Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

”Miss, that Lord... Young Master Xiao has arrived,” the maidservant reported respectfully as she hurried in from outside the hall.

Her young mistress’s surname was also Xiao, so addressing someone else as ’lord’ in her presence somehow felt disrespectful. The instant the maidservant realized this, she hurriedly changed how she addressed him.

”Have him wait outside,” Xiao Yiqing said flatly without raising her head.

Vermilion flames radiated from her body, emanating such searing heat that the surrounding air faintly warped. Even from a considerable distance, the maidservant felt unbearably hot, as though her skin were about to be roasted.

”Yes, my lady.” The maidservant acknowledged the order and hurried away as though fleeing for her life.

Only after leaving the great hall did she breathe a soft sigh of relief. She quickly circulated her spell art and cast a frost spell on herself.

”My lady is becoming more and more powerful...” the maidservant murmured in awe.

The frost spell merely treated the symptoms rather than the cause, providing only brief relief from the heat. She hurriedly took a red medicinal pill from her storage pouch and swallowed it. Only then did the scorching sensation gradually subside. Xiao Yiqing had given her these medicinal pills to protect her from accidentally being injured by the Vermilion Bird aura emanating from her body.

”My lord, this way, please.”

After leaving the courtyard where Xiao Yiqing was staying, the maidservant respectfully led Lin Zheyu to a side hall used for receiving guests. Lin Zheyu followed behind her, quietly extending his perception to probe his surroundings.

Upon arriving at the side hall, he found only servants and maidservants inside. Xiao Yiqing herself was nowhere to be seen.

”Where is Senior Xiao Yiqing?” Lin Zheyu asked flatly, his brows furrowing slightly.

”Miss has reached a critical juncture in her cultivation, but she may emerge from seclusion at any moment. Please wait here for a while,” the maidservant replied respectfully.

”She summoned me here while she was in seclusion?” Lin Zheyu gazed coldly at the maidservant. The pressure emanating from him frightened her so badly that she began to tremble uncontrollably.

”Sometimes, inspiration comes without warning. It is not something one can control. Please wait a little longer, my lord. My lady will see you soon,” the maidservant said fearfully.

Lin Zheyu withdrew his imposing momentum qi and said flatly, ”You may leave for now.”

He was not in the habit of taking his anger out on the weak, and this lowly maidservant had no say in the matter. He waved her away, then found a place to sit.

Is she deliberately leaving me waiting in the hope that I’ll leave on my own, giving her an excuse? Or is it truly such a coincidence that inspiration struck just as I arrived? Lin Zheyu wondered to himself.

His expression remained calm, and he was not particularly angry. He had nothing else to do anyway, and the Ascension Assembly did not hold much value for him. Only its subsidiary venues, such as Forbidden Mountain and War God Hall, interested him somewhat. Once those venues opened, if Xiao Yiqing still refused to show herself, then he would no longer wait for her.

Time passed in a flash, and two days went by. Xiao Yiqing remained in seclusion, leaving Lin Zheyu alone in the side hall. Whenever he tried to leave, the young maidservant would appear and stop him. Since he was already here, Lin Zheyu decided to make the best of it. He had nothing important to attend to anyway, so he simply began cultivating on his own.

Although Wei Lixin’s understanding of the Shamanic Dao had been shallow during their previous discussion, the many classics of his family and his unique perspective as an Immortal Dao cultivator had still given Lin Zheyu some inspiration. Approaching the same subject from different perspectives and with different ways of thinking naturally produced different insights.

Lin Zheyu realized that analyzing and comprehending the Shamanic Dao solely from the perspective of Martial Dao had been far too narrow an approach. The same principle applied to demonic patterns. When studying the yao’s demonic patterns, he had consulted many Immortal Dao classics instead of relying entirely on the perspective of martial cultivation. In contrast, he had approached the Shamanic Dao almost exclusively from a Martial Dao perspective.

”Immortal Dao cultivators focus on cultivating the divine soul, so they have a very distinctive way of viewing everything in the world. To them, the divine soul is the foundation, while everything else is merely a tool. Dharma artifacts are tools, formations are tools, and even the laws of heaven and earth and their Dao resonance are tools. The same applies to the Shamanic Dao. From Wei Lixin’s perspective, its body-tempering aspects are worthless. What he values are its shamanic patterns.

”What he described was a method of applying the principles of artifact refinement to forge shamanic patterns into tools resembling dharma artifacts, thereby harnessing them for his own use. I wonder if I can do the same...” Lin Zheyu murmured.

The Immortal Dao cultivated the soul, while Martial Dao cultivated the body. Immortal cultivators were accustomed to approaching other cultivation systems through the principles of artifact refinement and adapting their methods for their own use. What about martial artists? Lin Zheyu reflected upon the process through which he had comprehended the Shamanic Dao. He had focused on how to integrate the Shamanic Dao into his physical body and make it a part of himself. The divine patterns were the result of this approach.

No, that would be neglecting the fundamentals in pursuit of something secondary. Martial cultivation is already ill-suited to cultivating the soul, and martial artists possess no great competence in artifact refinement. All their power resides in the physical body. However, I could still draw upon the artifact-refinement methods of the Immortal Dao... Lin Zheyu pondered silently.

Suddenly, a spark of inspiration burst within his mind. A trace of delight flashed through Lin Zheyu’s eyes as he slapped his storage pouch with his right hand, producing a formation disk.

Formation flags shot out and planted themselves around him, establishing a defensive formation in an instant. The flowers one tended with care might fail to bloom, while a casually planted willow might flourish. Such was the path of cultivation.

After returning from the Discussion Pavilion, Lin Zheyu had spent an entire night in secluded cultivation without comprehending anything of substance. Unexpectedly, now that he had begun cultivating merely to pass the time, inspiration came flooding into his mind without warning.

Once the formation was complete, Lin Zheyu eagerly immersed himself in cultivation. He forgot the passage of time and even where he was. His vast knowledge of the Immortal Dao collided with his understanding of the Shamanic Dao and martial cultivation, sending countless sparks of inspiration through his mind.

Dense golden divine patterns emerged across Lin Zheyu’s left arm. Under his control, they began simulating, testing, and refining the ideas appearing in his mind. The divine patterns had already become part of Lin Zheyu’s cultivation technique, so even the slightest modification could affect the entire system. For that reason, he deliberately confined his experiments to his left arm. If anything went wrong, he could simply cripple the arm and discard the divine patterns upon it.

***

Inside the hall where Xiao Yiqing was cultivating, waves of terrifyingly scorching aura radiated outward. The air distorted, forming the phantom of a mighty Vermilion Bird soaring with its wings spread wide.

A soundless cry that shook the mind and pierced the depths of the soul suddenly emanated from the great hall. The maidservants and guards stationed outside instantly lost control of their minds as a wisp of vermilion flame ignited within their souls. Their skin began to redden, and the phantom of a vermilion flame appeared in their eyes. It seemed as though they were about to be burned to ashes from the inside out.

However, a gentle breeze soon swept outward from the great hall. Although the breeze resembled a wave of heat, it brought a refreshing coolness as it washed over everyone.

”Mmm... Ahh...”

Everyone involuntarily moaned in pleasure. Immediately afterward, they collapsed limply to the ground as though all their strength had been drained away.

”Litte Han!” A calm voice came from within the hall. The maidservant waiting outside trembled slightly, then struggled to her feet and stumbled into the hall.

Inside the hall, Xiao Yiqing sat calmly to one side and raised her eyes toward the pale-faced maidservant. With a wave of her right hand, she sent a beam of red light into the maidservant’s body, restoring color to her face at a visible rate.

”Summon Xiao Yu to see me,” Xiao Yiqing said flatly.

Before the maidservant could leave, she asked curiously, ”How has he behaved these past few days?”

”My lady, during the first two days after Young Master Xiao arrived, he urged this servant to ask whether you had emerged from seclusion. After that, he stopped asking. This servant noticed that he set up a formation in the side hall, then sat cross-legged inside and quietly began cultivating,” the maidservant replied respectfully.

The corners of Xiao Yiqing’s lips curved upward, and an intrigued expression appeared on her face. ”Oh? What an interesting fellow. I’ll go take a look myself.”

After Woo Qianqian left, Xiao Yiqing had specifically investigated this martial artist named Xiao Yu and discovered several intriguing things about him. Xiao Yu’s origins were unknown, as was the provenance of his cultivation technique. From the moment he first appeared, he had displayed remarkable strength. Even at the Divine Repository realm, he possessed strength no weaker than Ji Ziyang of the Ji Family.

Even Tu Yuan of the Tu Family’s death was suspected to be closely connected to him. Later, Bai Lin introduced him to the Martial Alliance, and he became one of its members. After passing the Martial Alliance’s trial of the heart, it was confirmed that he truly hailed from Great Wei and was not a spy planted by another faction. He was suspected to be the disciple of a reclusive great expert.

Before even joining the Martial Alliance, Xiao Yu had already provoked members of the Woo Family and subsequently begun making a name for himself. In less than ten years, his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. It was rumored that he had now broken free of his third shackle. ℴ

”What an interesting little fellow. Not only is his rate of improvement astonishing, but he has also drawn such intense attention from the Woo Family. I would like to see for myself what he is capable of...” Xiao Yiqing murmured with a smile.