Seeing Jiang Nan staring at her with wide eyes, unable to look away.
Zhong Yingxue hugged her arms, two blushes blooming on her pretty face.
“D… don’t you like it?”
Jiang Nan shook his head and let out a laugh.
“No. You look very cute today too.”
That made sense.
Given Snowy’s personality, how could she possibly wear a revealing swimsuit in a hot spring?
The wetsuit was cute in its own way.
Nightingale rolled her eyes and kicked Jiang Nan into the spicy side. “Go soak by yourself.”
“Come on, come on. We’re not letting him see. Let’s go soak.”
She pulled Zhong Yingxue, Xia Yao, and the others towards the clear broth side.
Jiang Nan surfaced from the spring with a splash, eyes sparkling brightly.
A surging wave of heat filled every part of his body. Dense spirit energy poured in from all directions.
His SSS+ talent fully kicked in at that moment, even forming a water vortex around him.
His level began to rise steadily.
The nearby old blokes all turned to stare.
A dry, hot energy from the spring water also flowed into his body, constantly strengthening it.
Bone density, flexibility, muscle firmness, everything improved.
Jiang Nan’s face lit up with excitement.
He had not expected much from the top-tier Mandarin Duck Pot’s body-strengthening effects, since he soaked in Dali all the time.
Yet the results were surprisingly good.
Hang on.
If both the spicy side and Dali strengthened the body, would combining them create something special?
He acted at once.
Jiang Nan raised a hand and released five spatial barriers, forming a ten-metre square bathtub.
This blocked the flow of spring water and stopped Dali 2.0 from leaking out.
He then took out two buckets of Dali 2.0 and poured them madly into the tub.
The glug-glug-glug sound immediately caught the attention of the anti-rubbing warden.
Her gaze shot over like lightning.
“What are you doing? Why are you adding water?”
Jiang Nan looked guilty. “Er, the broth is too thick and hot. I’m just diluting it a bit, haha, hahaha.”
The warden stared. Everyone else complains it isn’t thick enough, and you dilute it?
“As long as you don’t rub dead skin in there, do whatever you want.”
Jiang Nan grinned happily. He added a full hundred buckets of Dali to his makeshift tub.
He did not waste the empty buckets either. Behind the warden’s back, he filled a hundred buckets with the rich, spirit-energy-laden spicy broth and sneaked them into his void space.
That should sell for some money.
It hardly counted as stealing, right?
He had taken a hundred buckets of spicy broth.
But he had also poured in a hundred buckets of Dali 2.0.
It was just an exchange. And he had lost out on the deal.
Yes, exactly. No doubt about it.
Jiang Nan rubbed his little hands in excitement and slowly sank into the spiked tub.
The cooling energy from Dali 2.0 merged with the dry heat from the spicy pot, as if triggering a magical reaction.
It strengthened Jiang Nan’s body at a frantic pace, far beyond anything before.
Jiang Nan looked stunned.
This was truly one plus one equals three.
He had stumbled onto a new continent by accident.
He just had to keep the spiked water off his head.
Otherwise he would go bald.
He also had to control the soaking time strictly, or he would turn into a devilish muscle man.
That would not be worth it.
At that moment, Wu Liang finally emerged from the changing room in leopard-print tiny trunks.
He spotted Jiang Nan enjoying himself in the spicy side and grinned.
“Haha, South Bro, waited long enough.”
He came over and dove straight into Jiang Nan’s spiked tub.
Splash.
Jiang Nan: !!!
“Hey, hey, hey, bloody hell.”
But it was too late. Wu Liang surfaced, scooped up water, and washed his face.
Pfft, pfft.
“Haha. Feels great. This Mandarin Duck Pot is brilliant. What’s wrong, South Bro?”
Jiang Nan’s face paled a little. “N… nothing.”
Phew. That scared me.
Such a huge pool, and you dive right here?
My water is spiked.
Luckily Wu Liang was a loyal Dali user. Baldness was no issue for him.
His hair had never grown longer than an inch anyway.
Bald was bald.
That single dive had removed his eyebrows too.
Every bit of body hair had been perfectly stripped.
Hm. He probably would not mind.
Just two eyebrows.
Then Xiong Er arrived late, wearing little leopard trunks.
“Haha. South Bro. Watch my depth charge.”
He leapt high with a front flip and cannonballed towards Jiang Nan’s spiked tub.
Jiang Nan: “Hm? What depth… hiss, oh hell. Don’t jump.”
Splash.
Xiong Er hit the water, diving straight into the spiked tub. Water flew everywhere.
Jiang Nan hurriedly raised his last spatial barrier to block the splashes.
A single splash would make him bald.
Having escaped disaster, Jiang Nan breathed a sigh of relief, but then looked guilty.
Xiong Er burst up, puzzled.
“Huh? Why do I feel a bit cold?”
Jiang Nan: Σ(|||･᷄口･᷅)
Wu Liang: Σ(٥ﾟдﾟﾉ)ﾉ
Xiong Er was now completely smooth, skin fair and tender.
His round belly protruded, bald head gleaming. He looked exactly like a greasy middle-aged uncle.
Not a single strand of bear fur remained. The Dali 2.0-spiked water had removed it all.
Wu Liang stared. “B… because your fur suit came off. I knew it. You’re a human in a bear costume. Proven.”
This was no longer Xiong Er.
It was plainly a middle-aged uncle.
A bear went in, an uncle came out.
Jiang Nan covered his face. “I spiked it with Dali 2.0.”
Xiong Er’s eyes widened. He looked down at his round, pale belly.
It looked just like a beer belly.
A piercing scream echoed through the mountains.
“Ah. My original, factory-fitted bear fur.”
“My black, smooth, soft bear coat.”
(;´༎ຶ㉨༎ຶ`)
“Qiqi won’t like a bald bear.”
[Resentment +555 from Xiong Er!]
Jiang Nan: “I… it’s alright. It’ll grow back. Winter is nearly over. You won’t freeze.”
“If you’re bald, accept it.”
Still, Xiong Er without his bear coat looked far too much like a greasy uncle. It ruined the illusion.
No matter how upset he felt inside, he could not change the fact he was now a bald bear.
He could only cultivate while bald.
With Wu Liang and Xiong Er now in the tub, Jiang Nan worried the effect might weaken, so he added another two hundred buckets of Dali 2.0.
The three soaked until they were on the verge of becoming devil muscle men.
Then they left the tub to absorb spirit energy in the spicy pot.
By now all three had eaten Bangran Heart-Pounding Jumping Candy. They stunned themselves but gained ten times spirit energy absorption speed.
They even created three water vortices in the spicy pot.
They absorbed madly, turning the faces of the seven or eight old blokes pale with fright.
What sort of talent grades were these?
Beyond the alphabet, surely.
They had turned a perfectly good spicy pot into a tumble dryer.
The old blokes huddled trembling at the edge, terrified of being sucked in and washed.
Yet they could not even get angry. For some reason, looking at the three made their hearts race. They seemed so endearing.
The handsome lad and the muscled man were understandable.
But why did that chubby middle-aged uncle make my heart race too?
Something was definitely wrong.
It left the old blokes questioning their lives.
Even the anti-rubbing warden blushed, stealing glances at the three, feeling a shy flutter inside.
And this was only while Jiang Nan remained human.
If he had eaten Ai Hei Hei Garlic, it would not have been a tumble dryer, but a massive turbofan hydro generator.
Since the pool was not huge, only about five hundred metres across, the three soon absorbed all the spirit energy from the spicy side.
So two humans and one bear began leaping back and forth between the spicy area and the spiked tub.
Boom.
An explosion rang out. Spirit energy surged, water splashed. Jiang Nan, who had reached gold six only last week, broke through to gold seven.
Seeing Jiang Nan at gold seven, Wu Liang’s eyes reddened.
He was still gold five. He could not fall behind. He had to catch up.
Since the spicy pot water was packed with spirit energy, and soaking worked.
Then…
Wu Liang’s face twisted grimly. He steeled himself, opened his huge mouth, and gulped the spicy broth.
Slurp. Glug, glug, glug.
Jiang Nan: Σ(|||ﾟдﾟ)
“Mate. You… you’re drinking it now? This is bathwater. Do you have to try this hard? What does it even taste like?”
Wu Liang’s eyes gleamed. “Ha. Burp. External and internal use together. Won’t cultivation speed double? I’m a genius.”
“Nothing else. Just a bit salty. South Bro, want to try?”
Boom.
Another explosion. Wu Liang reached gold six. He laughed wildly and gulped more.
Jiang Nan was horrified, shaking his head like a rattle.
I would rather die than drink bathwater.
Long ago, Kuafu chased the sun and drank the Wei River dry.
Today, Wu Liang chases South and madly drinks bathwater.
You really are a beast.
Wu Kuafu, eh?
No, no. I need to soak faster.
Otherwise Wu Liang might drink the whole pool dry soon.
Wu Liang suddenly surfaced and spat out a mouthful of spring water.
“Huh? Why does this part taste a bit astringent?”
Xiong Er: (░´㉨`░)
“Xiong Da. Drink over there. That side isn’t astringent.”
Wu Liang: ???
Jiang Nan: (･᷄﹏･᷅) Yuck.
