12 Jade Primal Dragon Body - Phoenix Rebirth Phase

As the potion suddenly entered all his veins simultaneously, Min Hong instantly came to the clearest conclusion he had ever arrived at in life.

Unfortunately for him, the potion had already entered his veins and all they needed to do was follow the path to wherever they were needed; an action that was fully backed by his frightened heart which fiercely thumped and pumped the potion, ensuring that they reached their destination without fail.

Min Hong experienced hell multiplied by hell and raised to the power of hell. The potions were moving at a snail's pace and they seemed to be layering over every inch of the roadmap.

He was experiencing so much pain that his brain had to shut down every other functions to deal with it, and thus, Min Hong was rendered completely immobile, unable to even open his mouth to yell, talk less of escape his predicament.

Upon exiting his veins, the potion then began to spread across his muscles, bathing them in its terror as Min Hong's tender muscles began to harden like overboiled meat.

Following the same pattern, they slowly arrived at the tendons which held his bones together, and at this point Min Hong felt like all his joint were being flayed and then rejoined and then flayed once again, until the process seemed to replay itself a million and one times to his mind.

However, when these slurry of terror arrive at his bones, they entertained Min Hong with a completely different sensation and genre of horror.

Min Hong felt as if his bones were candles which were being impaled by billions of hair-sized red hot pins.

For another five minutes which felt like eons to Min Hong, the potion encased his bones within themselves, before finally seeping through and entering his marrows where they encountered his tissue fats.

When tissue fats overlap over each other for a long time and harden, they form cartilages, which in turn overlap over each other and harden over time to form new bones.

This potion however, paid these tissues no respect whatsoever and grilled them to the best of its abilities; smoothening them like a cloth being steam-ironed at a laundromat.

After leaving the tissues smooth, neat and tidy, the potion proceeded to its next stop; the hollow marrows of Min Hong's bones where they diffused and mixed into his bloodstream. However, this wasn't what brought Min Hong pain.

Blood flows in every organ of the body, and this boiling acid of a potion left no organ untouched; in fact, it touched them all over. His lungs, brain, kidneys, intestines and even his little jewels didn't seem to be spared.

Min Hong felt like he had acid for blood, igniting coals for organs, burning firewood for bones, hot metal sheets for flesh and finally was almost breathing fire. No wonder there was a 'Phoenix' in the potion's name and 'Dragon' in the technique's name.

Agony? Throes? Trauma? Anguish? Torment? None of these words could describe what Min Hong was going through; even if they were piled on top of the other and multiplied by the factor of grief, it still won't do him justice.

The potions however could care less about what he was feeling and simply flushed over to their final destination; his spine!

The spine was where all the blood cells were being produced and the potion spared not even a single one of them.

Min Hong entered a state of semi-death. His consciousness had been tugged back and forth the line separating life and death so much that his consciousness reflexively suspended itself in the limbo that existed in-between.

No wonder there was a 'Rebirth' in the potion's name; he had truly died and resurrected thrice in just the space of three hours.

Within these three hours, the water had changed from lava red, to transparent, and was now pitch black.

In fact, when Min Hong finally woke up and saw what he was now submerged in, he couldn't classify it as potion or water anymore.

It was like a pitch black slurry liquid, almost like unprocessed crude oil or tar.

Mrs. Min and Qing rushed into Min Hong's bath with their noses wrapped in thick clothing.

However, when they saw what had caused their entire estate to stink like they were rearing diarrheic skunks, they froze in shock.

Min Hong who was now covered in black, smelly and oily liquid slowly rose to his feet and revealed a toothy smile.

The sheer contrast between his pitch-black slimy body and his white teeth and eyes created a sight so eerie that Qing had no choice but to exit the room in fright.

'What exactly has this boy done?' Mrs. Min marveled to herself with a disturbed expression.

"Mom, I'm truly sorry... I nev-"

Min Hong wanted to apologize but his mother simply waved it off before beckoning him to step out of the barrel.

Then she looked over to Qing;

"...?"

Looking back at the asura that just emerged from the worst valleys of hell, she muffled and beckoned at him.

"Hmm Mm Hmm Mm!"

Out of fear of inhaling the putrid odor, Mrs. Min didn't dare speak or even breathe, and was already turning blue as veins began to bulge all over her temple.

Seeing this, Min Hong replied that he clearly understood her intentions and instructions, and it was to dispose the entire barrel and clean up the entire room. Upon realizing that he got the message, Mrs. Min fled the room like a headless chicken.

Min Hong had to bathe thrice, before he could finally scrub off every last one of the black putrid oily slurries on his body.

Upon scrubbing himself clean, Qing rushed in with her eyes closed before bathing the entire room and Min Hong himself with several splashes of perfume oil, and then left him in his room to dress up.

Upon dressing up completely, Min Hong stood in front of a mirror and scrutinized himself, looking to spot any changes; and he had to say, a lot had indeed happened.

His silky black hair now had a purple undercurrent to it as well as two lines of gold running down both sides of his temples, before cascading over his shoulders with the rest.

His skin which previously looked pale and sickly, now looked less pale whilst emitting some sort of metallic sheen. According to the Jade Primal Dragon Body, this was the Metal Skin of the Skin Refining Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

It was common knowledge that the Body Tempering Stage had nine levels, and that one's appearance upon completing the ninth level would be the determined by and simultaneously be the determinant of several factors.

Firstly, one's appearance would be determined by the Tier and Rank of technique and materials one used to cultivate through the body tempering stage, as well as one's innate body talents like Spirit Bone and Bloodline Essence.

These ranks were in the order: Metallic Body, Bronze Body, Silver Body, Gold Body & Diamond Body.

Normally, Min Hong's skin type wasn't supposed to be this pronounced, but the fact it was already so obvious despite having yet to truly begin tempering his body spoke volumes about the amount of potential the technique could excavate out of his body upon completing his body tempering.

The next change he noticed was the fact that he now stood a head under 6 feet in height, and the fact that his entire body was now toned up with firmer and tighter muscle mass.

While his skin felt thin and extremely resistant; his muscles and bones on the other hand, felt extremely dense and as light as feathers.

Every single one of his organs, including his brain, felt as thick as his muscles before he underwent the tempering process. His heartbeat fiercely, pumping his blood at a burst that was at least three times its previous speed.

His blood flooded through his veins and arteries like a water through a hose connected to a highly pressurized pump.

He balled his hand into a fist and could feel that this fist of his should at least contain a power equivalent of five hundred kilos, and he had yet to step into the Body Tempering stage.

Throwing out a punch for confirmation:

BOOM!

A booming noise reverberated, as a tyrannical energy simultaneously exploded out his entire body and fist, shaking the room into smoke and dust, with invisible waves of energy that rippled out of the room.

As the smoke and dust slowly cleared, it exposed a tranquil and refined Min Hong; his eyes filled with excitement. He could sense a bubbling emotion erupting out of his gut and getting amplified by his chest prompting him to lift his head up and scream into the heavens.

Kree!

The activity from Min Hong's room and the cry that followed straight after caused the entire Family Estate to be disturbed, and everyone rushed over.

Seeing his mother rushing over, Min Hong hastily blurted from afar:

"Mom, today is the day that all Grand Family heirs can enter the tribe library to study, I have to hurry over."

After saying this, Min Hong left behind a group of dumbstruck family members and a pile of destroyed ruins, as he bolted towards the middle of the town and the core center of the Desert Flame Tribe.

The Tribe Library only opens its doors for one day every month for all the family heirs of the tribe.

In the morning, they would practice the four scholarly arts: Calligraphy, Painting, Poetry and Strategy. In the afternoon however, they would be allowed into the tribe's martial skill depository where the tribe's battle and cultivation techniques are stored, free of charge.

The previous openings of this library had previously held no meaning to Min Hong; after all, even if he attended, he would just be the object of ridicule for everyone there. But now that such a thing was now in the past, he no longer had any reservations towards it.

The current Min Hong could let out a very simple punch, and it would prompt an audible rebound in the air, with so much generated force that it would shatter a vase two meters away. Essentially, it was like his whole body was brimming with strength.

His goal in heading over to the tribe library this time was to enter the martial arts depository. Now that he had energy brimming within his body, he needed a way to perfectly and efficiently make use of every single ounce of power his body could generate.

What he needed were the tribe's battle techniques; mostly bought from other towns and even cities or created by some of their extremely powerful seniors. 

Battle Techniques were extremely terrifying. They could allow a martial artist to release an extremely formidable amount of power that was several times stronger than their ordinary strength. It was impossible to be courageous in front of them.

Therefore, each Battle Technique [or Martial Skill] was extremely important to a martial artist. Now that Min Hong had spiritual energy capable of training in Martial Skills, he was itching to obtain one.

The tribe library spanned about ten kilometers in all directions, and other than the town hall and the tribe leader's estate, it was the grandest and most imposing building in the entire Desert Flame Tribe.

Upon arriving at the library, Min Hong was allowed entry since his family's identification plaque was the most innovative and unique. It was a blood-red wooden plaque that hung shortly off their waist.

Entering the library, Min Hong went straight to the literature hall. That was where the morning lecture took place and where the heirs would listen to the studies of the Dao from lecturers talking about everything and anything, from etiquette to poetry, and even ancient theories of literature.

Entering the literature hall, Min Hong realized he was a little early, and as a result, there was only a handful of people around.

"Haha, brother Hong, you came."

Min Hong had barely had a look around when several youths came over and cordially greeted him.

These youths were similar to Min Hong; for various reasons, they also had a problem cultivating, and though they couldn't be considered the best of friends, they were still fellow sufferers who empathized with each other.

In this golden age of martial arts of the Desert Flame Tribe; while these youths might not have been bullied in such a miserable way like Min Hong, but they were also frequently sneered at and suffered from cold and indifferent treatment.

Thus, it was no surprise that people who suffered from similar torments would end up banding to form a clique.