Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Bang, bang, bang!

Intense collisions rang out across the martial arena. Lin Zheyu excelled in speed. Facing Xiao Shi, a genius ranked thirtieth on the Hidden Dragon List, if he could not overwhelm him with far superior strength and crush him outright, then he could only rely on the speed he excelled at to make up for the gap in combat experience between them.

As a genius of the War God Sect, Xiao Shi possessed terrifying combat talent. Although he was far inferior to Lin Zheyu in speed and movement techniques, close combat did not require exceptionally powerful footwork. Standing in place, relying on his formidable combat talent, he could handle Lin Zheyu’s attacks with ease through small-scale shifts and evasions.

His lightness and movement techniques are even stronger than the rumors say. How did he cultivate them!

Xiao Shi dealt calmly with Lin Zheyu’s assault, astonishment surging within him.

As the defending side, the movements he needed to evade were minimal. Unlike Lin Zheyu, whose lightness and movement techniques were extremely strong, the larger range of his motions inevitably left brief gaps for Xiao Shi to react. Relying on his powerful combat talent, Xiao Shi could easily predict Lin Zheyu’s attacks, then defend and counterattack.

In the past, even when facing martial artists skilled in speed and movement techniques, this method allowed Xiao Shi to win with ease. But against Lin Zheyu, it no longer worked. He discovered that Lin Zheyu’s speed had reached an astonishing level, and his control over his movement techniques was unbelievably agile.

As expected of a genius ranked thirtieth on the Hidden Dragon List. His strength is truly extraordinary.

The greatest gap between him and these geniuses lay in combat experience and the battle instincts forged over decades of fighting. There was no helping it. Lin Zheyu had cultivated for too short a time. Even though he treasured every opportunity to fight such geniuses and absorbed experience rapidly, compared to someone like Xiao Shi, a prodigy of the War God Sect, the disparity remained vast.

What a powerful spirit and spiritual soul. What terrifying perceptive and reactive ability, Jii Weicheng narrowed his eyes, astonishment rising within him.

Having once topped the Hidden Dragon List, Jii Weicheng discerned something interesting from the brief exchange just now. Lin Zheyu’s combat awareness was decent, yet far inferior to a top genius like Xiao Shi. However, his spirit and spiritual soul were extraordinarily powerful, causing his perception and reactions to become equally formidable, compensating for his lack of combat experience. With his powerful spiritual perception, Lin Zheyu could respond and counter swiftly, appearing as though he possessed exceptional combat talent as well.

But Jii Weicheng immediately sensed something amiss. Lin Zheyu’s attacks, evasions, and blocks differed greatly from those of martial artists who were born with powerful combat talent. There was a certain abruptness to them. With Jii Weicheng’s insight and experience, he quickly guessed the reason.

With such a powerful spirit and spiritual soul, no wonder his strength improves so quickly. I wonder whether it is an innate spiritual gift or a later fortuitous encounter that granted him such formidable spiritual perception.

When he had previously learned that Lin Zheyu possessed exceptional martial talent and comprehension, he had remained calm. But now, upon realizing that Lin Zheyu’s spirit and spiritual soul had grown to such a level, even Jii Weicheng’s cultivated composure could not suppress a trace of envy. Strengthening one’s spirit and spiritual soul was extremely difficult.

When martial artists condensed true intent, aside from using it to cultivate true strength, another crucial function was to temper the spirit and strengthen the spiritual soul through that condensation. The process of forming true intent was also the process of refining and empowering the spirit and spiritual soul. Yet Lin Zheyu was only at the Marrow Refining realm. It had been less than two years since he condensed true intent, and his spirit and spiritual soul had already grown to such a degree. It was simply unbelievable.

I wonder if he has cultivated a soul secret art... That should be impossible... Leaving aside the extreme difficulty of cultivating soul secret arts, before advancing to the Force Transformation realm, it is almost impossible to practice them. Even if one could, their effects would not be this strong. The soul secret arts that martial artists can cultivate all require a long time, painstakingly polishing and refining over the years, to grow stronger. It would take at least a dozen or twenty years to see results.

Jii Weicheng looked at Lin Zheyu, his feelings complicated.

His usually tranquil state of mind was almost shaken. Fortunately, Jii Weicheng quickly cast aside his stray thoughts and regained his usual calm and refined demeanor.

***

Bang, bang, bang!

Lin Zheyu’s Great Strength Vajra Fist was incomparably fierce. Even though he deliberately suppressed his strength, Xiao Shi still felt as though he could barely withstand it. Thanks to the Dominance true intent and the Tortoise Breath true intent, two entirely different true intents that subtly aligned with the essence of the Great Strength Vajra Fist, Lin Zheyu was able to unleash the formidable power of this technique.

At the same time, combined with his superb lightness and movement techniques, the already hard-to-withstand Great Strength Vajra Fist became even more difficult to deal with. Xiao Shi exerted every ounce of his ability and dared not relax in the slightest. The Berserk true intent unique to the War God Sect was pushed to its limit. Relying on his powerful combat talent and battle awareness, he resisted Lin Zheyu’s assault with extremely tight defense. Though his expression was grave, there was no trace of panic in his eyes, only blazing brilliance. It was not only Lin Zheyu who was absorbing his opponent’s combat experience through this fight.

Xiao Shi likewise intended to use Lin Zheyu as a whetstone to break through his own limits. He had been stuck at thirtieth place on the Hidden Dragon List for a long time, his strength unable to improve. In this battle with Lin Zheyu, the latter’s masterful lightness and movement techniques gave him a completely different experience. Xiao Shi had a feeling that after this fight, he might achieve a breakthrough. The entire martial arena fell silent. Aside from the sounds of combat, everyone held their breath, eyes fixed tightly on the two figures at the center of the battlefield, afraid of missing even a single brilliant moment. The battle was simply too spectacular.

Bang!

Xiao Shi’s eye was extremely sharp. He suddenly seized a fleeting opening in Lin Zheyu’s defense, his right foot shooting out like a spike and piercing straight through, striking Lin Zheyu in the chest. After taking the blow, Lin Zheyu borrowed the force and swiftly retreated to widen the distance. Xiao Shi did not press the advantage. Instead, he remained where he was, breathing heavily and using the brief respite to quickly regulate his aura.

Lin Zheyu halted his movement and patted the spot on his chest where he had been struck. He felt no pain whatsoever. That blow from Xiao Shi was even weaker than the pain he had felt earlier when he lost control after bursting past the speed of sound and crashed into a tree.

Too weak... His combat talent is strong, but that is all. Even the most skillful cook cannot prepare a feast without ingredients. Without strength as a foundation, when facing an opponent far beyond oneself, no matter how powerful the combat talent or how astonishing the battle awareness, it is useless.

Combat talent and battle awareness were merely embellishments. They could only shine when facing opponents of the same level. Against someone stronger, their effect diminished greatly.

”You truly are strong! If we give you a few more years to grow, you will have a great chance to contend for first place on the Hidden Dragon List,” Xiao Shi stared at Lin Zheyu and said solemnly when he saw how relaxed he appeared.

That kick of his had been extremely powerful. The instant it landed, Xiao Shi felt as though he had struck unbreakable metal. Not only had he failed to injure Lin Zheyu, but his own right foot had let out a crack as the hard bones in his toes suffered slight fractures. The shock in his heart was immense. Lin Zheyu had not only cultivated his lightness and movement techniques to perfection, but he had also trained in some body-refining technique to an exceedingly profound level.

”You are not bad either. But if this is all you have, then this battle ends here,” Lin Zheyu said.

He intended to end the fight. The earlier exchanges had allowed him to absorb considerable combat experience from Xiao Shi, but that was all. His strength far surpassed Xiao Shi’s. Although Xiao Shi possessed great combat talent, he could not exert enough pressure on him. Continuing the fight held little meaning. If Lin Zheyu wished to rapidly enrich his experience and sharpen his battle awareness, the best method was to seek opponents stronger than himself and use their overwhelming strength to force growth.

Strength is the foundation. Everything else is merely decoration. Let’s end this quickly.

He instantly cast aside the thought of using Xiao Shi to temper himself further. Compared to experience, strength was fundamental. Without sufficient strength, even the greatest combat talent was useless. Even if he stood still and allowed Xiao Shi to attack, Xiao Shi might not be able to break through his defense.

”Arrogant!”

”How shameless. Daring to speak so wildly before Senior Brother Xiao, he truly knows no bounds!”

”Damn it, I cannot stand this. After the fight, let me go up. I will beat him senseless and show him what reality is!”

Hearing Lin Zheyu’s brazen words, the silent martial arena instantly erupted into an uproar. The disciples of the War God Sect could no longer hold back. Terrifying battle intent surged from all sides, converging into a formidable wave.

”Silence! Have you no decorum?” Suddenly, a deep voice like a tolling bell exploded across the arena.

The clamorous arena fell silent at once. An expert of the War God Sect had stepped in to maintain order.

The Wuji Sect has truly found a treasure this time. This youngster is astonishing. Give him more than a decade, no, just a few years, and he might even ascend to the top of the Hidden Dragon List.

Luo Wu looked at Lin Zheyu and could not help but sigh inwardly.

Neither Xiao Shi nor Lin Zheyu paid any attention to the surrounding uproar or Luo Wu’s booming voice. Xiao Shi looked at Lin Zheyu and fell silent briefly. He did not feel Lin Zheyu’s words were arrogant in the slightest. After fighting for so long, he had already realized that Lin Zheyu had not used his full strength, while he himself had already displayed his strongest methods.

”Brother Lin, please use your full strength and let me witness your true power,” Xiao Shi said solemnly. He changed his form of address from Young Master Lin to Brother Lin.

”Very well.” Lin Zheyu nodded lightly.

However, he had no intention of truly using his full strength. If he did, one punch would be enough to blast Xiao Shi apart.

Boom!

The bluestone beneath his feet shattered explosively as Lin Zheyu’s speed surged once more. The Dominance true intent around him was pushed to its limit.

”So strong!”

Xiao Shi’s expression grew grave as he retreated swiftly, intending to use the backward momentum to dissipate the force of Lin Zheyu’s punch. Unfortunately, he was too slow. In the blink of an eye, Lin Zheyu had already reached him, and the terrifying fist came crashing down.

Boom!

Xiao Shi crossed his arms to block, blood qi surging within his body as he employed every force-dissipating technique he knew.

Crack.

In an instant, the sound of shattering bones came from his arms. The force of Lin Zheyu’s punch was astonishing, and Xiao Shi was blasted away.

Bang!

Luo Wu stepped forward and swiftly arrived behind Xiao Shi, catching him as he was blasted backward.

Pfft!

Under the violent surge of blood qi, Xiao Shi’s face flushed red, and he could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood. He hurriedly circulated his blood qi to regulate his inner breath. After quite some time, he finally suppressed the churning blood qi.