Breathing Method

Breathing Method

In an instant, countless images appeared in Hu Qi's mind.

Compared to the memories he had seen when he first took over the original body, these images were undoubtedly far more vivid.

There was not much in them—only scenes of himself practicing the Nourishing Origin Breathing Method day after day, tirelessly and without fail.

From initial clumsiness, to gradual proficiency, to becoming a bodily instinct.

Every technique of this breathing method, every combination of its formulas and incantations, appeared in his mind in exhaustive detail.

After a while.

Hu Qi opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them.

"Inhale... exhale..."

His lips parted slightly, and his abdomen swelled faintly like an opened bellows as he drew in the air around him.

Once he reached a certain limit, he slowly breathed it out.

The air streamed out like a thin thread, so concentrated that even the curtain beside the hospital bed trembled slightly.

This was precisely the technique of "inhale a wide expanse, exhale a single thread."

Hu Qi repeated the process nine times before his breathing finally returned to normal.

However, a careful observer would discover that the rhythm of his breathing had already incorporated the techniques of the Nourishing Origin Breathing Method. He no longer needed to consciously control it.

Nine breaths made one cycle.

After completing that breathing cycle, Hu Qi immediately felt his mind clear.

As he continued breathing, the drowsiness from having stayed awake all night slowly faded as well.

The feeling was quite peculiar.

If he had to compare it to something, it was like leaving a city choked with smog for the first time and entering a primeval forest—the clarity and comfort made it seem as though his previous way of breathing had been wrong all along.

He looked toward the panel.

Nourishing Origin Breathing Method (Perfected)

Modification Points: 3

The Nourishing Origin Breathing Method had leaped directly from beginner level to perfection.

The price, however, had been three Modification Points in one go.

"This thing really doesn't last."

Hu Qi's heart ached a little.

It was the miser in him acting up.

Other than that, there were no major changes. His Lifespan remained the same, without any increase. Everything was as it had been.

He was not surprised by this.

After all, something like a breathing method required years upon years of persistence before its effects would show on the body.

The reason he felt such obvious changes now

was probably because the Scarlet Modifier had raised it from beginner level to perfection in one stroke.

In the blink of an eye.

More than a week later.

At the entrance of Second City Hospital.

The blazing sun hung high overhead. Wind brushed through the treetops, stirring a soft rustle.

The weather was somewhat stifling.

People coming and going wore sunglasses, sun-protective clothing, sun hats, and the like.

Hu Qi and Li Yi, who had come to pick him up, completed the discharge procedures and walked out.

The cast on Hu Qi's leg had already been removed.

Li Yi had originally wanted to rent a wheelchair to push him in, but Hu Qi had refused.

Just as the two were walking toward the hospital entrance.

WEE-OO! WEE-OO!!!

Suddenly.

An urgent ambulance siren sounded from the gate.

Then, an ambulance sped in from one side of the entrance and stopped before the doors of the emergency building nearby.

Very soon, a group of doctors in white coats stepped out, opened the rear compartment, and swiftly carried down a stretcher.

"Ah! It hurts... it hurts so much..."

A young woman lay on the stretcher, drenched in blood. A strong smell of alcohol wafted from her body, and blood had soaked through the stretcher.

At that moment, she cried out hoarsely and weakly.

Yet she made no movements. She had probably been given a local anesthetic or something similar in the ambulance earlier.

Just then, a gust of wind swept over, lifting one corner of the blue cloth covering the woman's lower body.

She was wearing denim shorts that reached the roots of her thighs. When the cloth lifted, her smooth, rounded thighs were exposed.

His gaze moved downward.

What he saw, however, was a bloody, mangled mess. Where her lower legs should have been, there was now nothing but bare stumps.

The wounds were uneven and jagged, as if her legs had been torn off alive.

Then, the lifted blue cloth fell back down.

At the same time, the stretcher was carried into the emergency building.

It vanished from Hu Qi's sight.

"Gah, that's awful! She must've been hit by a car."

Li Yi beside him had clearly seen it too.

He could not help sucking in a cold breath.

"Perhaps."

Hu Qi echoed him.

But his expression shifted slightly.

With the perfected Nourishing Origin Breathing Method supporting him,

although the panel displayed no data,

he could sense that both his hearing and sight had become far sharper than before.

He had vaguely heard blurred words from that woman's mouth: monster... biting people...

Of course.

That could not be taken seriously.

It was perfectly normal for some people to suffer traumatic hallucinations after a car accident or severe injury.

Hu Qi and Li Yi did not dwell on it.

They came outside.

Perhaps because it was a hospital,

there was a heavy flow of people at the entrance.

Passing vehicles brought waves of scorching air, their noise tangling together and making people restless.

Pedestrians hurried by, many holding sun umbrellas or wearing sunglasses.

The leaves of the trees beside the greenery drooped limply.

Even the breeze felt like a heat wave.

Farther away, small vendors listlessly watched over their stalls.

For a moment, Hu Qi was dazed.

This world was far too similar to Blue Star.

Unfortunately, no matter how similar it was, it was not the same world in the end.

Among the passersby,

Yellow people made up the majority, while there were also white and black people, along with a few from other ethnicities.

Although Qirong City had originally been a city inhabited by Yellow people,

with the emergence of the Xiya Federation,

the former boundaries between nations had gradually blurred.

Mixed habitation among different ethnic groups had also become the norm.

Hu Qi did not care about that.

Dappled sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, making him squint involuntarily.

Hu Qi exhaled softly.

"A new world, here I come!"

After leaving the hospital, the two took a bus.

Before long, they returned to the residential area where the original owner had lived.

Hu Leimei had originally wanted Hu Qi to come straight to the shop for a meal.

But he refused, saying he wanted to recuperate properly at home.

Afterward, Hu Qi treated Li Yi to a simple meal at a noodle shop downstairs.

It was to thank him for bringing food over these past few days.

Of course, it was not that Hu Qi was stingy for not treating him to a lavish restaurant meal.

The original owner's remaining wallet was simply far too empty.

If he treated him to one, he might have to live on nothing but wind for the next meal.

"Bro, remember to come hang out with me when you have time. I'm always alone in the shop playing on my phone, and I keep getting scolded for it. If you come, you can help share the burden too, haha."

Li Yi said as he was leaving.

"Sure. I'll definitely come by when I have time."

Hu Qi smiled and nodded.

Somewhere overhead, a dark cloud drifted in and blocked the sunlight.

It cast a vast shadow over the ground.

Hanlin Garden residential area

Much of the brass-colored paint on the arched residential area sign had peeled away, leaving it mottled and covered in rust.

On either side of the entrance,

elderly men and women squatted beside their shoulder poles, selling vegetables and fruit.

Hu Qi stopped before a large cart and spent eight yuan on a watermelon. After having the vendor cut it up and pack it into plastic bags, he headed toward the residential area entrance.

Thanks to yssyxllcz for the 100 Qidian Coin reward, and Survivor Poison for the 200 Qidian Coin reward.

And thanks as well to everyone for the monthly votes and recommendation votes. My deepest gratitude!

A word on the update schedule: tentatively around eight o'clock every day, two chapters a day.