Chapter 8: Qi and Blood Fulfilled, Mortal Transformation

"I know, Ma Cai told me." Chen Mo did not deny this.

"What are your plans?" He Maguan looked toward Chen Mo.

Although a month or so of time was not enough to see through a person, it was enough to see a few clues.

Chen Mo was different from the other soldiers who just went with the flow; he had more ideas about how to do things, and his mind was more agile.

Furthermore, he followed the rules, knew his place, was diligent and quick with his hands and feet, and was a reliable person.

He had been watching this all this time and keeping it in his heart; he could be said to be quite satisfied with Chen Mo.

It could be said that apart from being able to eat and being a bit greedy, Chen Mo had no faults.

"No particular thoughts, I'll go try it when the time comes; it's not like I'll lose anything." In reality, it wasn't just Chen Mo; most of the soldiers in the camp had this same idea.

Regardless of whether it works out or not, it's no loss to go and try anyway.

"Then if you aren't selected, how about coming back to continue feeding the horses for me?" He Maguan asked as if it were just a casual question.

Chen Mo didn't think much of it either, and replied with a smile, "Then I'll definitely come back to feed the horses for you, old man; otherwise, what else could I go do?"

"Fine, go eat." He Maguan nodded lightly, watching Chen Mo's figure disappear into the room.

He was already old, having spent his whole life in the army, and with no wife or children, he needed an apprentice to pass on his skills and help him in his old age and bury him.

Originally, he had intended to let Ding Bao do it, but Ding Bao's previous act of colluding with Ma Cai to secretly sell horse manure behind his back had disappointed him too much, which was why he had the thought of changing people.

And looking at it now, Chen Mo was quite good, it was just that he still needed to be tempered further; at the very least, he had to know his character.

In a month or so, he could only know the person and their face, but it was very hard to know their heart.

Chen Mo sat back down at the dining table in front of the shed, laid out the remaining twenty-four wen, and counted out eight wen for each of the two of them.

While the money divided each day was not much, it was a fairly considerable sum when accumulated over time.

Having eaten for nearly a month, the radishes from the Commandant's field were finally eaten clean, so today they were eating potatoes stewed with cabbage.

Although there wasn't a drop of oil, the saltiness was sufficient.

Even if the food in front of him was hard to swallow, Chen Mo still ate very quickly; so what if it tasted bad? It was still much better than when he was a disaster refugee.

In the evening, he slowly ate the remaining steamed bun as a late-night snack, and when adding night feed for the horses, he found an opportunity to steal a pear to eat.

In order to accumulate more Qi and Blood, he never let go of any opportunity to eat an extra mouthful of food.

For every day that followed, Chen Mo went through more or less the same repetition: delivering manure for money, finding opportunities to steal horse feed, and going to the market to get some meat to eat.

Resting at home meant steaming buns to feed the horses fine grain and finding opportunities to steal horse feed.

Until five days before the day to start recruiting Personal Soldiers, the Transformation Pearl finally accumulated enough Qi and Blood!

Chen Mo carefully sensed the Transformation Pearl in his abdomen; it had become entirely blood-red, filled with the power of Qi and Blood inside.

Putting away the six steamed buns he hadn't finished eating, Chen Mo was in no rush to immediately undergo the Mortal Transformation.

He was not sure what would happen during the Mortal Transformation; if there were a major change, his own abnormalities would inevitably be noticed by others, and that was not a good thing.

Better to wait until the night when everything was quiet and secretly find an opportunity to undergo the Mortal Transformation.

Pouring the other cooled steamed buns into the cart for feed, Chen Mo pushed the cart into the Stable.

Seeing him come, the horses couldn't help but snort happily.

After pouring the steamed buns for these horses and tidying up the Stable and the shed, he did some odd jobs.

When it was time for meals, he picked up the wooden basin used for serving vegetables and headed toward the kitchen.

Today the kitchen had rarely improved the food, eating cabbage stewed with tofu; the taste was much better than cabbage and potatoes stewed in clear water.

Chen Mo finished getting the food and walked back to the side of the Stable, and Ma Cai and the other had just returned from delivering manure.

"Yo, eating tofu today!" Ding Bao was quite surprised; even though he had been a soldier for several years, the number of times he had eaten tofu in the military camp when it wasn't a festival or holiday could be counted on one's fingers.

The food was good today, and everyone was in quite a good mood.

"Brother Mo, I see the bathhouse at the market has opened; let's look for a chance to go wash up later." After eating, Ding Bao suggested.

When it was warm a while ago, they could use water heated at noon for washing and bathing, but in the last month, the weather started to get cold, and they hadn't bathed since.

"Don't go; in a few more days it will be the day for General Sun to recruit Personal Soldiers. If you go wash, you'll soften your body up." Ma Cai spoke up to stop him.

Although he didn't know the specific conditions for recruiting Personal Soldiers, he put ten thousand parts of his heart into this matter, striving to be able to pass the selection and become a Personal Soldier.

Although he had connections at home, these connections could only be used if he himself was capable; if he wasn't capable, then he would have nothing.

"Let's wait a few more days; it's only a matter of these few days anyway." Chen Mo agreed with a smile.

After finishing the meal, they washed their hands and feet with cold water, and each returned to their rooms to rest.

When it was late at night, although Chen Mo was incomparably sleepy, he gritted his teeth and got up from the bed.

There was also a curfew in the military camp; once the curfew time arrived, except for the sentries on duty at night, everyone had to stay in their own barracks, even if they had to take a dump or pee, they had to resolve it inside the barracks.

The Stable was in a remote location, and in order not to disturb the warhorses, there were few sentries patrolling, so he could take advantage of the night to find a secluded place and complete the Mortal Transformation.

Chen Mo quietly slipped out of the room door and came to the hay pile next to the Stable, which was piled high with stacks of coarse hay that the warhorses usually ate.

Finding a blind spot where it was impossible to be discovered by sentries, Chen Mo lay down inside, closed his eyes slightly, and looked inward at the Transformation Pearl in his abdomen.

The originally transparent and colorless Transformation Pearl was now entirely crimson.

"Mortal Transformation." With a thought from Chen Mo, the Qi and Blood accumulated within the Transformation Pearl erupted completely, continuously surging out from his abdomen and flowing toward his limbs, bones, and flesh.

The scorching and restless Qi and Blood surged within his body, elevating and strengthening his flesh, bones, and tendons, causing them to undergo a Mortal Transformation.

Wave after wave of Qi and Blood continuously surged from his abdomen into every part of his body, and he could perceive his own changes extremely clearly.

The muscles that had become slightly tough due to long-term labor were now becoming soft and resilient.

Chen Mo knew that the reason his muscles had been tense for a long time was because they hadn't received sufficient rest and had developed inflammation; now that this inflammation had disappeared, the muscles were becoming full of vitality again.

It seems that the Mortal Transformation can not only increase one's own strength, but if one has injuries, it seems they can also be healed in this way.

The process of the Mortal Transformation was not long; the Qi and Blood within the Transformation Pearl were gradually consumed, and to undergo the Mortal Transformation again, one must accumulate more Qi and Blood.

Every Mortal Transformation was more difficult than the last, because every time a transformation was performed, one would become stronger.

The transformation ended, and immediately afterward, a wave of hunger struck; Chen Mo took out the steamed bun he carried with him and swallowed it clean in just two or three bites.

The sensation of hunger in his belly was finally slightly relieved.

He now felt his entire body light and comfortable, with his flesh, blood, sinews, and bones clearly stronger than before by more than just a notch.

As for exactly how much his strength had increased, he had no conditions to test it right now and could only look into it later.

Rising to walk out of the straw pile, Chen Mo's expression changed abruptly.

(End of this chapter)