"Memorize these notes in full as soon as possible. They contain the self-hypnosis method I created and my insights into cultivating Embrace Origin Force.
Once you've memorized them, remember to give them to Master and Mistress for safekeeping."
Tian Hao went back to fetch the many notes he had written and handed them to Yue Lingshan. After leaving her with those instructions, he returned to prepare for a full night of grueling training.
The medicinal potency of century-old notoginseng was formidable indeed. The Eight-Treasure Precious Soup brewed from it was far more effective than before. He needed to train his external arts while that medicinal power was surging through his body to make the most of its effects.
"Bastard!"
Hugging the enormous stack of handwritten notes, Yue Lingshan was so furious she wanted to bite someone.
That fellow had really dragged her into a pit. Her training had already been intense, and now he had gone and done this to her.
At the thought of her father's resolute face and the miserable days ahead, the girl nearly went mad. She even wanted to chase after a certain someone right now and beat his face into a pig's head.
Meanwhile, Tian Hao returned to the cave and stripped off his outer clothes again. This time, he did not even keep his tight little shorts on. He unleashed punches and kicks against the sandbag hanging from the ceiling, even slamming his chest and back into it.
This was another way to train Iron Shirt, and it worked the body internally.
A leather whip was soft, after all. Its damage was concentrated on the skin, placing very limited stress on the muscles and bones, so other methods were needed to supplement it.
Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt consisted of two parts: Giant Crab Stance and Horizontal Crab Nine Forms. Giant Crab Stance was a stationary training method that required him to stand still and let someone else whip him.
Horizontal Crab Nine Forms was a moving training method that required a sandbag, which would later be replaced with something tougher.
At first, he needed a bag filled with sand. Once he reached the beginner level of Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, he would replace it with a wooden post, then switch to a block of iron upon attaining major mastery.
Thud, thud, thud...
Tian Hao understood well that only by enduring the bitterest hardships could one rise above others. He was absolutely ruthless with himself and trained for the entire night.
"My skin's shedding faster."
Early that morning, after showering to wash away his sweat, Tian Hao inspected his arms and nodded in satisfaction.
The greatest feature of Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt was its ability to shed the outer skin repeatedly, just like a crab. Training external arts inevitably left thick layers of dead skin on the body, much like the calluses on the palms of manual laborers in his previous life. It was one of the body's self-protection mechanisms.
But dead skin was not normal skin, after all. Although thicker and tougher, it lacked sensation. In a life-and-death fight, that could often prove fatal, severely hindering one's perception of the outside world.
Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt perfectly resolved this flaw. Through repeated shedding, the new skin not only retained a keen sensitivity to the outside world but also became tougher.
In truth, the principle was simple. Human skin already possessed a strong capacity for self-repair. For instance, heavy labor could cause blisters on the palms. The raised layer of skin was essentially ruined, but new skin would gradually grow beneath the blister, replacing that small patch lifted by the fluid.
A San Divine Oil and Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt merely enhanced this natural trait while tempering the new skin to make it tougher.
Half the dead skin formed by the repeated whipping and friction had already peeled away. It was much faster than he had expected, and he believed the rest would be gone by tomorrow.
"A little tender. It'll need a few days to adjust."
Tian Hao gently stroked the smooth, fair new skin, feeling reasonably satisfied.
It was just like a crab molting. Its new shell started out tender and needed time to harden.
The same held true for Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt. Even at this early stage, however, his new skin was already tougher than before. Once the transformation was complete, it would surely grow stronger still.
"Little Rat!"
Before Tian Hao could head out for breakfast, Yue Lingshan came rushing over like a whirlwind. Judging by her bright, bloodshot eyes, she had clearly pushed herself through an all-nighter too.
"Ah!"
The moment she rushed into the cave, the sight before her startled the girl into hastily turning her back.
"Shameless! Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"
Though, as a daughter of Jianghu, she wasn't overly prudish about such things, she still had her limits. His bare upper body yesterday had already pushed them, but who would have thought that today he wouldn't be wearing anything at all?
This is mortifying!
"Don't you know to knock before entering someone else's room?"
After that complaint, Tian Hao took out a fresh set of clothes and put them on.
"Didn't I tell you to focus on memorizing those notes? Have you finished already?"
He signaled for the girl to turn around. Tian Hao couldn't understand why she had come running over.
His notes were hardly short. They were the crystallization of three years of thought, totaling three hundred thousand characters.
Even with Yue Lingshan's memory enhanced by her innate spirit attribute, memorizing all of them would not be easy.
"Is what you wrote about the conscious and subconscious minds true? Where did you learn it?"
Once she brought up the real matter at hand, Yue Lingshan forgot her embarrassment and hurried to question him.
She had not paid much attention at first last night, but once she read the notes, their contents drew her in completely. By the time she came to her senses, she discovered that the entire night had passed.
Those unprecedented ideas were far too enticing to a martial artist. Moreover, based on her understanding of training the mind through the Mount Hua Heart Method, she felt that the knowledge within might very well be true.
"I happened to obtain a Daoist text and worked it out myself based on that."
Tossing out a casual bluff, Tian Hao headed outside for breakfast. He believed his second senior brother would be arriving soon.
In truth, Lao Denuo's relationships with the other disciples of the Mount Hua Sect were fairly ordinary. That might also have been the result of Old Yue's influence behind the scenes.
Thus, whenever it was time to eat, Lao Denuo would bring a portion over and eat with him.
"Where's that Daoist text? Let me see it!"
The girl chased after him and asked eagerly. That Daoist text was surely extraordinary, perhaps even a collection of secret Daoist arts. It would certainly greatly strengthen the Mount Hua Sect's foundations and might even be of considerable help to her father and mother.
"I used it when I went to relieve myself."
Offering another casual bluff, Tian Hao put some water on for tea and quietly waited for Lao Denuo to arrive.
In contrast to his calm composure, Yue Lingshan was so angry she wanted to bite him.
"How could you do that?"
Such a precious Daoist text, and you ruined it like that! Squandering heaven's treasures-squandering heaven's treasures!
"Memorize all that stuff as soon as possible. With your foundation in the Mount Hua Heart Method, you should be able to learn the Self-Hypnosis Method quickly, deepen your sleep, and improve its quality.
Starting next month, you'll only be allowed six hours of sleep a day. After that, it'll decrease by one hour every month."
As he reminded her, Tian Hao was already working out a plan in his mind to whip his little senior sister into shape.
He had no choice. His Golden Finger was a picky eater. At present, only Mistress Ning Zhongze and his little senior sister Yue Lingshan met its requirements in the entire Mount Hua Sect.
He was sure there were few other women in Jianghu who met those requirements, and fewer still whom he would actually encounter.
Resources were limited. He had to squeeze the utmost use out of what little he had.
Since breaking through to the innate realm could improve the Innate Qi attribute, he had to keep a close eye on his little senior sister's training.
Of course, searching for supreme innate arts also had to go on his agenda.
I need to find an opportunity to visit Fuzhou City.
Thinking of that supreme martial arts manual, Tian Hao knew he would have to go to Fuzhou City himself.
He had asked Lao Denuo about all the notable powers in Jianghu, and the Fuwei Armed Escort Agency was among them. Its chief escort really was named Lin Zhennan, and he was also the son-in-law of Golden Saber Wang Yuanba of Luoyang.
That was a very useful clue.
Ever since hearing the name of the Five Mountains Sword Sects as a child, he had been pondering the nature of this world.
Was it a world formed from the martial arts novels of his previous life, or had the masters who wrote those novels perceived this world's course of fate and thus penned their monumental works?
Two conjectures, two chains of cause and effect. If it was the latter, that was fine, but if it was the former, things became complicated.
Nor was he entirely sure whether this real world was identical to the original novels, or whether it had any connection to the television adaptations.
In any case, Old Yue and his wife did not resemble the actors from any of those television versions. Mistress Ning Zhongze was also much younger and prettier. At the very least, she looked under thirty, with skin as fair as jade.
That was all thanks to internal cultivation preserving her looks. It could slow aging to some degree, or at least delay the aging of the skin.
Which one is it, really?
Tian Hao pondered silently. He considered this question extremely important, and it gave him quite a headache.
Even setting aside the television adaptations, Old Jin alone had written several versions of the novels, and they all differed.
What a headache!
Before you continue