A sound came from within Shi Qingyun's body, and golden Order Divine Chains emerged across his skin.
Those Order Divine Chains wound tightly around Shi Qingyun, as though they meant to wrap him into a little golden figure.
At the same time, surges of blood-red energy battered the Order Divine Chains, their collisions producing a series of teeth-grating sounds.
As time passed, Shi Qingyun felt the chains binding him slowly snap under the powerful medicinal effects, while the pain he experienced steadily intensified.
When that inhuman agony reached a certain threshold, it gave way to a relaxing sensation that left his whole body feeling wonderfully at ease.
The pain remained; the changes in his body had merely eclipsed the agony brought on by its transformation.
Shi Qingyun felt a powerful force erupt from his tiny body.
He experienced a sense of ease unlike anything he had ever known, and he discovered that his perception of the world had grown clearer.
A sensation of seeing through things entered Shi Qingyun's mind. Although his eyes were closed, he could perceive the paths of the wind outside the great cauldron, the morning dew resting on flowers, and the anxious faces of the adults outside.
Each image appeared with perfect clarity in his mind.
He stopped paying attention to the outside world and instead examined his body carefully. His blood coursed swiftly and powerfully through him like a surging river, while his heart beat with the deep, forceful sound of a war drum.
His flesh and bones all radiated a faint glow. Something seemed to have wound around his white bones, turning them toward gold.
But where Shi Qingyun failed to notice, traces of black and white quietly twined around his bones. There was too little for him to detect.
With his eyes tightly shut, Shi Qingyun sensed the state of his body and knew he had broken through to the Blood Moving Realm.
However, because he had failed to control himself properly, when the pleasurable sensation brought on by his body's changes slowly faded,
The pain he felt from his transformation grew even more intense. His nerves and hearing registered with perfect clarity the process of his bones shattering and knitting back together inside him.
Shi Qingyun could not help letting out muffled groans, his brows drawing tightly together on his little face.
He could only do his utmost to rein in his perception and reduce the pain he sensed.
Meanwhile, in several of the great cauldrons around Shi Qingyun, some children could no longer endure the heart-piercing agony and began to scream.
Many were already flailing their limbs uncontrollably inside the cauldrons, the immense pain clouding their consciousness.
They staggered and struggled out of their medicinal baths. Watching this, the middle-aged man could only sigh inwardly. This year's children were not particularly promising.
Some have already fled because they couldn't bear the pain! What a waste of so much precious liquid!
Then came the voices of their parents, some scolding and others offering encouragement.
Just like that, groups of people gradually left the square, leaving only a few parents waiting anxiously. They hoped their children could hold on a little longer, yet also wished they would come out sooner, before anything went wrong!
The middle-aged man paid them no mind and said nothing, merely grumbling to himself a little.
But that was all. After all, although the clan had spent plenty of precious materials on them,
From the clan's perspective, the goal was merely to cultivate a few dependable mainstays.
They had never expected any geniuses to emerge. The clan's geniuses were already being nurtured in secret, so why would they come here?
He did not expect them to be particularly outstanding, so although the middle-aged man felt it was something of a pity, he said nothing more.
He stopped looking at the children who had already given up and focused instead on those still inside the great cauldrons. He did not want a moment's carelessness to cause an accident.
Gradually, almost all the children in the great cauldrons came out.
Only Shi Qingyun's cauldron had remained silent from beginning to end.
Had the middle-aged man not clearly sensed Shi Qingyun's strong heartbeat, he would have gone over and fished him out long ago.
After all, every year there were a few youngsters who overestimated their abilities and stubbornly endured inside, nearly losing their lives.
Eventually, only the middle-aged man and Shi Qingyun remained in the square. All the other children had gone home with their parents.
The middle-aged man approached Shi Qingyun's great cauldron and thought, Have I stumbled upon a genius?
Inside the cauldron, Shi Qingyun naturally could not hear the middle-aged man's thoughts. Impurities were continuously being expelled through his pores, along with pitch-black blood.
The medicinal liquid surrounding him had long since turned black as he absorbed it, losing its original luster.
Shi Qingyun had already absorbed every last bit of its divine essence.
Yet his transformation was still incomplete.
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Chapter 10: Transformation
The middle-aged man also noticed that the medicinal liquid around Shi Qingyun had already dried up, yet Shi Qingyun showed no signs of waking.
Shi Qingyun's body radiated a halo of light, and his brows were tightly knitted, as though he were enduring some tremendous pain.
His eyes remained tightly closed, while the pitch-black blood flowing from his pores gradually turned bright red.
Meanwhile, the vital essence in the air formed little whirlwinds around Shi Qingyun and entered his body.
The middle-aged man understood at once. The medicinal liquid had been drained dry, leaving insufficient energy to sustain Shi Qingyun's transformation. He had begun absorbing the free-floating vital essence outside to replenish his energy and continue supporting his breakthrough.
The white-robed middle-aged man knew that without an additional source of energy, the free-floating vital essence around Shi Qingyun could not complete his transformation. It would inevitably end in failure.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, and wanting to see what sort of surprise this little fellow could bring him, the white-robed middle-aged man made up his mind.
Without further hesitation, he waved his right hand. All the medicinal liquid in the other great cauldrons surged out like water drawn up by a dragon.
The medicinal liquid from dozens of great cauldrons gathered in midair, forming a river that flowed above the square, its fragrance spreading everywhere.
That rich golden river of medicine seemed to have gathered so much divine essence that it had gained intelligence. It sought to transform into a flying dragon and escape, and a faint dragon's cry even emanated from it.
But the middle-aged man understood that this was merely a phenomenon produced by an excessive concentration of divine essence.
Ignoring the golden river that seemed poised to fly away from the square, the middle-aged man waved his hand again. The divine essence separated from the flying dragon and slowly gathered together.
Large amounts of residue fell away from the medicinal river as its volume steadily condensed, leaving only a little golden dragon formed from divine essence.
Its lively, endearingly innocent little eyes looked around, as though it had come alive, brimming with vitality.
A little golden dragon condensed entirely from divine essence was immeasurably precious. Using it for a baptism would rival even the resources lavished on the geniuses carefully nurtured by the Martial King Manor!
After all, it was formed from so much leftover medicinal liquid. The children who had jumped out early had barely used any, leaving even more in their cauldrons.
"You're getting quite a bargain, kid."
As soon as he finished speaking, the middle-aged man pointed his right hand at Shi Qingyun's great cauldron. As though receiving an order, the little golden dragon carried all the medicinal liquid into it like a swallow returning to its nest.
In an instant, Shi Qingyun's great cauldron was filled with medicinal liquid again. Vitality flooded back into it, and the divine essence it now contained far surpassed that of the original cauldronful.
In his slumber, Shi Qingyun felt wonderfully soothing streams flow into his parched body.
Every pore in his body greedily drew in the rich divine essence.
The vortices of vital essence swirling around him dispersed.
Shi Qingyun's pores began another round of swallowing like a whale and drinking like an ox, and his tightly knitted brows relaxed.
Although it still hurt terribly, after enduring it for so long, Shi Qingyun could already bear the pain.
Pitch-black blood, accompanied by tiny, translucent fragments of bone, was expelled through Shi Qingyun's pores.
His hair fell out, only for new hair to grow immediately in its place, a faint golden radiance shimmering over it.
His nails fell off even faster, replaced by harder, sharper nails whose cold gleam resembled metal.
The various impurities shed from Shi Qingyun's body slowly piled up around him.
A lengthy transformation began. Everyone else had long since left the square, leaving only the middle-aged man and Shi Qingyun.
Silence settled over the square, broken only by the heartbeat that occasionally echoed from within the great cauldron.
The sun set in the west and rose again in the east. A day passed just like that.
Finally, that morning, waves of force far more intense than before surged from Shi Qingyun's great cauldron, striking its walls and producing a series of dull booms.
The runes on its surface flickered with light, as though buffeted by those rapid waves.
The middle-aged man, who had been sitting cross-legged below the cauldron practicing his breathing, sensed the disturbance as well. He immediately rose and approached Shi Qingyun's cauldron, knowing that he was about to awaken.
Inside the great cauldron, those waves emanated from a cocoon interwoven with gold and blood-red.
The cocoon was formed from the tainted blood, bone fragments, and medicinal residue Shi Qingyun had expelled.
Suddenly, a cracking sound rang out. The dark cocoon slowly split apart, revealing Shi Qingyun sitting cross-legged within.
Shi Qingyun's black hair now hung down on either side. He was much taller than his former tiny self and looked like a young boy now. His long, thick brows resembled two crescent moons suspended upon his face, while his straight nose lent him an air of unveiled sharpness.
Only a trace of baby fat remaining on his face revealed a hint of cuteness.
His muscles had smooth lines, their faint contours barely visible, as though they contained boundless strength. His skin was fair and smooth, as delicate as mutton-fat jade.
He looked every bit a graceful, handsome young boy.
Shi Qingyun slowly opened his eyes. His large, dark eyes, bright as stars in the night sky, surveyed his body.
He slowly stood and gave a slight shudder, shaking off all the impurities clinging to him.
With a small leap, he jumped from the great cauldron to the ground. Rather than immediately acknowledge the white-robed middle-aged man watching him from the side, he darted to his clothes in a flash, picked them up, and was about to put them on.
Only then did he discover that his old clothes no longer fit. Watching from the side, the middle-aged man gazed at the boy before him, who looked like an immortal descended to the mortal world.
He was marveling at Shi Qingyun's speed-he had reached his clothes in the blink of an eye-and could not help being moved. He then compared him to his own state just after completing his baptism.
He could not help lamenting that the gulf between people was truly enormous!
Seeing Shi Qingyun stop what he was doing, he naturally recognized his predicament at a glance. He extended his right hand, and a set of clothes appeared in it, which he tossed to Shi Qingyun.
"I bought these years ago while traveling to gain experience. I kept them as a memento. Make do with them for now!"
Shi Qingyun was not one to fuss or act shy. He thanked the middle-aged man and put them on.
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Chapter 11: Thirty Thousand Jin
As it turned out, they fit quite well. The white clothes accentuated Shi Qingyun's tall, slender figure.
Shi Qingyun quickly dressed, only then letting out a sigh of relief. Being stark naked under someone else's gaze was still terribly embarrassing.
After all, mentally he was a nineteen-year-old young man. Wandering around naked while someone stared straight at him was bound to make him feel embarrassed!
Shi Qingyun bowed slightly to the middle-aged man, clasped his hands, and said:
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