Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Time slipped by, the situation in Songyi City grew increasingly tense, and even ordinary citizens could sense that something was wrong. The clashes between the three major gangs intensified considerably.

The Feihong Gang and the Nine Stars Gang gradually withdrew, abandoning most of their territories outside the city. They consolidated their wealth, and prepared to relocate their entire forces to other cities.

The esteemed families backing these two powers had relatively few members serving in the City Guard, so it was easy for them to pull out and leave. The Xing Family, however, was deeply tied to the City Guard and could not extricate itself so easily. But this was not entirely a bad thing.

For the Xing Family, this war was both a crisis and an opportunity. As long as they won this battle, held on to Songyi City, and seized the industries of the other esteemed families, they would become the city’s sole ruling clan.

The spring breeze swept through the land, and life stirred back to vitality. Yet people’s hearts were colder and more desolate than they had been in the depths of winter. Few pedestrians walked the streets. Baiwei Street had lost its usual bustle, and many stalls had shuttered and gone out of business.

Inside the Jade Pill Teahouse, business was exceptionally quiet. More than ten days had passed, and news of Baohe City falling to the rebel army had been deliberately spread by certain individuals. The city was gripped by panic, and few people had either the mood or the money to sit and listen to storytellers.

”Ah...” Manager Wu let out a sigh, his plump face drawn and haggard.

He was just an ordinary man, so the best choice in times of war was to stay quietly within the city. Fleeing with the crowd carried great risks, and the most likely outcome was becoming a displaced refugee or a corpse beneath a bandit’s blade. Even if one were fortunate enough to reach another city, starting over and finding a job capable of supporting one’s family would still be no easy task.

”Stop sighing already. My ears are getting calluses from hearing it. Here, have a drink and ease your worries,” said Xie Jiang with a smile as he poured Manager Wu a cup of wine.

”What do you think about my suggestion from last time? Are you interested in leaving with the Feihong Gang and heading to Bafang City? Bafang City is far more prosperous than Songyi City. With your abilities, finding a job there to make a living would be quite easy,” said Lin Zheyu, looking at Wu Yinghe.

Senior Brother Han could not withdraw early due to his sensitive status, so Lin Zheyu couldn’t do much. But Wu Yinghe was just an ordinary man, so leaving would be relatively simple for him.

As a member of the Feihong Gang, Lin Zheyu was allowed to leave with family in tow. Since he had none, he could offer a spot to Manager Wu. He did not have many close friends in Songyi City, and Jia Yanyong and the others were capable Feihong Gang members who did not need this quota.

”It’s not that easy. Most people from cities ravaged by war have already moved their entire families to Bafang City. It must be a complete mess there by now. Once there, life may not necessarily be any better than staying here in Songyi City.” Wu Yinghe shook his head, his face full of hesitation.

There had been a flood of messy rumors lately. People were saying that the rebel army was a righteous force, here to overthrow Great Wei’s tyranny and free the people from the oppression and exploitation of the esteemed families and the government. They promised a life of greater fairness and prosperity.

Wu Yinghe did not know whether to believe it. If the rebel army truly was a benevolent force, then staying in Songyi City might not be such a bad choice after all.

”There’s still time. Think it over slowly,” said Lin Zheyu, patting Wu Yinghe on the shoulder.

Lin Zheyu turned to Jia Yanyong and the others as he said, ”The evacuation plan for Songyi City has been finalized recently. There will be three waves of withdrawal. The first will be the esteemed families themselves, which doesn’t include us.”

In truth, he could have left with the first group, but Lin Zheyu had declined. He wanted to stay in Songyi City a while longer. For ordinary people, the collapse of order meant danger. But for someone like him, who had undergone two transformations of the Blood Qi Realm, the collapse of order meant opportunity. The greater the chaos, the more chances he would have to fish in troubled waters.

”The second wave will withdraw when the rebel army launches its attack on Guanning City. That group will consist of the families of gang members who wish to leave with the Feihong Gang. The exact time will be announced later. The third wave will evacuate just before the rebel army attacks Songyi City. At that point, aside from a few members, everyone else will leave.”

Lin Zheyu explained the evacuation plan to them. Although they had made preparations to withdraw, the esteemed families had not completely abandoned their businesses in Songyi City. The industries in Songyi City were the result of generations of effort. Once abandoned, rebuilding them to their current scale in another city would be nearly impossible.

Recovering even twenty to thirty percent of their former strength would already be considered fortunate. They planned to withdraw gradually, slowly giving up on certain interests. Even if Songyi City survived in the end, they would not suffer too heavy a loss. But the Xing Family was unlikely to let them have their way and would probably interfere.

”Spread the word later and start gathering a list of members willing to leave with us,” said Lin Zheyu to the group.

”Got it!” Jia Yanyong and the others nodded in agreement.

After finishing the last of the wine in the flask, they went to gather the gang members and collect the necessary information.

Back in his courtyard, Lin Zheyu began cultivating as usual. Over the past ten days, his strength had grown tremendously, and he was now not far from reaching perfection of the seventh stage in his Golden Goose Technique.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Blades of saber light flashed through the courtyard as the long saber moved in Lin Zheyu’s hands as though it were an extension of his arm. After months of rigorous training, his Sixfold Saber technique was also nearing perfection.

However, whether or not his saber technique reached perfection did not make a significant difference to Lin Zheyu’s combat strength. His main fighting style now relied on movement techniques far beyond those of ordinary men, paired with his saber techniques.

With the exquisite Golden Goose Technique as support, even an average saber technique could unleash terrifying power. Only when facing stronger martial artists or opponents with speed on par with his own would the level of his saber mastery become crucial.

After training continuously for more than 4 hours, Lin Zheyu stopped, breathing lightly.

[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]

[Name: Lin Zheyu]

[Origin Force: 0]

[Skills: Barbaric Ox Fist (Perfection), Sixfold Saber (Advanced Mastery: 10%), Golden Goose Technique (Seventh Stage: 83%), Ten Thousand Troop Steps (Fourth Stage: 97%), Poison King Body (First Stage: 0%), Tortoise Breath Grand Method (Third Stage: 4%)]

”Almost there. In another ten days, I’ll have accumulated enough Origin Force to break through to the third transformation of blood qi and reach Tiger Transformation,” murmured Lin Zheyu as he looked at the data in his mind.

After reaching the second transformation of blood qi, every three times he pushed past his limits, his Origin Force increased by two units, greatly accelerating his accumulation speed. However, the difficulty of advancing his realm had increased accordingly.

Now, a single unit of Origin Force required the use of herbs for eight sets of Blood-Nourishing Bone-Fortifying Decoction, which could raise his progress by about 9%. Fortunately, he had earned quite a bit of silver recently through techniques and Blood Pills, or he would never have been able to sustain such expenses.

Lin Zheyu had never expected Blood Pills to be so valuable, selling for as much as 400 taels of silver. In his view, Blood Pills lost much of their usefulness after breaking into the Blood Qi Realm, so he had assumed they would fetch at most 200 taels, which he already considered a high price. But Senior Brother Han had offered 40 taels of gold for each outright, which was 400 taels of silver. That was no small sum.

Purchasing techniques and Blood Pills had nearly exhausted Senior Brother Han’s savings, much of which came from his entire family. In the end, Lin Zheyu gave Senior Brother Han several rare poisons from his collection and, after much persuasion, convinced him to accept them for free. Otherwise, earning so much money from Senior Brother Han would have made Lin Zheyu feel as though he were taking advantage of him.

Senior Brother Han really has it tough, having so many people to support. Lin Zheyu sighed softly.

One of the main reasons he had never wanted to start a family was the fear that, in times of danger, he would lack the strength to protect them. If he remained alone, he would have far fewer concerns.

”Once my strength reaches the third transformation of blood qi, I’ll head into Lion Valley and seize more Blood Pills,” muttered Lin Zheyu to himself.

After achieving the third transformation of blood qi, he would stand among the top experts in Songyi City. With his mastery of lightness techniques, even if he encountered those black-and-red-robed members of the Nine Nether Sect, he could easily escape, and might even kill a few.

Swarm tactics no longer worked on someone of his level. To deal with Lin Zheyu, one would either need overwhelming strength to crush him outright or superior lightness techniques capable of matching his speed.

Knock, knock, knock.

As dusk settled, knocking came from the door. When he opened it, a servant of the Xu Family was standing there.

”Master Lin, Young Master Xu requests your presence,” said the servant respectfully.

”All right. I’ll be there shortly.”

Lin Zheyu changed his clothes and went to Funing Garden. The garden was quite lively today, with Ren Qingfeng, Chen Xihong, Ren Qingying, Xu Yuxiang, and several others present. They were all young masters and ladies he was familiar with.

”Brother Lin, you’re here. Please, have a seat,” said Xu Qinyi with a smile, inviting Lin Zheyu to sit.

”Have you given it any thought, Brother Lin? Are you truly not leaving with us?” asked Xu Qinyi.