Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Night fell. The moon hung bright in the sparse sky, casting its silvery glow upon the land. Deep within the mountains and forests, a gentle breeze stirred, carrying with it the faint, metallic scent of blood. A group of men gathered, torches raised high, their flickering light illuminating the corpses scattered across the ground.

The Xing Family’s first elder had returned. His face was grim as he stared down at the bodies. The second and fifth elders, who had been perfectly fine earlier that day, now lay lifeless on the ground. Their bodies had been gnawed upon by wild beasts, and their faces were almost unrecognizable.

”Third Brother, have you found any clues?” the first elder asked coldly.

”The enemy used the Zhao Family’s Nightshade Orchid poison, but the second and fifth elders weren’t poisoned. The second elder was heavily injured first by a single leg strike, then decapitated. The fifth elder’s right arm was completely crippled. Before dying, he exchanged a single punch with the opponent. There were no other wounds on him; only his neck was twisted and broken. The one who struck must have been incredibly powerful; it’s definitely someone who is above the Tiger Transformation. Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible to defeat both elders so easily,” said the third elder grimly.

Losing two elders of the Blood Qi Realm at once, one of whom had already undergone the second transformation of blood qi, dealt a devastating blow to the Xing Family. Every martial artist who reached the Blood Qi Realm was rare, not to mention those who had advanced through one or two transformations.

”Could it have been multiple attackers working together?” asked the first elder in a low voice.

”No. The scene was damaged, but judging from the battle marks, there should have been only one person.” The third elder paused briefly before continuing, ”The Zhao Family doesn’t sell their Nightshade Orchid poison to outsiders. Given such strength and the use of that toxin, could it have been Zhao Guanhua?”

According to their gathered information, Zhao Guanhua was skilled in leg and fist techniques which matched perfectly with the injuries found on the second and fifth elders. As for the second elder being beheaded, that was normal. Even those not proficient with blades carried weapons when traveling.

”Clean up the bodies and bring them back. Third brother, send word to check the entry and exit records at the city gates for the past few days. Have our spies report on the movements of the top experts from the major families within the city! Hmph! To dare kill members of my Xing Family, do they really think we’re easy to trample?” The first elder’s expression darkened, his eyes filled with menace as he said, ”Record everyone who’s been out of the city or seems suspicious these past few days. I’ll deal with them personally.”

”Understood!” The third elder nodded in response.

***

After returning to Songyi City, Lin Zheyu went straight to the medicine shop and began buying medicinal herbs in bulk. Money existed to be spent; as long as his strength grew, earning more would only become easier.

After a quick disguise, he made his rounds through the city’s major medicine shops with practiced ease. In total, Lin Zheyu purchased 80 sets of herbs for the Blood-Nourishing Bone-Fortifying Decoction. It was just enough to bring his Golden Goose Technique to the perfection of the eighth stage and advance into the fourth transformation of blood qi.

After buying the herbs, he still had more than 3,600 taels of silver left. He could likely travel to a larger city and exchange them for a higher-grade cultivation technique.

I wonder how much it would cost to buy a technique capable of cultivating one’s blood qi to the Dragon Transformation, he pondered.

To reach the Dragon transformation of blood qi, talent and resources alone were not enough; a superior cultivation method was just as vital. If the technique was lacking, the efficiency of refining and compressing blood qi would be greatly reduced. The higher the purity of one’s blood qi, the more difficult it became to strengthen it further.

Take the Golden Goose Technique, for example. Once cultivated to the perfection of the eighth stage and the fourth transformation, it could barely advance further, making it almost impossible for the blood qi to undergo another qualitative change.

”Hopefully, there will be techniques that can help me reach the Dragon transformation of blood qi in the black markets of the big cities,” muttered Lin Zheyu, a trace of worry lingering in his heart.

He wasn’t afraid of the cost, only that he might not be able to find such a manual at all. Most of the manuals sold in public were ordinary ones. Truly advanced techniques were rarely offered for sale.

Anyone weak who possessed a superior manual would never dare sell it, as that would be courting death. And those strong enough to own one had no need for a few extra taels of silver. As a result, the cultivation techniques found on the black market were mostly mediocre. It was already rare to see one that could bring a person to the sixth transformation of blood qi. As for one that could cultivate blood qi to the ninth transformation, otherwise called the Dragon Transformation, that was almost unheard of.

He ground all the herbs he had purchased into fine powder, packing ten sets of the Blood-Nourishing Bone-Fortifying Decoction into one portion, creating eight portions in total. He was still short of 8 units of Origin Force to reach the perfection of the eighth stage of the Golden Goose Technique.

Previously, Lin Zheyu used 1 unit of Origin Force together with eight sets of Blood-Nourishing Bone-Fortifying Decoction herbs. After completing his training, he would replenish his blood qi through heavy meals. But now that he had money, he could afford to be more extravagant. With 1 unit of Origin Force and the medicinal strength of ten sets of Blood-Nourishing Bone-Fortifying Decoction herbs, he could fully restore his blood qi to its peak.

Four days later, at dawn. Lin Zheyu practiced martial arts in his courtyard while studying the Toxicology Codex. Over the past few days, he had not been staking out the entrance to Lion Valley. Having just ambushed and killed two Blood Qi Realm fighters from the Xing Family, the Xing Family would now surely be furious and searching everywhere for the killer.

After this lesson, the Xing Family would be much more cautious, and they might even send experts to follow him secretly. Lin Zheyu planned to wait a while until things cooled down and both the Xing Family and the Nine Nether Sect relaxed their guard before returning to stake out outside Lion Valley.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

In the courtyard, Lin Zheyu practiced shirtless, his muscles coiled and defined, and his form flowing with masculine grace. The Sixfold Saber was not an overbearing saber technique, and its style did not quite match the domineering fist momentum produced by the Barbaric Ox Fist. Therefore, when Lin Zheyu trained with the saber, he stopped forcing a domineering momentum onto the technique.

The Sixfold Saber was plain and unadorned, concise and crisp, with each movement solid and powerful. It emphasized harmony between saber and body, changing freely with the wielder. This saber technique valued agility and the shifting of force, and it complemented the Golden Goose Technique perfectly.

After training for more than 4 hours, Lin Zheyu stopped and picked up a towel from the stone table to wipe the sweat from his body.

Tonight the black market will open, so I will visit to see if I can find a more fierce and forceful saber technique, thought Lin Zheyu.

The Sixfold Saber was not a fierce, domineering art, so improving it would not help him much in understanding momentum. Now that he was wealthier, he could afford a decent Organ Forging Realm technique on the black market, as they only cost around 100 taels of silver, which was nothing to him. Last time he had wanted to buy one, but he had given up after visiting the black market several times without finding a suitable manual.

In the afternoon, Lu Ran went to an empty room that held a single wooden table in its center. On it lay various powdered medicines and the colorful corpses of small insects. These were the poisonous herbs and venomous insects Lin Zheyu had collected in Lion Valley and, after special processing, could be used to prepare poisons.

Holding his breath, Lin Zheyu followed the Toxicology Codex and carefully prepared narcotics and poison powders. The Nightshade Orchid he had obtained from the Zhao Family was nearly used up, with only a trace remaining. Such a small dose could only affect martial artists below the Blood Qi Realm.

Preparing poisons required extreme caution, or he might be poisoned himself before the concoction was even finished. The path of toxins was not as simple as imagined. Using poison was not merely a matter of tossing it at someone; one had to guard against self-contamination.

That was why the Toxicology Codex contained records on the Poison King’s Body. If one could cultivate the Poison King Body and become immune to all toxins, one could use poisons without restraint and become a true poison king.