In a room that had little to show save for the stone walls lined with flickering formation lights a single figure sat with their body bare, his bronze hair let loose as it cascaded over his shoulders and his eyes shut, sealing those golden pupils from the world, there was utmost silence as his hands crossed one another in a gentle caress and his muscles relaxed while his expression resembled a deep sleep.
The air shifted as it rushed to his mouth and nostrils, it he took a deep breath before exhaling, settling the room before he repeated the process as he adjusted his posture and form.
In seven points around him lights glimmered with a powerful force, brightening the dark room while highlighting his young yet muscular figure, there were seven colours – Red, Yellow, Silver, Blue and Green on the outer circle, while the inner circle contained a brilliant white opposing a darkness that absorbed all other light that encroached on it.
*Clap*
His hands moved as they formed a seal, in the next moment his body seemed to turn transparent resembling a field of stars with lines linking everything together. His hand seal changed as the lines began to shift like plants adjusting their orbit, they crawled down his skin like paint dripping to the floor before they began to shift along the chilled stone floor separating themselves from him.
They shifted and changed, creating something resembling a formation at a glance, yet if any formation master took a glance, they would quickly tell you this wasn't a normal formation- there were no formation symbols, the lines were irregular, there was no source material.
Instead, a biologist might be a better choice, at most they may realise the lines would resemble the vascular system of a human body, yet more extreme.
The boy's eyes opened to a slit as he maintained his concentration like seamstress carefully examining their work mid sow, the brilliant colour of gold that his pupils exuded almost threatened to overcome the seven.
'All this work over the past seven months…' his eyes closed once more as he reined in his thoughts.
'All for this'.
Shu He had worked hard, scraping together every single point he could while getting all the assistance he could ask for and now it paid off, surrounding him were seven crystallised Qi stones of the seven types including the Wood Qi Crystal from Li Liling and the Yin Qi Crystal he had bought of his own efforts earlier on.
It had taken nearly seven months, he had worked himself to the bone through missions both inside and outside the sect, doing favours for people and improving his Alchemy so he could sell pills alongside medication.
He thought that, had he worked any harder, he might have gained a few grey hairs.
Yet now, his efforts had bore fruit; Providing he doesn't fail.
The Nine Heaven's Divine Body method gifted to him by Long Tian was something he hadn't even been able to begin progressing because of the resources required, if he had been a loose cultivator that obtained the technique it would have been much, much longer; Yet he was lucky, he was in one of the five top sects that all sit on valuable resources, all it took was his own hard work to obtain what he needed.
But now, it all was all up to his will, the technique isn't a guarantee, he doesn't just obtain the first level without working, he had to endure the excruciating process of cleansing and reforging his mind, body and soul in order to succeed, lest he need to retry with another set of materials.
He didn't understand quite how hard it would be, yet looking at the lines that surround him, he felt a sense of foreboding, it was like he himself had been unravelled.
He took another cycle of inhaling and exhaling- then he changed his hand seal once more, just has the scripture in his mind instructed him.
The five outer crystals representing the five elements lit up as the Qi inside them began to leak out, steadily infecting and colouring the lines beneath them, then the two inner crystals – yin and yang – began emitting a warmth and chill the encroached upon the entire room ,creating two halves of balance that steadily rotated.
The myriad of colours intersected and merged as they travelled through the lines and in to his body, it was a sight one would describe as stellar, absolutely beautiful, yet Shu He didn't notice it because he was too busy relishing in what he was feeling.
'Amazing…'
He felt like a gentle, clean spring of cold water was rushing through his very existence, slowly chipping away at flaws and impurities in his very self, he had prepared for pain, yet his mind as sublimated to this pleasure.
This was the 'cleaning' portion of the technique, the flaws in his existence were being chipped away one flaw at a time, a process that was reserved for the rarest of mortal treasures was happening to him here and now.
It went on four hours until the colours in the room began to homogenise in to a rainbow of cold and heat, the patterns in the room stopped their waltz and stood at attention, Shu He felt the pleasant sensation in his body recede as he awoke from his sleep.
'It's coming…' He prepared his mind.
And then, in the next instance.
The lines collapsed and shot towards Shu He like meteors towards a sun, in that very instant his voice leaked out as it created a noise resembling the squealing of death itself.
He had expected pain.
But this was beyond that.
Having a limb chopped off, your skin grated and peeled, your vessels plucked, your nails pulled, your organs mushed, your testicles crushed even your eyes pierced – nothing compared to what he felt.
Yet he felt that it was… strangely familiar.
It was a pain that afflicted everything he was, yet he felt like he had experienced something like this before.
Yet he wasn't sane enough to think about where, the only good thing was that this familiarity was what allowed him to maintain a semblance of sanity, a single thread in a hellfire of pain.
And then it was over, almost in the blink of an eye in fact.
His eyes stared at the ceiling as his skin shivered and his muscles spasmed, he struggled again and again to take a breath for minutes before the feeling of sweet oxygen blessing his lungs brought him back to life as he fell slack on his back.
He began to forget the pain, as if his mind was locking it away to forget it, his thoughts slowly began to move like a rusty car as he clenched his fist to reaffirm reality, he then tilted his head, looking at a far wall as his eyes readjusted to reality, he felt…
Odd.
He looked over at his hand as he shifted it, he couldn't quite grasp the movements weirdly, it was like something was different, as if he had been changed, like the wires he had before had been moved.
'So this is how it feels' he thought as he moved his hand and arm around playfully as he began to reacclimate himself, going by what the technique said, his body had been reforged at a fundamental level – it may look similar, but at a fundamental level it was different.
It was clear it would take him some time to get used to moving properly.
He pushed himself up into a sitting position and noticed something immediately.
'It feels easier' He stared at his two hands, he noticed his skin tone was slightly lighter, the faint tan he had retained despite his time shut away was gone entirely, there were also no remnants of blisters, scratches or scars that he had retained since his youth.
It was basically a new body.
"This is amazing…" He almost couldn't believe his eyes, even the best medicinal pills could only repair stuff that was currently injured, repairing old injuries, healing scars, was a much more complicated procedure that included re-damaging the area and didn't necessarily give a perfect result, yet his skin seemed like a new-born, absolutely flawless.
'Those familiar with me might notice… no they definitely will, I'll have to play it off' he thought to himself, he was lucky his tan was negligible and not super noticeable otherwise it would have been much harder for him.
Of course, all of this wasn't the main point of the technique, when he pushed himself up just now, he felt he needed to use a lot less force than before, so much so that he might have even face planted by accident if he was over-eager.
Stronger, more efficient, flawless; That was how he could describe his current form. That isn't to say it was perfect, just that it was a flawless canvas.
He stood up, wobbling slightly as he worked out his balance as he narrowed his eyes, walking up to the wall near that had a mark on it.
'I've grown taller… by about 5 centimetres... then I should be about 166?' he felt pretty good as he nodded to himself, he had been growing slowly but surely over the past year or so, but this was a nice boost to that.
He walked around the room as he adjusted, he gait, getting rid of any awkward swaying and unevenness in his sight as he walked, it didn't take him too long, in the end while his body might have been reforged- it was still his body, it wasn't like it was completely new. That isn't to say he won't need to work on his more extreme movements, fine details matter more there.
He stretched his body out as he observed the muscles that lined his form, they were slimmer, more evenly distributed but contained more power, as he breathed, he felt the air flow through him smoothly, he felt like he was attuned to nature itself, that every movement was meant to be with no resistance.
To put it simply, he felt amazing.
"First Heaven achieved… the benefits seem amazing… I wonder just what the next heaven will grant me, but before I can attempt that I need to reach the eighth stage – Seed Creation" he sighed gently before lightly shaking his head.
"No need to get greedy Shu He, one step at a time" he murmured to himself before he put his clothes on, frowning once more.
"I'm going to need to get these tailored… I'm reaching the size limit…" he began walking out of the room towards the stairs, there wasn't a need to clean the room up after all, each of the seven crystals had been absorbed by him in their entirety.
Yet as soon as he placed his foot on the first step, he felt something envelop him that completely ignored every formation around his housing or the room itself like they never existed.
A chill rose up his spine and penetrated his mind, a screech echoed out as millions of pangs of pain began to assault him causing him to stumble.
"What in the heavens?!"
An unknown attack from an unknown enemy in a place he was thought was completely safe.
He didn't know what to do!