Changes in the Body

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed Black Mountain City's outline a dark gold, providing Li Yuan with the perfect cover to return to the Li Family residence.

Like a ghost, he slipped through familiar, secluded alleyways, his steps light and swift, soundless as they touched the ground. The Crimson Sun Qi and Blood surging within him kept his whole body pleasantly warm, a stark contrast to the chill outside. He could clearly feel that every breath and every step contained strength far exceeding what he had possessed before.

Rather than returning directly to that side room, he first circled around to an abandoned woodshed behind the residence. It was piled with rotten timber and miscellaneous junk; even stray cats could not be bothered to visit it on ordinary days. It was the secret place where he occasionally tested the changes in himself.

Standing before an old water vat riddled with cracks and barely holding together, Li Yuan used the faint light filtering through a broken window to seriously examine his reflection in the water for the first time.

The reflection was blurry, but clear enough to make out its outline.

He froze.

Reflected in the water was no longer that pitiful youth with a sallow, emaciated face, sunken eye sockets, and a body that looked as though a gust of wind could knock him over.

The hollows in his cheeks had filled out. His skin tone was still far from rosy, but that lifeless waxy yellow had faded, replaced by a restrained, jade-like luster. His hair, once dry as grass, also seemed to have gained a touch of glossy black sheen.

The most obvious changes were in his body.

He unconsciously touched his arm. Beneath his fingers were no longer protruding bones and loose skin, but firm, resilient muscles. With the slightest exertion, he could feel the power hidden beneath them, ready to erupt at any moment. He untied his tattered outer garment and lowered his head to look at his chest and abdomen. His ribs no longer jutted out hideously; in their place were the beginnings of pectoral muscles and the faint outlines of abdominal muscles. They were not yet imposing, but they already formed the physique of a healthy, powerful youth.

He even felt that he had subtly shot up a little in height. The clothes that had once been somewhat too short now fit him rather well, even seeming slightly tight.

All these changes had come from that "Dead Silence Ore," from Crimson Sun's perfect refinement of that pure deathly energy.

"Crimson Sun Qi and Blood" had not merely granted him strength. It was more like the finest restorative medicine, making up in an extremely short time for the life force drained by the Yin Sha Curse's years of erosion. It had forcibly pulled his body, once on the brink of collapse, back from the edge of the cliff and pushed it into an unprecedentedly good state.

He tried giving a light jump from where he stood.

Whoosh!

His body was extraordinarily light. He rose far higher than expected, his head nearly brushing the low rafters. When he landed, the rebound force traveling up through the soles of his feet was effortlessly absorbed by his strengthened bones and muscles. He stood as steady as a mountain.

He then walked to a corner of the woodshed, where a thick wooden post used to brace the door lay on the ground. It was roughly as thick as an adult's thigh. Before, even if he used every ounce of strength he had, he might not have been able to move it.

Now, he stretched out his right hand, his five fingers gripping the post's rough surface as Crimson Sun Qi and Blood stirred slightly.

"Up!"

With a low shout, he easily lifted the heavy post with a single arm and raised it over his head! The muscles of his arm bulged, full of the beauty of strength, without the slightest tremor.

He gently set the post down, his eyes gleaming with excitement he could barely suppress.

This was only the beginning! He had undergone such a rebirth after devouring merely one piece of ore! If he could find more "fuel" with even greater energy...

He forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart, put his clothes back on, and tugged at the holes in his outer garment to make himself still look somewhat bedraggled. Now was not the time to be smug. He had to conceal these changes. At least until he possessed enough strength to protect himself, he absolutely could not arouse the family's suspicions—especially Third Elder's.

He carefully sensed the inside of his body. After refining the deathly energy, that "Crimson Sun" seemed even hungrier. It needed a continuous supply of energy to sustain itself and drive him to grow stronger. The nourishment brought by that bowl of Fierce Beast meat soup had long since been exhausted during this enhancement, and the familiar pangs of hunger were beginning to creep back in.

But this time, hunger was no longer a torment of despair. It had become the force driving him forward.

He needed to plan his next move. Continuously scavenging for bargains at the Marketplace was clearly unreliable, and it could easily expose him. He needed a more stable, more inconspicuous way to obtain large quantities of food containing energy, or... other things.

The recruitment notice from Blustering Wind Martial Hall surfaced in his mind once more. A martial hall might provide him with a legitimate identity and a means of acquiring resources.

As the sky grew darker, Li Yuan cleared away every trace he had left behind. Just as he had come, he silently departed the abandoned woodshed and crept toward that prison-like side room.

When he avoided the guards, climbed back through the window, and lay down once more on the cold pile of straw, the guards outside had not noticed a thing.

Lying in the darkness, Li Yuan stroked his now-firm lower abdomen, feeling the endlessly surging qi and blood within him and the steady warmth of Crimson Sun.

The changes had truly happened, from the inside out.

The Bone-Chilling Cold that had plagued him for ten years was now no more than a faint shadow in his memories. In its place was the blazing Crimson Sun, ever-growing strength, unprecedentedly keen senses, and... a heart that could no longer be bound, yearning to break free of everything and stride toward a wider world.

He closed his eyes. He no longer felt cold, nor did he feel despair.

The transformation of his body had given him the firmest foundation. The road ahead might still be thick with thorns, but he had already gripped the sharp blade that would cut them apart.

"Li Family... Altar... Third Elder..."

He silently recited those names, his eyes as cold as blades in the darkness.

"Just wait. It won't be long now."