Bei Feng felt his nuts beginning to ache as he looked at the silky white dudou in his hands. The dudou was extremely smooth to the touch, and was even emanating a faint white light. A vivid and lifelike Phoenix which was spreading its wings majestically was sewed in the middle.
'Impervious to swords, spears and all kinds of weapons... if I were to wear it under my clothes, perhaps nobody would find out...'
Bei Feng looked around furtively as he considered his options.
After a long mental struggle, he finally put the dudou away with a black face. No matter what, this was still a grade 3 treasure! He couldn't just throw it away because it wasn't suitable for him. That would be wasting a heavenly item!
"Advancement requirements have been met. Advance to level 2 Fisherman?"
The more he listened to the robotic voice of the System, the more Bei Feng felt that it was pleasing to the ears.
'Advance!' Bei Feng yelled in his mind.
"Hong!"
A loud clap of thunder-like boom went off in his head, causing Bei Feng to stand dazedly, his eyes seeing nothing but a patch of white!
The fishing rod in his hands began to transform as it emanated a grayish mist, the mist wrapping around it until not a trace of the rod could be seen!
Another thing that had changed was the Interface in Bei Feng's mind. Right now, the numbers on his stats page were jumping like crazy.
The numbers kept flickering between 1 and 99 in a seemingly random manner!
"Boom!"
Another clap appeared within his mind, and his stats completely... exploded!
Huge volumes of Heaven and Earth Qi surged toward Bei Feng, flooding into his body! But, rather than saying that Bei Feng was absorbing the energy, it was more accurate to say that it was being attracted by the System as fuel for its evolution!
All the Heaven and Earth Qi in radius of a hundred li as well as Ling Qi from the grasses and the trees continued to flow towards Bei Feng like a gushing river! [ED/N: 50 km]
The boundless Ling Qi passed though Bei Feng's body before being absorbed by the System.
An insignificant amount of Ling Qi remained within Bei Feng's body as it passed through it, turning into energy that nourished his body.
This phenomenon lasted for a quarter of an hour before finally dying down. Because the Ling Qi moved silently, nobody was alerted because of this matter.
Mystic Two, Three and the rest felt that they slept especially comfortably this night. As the Ling Qi washed over them, they only felt as if they were soaking in a comfortable hot spring.
The System had absorbed enough energy, and was beginning its advancement.
As for Bei Feng, he seemed to have fallen into a very peculiar state as the stats on the interface turned into nothingness.
"The mixing of Yuan Qi; the threading of divine essence. Assembled it takes form, scattered it becomes but wind. In truth, when mixing Yuan Qi, Upper, Lower, External and Internal Yuan Qi can merge together to become Qi of the Heavens and Earth!"
For some reason, this two sentences surfaced within Bei Feng's mind. He felt like he was lingering on the verge of enlightenment, with a hazy understanding forming in his mind.
"I got it!"
Bei Feng finally figured it out.
The so-called Mixed Yuan Qi was simply the result of the body's essence, Qi and spirit merging into one, perfect whole!
The Qi in his body suddenly rose and the Heaven and Earth Qi, which had yet to disperse, was sucked into Bei Feng's body!
"Pop, crackle!"
The moment the Heaven and Earth Qi entered his body, Bei Feng's bones and muscles creaked and groaned in unison. His entire body ballooned to more than twice its size!
The System had stopped absorbing the energy. The huge amount of Heaven and Earth Qi filled every inch of Bei Feng's body, causing him to feel as though he was about to explode!
But Bei Feng completely ignored the enormous pain in his body as he used all his energy to merge his essence, Qi and spirit into one!
Finally, after repeated tries, a small and weak strand of energy was formed within his body! This strand of energy was gray and ephemeral, only as thick as a strand of hair. Although it appeared weak and insignificant, its mass was actually very big!
The strand of gray swam about within Bei Feng's body, absorbing the Heaven and Earth Qi like a sponge!
An hour later, the gray energy, which was only as thick as strand of hair, had grown to the size of an adult's fist after absorbing all the Heaven and Earth energy inside Bei Feng's body!
As the gray energy reached the limit of its growth, it suddenly shrunk in on it self and burst forth energetically, turning into an overbearing tide which infused itself into every part of Bei Feng's body!
This tide of energy was nevertheless extremely gentle, filled with vitality and bountiful energy. But when it came into contact with Bei Feng's blood and flesh, it simply merged with it noiselessly!
The cells in his body grew stronger and broke apart, forming new cells which then broke apart again as they grew, forming new cells in an endless cycle!
In the final set of cells, each cell was incomparably strong. The strength of every cell was at least ten times sturdier than the old ones!
"Ding!"
Numerous metallic nails covered in blood slowly emerged from his body, dropping to the ground and producing a light sound as they landed.
An unbearably noxious smell from the deepest regions of his body also escaped out of the holes produced by the nails as they were pushed out by his body.
After that, numerous streams of black-red blood also flowed out of the holes. Slowly, the color of the blood turned lighter until it was the same color as regular, healthy blood.
The flesh and skin around the holes also started to squirm as they moved to cover the wounds with visible speed.
Right now, even if Bei Feng were to be slashed with a knife, as long as the wound was not fatal, he would quickly heal and recover from it!
Each piece of his flesh now contained a great amount of vitality. Although it was not as exaggerated as eating Monk Xuanzang's flesh which was fabled to grant immortality, Bei Feng's flesh could already be considered a precious medicine. [1]
At this point, there was still over half of the gray energy remaining, and Bei Feng's body was suspended in mid-air because of it, causing him no small amount of panic!
All the cells within his body had reached their maximum capacity to contain energy. They had now begun to contract, and the energy within them was becoming more concentrated. With the reduction in size, his cells began to realign themselves, becoming more compact and strengthening the bonds between each cell. His entire body's structure was also greatly strengthened!
This was truly breaking the limits of the human body and advancing onto a brand new stage!
Bei Feng felt like he had returned to his mother's womb, embraced in the warm amniotic fluid. This feeling was extremely comfortable and he felt completely worry-free. Bei Feng's state of mind was without any ripples.
"Ding! Myriad Heavens Fishing System update complete!"
A robotic voice sounded out, breaking Bei Feng out from his comfortable state, causing him to sigh in reluctance.
Quickly reorganizing his thoughts, Bei Feng brought up the System Interface and reviewed the changes.
Human Race: Bei Feng
Strength: 1 Star
Speed: 1 Star
Mental Power: 1 Star
Minor Illumination Breathing Technique: Peak of Minor Completion!
Weapon: Extreme Arctic Frost (Grade 2)
Special State: Mixed Yuan As One! (Temporary merging of Essence, Qi and Spirit into one, resulting in explosive rise in power for as long as technique is sustained. Note: Body's attributes will drop by half for 10 days after using the technique!)
Grade 1 Purple Bamboo Fishing Rod has been upgraded to Grade 2 White Jade Fishing Rod. (Can be stored in Fisherman's body.)
Fishing attempts have been changed to once every three days, with improved chance of catching higher grade items! (Fisherman will now be able to see everything within a 5-meter radius of the hook when fishing.)
Fisherman has a single chance to relocate the Myriad Heavens Fishing Gateway! (Binding a new Myriad Heavens Fishing Gateway requires 3 months; it is impossible to Fish until the process is complete.)
Experience Required to reach level 3 Fisherman: 99,900 points!
'What the f*ck? Was I cheated by the System?'
Bei Feng looked at the System's description again with a twisted look on his face. It was fine if the number of opportunities to fish was not increased. But now, it'd actually been reduced!
However, the chances of catching higher grade items had been increased, so it was still hard to tell whether he had profited or been conned.
'Even the Myriad Heavens Fishing Gateway can be reassigned...'
This was a change that Bei Feng was rather happy about. Although he had no thoughts about changing the Myriad Heavens Fishing Gateway right now, it was still good to have an additional option.
Bei Feng had not forgotten that this old mansion was not really his. If the Nie family returned to reclaim it one day, that would be a real tragedy.
Now that he had the ability to choose a new Myriad Heavens Fishing Gateway, Bei Feng would be able to continue fishing even if he was forced to leave the old mansion.
The White Jade Fishing Rod lay silently on the ground. Its entire body was clear and untainted, like a masterpiece fashioned out of the highest quality jadeite rock.
'Come!' Bei Feng thought, and the White Jade Fishing Rod disappeared into his body.
'I wonder how strong I am now?'
Bei Feng clenched his fists. The blood in his veins was flowing vigorously and was as exuberant as a raging furnace!
"Woosh!"
"Today, I know that I am me!"
Bei Feng punched out, sending a frightening force into the air before him as he shouted!
This sentence was so strange that others would find it almost impossible to comprehend. One would only find that it was strange and mystical, but upon further thought, would not be able to tell where it was strange, and which part was so mysterious about it!
Translator's Thoughts AstralGhost
Monk Xuanzang or Tang Seng is a character from Journey to the West.