"Hahaha, what an interesting lad! As long as you're alive, as long as you're alive!"
Tien Shinhan's question left Son Gohan momentarily stunned, while the Grand Supreme Kai beside him threw back her head and laughed.
A moment later, Son Gohan explained to Tien Shinhan how the two of them had mistakenly believed he had been burned to ashes by the furnace flames.
"So that's what happened!"
Tien Shinhan understood at once and smiled as he told them both what he had experienced inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Only then did Tien Shinhan learn that the flames inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace naturally grew fiercer the longer they burned.
When he had felt the flames growing stronger at regular intervals inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he had thought something was wrong.
Fortunately, he had prepared thoroughly for this trip and already had a power level of 3,000 when he entered the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Otherwise, he really might not have had enough time to adapt to the changes in its flames.
Staying inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace with a power level of only a few hundred, unaware that the flames would become fiercer against him after ten minutes, would indeed have been quite dangerous.
Fortunately, he had safely made it through all those perils. Not only had Tien Shinhan avoided danger, but this unexpected turn had also maximized his gains from the trip.
"The Five Elements Pill worked wonderfully. I still have to thank you, Lady Annin, for giving me such a precious treasure."
Only martial artists who had taken a Five Elements Pill knew how terrifyingly effective it was at improving martial arts talent.
Improving techniques he had already mastered was merely the tip of the iceberg of Tien Shinhan's current martial arts talent.
When it came to learning new techniques, his speed was even more astonishing.
He might even learn a technique someone else demonstrated during battle and use it on the spot!
"Hehe, I didn't give it to you. You went down to the bottom of the Eight Trigrams Furnace and retrieved it yourself!"
Because of her special status, the Grand Supreme Kai had no fear of being burned inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
But even so, she still felt unbearably hot once she entered it.
That was also why she had rarely been willing to enter the Eight Trigrams Furnace herself over all these years.
Otherwise, furnace ash like the Five Elements Pill could never have accumulated at the bottom for so long.
If Tien Shinhan had not gone down to deal with it this time, the Grand Supreme Kai would never have gone down herself.
Only if the furnace ash caused a large hole to break through the bottom of the Eight Trigrams Furnace, or affected the balance between the worlds of the living and the dead, might she reluctantly take action herself.
Although Tien Shinhan had benefited from the Five Elements Pill, he had also effectively helped her give the inside of the Eight Trigrams Furnace a long-overdue cleaning!
The Grand Supreme Kai was too busy secretly rejoicing to feel that Tien Shinhan needed to thank her.
Still, she would never openly show Tien Shinhan her delight at what she considered a bargain.
So she suppressed the smile that had nearly escaped her and gave two light coughs before adding.
"Ahem, if you really want to thank me, why not have a match with me instead?
"I'd like to see just how far a martial artist with such exceptional talent, who risks his life so recklessly for martial arts, can go!"
As she spoke, a gleaming guandao appeared in the Grand Supreme Kai's hand.
Paired with her dashing female general's attire, the weapon instantly gave Tien Shinhan a sense of her surging martial spirit!
"All right, but my strength just increased tremendously, and I still can't quite hold it back.
"If I happen to strike too hard later, please don't get hurt, Lady Annin."
As Tien Shinhan spoke, he reined in his strength.
He could sense the Grand Supreme Kai's aura. If she was not deliberately suppressing her ki, her power level should have been somewhere above 300.
For the Tien Shinhan who had won the World Martial Arts Tournament just over three months earlier, that power level would have been formidable!
But the current Tien Shinhan had to control the vastly increased strength he had only just acquired, lest he accidentally injure her outright.
"Hahaha, hurt me? Even King Yemma or Earth's Kami might not dare say that.
"Very well. Since you're so confident, I'll attack you with everything I have.
"Tien Shinhan, you'd better be careful!"
With that, the Grand Supreme Kai's body abruptly grew to a height of a hundred meters.
The guandao in her hand grew along with her.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-
In an instant, the Grand Supreme Kai was whirling the hundred-meter-long guandao with a roaring rush, sending fierce winds spiraling through the air.
Watching from the sidelines, Son Gohan was so astonished by the sight that his mouth fell open.
"Lady Annin, you can't get serious! Do you really mean to hack Tien Shinhan to death with that strike?"
Although Tien Shinhan staying inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace for an entire day and night was truly astonishing.
The Grand Supreme Kai's might was already deeply ingrained in Son Gohan's mind, and now she had suddenly grown so enormous.
With her towering hundred-meter figure set against Tien Shinhan's body, which stood less than two meters tall, it was no wonder Son Gohan instinctively worried about him.
"A giant transformation? Going by the terminology I remember, should this be called Heaven-and-Earth Embodiment?
"But this is Dragon Ball. Calling it that outright doesn't seem quite appropriate."
Seeing the Grand Supreme Kai grow before his very eyes, Tien Shinhan's tremendous martial arts talent instantly left him eager to try it himself.
Vaguely, he had already grasped the essence of the technique.
Transformations were something Tien Shinhan already knew.
The Four Witches Technique and Multi-Form Technique were both transformation techniques to begin with.
It was just that these two techniques did not make him bigger, but instead grew more arms or created several additional copies.
Not only that, Tien Shinhan had developed the Neo Four Witches Technique and Neo Multi-Form Technique from the Four Witches Technique and Multi-Form Technique, gaining a thorough grasp of the key principles of transformation techniques.
Now that he had seen a giant transformation technique before him, Tien Shinhan instantly drew on his understanding of transformation techniques, applied it by analogy, and rapidly learned the move.
"Growing bigger, huh? Learned it! Since I can't just call it Heaven-and-Earth Embodiment, I'll call this move Heavenly Phenomenon Fist!"
Tien Shinhan gave a faint smile, then abruptly shot upward and grew larger before Son Gohan's disbelieving eyes.
Clang!
Facing the huge guandao the Grand Supreme Kai swung down at him, Tien Shinhan, now likewise a hundred meters tall, restrained his strength and gently thrust out a single finger.
Bang, bang, bang!
Against Tien Shinhan's single finger, the Grand Supreme Kai's huge guandao was knocked straight out of her grasp.
Even so, the recoil transmitted through the guandao forced the Grand Supreme Kai to retreat five or six steps in succession to dissipate the force.
"You... how do you know how to transform into a giant? And how could your strength possibly be this great?"
The Grand Supreme Kai stared incredulously at Tien Shinhan, who had likewise become a giant before her.
Originally, the Grand Supreme Kai had thought a fierce battle would erupt between them.
Yet now, after just one exchange, Tien Shinhan had disarmed her and forced her surrender with only a single finger!
There was no longer any need to continue the fight.
"My apologies, Lady Annin. As for growing bigger, would you believe me if I said I just learned it from you?"
After that single exchange, Tien Shinhan quickly undid his transformation and returned to his original size.
He had already noticed that the Grand Supreme Kai had no intention of continuing the fight, so he took the initiative to undo his transformation and give her a graceful way to stop.
Seeing that Tien Shinhan had already returned to normal of his own accord, the Grand Supreme Kai shrank back to her original height as well.
As for his claim that he had just learned the technique for growing larger from her...
"Hehe, if anyone else said that, I certainly wouldn't believe them.
"But you're different.
"Now I've seen it for myself. For a martial artist who combines a madman and a genius in one, nothing is impossible!"
The Grand Supreme Kai sighed with feeling, her face full of admiration for Tien Shinhan.
She had never seen a martial artist like him in tens of thousands of years.
It seemed the upper limit of Earth's martial artists' strength was about to rise dramatically.