Reformation and Rebirth

This time, the trio was in a real pinch. If the Golem exploded, it would take everyone out, along with the cave! Because of this looming threat, the group had to find a way to absorb the Golem's other core. Unfortunately, that white flame radiating from the Golem's body held the strength of at least a High Origin Beast! Just trying to get close would result in severe burns and a melted weapon.

Qing Shan dashed over to Ming Bai, and grabbed the large Warhammer. When it comes to heat resistance, he was way above both of the Girls. No matter how hot the white flame was, it couldn't be nearly as hot as the Primal Flame. Granted, that was just the outside of the Flame. Qing Shan could not even fathom how hot the inside was. For him, this heat was in a barely manageable range.

Qing Shan charged toward the Golem, which seemed like it had attached itself to the floor. It was going to rely on its heat to repel everyone while it waited for its explosion!

"HAAA!"

With a ferocious roar squeezing out of his throat, Qing Shan infused all of his Qi into his Second Meridian, and launched into the air, hammer resting on his shoulder. Qing Shan used his Spring Motion to turn his body around in midair, and planted his feet firmly on the ceiling. Focusing all of his Qi and strength into his legs, with his focus only on the Golem, he did not notice something extraordinary happen within his body.

At that very moment, A small sliver of Qing Shan's lightning Qi escaped from his Spiritual realm and escaped through his legs into the ceiling. This shock gave him and extra-large amount of power on his push off from the ceiling, and made him travel downwards at a speed much more powerful than the force of gravity!

*Bam*

With a loud shockwave that shook the whole room, Qing Shan slammed the slowly melting hunk of steel on a stick into the Golem's upper body. The Golem's body began to crack, and the hollow part of its body cracked under Qing Shan's power. The Golem's core, tainted by fire Qi, was revealed, and Qing Shan quickly absorbed it. He had no choice but to absorb it himself, as the Golem could still explode at any moment that it still had its core.

Along with the Golem, Qing Shan crashed into the floor, before weakly grabbing his locket and vanishing.

At that moment, the beautiful voice of the Garden Keeper echoed throughout the room.

"Where did he…?"

Luckily for her, the two girls where too awestruck by what they had witnessed to pay attention to her words, no matter how beautiful it was.

Just then, Qing Shan reappeared on the floor, all of his injuries gone.

"?"

"Well, well, It seems like they have passed the test. I'll let them rest for now…"

As the voice said these words, everyone's bodies let out all tension, and sank slowly into the ground, as if being carried by the loving embrace of a mother for her children.

When the trio came to, They were in an area that was entirely different from before. It was small, only about ten meters in length in width, with trees and bushes lining the walls, and dirt covering the ground. In the corner of the room was a large maple tree planted in the soil and surrounded by water that was lit up by Qi Crystal. In the center of the tree's trunk, branches warped, making a hollow that revealed a glowing gem.

"I see that you are all awake."

As the beautiful voice traveled through the room, the glowing gem fluctuated with light. It appeared that that gem was where the voice was coming from.

"Congratulations on beating my trial, and getting rid of the soul remnants of those who chased me. Although this was a trial, I also used you to eliminate all remnants of those who thirsted for my wealth in the past. Those souls made up the Golems, and I had to rely on you all to get rid of them because I am not able to. As of now, I am just a spirit fragment, a tiny piece of the original's soul. I am in charge of setting up this trial, and rewarding those who complete it.

"For your rewards, I will give you all one wish as a group, that I can act on if it is in my power to do so. I will also give you fuel to breakthrough your bottlenecks in cultivation and provide you a place to do so. What to you wish for?"

Qian Yong looked at Qing Shan and Ming Bai, and waited until they both nodded back at her.

"We want my brother, Qian Zhen. I know that he is still alive."

'Damn, If only she said money…'

"Very well, That is indeed within my power. I was planning on using him for fertilizer, as payment for waiting one of my sacred fruits, but you are entitled to your reward."

The ground beneath the group rippled, and a Qian Zhen emerged from the ground. He seemed to be eating something?

"Ooh, I'm free! Thanks for the fruits, Pretty Voice Lady!"

"How insolent! You dared to eat even more of my fruits after what got you down there? If only your friends had forgotten about you, then I could make you pay! …Alas, I am a woman of my word. Since your friends have wished for your return, I must grant that unto them.

"Now, I will seclude the three of you that actually passed the trial in areas with dense Qi where you will not be disturbed.

Three smooth stones burst out of the soil and landed gently in each of the three's palms.

"Once you are in your secluded areas, break those stones, and you will be able to gain enough martial comprehension to push you up another cultivation level. Oh, and you, the one called Qing Shan. I have been withholding your breakthrough, which should have started at the end of the trial. As of now there is no danger to you, but do not dare to use that stone until you are completely through with your breakthrough.

"That is all…"

With that, the ground underneath Qian Yong, Ming Bai, and Qing Shan shifted, and the walls parted way for them as they moved in different directions.

Now that Qing Shan's breakthrough was no-longer being halted, he immediately grabbed his locket as soon as he was out of the others' view.

"Why does he keep disappearing?"

Once he was inside of the Primal Pocket Dimension, Qing Shan hurriedly planted himself in-between the Primal orbs of Wind and Fire. He did not dare to sit in the Spring of Time as he did not know what would happen if he tried to alter his body while being healed repeatedly. Something unpredictable like that would not be safe.

Now that he was in the right spot, Qing Shan let go of his hold on the breakthrough and let it run through his body.

In the beginning, the breakthrough felt much like the other ones Qing Shan had gone through. He felt his Major Vessels expand and grow stronger. Unfortunately, this breakthrough would prove to be much harder than that.

Suddenly, Qing Shan felt like some sort of wall inside of his body was torn apart. The 'wall' that was separating Qing Shan's Spiritual System from the rest of his body became much, much weaker. This wall was so weak that something that only had existed in his Spiritual System, His Major Vessels, manifested inside of his physical body. Because they were parts of him that had already existed, and all that had happened was that they had torn through the spiritual barrier that separated Qing Shan's physical and spiritual body, nothing new was formed at this moment. Simply enough, his three major Vessels now existed in both the spiritual and physical layers of his body. These three vessels were like the bridge between both levels of his body. Now, Qing Shan had solid orbs filled with Qi in the locations where his Dantian, Life Root, and Third Eye were. Because the Third Eye overlapped with Qing Shan's brain, his brain had been reshaped around the Third Eye. Although this sounded quite bizarre, and certainly hurt like hell, it was a natural part of breaking through. In fact, nothing had gone out of the ordinary in this breakthrough as of yet.

Breaking into the Origin Realm was the creation of an entirely new body. While those in the Formation Soul Realm contained two levels within their bodies, the Physical and Spiritual levels, the Origin Realm compacted all of this into one form, both physical and spiritual. While the body still looked the same, its inner functions would be completely changed. This is why it was called the Origin Soul realm. Breaking into this realm signaled a new origin for cultivators.

That said, Qing Shan still had a long way to go in his breakthrough. Once his Major Vessels were fully integrated into his body, his Minor Meridians started appearing. These meridians were much smaller than they were in his Spiritual system, but had a similar function. However, the function was not exactly the same. Like before, the Meridians marked out a path for Qi circulation. However, their role in body strengthening was now pretty much obsolete. While this could still be done if the body was formed in a certain way, Qing Shan's Master Liu had told him of a much more complex, yet much more efficient, way to manage Qi in his Physical Body. It was amazing how his Master's teachings would still be helping him even when they were so far away in physical distance.

Now that all of his major Vessels and Minor meridians had appeared, the rest of the remodeling in his body was up to Qing Shan. Just one mistake here, and he could ruin his whole future. They say that the breakthrough into the Origin Realm is one of the most dangerous ones, as nothing really happens naturally. It is up to the cultivator to organize their body the way they see fit. There are many universal teachings that explain the easiest way to fix your body on the breakthrough, and Qing Shan knew that, if he desired, he could easily do that right now. However, Liu Tiansheng had not steered Qing Shan wrong before.

Thus, Qing Shan got to work on the plan that he and his master had created especially for him. If it worked, then Qing Shan's power would increase exponentially in comparison to other people who are just breaking through into the Origin Soul realm. Now, the most troublesome part of the breakthrough was beginning!

To start, Qing Shan enlarged his Second and Third Meridians. In his plan, these two meridians would be much more important than his other meridians. They would just barely be below his Major Vessels in terms of importance! Other than just making these Meridians larger, Qing Shan also gave them a sort of unique shape. He compressed the middle of the orbs so that it looked like two separate spheres with a connector piece. Of course, this shape did not change the function of the Meridians.

Once this was done, Qing Shan got to work on creating a passageway connecting his Meridians and Vessels. He had to be careful to avoid major organs, and not disrupt his bones, nerves, and muscles in the process. Soon, he had a tiny tube, made of Qi and new muscle, that outlined his path of Circulation. With this, he would still be able to circulate Qi, even with a physical body. The hollow muscle lined with Qi created the perfect passageway that was safe from the other elements of Qing Shan's body, and the muscle helped form a Qi Tube that would not be effected by wounds and outside forces.

While this Qi Pathway looked awfully similar to the one in his Spiritual System, there were two small, yet essential, differences. These differences were the parts of the Second and Third Meridians that stuck out of the pathway, and into the rest of Qing Shan's body.

From these two points, at both the groin and neck areas, Qing Shan would have two 'control points' for his upper and lower body. From his Third Meridian, which was placed at his neck, Qing Shan created a new nerve that connected that Meridian to the nerves at the base of his neck. From here, Qing Shan sent Qi along the nerves in his upper body, and fortified them so that they would be able to withstand the power of Qing Shan's Lightning Qi covering them. Qing Shan also created a new nerve and connected his Second Meridian and some meridians at the base of his legs, and did the same to the nerves in his lower body.

After this was done, all Qing Shan could think of was pain. Although he did not know, his body was literally smoking! He had lightning literally running through his veins! However, no matter how much pain he was in, Qing Shan could only smile. He had succeeded in sending Qi all throughout his body!

Now, Qing Shan just made a few finishing touches to his new body. He covered the inside of his skin and around his major organs with Qi, adding another layer of defense. He also connected as many nerves as he could to the inside of his skin, for easier deployment of Qi outside of his body.

With that done, Qing Shan fell to the ground in a heap, exhausted from his breakthrough, which had been completed successfully. Little did Qing Shan know that he now had dull scars running across his entire body in the pattern of lightning where his veins were. However, even if he did know, he wouldn't care. After all, those scars only ran across the veins on the surface of his skin on his torso and legs. His face was fine, and a cool scar was a small price to pay for a lot of power.