Chapter 4 — Sun Burns and The Human Heater
The Freezing Morning
The world was completely frozen.
It was the darkest time of the night, just before the sun began to rise. The sky was not black anymore, but a deep, dark blue color. The stars were slowly fading away, hiding behind the coming light.
Long Tan stood in the small courtyard behind his wooden hut. The ground was covered in a layer of old, hard snow. It was frozen solid like rock. When he stepped, the ice crunched loudly under his boots. Crunch. Crunch.
The winter wind blew through the yard. It was sharp and cruel. It cut against his face like hundreds of tiny, invisible knives.
In the corner of the yard stood an old peach tree.
It was completely dead. Its bark was black and cracked. Its branches were twisted and dry. It had no leaves, no fruit, and no life. It looked like a skeleton's hand reaching up to the cold sky, begging for help that never came.
Long Tan stood in the shadow of this dead tree. He looked up at the horizon.
He took a deep breath. The air was so cold it hurt his nose. Then, he did something that looked crazy.
He began to take off his clothes.
First, he removed his heavy, patched winter coat. He dropped it on a dry stone.
Next, he took off his shirt.
He stood in the freezing snow wearing only his thin trousers.
His bare chest was exposed to the winter air. Immediately, his skin broke out in goosebumps. The wind tried to freeze his blood. His body shivered uncontrollably.
"If I cannot handle this cold, I cannot handle the power," he whispered to himself.
He closed his eyes. He stopped shivering by force of will. He focused on the strange knowledge inside his mind: the "Sun & Moon Refining Technique".
Swallowing the Fire
He began to breathe. It was a strange rhythm.
Inhale slowly through the nose… fill the stomach.
Hold the breath… let the energy settle.
Exhale hard through the mouth… push the waste out.
As he breathed, the sun began to peek over the mountains. The first ray of morning light hit the clouds.
Suddenly, Long Tan's body changed.
He did not feel the freezing wind anymore.
He felt Fire.
It didn't feel like warm sunshine on a beach. It felt like he had swallowed a mouthful of burning hot coals.
The heat started in his belly. It was heavy and hot.
Then, it rushed up to his chest.
Then, it exploded into his arms and legs.
It felt like his veins were filled with boiling soup instead of blood.
"Ugh!"
Long Tan gritted his teeth. His jaw was tight. His knees shook from the shock.
He thought about the rules of this world.
In the Qin Kingdom, becoming a martial artist was only for rich people.
Why? Because training exhausted the body.
To get strong muscles, you needed to eat pounds of beef and pork every day.
To heal your sore body, you needed expensive medicinal herbs and ginseng soups.
If a poor man like Long Tan tried to train hard without meat, he would just destroy his body. He would starve to death even faster.
But as the fire burned inside his veins, Long Tan understood the secret of this System.
"I don't need meat. I don't need herbs. I don't need money."
He realized the truth:
The Sun (Yang Energy) gave him pure power. It replaced the meat. It fueled his muscles with vitality.
The Moon (Yin Energy) gave him deep healing. It replaced the medicine. It fixed his tired bones.
"This technique uses the sky to feed me," Long Tan thought, amazed. "I can train without spending a single copper coin! I can become strong just by breathing!"
His skin turned bright red.
Sweat started to pour down his face. But the air was so cold, and his skin was so hot, that the sweat turned into steam instantly. Hiss.
He looked like a man made of red-hot iron, being forged in a furnace.
The Tree Drinks
Long Tan was in pain. The heat was too intense for his weak, skinny body.
He was not strong enough to hold all that power yet.
Thick red steam rose from his shoulders. This was the "Excessive Energy"—the extra heat his body was leaking out because it was too full.
Because he stood directly under the old peach tree, the steam did not fly away into the wind.
The red mist drifted up into the black, dead branches. It wrapped around the dry wood.
The tree seemed to wake up.
The dry wood was thirsty. It began to drink the red mist silently.
Long Tan was focused on his pain, so he did not see it. But deep inside the dead wood, a tiny miracle happened. A small spark of green life woke up deep inside the trunk. The tree was stealing his extra energy to save itself.
Suddenly, a clear sound rang inside his head.
Ding…
[Daily Cultivation Complete]
[Strength Increased: +10 Jin]
[Total Strength: 260 Jin]
Long Tan fell to his knees in the snow. He gasped for air, his chest heaving.
He felt exhausted, like he had run a hundred miles.
But he also felt different.
His muscles felt harder. His blood felt hot and thick. He felt alive.
The Crying Baby
Suddenly, a loud, sharp noise came from the wooden hut.
"Waaaah! Waaaah!"
It was the baby, Long Hao.
Long Tan stood up quickly. He didn't even look at his shirt. He didn't need it. His body was radiating heat like a burning stove.
He opened the wooden door and walked inside the house.
The inside of the hut was freezing cold. It was almost as cold as the outside.
The fire in the stove had died hours ago during the night. The windows had frost on the inside. The water bucket in the corner had a layer of ice on top.
Su Lan was lying on the bed. She was shaking under the thin blankets. Her face was very pale, almost blue.
Little San was curled up in a tight ball, shivering in his sleep.
Long Tan walked quickly to the small wooden crib in the corner.
The baby was crying because the cold air hurt his skin.
But as Long Tan stepped closer to the crib, the temperature in the room changed.
Waves of intense heat rolled off his body. It was like someone had opened an oven door.
The baby stopped crying instantly.
Long Hao opened his big, black eyes. He looked up at his father.
He didn't look scared.
He smiled. A small, toothless smile.
He reached his tiny hands toward Long Tan's bare chest, wanting to touch the wonderful warmth.
Long Tan reached down and picked up the baby. The little boy snuggled against Long Tan's bare, hot skin and sighed happily. He closed his eyes, comfortable at last.
The Human Heater
Su Lan woke up from the sound of movement. She rubbed her tired eyes.
She felt the warm air hitting her face.
"Tan...?" she whispered. Her teeth were chattering. Click-click-click. "Why... why is it warm in here?"
She sat up and looked at him. She saw him standing there without a shirt.
She reached out a trembling hand and touched his arm.
She gasped.
"Oh!"
She pulled her hand back. "You are boiling! You are so hot! It burns!"
Little San woke up too. He felt the heat coming from his father.
He crawled out from under his blanket. He looked like a sleepy caterpillar.
He scrambled across the bed and hugged Long Tan's leg tight.
"Father is warm..." Little San mumbled, pressing his frozen face against Long Tan's leg. "Like a heater... feels good."
Su Lan sat up fully. She was still shivering from the cold night. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Long Tan's waist. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"Oh..." she breathed out. "This feels so good."
They all huddled around him.
Long Tan stood in the middle of the freezing room, holding his family.
He was their human stove.
The heat from the martial art was flowing out of him, warming his wife and his children. It chased the deadly winter cold away from them.
"Tan," Su Lan asked softly, her voice muffled against his chest. "Why? Why are you like this? Are you sick with a fever?"
Long Tan looked down at his wife. He looked at his sons clinging to him.
He felt a surge of love and protection.
He smiled gently.
"No, Lan. I am not sick."
"Then what is this heat?"
"I had an enlightenment," he lied simply. "I realized I don't need money to train. I remembered a breathing method. I can use nature. I can use the sun. I have started my martial arts training again."
Su Lan looked up at him.
She was a simple village woman. She did not know what "enlightenment" really meant. She did not know about cultivation techniques or Qi.
But she felt the heat radiating from him.
She saw the strength in his arm holding the baby.
She saw that Little San and Long Hao were happy and warm.
She didn't need to understand the complex details.
She trusted him.
She smiled, a weak but happy smile. She nodded her head against his chest.
"Okay," she whispered, soaking up the warmth. "That is good. If you are strong, we are safe."
Long Tan hugged them all tighter.
His body was burning with the power of the Sun, but his heart was warm with the love of his family. For the first time, the cold winter didn't feel so scary.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
Did you enjoy the chapter?
If you like this story, please show your support! 👇
📚 Add to Library (So you don't lose the book!)
💎 Drop a Power Stone (It motivates me to write faster!)
✍️ Leave a Comment (I read them all!)
Thank you for supporting a new author! ❤️