did not die this time, he wanted to finish honing everything!
Fang Ping believed that when he completed honing his skull, he would experience a qualitative change.
As for why Li Hansong that weakling was still so weak, Fang Ping speculated that Li Hansong had not yet shed his mortal body and changed his bones. His honed skull came naturally from birth. Perhaps Li Hansong had not completely resuscitated his skull.
Five bones... six bones...
Eight bones!
The moment his cerebral cranium was fully honed, it was as if he had completed an interim change. Fang Ping’s entire body was emitting a magnificent golden glow!
Click, click...
The bones in his entire body were quivering. They were all vibrating. On the surface of the bones, massive amounts of greyish layers were shed, exposing golden bones!
At the periphery, Old Man Li no longer thought about other things. Instead, he put on a troubled look!
Fang Ping was constructing half a golden body!
In other words, he was constructing true golden bones!
Golden body powerhouses were those who turned their entire body into gold. This included the flesh, bones, meridians, internal organs, bone marrow, and even one’s blood.
Right now, Old Man Li had completed his flesh, meridian, bones, and blood. There was only bone marrow left.
As for Fang Ping, he was activating the first step. His bones were about to turn into gold completely.
Click, click...
The bone tremors grew louder and louder.
In the blink of an eye, Fang Ping’s left arm was suddenly glowing a dazzling gold.
At this moment, his flesh was seemingly transparent. Old Man Li could even see his golden jade-like arm bone!
“Left-arm golden bone is complete!”
Old Man Li murmured. Then, the same changes happened to Fang Ping’s right arm.
“Ha!”
At this moment, Fang Ping put on a ferocious look, yelled loudly, and hammered the ground with both fists aggressively!
Boom!
A loud crash was heard. An area within the radius of tens of meters collapsed instantly. Fang Ping fell into the pit as well.
In the southern area, there were already sounds of a powerhouse employing the Flight Step.
When he saw what happened, Old Man Li yelled, “I’m practicing, there’s no need to come over!”
As soon as he said those words, the Flight Step retreated and did not return.
As for Fang Ping, after both his arms had completed their golden bone transformation, his legs and other bones began transforming next.
Fang Ping did not halt his honing process. He was still clenching his jaw, continuing to hone the 15 facial bones.
At this moment, as the honing started, even Fang Ping’s teeth started changing, turning golden jade-like in an instant.
His face was also emitting a golden glow.
When he had moved on to hone his lacrimal bone area, Fang Ping felt an intense pain behind his eyes. Tears flowed from his eyes instantly.
“Fiery eyes and golden pupils?”
This thought flashed across Fang Ping’s mind suddenly. Although bone-honing did not directly change the eyes, right now, the area around the rim of his eyes was indeed emitting golden light. This was extremely similar to the manifestation of fiery eyes and golden pupils!
“Clairvoyance, omniscience, fiery eyes and golden pupils, a halo behind buddha’s head... are they really legends?”
There was not a moment when Fang Ping was more doubtful than how he was now. Were those legends really just legends?
Those who displayed these traits might be powerhouses who had completed honing their skull, right?
Rank-8 golden body!
“Do these people actually exist? Are they dead or alive? Or perhaps... they have entered the Catacombs a long time ago? In those days, the ancestor of Guangsheng Temple discovered the Catacombs, thinking that it was the immortal world. The people of Guangsheng Temple discovered the Catacombs. Where are those people?”
“Could those powerhouses have discovered the Catacombs, thinking that it was the immortal world, and went to seek immortality?”
“In Sino Nation’s history, the last immortal is commonly known as ancestor Chen Tuan. That’s in the Song dynasty... around 900 A.D.!”
“If the almanac recorded in the Catacombs books previously is just as what I’ve speculated, one year over there is the same as one year here... then... does that mean that there’s now an explanation to the disappearance of immortals?
At this moment, Fang Ping really thought of many, many things.
If the time was identical, somewhere in the 10th century, a great war broke out in the Catacombs, and Divine Land vanished!
Divine Land’s disappearance... There were hardly any records on Sino Nation’s immortal legends after the Song dynasty.
“Perhaps... Perhaps the great war that year had something to do with the disappearance of Sino Nation’s ancient immortals?
“No, it can’t be. Even if they are immortals, they’re only at the Grandmaster’s level. How can they possibly destroy the Catacombs...”
Fang Ping felt like his head was about to explode!
It was not because of all the thinking he was doing. It was really about to explode.
He found it slightly hard to endure skull-honing and golden bone transformation.
His Celestial Bridge was already floating outside his body now.
On top of his head, three invisible gates had also appeared.
Unknown which part the invisible gates left ajar were linked to, perhaps it was linked to Fang Ping’s inner body. Burst after burst of energy began dispersing out from the opened gates. Fang Ping was unable to seal off the energy in his body and sensed his Vitality Force draining away.
His flesh was cracking. Even his meridians were experiencing an enormous pressure!
From afar, Old Man Li hissed, “Stop it. Your flesh isn’t strong enough to support a complete golden bone transformation!”
If this continued, Fang Ping’s flesh would collapse. At that time, he would only be left with a set of golden bones!
“Iron... Iron Head Li has honed his skull too, hasn’t he?”
While Fang Ping was talking, his oral cavity started cracking. Crimson jade-like blood was seeping out ceaselessly.
“He’s different from you. He didn’t turn his bones golden. He was only honing them, not changing them!”
Old Man Li explained very quickly. Li Hansong was different from Fang Ping.
Li Hansong’s bones were actually golden bones too. However, Li Hansong did not activate the core. Now, his golden bones were still in a stilled state.
On the other hand, Fang Ping was activating this core. Both of them were different.
“Just a bit more...”
At this moment, Fang Ping had already finished honing 8 cerebral cranium bones. He had also honed 8 facial bones. Only 7 bones remained.
“There’s no hurry in cultivation. Stop messing around!”
Old Man Li shouted once more. Whether it was one day earlier or one day later, would that make any difference?
Fang Ping had this capability, so he could do it any time!
“That makes sense...”
Although he agreed, Fang Ping did not stop. He continued honing wildly!
Enormous amounts of Mentality and Vitality Force surged and emerged, converting into Celestiality instantly. He began honing other bones.
17 bones, 18 bones... when the 20th bone was honed, Fang Ping let out a loud cry, smashing his head on the ground!
Boom!
The already deep pit was once again smashed into an even larger crater.
After a moment, Fang Ping climbed out of it while shaking his head. At this moment, his entire body was dazzling gold. His body surface was still cracking continuously, but was reconstructed in no time.
The Life Essence in Fang Ping’s body was also mending the injuries on his flesh repeatedly.
The Life Essence he consumed in the Catacombs earlier was now exhausted. Fang Ping had no choice but to start using Mentality to convert into Celestiality to continue mending them.
This time, his consumption was indeed substantial.
Of course, his gains were beyond substantial too!
Fang Ping did not even bother observing Old Man Li’s peculiar look. He began checking the system’s display panel:
Wealth: 10.7 billion (convert)
Vitality: 1000cal (4600cal)
Mentality: 590Hz (825Hz)
Bones Honed: 177 bones (100%), 26 bones (90%), 3 bones (30%+)
Storage Space: 1 cubic meter (+)
Energy Shield: 10 thousand Wealth/minute
His Wealth was still decreasing nonstop, converting into Vitality Force to mend his flesh.
Earlier, his Vitality limit was 3999cal without the “+” sign. That supposedly meant that his physique’s toughness had already reached the limit.
Despite that, after honing 20 bones in his skull, his Vitality upper limit was increased by 600cal!
This meant that his physique was even tougher now. Much tougher than a typical Peak Rank-5 powerhouse.
Of course, there was a price to pay.
At this moment, Fang Ping was once again losing control!
Other than the increase in Vitality Force, his Mentality had also increased, exceeding 800Hz, reaching a new high.
Both energies had broken through the limit, causing Fang Ping to lose control of his own strength.
After climbing out, a thunderous boom was heard. Fang Ping crushed the ground surface in one step!
Fang Ping could not care less. He lifted his head and looked at Old Man Li. Both his eyes unleashed a shade of golden glow suddenly. He roared, “Evil monster, activated!”
Bang!
Old Man Li did not bother showing the slightest bit of courtesy. He sent Fang Ping flying with a kick, cursing aloud, “Monster, your ass!”
Usually, Fang Ping would be able to control and would have employed the Flight Step a long time ago.
This time, Fang Ping was unable to control himself. In the next second, Fang Ping crashed to the ground, and another thunderous sound resounded. The ground collapsed into a huge pit!
At this moment, Fang Ping’s weight... had probably exceeded 500 catty—perhaps even more!
When he had honed his bones up to this stage, qualitative changes had already taken place.
Fang Ping was not concerned at all. He climbed up from the pit again. He broke into a grin, exposing a row of crystal-like teeth. Now, his teeth were no longer white nor gold. Instead, they had taken a translucent and rock crystal form.
After chuckling, Fang Ping suddenly said seriously, “If I kiss someone now, I’m afraid I’ll break and crush her teeth easily. Old Man Li, are we already destined not to have a wife?”
Old Man Li was dumbfounded. Why were you thinking about this right now?
Also, why would you have to slam into others with your teeth when you were kissing? Were all young people today like this?
Fang Ping was only joking. He ignored this matter in no time. Flaunting his teeth, he said, “I think that I can now crush alloy in one bite—definitely!”
Old Man Li was mentally and emotionally tired. This kid’s way of thinking was completely different from others.
Right now, were you not supposed to be more concerned about your bones turning golden?
“My brain is currently beyond solid. I think I can smash a Rank-5 to death...”
Fang Ping was still raving on and on. Old Man Li was being messed around by him so much that he had forgotten to ask him how he did it.