Liberation and the Giant

Having just opened the Secret Sea did not immediately grant him great power. He still needed to retain the qi that naturally dispersed, accumulate it into form, and then use it to nourish his body and strengthen it.

Zhuang Hong tried to control that portion of naturally dispersing qi and form it into a cluster within his body. To his surprise, he succeeded on the first try, far more smoothly than he had expected.

Before long, a milky-white qi cluster appeared beside the blue source power pellet.

"So it formed this quickly? According to the Shadow God Art, it should take at least half a year of continuous accumulation to form a qi cluster... In that case, I'll try the next step—nourishing the flesh."

With that thought, Zhuang Hong carefully divided the qi cluster into many portions and dispersed them throughout his body according to the method described in the Shadow God Art, forcibly merging them into his flesh and blood.

For a time, Zhuang Hong felt an extraordinarily comfortable warmth, as though his whole body had been immersed in warm water and was being gently stroked and massaged.

Just as Zhuang Hong was thoroughly enjoying himself, subtle changes began to occur in his body.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

His heart pounded powerfully.

Gurgle! Gurgle!

The muscles throughout his body writhed madly.

So this is what becoming stronger feels like... No, wait!

In the midst of enjoying it, Zhuang Hong sensed something wrong with his body and immediately snapped awake. Instinctively, he traversed into another world.

Standing in a barren wasteland, he felt the flesh throughout his body boiling. It was as if a force that had been suppressed within his body for a long time was about to break free of its restraints and erupt completely.

Grrr—

He tried his best to control it, but it was already beyond his control.

The muscles all over his body rapidly swelled, twisted, and knotted together. His bones enlarged and thickened, while his height shot up to three meters and continued growing taller and stronger.

Rip! Rip! Rip!

His clothes and trousers tore apart one after another, until only a highly elastic pair of underwear remained.

He looked exactly like the Hulk transforming.

Pfft!

A thick, sharp tail suddenly sprang from his tailbone, swaying rhythmically from side to side and making his towering body appear even more balanced.

Then a thick layer of armor plates grew across his body, covering him from head to toe and giving off a dark red gleam.

In the blink of an eye, he had changed from an ordinary human into an incomparably brawny giant warrior. He stood nearly five meters tall, clad in a thick dark-red shell that perfectly outlined his muscles, which had been strengthened to the extreme.

Most importantly, there did not seem to be a single superfluous part on his body. He looked agile and nimble, yet possessed terrifying explosive power.

Once the violent changes subsided, Zhuang Hong stared at his current appearance in utter shock.

"The Shadow God Art doesn't seem to mention that using qi to nourish the body can turn someone into a giant. And what's with this tail...?"

Only after quite some time did Zhuang Hong gradually adapt to his current state.

Not only did he feel no discomfort, he instead felt the pleasure of something long pent up finally finding release. Even the extra tail could become a powerful weapon for him.

It was as though this was what he had originally been meant to look like.

He slowly clenched his fist, feeling the surging, overwhelming power in his flesh, and could not resist punching the ground.

Boom!

The dry earth beneath his fist shattered, and a blast of air swept outward, kicking up rolling clouds of dust. A pit the size of a bathtub had appeared in the ground.

And this was merely his physical strength. He had not used even a trace of source power.

"My body is far too strong right now! But... it would be bad if I couldn't change back."

He stood where he was, working hard to calm the restless agitation in his flesh. Then he focused his mind and tried to draw back the qi that had dispersed throughout his body.

Very soon, Zhuang Hong's mighty body rapidly shrank like a deflating balloon, returning to the form of an ordinary human in the blink of an eye.

That made him heave a huge sigh of relief.

If he had truly turned into a monster for good, then whether he could return to Earth in the future would become a problem. The journey through Infinite Space would surely lose much of its fun.

He stood there, carefully sensing the qi within his body as he fell into thought.

Clearly, his body was already different from that of an ordinary human. Though he could also open the Secret Sea, a mutation had occurred during the crucial enhancement process.

When ordinary people used qi to nourish their bodies, it gave their bodies greater resilience and strength. When he used qi to nourish his body, he transformed directly...

Calling it a transformation was not quite right. More accurately, the power hidden within his flesh had been activated by qi.

Over the past few years, he had devoured who knew how many Void Spirits. Aside from being converted into source power, the strength he gained had all been stored within his flesh, giving his body extraordinarily powerful potential.

It was only because he had always been protected by the innate mechanisms of the human body that his flesh had not grown without restraint and turned him into a monster.

Now that he had opened the Secret Treasury, it was equivalent to removing his body's automatic protective mechanism. Under the effect of qi, the power in his flesh had been activated.

"Judging by how it felt, I only released a small portion of my strength just now. If I accumulate enough qi before activating it again, I might be able to turn into a ten-meter-tall giant beast, or perhaps something even larger..."

For the time being, though, Zhuang Hong had no plans to test a stronger transformation. What if he could not change back?

He just wondered what changes would occur after opening Secret Awareness.

"The martial arts methods of other worlds are more useful than I imagined. Perhaps I should deliberately study them in the future. Then I can bring them back and let A Fei, Wan Ying, and the others try practicing them too..."

Woof woof!

Xiao Bai wagged its tail as it circled around Zhuang Hong, another drop of drool helplessly slipping from the corner of its mouth.

In its eyes, Zhuang Hong had become even more fragrant now. It really wanted a bite.

When Zhuang Hong saw Xiao Bai, he could not help smiling. As long as he grew stronger faster than Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai would never get to eat his flesh.

Ever since Xiao Bai had begun following him, he had discovered another use for it.

Besides serving as emergency rations, it could also keep watch for Zhuang Hong.

Simply put, Xiao Bai had already regarded Zhuang Hong as its private food. Whenever it sensed other Void Spirits approaching, it would run about in anxious circles and bark wildly, trying to scare away the invading Void Spirits.

That was precisely why Zhuang Hong had dared to enter a meditative state and attempt to open the Secret Sea without worrying about a surprise attack from a Void Spirit.

And with Xiao Bai by his side, he even dared to sleep for a little while, leaving his mental state much better than it had been a few days ago.

To praise Xiao Bai's behavior, Zhuang Hong even gave its head a rare pat. "Not bad. Keep up the good work and put your remaining energy to use."

It could keep watch for him and serve as stored food. It was a good dog.

No, more accurately, it was "a Void Spirit that thought of itself as a dog."

Zhuang Hong returned to the Golden Cloud World to change into a fresh set of clothes, then pushed open the door and walked out.

When Liu Yueling saw Zhuang Hong again, her eyes widened into round circles once more.

"You... you became a Secret Sea Warrior?"

When she had seen him yesterday, Zhuang Hong had seemed like an ordinary person, yet a peculiar aura had constantly radiated from him. Now, however, it had all been completely concealed.

That was undoubtedly the sign of having fully mastered the Secret Sea.

Zhuang Hong smiled. "That's right. It was also thanks to your guidance. Otherwise, just reading the Shadow God Art alone, I wouldn't have been able to successfully open the Secret Sea."

Liu Yueling: "..."

For an ordinary martial artist, it generally took one or two years from beginning martial arts training to successfully opening the Secret Sea. Yet Zhuang Hong had opened his Secret Sea in just one day, making her seriously suspect that he had already been a martial artist before this.

But when she thought of all Zhuang Hong's bizarre actions, she was instantly able to accept it again.

Liu Yueling said, "Next, you only need to train your body according to the Shadow God Art. Once you have fully mastered the Secret Sea, you can try opening the more difficult Secret Awareness. However, the crucial Heaven Locks for Secret Awareness are all located in the head, so you must be extremely careful. Do not be careless."

Zhuang Hong nodded, then asked curiously, "Only after truly opening the Secret Sea did I realize how miraculous the cultivation methods of martial artists are. I'm very curious—which peerless genius created such a Cultivation Method?"

Liu Yueling shook her head. "I don't know either. But it is said that our cultivation methods were learned from Arctic Trolls."

"Trolls?"

"Yes. As far as I know, trolls can naturally open the Three Great Secret Treasures as they grow older without any cultivation, gaining powerful strength. It is highly likely that our human martial arts methods were learned from trolls."

The history of humanity in this world was a history of war against trolls.

Trolls were born incomparably powerful, possessing strength ordinary humans could not resist. During the slaughter wrought by the trolls, humanity had nearly been exterminated several times. Yet through unparalleled wisdom, they endured tenaciously. In the end, a Heaven Treasury Warrior was born among humanity, and under that Heaven Treasury Warrior's leadership, humanity turned the tide and won.

Now, the trolls could only rely on their natural Cold Resistance and huddle in the northern polar regions to eke out a miserable existence. Only when they had no food left would they risk heading south to raid human towns.

"So that's how it is."

Zhuang Hong gazed toward the north. Now, he could clearly sense that the Other Self he was searching for was in the north.

Could the Other Self be in the hands of the trolls?