"Did that dragon corpse just move?" one of the youths asked with a strained voice as she struggled against the powerful energy on the steps. Just like many of the other Honorable Alliance youths, she was cultivating on the steps, which was very beneficial.
The strange yet powerful energy seemed to target their blood mostly, purifying it and enhancing it slightly. At the same time, the powerful energy allowed them to push their dantians to a further level, strengthening them and improving their talent. While most of the dantian talent was determined during the Core Formation advancement, one could still improve slowly when running into opportunities like these.
Lastly, the energy required a constant struggle to resist, which helped improve their comprehensions and let them get closer to breaking through to the next realm. While struggling against the energy, the girl had opened her eyes for a brief moment, and couldn't help but gaze at the dragon, which she had thought changed for a brief moment.
However, the dragon corpse laid dormant like before, making her realize it was most likely just her imagination.
"That's impossible, right?" a nearby friend of the girl replied.
"You're right…it must have been my imagination," the girl replied, before her gaze shifted up and to the left as she noticed movement one more.
"The temple door…it opened again!" the girl exclaimed as the leftmost temple opened up once more. Her words caused the others to open their struggling eyes and look over, at which point they noticed John leave the temple.
"He's out!" one of them exclaimed as John left the temple, which instantly closed behind him. As soon as he left, the temple began to rumble, and to everyone's shock, the temple began to lower down into the ground, and disappeared within after a short while, making it appear as if it never had existed.
"What just happened?" several of the youths couldn't help but exclaim, but quickly realized that whatever opportunity was within, John had most likely claimed it and ended the trial. Disappointment washed through many, but none dared to voice their displeasure.
It wasn't a guarantee that they would even be able to make it to that half-way step, and even if they did, none could complain that John had been the one to get whatever was within. Were it not for him, they wouldn't even be alive at the moment.
Everyone gazed at John with curiosity and awe, while almost all the females gazed at him with reddened cheeks, feeling their bodies become flushed just by looking at him. John was already very handsome, and with his dragonscale armor revealing his muscled chest and arms, many of them couldn't help but become enraptured by him.
Not only that, but his heroic aura and powerful persona carved a deep image in their hearts, making many of them even more enamored. After leaving the temple, his aura seemed to have changed even more, becoming more powerful, heroic, and also primal, like that of the king of all beasts.
It was quite bizarre, but many of them couldn't help but become dazed when they looked at him. At the same time, most of the males and even some of the females looked on with fiery gazes, some wanting to be like John, and others wanting to surpass him and become the foremost heavenly genius of the Alliance. Whatever the feelings being felt, his appearance alone stirred all the youths into a different type of frenzy.
John ignored the gazes as he looked at the temple on the other side of the mile-wide steps. He made his way over towards that temple and arrived shortly after before a similar looking entrance as the previous.
"Bone of the Jade Dragon!" he repeated as he stared at the words carved above the entrance.
Like the other entrance, there was a small indent in which his other reverse dragon scale fit perfectly.
The dragon scale appeared in his hand, and immediately shot out towards the indentation, fitting perfectly within. The door hummed with formation runes and quickly parted open, which John entered without hesitation. The massive door closed behind him, shutting the entrance once more, leaving those outside to wonder what could possibly exist within.
The doors closed behind John, and after walking forward a bit, he found himself standing in a similar looking temple as the previous. It was hollow and dimly lit like the previous, with only a dragon statue and a singular thing before it in the center.
Before the dragon statue was a massive ribcage, a dozen yards tall and long. It exuded a youthful yet ancient aura, as if it had belonged to a young dragon that had died before it could mature into a powerful dragon.
Learning from the previous temple, John walked up to the ribcage and reached out after a brief inspection. As soon as his hand came into contact with the ribcage, the dragon statue's eyes lit up briefly, and one of the ribs instantly disintegrated into a fine white mist. The white mist swirled around John like a sandstorm with him at the center, and began to flood into his body just like the blood had previously.
An overwhelming sensation of pain flooded through his body as he felt the white mist break into his bones and shatter them, turning them into dust themselves. His teeth grit in absolute pain as he thought of resisting against it, but decided against it after a short moment, as he could tell that while beyond gruesome and painful, this process would eventually help him just like the last.
After steeling his mind, John withdrew his Qi and allowed the white mist of ancient dragon bone to continue whatever it was doing. His bones shattered in many places, and John crumpled to the ground in pain, like a gelatinous blob of flesh.
A roar of pain boomed out as the white mist eventually faded away after what felt like a lifetime to him, fully infused into his bones after a painfully arduous process. John gasped deeply as he recovered himself, and inspected his body within. His bones ached with pain, but were now much harder than before, making him far more durable.
After inspecting the changes within his body, his gaze shifted to the ribcage once more, which had over a dozen more rib-bones remaining. His eyes narrowed with steeled resolve as he walked over and reached out, disintegrating the second bone.
…
"It's opening!" one of the youths outside commented with excitement as the door to the second temple opened. It had been closed for nearly three days, far longer than the first temple, but had finally opened once more.
Everyone watched with bated breath as John finally left the temple, which closed behind him and descended down into the ground just like the first. They all inspected him closely, and couldn't help but feel an even more powerful and primal aura emanating from him, like he was becoming a dragon himself. It was incredibly bizarre, as well as shocking, as they could tell that within just a few days, John had somehow increased his strength massively once more.
The heated and jealous gazes of many of the youths lit up with fiery passion even more, as they realized they were falling farther and farther behind John.
"Ahhhh! I need to push myself harder!" a cry of passion boomed out from one of the youths as he mustered his full strength and surged up the steps, climbing several steps before coming to a halt.
His breathing was heavy but an excited expression appeared on his face, as he had managed to further his progress up the steps beyond his expectations, thanks to his newfound resolve to catch the one standing above them.
Many others followed suit and roared with passion as they pushed themselves to the limits, climbing the stairs once more. Many of the more talented disciples came close to where John was standing, and he couldn't help but look down on those below him with approval and praise.
After nodding at those beneath him, his gaze shifted upwards towards the ancient dragon corpse, and the temple at the very top of the stairs just before it. He stepped out and placed his one foot firmly on the next step, feeling an overwhelming energy slam into him once again.
"Rebirth of the Jade Dragon huh? Time to see what this is all about!"
