Burning Life

Time flew by. Half a month had passed since Mu Yu rescued Hasegawa.

Over those two weeks, Mu Yu had completely mastered all ten forms of Water Breathing. Even the Swordsmanship Tree had grown branches for all ten forms of Water Breathing.

But Hasegawa was having a miserable time.

"Not quite. Every time, you fall just short. It's precisely this muddle-through attitude of yours that has kept you from grasping the essence of the ten forms of Water Breathing."

Mu Yu had trained Hasegawa like a grandson, yet Hasegawa felt no dissatisfaction whatsoever. On the contrary, his worship of Mu Yu had reached its peak.

It was not that Mu Yu's harshness had given Hasegawa Stockholm syndrome. Rather, Mu Yu's swordsmanship had utterly conquered him.

They both used Water Breathing, but the power it displayed in Mu Yu's hands versus his own was like heaven and earth.

Of course, most importantly, Mu Yu's guidance had caused Hasegawa's strength to soar.

In just half a month, Hasegawa even felt as though he had been reborn.

Though it was somewhat disrespectful to say so, Hasegawa even suspected that his trainer had held him back.

It could be said that over the past two weeks, Mu Yu had constantly been correcting all his little flaws.

He had not learned anything new. It was all the same ten forms of Water Breathing he already knew, yet his understanding of Water Breathing had risen by who knew how many levels.

"Go do a thousand Suburi to adjust your breathing. Your fundamentals are far too poor."

"Yes."

Hasegawa immediately began performing his Suburi with meticulous care.

Naturally, he did not dare let his mind wander. Over the past two weeks, Mu Yu had genuinely beaten the fear into him.

The slightest distraction, the slightest deformation in his stance, and Mu Yu would give him a beating.

It hurt down to his bones!

It was truly hard to imagine why this "Pillar" hurt people so much when he hit them!

That was right. Even now, Hasegawa still did not know Mu Yu's name.

Hasegawa guessed that he was simply too weak, and this lord did not want to tell him his name lest Hasegawa disgrace him in the future.

He really still had a long way to go!

Watching Hasegawa perform his Suburi so earnestly, Mu Yu could not help but smile.

Being a teacher these past two weeks... had felt amazing!

He taught Hasegawa exactly as Teacher Koshiro had taught him, especially all those underhanded tricks. He had tested every last one on Hasegawa.

Assigning students ridiculously difficult homework they could never finish... it felt wonderful.

Honestly, it was a little addictive!

As the most widespread of the five foundational Breathing Techniques, Water Breathing was indeed easier to learn, but easy to learn and difficult to master.

Unless one used their body to remember it, bringing out its proper power was truly unimaginably difficult.

But it had to be said that the ten basic forms of Water Breathing had been continuously used and tested by generations of demon-slaying swordsmen over more than a thousand years, stripped of all excess and refined to the absolute limit of what humans could achieve.

It could be said that the ten forms of Water Breathing were the most efficient techniques for killing and defense, the most practical methods for slaying demons.

Everything about them existed for slaughter!

Having learned the ten forms of Water Breathing, even Mu Yu, with his current strength, could not help but marvel at them.

Without Maneater demons' immense physical strength and monstrous regenerative abilities, without the nearly insurmountable gap between humans and demons, such extreme swordsmanship could never have emerged.

As for the Breathing Technique itself, it pushed the body to its utmost limit.

Frankly speaking, even Water Breathing, the gentlest Breathing Technique, was a method of trading away one's lifespan for formidable combat power.

So-called Full Concentration Breathing accelerated the flow of blood and the beating of the heart, causing body temperature to rise rapidly.

Simply put, it was breathing deeply enough to expand the lungs and let the greatest possible amount of air enter the bloodstream.

When stimulated, the blood made the bones and muscles "panic," heating the blood and temporarily granting physical abilities as powerful as a demon's.

In truth, this technique was very similar to Luffy's Gear Second.

Both involved "pumping air" into the body to accelerate blood flow and enhance the body's strength, much like a stimulant.

Of course, Luffy's Gear Second was far more exaggerated. After all, he was a rubber man; the limits his body could withstand were beyond anything a mortal body could imagine.

That was also why Luffy emitted steam while in Gear Second.

In the world of demon slayers, Full Concentration Breathing was only the beginning for those seeking greater power.

A further technique was called Total Concentration Breathing: Constant—maintaining Full Concentration Breathing twenty-four hours a day, even while asleep.

Just imagine it: if Luffy maintained Gear Second twenty-four hours a day, would that not send chills down your spine?

The more Mu Yu learned, the more respect he had for Breathing Technique swordsmen.

To exterminate evil demons, every one of them burned their lives away in every battle.

Mu Yu could not help thinking of Kurogane Ikki, the protagonist of The Asterisk War, and his One-Blade Demonic Possession.

If an Ordinary person wished to defeat a genius, they had to become a demon!

That saying was even more fitting in this world. If humans wanted to defeat demons whose physical prowess and regenerative abilities far exceeded their own, they too had to become demons.

Before long, the panting Hasegawa appeared beside Mu Yu.

"My lord, I have finished the thousand Suburi. Please give your instructions!"

"Very good."

A smile immediately appeared on Hasegawa's face. He had finally earned this lord's approval. It had not been easy!

Mu Yu said, "Do you think I was going to say that?"

"Uh..."

The smile on Hasegawa's face instantly froze, and he nearly went blank.

Mu Yu said, "For the past two weeks, I have been correcting your forms, striving to make every one of them perfect. But that was merely making up for the lessons you missed in the past. Do not celebrate too early. Does water have a fixed shape?"

Hasegawa said, "No."

Mu Yu said, "Next, you are to forget everything I have taught you over the past two weeks."

"???"

Drenched in sweat, Hasegawa was dumbfounded.

Forget everything he had learned these past two weeks? Then what had he been learning for?

Mu Yu snapped off a branch and said, "Seven days. I will give you seven days. Attack me with every method at your disposal. It does not matter whether it is honorable or despicable—use every means possible to attack me. So long as you successfully land a single counterattack, you may graduate!"

Hasegawa looked at the branch in Mu Yu's hand, then at Mu Yu's stern face. He drew a deep breath and said, "Understood."

"Full Concentration: Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"

Hasegawa took a deep breath. In an instant, white mist even appeared around his mouth and nose from his rapid breathing.

Because Hasegawa's attacks came so quickly, his deep-blue Nichirin Blade resembled rolling waves, dazzling the eye.

But in the next moment, Hasegawa's all-out Striking Tide was effortlessly defused by Mu Yu with a tree branch.

"That is all the power your Full Concentration Striking Tide has? Is this a Striking Tide, or just ripples?"

"Even if a wave cannot rise dozens of meters in an instant, it should at least be one or two meters high, right? How high do you think the wave you raised was?"

Hasegawa was speechless.

What kind of wave could surge dozens of meters high in an instant?

"Full Concentration: Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"

A cloud of white mist instantly appeared around Mu Yu's mouth and nose. At the same time, deep-blue waves like a surging tide appeared along the branch in his hand.

"Rumble!"

As Mu Yu unleashed his Striking Tide, countless trees in the small forest were instantly flattened.

Hasegawa stared in shock. Was this truly something a human could accomplish?

"Learn from the highest and you will gain the middle; learn from the middle and you will gain the lowest. Hasegawa, when learning Water Breathing, your heart must contain a great river—not merely a cup of water."

Hasegawa's mind was still muddled as he answered emotionlessly, "Yes."

Mu Yu said, "Your sword must have a soul. It may sound too mystical, but you must believe it. If you do not even dare to imagine it, how can you speak of accomplishing it?"

"Yes."

"There is a river nearby. Use your heart and your body to feel it. Water is not some lifeless thing!"

"Yes."

In the blink of an eye, the week reached its final day.