Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

“Ah... Ahhh...”

Several screams echoed from below as a few bandits were struck by arrows and tumbled down, yet more figures rushed out of the forest.

Swoosh.

Two more flares shot into the sky in the distance, bursting into fireworks. Two other locations had also encountered powerful enemies. Lin Zheyu lifted his gaze, and his expression grew grave. Requests for aid were coming from every direction. The bandits could not possibly be this strong on their own; perhaps the Nine Stars Gang and the Wuding Gang had joined the fray as well.

We’ll hold this ground as best we can. We’ll fall back if things turn bad, thought Lin Zheyu.

Even more bandits poured out below, threatening to break through the defensive line. They had just sent men to support other fronts, leaving their own numbers stretched thin. With the traps and mechanisms failing to trigger and the enemy’s numbers overwhelming, the Feihong Gang members could barely keep up.

“Ha! Your grandpa’s here!”

“This grandpa’s coming too!”

Two burly men broke through the line and leapt up, the blades in their hands glinting coldly beneath the moonlight. They laughed wildly, brandishing their broadswords as they prepared to charge in.

Whoosh, whoosh.

Two arrows shot out like lightning under the moonlight, piercing the men’s throats with a wet thud. Their eyes went wide with shock, and before they could even steady themselves, the force of the arrows hurled them backward.

“Your grandpappy is her—”

Pffft.

Another figure leapt forward, but before he could even finish his taunt, an arrow pierced his throat clean through.

Lin Zheyu stood behind the Feihong Gang brothers, a barrel of arrows by his side. His right hand gripped another shaft as he stared coldly ahead. Whenever a bandit broke through the line and charged up, an arrow from his hand would shoot out and pierce their throat.

Lin Zheyu was not using throwing knives. Firstly, he did not have enough knives to spare. Secondly, throwing knives were too distinctive, making it easy for others to know who had struck. Arrows worked just as well, and once the enemy was dead, it could be blamed on the chaos of stray shafts.

Lin Zheyu was not skilled with archery. It was easier to hurl arrows as hidden weapons than to fire them from a bow or crossbow. By channeling blood qi into his arm, the force behind each shot was no weaker than that of a powerful crossbow.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The Feihong Gang brothers held their line against the endless wave of charging bandits, too busy to notice the arrows Lin Zheyu loosed from behind them. Bandits continued to break through the defenses and surge upward.

Those who managed to survive the Feihong Gang’s arrows and rush forward had no time to celebrate before Lin Zheyu’s shafts pierced them through. He did not aim solely for the throat. Some he shot through the head, and others through the heart, always targeting vital points.

Whoosh, whoosh.

Two more arrows flew in rapid succession, one burying itself in a man’s eye, and the other in his heart. Another bandit screamed as he tumbled down the steep slope.

“Are these bastards not afraid of dying?” muttered Lin Zheyu. He was growing numb from the killing.

In less than 5 minutes, he had killed at least 27 men, including two Organ Forging Realm experts, who seemed to throw their lives away like they were worthless. In the forest below, a burly man watched his brothers being cut down one after another, and his face darkened with frustration.

“Retreat! Fall back! Damn it! That Xu She tricked us! There’s an ambush up there!” The burly man bellowed the order, commanding everyone to withdraw.

This place was easy to defend and hard to assault; sheer numbers and brute strength alone could not break through. Their original plan was that even if Xu She deceived them, it would not matter so long as the trap and mechanism locations were accurate.

They would launch attacks from all fronts that night, drawing manpower away from the southern defense. Once forces were diverted, only a small number would remain, creating the perfect chance for a breakthrough. But the plan had failed.

They had sent two Organ Forging Realm experts and more than a dozen Bone Forging Realm experts, using the darkness and the cover of many brothers to charge forward. But to their shock, they were cut down by arrows the moment they reached the line.

To the burly man, it was obvious that plenty of defenders had been left behind. A small force was stationed to hold the front line and lure the bandits in, and once they broke through, hidden archers from the rear would slaughter them. A cunning plan indeed!

Damn it! They’re under attack on all four sides, with three fronts already calling for reinforcements, and yet they still left so many men here? Are they insane? Still, even so, the goal has been achieved.

If they’ve kept this many here, then the other lines must be understaffed and unable to hold against a full assault. It’s just a shame we can’t infiltrate from here and slaughter them from behind. He sighed inwardly, frustrated by how costly this raid had become.

At his command, the charging bandits retreated one after another, leaving behind dozens of bodies on the battlefield.

“They finally retreated... I thought we were done for this time.”

“Exactly. A bunch of those who broke through were shot dead the moment they did. Which brother was that fierce?”

“Not me. I was panicking and only focused on aiming at the bandits below.”

“Nor me.”

After driving the bandits back, the Feihong Gang brothers let out a sigh of relief and began to talk among themselves. Hong Cheng glanced around, his eyes falling on the quiver lying on the ground, then on Lin Zheyu, who stood at the edge of the line looking down the slope.

Could it have been Lord Lin? Hong Cheng frowned in doubt, then quickly shook his head as he thought, No, probably not. Lord Lin isn’t skilled with a bow.

There were several Bone Forging Realm experts charging up just now, and even an Organ Forging Realm expert. I’m not sure I could have shot them down myself, let alone Lord Lin. Maybe one of the brothers killed them amid the rain of arrows, thought Hong Cheng.

“Quiet. Return to your positions and stay on full alert,” ordered Lin Zheyu in a deep voice. “Those bandits might circle back for another strike. Do not lower your guard.”

“Yes, my lord!” the Feihong Gang brothers shouted in unison.

Having just repelled a fierce assault, their morale was far higher than before.

“Hong Cheng, I’m leaving this place in your hands. I’ll go check how the brothers at the other fronts are faring,” instructed Lin Zheyu.

“Yes, my lord,” replied Hong Cheng with a nod.

He almost wanted to say, “What can a mid-stage Bone Forging cultivator like you even do over there?” But after a moment’s hesitation, he held his tongue.

Lin Zheyu checked the hidden weapons and poison powder in his pouch. After confirming everything was in order, he gripped his saber and headed north. The crisis here had passed. With so many of their experts dead, the bandits likely wouldn’t launch another assault.

Lin Zheyu intended to check whether Jia Yanyong and the others were safe. In Songyi City, he had few real friends; Jia Yanyong, Xie Jiang, and Ning Hui were the three who counted. If something happened to them, too, there would be no one left to visit the pleasure houses with, and much of life’s fun would be gone.

Lin Zheyu arrived at the northern slope of Baishi Mountain, where Jia Yanyong and the others were stationed. The path along the way was a complete mess.

“Brother Lin! What are you doing here? How’s the area you’re in charge of?” asked Jia Yanyong in surprise, staring at Lin Zheyu.

“It’s fine. A group of bandits tried to launch a raid, but we repelled them. Didn’t you call for reinforcements here? Why are there so few people? Where did everyone else go?” asked Lin Zheyu, glancing around in confusion.

“The others went to support the eastern and western defense zones. They also sent out distress signals. At first, we ran into a living corpse here, but Lord Ren Jie lured it away. Now only those bandits outside remain, circling us without attacking.”

Jia Yanyong pointed toward the figures lurking beyond the line; they were bandits watching them like wolves yet making no move to strike. They were clearly there to pin his group down.

“Isn’t a living corpse supposed to be mindless? How is a living corpse working with the bandits?” asked Lin Zheyu in surprise.

“They lured it here with horses brimming with qi and blood. I don’t know how they managed it, though. Horses alone shouldn’t be enough to draw a living corpse from such a distance,” replied Jia Yanyong with a frown, clearly puzzled as well.

“Between Lord Ren Jie and the living corpse, who’s stronger?” asked Lin Zheyu curiously. If he could gauge the power difference between Ren Jie and the living corpse, he might be able to use it to measure how far he himself was from matching such a creature.

“Lord Ren Jie is very strong; he blasted the living corpse away with a single swing of his spiked club. But the creature’s body is like bronze and iron; he’s impervious to blades or weapons. Even after being hurled away, he wasn’t hurt at all and remained just as ferocious.

“If they fought head-on to the end, Lord Ren Jie would definitely lose. That’s why he had no choice but to lure the living corpse away. Lord Qiu was struck once by the creature’s palm. His chest turned black, and his body’s gone stiff. I don’t know if he’ll recover,” said Jia Yanyong.

If the living corpse could be sent flying by a single swing of Lord Ren Jie’s spiked club, then his strength couldn’t be too outrageous. What the living corpse truly relied on was his body of bronze and iron that’s impervious to blades and weapons, and the Baleful Yin poison he carried within.

Lin Zheyu thought silently to himself, forming a rough idea of the living corpse’s true power.

“Where are Xie Jiang and Ning Hui? I don’t see them anywhere.”

Lin Zheyu scanned the area but saw no sign of Xie Jiang or Ning Hui.

“They went east to reinforce the defenses there. There’s a stockpile there of tons of mined ore, refined pig iron[1], and forged weapons and tools. That’s what the bandits are really after,” said Jia Yanyong.

“As long as they’re fine, I’m relieved. I’ll go check on the other fronts. You hold this position and don’t do anything rash,” said Lin Zheyu with a smile.

“Don’t wander off. The battles to the east and west are still ongoing, and the rest of the place is a mess right now,” warned Jia Yanyong.

“It’s fine. I’m fast, and if things go bad, I’ll just turn around and run.”

Lin Zheyu waved his hand dismissively and walked off in the direction Ren Jie had gone. He wanted to follow and witness the power of the living corpse for himself.

1. Pig iron, or crude iron, is the initial product of smelting iron ore in a blast furnace and is an intermediate material used to make steel, cast iron, and wrought iron. ☜