Cold, high pressure, oxygen deprivation.
Any one of these deadly predicaments would have been enough to kill someone. Now, all of them had fallen upon Li Changqing at once.
Water surged madly through the collapsed section, its rapid flow forming a vortex with enormous suction. Standing within it, every cell in Li Changqing's body trembled.
The oxygen in his body had long since been depleted.
Muscle cells could still consume glycogen through anaerobic respiration, barely sustaining overloaded operation.
But internal organs, the heart, and even more importantly, nerve cells could not do the same.
For an ordinary person, consciousness would begin to blur after one minute of suffocation. After three minutes, the organs would rapidly fail, the heart would become disordered, and might even stop beating.
Once it exceeded six minutes, nerve cells would suffer irreversible damage from lack of oxygen. At best, it would cause brain lesions; at worst, death on the spot.
Vitality could ease muscle fatigue, but it had no way to protect nerve cells.
At this moment, Li Changqing's vitality had not run dry, even though he had broken through his limits and gained physique points.
No oxygen meant no oxygen.
Martial Artists were not Psionic Users. They had yet to break free from the shackles of carbon-based life.
They could merely endure longer than ordinary people.
But if he still could not solve the problem after ten minutes—
Death was certain.
Suffocation was an extreme form of torture.
The feeling of his lungs about to burst, the tearing pain in his brain, coupled with the obstruction to blood circulation caused by his disordered heart—enough to drive anyone mad with agony.
And Li Changqing was not merely a Martial Artist. His Listening to Strength had reached major mastery, making his perception of every part of his body dozens of times sharper than that of an ordinary person.
Naturally, the pain he endured was far greater than the suffering of an ordinary person suffocating.
At this moment, the lakebed was filled with deadly undercurrents.
Li Changqing saw with his own eyes a black fish get caught in one. It did not even struggle for a second before being swept directly into the collapsed opening, its fate unknown.
Three minutes later.
He still stood above the collapsed section, with less than one-fifth of his vitality remaining.
Most fatal of all, the nerve cells in his brain had already sent him a warning of danger.
The scene before his eyes began to blur. His optic nerves, starved of nourishment, were beginning to go on strike.
Yet there was not the slightest trace of anxiety on Li Changqing's face, even as his fair skin had turned purplish red.
He remained focused, holding his breath.
"Breathing... how do I breathe?"
Mammals breathed by using the nasal cavity, mouth, and respiratory tract to exchange gases through the lungs.
Li Changqing attempted to activate the Breathing Technique. First, he swallowed the icy lake water, wrapping it in vitality and bringing it into his lungs.
That intensely uncomfortable sensation of rejection nearly made him open his mouth and cough, but Li Changqing forcibly suppressed it with sheer willpower.
Breathe!
The Universe Breathing Technique began to circulate.
Ten seconds later, Li Changqing spat out the lake water, his face flushed red.
"No. The oxygen content in the lake water is too low. My lungs aren't gills. I can't directly exchange oxygen through water."
Another minute passed as he pondered.
Four minutes!
He was already nearing the red line of danger.
Other than the lungs, was there another way?
At this life-or-death juncture, every protective mechanism in his body was fully activated.
Li Changqing's mind spun at high speed.
Universe meant heaven and earth.
Heaven and earth meant all things.
Since this Breathing Technique was called the Universe Breathing Technique—
How could heaven and earth, which encompassed all things, possibly rely only on the lungs to breathe?
Countless flashes of insight flickered through Li Changqing's mind.
Boom!
Suddenly, his vitality Embraced the Core and Returned Strength within his dantian as Yin-Yang Qi collided.
All the vitality in his body was forced beneath his skin by Li Changqing.
Every pore across his body opened, and high-temperature steam blasted from them.
In the frigid depths of the lake, it formed vast streams of white vapor.
Li Changqing expelled the scorching waste gas from his body through his pores. Its extreme temperature directly heated the lake water around him.
As the lake water warmed, great numbers of tiny bubbles gradually appeared.
Now!
Universe Breathing Technique!
Huu—
Li Changqing still kept his nostrils and lips tightly shut.
Instead, the pores all over his body opened and closed rhythmically with the circulation of the Breathing Technique.
In an instant, they drew the tiny bubbles emerging from the surrounding lake water into his body.
Cool and smooth.
This sensation far surpassed running a thousand miles across a scorching desert and gulping down an ice-cold Sprite.
Even sweet rain after a long drought was not enough to describe Li Changqing's exhilaration.
Oxygen!
Every cell in his body cried out in jubilation.
Massive amounts of oxygen entered his body. There was no need for it to pass through his lungs; under the effect of vitality, it was directly carried throughout his entire body.
His pores opened and closed, expelling carbon dioxide.
The solubility of oxygen decreased as water temperature rose.
He heated the lake water with vitality, causing it to release its dissolved oxygen, then breathed through his pores.
This was—
Human wisdom!
Huu—haa—
His pores opened and closed. The high-temperature gas they expelled continued heating the lake water and forcing out oxygen.
The natural suction created by the sweeping airflow allowed oxygen to be absorbed through every pore in his body.
This was the true Universe Breathing Technique!
Universe Breathing Technique (Heaven-Man Resonance), Proficiency: 75%
Enlightenment was the best way to increase proficiency.
In a single stroke, the Breathing Technique's proficiency had risen by a full 25%.
Before long, he would be able to push the Universe Breathing Technique's proficiency to 100%.
Every part of his body could breathe, and he would no longer need to rely solely on his nasal cavity and lungs.
When spread out, the surface area of human skin reached a full two square meters.
Breathing through pores was vastly more efficient than ordinary breathing.
Massive amounts of oxygen flooded into Li Changqing's body.
His cells were revitalized once more.
Boom!
Thunder roared and tigers howled through the forest.
The Tiger Roar Thunder Sound once again resounded through the rushing lakebed.
Li Changqing assumed a Tai Chi stance, using his skin to feel the surging currents around him.
The next instant, his fist technique abruptly changed.
He actually began practicing his fist technique in reverse, against the trajectory of the lakebed vortex.
Heaven-Man Resonance.
Strength surged and recoiled through the water, and a miniature vortex appeared within the massive vortex at the lakebed.
The two spun in completely opposite directions.
He intended to use human strength to stir nature itself.
Powerful strength howled through the lakebed. Defying nature's mighty force, the pressure Li Changqing endured doubled.
His will mobilized his vitality as the Breathing Technique circulated madly.
Pushing power through his entire body.
"Turn!"
Li Changqing swung his arms. Tai Chi transformed Yin and Yang, forcibly carving out a space within the vortex.
His vitality was continuously consumed, but as the Universe Breathing Technique circulated, it was rapidly replenished.
Back and forth, his physique was tempered again and again.
Physique +3 Vitality Concentration: 29%
Peak Three-Star Martial Artist!
New strength surged forth. Li Changqing seized the opportunity and spread his arms.
"Again."
Through the evolution of Tai Chi, that enormous power completely tore apart the churning vortex.
Li Changqing directly expanded the battlefield, dragging in the more distant and more massive currents.
The second the vortex expanded, the suction from the collapse drew in an even greater volume of lake water.
The gap Li Changqing had painstakingly torn open was not only filled, but the greater pressure began pushing him toward the collapsed section.
He could no longer even remain standing in place.
The strength he had just recovered was rapidly drained, and his body was once again about to reach its limit.
Unable to move, he felt as though he were surrounded by lead and mercury.
Roaring vitality and surging water joined together—tempering him from within and compressing him from without.
A peerless divine weapon was slowly taking shape.
Finally, under the tempering of dual pressure from within and without—
Li Changqing's vitality once more broke through its limits.
Physique +3 Vitality Concentration: 33%
BOOM!!!
The barrier of a Three-Star Martial Artist was utterly shattered beneath Li Changqing's feet.
His vitality broke through its bottleneck. As Embracing the Core and Returning Strength became increasingly solid, it coiled within his dantian, round and golden.
Like a golden core from myth.
Compared to before, he was now as different as clouds and mud.
A vortex?
His legs steadied. With the slightest movement of his powerful vitality, he instantly withstood the lake's pressure.
Li Changqing raised both arms. Vitality burst from his body, spreading through strength to stir the lake water across an even wider area.
"Open for me!"
Power erupted.
The vortex was torn apart by Li Changqing. He stood firm at the collapsed section of the lakebed and thrust out both palms.
But this time, before the lake could launch an even fiercer counterattack—
Li Changqing moved first, lifting both feet from the ground and hovering above the collapsed section.
"Rise!"
Powerful vitality shot straight into the heavens. His unmatched strength truly held back the pouring lake water.
He stood proudly above the collapsed section, his hands evolving Tai Chi as they stirred the lake water.
The vortex could no longer take shape. After his breakthrough, Li Changqing's strength had already surpassed flowing water.
The water within the collapsed section rapidly drained away. Stones were exposed, and their surfaces gradually began to dry.
His tyrannical strength seemed almost tangible, forming an iron wall and bronze rampart at the collapsed section of the lakebed.
With human power alone, Li Changqing had isolated the impact of the water forty meters beneath the lake, creating a dry place without water.
"Four-Star?" Li Changqing sensed the seemingly endless power within his body.
Though breaking through was cause for celebration, he had a feeling.
The Universe Breathing Technique was like the engine of a supercar, and he had yet to touch its limits.
Four-Star was absolutely not the end.
Li Changqing's expression flickered as he looked at the collapse beneath his feet.
He bent his legs slightly and leaped directly into the opening, standing right at this deadly point.
The next instant.
The vitality barrier was released.
In an instant, the sky collapsed and the earth split, and an immeasurable lake poured backward into the opening.
The moment it struck him, the enormous force slammed into Li Changqing's body. Sweetness rose in his throat, and he opened his mouth to spray out blood like an arrow.