Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Lin Zheyu seized the opportunity. With a thought, the Myriad Dragons Godslaying Art that he had been charging for some time erupted at once. More than a thousand long dragons wreathed in golden flames roared as they lunged toward Woo Jin. Woo Jin’s body stiffened slightly. Within his sea of consciousness, the roars of the fire dragons grew louder and louder, gradually forming a storm of will that swept his soul into its depths.

Although the Woo Family’s martial will was not particularly pure, their cultivation involved fusing with their bloodline powers and evolving toward the form of ancient Desolate Beasts. Their spirit and spiritual soul had long since undergone subtle changes, granting them far greater resistance to soul attacks than ordinary cultivators.

Under normal circumstances, Lin Zheyu’s attack would have caused Woo Jin only minor trouble. It could never have seriously injured him, and might not even have inflicted a light wound.

But now, caught off guard by the sudden Myriad Dragons Godslaying Art, Woo Jin’s spirit fell into a brief daze. By the time his mind cleared, all he could see was endless darkness and a silver-white saber radiance cleaving through it.

The saber radiance sank into the giant tiger’s head. Under Woo Jin’s disbelieving, terrified, unwilling, and venomous gaze, it split him cleanly in two.

With a thud, the massive body crashed heavily to the ground. The giant tiger form rapidly shrank, returning to human form in the blink of an eye.

Lin Zheyu looked down at the corpse and sighed. ”As expected of a veteran Nascent Soul realm expert backed by a major power. He was only at the early stage, yet he was much harder to kill than a rogue cultivator like Cao Hongchang.”

Those with powerful backgrounds were indeed different. They possessed one formidable secret art after another, something a rogue cultivator like Cao Hongchang could never compare to. Lin Zheyu had assumed that with strength comparable to the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm, dealing with Woo Jin after he lost the ability to teleport would be effortless. Unexpectedly, a single secret art had allowed Woo Jin’s momentum to soar directly to the level of the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm, instantly erasing the gap between them.

”Right, I forgot to test my body’s defensive strength just now. I shouldn’t have killed this guy so quickly,” Lin Zheyu muttered.

He had gotten carried away in the fight. With several secret arts working together, Woo Jin had ended up dead before Lin Zheyu knew it. Still, he had to admit that a soul-attack secret art like the Myriad Dragons Godslaying Art was exceptionally useful, especially when paired with Gods and Demons Extinguished.

As for Woo Jin, he was already dead, and testing his strength and defenses would hardly be difficult. Lin Zheyu could simply make a trip to the Chaotic Star Sea sometime, pick a Nascent Soul realm expert from any faction to spar with, and conveniently build up the Evilheart Sect’s reputation in the process.

With that thought, Lin Zheyu controlled Voidcleaver and stabbed Woo Jin’s two severed halves more than a hundred times in succession. Even if Woo Jin possessed some secret art for feigning death, there was no possible way he could still be alive now.

There are quite a few good things in these ruins. Unfortunately, I can’t stay here for the time being. With Woo Jin dead here, I might attract that Deity Transformation realm expert from the Woo Family. Better to leave while I can, Lin Zheyu thought.

With a thought, he directly stored Woo Jin’s body on the ground inside the Primordial Chaos Pool. He then struck the ground with his right palm, completely erasing all traces of the battle. After finishing, he disappeared as well, leaving only the man-height Primordial Chaos Pool behind.

Several breaths later, Lin Zheyu reappeared. With a wave of his right hand, he put away the Primordial Chaos Pool and swiftly vanished from the spot. Just now, he had entered the Primordial Chaos Pool and used Origin Force together with the demonic lake energy stored inside to remove the bloodline curse he had incurred from killing Woo Jin. After collecting the corpses of Fan Hongwei and Ling Feng and clearing away all traces left at the scene, he arrived at the exit of the ruins.

”Open!” Lin Zheyu shouted softly. Blood qi surged through his body as Voidcleaver slashed out with a whistle, striking the sealing grand formation.

Explosive rumbles echoed through the void as Lin Zheyu cleaved the sealing grand formation open with a single slash. For him, who possessed the spiritual Heavenly Eye and profound insight into formations, the sealing grand formation laid down by Ling Feng required nothing more than a single full-strength strike.

Fierce winds howled beyond the cliff as Lin Zheyu leaped out of the spatial rift. He glanced down at the rift below, a trace of regret flashing through his eyes. If only Fan Hongwei and his friend had died on this trip, things would have been easy enough to handle.

Unexpectedly, however, the Woo Family had become involved as well, and Lin Zheyu had even killed one of their members inside the ruins. An expert like Woo Jin would certainly have left word with the Woo Family before coming to this secret realm. Now that he was dead, Lin Zheyu could no longer stay here.

”I’ll be back.” Lin Zheyu looked at the rift below and spoke softly before turning around and vanishing in an instant.

***

In the Martial Realm, at the residence of the Woo Family. As Lin Zheyu left the Shamanic Clan Ruins, a tremendous disturbance was erupting. Inside the ancestral hall, family elder Woo Tianlei stood before Woo Jin’s soul lamp with an expression as dark as water. The terrifying momentum radiating from him pressed down on everyone in the ancestral hall, forcing them to hold their breath as their faces flushed red.

”Again and again. Could someone actually be targeting my Woo Family?” Woo Tianlei’s deep voice rang out, his expression frighteningly grim.

The death of an expert comparable to the Nascent Soul realm was an enormous loss for the Woo Family. Based on the intelligence the Woo Family had gathered, more than a dozen suspects surfaced in Woo Tianlei’s mind. Xiao Yu’s name was among them, though he ranked relatively low.

After all, on the surface, Xiao Yu was merely a talented martial artist who had only recently advanced to the Shackles realm. He should have posed no threat whatsoever to Woo Jin. Woo Tianlei only suspected him because Woo Jin’s trip had some connection to Xiao Yu, and because Xiao Yu was also closely linked to Woo Yiyan’s death.

”Tongyu! You will handle the family’s affairs for the time being. I’ll be back shortly. I will kill that murderer myself!” Woo Tianlei said in a deep voice.

This time, he intended to act personally and kill every last person who dared offend the Woo Family with overwhelming force. Regardless of whether Xiao Yu had anything to do with Woo Jin’s death, he was already on Woo Tianlei’s kill list. Before Woo Tongyu could respond, Woo Tianlei’s figure flickered and disappeared from everyone’s sight. Several elders exchanged glances, their expressions grave.

***

By the time Woo Tianlei pursued the trail to the Shamanic Clan Ruins, the culprit himself, Lin Zheyu, had already assumed another identity and arrived at the Chaotic Star Sea. He had no idea that Woo Jin’s death had enraged Woo Tianlei so thoroughly that the man had personally set out to eliminate a whole group of enemies with overwhelming force.

”Hm?”

Inside the Evilheart Sect’s main hall, every hair on Cao Hongchang’s body suddenly stood on end as towering demonic qi erupted from him. He abruptly turned and retreated at high speed, a ruthless glint flashing through his eyes as black mist instantly flooded the entire hall.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

Immediately afterward, fire crows wreathed in demonic flames condensed from the mist and prepared to pounce toward a corner of the hall.

”Is this how you welcome your sect master?” Lin Zheyu chuckled as he stepped out from the corner. ”Pretty novel.”

Completely unfazed, he extended his right hand and tapped at the fire crows one by one with his index finger. Each crow burst apart with a pop the moment he touched it, resembling fireworks exploding in the air and making for quite a pretty sight.

Watching Lin Zheyu casually use his fire crows as fireworks, Cao Hongchang’s brow twitched as frustration welled up inside him. He couldn’t help but wonder whether cooperating with this fellow in the first place had been a mistake.

”Ahem!” Cao Hongchang coughed twice, and the surrounding mist instantly vanished, denying Lin Zheyu the chance to keep playing with his fire crows.

”Didn’t you say you were leaving for a while? Why are you back so soon?” Cao Hongchang asked irritably.

He had been working himself ragged for the sect, running around and doing everything he could to expand its influence. He had only just returned from fighting outside and was trying to rest when Lin Zheyu gave him such a scare. There was no way he could be in a good mood.

”Oh, something unexpected happened, so I finished early. How is the sect’s expansion going? Have you run into any troublesome opponents who need me to step in?” Lin Zheyu asked with a smile, intense battle intent gleaming in his eyes.

His strength had just improved, and his battle with Woo Jin had left him unsatisfied. The man had died too quickly, preventing him from testing the limits of his current strength. He badly wanted to fight a genuine mid-stage Nascent Soul realm expert and experience their methods firsthand.

Seeing the eager, battle-hungry gleam in Lin Zheyu’s eyes, Cao Hongchang’s brow twitched again. He let out a long breath and suppressed the frustration and irritation in his heart.

”We can’t be impatient when expanding the sect. We need to proceed gradually. I know the sect master is extremely powerful and can even kill mid-stage Nascent Soul realm experts, but the situation in the Chaotic Star Sea is complicated. Strength alone isn’t enough to let us do whatever we please. If we act too recklessly, the other factions may unite against us. We need to proceed in several steps.

”First, we reclaim the businesses and territories the Evilheart Sect lost in the past. Second, we find suitable pretexts to annex the weaker sects and factions around us. Only then do we reveal our true intentions and strike with lightning speed to conquer forces comparable to our own,” Cao Hongchang explained patiently. For a demonic cultivator overlord like him, having to patiently explain all this was truly asking a lot.

”Oh, so that’s how it is. What a hassle. I’ll leave it to you, then. Work hard, and I won’t treat you poorly in the future. If you run into anyone you can’t deal with, just remember to notify me.” Lin Zheyu waved his hand and turned to leave.

Suddenly, his steps paused. ”Right, if you happen to provoke anyone at the late-stage Nascent Soul realm or above, forget what I just said. Pretend I don’t exist.”

With that, his figure vanished like a phantom.

Cao Hongchang stared at the spot where Lin Zheyu had disappeared. The corner of his mouth twitched before he let out a long sigh.