Breathing Method

After confirming that he wouldn't drink himself to death, Xiao Wang got back to his feet and headed for school.

He first passed through Resistance Avenue.

This was the main avenue of Mount Yuan City's outer city. It ran through the entire outer city, linking the inner city to its outskirts. Five kilometers long and twenty meters wide, it was a memorial avenue built after the rebellion was suppressed thirty years ago.

At this time, quite a few outer-city residents were walking along Resistance Avenue toward the inner city. Yet just as they neared the inner city wall, they vanished from sight.

They had all entered the underground levels of the inner city.

For safety reasons, the Federation had moved nearly all important factories underground beneath the inner city.

The factory workers poured underground in groups like schools of sardines.

Xiao Wang glanced at the crowd filing in, then raised his gaze. The forty-meter-tall inner city wall stood towering and imposing, a barrier separating the outer city from the inner city. The main gates were shut tight. Only the small door newly opened within them occasionally allowed people through, after they underwent strict inspections by heavily armed Federation soldiers stationed at the entrance.

Watching them, Xiao Wang concluded that sneaking into the inner city by blending in with the crowd was nearly impossible.

After passing Resistance Avenue, he turned left and followed Unity Alley to its end. Past Justice Square, he could see the gates of a high school.

This was Xiao Wang's school, Mount Yuan Outer City's Seventh Advanced High School.

I never thought I'd be back in high school after graduating so many years ago.

Xiao Wang stood at the entrance, looking at the school gates as he thought this.

But he also knew that this was completely different from the high school of his previous life.

Students were continuously streaming into the school. As Xiao Wang walked among them and passed the athletic field, he heard a series of muffled bangs.

Following the sound, he saw three words written on an oval-shaped building: Firearms Hall.

This was a training facility the school had specially built for students hoping to enroll in military police schools.

Beside the Firearms Hall stood a rather old building, from which came dull thuds and the occasional low shout.

This was the school's martial arts training ground. Having been built and used for many years, it looked far more weathered and aged than the Firearms Hall beside it.

Xiao Wang only gave it two glances before heading toward the classrooms for academic subjects.

As he walked, an arm suddenly hooked around his neck from behind. "What a miracle, Xiao Wang. You actually didn't come early to train at the martial arts training ground today."

Xiao Wang recognized the voice immediately. It was his deskmate, Guan Chaoyang.

Guan Chaoyang said that because Xiao Wang had previously arrived at school early almost every day, trained for an hour at the martial arts training ground, and only then attended academic classes.

"I woke up late," Xiao Wang answered.

"You woke up late? Bullshit. Did you get off twice last night? Or have you decided not to apply to the Martial Arts Academy?"

"Cut the crap. Get lost."

The two chatted with their arms around each other's shoulders as they headed for the classroom.

Their seats were in the back row. After sitting down, Guan Chaoyang looked at Xiao Wang. "You've definitely got something going on. In all three years of high school, you've never missed morning martial arts training."

"Stop making wild guesses. I just overslept," Xiao Wang said, taking out his textbook.

At that moment, a girl with a high ponytail in the row ahead turned around and asked Guan Chaoyang, "You said he missed morning martial arts training?"

"Yeah. Isn't that strange? This guy must be hiding something from the two of us."

The girl's name was Bian Xiaolan. The three of them had been in the same class since middle school. In her own words, they were an iron triangle—though a scalene triangle, because the two of them were short.

Naturally, neither Xiao Wang nor Guan Chaoyang admitted that.

Bian Xiaolan stared at Xiao Wang. "Did you have a wet dream last night and wash your underwear this morning?"

Xiao Wang: ???

"Hahahahaha!" Guan Chaoyang burst out laughing at Bian Xiaolan's words and gave her a thumbs-up.

Bian Xiaolan was a walking dirty joke.

Ring-ring-ring.

The bell rang, signaling the start of class.

Before long, the academic teacher entered the classroom.

Not long after the teacher entered, Guan Chaoyang lay down on his desk and started sleeping.

The teacher did not bother him. It was now their third year of high school, and many students aiming for military police schools or the Martial Arts Academy did not even attend classes. They used the time for private training in preparation for the upcoming entrance examinations.

Though military police schools and the Martial Arts Academy also required academic scores, the requirements were not high. They cared more about achievement or talent in the relevant field. Every year, they held separate entrance examinations, and only those who passed would be admitted.

Guan Chaoyang had aspired to attend a military police school since his first year of high school, for two reasons. First, he thought Patrol Bureau officers and Federation soldiers holding firearms looked cool. Second, he could not endure the hardship of martial arts training.

With a doctor for a father and a teacher for a mother, he also did not need to worry about the thirty Federation coins needed for every training bullet.

Thus, military police school was his only choice.

Although Xiao Wang did not sleep, he did not pay much attention to the lesson either. With his academic ability, Culture University was still somewhat out of reach, but the Martial Arts Academy was more than within his grasp.

He practiced his breathing.

The Federation Martial Arts Alliance taught every student aspiring to pursue martial arts a basic boxing technique and a basic breathing method to assist cultivation.

What he was currently practicing was the basic breathing method, the Primordial Yang Breathing Method.

This was the most basic breathing method, generally used to assist cultivation before the first martial arts limit.

Xiao Wang closed his eyes and sensed his breathing. With every inhale and exhale, he felt the rise and fall of his body, felt his breath driving the muscles throughout his body.

At times, his breathing was rapid, as though all the muscles in his body were gathered into a single point to break through with force. At other times, it was steady, and the muscles throughout his body formed their own positions, setting up defenses everywhere.

As he practiced, Xiao Wang felt that today's training was different from before. He discovered that his control over his breathing had clearly improved.

After completing one cycle and looking at the bead in his mind, he found that its color had faded.

What's going on? The damage absorbed by the bead can be converted into a boost for my training?

Xiao Wang guessed, feeling excited. If that's really the case, wouldn't every bit of damage dealt to me make me stronger?

Xiao Wang continued practicing for a while and found that it was indeed so. The bead's color was fading, while his cultivation efficiency slowly increased. At the same time, he felt his comprehension gradually improving as well.

Good.

Xiao Wang could not help praising it inwardly.

One class period passed quickly.

But Xiao Wang's cultivation did not stop. He remained seated with his eyes closed, continuing to practice.

"Come on, bathroom break. You going?" Guan Chaoyang asked as he lifted his head from the desk.

"No."

Guan Chaoyang immediately rose and rushed out through the back door. Just as he reached it, he ran into a girl.

Guan Chaoyang stared at her blankly for a moment, then shouted toward Xiao Wang, "Wang, someone's looking for you."

Xiao Wang opened his eyes and turned toward the back door. After exchanging a smile with the girl, he stood up and walked out.