Transformation.

"What is that smell?" A familiar voice echoed through the apartment and Oz blinked the grogginess from his eyes.

'Where am I?' Oz thought to himself as his vision cleared. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he must of exhausted himself from the combination of cultivating and the body tempering tonic.

The first thing to hit him was the smell. It smelled like decaying and rotting flesh that had been heated up.

A gruesome description, but it was the only way Oz could think of how to describe it.

"Ugh!" Bile rose in Oz's throat as he pulled himself up and out of the now thickened black bathwater.

'Just how much impurities came out of me anyway?!' Oz thought dumfounded. 'And this is only the first time, there should be around another 2 stages of excretion through body tempering.'

"Hey! Are you ok, Oz? Did something die in there?" He heard Quinn shout from outside the bathroom door.

"I'm fine!" Oz shouted back but when he reached down to pull the plug from the bath, another wave of the putrid smell hit him and he rushed to vomit into the toilet.

He opened the window and stuck his head outside, the cool air feeling heavenly as it washed over his clammy skin.

Well that was disgusting.

He had read that the impurities that came from the bodies weren't the nicest in terms of smell, but this was on a whole other level.

At least he knew it would be a while before he could get his hands on another body tempering tonic. Perhaps by then he could figure out a way to deal with the smell.

After quickly rinsing the bath down and himself, he pulled on a robe and left the bathroom.

"God, what did you eat? Did you completely destroy the toilet or-" Quinn fell silent as he looked up at Oz from the sofa, his blue eyes going wide in surprise.

"It wasn't the toilet," Oz said and then explained. "I luckily was able to acquire a body reforming tonic and had some impurities get expelled."

"What?!" Quinn asked loudly, his shock growing as he jumped up and quickly approached Oz. "How many tonic baths have you had?" He grabbed Oz's head and turned it this way and that, examining Oz's face as if it was the most fascinating thing he's seen.

"It was my first one." Oz answered and then pulled his head away. "What are you doing anyway?"

"That was your first tonic bath?!" Quinn's face looked like he had just been slapped and Oz began to feel a little uncomfortable. "I've had 5 tonic baths and I still haven't reached the first stage of impurity expulsion!"

"Ah… is that so." Oz laughed sheepishly and scratched his chin. He knew that his body tempering was happening at a fast rate, but he didn't know it was to this extent.

Maybe he shouldn't have said anything.

"Just what on earth…" Quinn had a blank look on his face as he stared at Oz.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Oz began to squirm under his brothers stare. "Did I not wash off some of the black stuff?" He lifted his arm to sniff his skin but all he could smell was his body wash.

Quinn said nothing as he grabbed Oz's arm and dragged him back into the bathroom, pushing him to stand back in front of the mirror he was looking into earlier.

"What are you doing?" Oz grumbled but when he caught sight of his reflection, he felt as if he was struck by lightning.

Huh?

He took a step closer to the mirror, placing a hand on its cool surface as he leaned forward.

Was this really him?

His skin, that was formally covered in freckles and small scattered scars was now clear and smooth. His eyes that were heavy with dark circles from the nights spent cultivating and studying were now gone.

But what was the most surprising was the eyes itself.

They had always been blue in colour but now they were almost glowing from being so bright and clear.

Even his hair seemed a little thicker and shinier.

"Is this really me?" Oz asked more to himself as he re-examined his body. It seemed that even if he chose not to say anything to Quinn, he wouldn't of been able to hide his new, fresh appearance.

"I think I'm going to need an explanation for this, Oz." Quinn said and Oz shivered at his big brothers tone. "I know when your hiding something from me, so there's no point in lying."

Oz began to sweat as he tried to decide wether to tell his brother about the demonic breathing technique or not.

Just as he opened his mouth, the front door swung open followed by Xiao's singsong voice.

"Darling, I'm home!"