Chapter 160: Successful Transformation

Ah! Oh! ! !

Inside the cave, sounds of agonizing cries echoed continuously. Prominent veins bulged terrifyingly all over Du Long's body, and the intensely painful expression made the two beauties extremely nervous.

Fortunately, Du Long had warned them both before practicing the transformation technique. Although they were very nervous, they did not dare to interrupt his agonizing cultivation.

Are you kidding? If interrupted midway, Du Long could become disabled. With such a serious issue, how could the two of them dare to act recklessly? They could only worry anxiously on the side without even daring to utter a single word, purely out of fear that it would disrupt Du Long's cultivation!

According to the transformation technique taught by the spirit ring beauty, Du Long continuously drew out a massive amount of golden energy from within his body, gathering it onto his arms. As more and more golden energy was injected into his arms, the sensation of pain grew increasingly intense!

It felt as though his arms were being continuously carved with knives, and not just one cut at a time, but as if both arms were being subjected to thousands of cuts simultaneously. That level of pain was simply not something an ordinary person could endure!

Under the teary-eyed gazes of the two beauties, faint golden light began to flash on Du Long's exposed palms. As time passed, this golden light became clearer and more discernible. Finally, golden scales could be seen beginning to grow on his palms, and his fingers transformed as well, turning into golden beast-like claws with sharp talons emerging from them!

Rip!

Because Du Long's arms were also continuously expanding and becoming thicker, they quickly split the sleeves of his garments, exposing the golden scales on his arms!

The entire transformation process did not happen in an instant; instead, it lasted for about ten minutes. For Du Long, every single minute and second was agonizing. Constantly enduring this excruciating pain of a thousand cuts was truly an experience beyond ordinary human endurance.

Despite the severe pain and the inability to stop midway, Du Long could only clench his teeth and endure the torment with all his might. At that moment, he finally understood the meaning of the spirit ring beauty's odd smile when she made him practice the transformation technique, and he had already cursed her ancestors eighteen generations deep in his heart.

To this, the spirit ring beauty did not mind in the least and remained silent. She dared not argue with Du Long at this moment, lest she ruin the whole endeavor. As long as he could pull through, what did it matter if her non-existent ancestors were being insulted?!

Ah! ! !

As time passed, the closer it got to the final moment, the more violent the pain became. Just as Du Long was on the verge of fainting from the agony, the intense pain abruptly subsided. As the person experiencing it, Du Long only felt a wave of relaxation wash over his entire body before finally passing out!

"Husband (Young Master)! Husband (Young Master)!!" Inside the cave, panicked cries rang out from the two beauties as they grabbed Du Long's body and shook him violently.

Cough, cough!

Du Long was quickly shaken awake by them. After coughing violently a few times, he slowly opened his eyes.

"Husband! You're finally awake! You scared us to death just now! Wuwu..." Huofeng cried with her face streaming with tears.

"Hehe, aren't I doing just fine? Stop crying, both of you!" Tear-eyed Du Long hurriedly forced an awkward smile at the two women and comforted them.

"What do you mean you're fine?! What kind of trash cultivation technique are you practicing anyway?! Let's put the excruciating pain aside for a moment, but just look at what your hands have become!" Huofeng grabbed his arms and spoke in a loud, coquettish reproach.

Looking at his thoroughly transformed hands, Du Long was both startled and delighted as he thought, "It seems the initial transformation has finally succeeded!"

"Husband, what is going on here?! Why have you turned into this look?! Will you have to appear before people looking like this from now on?!" Huofeng asked anxiously, pressing for answers.

Her worry was not without reason. Just imagine, if Du Long were to appear before the world in this half-human, half-monster appearance from now on, how would people describe his visage?

"Don't worry! Since I can transform into this, there is naturally a way to change back to my original appearance!" Du Long hurriedly comforted her, while silently shouting to the spirit ring beauty in his mind, "Linger! Is this what you called 'a little bit of pain' during transformation?!"

"Hehee! If I didn't say that, I was afraid you would lose your nerve!" the spirit ring beauty confessed nonchalantly.

"You..." Du Long had clearly never won an argument against this little beauty and could only say helplessly, "If every transformation is going to be this painful and last this long, I'd rather not transform at all!"

"Rest assured! Only the first transformation is this painful. For the second transformation, not only will it be completed much faster, but it won't be nearly as painful!" the spirit ring beauty explained patiently.

"Are you sure? You aren't tricking me this time, are you?" Du Long asked, finding it hard to believe.

"Silly boy! There's no candy for tricking you; wouldn't you know by trying it yourself? Once the first transformation succeeds, there won't be any side effects for future transformations! If you can't bear it, you can just stop midway!" the spirit ring beauty replied dismissively.

Since she had put it that way, Du Long could only sit up with half-doubt. After explaining things to the two women, he immediately took action!

First was to restore his hands to their original appearance—transitioning from the transformed state back to the untransformed state. This process went surprisingly smoothly. In fact, it merely required dispersing the golden energy gathered in his arms and letting it return to various parts of his body!

The arms originally covered in numerous golden scales quickly began to recover their original appearance, and the sharp claws rapidly receded, finally returning to normal human palms!

The entire process was extremely fast and painless. With this good start, Du Long's confidence in the spirit ring beauty was restored, and he quickly decided to transform again!

As the transformation technique was set in motion, a large amount of golden energy rapidly converged toward his arms. Within a few breaths, his arms underwent full transformation at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming rapidly covered in golden scales.

Sure enough, although the second preliminary transformation still carried some pain, it was countless times better than the first, and the speed was much faster!

Opening his eyes, Du Long carefully examined his golden, shining arms. As he flexed his talons, he could feel a terrifying explosive force emanating from his arms, as if he could easily shatter hard stone whenever he pleased.

At this thought, he instantly flashed to the stone wall of the cave and swung his claws directly at the hard rock!

Thud, thud, thud!

With every claw strike, the originally hard stone wall was effortlessly torn apart like tofu. Driven by a surge of excitement, Du Long grabbed a piece of rock in his hand and squeezed it hard, instantly turning the hard stone into stone powder that trickled down through the gaps in his talons.

"Hahaha! This feeling is simply fantastic!" Du Long stared at his golden arms with wild joy and laughed aloud, "Let's go! Let's head outside. I want to test to what extent my blade technique has reached now!"

The moment his voice fell, he was the first to flash past the large lion guarding the cave entrance. With a few bounds, he arrived at an open space outside the cave, flipped his hand to take out the Scarlet Flame Slash, and swung it with all his might toward an open area.

Whoosh...

A ten-meter-long flame blade flashed out like lightning, shooting hundreds of meters away into the distance. Any giant trees blocking the path were sliced clean in half. This single strike instantly created a terrifying path nearly a hundred meters wide and hundreds of meters long!

As the person executing it, Du Long felt the energy inside his Dantian space being drained by nearly twenty percent in an instant. In other words, executing a single flame blade attack consumed almost one-fifth of the total energy within his body!

"Wow!" Princess Huofeng, who rushed out of the cave right after, widened her eyes in astonishment upon seeing such a terrifying sight.

"Young Master! What on earth is this transformation? Why do I feel like your strength is many times greater than before you transformed?" Xia Qinglian also asked out of curiosity.

"Well, about that..." Just as Du Long was hesitating over how to explain the matter, Huofeng immediately acted coquettishly and said, "Husband! I promise I won't tell anyone, not even Father and Mother. Just tell me!"

"Very well! Actually, it's nothing much. About three years ago, I accidentally slipped and fell off a sheer cliff on Lingyun Mountain, where I happened to encounter Little Golden Crystal. At that time, I was severely injured and on the verge of death. Fortunately, Little Golden Crystal used its primal blood to save my life! It was precisely this primal blood that granted me the Acquired Mysterious Yang Constitution, thereby changing my strange constitution which previously prevented me from cultivating," Du Long said with a deep, distant gaze.

"So that's how it is!" Huofeng realized with a sudden understanding. "I never expected Little Golden Crystal to be your savior! But what does your transformation have to do with it?"

"It was precisely this trace of primal blood that laid the foundation for my transformation. Once I broke through to the Qi Sea stage, I became capable of undergoing an initial transformation. The attacking power after transforming reaches the level of the Gang Dan stage," Du Long continued to explain.

"Good heavens! Boosting combat strength by a whole major realm directly?!" Huofeng exclaimed.

"Strictly speaking, only the attacking power has gone up, while the internal energy and movement speed have not increased," Du Long said with a hint of regret. Through his recent tests, he had already learned the detailed specifics after transforming.

"That is already amazing enough, okay?! Husband, I also have the Acquired Mysterious Yang Constitution; I wonder if I can transform?" Huofeng asked enviously, pressing for an answer.

"No! You attained the Acquired Mysterious Yang Constitution by consuming a Foundation Establishment Pill; you lack the primal blood of any divine beast within your body, so naturally you cannot transform," Du Long replied, using the exact words of the spirit ring beauty.

"Oh!" Huofeng pouted her cute little lips and could only reply with a reluctant expression.