Cultivating the Breathing Technique

Ten days later, Old Green took Green out of the castle and back to a secret cellar in the warehouse. Old Green was about to teach Green the breathing technique. Aside from the ventilation shaft, the entire cellar was completely sealed. The room was lit only by the faint flame of an oil lamp. Old Green had dug this room long ago, deep within the warehouse, and only he knew of its existence.

"Green, a breathing technique is a method of condensing life force. Through special movements and breathing, it condenses your life force into a seed. As long as you successfully condense a Life Seed, your life force will undergo a qualitative transformation, granting you strength far beyond that of ordinary people."

"A Knight Apprentice must condense his Life Seed in one go. If he fails, condensing it a second time will become vastly more difficult. So you must do it in your best condition. Adjust yourself first, and then I'll tell you the method." Old Green solemnly instructed Green.

Listening to Old Green, Green's expression became grave as well. He immediately sat cross-legged and began adjusting his condition. Closing his eyes, Green began to breathe deeply.

[Truth, conduct a full examination of my physical condition and fluctuations in mental will.]

[Results as follows: Current physical condition is good. Through hypnotic suggestion, adrenaline reserves have reached the highest standard. Mental will fluctuations are stable, emotional influence is low, and mental will is in a normal state.]

Green knew that Old Green would not deceive him. In other words, condensing the Life Seed truly had to be done in one go.

[View personal attributes]

[Green]

[Strength: 1.3]

[Speed: 1.4]

[Constitution: 1.3]

After this period of training, Green's physical attributes had improved somewhat further. Seeing his physical abilities surpass those of ordinary people, Green felt even more confident. In the end, condensing a Life Seed still depended on the strength of one's constitution. With a physique far beyond that of ordinary people, Green's chance of success was extremely high.

After meditating seriously for more than ten minutes, Green was certain that he had reached the peak of his physical condition. Opening his eyes, he looked seriously at Old Green and solemnly nodded.

Seeing the determination in Green's eyes, Old Green seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he did not speak. Instead, he slowly took a book from his chest.

At a glance, Green could see that the book's cover had yellowed and bore several black marks. It clearly had a long history. The book was not thick, containing only a dozen or so pages.

"Green, memorize the movements in this book and follow the requirements exactly. Remember, you absolutely cannot make any mistakes." Old Green handed the book to Green and cautioned him.

Green took the book Old Green handed him and looked at its contents.

[Storm Breathing Technique]

The name of the breathing technique was written on the cover.

After reading every word in the book, Green roughly understood the effects of this breathing technique.

According to the book, different breathing techniques had different effects. Some focused on life force, some on explosive power, and others on endurance. The Storm Breathing Technique was an especially unique breathing technique.

According to the book, the Storm Breathing Technique did not focus on any particular direction, but pursued breakthroughs at a higher level. The original intent behind its creation was to produce an effect similar to a tornado. As its user broke through successive levels, his conversion of external energy would continuously improve, allowing him to possess strength far beyond others at the same level.

This breathing technique was extremely powerful, but its flaws were equally significant. Just as a tornado had an eye, the Storm Breathing Technique also had a tremendous flaw. Every breakthrough for a user of the Storm Breathing Technique was like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon. Success meant life; failure meant death.

After carefully reading the entire book, Green could not help looking up at Old Green. Seeing Green's gaze, Old Green revealed a bitter smile. "Back then, my injuries were too severe. I wasted a great deal of life force to stay alive, and my Life Seed suffered irreversible damage. It was not caused by forcing a breakthrough."

"Green, the Storm Breathing Technique is very powerful, but it also carries enormous risks. Every breakthrough is a gamble with your life. Other breathing techniques are much gentler. Aside from condensing the seed as a Knight Apprentice, even if other breathing techniques fail, there is no danger to one's life. At worst, one will remain permanently at one's current level."

"If you do not wish to use the Storm Breathing Technique, I can go to the baron and exchange it for the baron's inherited breathing technique." Old Green looked at Green with concern. He did not want Green to cultivate such a dangerous breathing technique either.

"There's no need. I'll learn the Storm Breathing Technique." Green stopped Old Green.

Looking at the Storm Breathing Technique in his hands, Green revealed a faintly crazed smile. In his previous life, in order to surpass humanity, Green had even dared to undergo a chip implantation surgery with an unknown success rate. Let alone a breathing technique that still had a chance of success.

Without another word, Green directly assumed the first movement.

Seeing Green's decisive action, Old Green carefully retreated to the edge. There could not be any disturbance now. Once Green's state was disrupted, it might very well cause the condensation of the Life Seed to fail.

As Green began assuming the movement and used the breathing technique to control his breathing, he could clearly feel a strange resonance forming within his body with every inhalation and exhalation. The energy in his body began converging toward his heart.

[Detecting full-body condition]

[Abnormal flow of bodily energy detected. Intervene?]

The signal sent by the chip filled Green with delight. If the chip could interfere with the breakthrough process, then his chance of success would rise greatly.

[Immediately establish an energy circulation model. Activate auxiliary function and assist energy flow.]

Although Green had his eyes closed, he could still see the blue interface projected directly onto his nerves by the chip.

A human body model and pathways of energy flow quickly formed on the blue interface. Green carefully studied the model produced by the chip's analysis.

On the model, as Green breathed and shifted his movements, energy nodes formed one after another throughout his body. These energy nodes continuously absorbed the energy within his body—Green's life force.

The gathered life force eventually flowed into Green's heart and continuously merged with it. Green's heart became a circulation center. That energy continuously entered his blood and, as his blood flowed, worked with the special vibrations produced by the breathing rhythm to continuously transform Green's body.

[Chip, immediately interfere with energy flow and reduce energy loss.]

Through the model constructed by the chip, Green could clearly see that part of the energy was not utilized by the resonance of the breathing technique. Instead, it dissipated from his body. Moreover, this loss increased as the breathing technique progressed.

So this was why condensing the seed failed! Too much energy dissipated, leaving insufficient energy to complete the full transformation. In the end, all the effort came to nothing. Not only would one lose a huge amount of life force, but the entire transformation would remain incomplete, preventing the Life Seed from taking shape. No wonder it had to be done in one go. After losing so much life force, succeeding a second time would practically be a dream.

With the chip's assistance, Green could clearly feel that the energy flowed incredibly smoothly, without the slightest obstruction. Centered on Green's heart, the remaining life force left after transforming his body began forming a massive storm spiral.

This was what made the Storm Breathing Technique different from other breathing techniques.

Green knew that the crucial moment had arrived. He had the chip devote all its processing power to controlling the formation of the Life Seed. As the enormous storm spiral formed around his heart, Green could clearly feel it beginning to draw in energy from the outside world.

As the energy drawn from the outside continuously seeped into his body, Green's body, which had already been transformed by the Storm Breathing Technique, began growing once more. Moreover, this external energy differed from his own energy.

The energy drawn from outside came in different types. Some gave Green a scorching sensation, some felt chilling, and some felt heavy. Green's body accepted all of it. Through the life-force tornado, these energies began merging perfectly with Green's body.

Green carefully examined the chip's model. The chip had already categorized the external energies, but because it lacked a detailed energy spectrum, it crudely classified them as Type A, Type B, Type C, and so on, marking each with a different color.

On the model, the originally blue display had become a riot of colors. These external energies had already filled Green's body.

Under the chip's nearly perfect control, the life-force tornado that could originally only be maintained for ten minutes through the Storm Breathing Technique was forcibly extended to thirty minutes.

With this nearly qualitative increase in duration, Green even felt, by the twentieth minute, as though his body had become overstuffed. It could no longer contain more external energy. Even if he forced that energy into his body, it would slowly leak back out.

But Green would not waste such an opportunity. Using the chip to interfere with energy circulation, he allowed the external energy to continuously wash over his body. Although the chip's model showed that this would bring only a minuscule improvement, Green's body had already reached its current limit. Any improvement at all was a huge gain.

Green was immersed in the transformation brought by the breathing technique, while Old Green on the other side was already dumbfounded. By the eleventh minute, Old Green had realized something was wrong. Logically, Green should have finished transforming by then. What Old Green had not expected was for Green's transformation to continue for a full thirty minutes.

"What kind of life force could sustain a life-force tornado for so long?" Old Green was extremely familiar with the Storm Breathing Technique, so he naturally knew that the essence of forming a life-force tornado was relying on one's own life force.

When thirty minutes had passed, the storm tornado within Green's body finally disappeared. Green's Life Seed had also gathered enough life force. A round seed slowly took shape within his heart.

It was an extremely strange feeling. Green's heart was clearly inside his body, yet he could distinctly sense the Life Seed located in the area of his heart.

Green calmed himself and sensed the Life Seed. Like a glass marble, the Life Seed emitted no aura. Was this the Life Seed I condensed?

According to the book, to break through to a formal knight, one had to activate this Life Seed and make it breathe, connecting the internal and external energy channels to achieve a massive increase in destructive power.

However, Green had only just broken through. Although his Life Seed had taken shape, its interior had not yet fully solidified, and he needed to wait a while longer. As for the other requirement—that his body reach its limit—Green had already fulfilled it. Through the strengthening of external energy, his body had reached the limit of a Knight Apprentice.

Now, he only needed to wait another two or three months before becoming a formal knight.

Why did breaking through to a formal knight feel so much like connecting the bridges between heaven and earth in martial arts novels and becoming an Innate?

After making that jab, Green continued looking at the chip's interface.

[Green]

[Strength: 2.5]

[Speed: 2.7]

[Constitution: 3.0]

Green's physical data had undergone earth-shaking changes. Constitution in particular had improved far more than the other two attributes. Thanks to the chip's control over energy, almost none of his life force had been wasted. The effectiveness of this enhancement definitely surpassed that of any other breathing technique.

After confirming that he had successfully condensed the Life Seed, Green opened his eyes.

The moment Old Green saw Green open his eyes, he rushed over and began feeling Green all over, touching him here and there. As he did so, he asked anxiously, "Are you all right, Green? Did you successfully condense the Life Seed?"

The phenomena around Green had been too strange, so Old Green could not help worrying.

Green took Old Green's hand and solemnly said to him,

"Don't worry. I'm fine. I successfully condensed the Life Seed and became a Knight Apprentice."

Hearing Green's words, Old Green let out a long breath of relief.

"That's good. That's good."

Once Old Green had calmed down, Green led him out of the secret chamber.

Pushing open the warehouse doors, Green looked at the snowflakes beginning to melt and knew that spring was coming. But as he clenched his hand and felt the immense power within it, Green knew that he was no longer the same as before.