“Negative 200 degrees?!” Yang Hao was stunned. He had no idea where he could possibly find such an extreme temperature. He shouted again, “How do you expect me to figure this out? You didn’t tell me to prepare any refrigeration equipment! That’s absolute zero; it requires massive instrumentation to produce!”
Heyuanzi was momentarily taken aback, realizing he had probably messed up again, and feigned innocence. “Didn’t I mention that you should prepare refrigeration equipment? Or did I really forget to say that?”
“Of course you didn’t!” Yang Hao’s face darkened.
“Oh… I see.”
“What do you mean ‘I see’?”
“I’ve always suspected I had Alzheimer’s,” Heyuanzi said with a sheepish grin. “Now it seems like it might actually be true. I admit it—I’m old, thousands of years old, and senile.”
“Don’t play pitiful!” Yang Hao knew this guy too well. Although Heyuanzi was indeed thousands of years old, as a cultivator, his mind was sharper than most.
“Well then, why don’t we just try again in a few days after we find the equipment?” Heyuanzi quickly gave up his rare moment of diligence. “Come to think of it, I’m really sleepy now…”
“No sleeping!” Yang Hao furrowed his brow and shouted like a ghost had appeared, “I’ve got an idea! I really am a genius.”
“Good boy, you’ve learned my secret technique,” Heyuanzi said proudly. “You’ve even started boasting about yourself now. That’s the ultimate martial art of our Dan-Ding dual cultivation sect. With this skill, you can defeat all comers across the world.”
Before Heyuanzi could finish speaking, Yang Hao drew a short sword from behind him with a clang. Instantly, a wave of cold air filled the entire room.
This was one of Yang Hao’s five flying swords, commonly known as Ice Blade.
“You once said that each of my five swords has enhanced attributes. This Ice Blade has an ice-attribute enhancement. If I use it, can it lower the temperature of the cauldron to the absolute zero of -200 degrees?” Yang Hao mused.
Heyuanzi was silent for a long time after hearing this, creating an almost suffocating atmosphere. After a very long while, Heyuanzi finally yawned.
“Well?” Yang Hao had assumed Heyuanzi was deep in thought, so he hadn’t dared to interrupt, finally asking impatiently.
“What ‘well’?” Heyuanzi hadn’t been thinking at all—he had simply dozed off and just woken up. “If you’ve figured it out, then try it! I’ve always told you to try things often. Don’t fear explosions or poisoning!”
With such a irresponsible master, Yang Hao really felt he had bad luck. Knowing Heyuanzi was unreliable, Yang Hao had no choice but to try himself. He placed the Ice Blade on top of the cauldron. Before injecting his qi, he glanced worriedly at X13. The robot, as pessimistic as ever, had already hidden far away, clearly having no hope for Yang Hao.
Gathering his courage, Yang Hao shot a stream of qi toward the Ice Blade. However, he had only just learned to produce true fire, and his body couldn’t yet distinguish clearly between qi and true fire. In his panic, what he released was a burst of true flame, rushing toward the Ice Blade. The Ice Blade, with its frigid nature, couldn’t withstand the power of true fire. In an instant, the cauldron exploded with a thunderous roar, and the Ice Blade was blasted into the air. It spun several times and accurately struck X13, who was hiding behind a cabinet.
“I… knew… it…” X13 twitched a few times before collapsing to the ground with a thud, unconscious.
Yang Hao could only laugh bitterly as he scratched his singed hair. “Now what?”
“Now what?” Heyuanzi said fiercely, “Take off its anti-gravity device and sell it for scrap!”
“I meant, what about the alchemy?” Yang Hao walked over, pulled the Ice Blade out of X13, and kicked the robot aside. After all, these types of robots had self-repair systems—as long as the CPU wasn’t damaged, it would be fine.
“What else can you do?” Heyuanzi replied without hesitation, completely unfazed. No matter how many times Yang Hao’s swords exploded or flew around, none of it affected him. “Just keep trying.”
Thus, Yang Hao kept switching between qi and true fire, trying over a dozen times before finally understanding how to emit pure qi and how to produce true fire—an advancement in his personal cultivation. After going through countless hardships and nearly destroying all the furniture in the room, Yang Hao finally succeeded in refining his first batch of Ice Muscle Iron Body Ointment.
It was a blue, toothpaste-like substance sitting at the bottom of the Golden Essence Frost Cauldron. Looking at this blob, Yang Hao was moved to tears. He looked at X13, who had been struck by the Ice Blade six times but was still stubbornly repairing itself. “I’ll definitely compensate you next time. I’ll have Amanda install an even better anti-gravity device for you.”
X13’s speech functions hadn’t recovered yet, but it emitted a series of electronic beeps. From the tone, it was clearly filled with anger and disdain.
With the pill finally completed, Heyuanzi also finally woke up. He was quite satisfied with Yang Hao’s result. “Hmm, not bad. This is exactly the stuff. It’s a great product—even better than the legendary oil.”
“Legendary oil my foot!” Yang Hao remained skeptical of Heyuanzi’s ideas. “How can such a small amount protect me from harm?”
“You don’t understand anything!” Heyuanzi rambled on. “This Ice Muscle Iron Body Ointment is a treasure our Dan-Ding sect cultivators take when they go out looking for fun. Folklore says that as long as you have this ointment, no matter how weak you are, you’ll be as strong as steel, unfailing every time.”
“Really?” Yang Hao remained doubtful.
“Of course! I told you,” Heyuanzi continued enthusiastically, “this Ice Muscle Iron Body Ointment is refined from extremely cold and yin-like medicinal ingredients, and forged at a temperature of -200 degrees. When applied to the skin, it quickly increases blood flow to the area, freezing it solid and making it as hard as iron, completely numb and insensitive…” He became even more excited. “Didn’t I tell you? This ointment is also an auxiliary pill, with special functions.”
“What special functions?”
“Apply it to your arm,” Heyuanzi said slyly.
Yang Hao, probably too exhausted to think clearly, didn’t notice the strange tone in Heyuanzi’s voice and absentmindedly smeared the ointment on his arm. Immediately, he felt an intense chill. It was as if his entire arm had been thrown into a freezer, so cold that his teeth chattered, and his arm went completely numb.
“What kind of special function is this?” Yang Hao gritted his teeth in discomfort.
“X13, quickly cut his arm with a knife!” Heyuanzi shouted.
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