Not until he had left the imperial capital and reached a stretch of open wilderness did Shen Yi summon the golden bead.

Fine golden threads wove themselves together once more, and a golden dharma form two zhang three tall stood impassively into being.

Its frame was far more powerfully built than before, and the vivid crimson patterns across its back were strange and terrible.

But what drew the eye most was the thick golden dragon coiled around its arm — fangs bared, golden eyes ferocious, as though it were a living thing.

The golden body abruptly lifted its arm, and the dragon shot out, spiraled once through the air in a strangling motion, then dropped back down and coiled around the arm again.

"Tch."

Shen Yi's expression turned faintly complicated.

The demon soul he'd just spent ten thousand years condensing had somehow simply vanished — turned into a Spirit-Transformation realm technique bearing the "Rare" mark.

At two zhang three, the golden dharma form looked like a small building, and yet it hadn't even reached Minor Mastery. When he added it up, something didn't quite fit.

For an ordinary Golden Body method, three zhang was Perfection.

This should be a good thing, then?

Shen Yi carefully tallied how much accumulated faith Great Qian held in total, and felt somewhat uncertain.

"Never mind. One step at a time."

Feeling the golden body's utterly undisguised, formidable presence, Shen Yi found himself a little more confident about the coming trip to the Eight-Direction Dining Hall.

Another twenty-odd days, collect the Cold Jade Mysterious Silk Hand from the Implement Sect, and his preparations would be more or less complete.

This stretch of time couldn't be wasted either.

Shen Yi put the golden body away and rode a cloud toward the armory.

He couldn't cultivate the techniques for now, but the War Temple had lost so many Spirit-Transformation cultivators over the years that there were bound to be records left behind.

That information was just as important.

The armory, the small loft.

Zhu Jue looked at Shen Yi standing before him in puzzlement — if he…