Hao Xuan braced himself for an impact that never came. Whatever creature that had crawled out of the Endless Forest didn't even give him the time of day.

As soon as it caught the scent of the teenagers, it ran after them even faster than when it came looking for him.

Hao Xuan of course felt bad for them but since they managed to reach him so quickly, they must not be staying too far away. The chances of them reaching their settlement were pretty high and there would most probably be some high-level warriors there that could take care of the beast.

Instead, he focused inwardly, on what was happening inside his body.

Using his superior spiritual power Hao Xuan was able to get a rather clear picture of the events taking place inside him and since he didn't actually have to control or oversee any of them, he could observe with relative ease.

Less than 20 seconds were left on the timer and the whole thing was coming to an end anyway.

The nanites bonded with his blood cells, the linings of his organs, and arteries, filtering out all unnecessary genetic data that had gathered within his DNA with the glyph's help. Billions upon countless billions of such micro-operations were taking place simultaneously.

And all of that waste was excreted out through the pores in his skin. Within the blink of an eye, a gel-like substance had encased Hao Xuan completely. It went from a semi-transparent goo to green and red, getting darker by the second.

By the end it was completely black in color and its consistency had become extremely dense and rigid, to the point of looking like tree bark.

Even though the timer had run out, Hao Xuan did not break out of this cocoon. He could feel the effects of the procedure much more acutely than even Baracus who was basically a part of him.

The 'procedure' was a type of deep cleanse, similar to the excretion of impurities that happened naturally in the earlier stages of cultivation. During one's life, such a cleanse couldn't be done more than a handful of times, and even then only if a person continuously reached higher and higher cultivations realms throughout their lives and each time using the opportunities after breaking through to cleanse themselves.

As long as one continued to breathe the air, to eat various foods, to partake in drinking, or even do something as simple as sleeping, gathering impurities from the outside environment overtime was expected.

And unless one completely stopped such activities or found a way to reduce or eliminate the impurities from entering their bodies, they would continue to mount and hinder cultivation in the long term.

That is why it was accepted that cultivating from a young age was the best route for reaching a higher realm in the shortest amount of time since they wouldn't have as many impurities to begin with.

In Hao Xuan's case, he was already twenty when he started cultivating seriously. He had spent most of his adult life eating old and rotten food if anything at all, so his starting point was even lower.

And even though he had managed to discharge a good volume of impurities when he first activated the physique, it had actually significantly increased after that due to its unique nature.

Every time he had consumed the blood and flesh of another creature, the 'Immortal Devouring Demon Physique' had helped him absorb almost everything inside it, nutritious or otherwise. This was also one of the main reasons his cultivation had been stuck for so long.

But now that he had gotten his hands on a way to expel impurities at will, it would greatly boost Hao Xuan's cultivation speed. And this was just an unexpected side-effect to Baracus trying to repair the mutations within his bloodstream.

Encased within the cocoon, Hao Xuan couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. A cool and refreshing sensation was passing throughout his body, lifting his tired spirits. He felt happier for some reason, content like a child nestling in the comforting embrace of their loving parents at the end of a long and hard day.

But since Hao Xuan had never known such affection, all he could think about was a comfortable, cold, freshly washed bed sheet. Quite a contrast from the loving memory of one's childhood but that was all he had.

His body felt lighter by a wide margin.

*Beep*

Baracus's voice followed after the electronic beep, pulling Hao Xuan out of the extremely short but much needed moment of bliss.

"The first step of the procedure has been completed.. All bodily functions returned to normal, you may move freely."

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