It Worked

For Fang Xu, this experience came at exactly the right time, and the Attribute Panel changed as well.

[Status: Healthy]

[Physique: Improving]

[Skill: Beginner Swordsmanship → Proficient Swordsmanship]

[New: Proficient Thunder Breathing]

[Notice: The host's physique has been strengthened, increasing the body's carrying capacity.]

Fang Xu clenched his fist. He had more strength than before, and his body felt much lighter.

It was not that he had lost weight, but that his improved neural reactions, muscle coordination, and lung capacity gave him far greater control over his body.

"At least twice as strong."

Fang Xu's eyes gleamed. This was not a surge in Chakra, nor was it merely gaining another move. His physical foundation itself had been directly elevated.

The stronger his body was, the greater the output he could withstand from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and the more stable Lightning Mode would be.

This exchange had been an enormous profit.

But he could not test it at home. The Third Hokage had the Telescope Technique.

Although the old man could not possibly keep watching him every moment, Fang Xu did not want to gamble.

If he carelessly tested something as new as Thunder Breathing at home and it was seen through the crystal ball, explaining it would be far too troublesome.

Fang Xu packed his things, slung on his ninja tool pouch, and picked up a long blade.

Hatake Sakumo had given him this fine blade two days ago.

It was not a famous sword, but it was far more convenient to use than an ordinary kunai.

He shut the doors and windows, silently left the house, and headed for a secluded forest outside the village.

It was the secret training ground he had prepared recently.

The location was well hidden, surrounded by trees, and far from the main road.

Few people came here under normal circumstances.

After confirming that no one was nearby, Fang Xu stood in the middle of the clearing and slowly drew his sword.

The blade slid free, its cold gleam reflecting the moonlight.

Fang Xu gripped the hilt, and his breathing gradually changed.

His lungs suddenly drew in air.

The rhythm of Thunder Breathing began to circulate in an instant.

"Thunder Breathing, Second Form."

"Rice Spirit."

The moment his voice fell, he stomped hard.

He shot forward like lightning, his long blade slashing five times in an instant. Five strikes landed almost simultaneously on five trees ahead.

Crack!

The trunks were cleanly severed.

The next second, the five large trees snapped one after another and crashed down, kicking up dust and scattered leaves.

Fang Xu stopped more than ten meters away and lowered his gaze to the long blade in his hand.

It felt as though he had practiced this move thousands upon thousands of times.

"Again."

Fang Xu turned and looked toward another, thicker tree.

"Thunder Breathing, Third Form."

"Thunder Swarm."

Blue arcs of electricity erupted beneath his feet.

The next moment, his figure split into multiple streaks of lightning, slashing wildly around the tree from different directions.

The blade light circled it again and again, growing faster and faster.

Crackle!

Real lightning burst along the blade.

The tree was first carved with countless dense cracks, then exploded under the combined force of lightning and slashes.

Wood chips scattered everywhere, and the middle of the trunk was ground directly into powder.

Fang Xu landed, his chest barely rising and falling.

There was some consumption, but far less than he had expected.

Thunder Breathing's sword techniques fundamentally relied on breathing, physical bursts, and swordsmanship.

His body had been strengthened by the crystal, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit gave him an affinity bonus for lightning. Using these moves felt like fitting Thunder Breathing with a genuine lightning engine.

Fang Xu did not stop.

"Thunder Breathing, Fourth Form: Distant Thunder."

His figure pulled backward as his long blade cut out a distant arc of light wreathed in electricity.

The bark of the trees ahead was torn away in sheets, leaving scorched marks that spread outward.

"Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning."

The blade swept out, and lightning and intense heat erupted together. A charred crack was cut into the thick trunk, with white smoke rising from its edges.

"Thunder Breathing, Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash."

Fang Xu drove with both legs, darting at high speed as multiple consecutive slashes poured down like a thunderstorm.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A stretch of tree trunks was hacked into fragments, while the ground was left with scorched marks from the electric arcs.

Afterward, he performed the complete sequence again, from the Second Form through the Sixth Form.

Rice Spirit was fast.

Thunder Swarm was chaotic.

Distant Thunder created distance.

Heat Lightning erupted with searing force.

Rumble and Flash delivered continuous suppression.

Every move was astonishingly powerful.

More importantly, he used them with incredible smoothness.

It did not feel like he had just learned them.

It felt as though these sword techniques had always belonged to him.

Fang Xu sheathed his sword, his eyes brimming with excitement.

"Kaigaku may have rotten character, but his training experience is genuinely impressive."

Kaigaku could not use the First Form.

But he had indeed trained deeply in Forms Two through Six.

Now, all of it had become Fang Xu's foundation.

The only thing missing was the First Form.

Thunderclap and Flash.

This was Zenitsu's greatest specialty, and the move that truly pushed Thunder Breathing's speed to its limit.

Kaigaku could not learn it.

But Fang Xu did not believe he could not either.

He had the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Lightning Mode, lightning-nature Chakra, and all of Kaigaku's experience with Thunder Breathing.

What Kaigaku could not accomplish, Fang Xu might not be unable to accomplish.

Fang Xu walked to the edge of the clearing and selected a large tree more than ten meters away.

He slowly sheathed his sword and assumed an iaijutsu stance.

He lowered his center of gravity, his left hand gripping the sheath and his right hand holding the hilt.

His breathing began to compress.

He viciously drew a breath into his lungs, and even his chest and organs stung as though pierced by needles.

The rhythm of Thunder Breathing was pushed to its limit.

At the same time, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's lightning power surged from within his body.

This was not the sort of visual effect from the Demon Slayer world.

It was real blue lightning.

Electric arcs coiled around Fang Xu, crawled up his arm to the hilt, then pressed into the blade within its sheath.

The fallen leaves on the ground trembled and bounced lightly from the current.

Fang Xu stared at the tree ahead.

The next instant.

"Thunder Breathing, First Form."

"Thunderclap and Flash."

Boom!

His figure became a streak of blue lightning, instantly crossing the distance of more than ten meters.

The long blade was violently drawn.

Wrapped in real lightning, its edge brutally pierced through the tree trunk.

Fang Xu stopped behind the tree, his sword tip angled toward the ground.

Behind him, the large tree did not fall immediately.

A charred hole the size of a bowl had appeared in the center of its trunk.

The edges of the hole had been burned black by lightning, with faint white smoke still rising from within.

Fang Xu turned back to look at the mark left by that strike, and he finally could not suppress the curve of his lips.

He had succeeded.

He had successfully performed the First Form that Kaigaku had failed to learn his entire life.

And because of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, this move was no longer simply a high-speed sword draw.

It carried the penetrating, burning, and paralyzing power of real lightning.

If he continued refining it, its power could grow even stronger.

Fang Xu tightened his grip on the hilt, and the confidence in his heart swelled completely.

Thunder Breathing was only the beginning.

What suited him most was not copying the Demon Slayer Corps' sword techniques outright, but opening a new path for his lightning system.

Swordsmanship, breathing, lightning, Chakra, and Nintaijutsu.

These things could be fully integrated.

Fang Xu assumed his stance once more, lightning flashing beneath his feet.

He decided to continue experimenting, incorporating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's lightning power, Nintaijutsu: Lightning Mode, and pure lightning-nature Chakra into Thunder Breathing swordsmanship, further exploring the potential of this new power.