Transformation Diagram: Starting as a Skinny Dog

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the City God took to the streets, going out to cleanse the miasma for the people and bless them with longevity.

After receiving blessings, the people would flock to the City God Temple on this day to burn incense, pray, pay tribute, and express their gratitude for the protection of the City God Lord.

Both inside and outside the Xiang Hall of the City God Temple, and even along the long street outside, the area was packed with thousands of people.

If Chen Ku had been paying attention, he would have recognized one of the familiar faces among those thousands: Che Wenping, with whom he had shared a large bunk while working as an assistant at the Medicine King Hall.

Che Wenping was there with his elderly mother to pray and burn incense at the City God Temple. Many people arrived at dawn to burn the first incense stick; he and his mother had arrived early in the morning to line up, securing a spot near the front, though certainly not the very first.

But just as he and his mother were kneeling outside the gate of the main hall with many other devout people burning incense and kowtowing.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a loud bang emanated from inside the hall.

"What was that noise?"

The thousands of people inside and outside the hall, as well as along the street, instantly looked up in alarm towards the hall.

And then, accompanied by a loud noise, the Golden Body of City God Duan Mingbi in the Xiang Hall suddenly emitted a great burst of golden light, then transformed into a golden air stream that filled the hall, rippling throughout.

"The City God Lord has manifested!!"

No one knew who shouted first, but it was an excited yell filled with surprise and reverence.

Soon after, Che Wenping and his old mother also shouted in ecstatic excitement, "The City God Lord has manifested! A blessing! This is a manifestation of blessing!"

Although the City God's existence was no secret, and he was known to be supernatural, it was rare for the townspeople to witness such a divine manifestation.

Unexpectedly, on this fifth day of the new year in the one hundred fifty-fourth year of the Daji Dynasty, they happened to witness the City God in a good mood, manifesting and shining golden light upon the locals...

Even the Chief Temple Priests in charge of guarding that day inside the hall were momentarily stunned, watching the golden aura rippling outward.

The middle-aged Duan Family Chief Temple Priest muttered under his breath, That's not right, the ancestor was supposed to be out parading through the streets. How could this happen?

But while he was puzzled, suddenly, a terrifying scream, as if the sky were falling, came from the direction of the Believers outside the hall, "Ah, look everyone, quickly look, half of the City God's body has collapsed, disappeared, melted away!!"

This statement awakened all those who were still immersed in the City God's manifestation and were kneeling and kowtowing.

At that moment, everyone instinctively looked up.

Even the Chief Temple Priest's complexion drastically changed, and he hurriedly turned to look back.

He saw that after the vibration and burst of golden light, the City God Golden Body had, at that moment, inexplicably vanished two-thirds of its structure, leaving behind only the hollow legs from the thighs down and a weapon.

CLANG.

Then, a segment of leg bone fell from midair.

"The Golden Body!!"

The Chief Temple Priest saw the City God Golden Body. It looked as though a large part had been bitten off by something, leaving only the legs. A darkness fell before his eyes, and he immediately became unsteady on his feet, screaming, The ancestors' bones!

This Golden Body in the Xiang Hall was crafted by the progeny of the Duan Family over eighty years, amassing unknown amounts of gold and molten golden water.

Although it wasn't entirely made of pure gold, with two-thirds being hollow, the gold used still amounted to over a thousand pounds.

The reason for the hollowness was twofold. First, to cast a ten-foot-tall solid Golden Body would cost an astronomical price. Secondly, the hollow inside the deity's body followed a rule meant to leave space for Organ Placement.

Organ Placement, also known as Enshrining, is a critical ceremony performed during the making of a deity's statue. This is intended to endow the statue with Life Force. This process involves installing symbolic internal organs and Divine Sense in the statue by placing symbolically significant items, such as Scriptures, Imperial Edicts, talismans, and tablets, thus endowing it with divine power and protection.

The items used for Organ Placement include, but are not limited to, Magic Artifacts, Life Bodies, and Scrolls.

These items were used to absorb the incense offerings of the people. What was actually contained within this Golden Body of the City God Lord was, in fact, a segment of General Duan Mingbi's leg bone.

Only in this way could the General, through his own bones, absorb the spiritual energy from the incense offerings, gain Yin Longevity, and be enshrined by the Imperial Court as a True God with supernatural powers.

At that moment, the Chief Temple Priest felt his head spinning and darkness before his eyes.

The Believers were even more terrified and bewildered.

The City God Golden Body had been suddenly bitten by some mysterious force, losing two-thirds of its structure and even dropping the Organ Placement Object from within.

This did not look at all like a divine manifestation of the City God.

Instead, it seemed like... a great demon had invaded the City God Temple!!

But just then, someone cried out, "There's something! Something has flown off from the Golden Body!!"

A guard from inside the City God Temple shouted, "Quick, catch it! The change in the Golden Body must be related to this object!"

Chen Ku, almost at the moment the Golden Body was devoured by the Transformation Diagram, spread his wings and flew towards the outside, not even having time to grab the falling leg bone.

He had figured it out. That leg bone was most likely another cultivation condition detected by the Transformation Diagram. It was the carrier containing "one pound of incense." However, the Transformation Diagram also warned that this object needed to be refined before it could be offered. And since the object was a leg bone, it was possibly related to City God Duan Mingbi. He couldn't guarantee that if he took it, the City God wouldn't find him by some means...