Chapter 62: Metamorphosis

As soon as the pill entered his mouth, Shi Quan felt as if a ball of scorching flame was traveling from his throat all the way to his stomach.

In just three short breaths, Shi Quan's body trembled violently, and then it began to swell in a bizarre fashion; in the blink of an eye, he had turned into an incredibly round, fat man.

In a single, fleeting moment, Shi Quan felt as though he were about to be burst apart by the immense medicinal power contained within the pill.

Once the pill entered his stomach, the terrifying medicinal power within it erupted instantly.

Almost immediately, he lost control over his body. The intense pain brought him to the brink of collapse, and the Internal Energy within his body began to circulate wildly on its own, starting to help him continuously resolve the medicinal power rampaging inside him.

"This feeling is just too painful..." Shi Quan wailed in his heart.

The surging, violent medicinal power felt as if it were constantly crushing and recasting his body. What pained Shi Quan the most was that this medicinal power also enhanced his spirit; his consciousness became unprecedentedly clear at this very moment, which also made him perceive the changes in his body even more vividly.

It was already painful, but instead of just hurting, it amplified the sensation of pain, and it didn't even give him the chance to pass out, forcing him to remain conscious the entire time.

"I shouldn't have written down so many effects..." Shi Quan gritted his teeth and kept persevering.

Time ticked by second by second, and soon a full day had passed.

"Where did this fat man come from?" Dugu Bo, who had descended from the sky, was stunned for a moment. His expression changed abruptly, and with a flash, he appeared before Shi Quan in the blink of an eye.

"This little madman, I told him not to try things randomly, yet he actually dared to eat whatever he found." Dugu Bo saw at a glance that Shi Quan had eaten something to end up like this. Looking at the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo on the ground, his attention naturally fell upon it. With an ugly expression, he grabbed the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo from the ground and hurriedly inspected it. Seeing the hollowed-out Ink Jade Divine Bamboo, Dugu Bo guessed what had happened.

"This broken bamboo can actually be eaten?" With soul power surging, Dugu Bo's fingertips swept across the center of the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo, and the hard Ink Jade Divine Bamboo was split in two directly by him.

Looking at the damp traces still remaining on the inner wall of the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo, Dugu Bo felt even more certain.

"There was actually bamboo sap hidden inside this bamboo. This sap must be the essence of this bamboo. Although it is the essence, whether it can be eaten is a different matter. This little madman actually dared to try it, drinking it directly without even asking?"

Dugu Bo looked at Shi Quan with an expression of admiration. He could feel the immense medicinal power inside Shi Quan's body constantly coursing through him. Based on his own strength, he could tell at a glance that although this medicinal power was surging, it was clearly still within the range of what Shi Quan could withstand. However, just looking at Shi Quan's appearance, he knew the process of absorption was likely not pleasant.

"This kid is crazy enough. If the medicinal power of this bamboo had been any stronger, this kid would likely have been burst to death." Dugu Bo looked at the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo in his hand, his expression filled with a bit of shock and doubt. "But is the medicinal effect of this bamboo really this astonishing? To swell him up like this? This kid didn't eat anything else, did he?"

Thinking this, Dugu Bo hurriedly looked around. He remembered most of the medicinal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and after confirming that no other herbs were missing from the garden besides the bamboo in his hand, Dugu Bo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Almost every herb in this garden could be considered a treasure. Eating one was fine, but if he had eaten two, their medicinal properties could easily conflict. It looked fine now, but it would be easy for aftereffects to appear later.

"I don't know whether to call you courageous or truly insane. You were the one who told me that things turn into their opposites when they reach the extreme. If such strong medicinal power could all be integrated into your body, that would be fine, but if your body cannot withstand it, even if your strength increases, your foundation will be damaged, and the losses will outweigh the gains," Dugu Bo murmured as he looked at Shi Quan.

Dugu Bo could only shake his head and sigh helplessly. Thinking about it, the reason Shi Quan had been able to make it this far seemed to be precisely because of his daring and combative personality.

In fact, ever since Shi Quan had come to see him, Dugu Bo had already secretly investigated all of Shi Quan's information.

Starting with Innate Level 1, first researching a method for the evolution of the Blue Silver Grass martial soul, then relying on his daring and experimental personality to literally test the law with his own body, and then confirming the New Extreme Soul Ring Theory—these were all things ordinary people could hardly imagine.

But Shi Quan had managed to walk this path. Perhaps when Shi Quan asked him for this piece of bamboo, Shi Quan had already prepared himself.

"It is indeed good for a young person to have drive, but being too rigid makes one easy to break. You kid are too reckless," Dugu Bo said, looking at Shi Quan with worry. "I hope everything goes smoothly for you this time."

As his voice fell, Dugu Bo's figure disappeared. Shi Quan's situation certainly wouldn't end in a short time.

Dugu Yan was still waiting above; he had to go up first to explain the situation to her, and then send her back.

As for the poison suppression, that would have to wait until Shi Quan woke up from his cultivation.

For the next few days, Dugu Bo spent most of his time at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He would come down every day to check on Shi Quan's specific condition. Seeing Shi Quan's body, which had been swollen from the medicinal power, gradually shrink, the tense string in Dugu Bo's heart gradually loosened.

"Although this kid is crazy, his luck is also extremely good. He has absorbed so much medicinal power; if this kid wakes up, his strength will definitely skyrocket."

Dugu Bo looked at Shi Quan, who seemed to have been reborn, and a trace of envy could not help but rise in the depths of his eyes.

Originally, Shi Quan's height was only about 1.4 meters, and his cheeks still carried a bit of childishness. In these few short days, Shi Quan's height had surged directly to about 1.7 meters. The childishness on his face had completely faded away, replaced by well-defined, sharp features. He had perfectly inherited his mother's beautiful face, handsome yet not lacking in masculinity. Even while in the midst of cultivation, his whole person exuded a calm and approachable aura.

Looking at Shi Quan now, one could never tell he was just a child who wouldn't turn eleven for another few months.

A full week had passed since Shi Quan used the pill.

With the last trace of medicinal power completely integrated into Shi Quan's body,

Shi Quan finally woke up.

"Mmm~" Shi Quan stretched his arms and stood up slowly as if waking from a long dream. A series of popping sounds from his bones rang out continuously. After stretching his whole body to the limit, Shi Quan let out a long, comfortable groan.

"Refreshing!"

"Refreshing your head! You were lucky this time, kid. If it had been any worse, whether you could still be standing here would be a question!" Dugu Bo's eerie voice rang out beside Shi Quan.

"Grandpa Dugu." Shi Quan gave a sudden start and turned to grin at Dugu Bo. "I can explain."

Dugu Bo glared at Shi Quan and said with a faint smile, "Then I'd better listen carefully to your explanation."

Shi Quan shrank his head; no matter how he looked at Dugu Bo's smile, he felt it was a bit chilling. He hurriedly said, "Grandpa Dugu, you also know that my martial soul evolved gradually through the cultivation method I researched myself, but as I cultivated, I discovered that my martial soul mutation had hit a bottleneck.

I feel it is because of my own talent. Although I improved my martial soul through my own efforts and made up for the gap by absorbing soul rings beyond my level, my foundation has never been as strong as those with higher Innate Soul Power levels.

Later, after coming to your medicinal garden, I sensed that this bamboo seemed to be helpful to my martial soul. It seemed to be able to make up for the problems with my talent, so I took the risk to try it."

"Because of talent?" After hearing Shi Quan's explanation, Dugu Bo nodded, but still said with dissatisfaction, "Could you not have just told Grandpa about this matter directly? What? Were you afraid the old man wouldn't help you?"

Shi Quan hurriedly shook his head. "I was also afraid of troubling you, Grandpa Dugu. I thought it would be best if I could handle my own affairs myself; I didn't want to bother others."

Dugu Bo stepped forward and gave Shi Quan's head a hard pat. "You kid, with what you said, have I, your grandpa, become 'others'? If you have something, just tell your grandpa directly. What are you afraid of bothering me for?"

"I know, I know." Shi Quan covered his head in pain and hurriedly said.

Seeing this, Dugu Bo could not help but shake his head. He could understand the idea of not wanting to trouble others, as he had relied on himself for everything along the way.

In his heart, he could not help but feel a trace of heartache for Shi Quan. He had seen with his own eyes how dangerous the process of Shi Quan absorbing the medicinal power was. If there had been the slightest mistake in his body halfway through and he hadn't held on, then everything would have fallen short of success.

And then there was absorbing soul rings beyond his level; just thinking about it, one knew how dangerous that was, yet Shi Quan had walked through it all.

"If he can successfully continue on this path, his name will surely shake the continent." Thinking this, Dugu Bo asked, "What level is your soul power now? Perhaps because of that bamboo, even I cannot determine your soul power level directly through sensing."

Only then did Shi Quan come back to his senses and begin to sense the changes in his body. It was fine not to sense it, but upon doing so, Shi Quan immediately widened his eyes.

"Thirty... Thirty Levels," Shi Quan said, ecstatic.

Not only had his Internal Energy broken through to the Thirty Levels, but Shi Quan could clearly feel that his entire body was exceptionally unobstructed. All his Extraordinary Meridians had been completely cleared by the medicinal effect of the Ten Complete Great Replenishment Pill.

Shi Quan knew from his Innate Level 1 soul power that his own aptitude was actually not high. Fortunately, with the help of two bottles of Martial Soul Awakening Liquid, his talent had only been raised to Innate Level 4. Later, because of the appearance of the Nine Yin Nine Yang True Scripture, the cultivation technique had smoothed out the problems with his aptitude, allowing his cultivation speed to reach roughly the level of Innate Full Spirit Power.

No matter how strong a cultivation technique is, if one's own aptitude is mediocre, the effect displayed will be unsatisfactory. But now, Shi Quan's aptitude and talent had undergone a complete transformation with the help of this Ten Complete Great Replenishment Pill!