But for Fang Xu as he was now, this experience could not have come at a better time. His Attribute Panel changed as well.
[Status: healthy] [Physique: improving] [Skill: beginner swordsmanship → proficient swordsmanship] [New: proficient Thunder Breathing] [Notice: host's constitution strengthened. Physical capacity increased.]
Fang Xu clenched his fists. He had more strength than before, and his body felt much lighter.
He had not lost weight. Rather, his improved reflexes, muscular coordination, and lung capacity had all given him greater control over his body.
"At least twice as strong."
Fang Xu's eyes lit up. This was not a surge in chakra or simply gaining another move. His physical foundation had been raised directly.
For him, the stronger his body became, the more output he could withstand from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and the more steadily he could maintain Lightning Mode.
This exchange had paid off big.
Still, he could not test it at home. The Third Hokage had the Telescope Technique.
Though he could not possibly watch Fang Xu every moment, Fang Xu did not want to gamble.
If he carelessly tested something new like Thunder Breathing at home and it showed up in the Crystal Ball, explaining it would be far too much trouble.
Fang Xu packed his things, took his ninja tool pouch, and picked up a long sword.
It was the fine-quality long sword Hatake Sakumo had given him two days earlier.
It was no famous sword, but it handled far better than an ordinary kunai.
He shut the doors and windows, slipped silently out of his home, and headed for a secluded patch of woodland outside the village.
It was the secret training spot he had prepared recently.
The location was hidden, screened by trees on all sides and far from the main road.
Few people ever came there.
After confirming that no one was nearby, Fang Xu stood in the center of the woodland and slowly drew his sword.
The blade slid free, its cold gleam reflecting the moonlight.
Fang Xu gripped the hilt, gradually changing his breathing.
His lungs sucked in a deep breath.
The rhythm of Thunder Breathing instantly took hold.
"Thunder Breathing, Second Form."
"Rice Spirit."
As the words fell, he stamped down hard.
He shot forward as fast as lightning, his long sword slashing five times in an instant. Five strikes landed almost simultaneously on five trees ahead.
Crack!
The trunks were sliced clean through.
A moment later, the five large trees broke apart one after another and crashed down, throwing up dust and shredded leaves.
Fang Xu stopped more than ten meters away and glanced down at the long sword in his hand.
It was as though he had practiced this move thousands upon thousands of times.
"Again."
Fang Xu turned toward another, thicker tree.
"Thunder Breathing, Third Form."
"Thunder Swarm."
Blue arcs exploded beneath his feet.
The next moment, his figure became multiple streaks of lightning, circling the tree and slashing rapidly from different directions.
Rings of flashing steel followed one another, faster and faster.
Crackle!
Real lightning burst along the blade.
Countless cuts first opened across the tree, then it exploded under the combined lightning and slashes.
Wood chips scattered, and the middle section of the trunk was ground straight into dust.
Fang Xu landed, his chest barely rising and falling.
It had taken energy, but less than he had imagined.
Thunder Breathing's sword techniques fundamentally relied on breathing, explosive physical power, and swordsmanship.
His body had been strengthened by the crystal, and he also had the added lightning affinity of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Using these moves was practically like fitting Thunder Breathing with an actual lightning engine.
Fang Xu kept going.
"Thunder Breathing, Fourth Form: Distant Thunder."
He pulled back, his long sword trailing electrical arcs as it sent a curved flash slashing into the distance.
A whole swath of bark was torn away ahead, with charred marks spreading along its path.
"Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning."
The blade swept past, lightning and intense heat erupting together. A charred gash opened in the thick trunk, its edges still giving off white smoke.
"Thunder Breathing, Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash."
Fang Xu drove through his legs, darting at high speed as a succession of slashes rained down like a thunderstorm.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A swath of tree trunks was hacked to pieces, and electrical arcs scorched the ground as well.
Then he linked the Second through Sixth Forms together in another complete sequence.
Rice Spirit was fast.
Thunder Swarm was chaotic.
Distant Thunder opened up distance.
Heat Lightning delivered an explosive, scorching attack.
Rumble and Flash provided continuous suppression.
Every move had astonishing power.
More importantly, he used them with incredible fluidity.
It did not look as though he had just learned them.
It was more as though these sword techniques had belonged to him all along.
Fang Xu sheathed his sword, his eyes brimming with excitement.
"Kaigaku might have been rotten as a person, but his training experience really was solid."
Kaigaku could not use the First Form.
But he had indeed trained deeply in the Second through Sixth Forms.
Now all of that had become part of Fang Xu's foundation.
The only thing missing was the First Form.
Thunderclap and Flash.
It was Zenitsu's best move, and the one that truly pushed Thunder Breathing's speed to its limits.
Kaigaku had been unable to learn it.
But Fang Xu did not believe he would fail too.
He had the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Lightning Mode, lightning-nature chakra, and all of Kaigaku's Thunder Breathing experience.
What Kaigaku could not do was not necessarily beyond him.
Fang Xu walked to the edge of the woodland and selected a large tree more than ten meters away.
He slowly slid his sword into its sheath and assumed a sword-drawing stance.
He lowered his stance, his left hand clasping the sheath and his right gripping the hilt.
His breathing began to compress.
He forcefully sucked a breath into his lungs, a needlelike pain even piercing through his chest.
The rhythm of Thunder Breathing was pushed to its limit.
At the same time, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's lightning power surged out from within him.
This time, it was not the sort of visual effect seen in the Demon Slayer world.
It was real blue lightning.
Arcs coiled around Fang Xu, crawled up his arm to the hilt, then compressed into the long sword inside its sheath.
The current made the scattered leaves on the ground bounce lightly.
Fang Xu stared at the tree ahead.
The next instant.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form."
"Thunderclap and Flash."
Boom!
His figure became a bolt of blue lightning, crossing more than ten meters in an instant.
His long sword whipped free.
Wrapped in real lightning, the blade pierced fiercely through the trunk.
Fang Xu stopped behind the tree, his sword tip angled toward the ground.
Behind him, the tree did not fall immediately.
A charred hole the size of a bowl's mouth had appeared in the center of its trunk.
Lightning had scorched the edges pitch-black, and faint white smoke still rose from within.
Fang Xu looked back at the mark his strike had left, finally unable to suppress his smile.
It had worked.
He had successfully performed the First Form, which Kaigaku had failed to learn his entire life.
And thanks to the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, this move was no longer merely a high-speed drawing slash.
It carried the piercing, scorching, and paralyzing effects of real lightning.
If he kept refining it, it could become even more powerful.
Fang Xu tightened his grip on the hilt, his confidence swelling fully.
Thunder Breathing was only the beginning.
What suited him best about it was not copying the Demon Slayer Corps' sword techniques, but the new path it opened for his lightning system.
Swordsmanship, breathing, lightning, chakra, Nintaijutsu.
All of these could be fused together.
Fang Xu took his stance again, lightning lighting up beneath his feet.
He decided to keep experimenting, incorporating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's lightning power, Nintaijutsu: Lightning Mode, and pure lightning-nature chakra into Thunder Breathing's swordsmanship to further explore this new ability's potential.