Chu Qi followed me into the water. Perhaps fearing I would drown, she stood beside me the whole time, holding my arms and giving me a massage. She chattered about the details of the training session, but my ears were submerged, so I didn't catch much. The gist was that she thought my first training session was a great success, much better than others. She even said my willpower was a kind of talent. By the end, I even fell asleep in the water.
I must have passed out. When I woke up, I found myself lying on the lounge chair that Yaoyao had placed in the glass room before. A thick blanket was draped over me. The sun was already setting, leaving only a faint glow. Behind me, I could hear the joyful sounds of many girls.
I knew they had brought ingredients for a barbecue feast, so I didn't rush to get up, lest I be asked to thread skewers. I lay there with my eyes half-closed for a while. Then, a girl walked over. I glanced sideways and saw it was the fox demon, wearing a swimsuit.
“Boss, you’re awake?” the fox demon sat on a small stool next to me and put her half-smoked cigarette into my mouth.
I took a shallow puff, but my lungs felt like they were about to explode. I quickly gestured for her to take the cigarette away.
“Internal injury? Or what?” the fox demon asked, helping me sit up and patting my back.
“It’s just that the body has undergone a purification,” Chu Qi’s voice chimed in. “So it can’t tolerate the stimulation of cigarettes for now. A couple more puffs and it’ll be fine—if he doesn’t plan to quit.”
Thank goodness, thank goodness, it was purification, not cleansing.
But to be safe, I lifted the blanket to check. Indeed, everything was fine.
I got out of the water and put on my slippers. My entire body was exhausted, like I had just spent a whole day in a sauna. I felt both drained and weak. Even my vision and hearing seemed to be affected. kuAiδugg
“Want some water?” the fox demon asked solicitously.
“Mmm…”
The fox demon went to get water. I took a moment to compose myself, shook my head, picked up the cigarette she had left on the edge of the ashtray, and took two more puffs, inhaling slowly. Finally, I didn’t cough anymore. A few seconds later, the nicotine hit my brain, and my vision and hearing began to recover. This wasn’t because nicotine is invigorating; it never has been. It was simply because my body, as Chu Qi had said, had just undergone a thorough purification, triggering a nicotine withdrawal response.
Normally, the human body takes seven days to complete a purification. I had accomplished it in about an hour through the devilish training. It was equivalent to not smoking for seven days, which explained the reaction I just had—a normal response to sudden smoking cessation.
My body doesn’t need to quit smoking because the purification is fast. Toxins from cigarettes deposited in my body are quickly expelled and don’t accumulate or cause harm. Of course, quitting completely is better for health, but between a score of 98 and 100, I’d choose 98. Life shouldn't be too perfect.
The fox demon returned with a bottle of mineral water and a cup of juice, presumably from the automatic orange juice machine in the swimming pool lobby. It was quite fresh, just a little sour. After drinking a cup of orange juice, the water and sugar quickly replenished every part of my body. My stamina recovered somewhat. I tried standing up and walking, and found that the more I walked, the more comfortable I felt. Conversely, stopping made the soreness worse.
After greeting everyone, I walked through the “sea of flowers” and the “pool of wine and meat” back to the swimming pool. I took off my slippers and dived in. After a lap, my body was completely in optimal condition. I could even see with my own eyes that the muscles in my arms were more toned than before, and my skin had become much smoother.
This was probably what “external training of tendons, bones, and skin” meant. True external martial arts, like Iron Sand Palm, didn’t involve jamming hands into iron sand, making them black and dirty with calluses. Truly skilled practitioners of Iron Sand Palm would have hands that were white and tender. For men, their hands would be like a woman's; for women, their hands would become perfectly delicate. That’s what external martial arts were about!
Shen Xingyue told me this. She was a martial arts master, but at the time I half-believed her, treating it as martial world gossip and not taking it to heart. Now, with my own experience, and having just seen Chu Qi’s small, beautiful feet capable of breaking bricks and stones, I finally believed it.
After getting out of the water, the other demons were outside threading skewers, but the fox demon stayed by the edge, keeping me company.
“Why aren’t you helping with the work?” I asked with a smile.
The fox demon pouted. “They say my skewers have a fox smell, so they won’t let me help!”