Chapter 59 Awakening

"You've accepted the Lord as your God?"

Hearing the four masters say this, Ye Yonglie subconsciously widened his eyes, suddenly feeling as though his own niche culture had abruptly gone mainstream.

"Yes," the master of the Maple Thunder Martial Arts Hall replied, clutching his nearly severed right arm with a look of pious reverence. "Lord Fang Can, relying solely on his strength at the second level of the Profound Gate, defeated thirty-five Heart-Phase martial artists in a single breath. Such grandeur is far beyond what our generation can ever hope to reach."

Nearby, the master of the Wild Beast Martial Arts Hall nodded in agreement, adding, "The martial arts techniques that our generation spent decades painstakingly honing were thoroughly mastered and integrated by him after exchanging blows for less than two incense-sticks of time. Such unmatched natural talent leaves me utterly and willingly convinced."

Through the accounts of the several masters, Ye Yonglie and the others gradually pieced together the events of Fang Can's day.

Under the condition of completely exhausted Heart-Phase energy, he had broken through the barrier of life and death at the second level of the Profound Gate, enduring relentless Heart-Phase attacks without a moment's rest to defeat dozens of martial artists back-to-back.

With such an astonishing combat record, it was no wonder that after the battle concluded, four of the defeated Heart-Phase martial artists had defected and sworn allegiance to Fang Can as their god.

"Then... what is the condition of Lord Fang Can?"

Yan Zhi looked at the Fang Can in Ye Yonglie's arms. He was completely stained with blood, with massive areas of fractured bones and dense, dark purple and black bruises exposed on his bare skin. One of his penetrating wounds was so severe that one could see straight through from his chest to his back.

Though his appearance seemed utterly wretched, his breathing was unfathomably deep and long, having fallen into a state of profound sleep with a remarkably peaceful expression.

"After defeating us, Lord Fang Can simply leaned against the side to rest and asked us to bring him back," the Maple Thunder master said.

Ye Yonglie nodded gently. After allowing the men to rest within the hall, he handed the unconscious Fang Can over to Ye Qingshi with the command: "You will bathe and change the Lord."

"Me?" Ye Qingshi found it hard to believe, wondering if her own father was speaking human words.

"Or would you rather have a man bathe the Lord?" Ye Yonglie demanded, his thick eyebrows knitting together furiously. "Are we even worthy?"

"Though you aren't worthy either, daughter, the conditions are harsh right now, so we can only temporarily wrong the Lord," Ye Yonglie declared.

Seeing this, Ye Qingshi could only grit her teeth and agree, well aware that trying to reason with her father at this moment was completely impossible.

Ever since pledging his faith to the god, her old man had completely degenerated into a devoted zealot of Fang Can, incapable of even speaking properly without mentioning him. Relying on him was out of the question.

Ye Qingshi looked at the people present.

Fang Can was unconscious, Yan Zhi was a fence-sitter blindly backing her father, and the remaining five were all hardcore Fang zealots. For a moment, she had no choice but to abandon her protests. A bath was just a bath—what was the big deal?

Grit-toothed, she hoisted Fang Can onto her back and carried him back to an ancient female bedchamber impervious to any detectors, where a bathing barrel had already been set up with Ye Yonglie's assistance.

Clumsily, she stripped away Fang Can's battle-damaged outer garments, revealing the densely packed, horrifying injuries crisscrossing his fair, taut muscles.

This sight directly moved her to lament that martial artists were absolute monsters. How could anyone survive such injuries? Furthermore, judging from the conversation between her father and the others, these were merely trivial scratches that had barely broken the skin.

"Still, his physique isn't half bad." Gazing at Fang Can's firm muscles, the young maiden subconsciously pressed her fingers against them.

Feeling the sensation of her delicate fingertips sinking slightly into the solid muscle, two rosy flushes bloomed on the maiden's cheeks. The tactile feedback was so addictive that it almost felt intoxicating.

This physique wasn't just "not bad"—it was absolute perfection, packed with solid muscle all over her beloved♡!

*Wait...*

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and her gaze drifted downward from Fang Can's fair chest, bypassing his distinct abdominal muscles to land squarely on a certain explicitly significant focal point.

*C-Could this... do I have to hand-wash this too?*

Ye Qingshi's mind involuntarily conjured up all sorts of scenarios, such as eating hot dogs, licking hot dogs, and swallowing hot dogs.

Merely imagining such imagery made the maiden feel as though her pure mind had been spiritually polluted.

"Ribbit! Forget it, strip him!"

With absolute determination, Ye Qingshi grabbed both sides of Fang Can's trousers and gave them a fierce yank.

"Whoa!"

Accompanied by a low roar, Fang Can bolted upright from the bed. By this time, the sky outside had already grown quite bright.

In his recent slumber, he had vaguely dreamt that he was being subjected to the ultimate humiliation by four dykes.

Those individuals had kneaded, massaged, caressed, and thoroughly toyed with every muscle on his body, including his hot dog.

*Dammit, was that nightmare or a wet dream?* Fang Can couldn't help feeling speechless.

"You're awake," a silvery, bell-like voice sounded beside his ear. Fang Can turned his head to see Ye Qingshi glaring at him with a blushing face.

"Yeah," Fang Can acknowledged softly, sensing that his previously shattered body had recovered seven or eight-tenths of its condition after a night of rest.

Of course, most importantly, through yesterday's battle, his strength had made tremendous leaps forward.

Name: Fang Can
Physique: 5.8 → 6.2
Spirit: 5.8 → 7.3
Qi: 5.8 → 6.2
Status Column:
Flesh Alienation: 21.8% → 37.5%
Materialized Cultivation Techniques: "Stolid Rock Contemplation", "Great Sun Undying Demonic Physique 1.1"
...

Gently clenching his fist, Fang Can could sense that his body was actually thinking.

This was no illusion; it was simply the result of yesterday's fierce combat, which had successfully enabled the flesh around Fang Can's heart to initially acquire neuron-like properties.

In other words, even if his brain were to fall into a state of shock, as long as his heart retained its hematopoietic function, he could transmit his thoughts throughout his entire body via his bloodstream.

Unless both of his vital vulnerabilities—the heart and the brain—were destroyed simultaneously, he would keep fighting on like the Terminator.

*The next step is to push further, transforming the cells throughout my entire body into flesh with neuron-like properties, until every single cell possesses the traits of all cells simultaneously,* Fang Can pondered inwardly.

*And there's also Stolid Rock Force...*

"Hey! Don't ignore me," Ye Qingshi grumbled resentfully from the side as Fang Can was lost in thought. "No matter what, I was the one who bathed you last night."

"Right, thanks. If there's ever a chance, I'll help wash you back," Fang Can remarked casually before getting out of bed and walking away under the maiden's dumbfounded gaze.

"Hey... No, are you out of your mind?"

Ye Qingshi completely lost her temper. If she hadn't personally measured him yesterday, she would have started suspecting whether this guy had been chemically castrated as well.

Stepping out of the courtyard, Fang Can saw several martial arts masters walking toward him, though their expressions were less than stellar.

"Did something happen?" Fang Can took the initiative to ask.

"I don't know who leaked the news that the Lord is here, but now rumors are spreading everywhere that Fang Can is at the Blazing Sun Martial Arts Hall," the Maple Thunder master said with an ugly expression.

Given Fang Can's resounding reputation across various nations right now, countless martial artists were rushing toward this place, hoping to gain prestige by crushing a genius.

Exposing Fang Can's whereabouts now directly pushed him into the eye of the storm.

After all, for many people, being able to snuff out a genius in the Transcending Mortal Body realm—one who was destined to reach the Ascending Heaven Path—was an intoxicatingly thrilling prospect.

"In other words, a massive wave of enemies is going to flood in soon?" The corners of Fang Can's lips curled up slightly.