Cultivating the Breathing Technique, Sudden Upheaval at the Piers

Cultivating the Breathing Technique, Sudden Upheaval at the Piers

Cultivating the Breathing Technique, Sudden Upheaval at the Piers

A tall tree catches the wind, and the wind shakes the tree; a man raised high by fame may be ruined by fame.

Though Lin Mo was not deeply versed in the doctrine of moderation, he understood this simple truth. Now that the Li family had pushed him to the forefront, there was nothing he could do about it.

After treating all the apprentices to a hearty meal, he went to the merchant houses in Changhe County and exchanged all the silver for banknotes.

"Better start cultivating the Breathing Technique first..."

One thing followed another, and Lin Mo always felt vaguely uneasy. "From now on, I should wear the Golden Silk Soft Armor whenever I go out and bring the three pills with me, in case something happens on the road."

Lin Mo left the Stone Wall Courtyard and returned to the courtyard where he lived with Xu Changfeng. Xu Changfeng had gone out to handle business, so it was quiet for the moment.

He found the fragmentary scroll of the Great Jade Ape Breathing Technique and began cultivating it.

Before this, he had also consulted various miscellaneous books and gained a deeper understanding of Breathing Techniques.

"A Breathing Technique emphasizes methods of inhaling and exhaling. It is a profound Cultivation Method that combines nurturing, training, and combat. Those Breathing Techniques that are fierce and forceful send breath straight in and straight out, stirring the blood and qi. Eight parts of strength can produce the effect of twelve, truly frightening..."

Lin Mo pondered as he unfolded the yellowed fragmentary scroll. Tadpole-like characters densely covered its surface, and he identified them one by one.

"The spirit ape climbs the jade peak, drawing rosy light with every breath. One breath turns three times, and the elixir fetus breeds jade nectar..."

"Those newly initiated into cultivation may use their breath to draw upon the Jade Spirit Qi between heaven and earth, transforming turbid force into Spirit Power..."

"Those who achieve minor success temper their lungs and organs until they are like jade, permeating their limbs and bones. Ordinary methods cannot harm them..."

"Those who achieve great success may be as light as apes, their bones as hard as jade. With a breath, they shatter gold and stone; they tread upon clouds and rosy mists..."

This Breathing Technique truly was peculiar. As expected, it was no ordinary common commodity. It was just a pity...

Thinking of this, Lin Mo silently sighed. "It is just a pity that Zhao Hubiao only had this introductory fragmentary scroll. It only contains the cultivation process up to the Second Stage."

On second thought, Zhao Hubiao was merely the head of a small gang. It was already rare enough for Lin Mo to obtain such a treasure from him, so he did not harbor excessive hopes.

Emptying his mind of all other distracting thoughts, he began learning step by step according to the Breathing Technique's process.

The process of cultivating a Breathing Technique was nothing more than three steps: visualization, breathwork, and channeling force.

The first two steps were methods of study, while the last was for training and actual combat.

"The first step: visualization." Lin Mo sat cross-legged, pressing his tongue against his palate and opening his teeth slightly.

Visualization, as its name implied, meant constructing a blueprint within one's mind.

The Great Jade Ape Breathing Technique required its practitioner to visualize a spirit ape climbing and leaping over jade peaks. Its essence lay in sketching out the ape's form and the sanctity of the rosy light.

Lin Mo meditated inwardly. For someone who had practiced the White Ape Eight Section Fist for a long time, visualizing an ape's posture was the easiest step.

"Next comes the second step: breathwork..."

Lin Mo let out a long breath of turbid air and rose to his feet, slowly stretching his limbs.

Imitating the stance of a spirit ape embracing jade, he bent his legs slightly as though an ape crouched in repose. His palms faced upward and overlapped before his abdomen as if supporting a jade sphere, while his spine stood straight as a mountain peak.

"The Breathing Technique takes fifteen moments as one Lesser Celestial Circuit. It is divided into short inhalations and sharp exhalations, and long inhalations and slow exhalations. The two must be used together."

Lin Mo drew a short breath, filling his chest in three moments, then exhaled rapidly. After that, he took a deep breath and sank it into his dantian before slowly releasing it.

As his blood and qi circulated through his sinews and channels, he vaguely felt a warm current in his chest and abdomen.

"It is working. So this is the right path?"

Lin Mo continued trying inwardly. He spent a long while maintaining this rhythm of breathing and blood-qi circulation. After three to five cycles, his chest cavity remained as warm as before.

One sign of entering the threshold of cultivation was jade nectar forming in the mouth and a growing sense of lightness in the tendons and bones.

"I suppose I have not cultivated for long enough. If I keep at it, perhaps I can enter the threshold quickly..."

The first two steps seemed to succeed rather quickly, giving Lin Mo a shot of adrenaline. He forcibly maintained this breathing rhythm and method of blood-qi circulation for more than a quarter of an hour.

Gradually, he suddenly felt something warm and moist slide across his lips, along with a faint metallic tang.

Lin Mo gently wiped it away with his hand and looked into his palm, only to see crimson bloodstains. "Bleeding? I still cannot rush things..."

He furrowed his brow and understood the reason. It was most likely because his body could not adapt to the so-called Jade Spirit Qi drawn in with his breath.

"When cultivating a Breathing Technique, it seems the first two steps still require the patience of grinding water through stone..."

On his first day cultivating the Breathing Technique, Lin Mo persisted for only a quarter of an hour. When his body showed abnormalities, he temporarily halted his cultivation early.

On the second day of cultivating the Breathing Technique, Lin Mo persisted for a full half hour. Not only did a scorching heat arise in his chest and abdomen, but warmth also appeared upon his tongue and in his mouth.

Though he was still quite far from entering the threshold, he was at least moving forward step by step.

On the third morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten, mist had somehow risen over the piers of Changhe County.

Upon the Changhe River, morning fog so dense it could not be dissolved hung like a deathly pale curtain, tightly shrouding the dozens of piers spread along the riverbank.

On the damp flagstone roads, only the night watchman dragged his weary shadow along. His clapper sounded now and then, dull and unable to carry far.

At East Third Pier, Li Hao sat leisurely on a bamboo chair by the shore, dark circles beneath his eyes. Beside him, a Li family steward was tallying the account books, preparing for the new day's fish catch transactions.

"When does the morning market at the pier start? When can I leave?"

"Just a few more moments, sir. Please wait a little longer..."

Li Hao asked impatiently from the side. He was a descendant of a branch of the Li family, a Third Stage-sponsored martial artist who had perfected the First Stage. Naturally, he had also been present during the encirclement and suppression of the Tiger Gang.

"This Lin Mo only ambushed and killed a minor leader halfway through. Why make such a grand spectacle of it? So many rewards? Does he deserve them?"

The longer he filled in for someone else on patrol, the more irritated he became. He was so irritated that he paid no attention at all to the faint smell of rust lingering in the air.

Just then, downstream from Third Pier, several small black-canopied boats that had been drifting there suddenly let out a brief cry of alarm.

The sound was as though someone had seized the speaker by the throat, cutting off abruptly.

Li Hao jolted all over, and every trace of drowsiness fled from him. He instinctively gripped the long saber at his waist and looked toward the water.

For some unknown reason, there seemed to be many more shadows in the river, each as large as a person, darting swiftly through the water.

A few peddlers were walking along the shore toward Third Pier when, in an instant, a horrifying blue-gray hand clutched one of them by the ankle. The next moment, the peddler was dragged into the river.

A vast ring of blood spread across the river's surface, and the pungent stench of blood surged into his nostrils. Li Hao finally came to his senses and roared aloud.

"Water ghosts! Water ghosts have come ashore!"

It was as if a fuse had been lit. The little bit of life that had finally gathered at the piers scattered in an instant—screams, cries, frantic footsteps...

The piers to the east still had time to react, but at the rows of piers to the south, drawn by the scent of blood and food, the water ghosts darted through the docks like wild cats that had caught the smell of fish once the fog thickened.

Severed limbs and mangled corpses littered the ground, blood flowing everywhere. Caught utterly unprepared, even the patrolling pier guards were dragged into the water, seized by several water ghosts and torn apart alive at the bottom of the river.

At dozens of piers, thousands of water ghosts surged ashore in the blink of an eye. No one knew where they had come from, nor why they had come.

The mist mixed with the smell of fish and blood. All anyone knew was that the piers had become a scene straight from hell.