Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 145: Chapter 118: The Taiyin Enters My Slumber, Realm Breakthrough

Wan Ze called up his data panel.

He was actually quite curious about how much Spiritual Form this adventure had consumed.

[Spiritual Form Remaining: 995%]

One adventure, four points.

Wan Ze breathed a sigh of relief. That was acceptable.

He turned and went back to his room.

This time, his goal was clear: to cultivate the Taiyin Breathing Technique.

He sat down cross-legged.

He deliberately positioned himself where the moonlight could shine on him.

Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful.

The Cultivation Technique didn’t budge an inch. He sat cross-legged on the floor, moonlight spilling over him. He felt its coolness, but as for absorbing it... he couldn’t even figure out where to begin.

’How strange...’

Wan Ze muttered to himself.

He had wasted twenty minutes. Even if he couldn’t absorb the moonlight, there should have at least been some kind of reaction.

He’d been practicing martial arts for a long time; it wasn’t like he’d never trained in a Breathing Technique before. In fact, his Thunderbolt Breathing Technique was already at the Ultimate level.

’It can’t be!’

’This shouldn’t be happening!’

’Unless...’

He suddenly realized something.

His heart skipped a beat.

He decisively activated his Spiritual Form.

’If I can’t do it in reality, what about in here!’

”Enter!”

BUZZ!

It was almost instantaneous.

A peculiar humming sound reached him.

A familiar hum.

The world before him seemed to tear in half and then piece itself back together.

The moment he stepped into this strange dimension, Wan Ze steadied his mind.

This time, he didn’t panic.

After his eyes adjusted to the crimson hue, he glanced at the flowing Moonlight at his feet. With a single thought, he began to silently practice the Taiyin Breathing Technique.

The task for the Taiyin Breathing Technique was to absorb a single wisp of Moonlight.

This time...

A smile suddenly touched Wan Ze’s eyes.

The Cultivation Technique... it moved.

It was no longer a pool of stagnant water.

As the Cultivation Technique circulated, it felt like a thread of qi was moving through his meridians. It was like a fine, gossamer filament, circling lightly but swiftly, possessing a certain rhythm that was impossible to describe in words.

Wan Ze focused his mind, carefully sensing the Moonlight being drawn toward him. It swirled around him, then began to climb rapidly up his wrists, which rested on his knees.

But...

The wisps of Moonlight seemed to have a life of their own. They coiled around him, probing cautiously and gliding over the surface of his skin, but they refused to seep inside.

It felt as if they were afraid to enter.

Wan Ze frowned.

’Not going in?’

’That won’t do!’

’I’m past the point of no return!’

’To get all the way to the door and not go in? What’s the point? Have I been posing here for nothing?’

Wan Ze increased his efforts.

The Moonlight became resistant.

He didn’t care if it was playing hard to get. ’You’re going in today whether you like it or not!’

They were at a stalemate.

Suddenly, Wan Ze remembered his Magic Sense.

That thing he’d obtained from Stealing Celestial Secret... he’d never really figured it out.

It was a vague, mysterious thing, incomprehensible in the real world.

But here...

’It might just work!’

The Taiyin Breathing Technique had already proven that.

So, without a second thought, Wan Ze directly activated his Magic Sense.

Instantly.

The world turned upside down.

It was no longer him actively pulling at the Moonlight. Instead, the wisps were ”frozen” in place as a miraculous power emanated from Wan Ze’s body.

It was like a school of fish encountering a terrifying leviathan and losing all instinct to flee.

They didn’t dare move, nor could they escape, standing perfectly still.

Wan Ze focused his will again.

A wisp of Moonlight obediently burrowed into his wrist.

It was cool and refreshing.

It felt like taking a sip of well water in the summer, like a withered tree finding new life in spring.

This coolness traveled along his meridians, sending a slight tremor through every part it reached.

’That’s it?’

’It actually worked!’

’Looks like anything can be tamed!’

...

[Illustrated Guide: Taiyin Breathing Technique] (Beginner Level Mastered)

[Effect: All Attributes +0.05]

[Skill Basic Satisfaction Conditions: Absorb ten wisps of Moonlight]

...

Wan Ze didn’t open his eyes.

Feeling the power suddenly surging through his body, he smiled faintly and continued to activate his Magic Sense, devouring the Moonlight in great gulps.

The second wisp, the third...

More and more.

Under the enhancement of Magic Sense.

The once-resistant Moonlight was now like an opened floodgate, rushing madly into his body in time with his breathing.

They followed the path of the Cultivation Technique’s circulation.

They were now completely docile.

Wan Ze was no longer surprised by such things.

Eyes closed, he frantically activated it.

With his dramatically heightened Perception, he could clearly feel the coolness moving through his body, seeping into his flesh, then attaching to his muscles and bones, and finally... slowly penetrating even deeper.

The Moonlight flowed in endlessly.

A pleasant sensation spread through Wan Ze’s entire body.

It was hard not to marvel at such a profound experience.

Magic Sense was like a key that had unlocked a previously closed door. Under Wan Ze’s Perception, the Moonlight circulated rapidly within him.

With every breath, a new batch entered while the old one had already integrated into his limbs and bones, transforming into a mysterious power.

Three wisps.

Eight wisps.

Ten wisps.

Suddenly, Wan Ze’s whole body trembled.

The Breathing Technique had completed its task silently.

...

[Illustrated Guide: Taiyin Breathing Technique] (Basic Mastered)

[Effect: All Attributes +0.08]

[Skill Intermediate Satisfaction Conditions: Absorb three hundred wisps of Moonlight]

...

But that wasn’t all.

Wan Ze felt something else...

It wasn’t in his flesh or bones, but deeper still.

He focused his mind and perceived.

It was his Five Viscera and Six Bowels!

This power erupted from his Five Viscera and Six Bowels.

The first to react were the Six Bowels...

Stomach, large intestine, small intestine, gallbladder, bladder, and sanjiao... The Moonlight gathered into a ball of energy, shot into them, stopped, and then began to purify them.

It was as if something was gently brushing the inner walls of his organs, clearing away years of accumulated impurities.

The process wasn’t painful at all.

Instead, it was an indescribable comfort.

Wan Ze felt light all over, and even his breathing became lighter.

Next were the Five Viscera.

’Wait, I’m Refining Viscera!’

Wan Ze was suddenly alarmed. Recalling Zhai Jia’s previous advice, he hastily controlled this power, directing it to penetrate his organs in the sequence of kidneys, lungs, liver, heart, and spleen.

In an instant, his Five Viscera were like water seeping into land that had been arid for far too long.

A quantitative change had triggered a complete qualitative transformation!

Wan Ze’s attribute values had already been boosted before, and now with this new benefit, he was on a completely different level.

In other words, he had reached the peak of the Blood Tempering Realm.

At this moment, this massive, condensed power began to surge deeper, rushing toward the very source of his blood.

Silently, his blood began to change completely.

Faintly.

His Five Viscera and Six Bowels resonated in unison.

Wan Ze opened his eyes.

He looked down at the back of his hand.

Beneath the blue veins, blood was flowing, but it was different than before.

He could feel the distinct change. His power had undergone a qualitative transformation.

’I broke through?’

Wan Ze’s voice was soft. He raised an eyebrow, an irrepressible smile on his face.

He looked...

[Illustrated Guide: Taiyin Breathing Technique] (Basic Mastered)

[New Effect: All Attributes +0.08]

[Skill Intermediate Satisfaction Conditions: Absorb three hundred wisps of Moonlight] (88/300)

...

[Cultivation: Refining Viscera·Inner Strength]

He glanced down again.

[Magic Sense Remaining: 2%]

’Perfect!’

It would be impossible to complete the Intermediate task with only 2% of Magic Sense left, so he might as well save a little for emergencies.

With a thought, Wan Ze unhesitatingly cut off the connection to his Spiritual Form.

SWISH!

The world flipped back.

The dizziness was still there, but it was much milder than last time.

He didn’t know if it was because he’d adapted to entering a second time, or because he had just broken through to a new Realm.

Wan Ze sat on a chair and caught his breath, not wasting time pondering the question.

This time, he called up his data panel and examined it carefully, admiring his status.

But suddenly, he froze.

The data panel now displayed—

...

[Illustrated Guide: Mystic Round Innate Qi Cultivation Technique] (Special Level Mastered)

[New Effect: All Attributes +0.08; Intelligence +0.04 (extra), Coordination +0.04 (extra)]

[Skill Ultimate Satisfaction Conditions: Deep Meditation for thirty hours] (Progress 0%)

...

’No wonder!’

No wonder he’d felt his Attributes surge three times just now.

Wan Ze stared intently at those few lines of text, not moving for a long time.

Previously, when he broke through with the Mystic Round Innate Qi Cultivation Technique, he had used the Stubborn Stone Effect from Stealing Celestial Secret.

A 100% Stubborn Stone Effect was only enough for one hour of Deep Meditation.

But to complete the three hours required for the Special Level task... by comparison, he would have had to spend three hundred points, and even that might not have been enough.

He never expected to complete it by sheer accident.

Wan Ze couldn’t help but grin.

He even laughed out loud.

”It really is... just when I thought I was lost, a path appeared.”

He continued reading down the list.

[Spiritual Form Remaining: 562%]

Over three hours... more than four hundred points.

The cost was painful.

But it was worth it.

Just mastering the Beginner and Basic levels of the Taiyin Breathing Technique had increased his All Attributes by 0.13. That was almost equivalent to two of his usual Ultimate tasks.

He let out a long breath.

Wan Ze leaned back against a cabinet door, staring at the bright moon outside the window.

’Such a powerful Breathing Technique...’

Wan Ze had to admit, he was thoroughly impressed.

...

「Several miles away.」

A manor house.

The night was deep and dark. The manor was hidden in the shadows of the trees, with only two or three lamps lit.

In the east wing, a young man sat silently.

The young man wore a mask that concealed most of his face, but one could still see his sharp, sword-like brows slanting up towards his temples and his clean, well-defined brow bone. His eyes were especially striking—his pupils were jet-black and his sclera were clear and bright, as if they held starlight.

”Hm?”

The young man suddenly sat up, looking toward the center of the river with surprise and uncertainty.

Outside the window, a figure flipped down from a tree, landing silently like a cat on cotton. As the figure drew closer, it was revealed to be a petite young woman, also wearing a mask, though hers was trimmed with a thin silver border.

She hurried to the window and whispered, ”Chess Master, did you sense it too?”

The young man nodded slightly. ”A very powerful fluctuation...”

The young woman, still shaken, moved closer to his window and also looked toward the river. ”I was in meditation, but it startled me. It felt like someone had thrown a huge rock into the water...”

”Did you go check?” the young man suddenly asked.

The young woman shook her head, patting her chest. ”I didn’t even dare get close. I could feel my scalp tingling from so far away. That fluctuation was terrifying, like—”

”Like what?”

”Like something woke up. Do you think... it could be some old monster who’s been in seclusion for years and has finally come out?” the young woman said softly, her voice filled with a hint of crazed excitement.

The young man didn’t reply.

He gazed out the window toward Jiangkou, lost in thought.

After a long moment, he suddenly spoke. ”Has anything happened over in Hua City recently?”

The young woman paused. ”Hua City? Yes... a Martial Artist with the surname Fu died.”

”Surname Fu?”

”Fu Yunting. He was part of Hua City’s intelligence network, worked there for seven or eight years. A real local bigwig.” The young woman shrugged. ”I heard it was a vendetta killing. Three sword strikes and he was dead.”

”Three strikes?”

”Yep. Someone supposedly examined the body. The killer’s sword was heavy—so heavy that all of Fu Yunting’s bones were shattered.” The young woman thought for a moment, tilting her head. ”But vendetta killings like that... there are at least eight or ten of them a year in Hua City. Why do you ask?”

”Just asking.” The young man lowered his gaze.

He seemed lost in thought.

The young woman watched him from across the window frame. Moonlight fell on his face, and the eyes behind his mask shone like stars. She was watching him with interest when she suddenly remembered something. ”You’re going back to the Holy City tomorrow?”

”Yes.”

”Something come up?” the young woman pressed.

The young man didn’t answer.

The young woman pouted. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, ”I’m actually a bit sad to see you go. We make a pretty good team. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get through White Bone Cliff.”

The young man glanced at her, the light in his eyes softening slightly. He offered her two simple words: ”Cultivate well.”

”I know, I know—”

”In half a month, come back to White Bone Cliff.”

The corner of the young woman’s mouth, which had just turned up, fell again. ”...Do I have to pass?”

”You must.”

”...”

The young woman grumbled and took a step back. ”You’re so annoying... And here I was, actually feeling a little sad to see you go.”

With that, she flipped up into a tree and vanished into the night like a cat.

The young man stood at the window, watching the shadows of the trees.

After a long moment, he withdrew his gaze.

His eyes were still bright.

’Who could it be? They have to be at least a High Tier Qi Refining practitioner. If I could recruit them, maybe we could actually break through White Bone Cliff.’