Chapter 257: Peak of qi general

Li Meng was experiencing an immense amount of pain. Metamorphosis, as one knows, was never an easy process to go through. The reason being is the fact that each time you undergo metamorphosis, you are breaking your body to absolutely nothing before building it back-up. 

His bones were reforged multiple times due to the arts which he practised. Hell-forger art was being practiced by him till the Qi master realm. Each time a bone reforging takes place, they are pasted into a muddle and built back, strengthened. The problem with a process like that was that the next reforging was not only going to take more effort but also the pain experienced is higher.

Metamorphosis, on the other hand, would result in an entirely different kind of transformation. Each component of the body would be converted into a whole new form. The process starts with the reforging of the bone frames. Unlike reforging, the bones would be reduced to nothing but a muddle. A huge amount of Qi and blood essence would be ingested to refine the muddle off impurities.

The next part was reforming the muddle into a bone frame. One by one the bones became visible, larger and stronger than before. An unaccountable number of symbols were engraved on the bone frame, radiating a mysterious aura out of them. When the bone frame finally took form, the symbols rearranged themselves and the bone seemed to have been engraved with gold.

The next phase was the refining of blood vessels and Qi channels. The problem with such a transformation was the amount of time required to carry it out. The very objective of metamorphosis was to bring a huge qualitative change to the whole body, turning its brand new. 

The requirement to carry out such a transformation was a huge amount of natural Qi. Every body transformation technique required a huge load of natural resources such as pills and herbs, Qi stones, natural Qi etc. This metamorphosis uses natural Qi and is hence quite slow in comparison to other phenomena. The only reason Li Meng can carry it out so fast was the formation laid down within the artifact.

The blood vessels were torn out first. Each tear felt like a hit from a whip. After the first set of tears was complete, the blood contained within them dyed the inside walls of Li Meng's body red. Once could easily see a strange tomato colour appearing all over his body. The blood vessels were then refined by the use of fire energy.

"Put in more fire stones." The keeper poured a huge amount of fire stones into the formation. The energy required for refinement was quite large.

The refinement was carried out, and loads of waste ejected from the blood vessels. Another set of symbols began to appear on the refined blood vessels. Once the blood flow circuits were established properly, the Qi meridians were next to go. A similar process took place, and another load of filth was excreted out of Li Meng's body.

The second stage was complete. The last stage was the refinement of flesh and skin.

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"This is going to take a lot of time."

"Another particular reason behind such an assumption." The Pill Hall master asked.

"He has used a tremendous amount of blood which originated from a variety of beasts. I am still in awe of the person who invented Blood Tempering arts. He formulated a way to temper and transform the blood of a being to an even higher state with the help of foreign blood."

"The only problem is the various components which get intermixed while practicing with the blood of these beasts. Initial stages are quite easy to cleanse, but as the beast becomes more and more powerful, the refinement was going to take more and more time."

"I also have doubts regarding the Tempering altar from Heaven Cleaver sect. How did they manage to come up with the theory to give an inheritor a whole pool of blood essence? Technically a person would be able to go through at most three temperings, but it is a simple treasure for someone like Long Tao. We need to inspect the history of that force."

"There is a lot of mystery in this world, and only when this boy reaches a certain level of strength could we possibly look into them. The speed with which he is growing is incredible, but fate is bound to play games with even the most talented ones." The Keeper looked at the Pill Hall master with a serious glance.

"Threatening me with that look is not going to help. You have to tell him the truth someday. He is got to know his real origins and the force which birthed a monster such as him."

"That would only apply a lot of pressure on this child. He's not ready yet."

"You do understand that he is the inheritor of that person. There must be a trigger in his body, fragments of memory which wouldn't remain locked for much longer. You will have to let the cat out of the bag."

"The baseline of me even considering letting out the secret is that he can connect with the Chaos realm. His father managed to do it, and so will he. What I see in front of me is someone who has the potential to become the strongest being with the worlds. IF he succeeds in his venture, he will be the only person in the whole world to have connected with more than two Chaos laws."

"If only that was so easy." The Pill Hall master sighed.

"There is a reason behind my confidence in him. He will succeed. Just imagine a person who could connect with 9 chaos laws." Just what sort of power would it bring to him."

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The flesh tempering soon ended with Li Meng's body undergoing multiple expansions and contractions. The last part was the outermost layer. It required a tremendous amount of fire energy to refine the outer layer of the body. 

The symbols within Li Meng's body shone within a bright light, as the fire energy around him began to form into a ball. A furnace was being created to refine the skin. The ball finally formulated, and Li Meng's skin began to charr due to the destructive fire energy.

Multiple layers of skin were being charred into ashes and reformulated. After a series of refinements, a glistening cover appeared on his flesh, full of golden symbols. This was the first time these symbols came into being. The appearance of these symbols marked the end of the Metamorphosis process.

After a short cooldown period, Li meng opened his eyes and began to check his newly formed body out. He could feel an immense increase in power and be confident to go against an intermediate level Qi king solely based on his body.

When he finally cleaned himself up, he could feel that his Qi cultivation level had upgraded. Only a single level of Hell-spawn sutra remained. He sat down to practice it and the speed amazed him. Many hidden deformities were cleansed out by the last metamorphosis, and his cultivation base upgraded in a single day.

"Congratulations on officially stepping into the peak of Qi general realm."

Although Li Meng was filled with joy, he couldn't help but turn serious. It was time to break-through the Qi King level.

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Someplace within Thunder Academy-

"Your fifth brother has sent a message. He is finally prepared for his break-through into the Qi King level." The old man spoke up.

Three men were standing just below the pedestal where he was sitting. They nodded in agreement and left to make the final preparation. Invitations were sent out to every major cultivator within the academy. Many powerful eyes now rested on the region where Li Meng was about to break-through.