Yet as Jiang Yue pushed deeper into the middle stretch of the Corridor, the exam's difficulty began to rise exponentially.
"Warning! Target's advance speed exceeds the preset threshold. Initiating encirclement protocol!"
The cold, emotionless synthetic voice echoed through the empty Corridor.
At its command, dozens of concealed doors rose simultaneously from the alloy walls on both sides.
Seven Level 1 Combat Puppets filed out. Their internal tactical network linked instantly, forming an airtight ring of steel around Jiang Yue before launching a frenzied assault that left him nowhere to hide.
Bang! Bang! Thud! Clang!
The dull thuds of flesh striking steel and metal colliding with metal rang through the Corridor without pause.
This was a hellish trial ground.
Under the crushing gravity, Jiang Yue's body was already bearing a load far beyond what it faced outside.
Inside that dense ring of steel, he had to dodge and weave at a punishing pace. A delay of even a tenth of a second would leave him pulped beneath several mechanical fists.
Worse, every attack had to kill in one blow. To do that, he had to coordinate his spine and breathing perfectly and unleash the high-strain Inch Power of Ancient Martial Arts.
Inch Power was formidable, but the focus, muscular control, and Blood Energy it demanded were terrifying.
Less than three minutes had passed.
Already, the extreme conditions had driven Jiang Yue's heart and lungs to a limit he had never reached before.
Sweat had soaked his camouflage Training Uniform through. It clung to him as though he had just been hauled from the water.
Veins bulged at his temples, throbbing with each frantic beat of his heart.
His lungs felt as if they were on fire. With every breath, his exhausted air sacs strained desperately, sending needle-sharp pain through his chest.
He could no longer breathe steadily. Each breath came heavy and ragged, like air wheezing through a broken bellows.
"Ugh..."
A Puppet lunged from his blind spot and swept its mechanical arm at him. Jiang Yue barely ducked, but the heavy fist still grazed his left shoulder blade.
The tremendous impact drove through flesh and into bone.
The [Tough Skin] trait kept his bones and tendons intact, but the force still sent him stumbling. He nearly fell.
Clenching his teeth against the tearing pain in his left shoulder, he turned the stumble into a low spin. His right palm came down like a battle-axe on the hydraulic drive shaft inside the knee of another Puppet moving in for the kill.
Inch Power erupted!
With a sharp crack, the shaft snapped inside. The Puppet's massive body lost its balance and dropped to one knee.
Jiang Yue did not pause. His left fist followed with a viciously angled Inch Power uppercut beneath its jaw armor. Hidden Power punched through its body and shattered the visual center and neural network in its head.
Another Puppet fell.
But the Blood Energy surging through Jiang Yue's chest rushed to his head. Starved of oxygen, his brain faltered and darkness flickered across his vision. His legs felt filled with lead, and his once-fluid footwork began to drag.
I'm at my limit!
His body's oxygen supply and muscular endurance had been pushed to the brink by the relentless fighting and repeated bursts of power!
Lactic acid flooded his muscle fibers. Every cell sent his brain the same painful demand: stop, or collapse.
But there was no panic or surrender in Jiang Yue's eyes.
He had struggled through hopelessness at the bottom and hovered on the edge of death. This pain was not enough to make him yield.
With his Blood Energy boiling and his life hanging by a thread, a frightening wildness flared in his eyes.
He clung to the faltering Breath Regulation rhythm of the Six Harmonies Breathing Method. Ignoring the tearing pain in his organs, he held his breath and forced the last lungful of stale air down into the deepest reaches of his viscera, holding nothing back!
It was desperately dangerous. One mistake could rupture large numbers of air sacs and cause massive internal bleeding.
But Jiang Yue had no choice. He had to wring even the smallest scrap of potential from his body.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Under that strain, which defied his body's natural limits, the organs protected by his [Smooth Breath] trait began to resonate at a strange, rapid frequency, driven by the Ancient Martial Arts breathing method.
Then a muffled roar, almost tangible, burst from deep within his chest and abdomen!
At first it was faint, but in an instant it swelled and echoed through his body. It sounded like the low growl of an ancient tiger, or thunder rolling deep in the clouds before a storm.
Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound!
A bodily phenomenon that appeared in Ancient Martial Arts only when the organs had been honed to their utmost and Blood Energy resonated perfectly with the breath!
Crack!
As the thunder sounded inside him, the trait representing his breathing instinct flashed with blinding white light in the dark space behind his eyes—[Behavior: Breathing → Smooth Breath (White)].
[Host has exceeded physiological limits. Organs are under extreme pressure and have entered high-dimensional resonance...] [Trait advancement successful!] [New trait formed—Behavior: Breathing → Thunder Breath (Green)!]
Lines of dim green text cascaded down Jiang Yue's vision.
[Property 1 · Breath Regulation]: The microscopic structure of your lungs has changed, greatly increasing their efficiency in converting and using oxygen and ambient energy. Physical recovery speed rises exponentially! As long as your breathing remains steady, your body's Blood Energy will flow without end! [Property 2 · Viscera Tempering]: With every breath, your diaphragm and organs vibrate slightly. Your viscera are passively tempered around the clock, greatly increasing their cellular density, resistance to impact, and ability to withstand extreme conditions!
Within a single second, the gasping that had nearly torn Jiang Yue's air sacs apart changed completely.
His frantic breathing vanished.
In its place came slow, deep breaths, calm as still water in an abyss, with a faint rumble of thunder beneath them.
His chest rose and fell gently, yet each breath seemed bottomless.
Thanks to the extraordinary oxygen conversion of [Breath Regulation], strength poured back into his depleted body like a spring bursting to life after a long drought!
Fresh oxygen mingled with some unknown microscopic energy and cleared the lactic acid from his muscles in moments.
The ache vanished. Explosive strength filled his legs once more.
The Blood Energy that had run wild with exhaustion was also calmed by the waves of thunder vibrating through his organs, becoming steady and powerful.
So this is what the breathing method can do!
Jiang Yue's eyes snapped open in the dark Corridor. Once bloodshot from lack of oxygen, they now shone with startling intensity.
The threat of total exhaustion was gone!
Feeling power flow through him without end, like a river bursting its banks, Jiang Yue held nothing back. He fused his newly advanced [Thunder Breath] perfectly with his Ancient Martial Arts footwork.
He became a deadly phantom threading through the steel Puppets, thirty percent faster than before!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
He stopped dodging and charged straight through the ranks of Puppets ahead with savage, overwhelming force.
His left hand knocked aside a heavy fist, while his right drove Inch Power home like a needle. He slipped past a knee strike and smashed his elbow into a Puppet's chest, thunder rumbling within him.
Every blow carrying penetrating Inch Power shattered a Puppet's Power Core and left it beyond repair!
He tore through them. Not a single machine held him back for more than two seconds.
From the far end of the Corridor came the terrifying sound of metal tearing and the violent boom of colliding Blood Energy.
With only the final stretch remaining, Jiang Yue sprinted onward, his body covered in blood.
Drenched in sweat but surging with momentum, he broke through the last line of defense: three Puppets.
Data raced across the holographic display. Then his final result locked into place, updating the record.
[Name: Jiang Yue.] [Completion time: 4 minutes 48 seconds!] [Combat assessment: Thirty-seven Level 1 Combat Puppets destroyed!] [Rating: Pass!]
Jiang Yue crossed the finish line and stopped.
He stood in the broad plaza beyond it, [Thunder Breath] circulating swiftly and steadily.
In fewer than ten breaths, even his elevated sprinting heart rate had settled completely.
"This result should put me in the top five hundred..."
"Quite an improvement!"
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