Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The flying daggers shot straight towards the ten soldiers forming the battle formation.

Clang, Clang, clang.

Qiao Quan’s figure darted rapidly as the spear in his hand turned into a blur, deflecting each of Lin Zheyu’s flying daggers one by one. After parrying more than twenty daggers in succession, his arm grew numb, and the web between his thumb and index finger split open.

What terrifying power! he thought as his arm trembled with numbness.

After several consecutive bursts, the special energy within Qiao Quan’s body began to weaken, and a foreboding premonition rose in his heart. He glanced at the soldiers around him and saw that something was terribly wrong. Their faces were turning ashen-blue, their eyes were growing vacant, and they were on the verge of collapse.

The formation consumed the soldiers’ essence, qi, and spirit. If sustained for too long, it would drain their very life force, leaving them exhausted and dead.

He won’t be able to last much longer, Lin Zheyu thought as he watched the soldiers’ complexions grow worse.

”Keep running. Why did you stop?” Lin Zheyu sneered coldly at Qiao Quan. He did not rush forward, wary that the man might suddenly release another cloud of poison powder.

”Hmph!”

Qiao Quan’s expression was unsightly, yet he was no coward. Since he could not escape, he would fight to the death. Even if it meant dying, he would make sure to tear a piece of flesh from his enemy before he fell!

Resolute malice surged in Qiao Quan’s heart as the aura around his body rose sharply. Essence, qi, and spirit drained rapidly from the soldiers’ bodies. Their faces turned deathly pale, foam spilled from their mouths, and they collapsed to the ground, powerless.

”What a sinister method. This battle formation is truly ominous!” muttered Lin Zheyu as he watched Qiao Quan’s aura rise sharply, his gaze narrowing.

It was not because the man was stronger, but because his methods were far too bizarre, resembling those of the demonic path. One soldier after another collapsed to the ground, their breaths faint as if their lives were hanging by a thread.

Meanwhile, Qiao Quan’s aura had reached its peak. Purple patterns spread across his entire body, and his eyes gleamed with a sinister purple intent. His expression was twisted into a hideous snarl.

After draining the soldiers of their essence, qi, and spirit, and with the battle formation’s bond broken, he now bore the burden of all the killing intent those ten veterans had accumulated through years of slaughter. The overwhelming killing intent corroded his mind and drove him into madness.

As Lin Zheyu watched Qiao Quan—his eyes blazing with mania, veins bulging, muscles swelling, and violet lines crawling across his skin—he remembered something Master Liang had once said:

”In this world, there are times when men are no more benevolent than yaos and demons.” Although he had never truly seen a demon, Lin Zheyu felt that the man before him was no different from one.

”Die! I’ll kill you! Kill you! Kill!” Qiao Quan bellowed with a twisted smile, the overwhelming killing intent drowning out his reason and driving him into utter frenzy.

Gripping his spear with both hands, Qiao Quan thrust it toward Lin Zheyu’s brow. With a sharp whistle, the spearhead arrived before Lin Zheyu in an instant. The terrifying killing intent poured down the length of the spear toward him. It carried the bloodlust of ten hardened veterans combined with Qiao Quan’s own.

Clang!

The blade intercepted the spear, producing a crisp clang. A domineering fist momentum surged from Lin Zheyu’s body, pressing back against the killing intent. In the clash between killing intent and fist momentum, Lin Zheyu gained the upper hand, making him value the power of fist momentum even more. His wrist twisted as he gripped the blade, sending the edge sliding along the spear toward Qiao Quan’s hand.

Buzz!

Qiao Quan gripped his spear and a surge of force burst from his hands. The weapon quivered violently and shook off the blade that had been pressed against it. But Lin Zheyu would never let him have his way. Exerting strength with his right hand, he threw the treasured blade, sending it whistling straight toward Qiao Quan’s chest.

Immediately after, he gripped the spear with both hands, his waist bursting with power as he unleashed a spinning kick toward Qiao Quan’s head.

What Lin Zheyu excelled at, and what carried the most destructive force, was still his leg technique. The explosive strength of his legs unleashed a power that was utterly shocking. Though Qiao Quan had fallen into madness, his combat instincts remained sharp. He dodged the sharp blade, tossed away his spear, and tried to turn and flee.

Lin Zheyu would not allow him to escape. Activating the Golden Goose Technique, he closed the distance in just a few seconds.

A series of muffled thuds rang out as Qiao Quan’s entire body was sent flying. He smashed through the trunks of several great trees before collapsing to the ground with blood spewing from his mouth.

”D-don’t... don’t kill me... No matter what... whatever you want... I will...” he stammered weakly as he regained a trace of reason after most of the energy within him had been consumed.

Lin Zheyu looked at him coldly, making no move to approach. He picked up the treasured blade from the ground and hurled it toward Qiao Quan.

Puff!

The blade sank into Qiao Quan’s chest, piercing his heart and ending his life once and for all. Qiao Quan’s clenched right hand finally slackened, revealing the white powder hidden within. Even in his last moments, he had been plotting to poison Lin Zheyu.

Poison again. Fortunately, I killed that one in the sneak attack earlier. Otherwise, one of them really might have gotten away, thought Lin Zheyu.

He knew little about poisons, and so he had to be on full alert when facing a poison expert. Although his strength had reached the Blood Qi Realm, it only meant he could endure a little longer than an ordinary man. Against a virulent poison, he too would be afflicted.

Once I return, I’ll find someone to systematically teach me about poisons. Even if I don’t use them against others, I must know how to deal with them, thought Lin Zheyu.

This battle had made him aware of many of his shortcomings.

”What kind of animal is this?”

Lin Zheyu lifted the Wind-Chasing Gray-Furred Marten, its body pierced through by a dagger and barely clinging to life. He did not recognize the creature. Judging from the actions of those men earlier, they had relied on this creature to track him. He casually tossed aside the lifeless little creature and strode toward the fallen soldiers.

”It’s time I send you on your way,” said Lin Zheyu, looking down at the ten soldiers.

Their faces were ashen, their eye sockets sunken, and their gazes hollow. Their breathing was faint, yet a sliver of life still lingered within them.

”Is this the result of overusing the formation? Their essence, qi, and spirit have been drained far beyond what their bodies can endure. Even if I spared them, they could not be saved.”

After a careful inspection, he shook his head faintly. A battle formation was not omnipotent. Overuse would lead to exhaustion of essence, qi, and spirit, ending in death. He picked up the soldiers’ fallen blades and ended their lives one by one, sparing them from further torment.

***

After counting carefully, Lin Zheyu tallied their numbers, muttering, ”One, two, three... nineteen in total. Hm? There’s still one missing?”

Before he had concealed himself, he had deliberately counted how many had come, to ensure none escaped his grasp.

”Oh, here you are. So you’re not dead yet.”

Lin Zheyu searched around and found a half-dead man hiding in a patch of grass. A dagger was embedded in the back of the man’s skull, lodged just four centimeters behind his ear. Blood poured down in streams. Despite suffering such a wound, the man had not died immediately and had even managed to crawl into the grass to hide.

”S-spare... spare... me... I... I have... an eighty... year old...” The man’s words broke off in a spray of blood. The burly man’s eyes went wide as he stared at the blade in his chest, then he fell silent forever.