Looking at the clever young man before him, Kujo Tachibana said sincerely, "Master, thank you."
Seeing the sincerity in Kujo Tachibana's expression, and even a trace of his old vitality returning to his eyes, Ubuyashiki Kagaya finally felt at ease. He reminded him, "You should rest up for a few days. Don't do anything so reckless again."
Kujo Tachibana nodded.
Only then did Ubuyashiki Kagaya leave with the group of Corps members who had come to visit Kujo Tachibana.
Five days later, Kujo Tachibana was discharged again and returned to his residence.
After that, Kujo Tachibana stayed home, day and night recalling memories from his previous life.
He racked his brains for a way to heal the damage to his lungs.
At the same time, he searched for other solutions.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Yet Kujo Tachibana still had no clue.
Feeling his physical condition gradually deteriorating, Kujo Tachibana knew he had to address the problem—or at least slow it down—first.
Otherwise, if he let any more time pass, he might really become a sickly invalid.
Early the next morning, Kujo Tachibana got up and began practicing a set of Tai Chi.
It was a form of exercise anyone could learn in his previous life. It placed few demands on one's physical condition, and its movements were gentle and unhurried: Tai Chi.
Back when Kujo Tachibana was a boy on Blue Star, dreaming of becoming a martial arts hero, he had once gone to an internet café and downloaded a set of "Tai Chi" on a computer.
Whether he'd gotten any results from practicing it was obvious from how he died in his previous life. But that didn't mean the routine was completely useless.
It only meant that, as a boy, he'd been too easily distracted and hadn't had the discipline to stick with it.
Of course, Kujo Tachibana didn't expect that practicing Tai Chi would turn him into a peerless master.
Even if that kind of power existed, without a renowned teacher to guide him, practicing the widely taught Yang Style 24-Form Tai Chi couldn't make him a peerless master.
The Yang Style 24-Form Tai Chi was a form of Tai Chi officially recognized by the authorities.
Many of its original moves had been changed, leaving it with only one purpose: improving health and fitness.
Besides, with his body in its current state, even if he were given a peerless martial art, he wouldn't get much out of practicing it.
After all, as long as you were human, you needed to breathe. If you had trouble breathing, at best you'd be sickly and frail; at worst, you wouldn't have long to live!
And Kujo Tachibana was currently caught somewhere between being sickly and frail and not having long to live.
He'd chosen to practice Tai Chi simply to get his body moving and slow the decline of his physical condition.
That evening, as usual, Kujo Tachibana practiced a set of "health exercises" beneath the ginkgo tree in the courtyard.
Still, he had to admit that Tai Chi did seem to help a little.
Because Kujo Tachibana could now observe subtle changes in his body, he was particularly sensitive to the effects of Tai Chi.
He didn't just practice by himself anymore. He'd also convinced Ubuyashiki Kagaya—the real "sickly invalid"—to practice with him every morning.
As the sun slowly sank, the day's stifling heat gave way to comfortable warmth.
The evening breeze carried a hint of coolness as it brushed against the sweat-soaked young man. Kujo Tachibana let out an involuntary sigh of contentment.
After taking off his damp jacket, Kujo Tachibana went over to the well in the courtyard and drew up a ladleful of water. Just as he was about to wash his clothes, he noticed something.
An earthworm was inching along the edge of the well.
"Little guy, you can't swim. This isn't a place for you to play."
Kujo Tachibana picked up the earthworm from beside the well, intending to toss it onto the nearby soil.
Just then, the slippery feel of the earthworm sent a flash of inspiration through his mind!
Kujo Tachibana drew his hand back and quietly watched the earthworm writhing in his palm.
He was no stranger to earthworms.
For a time in his previous life, he'd been an avid angler and had known this "bait" well.
Earthworms were extremely attractive to some carnivorous and omnivorous fish.
Crucian carp, catfish, black carp, snakehead, common carp, tilapia, and so on...
Uh, that's beside the point. Back to the main topic.
And the earthworm's unique way of breathing!
It reminded Kujo Tachibana!
Why did breathing have to be done with the lungs?
Earthworms needed to breathe too, yet they had no lungs. They could breathe directly through their skin!
What about humans? Could they breathe through their skin and pores?
No one in this world could give Kujo Tachibana an answer.
In fact, Kujo Tachibana was thinking along the right lines.
The pores in human skin could breathe too!
The human body could not only expel harmful substances through its pores, but also cleanse itself.
Over the course of twenty-four hours, the human body absorbed roughly three to four grams of oxygen through the skin.
The amount also depended on temperature.
At thirty degrees Celsius, skin respiration accounted for one percent of the body's total gas exchange.
In a hot environment, gas metabolism through the skin accounted for around fifteen to twenty percent of the lungs' gas metabolism.
And this happened without humans realizing it or controlling it. It was simply the body's pores opening and working automatically in response to outside stimuli.
So how many pores did the human body have?
The answer was: several million, depending on the individual.
If someone could control all the pores on their body, could they give up their lungs and breathe entirely through their pores?
Looking at the earthworm in his palm, Kujo Tachibana closed his eyes and began searching his memories for information about body breathing, breathing through pores, and related topics on Blue Star.
A moment later, Kujo Tachibana slowly opened his eyes. They were shining brightly!
Looking at the earthworm in the center of his palm, Kujo Tachibana patiently found a patch of damp soil in the courtyard and set it down. Then he murmured, "We all have a bright future."
That was right. Kujo Tachibana had found some relevant information in his memories!
He was now brimming with confidence about pursuing the path of Body Breathing!
Back on Blue Star in his previous life, Kujo Tachibana had once browsed an online post about the levels of ancient martial artists.
Of course, it had been posted online by a modern person. Kujo Tachibana hadn't been able to verify whether any of it was true, so he'd only read it as an amusing curiosity.
According to the post, when ancient martial artists trained their internal energy to the level of a first-rate master and opened all the meridians in their bodies, they would reach a realm known as the innate realm.
Upon reaching this realm, they could not only strengthen their internal organs, but also use their mental power to control every pore on their bodies, opening and closing them at will to achieve Body Breathing.
In modern times—roughly the late Qing and Republican eras—warfare had caused the widespread loss of internal martial arts, and martial artists had focused more on training in fist techniques.
Fist techniques were divided into internal and external styles. When martial artists who practiced internal styles reached a very high level of skill...
They, too, could reach a state similar to Body Breathing. The martial artists of that era called it—"Shattering the Void and Seeing the Divine; the Body Imperishable."
Martial artists who reached this level could not only breathe entirely through the pores on their skin.
They could even control their body hair, making it grow or fall out at will.
Then there were the legends about the true adepts of Chinese Daoism.
According to the tales, those who cultivated Daoist arts to a certain level could also reach a state similar to the martial artists' Body Breathing.
All of this told Kujo Tachibana that breathing through the pores was entirely possible!
I've been asked about this before: I didn't make up the figures about breathing through the pores. I found them all online!
Before you continue