Deriving an Inner Breath Method

Dawn had barely broken over the Servant Compound.

Chaotic footsteps already echoed through the courtyard. Servants carried hoes and firewood axes, heading off to their various chores in twos and threes. Their coarse clothes were caked with dust, and every face bore numb exhaustion. Here, talent and one's past counted for nothing. There was only endless hard labor, along with meager rations scarcely enough to support cultivation.

Shen Yuan stood at the entrance to the woodshed, watching the passing crowds.

After hearing the news Wang Dong had brought last night—that the Outer Sect Assessment would begin in half a month—the matter had weighed heavily on his heart.

To cast off his identity as a servant, this was the only open and honorable path. Yet the reality before him was incomparably cruel.

He was only at the Body Tempering Third Stage.

The threshold for the Outer Sect Assessment was at least the Fifth Stage of Body Tempering before one even qualified to compete. Many candidates had already reached the Body Tempering Sixth Layer or Seventh Layer. Not to mention an established Outer Sect expert like Zhao Kun blocking the way ahead.

Relying solely on the Modified Tiger-Subduing Fist to temper his body bit by bit was far from enough for half a month.

"I have to obtain a basic inner breath method," Shen Yuan murmured.

The Subduing Tiger Fist was ultimately just an external martial art for tempering flesh and skin. Without a matching inner breath method, the growth of his vital energy and blood would be firmly choked off. The small book repository of the Servant Compound held the sect-issued basic inner breath and breathing methods, the highest-grade cultivation manuals servants could access. But the key to the repository was in Liu Er's hands, and ordinary servants could not even touch it.

"Shen Yuan! What are you standing around for? Get to the Rocky Beach and sweep it! Don't even think about loafing around!"

Zhou Hu's shouting came from afar.

After being thrown over in front of everyone yesterday and losing all face, Zhou Hu's gaze toward Shen Yuan brimmed with venom. Yet he no longer dared to rush in and attack directly, and could only shout at him from a distance.

Shen Yuan raised his eyes and gave him an indifferent glance, ignoring him.

Yesterday, Liu Er had punished him by making him sweep the Rocky Beach behind the mountain for three consecutive days. The job was bitter and exhausting. The beach was covered with shattered rocks and thornbushes; after a full day's work, one's palms and arms would be slashed black and blue. It was plainly retaliation.

But Shen Yuan had other plans. The Rocky Beach lay in a remote corner behind the mountain, and few people came there normally. It was perfect for leaving himself ample uninterrupted cultivation time.

He picked up a battered bamboo broom and turned toward the back mountain.

The moment he stepped out of the courtyard gate, the plump Wang Dong hurried after him. He had two warm coarse-grain buns tucked in his arms and secretly stuffed them into Shen Yuan's hands.

"Take them. You can't even get a bite of hot food over at the Rocky Beach." Wang Dong looked around and lowered his voice. "I found out clearly. That copy of the Azure Cloud Breathing Formula in the servant repository? Liu Er usually keeps the transcribed version in a wooden box at his residence. That's the only inner breath method servants can learn."

Shen Yuan held the rough buns, warmth rising in his heart. "How do you know all this?"

"I've been knocking around the Servant Compound for so long. What trick of the trade don't I know?" Wang Dong scratched his chubby face, his brows knitting together. "But the hard part is that people are always wandering around Liu Er's residence, day and night. Trying to steal the copy is extremely risky. If you get caught, once the charge of stealing a cultivation technique is pinned on you, they could cripple you and throw you out of the sect."

Stealing a cultivation technique was precisely the crime that had been pinned on the original owner of this body three years ago.

At those four words, a cold gleam flashed through Shen Yuan's eyes. The original owner had been framed for stealing an Inner Sect cultivation technique, which was why his foundation bones had been shattered. If Shen Yuan became entangled with the name of stealing cultivation techniques again, he would be walking straight into their trap.

"Stealing is absolutely not an option." Shen Yuan slowly shook his head.

Once it happened, he would be unable to clear himself even with a hundred mouths. Liu Er and Zhao Kun could then bring up the old matter and eliminate him openly and legitimately.

Wang Dong froze. "Then what do we do? Without a breathing formula, how can you charge through to the Fifth or Sixth Stage of Body Tempering in half a month with only a fist art? You won't be able to fight in the Outer Sect Assessment at all."

Shen Yuan tightened his grip around the coarse-grain buns, his mind racing through possible solutions.

The Martial Arts Heavenly Stele's derivation of techniques did not necessarily require a complete manual. As long as he had heard the mnemonic verses of the moves, seen fragments of how the technique circulated, and gathered enough information fragments, the Heavenly Stele could derive and complete it.

"There should be people in the Servant Compound who have cultivated this Azure Cloud Breathing Formula, right?" Shen Yuan asked.

"That's true. Quite a few old servants learned it in earlier years, but most of them can't remember the complete mnemonic verses. They only remember bits and pieces," Wang Dong said.

"That will be enough." A faint curve rose at Shen Yuan's lips.

He did not need the complete manual. As long as he gathered enough fragments of the mnemonic verses and handed them to the Martial Arts Heavenly Stele for derivation, he could reconstruct the breathing formula and perhaps even derive an improved version.

"Leave this to me. I'll help you ask around for fragments of the mnemonic verses." Wang Dong patted his round chest. "I'm close with quite a few old servants. It won't be hard to coax a few verses out of them. But you have to be careful. Liu Er is watching you very closely right now. You threw Zhou Hu over yesterday, and the steward is already suspicious of you."

"I understand." Shen Yuan nodded.

The two parted ways. Wang Dong hurried back to the Servant Compound while Shen Yuan walked alone toward the Rocky Beach behind the mountain.

Jagged rocks covered the ground, weeds grew thick, and thornbushes sprawled everywhere.

Shen Yuan picked up the bamboo broom and pretended to honestly sweep the broken stones. His hands worked, but his consciousness sank into his sea of consciousness and opened the Martial Arts Heavenly Stele.

Within his sea of consciousness, the dark phantom of the Heavenly Stele floated silently. After slaying the Rock Wolf at the bottom of the cliff and slowly accumulating more through cultivation over the following days, he now had four Martial Dao Points.

"Four Martial Dao Points isn't much." Shen Yuan weighed it in his heart.

Deriving martial arts consumed Martial Dao Points at an astonishing rate. If he derived an inner breath method, it would likely drain them all at once.

For the entire morning, Shen Yuan slowly swept the rocks while silently circulating the Modified Tiger-Subduing Fist to temper his body. The vital energy and blood of the Body Tempering Third Stage circulated again and again through him, nourishing the cracks in his foundation bones that had yet to fully heal.

Near noon, the blazing sun hung high overhead.

Faint footsteps came from the distant grass. Wang Dong crept over, drenched in sweat, with a piece of coarse hemp cloth smeared with charcoal ash tucked in his arms.

"Whew, I'm dead tired." Wang Dong panted heavily, wiping sweat from his face as he handed over the hemp cloth. "I drew out answers from three old servants separately and pieced together more than half the mnemonic verses of the Azure Cloud Breathing Formula. They're all written on this cloth, though a small part is still missing. Those old men couldn't remember the remaining verses either."

Shen Yuan accepted the hemp cloth. It was covered in crooked black charcoal writing, with many fragments of the mnemonic verses incomplete and their order somewhat muddled.

"Enough." Shen Yuan's eyes lit up.

The fragments were in hand.

"Hurry and hide it. Don't let anyone see it." Wang Dong nervously looked around. "I need to get back quickly. If I'm gone too long, Liu Er will get suspicious. There's another piece of news. I just heard Liu Er muttering with Zhou Hu. He said they need to watch you and absolutely cannot let you register for the Outer Sect Assessment."

After saying that, Wang Dong did not dare linger and hurried back the way he had come.

Only Shen Yuan remained at the Rocky Beach.

He hid behind a massive boulder, confirmed that no one was watching nearby, then closed his eyes and sent his consciousness into the Martial Arts Simulation Space.

He fed every fragment of mnemonic verse from the hemp cloth into the Martial Arts Heavenly Stele.

[Incomplete inner breath technique fragment detected: Azure Cloud Breathing Formula. Fragment completeness: 67%. 3 Martial Dao Points may be consumed for derivation and reconstruction. Upon completion, an optimized breathing method may be obtained.]

The icy notification sounded in his sea of consciousness.

"Consume three Martial Dao Points. Begin derivation."

Buzz!

Three Martial Dao Points instantly vanished, leaving only 1 Martial Dao Point behind.

Within the Martial Arts Simulation Space, countless illusory figures sat cross-legged in the void, repeatedly attempting to breathe and circulate energy according to the incomplete mnemonic verses.

Some circulation routes went astray, and the phantoms' vital energy and blood flowed in reverse before their bodies scattered apart. Other routes moved sluggishly, resulting in poor cultivation efficiency. The Heavenly Stele tried and erred countless times, discarding incorrect meridian pathways, stitching together the incomplete verses, and continuously iterating and optimizing.

In the outside world, time slowly passed.

Shen Yuan's physical body rested quietly behind the boulder. Only half an hour passed outside, yet dozens of days and nights of simulated trials had already elapsed within the Martial Arts Simulation Space.

No one knew how much time passed.

A gentle azure radiance bloomed within the Martial Arts Simulation Space.

[Derivation complete. Obtained optimized Azure Cloud Inner Breath Art. Multiple flaws in the original technique have been repaired. It is better suited to the host's damaged foundation-bone constitution. Vital energy and blood circulation efficiency increased by forty percent.]

It worked!

Shen Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp light surging within them.

Following the newly derived breathing method, he slowly closed his eyes and began drawing in the scant spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Threads of worldly essence poured through his nose and mouth into his body, circulating through his entire body along the new meridian pathways. Warm inner breath washed over his tendons, bones, flesh, and blood, especially passing through the cracked foundation bones again and again.

Boom!

The vital energy and blood within him surged violently.

Body Tempering Fourth Stage!

The barrier shattered as easily as thin paper.

The inner breath art continued to circulate. Spiritual energy poured endlessly into his body, and his vital energy and blood continued to rise madly.

Fifth Stage of Body Tempering!

It still did not stop.

Shen Yuan's breathing was deep and steady. The optimized breathing method became like a vortex, madly drawing in the essence of heaven and earth around him.

Body Tempering Sixth Layer!

A powerful, vast tide of vital energy and blood swept through his limbs and bones, and faint crackling sounds came from his tendons and skeleton. The fissures in his shattered foundation bones were gradually filled and repaired by the unceasing inner breath. Though they were still far from fully recovering, they were no longer in a state where the slightest touch would break them apart.

In less than half a day, he had risen from the Body Tempering Third Stage, broken through three stages in succession, and reached the Body Tempering Sixth Layer.

Shen Yuan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and rose to his feet. Clenching both fists, he could clearly feel the surging power inside his body.

Yet not the slightest trace of swollen elation appeared in his heart.

The Body Tempering Sixth Layer would make him one of the best among the servants, but in the arena of the Outer Sect Assessment, it was still not absolute confidence. Zhao Kun was a Body Tempering Ninth Stage expert.

Moreover, Liu Er had already made up his mind to stop him from registering for the assessment.

The trouble had only just arrived.

He looked in the direction of the Servant Compound, his eyes calm.

Participating in the assessment would not be smooth sailing. Liu Er would certainly obstruct him at every turn.