Transformation Art

"Ah! Husband! I never expected you to really make the breakthrough to the Qi Ocean tier?! This is wonderful! Sob, sob!" Upon receiving Duluo's affirmative reply, Fire Phoenix immediately flung herself into his arms with overwhelming excitement, shedding tears of sheer joy that she simply could not hold back!

"You silly girl! My breakthrough to the Qi Ocean tier is a joyous occasion, why are you crying?!" Duluo looked at the tearful little princess, feeling a mix of amusement and helplessness.

"Sob, sob!" Princess Fire Phoenix suddenly blurted out words that nearly made Duluo faint on the spot: "The three of us risked our lives gulping down second-grade spiritual liquid like that, and I honestly thought we would never be able to break through to the Qi Ocean tier ever again!"

"Sigh..." Duluo rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed with deep frustration: "So all those times you said you trusted me, you were just humoring your husband all along?!"

"Hee hee! I searched through countless ancient texts in the imperial palace, and I never found any mention of a postnatal profound Yang physique. It would have been stranger if I hadn't doubted it! Willing to take a gamble with you meant I was already fully prepared to suffer the consequences together!" Fire Phoenix continued with remarks that left Duluo completely speechless.

Looking at this lovely little princess with a mixture of profound warmth and utter resignation, Duluo truly had no idea what to say to her anymore!

"Never mind! I've just broken through to the Qi Ocean tier, and I need to carefully examine all the changes in my body. The two of you wait a moment longer!" After giving these instructions, Duluo resumed his cross-legged posture and began observing the various changes within his body.

Inside his dantian space, a strand of golden liquid energy was rotating slowly. Right in the center of this liquid energy, the Qi fire enveloping the Fire Cloud Cauldron was still burning fiercely.

He could distinctly sense that this Qi fire had become somewhat different from before. Not only had its size decreased slightly, but its color had also changed. Prior to the breakthrough, the Qi fire had been fiery red, but now this mass of Qi fire emitted a faint purple luster, presenting a purplish-red glow!

"Hee hee! You've noticed it too, haven't you?! This is an upgraded Qi fire. Among ordinary martial practitioners of the Qi Dan tier in your world, even if they break through to the Spirit tier, their Qi fire could never advance by a grade!" The fairy spirit's voice rang out abruptly.

"Qi fire even has grades?!" Duluo asked, his face a picture of disbelief.

"Nonsense! According to the conventions of your world, only upon breaking through the Spirit tier and reaching an existence surpassing it does the Qi fire within the body transform into Purple Flame Qi fire!" the fairy spirit chided him with an expression of utter exasperation.

"Th-this... How is this possible?! Why has the Qi fire inside my body advanced into Purple Flame Qi fire when I am only at the initial stage of the Qi Ocean tier?!" Duluo remained full of questions.

"It's very simple! Because the Qi fire in your body was already elevated to the consummate realm back when you were at the Qi Whirlpool tier. Once you broke through the Qi Whirlpool tier and your dantian space underwent a qualitative change, the Qi fire naturally underwent a qualitative transformation alongside it and advanced accordingly. Do you know now why I insisted that you raise your internal Qi fire to the consummate realm during the Qi Whirlpool tier no matter what?!" the fairy spirit replied triumphantly.

"So that's how it is!" Duluo finally realized with sudden enlightenment.

"Hehe, kid! Go ahead and properly experience the terrifying changes this new Qi fire has brought you! After that, I'm going to tell you about another even more shocking matter, you know!" the fairy spirit said with a sly smile.

Without pondering too deeply on what could be even more shocking, Duluo impatiently sank his consciousness into the Fire Cloud Cauldron space. With a single thought, he summoned that cluster of Purple Flame Qi fire inside, and then fetched a piece of inexpensive medicinal herb from nearby, beginning to scorch it with the Qi fire.

Whoosh!

The medicinal herb instantly turned to ashes—evidently the result of excessive temperature. Duluo hurriedly enlarged the Purple Flame Qi fire to lower its temperature, then tossed in another identical medicinal herb. The result remained the same: after lasting merely a fraction longer, this herb once again reduced to ashes!

"Kid! How is it? Can you feel that the power of the Qi fire is many times greater than before?" the fairy spirit teased with a bright smile.

"If... if that's the case, every time the Qi fire in my body advances, won't I have to learn my alchemy skills all over again?" Duluo felt more worry than joy.

"Good heavens?! Countless elixir grandmasters struggle bitterly just to advance their Qi fire, and here you are, worrying about such a low-level problem even after your Qi fire has advanced! No matter how the flame intensity changes, can't you just adjust the techniques you've mastered proportionally? How is that remotely comparable to learning from scratch?!" the fairy spirit cried out angrily and lightly.

"Oh! That's true... By the way, Ling'er, didn't you just say there was something even more shocking to tell me?" Duluo didn't dare argue with this formidable young lady and hastily changed the subject.

"Hee hee! Withdraw your consciousness back into your dantian space and take a look to see what is different about the liquid energy vortex inside your dantian!" The fairy spirit immediately followed his lead and replied with another sly smile.

Although he sensed her smile was far from simple, Duluo didn't dwell on it and directly withdrew his consciousness back into his dantian space, then began carefully examining his liquid energy vortex once more.

He saw that the golden liquid energy was continuing to circulate at a steady rate along the same rotational direction as the former Qi whirlpool. After observing for a long time, he still couldn't tell what was different about it.

Seeming to grow impatient, the fairy spirit spoke up first: "Forget it, forget it! I'll just have to tell you myself! The biggest difference between this liquid energy vortex of yours and that of ordinary people lies in the extra golden energy within it. If you observe closely, you should be able to see tiny golden glimmers flashing amidst the liquid energy!"

"Whoa! There really are golden glimmers flashing! But what is wrong with that?" Duluo exclaimed in surprise, then asked with a puzzled expression.

"To tell you the truth, those golden glimmers inside your body are actually the essence blood energy of Little Gold Scale, not energy that naturally belonged to your body from the start!" The fairy spirit stopped keeping him in suspense and explained directly.

"So that's it! This is the shocking big news you wanted to tell me?! Why don't I feel like it's all that shocking?" Duluo realized.

"Forget it! I won't bicker too much with you today! I'll tell you a heaven-shaking secret instead!" The fairy spirit shook her head. "Actually, Little Gold Scale is no ordinary demonic beast! It belongs to the divine beast clan. For the little fellow to use its own essence blood to acknowledge its master just to communicate with you—you've really struck a massive bargain!"

"A divine beast?!" Duluo asked doubtfully.

"That's right! A demonic beast with a profound Yang physique is a divine beast! Its essence blood not only elevated you to a postnatal profound Yang physique, but it also possesses another earth-shattering function. I wonder if you're interested in hearing about it?" the fairy spirit tempted with a beaming smile.

"Of course I'm interested! Ling'er, tell me, what other earth-shattering function does Little Gold Scale's essence blood possess?" Duluo asked, consumed with curiosity.

"Hee hee, that is, you can borrow its essence blood energy to perform an initial transformation once your strength reaches the Qi Ocean tier!" A sly smile appeared once more on the fairy spirit's face.

"Initial transformation?! What does that mean?" Duluo continued to ask humbly despite his ignorance.

"Divine beast essence blood allows ordinary humans to possess some of the abilities inherent to divine beasts—that is what is known as transformation!" the fairy spirit explained. "And this transformation is divided into stages! The most basic transformation is also called the initial transformation, which requires at least the Qi Ocean tier to execute! Once your strength reaches the Qi Dan tier, you can perform a secondary transformation! And thereafter, upon reaching the strength of the Spirit tier, you will be able to perform the ultimate transformation!"

"Initial transformation, secondary transformation, ultimate transformation?" Duluo muttered to himself.

"Correct! Since you've already attained the strength of the Qi Ocean tier, and your internal Qi fire has also reached the level of Purple Flame Qi fire, I can teach you a set of cultivation techniques to invoke the divine beast essence blood within your body and perform the initial transformation!" The fairy spirit explained with her eyes narrowed slightly.

"There is actually such an unbelievable technique?! How much can one's strength increase after practicing this technique?" Duluo asked excitedly.

"Hee hee! It doesn't increase by all that much. At most, it just lets you fight opponents of a higher tier!" the fairy spirit said with a bright smile.

"Pfft! I can already fight enemies three minor tiers higher than myself right now!" Duluo said, looking slightly disappointed.

"Get lost, you ungrateful wretch! Did you really think you could only fight opponents one minor tier higher after the initial transformation?!" The fairy spirit's voice abruptly rose by several hundred decibels.

"You don't mean to tell me that after the initial transformation, I can fight opponents a whole major tier higher? Meaning that I, at the initial Qi Ocean tier, can go head-to-head with an opponent at the initial Qi Dan tier, without having to rely on weapons like the Scarlet Flame Slash to fight across tiers?!" Duluo guessed, scarcely daring to believe it.

"Nonsense! If it weren't a whole major tier higher, what would be the point of transforming at all?!" the fairy spirit roared in mounting fury.

"Ah! Haha, does Ling'er truly possess such a brilliant technique? Then I really must study it properly!" Chastised by the roar, Duluo instantly changed his tune and smiled.

"Hmph! Since I brought it up, of course I'm going to teach it to you! That way you won't have to rely on weapons like the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles just for a chance to kill any random tier-four demonic beast you happen to encounter! Since you want to learn, I must warn you first: practicing this technique for the very first time will be somewhat painful, and once you start circulating it, you must never stop halfway. Can you manage that?" The fairy spirit feigned casualness, though the hint of a smile at the corners of her eyes betrayed her.

"Are you... certain it's only *somewhat* painful? What happens if I stop halfway?" Duluo asked with some unease.

"Naturally, it will be somewhat more painful. If you stop halfway, in the best case you'll be severely injured, and in the worst case, crippled. In short, it won't kill you!" With a straight face, the fairy spirit continued, "Are you going to learn or not? If not, forget it! If you can't even endure a little pain... are you even a man?!"

The vital blow struck home against Duluo, who had been hesitating slightly. What man likes being told by a pretty young lady that he isn't a man?

"I'll learn! Of course I'll learn! It's just a bit of pain, I'm not afraid!" Duluo shouted through gritted teeth.

"Very good! Ling'er certainly didn't pick the wrong master. Here is the transformation method. Hurry up and learn it, then execute it as soon as possible! Elevating your strength sooner gives us one more layer of security along this journey!" The fairy spirit urged him anxiously. Her hurried demeanor made her look as though she was afraid Duluo might suddenly change his mind, revealing a faint trace of oddness!