Knowing full well how astonishing Tian Hao's brute strength was, Yue Lingshan had learned her lesson this time and decided not to clash head-on with that rugged man.
Inner qi circulated throughout her body as she used her lightness footwork to dart around at high speed, flitting like a ghost through the dim surroundings.
Swordsmanship was renowned for its lightness and agility, and Mount Hua Swordsmanship was even more nimble and ingenious than most, like a pair of swallows weaving among willow branches in spring, sweeping up and down, left and right, turning freely like drifting clouds and flowing water.
Yue Lingshan had indeed failed to work hard enough at Mount Hua Swordsmanship before and had been unable to grasp its essence. But lately, she had trained diligently and repeatedly sought her mother's guidance, greatly improving her swordsmanship.
With her internal cultivation having also broken through to the inner qi realm, she finally had the confidence to come defeat that utterly wicked damned rat and reclaim her freedom.
Yet no matter how Yue Lingshan used her lightness skills, she could never escape Tian Hao's gaze.
Wherever the girl moved, Tian Hao looked, turning his body along with her.
After all, however impressive her lightness skills were, running around the perimeter meant covering a much greater distance. Tian Hao only needed to turn his body and neck in the middle, which naturally made things much easier.
The two entered a contest of patience. Unfortunately, Yue Lingshan was nowhere near as composed as Tian Hao, and the inner qi she had condensed was limited. Unable to hold out for long, she seized an opening and struck.
"White Clouds Emerge from the Ravine!"
She leaped into the air and thrust her sword toward him, inner qi curling around its incomparably sharp edge.
At the same time, Tian Hao struck as well. Using the force-channeling method of Martial Sage Dragging Saber Slash to double his speed, he swung the greatsword in his hand like lightning.
"You fell for it!"
The girl smiled like a little fox that had stolen an egg.
Circulating her inner qi, she changed her thrust into a slash and struck the greatsword sweeping toward her. Borrowing its force, she spun her graceful body in midair and swiftly closed in.
But before the girl could strike again, Tian Hao counterattacked.
"Giant Crab Iron Mountain Lean!"
Abandoning the Meteoric Iron Greatsword with its immense momentum, Tian Hao slammed into her ferociously. The tremendous force sent the girl's slender body flying, smashing her heavily against the courtyard wall behind her.
Tian Hao's philosophy had no room for cherishing fragrant flowers and tender jade. As a young man of the new era endowed with the four virtues, he had to treat everyone equally-men and women alike!
The intense pain turned Yue Lingshan's pretty face white as paper. The inner qi in her meridians scattered wildly, refusing to gather, and even the Jade Water Sword fell from her hand.
"Little senior sister, challenging me comes at a price."
Tian Hao sneered as he stepped forward. Although he had won, he was far from satisfied. His little-senior-sister cheat was leveling up far too slowly.
"What are you trying to do?"
His sinister expression sent Yue Lingshan into a panic. She had a persistent feeling that he was up to no good.
"Nothing much. I just feel your progress with Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt is a little slow, little senior sister. I'll help speed it up."
With that, Tian Hao grabbed the girl's wrist and dragged her into the cave.
"No! I don't want your help training! I was wrong, Junior Brother Hao!"
The girl's expression changed in alarm. The hot-and-cold body tempering had already been torment enough. If she really had to undergo the orthodox training method for Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, she had no idea whether she could endure it. She might even end up disfigured.
"Now you know to call me Junior Brother Hao? Too late!"
Tian Hao sneered. He had never considered himself a generous man-his capacity for tolerance was measured in nanometers.
Besides, he was deeply dissatisfied with how quickly his little-senior-sister cheat was upgrading. It had to speed up.
"Junior Brother Hao, I was wrong!"
"Little rat, I'll never do it again!"
"Damned rat!"
As the girl went from begging for mercy to cursing him, Tian Hao dragged her by brute force into the chamber where he trained. She resisted repeatedly along the way, kicking at him with her dainty, short-booted feet.
But with his current mastery of Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, he could already ignore kicks and blows of that level.
"The medicinal oil and training tools are all here. Complete one round of the orthodox Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt training method within four hours. I'll check afterward. If you don't meet the standard, I'll help you train."
Tian Hao flung the girl into the training chamber and issued his orders coldly.
Although he very much wanted to help his little senior sister train personally, men and women were different, after all. He treated everyone equally and did not care about such things, but he still had to show some consideration for his senior sister. Not to mention, his master's wife was still on the mountain!
If he went too far, his master's wife might well come looking for him with a sword to settle accounts.
He was not afraid of settling accounts, but if she revoked his authority to supervise his little senior sister's training, he would be in trouble.
"Damned rat, this isn't over!"
Yue Lingshan was so angry she wanted to cry. But remembering his temperament, she knew that if she failed to obey, he really would come help her train.
Left with no choice, she could only perform the orthodox Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt training herself.
Tian Hao waited outside for a while. Once he heard movement within, he nodded in satisfaction.
He was not worried that his little senior sister would ruin her body through training. First, the force used to assist the training was controlled; she was not simply taking a merciless beating. It had to remain at the threshold just short of injury, stimulating the skin cells to evolve as much as possible until tougher new skin formed beneath the dead skin.
Moreover, Yue Lingshan had now cultivated inner qi. Its support would improve her physical constitution across the board, also assisting her external training and repairing damage.
Although this consumed a great deal of inner qi, it would not be much of a problem as long as she had enough medicinal cuisine.
In any case, once they obtained the treasure at Guan Family Fort, they would no longer lack money. Even eating medicinal cuisine for every meal would be no problem.
"Refining qi to transform spirit! The Visualization Method!"
Once the sounds inside became steady, Tian Hao began pondering his self-hypnosis method.
Back at Guan Family Fort, he had initially only intended to improve his sleep quality. But his last conversation with his master's wife had taught him of the Visualization Method's existence, making him take self-hypnosis seriously.
Unlike the visualization methods of his previous life, which relied on mental imagery, this world's Visualization Method was, at its core, the Daoist practice of refining qi to transform spirit.
In Daoist theory, cultivation was divided into four major stages: refining essence to transform qi, refining qi to transform spirit, refining spirit to return to emptiness, and refining emptiness to unite with the Dao. Of these, refining essence to transform qi referred to the cultivation practiced by ordinary martial artists.
The foundation of a martial artist's internal cultivation lay in the qi within the meridians. Innate qi existed from birth and was difficult for ordinary martial artists to cultivate, but acquired qi arose from the body's flesh and blood before gathering in the meridians, where martial artists cultivated and employed it through internal arts.
This was what was known as refining essence to transform qi. Taking the next step, refining qi to transform spirit, was much more difficult.
The main problem was the lack of any relevant legacy of teachings. Still, he roughly surmised that it should involve the body's meridians and be connected to the spinal cord and brain.
"I can't experiment with those two areas. One careless mistake could leave me dead or crippled."
Tian Hao scratched his head in frustration, unable to think of a good way to investigate for the moment.
After all, the brain and spinal cord were far too important and far too fragile. The slightest carelessness could cause damage with unimaginable consequences.
He only had one life. He had to be cautious.
"Forget it. I'll improve my self-hypnosis method first and see whether I can achieve something like the spiritual cultivation in Star River Emperor."
Putting those frustrating thoughts out of his mind, Tian Hao set about considering his self-hypnosis method.
In his previous life, he had read a novel called Star River Emperor. Its spiritual cultivation system contained quite a few ideas he could draw upon, such as the initial stage of self-hypnosis.
Although it was merely a concept from a novel, the inspiration was good and worth borrowing.
He sat quietly pondering for four hours, until someone suddenly knocked on the iron door behind him.
Gathering his thoughts, he opened the iron door and saw Yue Lingshan, her pretty face covered in red marks.
The instant the iron door opened, the girl suddenly lashed out with a kick.
"I knew you'd try something underhanded!"
As though he had anticipated it all along, Tian Hao blocked her dainty leg, his expression turning cold.
Little senior sister still needed a good lesson!
"Damned rat, I'll fight you to the death!"
When her first attack failed, Yue Lingshan erupted, seemingly determined to vent all the pain and humiliation she had suffered.
Like a crazed kitty, she reached out to claw at him, inner qi curling around her fingertips. If those claws caught hold, they could shred even hardwood.
Before you continue