I woke up with a start, finding myself looking up at a white ceiling.
It took me a moment to remember what happened and why looking up at the ceiling was weird.
Wasn't I inside a cave? Where am I?
I pushed myself up on my elbow and a voice came from the side, "Young God, how are you feeling?"
I turned towards the source of the voice to see Avatasia seated there, her oversized hat placed on her lap.
"Avatasia… What happened?" I asked.
"You suddenly started glowing like when you are meditating. Then the glowing stopped and you fell back down and Jia Lian caught you. We decided that it would be unwise to continue after that and we retreated from the rift back to the camp."
I felt pain in my head and I reached up to press against my forehead to put pressure on it to ease the pain, only to freeze up when I realised that I was touching my face directly.
I turned towards Avatasia and she gave me an apologetic smile before she picked up the mask that I had been wearing to hand it to me.
"I had to remove the mask to make sure you were alright, young God. The mask was preventing me from doing so and I thus took the liberty of removing it to check on you. I did not see any other way that I could have done so without removing the mask and if this was something unforgivable… I will accept any punishment."
I took the mask back and grimaced a little at her words, "Who else knows?"
"Rest assured, I had the sense to limit the number of witnesses before I removed the mask so right now, it is only myself that knows."
I let out a sigh, "Ah well… I was already intending to reveal my face to all of you eventually anyway… I might as well just do it now then… But I guess you must be disappointed to see that I look normal huh?"
Avatasia smiled, "Young God… Perhaps it is not good for you to be so self depreciating. If I were to judge by physical appearance alone, you are quite attractive."
I shook my head, believing that she's just saying that as lip service and I reached out to pull the blanket off of me.
When I did so, I paused slightly, noticing something was off.
I looked down at my hand and it looked… Smoother? Stronger? No… It looked different.
Not only my hand, but my arm as well.
That was also when I noticed that I was basically topless and my gaze shifted down to my torso.
My powers basically ensured that I had a pretty fit body even if I didn't work out. It wasn't like a bodybuilder's kind of fit, but I at least looked like someone who at least worked out a little.
Now… It looked like all the useless fat had been trimmed out of my body and it feels more… Streamlined?
I didn't suddenly bulk up or anything, it's just that my body seemed to have trimmed itself if that makes any sense.
Ah… I know now… My body was trying to reach a 'perfect' form.
I think I read about this in the cultivation stories where the body will change to reach its peak or something as the person cultivates.
Something about the Qi refining the body to make it more suitable to cultivate or something like that?
I'm guessing that I've reached that stage where the Qi I was absorbing started to affect my physical appearance more noticeably.
I was wondering what triggered the change when I remembered what I was doing before that happened.
I had just come to the realisation about the Qi being life energy and how I had been absorbing the ambient life energy in the air.
If I'm not wrong… It probably was because of the fact that I reached a new level of understanding in cultivation, I received a big boost in my cultivation which allowed me to breakthrough right at that very moment.
Maybe I needed to absorb a bit more Qi before I could breakthrough but the understanding was a multiplier that boosted my levels beyond the breaking point and triggered the breakthrough.
I looked around, "Where's my phone?"
Avatasia handed my smartphone to me and I opened the front camera to look at my own face.
I wasn't really expecting anything much and I found myself looking at a more… Angled version of my face.
This might sound a little narcissistic but it's only because I knew what I looked like before… The fact is that I now look like a more charming version of myself. Like if I had met the person in the camera just yesterday, I would have definitely thought they were a better looking version of me.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised here because that's also one of the effects of cultivation where your body is improved to reach its peak form.
Avatasia looked at me with half lidded eyes, "For the record, young God… I am quite serious when I said that you are quite attractive."
"Ah… Thanks, Avatasia."
"Please, young God, I know my name is quite a mouthful. Just Ava will do."
"In that case, thank you, Ava. Anyway… You don't need to worry about seeing my face. Are the rest of the Guardians outside?"
She placed her hat on her head, "Shall I go and check? I assume you wish to reveal your face to them?"
I nodded, "That's right."
"I shall go and gather them in the sitting room, young God. You can come out whenever you are ready, young God."
She then left the room, her hat barely fitting through the doorway as she went to find the others, closing the door behind her.
I turned back towards the camera to look back at myself, taking another moment to inspect the changes to my face.
The thought that I would probably have to somehow explain this to my family and convince them that my face somehow changed in a few days.
Hmm… Maybe they wouldn't even notice anyway so I'm just worrying too much.
My thoughts then wandered to what happened in the cave before I blacked out.
If I remembered correctly… I think there was some kind of tree that appeared which then caused me to black out.
Can I look at the tree again?
I tried to close my eyes like I was going to meditate and I allowed myself to relax.
This time, I fell into the state even faster in just a second and instead of an empty black space, I found myself standing in front of the tree I had seen before.
It was still the same size as a sapling and it looked like it was just a simple young tree that was in its early stages of growth.
A simply young tree that was made completely out of light that is.
I tried to touch it and I felt the same energy that I have now identified as life Qi inside the tree.
Instinctively, I somehow knew that the tree was also a symbol of the life Qi I currently had and if I were to absorb more, it would also grow even bigger.
I wondered the significance of it as well as what mythological figure might have this tree as a symbol of theirs but nothing came to mind.
I guess I would just need to make it grow more and see what happens after that.
Concentrating again, I willed myself back into my own body and I 'woke' up again.
Deciding that Ava should have gathered everyone by now, I got off the bed and headed towards the door, my mask held at my side.
I stopped in front of the door and sucked in a breath before I pulled it open, allowing myself to step out into the sitting room.
As I thought, all the Guardians were gathered in the sitting room and they turned as one to look in my direction the moment I appeared.
Jia Lian gasped and jumped up on her feet, "Mo… Mortal God! You forgot your mask!!"
I smiled at her, "It's fine. I decided it was time to show my face now. So here I am."
I gestured towards myself dramatically before smiling awkwardly at them, "Let me introduce myself formally. I am Qing Quan but my friends call me Qing. I have only just awakened as a Mortal God recently so I hope to have your support in the days to come. And thank you for choosing to become my Guardians."
Honestly, I thought the formal way was the way to go so that's what I did. But the fact that everyone was just staring at me without saying anything made me think that I might have chosen the wrong--
"So… So cool…" Kris muttered aloud before he slapped his hand over his mouth, as though surprised he had said anything at all.
Huh? What did he just say?