Buddha's Golden Body?

"Hang on a little longer." Qi Tian's voice rang out beside everyone again, telling them to stay where they were. They did, still watching the three men with concern.

Jin Shi's wife clutched their child tightly. Before they had come to settle near the Giant Stone God, they had lived a nomadic life, constantly preyed upon by ferocious beasts. Death had been all too common.

Since coming here, aside from the warriors who went out hunting and fell to the beasts, the elderly, women, and children no longer had to worry about their safety. With the Giant Stone God protecting it, the village was utterly secure.

So Jin Shi's wife trusted that the Giant Stone God wouldn't hurt her husband. Even so, worry was plain in her eyes, along with an even greater sense of heartache.

Qi Tian hadn't expected the single drop of Golden Liquid he'd bestowed to affect the three men so drastically. But his awareness told him that their vitality was steadily increasing, their cells were growing at a rapid rate, and their muscles were growing stronger.

As the three men before Qi Tian absorbed the energy of the Golden Liquid, their bodies began to change. Their skin turned from yellowish-brown to gold, and their muscles began to swell.

The three men had originally stood a little over two meters tall, but now they were slowly growing larger. The animal hides around their waists stretched tight, nearly splitting apart.

"No good. There's too much golden energy. It looks like it'll burst them apart."

Watching the golden energy transform the men's flesh and cells, Qi Tian realized he'd misjudged the amount of energy the Golden Liquid contained. He quickly stirred the Sanskrit Phantom in his sea of consciousness, drawing the excess energy back inside.

After more than an hour, the pain faded from the three men's faces. The men lying on the ground had grown to over five meters tall. Their entire bodies were golden, and their long black hair had coiled into spirals atop their heads, making them look just like Buddhas.

Everyone stared at the three men lying on the ground, stunned. Their enormous golden bodies filled them with fear. They had no idea what had happened.

Qi Tian was just as surprised. He hadn't expected that drop of Golden Liquid to directly transform the men's bodies, turning them into golden Buddhas.

After the Golden Liquid had transformed them, the three men felt utterly drained. They didn't even want to move a finger. A few minutes later, once they'd recovered enough to get up, they slowly sat cross-legged.

Jin Shi looked at the members of his tribe behind him, now seeming shorter and smaller, then at the two golden monsters beside him. He couldn't help but start in fright, with no idea what had happened.

Then he realized that he, too, had become a gigantic golden monster. His heart surged like a storm-tossed sea.

"What happened to me?"

As Jin Shi and the other two stared at one another in alarm, the faint golden glow radiating from their bodies slowly faded. Their skin, however, remained gold.

Qi Tian stared in amazement at the changes in Jin Shi and the others. "Did they eat Devil Fruits or something? Why do they look exactly like Sengoku when he transforms into his Buddha form in the anime?"

"How do you feel?" Qi Tian asked.

Hearing Qi Tian's question, the three men set aside their confusion and quickly examined the changes to their bodies.

Jin Shi clenched his fists. He felt a domineering power coursing through his entire body. Looking at his tribesmen behind him, he had the strange impression that he stood above them all.

Then he looked at the village two or three kilometers away. He estimated that if he struck with all his strength, a single punch could turn the hundreds of wooden houses in the whole village into splinters.

Nearby, Iron Hand felt the strength of his golden body, more than five meters tall, its bulging muscles like carved gold. When he tensed them, the power he felt gave him the illusion that he was invincible.

He picked up the Ox Skull Gauntlet he carried with him. The hard skull, once like a small shield he could use to attack or defend, now fit over just one of his fingers.

"Crack!"

Iron Hand barely exerted any force before the Ox Skull Gauntlet shattered into several pieces. When he kept squeezing, he even crushed the fragments into powder.

Back when he'd worn the Ox Skull Gauntlet to strike a boulder, the punch that had shattered the stone had left only a few shallow scratches on the skull.

Finally, Mulberry Leaf noticed the biggest difference in himself. In his dantian sat a six-sided Golden Crystal, spinning continuously and sending out strange waves.

His consciousness had grown much stronger, too. He could now vaguely sense the outline of the entire village in his mind.

At his unconscious command, the two sharp bone-claw weapons on his shins rose into the air. With his control, they flew rapidly through the sky.

Only Qi Tian, Jin Shi, and Iron Hand could follow their flight. Everyone else saw nothing but two afterimages flashing back and forth.

"Mom, I'm hungry."

As the three men examined their changes, a young child in the crowd couldn't bear his hunger any longer and called out to his mother.

When the woman heard her child complain of hunger, her expression stiffened slightly. She was afraid that speaking up at a time like this might offend the "Giant Stone God," so she could only quietly reassure her child and ask him to wait a little longer.

Qi Tian knew the villagers had already prepared the prey they'd brought back that day and eaten dinner. He spoke up.

"You can all go back to what you were doing. Jin Shi and the other two should stay."

After everyone dispersed, only Jin Shi and the other two remained, carefully examining their bodies.

As he slowly explored, Jin Shi also discovered the six-sided Golden Crystal in his dantian. He began to sense the strange waves it emitted, gradually learning to control how far they spread.

As Jin Shi slowly strengthened his control, he began to feel a force inside his body that could hold him aloft.

"Damn, they can fly too?" Qi Tian exclaimed in amazement as he watched Jin Shi rise into the air.

Iron Hand and Mulberry Leaf stared at the floating Jin Shi, equally dumbstruck.

Following Jin Shi's guidance, the two of them strengthened the waves from the six-sided Golden Crystals in their dantians. Before long, they had also mastered the ability to float.

As the three men continued discussing their discoveries and trying things out on their own, Qi Tian gradually learned more about the changes they'd undergone.

All three had gained a tremendous boost in physical strength. Jin Shi was the strongest, Iron Hand came second, and Mulberry Leaf was the weakest.

They had also gained the ability to make objects float, including stones, trees, and bone claws. Jin Shi and Iron Hand struggled to control this power, but Mulberry Leaf wielded it as easily as his own limbs.

Finally, there was their ability to float—or, more accurately, to fly. With practice, all three could now easily rise, descend, and turn in midair, moving at over one kilometer per second.

Jin Shi was the fastest, reaching nearly three kilometers per second—twice the speed of the other two.

"What kind of monsters have I created?" Qi Tian marveled, clicking his tongue as he looked at the three men, who resembled golden Buddhas.