The body-tempering process

After Yu Bu'e entered the bathroom, Luo Feixuan's cheeks flushed slightly.

Before long, she could hear water running inside.

Her face grew warm, and she hurriedly picked up the remote and turned on the television.

Just then, Yu Bu'e suddenly cried out from the bathroom.

She quickly stood up and strode toward it.

"What's wrong? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just couldn't get the water right," Yu Bu'e said awkwardly. "Got hit with a blast of cold water."

Luo Feixuan breathed a sigh of relief. "That's all right. I'll come in and show you."

She turned the handle, only to find that the bathroom door was locked from the inside.

When Yu Bu'e opened it, Luo Feixuan gave him a rather odd look.

"Are you guarding against me?"

Yu Bu'e smiled awkwardly. "I locked it out of habit. Didn't think about it."

What he actually thought was, Boys have to protect themselves when they're away from home, too!

With Luo Feixuan's guidance, Yu Bu'e finally learned how to use everything in the bathroom.

"Oh, and there are clean bathrobes in the bathroom cabinet," Luo Feixuan added.

"Okay."

After Luo Feixuan left, Yu Bu'e poured the packet of medicine Elder Guan had prepared into the bathtub.

As the hot water hit it, a rich medicinal fragrance filled the bathroom.

Under the effects of the Body-Tempering Medicine, the bathwater turned a pale red.

Yu Bu'e took off his clothes and slowly lowered himself into the water. At first, he felt nothing unusual.

Luo Feixuan had told him earlier that the medicinal bath required a soak of at least three hours.

His phone had broken when he dropped it while dealing with the assassin at home.

The thought of spending the next three hours soaking in a bathtub without any entertainment made him a little worried.

What if I fall asleep? Then drown in the bathtub without even realizing it?

Didn't that sort of thing happen all the time in movies and novels?

But just ten minutes later, Yu Bu'e realized his worries had been unnecessary.

As the bathwater gradually changed from pale red to crimson, he began to feel a slight stinging.

I can't sleep. There's no way I can sleep!

At first, he thought he was imagining it from soaking too long, but the stinging only grew worse.

By the time the water turned bright red, Yu Bu'e felt a burning pain all over his body.

It was as though he were soaking in chili water.

Heat rose through the bathroom, filling it with steam. Just then, Luo Feixuan's voice came from outside the door.

"How's it going? Still doing okay?"

"I'm fine... I... I'm okay!" Yu Bu'e swallowed and forced the words out.

Luo Feixuan chuckled. "There's no helping it. That's how body tempering works. It's only been forty minutes, and it'll get more and more uncomfortable."

At those words, Yu Bu'e's spirits sank.

What? It's only been forty minutes?

At that moment, he truly understood what it meant for every second to feel like a year.

"Yu Bu'e, if you really can't take it, you can cry out. Don't worry, I won't laugh at you," Luo Feixuan continued from outside.

"..." Yu Bu'e pressed his lips tightly together and forced himself to say, "I'm fine. I'm doing great. Right now, I feel... really comfortable!"

"Tsk. You've soaked yourself soft, but your mouth's still stubborn," Luo Feixuan teased from outside.

In truth, she was only trying to distract him.

Having gone through body tempering herself, she knew very well how difficult the process was to endure.

"I'm really fine... Luo, go enjoy yourself." Yu Bu'e truly had no energy for conversation now.

Besides, he was worried he might actually lose control and start moaning in a moment.

Just thinking about it felt pretty perverse...

Only after he heard Luo Feixuan's retreating footsteps did he breathe a small sigh of relief.

A long while later, the bathwater had turned dark red.

Now he looked as though he were soaking in a pool of thick blood.

The stinging seemed to seep through his pores and into his body.

He gritted his teeth and tried to use autosuggestion on himself.

"Actually... it doesn't hurt at all..."

"Why do people have to define this sensation as pain?"

He remembered a paper he had once read, which claimed that repeated autosuggestion could turn "pain" into "pleasure."

Though it sounded somewhat dubious, even a little perverse, there was scientific evidence behind it.

For example, through repeated autosuggestion, even cold water could "burn" a person's skin.

Once he fully got into the mindset, he lay in the bathtub and began to moan.

"Mmm... so comfortable. It really feels so good! Oh, this feels so good I could die..."

"It feels like I'm flying... through a sky of destiny..."

After deceiving himself for a while and discovering that it did absolutely nothing, he simply shut his mouth.

But before long, he heard Luo Feixuan's voice again.

"Did you pass out? Why'd you stop?"

Yu Bu'e jumped in fright and nearly stood up in the bathtub.

"You... when did you come over?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"Around... when you were about to die from how good it felt?"

"..."

Yu Bu'e debated whether he should just drown himself in the bathtub.

How could anyone suffer this much social humiliation?

"Ahem. Your clothes have arrived. I'll wash and dry them for you now. That'll take a little time, so carry on."

Luo Feixuan was clearly holding back laughter as she spoke!

Though a door separated them, he could almost see the corners of her mouth struggling not to rise.

By now, the bathwater had turned black.

What puzzled him was that, despite how much time had passed, the water was still warm.

Not only that, but his body was growing hotter and hotter.

The heat came from within, as though a furnace were blazing inside him.

And the wounds on his body were now incredibly itchy. He fought hard to resist the urge to scratch them.

Surges of heat rampaged through his body like beasts out of control, repeatedly scouring his spirit meridian and meridian channels.

Then they seemed to merge into his blood and bone marrow. Every bone itched terribly. He couldn't help reaching out to scratch, but it was like scratching an itch through a boot-utterly useless.

When he saw that he had scratched bloody marks into his skin, he instantly came to his senses. He could only grit his teeth and struggle to suppress the urge to scratch.

Then he noticed beads of black blood appearing on his skin.

He wiped them with his hand. The blood seeping from his body was somewhat sticky and gave off a faint, indescribable odor.

The bathwater had turned pitch-black, like a pool of ink.

At last, the pain gradually faded.

He also heard a voice that sounded like music from heaven.

"Yu Bu'e, time's up!"

Yu Bu'e stepped out of the bathtub and immediately drained the foul-smelling water, then took a shower. Suddenly noticing something, he looked at his shoulder.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

The wound on his shoulder had gotten wet earlier, but his whole body had hurt so badly then that he hadn't had the attention to spare for it.

Only now did he discover that the bloody wound had disappeared. In its place was newly grown, pale, tender skin that stood in stark contrast to the surrounding complexion.

Still unable to believe it, he checked his other wounds and drew a deep breath.

"That million... was money well spent!"