Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound! Breathing Technique Advancement!

However, as Jiang Yue pressed deeper into the middle section of the corridor, the difficulty of the examination venue skyrocketed exponentially.

"Warning! Detected target advancing too quickly, exceeding preset threshold. Initiating encirclement protocol!"

The cold, emotionless mechanical synthesized voice echoed back and forth through the empty corridor.

With that voice, dozens of hidden doors on the alloy walls on both sides of the passage rose simultaneously.

Seven Level 1 Combat Puppets filed out from the hidden doors. Their tactical networks connected instantly, rapidly forming an airtight steel encirclement, launching a frenzied, all-out assault on Jiang Yue, who was trapped in the formation, leaving no blind spots.

Thud! Thud! Thump! Clang!

The dull sounds of flesh striking and metal colliding exploded continuously in the corridor.

This was an extremely terrifying hell-level trial ground.

Under the oppressive gravity, Jiang Yue was already bearing a physical load far beyond the outside world.

And within this dense steel encirclement, he had to maintain an extremely high frequency of dodging and weaving. If he were even half a second slower, he would be crushed into meat paste by several mechanical heavy fists.

Even more deadly was that, with every strike, to ensure a one-hit kill, he had to perfectly mobilize his spine and breath, unleashing a high-load Ancient Martial Arts Inch Power.

Though Inch Power was formidable, its demands on mental focus, muscle control, and internal blood and qi consumption were terrifying.

Less than three minutes had passed.

Jiang Yue's heart and lung load had been pushed to an unprecedented physiological limit by this extreme environment.

His camouflage training uniform was completely soaked through with sweat, clinging tightly to his body as if he had just been pulled out of water.

The veins on his forehead bulged, throbbing violently with the wild beating of his heart.

His lungs felt like a blazing fire. With every breath, his shriveled alveoli tore desperately, bringing a stabbing pain like needles.

His breathing could no longer stay steady; it began to grow heavy and coarse, like a worn-out, leaky bellows.

"Ugh..."

A puppet lunging from a blind spot swung its mechanical arm in a sweeping arc. Jiang Yue barely ducked to dodge, but the mechanical heavy fist still grazed his left shoulder blade.

The immense kinetic energy instantly slammed through flesh and meat onto the bone.

Even though the [Tough Skin] trait protected him from broken bones or torn muscles, the sheer force still made Jiang Yue stagger, nearly falling to the ground.

He gritted his teeth tightly, enduring the tearing pain in his left shoulder. Seizing the momentum of his stumble, he performed a low spin, his right palm like a battle axe, chopping fiercely into the hydraulic drive shaft on the inner knee of another puppet that was trying to finish him off.

Inch Power, activate!

With a crisp crack, the hydraulic shaft snapped inside. The massive puppet instantly lost balance, dropping to one knee.

Jiang Yue didn't pause for a moment. His left fist followed up with an extremely tricky Inch Power uppercut, smashing viciously into the armor beneath its jaw. The penetrating Hidden Power directly shattered the visual center and neural network in its head.

Another puppet fell.

But at this moment, Jiang Yue felt the boiling blood and qi in his chest rushing straight to his brain. Due to severe oxygen deprivation, black spots began to appear before his eyes, a sign of blackout. His legs felt as heavy as if filled with lead, and his once agile steps started to slow.

Limit!

The oxygen supply and muscle endurance of this physical body, under this extreme high-pressure combat and frequent bursts of power, had completely reached the brink of exhaustion!

Lactic acid piled up wildly in his muscle fibers. Every cell was sending pain signals of stop and collapse to his brain.

But in Jiang Yue's eyes, there was not a trace of panic or compromise.

He had experienced the hopeless struggle at the bottom, had lingered on the edge of death. This bit of pain was not enough to make him yield.

At this moment of extreme boiling blood and qi, on the razor's edge of life and death, a chilling madness erupted from the depths of Jiang Yue's eyes.

He clenched the already chaotic rhythm of the Six Harmonies Breathing Method, ignoring the tearing pain in his internal organs from the violent gasping. He held his breath and forcibly pressed the last mouthful of turbid air in his chest down into the deepest parts of his five viscera and six bowels, leaving no room to spare!

This was an extremely dangerous move. A slight mistake could lead to massive alveolar rupture and severe internal bleeding.

But Jiang Yue had no other choice. He had to squeeze out even a shred of potential from this desperate situation.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Under this highly unnatural physiological compression, Jiang Yue's five viscera and six bowels, protected by the [Smooth Breath] trait, were driven wildly by the Ancient Martial Arts breathing method, producing an extremely high-frequency and wondrous resonance.

Then, a dull roar, as solid as substance, erupted from deep within Jiang Yue's chest and abdomen!

The sound was faint at first, but in an instant, it echoed and amplified inside his body. It was like the low growl of an ancient tiger deep in its throat, or the rolling thunder in the clouds before a storm.

Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound!

In the Ancient Martial Arts system, this was a physical phenomenon that only occurred when one's internal organs were honed to the extreme, and blood and qi resonated perfectly with breath!

Crack!

In the instant that thunder sound exploded inside his body, in the dark space deep within Jiang Yue's retina, the trait representing his breathing instinct—[Action: Breath ➔ Smooth Breath (White)]—began to flicker wildly with blinding white light.

[Detected host breaking through physiological limits. Internal organs under extreme high pressure, generating high-dimensional resonance...]

[Trait advancement successful!]

[New trait condensed—Action: Breath ➔ Thunder Breath (Green)!]

Lines of dark green text cascaded down like a waterfall across Jiang Yue's retina.

[Trait 1 Regulation]: Your lung microstructure changes, greatly enhancing the conversion and utilization efficiency of oxygen and free energy. Physical recovery speed skyrockets exponentially! As long as your breath remains steady, your body's blood and qi will flow endlessly, never running dry!

[Special Trait 2 · Viscera Tempering]: With every inhale and exhale, your diaphragm and internal organs undergo minor vibrations. Around-the-clock passive tempering of the five viscera and six bowels, greatly enhancing the cell density of the internal organs, impact resistance, and pressure tolerance under extreme environments!

The breathing within Jiang Yue's body, which had been so violent it nearly tore his alveoli apart, underwent a heaven-and-earth transformation in the span of a single second.

His rapid, gasping breaths vanished.

In their place came a long, deep, and profound breath regulation, like the still waters of an abyss, accompanied by faint rumbling thunder.

Jiang Yue's chest rose and fell with an extremely steady yet unfathomable amplitude.

His originally depleted and exhausted stamina, under the freakish oxygen conversion rate of [Breath Regulation], surged back into his limbs and bones like a long-drought land finally receiving sweet rain!

A massive influx of fresh oxygen, mixed with some unknown microscopic energy, cleared the lactic acid accumulated in his muscles in an extremely short time.

The soreness was swept clean, and his legs were once again filled with explosive power.

And the boiling, rampaging blood and qi, caused by extreme fatigue, were instantly calmed and suppressed by the thunderous vibrations emanating from his five viscera and six bowels, becoming docile and thick.

"This is... the boost from the breathing technique!"

Jiang Yue's eyes snapped open in the dark corridor. The bloodshot whites, originally caused by oxygen deprivation, now burst forth with two clusters of tangible, startling light.

The crisis of depleted stamina was completely resolved!

Feeling the unending torrent of power within him, like a river bursting its banks, Jiang Yue held nothing back. He perfectly integrated his newly advanced [Thunder Breath] with his Ancient Martial Arts movement technique.

His entire form transformed into a deadly specter weaving through the swarm of steel puppets. His speed was a full thirty percent faster than before!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

He no longer dodged passively. Instead, with the most violent, direct, and brutal posture, he charged head-on into the layered encirclement of puppets ahead, slaughtering his way through.

His left hand deflected a crashing heavy punch, while his right hand struck like a needle with Inch Power; he sidestepped a knee strike, and his elbow, carrying the sound of thunder, smashed viciously into its chest.

Every attack, imbued with penetrating Inch Power, was inevitably followed by the complete shattering and scrapping of a puppet's internal power core!

He tore through everything in his path, unstoppable. No single machine could hold him back for more than two seconds.

At this moment, from the very front of the corridor, a series of extremely terrifying sounds of metal tearing and the violent roar of clashing blood and qi could faintly be heard.

When only the final stretch remained, Jiang Yue, in his all-out sprint, was already drenched in blood.

Sweating profusely but with an overwhelming momentum, he burst through the last line of defense, formed by three puppets.

On the holographic screen, data scrolled wildly. The final result instantly froze and refreshed.

[Name: Jiang Yue.] [Clear Time: 4 minutes 48 seconds!] [Battle Damage Assessment: Thirty-seven Level 1 Combat Puppets destroyed!] [Assessment: Pass!]

Jiang Yue's feet crossed the solid ground of the finish line, and he stopped.

He stood in the spacious finish plaza, with [Thunder Breath] cycling rapidly and steadily.

In less than ten breaths, his heart rate, which had been slightly elevated from the sprint, was completely calmed.

"This result should be in the top five hundred..."

"Not a bad improvement!"