Armipotent

Chapter 1975: Hot Bath

Grandmaster Xu Guanyu did not lie about the technique. Even during the cultivation, his mind was at peace. The worries about his team facing danger were gone, and his concerns about the God Order and the Nirvana Alliance were also gone. He achieved a peace of mind.

The sensation was addictive, and he went on. He forgot the time as he kept breathing, following the Essence of Tranquility Breathing. He absorbed even more energy, and the absorbed energy became stronger and purer.

Tang Shaoyang thought he was ready to open the first meridian because of how strong it was. He quickly found the answer that it was still not enough. There was this feeling that told him it would take him a while before he could open the first meridian. He did not force it, patiently doing the breathing.

When he thought he could do this forever, he smelled something unpleasant. He furrowed his brow because the smell was so bad. The smell was so bad that he almost ruined his cultivation, yet he endured. If he had to describe the smell, it was rotten, putrid, and musty.

If he had to picture where the smell came from, it would be the smell of a corpse covered in spoiled milk. That was the description he came up with, even though he never smelled a dead body covered in spoiled milk. He did not know why, but that was what appeared in his head.

Tang Shaoyang finished his cycle and opened his eyes. He expected a dead body covered in spoiled milk, but there was nothing in front of him. His nose stirred, trying to look for the source of this foul smell. To his surprise, the smell was coming from his own body.

He looked down at his body and found himself drenched in pitch black, slimy substance. It was wet and thick, and not just his body, but the substance was all over his body. Even on his scalp, as he felt his scalp was quite stiff. It did not stop there as he noticed the dried substances on the ground.

[Those are the impurities mentioned in the book. I don’t know if it would be smelly.] Vandir commented, seemingly taking a note for himself.

Tang Shaoyang’s face scrunched in disgust at his own smell. He stood up and burned the impurity with Chaos Flame, but he soon found out it was a mistake to burn those impurities. However, he just made things worse by burning the slimy substance.

The impurities were gone, but it left an even more unpleasant smell. That was right, he just amplified the smell of a rotten corpse with spoiled milk into a burning rotten corpse with spoiled milk. It was ten times worse, and it almost made him puke.

The idea of burning the impurity was so that he did not need to take a bath. The only place with a place to bathe was the main base, and he did not want to return to the main base this early. That was how he came up with the idea to burn the impurity with Chaos Flame. However, he did not consider the aftermath, the burning smell that was worse than the actual smell.

He created a water with his skill, Master Elemental Manipulation, and let the water pour onto him from above. The water helped a lot, but the smell lingered. It did not disappear along with the water. He continued pouring water for ten minutes, and it didn’t change. His body was still smelly.

"How the fuck do I get rid of this smell?" He let out his frustration because the smell was so foul.

[I don’t want to know what it smells like, so don’t summon me until you get rid of it!] Avyn and Zara were determined not to go through what Tang Shaoyang had endured. Just looking at Tang Shaoyang’s expression, they could tell the smell might be worse than they imagined.

[Me too! At least you must take a bath first before you can summon me!] Even Vandir, who was used to dealing with rotten corpses, didn’t want to know Tang Shaoyang’s body smell.

Washing his body with just water was not enough. He must take a bath with a proper bath with soap. He quickly realized that soap might be a luxury item in this abandoned world. He could not imagine people would bring the soap in their inventory.

"Or maybe they did bring some soap, especially the girls..."

Tang Shaoyang remembered that he always brought a bed and many lunch boxes made by his wife. There was a high possibility that the girls might bring soap with them.

[Or maybe you can check the city below you. You might find a bathroom with soap as well.]

The former Hurakan Commander Nikolas reminded his master that they were standing above a city that was still intact. Tang Shaoyang scanned the city with Chaos Eyes, seeing through the wall. The first place he checked was the palace, the biggest building right below the floating island.

It did not take long for him to find a bathhouse inside the palace. He did not hesitate to use Blink, moving through quickly. He did not need to navigate through the big palace because of his blink.

It was instant, he arrived in the bathhouse in no time as the hot steam hit him. That was right, it was a hot bath. He spotted a sign and recognized the words on it. He did not need System assistance because it was written in Chinese. The sign said to wash first before jumping into the basin.

The sign was so big that he could not help but look at the sign. He followed the arrow where it pointed, and he spotted a small stream that came from above. It looked like a natural shower. The most important thing was that he found soap there.

Tang Shaoyang did not waste his time. He threw off his dirty shirt and dashed toward the small waterfall. This was the happiest he had ever been when he took a bath. Usually, he showered out of necessity, keeping himself clean. This time he enjoyed the bath and felt so happy.

The soap was also a top-notch, with a pleasant fragrance and calming. He was surprised that a soap’s fragrance could have such an effect. After finishing washing his body, getting rid of the horrid smell, he submerged himself into the basin. He let out a loud moan that filled the bathhouse.

Tang Shaoyang leaned at the edge of the basin, resting there while closing his eyes. He never felt this way before taking a bath. He was relaxed, but his mind was clear and awake at the same time.

After a while, he opened his eyes and opened the Thousand Vows Pavilion’s Grandmasters Codex. He browsed all the techniques leisurely, searching for a potential technique for him. He started from the Breathing Technique, from the Intermediate Rank up to the Master Rank.

It was not just random browsing; he had something in mind. It was to look for a technique that could consolidate his Nine Heavenly Gates, something that related to Heavenly Energy. All this time, he was borrowing the Heavenly Energy from the four Heavenly Beasts, so he thought of working to get his own Heavenly Energy.

The reason was simple: he already knew that the Chaos Energy and the Heavenly Energy did not clash. In fact, the two types of energies started to work in harmony. The Chaos Energy empowered the technique he used with Heavenly Energy.

Alas, it was not as easy as he thought it would be. No breathing technique related to Heavenly Energy. There was a short description below the technique, telling him what to expect from the technique. That was how he could tell that no technique could help him generate Heavenly Energy without using the Nine Heavenly Gates.

However, he did find some interesting techniques that related to mystical creatures such as the Phoenix, Dragon, the legendary Kun and Peng, the Golden Crow, the Celestial Lion, and more. From all techniques related to the mythical creatures, he was more interested in Kun and Peng, the Dragon, and the Phoenix.

He was interested because Kun and Peng were actually legendary creatures from his country, and his knowledge about them was actually different from what the technique portrayed. Of course, it remained just as interesting as he browsed more techniques with ease.