Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

”My defense has increased again. An ordinary fourth transformation martial artist will not be able to break through my defenses unless they use a technique that triggers an extraordinary burst.”

Lin Zheyu looked at the scratch on his arm and felt quite satisfied. Blood qi surged through his body, his muscles bulged, and a terrifying force erupted. Without using any blood qi burst technique, when he exerted his full strength, the dagger failed to pierce the skin of his arm.

His skin was like the tough hide of a ferocious beast; when a blade struck it, the sensation was as if it were hacking against an incredibly dense keratin layer. However, the weapon he used was only a common blade. If it were replaced with a razor-sharp divine weapon or the Golden Scale Saber, the outcome would be different.

The Golden Scale Saber was several times sharper than any ordinary weapon. Lin Zheyu had tested it with Little Black before; using only half of his strength, he could easily cut through its defense with the Golden Scale Saber. This was the superiority of a divine weapon.

”Not only has my defense improved, but my raw physical strength has also increased significantly through continuous tempering.”

Lin Zheyu threw a regular punch, and the ordinary wooden stake in the courtyard exploded apart. After entering the third stage of the Hundred Refinements Treasure Manual, his raw physical strength grew far more rapidly than in the previous two stages.

Lin Zheyu tested himself and found that his pure physical strength was nearly equivalent to 80% of what he could unleash with full blood qi when he was at the first stage of blood transformation. This was astonishing.

A martial artist in the Blood Qi Realm relied completely on blood qi, as their raw bodily strength alone was not very high. An ordinary fourth transformation martial artist had only about 20% of the explosive force used by a blood qi gauze martial artist when relying on pure physical strength.

Only after advancing to the Marrow Refining Realm, when martial cultivation was tempered into the bone and the body transformed from within, would the physique enter its next phase of rapid growth.

The Blood Qi Realm was a phase of accumulation, while the Marrow Refining Realm was a phase of metamorphosis. The more times one’s blood qi transformed, the stronger it became, and the greater the power after advancing to the Marrow Refining Realm.

What distinguished a Marrow Refining Realm martial artist from those in the Blood Qi Realm was the sheer strength of their physique, comparable to a humanoid beast. With a powerful body combined with blood qi, they could unleash strength far surpassing that of the Blood Qi Realm.

”Yan Jun’s strength was far weaker than I expected. Did he break into the Marrow Refining Realm at only the fourth transformation?”

Lin Zheyu tested his strength, felt the surging power within his body, and couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Yan Jun’s strength was truly disappointing. Back then, while holding onto Liang Song, he had relied solely on Ten Thousand Troop Steps, and yet still managed to shake him off.

He remembered how, when facing that powerful beast, he had to use every ounce of strength he had to survive. Only through making use of the terrain and the creature’s massive size had he truly managed to shake it off. Compared to that beast, Yan Jun was far too weak.

If I were outside Bafang City, with the Golden Scale Saber in hand, I should be able to kill Yan Jun.

In his heart, the urgency to advance to the Marrow Refining Realm weakened further. There was only one chance to temper martial arts into the marrow and transform one’s physique and bones; it could not be rushed. Otherwise, he would end up like Yan Jun.

Yan Jun, a long-established Marrow Refining Realm expert, was still this weak. It showed how greatly the number of blood qi transformations affected the strength of a Marrow Refining Realm martial artist.

In Lin Zheyu’s opinion, Yan Jun must have broken through the moment he reached the threshold, which explained why his strength was so lacking. He could only rely on his Heaven-Burning Saber and Wind Chasing Step to compensate for his insufficient innate strength.

***

After finishing his tests, Lin Zheyu took out the Toxicology Codex and continued studying it. Over the next few days, he planned to remain in the courtyard and wait for Liang Song to visit. But unfortunately, two days passed, and Liang Song still had not come. This struck Lin Zheyu as unusual.

How strange. Where did Master go? He wouldn’t be hiding again, would he?

Although he had helped Liang Song with his revenge, Forest Net Temple had lost three Blood Qi Realm experts in one stroke, so they would not let the matter go so easily. Liang Song was extremely low-key in Songyi City, and very few knew he had taken Lin Zheyu and Han Mo as disciples. Only those closest to him knew. But someone was bound to find out.

Yan Jun knew many things about Liang Song. If he passed the information to Forest Net Temple, and they followed the clues, they might really uncover the connection.

Is the master worried about this? Sigh, what a headache.

Lin Zheyu furrowed his brows. These esteemed families and major factions were always troublesome. Beat the small ones, and the older, stronger ones would always show up. It was irritating. He himself had no worries, since he lived alone with no attachments, but Han Mo’s family could be a problem.

It should be fine. Even fewer people knew that Senior Brother Han Mo was Master’s disciple, and even fewer relocated to Bafang City. Forest Net Temple may be powerful, but finding an informed person in the enormous Bafang City is no easy task.

Lin Zheyu shook his head, thinking he was overthinking. Songyi City had already fallen to the rebel army. Even if Forest Net Temple wanted to send people to investigate, the opportunity had already passed.

***

Time passed. In the blink of an eye, another two days went by. This time, Lin Zheyu stayed in the city for quite a long while. The tracking powder he had applied on Little Black had likely lost its effect, so finding Little Black the next time he went out would require quite a bit of effort.

Just as Lin Zheyu was preparing to leave the city to hunt, Liang Song finally arrived.

At dawn, the first ray of sunlight fell across the courtyard. On the stone table in the courtyard lay more than a dozen poisonous herbs, along with venomous insects, shed snake skins, and poison sacs from various creatures.

He had purchased all of these from the black market, spending over 1000 taels of silver. Researching, studying, and preparing poisons was not only laborious but also extremely costly. Poisons effective against the Marrow Refining Realm were frighteningly expensive, and the herbs needed for their preparation often started at a hundred taels each.

Knock, knock, knock.

A knocking sounded outside the house.

”Just a moment, I’m coming,” Lin Zheyu called out, carefully gathering the poisons on the stone table.

These poisons were extremely potent. Even he had to handle them with great caution, or he could be poisoned by the slightest mistake. A few minutes later, after putting everything away, he finally went to open the door.

Seeing the familiar face, Lin Zheyu called out in delight, ”Master!”

Liang Song patted Lin Zheyu’s chest and said with a smile, ”Good, you look much sturdier now.”

Liang Song had actually taught Lin Zheyu for less than half a year. He always felt he had not been a very competent master.

”Master, please come inside.”

Lin Zheyu welcomed Liang Song into the courtyard, retrieved tea leaves from inside the house, and began brewing tea.

Time flew by. It had been nearly a year since his master had left, yet when Lin Zheyu met Liang Song again as master and disciple, he felt no sense of distance whatsoever.

”Master, have you finished dealing with everything?” Lin Zheyu asked with a smile.

”It’s all settled, and I must thank you for your help this time. I never expected that the disciple I accepted on a whim would turn out to be not only a martial cultivation genius but also someone who would help me so much. The workings of the world truly are mysterious.”

Liang Song could not help sighing with emotion. He had originally taken Lin Zheyu as a disciple mainly because he found his temperament decent, liked his appearance, and enjoyed the stories he wrote. He had never expected that deliberate efforts would fail while an unintended act would bear fruit.

The revenge plan he had carefully devised had nearly failed due to his own impulsiveness. Yet the disciple he had taken by chance ended up helping him accomplish that revenge.

”Master, you are too polite. If not for you back then, I might still be struggling to survive in Songyi City and would not have the opportunities I have today,” Lin Zheyu said sincerely.

Every word came from the heart. Only after truly touching martial cultivation would one understand how difficult it was for an outsider to begin training. Even if one could buy a third-rate martial arts manual, reaching the peak of the Organ Forging Realm and breaking into the Blood Qi Realm would already be the limit.

Techniques for the Blood Qi Realm thereafter were even harder to come by. The black market did not allow Blood Qi Realm techniques to be openly sold. To obtain such techniques, one needed not only large amounts of money but also considerable luck. If not for Liang Song, Lin Zheyu might not have ever accumulated enough silver to buy a Blood Qi Realm technique.

”Hehe...” A gratified expression appeared on Liang Song’s face as he chuckled.