Internal Breath

His arms had grown sturdier and stronger, his back broader, his muscles sharply defined and bulging high like a pair of little wings!

His lower body had grown stronger, too, as if his feet had taken root in the earth. When he swung his blade, it could channel far more power through him. An ordinary person could shove him and probably wouldn't make him budge an inch.

His whole frame was like a towering pagoda!

As these changes appeared, so did the intense hunger that came from the depletion inside him.

This time, Zhao An was prepared and not the least bit flustered. He picked up the large basin of medicinal broth, now gone cold, and gulped it down.

The medicinal flavor was overpoweringly bitter, impossible to swallow without a grimace.

He hadn't heeded the Female Physician's well-intentioned advice. He had prepared four pots of medicinal broth, using half a jin, one jin, two jin, and five jin of Red Blood Root, respectively!

The Female Physician had recommended using only two liang of the herb for each pot. Any more would overfill his qi and blood, harming his body.

But Zhao An knew his current state was extraordinary and couldn't be judged by ordinary standards.

The broth made with half a jin of Red Blood Root went down, and soon a wave of heat began surging through his body. Warm breath gradually streamed from his nostrils, and his face flushed red.

But as his qi and blood surged and his body continued to transform, the medicinal broth and its potency were consumed at an astonishing rate.

Sweat poured from his entire body.

"Not enough!"

Zhao An could clearly feel that the broth made with half a jin simply wasn't enough.

The hunger was suppressed only briefly before coming roaring back.

So he picked up the pot made with one jin of herbs and gulped it down, glug after glug.

In between, he repeatedly grabbed the large basin of beef he'd set out on the table and stuffed it into his mouth, easing the discomfort of his hunger.

Soon, another portion of broth was gone. Zhao An drank down the two-jin batch, then the five-jin one.

But when he picked up the five-jin batch, he was more cautious, taking small sips to replenish himself until the feeling of depletion vanished completely. Even then, some of the final batch remained.

That gave Zhao An a rough idea: five or six jin of Red Blood Root, supplemented with some meat, would just about satisfy his needs each time he extracted the results of a Soul Slave.

"By that measure, Red Blood Root really does offer better value. That Earth Origin Pill I used before was a waste..." Zhao An sighed over the loss, though he knew such trials were inevitable when feeling out the way.

He went into the courtyard and began practicing the Fierce Tiger Blade Art beneath the night sky.

Thanks to the foundation laid by the Black Tiger Blade Technique, he wasn't unfamiliar with the Fierce Tiger Blade Art. By the time he finished its first pass, his footwork and movements already flowed like water.

With its broad, powerful motions, he seemed like a real fierce tiger, radiating an indescribable and intimidating presence.

The blade flashed through the air, its continuous humming ringing out as the polished steel reflected the clear moonlight in a hazy silver gleam.

Before long, he had finished the entire Fierce Tiger Blade Art.

The Fierce Tiger Blade Art had five levels, distinguished by their concepts and moves. The difficulty progressed from simple to complex, while the power rose from weak to strong, each level building on the one before.

While enslaved, Xu San's Soul Slave had not only worked out the complete Fierce Tiger Blade Art, but had also trained its first level to near perfection, faintly touching the threshold of the second. In that respect, this was an unexpected boon.

Zhao An suddenly stopped where he stood, holding the blade at his side. He closed his eyes and breathed.

His breathing grew increasingly rhythmic and peculiar, his abdomen rising and falling.

This was the breathing method that went with the Fierce Tiger Blade Art, also called the opening-breath method—or simply breathing technique, or even "internal cultivation"!

While performing the Fierce Tiger Blade Art just now, he had naturally synchronized his breathing with his movements from beginning to end, as if by instinct.

And as he finished, he had faintly caught hold of a certain opportunity.

But unfortunately...

"Just a little more!"

Zhao An didn't dwell on it. He immediately performed the blade art again.

Again and again, in an endless cycle.

Until that opportunity drew nearer and nearer—and he seized it!

Boom!

Qi and blood churned through his body. At that moment, it was as if an acupoint in his lower abdomen, at the dantian, had opened. After a faint sting, an unusual wisp of breath emerged from within, circulated along his meridians, then dispersed throughout his body.

At a thought from Zhao An, that wisp of breath, which had scattered, reappeared.

He guided it through his body and swung his blade!

Bang!

The long blade struck the ground, smashing several paving stones. Cracks spread nearly half a meter!

Dust billowed up. Zhao An stared at the hand gripping his blade, hardly able to believe it.

"Supernatural power! This is the Internal Breath unique to Martial Masters!"

He knew that only by mastering Internal Breath could that last strike have carried such power!

It had nothing to do with improved strength. The key was the wisp of Internal Breath produced after circulating through the cycles within his body!

With Internal Breath, he was no longer a Martial Savage who relied on brute force alone.

He had advanced from the "outside" to the "inside," entering an entirely new realm of Martial Masters!

As for the dantian acupoint he had just opened, he already knew about it.

Before a Martial Master could cultivate their first wisp of Internal Breath, they first had to pass a trial: opening the qi sea, located at the dantian in the lower abdomen.

There was no need to guess. He had just seized that opportunity and opened his qi sea, allowing him to cultivate his first wisp of Internal Breath.

This was no easy feat.

Opening the qi sea required not only a breathing method, but also guidance from a renowned teacher, the aid of pills, a certain level of natural talent, and aptitude for martial arts.

Only after diligent daily practice could one seize that opportunity and achieve a breakthrough.

But with Soul Slaves practicing in his stead, Zhao An had skipped all those steps and opened his qi sea in one go, allowing Internal Breath to form on its own!

"I can now count myself a Martial Master!" Zhao An said with a smile.

His newly formed Internal Breath was still weak, but he had plenty of Soul Slaves in his Soul Pool!

For him, practicing martial arts came as naturally as water flowing into a channel. Why should he fret?

"Then let's keep going."

Zhao An chose the Soul Slave named Dazhuang from among the Soul Slaves waiting at his command.

He was the last member of the Python Gang to step forward when Zhao An faced the Three Trials.

Zhao An remembered that, in terms of strength, Dazhuang had been the strongest of the Python Gang's three men.

[ Soul Slave: Li Dazhuang ]

[ Enslavement period: 7 years ]

[ Trait One: Pure-Blooded Human (can cultivate human techniques!) ]

[ Trait Two: Substitute Death (any Soul Slave can passively die in the master's place when the master suffers a fatal injury!) ]

[ Trait Three: Martial Savage (has a basic foundation in inferior martial arts and gains a slight bonus when cultivating human martial arts!) ]

Like Xu San, Dazhuang had the Martial Savage Soul Slave trait, which gave him a bonus when working out martial arts. His enslavement period was seven years, the longest among the remaining Soul Slaves.

Zhao An fed him the Fierce Tiger Blade Art, its first level already perfected, and had him continue where Xu San had left off, refining this ninth-grade blade art.

Seven days later, he would see who was stronger in the Fierce Tiger Blade Art: him or Zhou Hu, the Tiger Head Gang leader! Who would be the true original?