Hot-and-Cold Body Tempering

After enduring two hours of blows from Lao Denuo's wooden stick, Tian Hao saw his second senior brother off, then went deeper into the cave and opened the iron door.

The moment he opened it, a little scarlet fist came flying at his face and slammed hard into his chin.

The attacker was naturally Yue Lingshan, though the girl looked particularly miserable now.

The skin exposed outside her clothes was red as blood. Clearly, even with her internal breath protecting her and the assistance of A San Divine Oil, she had still been scalded.

"You still have the strength to throw punches. Not bad!"

Unbothered by the blow to his chin, Tian Hao expressed his satisfaction.

His estimate had been right. Two hours had posed no great problem for Yue Lingshan.

"You damned rat, this isn't over!"

She glared at him furiously and tried to punch him again, only for a powerful hand to seize hers.

Dragging the girl, whose skin was red all over, Tian Hao left the cave and tossed her straight into a water vat he had prepared earlier.

"Ah!"

The bone-chilling water made Yue Lingshan cry out in pain. Having just been ravaged by steam, she was suddenly plunged into cold water. The shock of that abrupt shift from heat to cold was beyond words.

The New Year had only just passed, and Mount Hua was cold to begin with. Some places were even still iced over. It was easy to imagine how cold the water was under those conditions.

"If you don't want to be disfigured, stay put and keep circulating your energy to resist the cold. I mixed some A San Divine Oil into the water. It'll help you shed your old skin and grow new skin faster."

Tian Hao pushed the girl back down as she tried to leap out and warned her coldly.

The word "disfigured" sent her into a panic. Though the pain was unbearable, she no longer dared jump out.

If she really ended up disfigured, she would rather just die.

"You damned rat, I won't let you get away with this."

Yue Lingshan glared at him through clenched teeth, wishing she could pounce on the bastard and bite him to death.

She had been duped this time-duped badly.

"Stay in there and soak. Come out in two hours. I'm going inside to train."

After giving her those instructions, Tian Hao turned and entered the cave's sealed chamber to temper his skin with steam.

Beatings alone were too one-dimensional. Although alternating hot and cold was extremely unpleasant, it could make up for some of the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt's shortcomings and bring it closer to perfection.

Of course, his inspiration for this hot-and-cold body tempering had come from a certain fellow called Little Three. That fellow had used the more advanced ice-and-fire body tempering, but Tian Hao lacked the necessary resources and could only put together a budget version.

After another two hours of intensive sauna treatment, Tian Hao wiped the sweat from his face and drained the waterskin he had brought in beside him in one go. Only then did he rise and head outside.

"Hm?"

He pushed the door, but it would not budge. He immediately realized someone had locked the iron door from outside.

"You damned rat, take your time enjoying yourself in there!"

Hearing the noise at the iron door, Yue Lingshan threw another handful of firewood beneath the boiler and shouted vindictively.

Yet when she turned her head, she saw that the barred iron door had opened, and a tall, broad figure, red from head to toe, stepped out.

"How did you get out?"

She blinked in bewilderment. She had shut the iron door tight, so opening it from inside should have been impossible.

"I made the door. You think I wouldn't know how to open it?"

With a cold laugh, Tian Hao threw a punch without the slightest mercy.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Having her eye socket struck again nearly drove the girl mad. She tried to fight back, but without her sword and with her internal energy almost exhausted, she could offer no resistance. Instead, her other eye socket suffered the same fate, turning her into a national treasure once more.

"This isn't over!"

Yue Lingshan was practically mad with rage. He hit her eye sockets every single time. Couldn't he pick somewhere else?

The black eyes from last time had only just healed, and now he had done it again.

"Enough of your nonsense!"

Tian Hao knocked her unconscious with a punch, slung her over his shoulder, and headed for his master's wife's courtyard.

The earlier round of hot-and-cold body tempering had completely drained Yue Lingshan's internal breath. Under normal circumstances, recovering would take at least ten days, and he had no intention of wasting ten days for nothing.

"Master's wife, hurry and cook a pot of Eight-Treasure Precious Soup. Give Little Senior Sister a bowl too, to replenish her internal breath."

Tian Hao casually tossed his little senior sister onto the ground and called out.

Money had been tight before, so they could not regularly drink an expensive medicinal meal like Eight-Treasure Precious Soup. Now, however, Old Yue had secretly gone to Guan Family Fort to retrieve the treasure buried in the cesspit and would return before long.

Once he did, they could have all the medicinal meals they could eat!

"Didn't I tell you not to let Shan'er practice the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt?"

Seeing her daughter dumped so roughly onto the ground, then taking in her dark-red skin, Ning Zhongze was furious enough to hit someone.

She had clearly given him instructions before. Had the brat simply let her words blow past his ears?

"Master's wife, you've wronged your disciple. I did try to persuade Little Senior Sister not to practice the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, but she wouldn't listen. She wanted to use it to grow a layer of flawless new skin.

"As you know, everyone has a heart that loves beauty.

"With no other choice, I could only let Little Senior Sister practice another version of the Iron Shirt derived from the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt.

"It can be practiced without beatings, and the results are just as good."

He hurried to explain, insisting that his little senior sister had volunteered for all of this and that it had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"Another version of the Iron Shirt?"

Doubt arose in Ning Zhongze's mind. She had read the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt manual herself and did not remember a second training method in it.

"It still has its roots in the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt. I simply replaced external beatings with alternating heat and cold. I used steam and cold water to temper Little Senior Sister's skin in turns.

"As long as the stimulation is sufficient, A San Divine Oil can still help her shed her old skin and grow an entirely new layer.

"Of course, combining it with beatings works even better. The two methods support and complement each other."

He proudly explained the fruits of his research. In truth, the key to the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt was A San Divine Oil. That stuff was what allowed someone to keep shedding their skin; the training method was secondary. Any sufficiently strong external stimulation would do.

External beatings were one form of stimulation, and alternating heat and cold was another. Both could subject the skin to intense stimulation.

In fact, a thin layer of dead skin had already formed on Yue Lingshan. If things continued at this pace, she stood a chance of reaching the introductory stage of the Iron Shirt within a month.

"Does it really work?"

Ning Zhongze looked doubtful. For the moment, she could not determine whether this training method was effective.

It sounded somewhat reasonable, but it had never been tested!

"It's absolutely reliable. The reason your disciple reached the introductory stage of the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt in just one month was that I used this method to round out and speed up my training."

He spun his tale with a perfectly serious face. If he wanted to step up the intensity and whip his little senior sister into shape as quickly as possible, he had to obtain his master's wife's approval. A little necessary hoodwinking was in order.

"Then let's give it a try!"

After a moment's hesitation, Ning Zhongze decided it was worth trying. If something really went wrong, they could always use A San Divine Oil to shed the dead skin.

Besides, her daughter had already begun training, and her skin was scalded. Recovering would take time anyway, so they might as well continue.

"Couldn't you be a little gentler with Shan'er?"

Crouching down, Ning Zhongze examined her daughter's newly blackened eye sockets and the large lump on her forehead, then shot him an exasperated glare.

This disciple was good in every other respect, but his mind simply did not work normally.

Women were meant to be cherished!