Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing-Chapter 371: Surprise (I)

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

The waterfall crashed down from several hundred meters above, erupting with a deafening roar.

As usual, Lin Zheyu came here every few days to carry out his so-called limit training method. However, he now first cultivated the Furnace Tempering Body Technique in his own courtyard, exhausting all the blood qi in his body. After that, he trained for another two hours wearing heavy armor before coming to the Waterfall Deep Pool to continue his cultivation.

Now, relying purely on the strength of his physique, Lin Zheyu was comparable to a powerful martial artist in the Force Transformation realm. Coupled with a terrifying amount of blood qi, four times his original limit, if he trained here in peak condition, he would likely have to remain at the bottom of the deep pool for three to four hours before completely breaking through his limits. That would probably leave the crowd utterly dumbfounded.

Splash, splash, splash.

Lin Zheyu shot out from the deep pool. After returning to the shore, he continued training for more than an hour until his strength was finally completely exhausted. He felt his essence, qi and spirit fuse into a single current, as if his spirit had undergone a kind of sublimation.

"My strength is too great, and that brings its own troubles..." Lin Zheyu muttered softly as he lay on the ground.

As his strength improved, he felt the pressure from the Waterfall Deep Pool growing weaker and weaker. Even the terrifying pressure brought by surpassing the speed of sound and breaking the sound barrier could no longer harm his physique. With a body comparable to a Force Transformation realm martial artist and immense blood qi energy, his endurance and stamina had reached astonishing levels.

If only there were some wondrous cultivation space where gravity could be adjusted at will, that would be perfect. Breaking through my limits each time would not be such a hassle.

After resting for two or three minutes, he recovered his strength. Since advancing to the Marrow Refining realm, the golden blood qi had greatly transformed his body. It not only enhanced the overall strength of his physique, but also made his recovery ability far stronger than before.

"Martial Uncle!"

"Greetings, Martial Uncle.”

Amid respectful greetings, Lin Zheyu returned to Azure Water Garden.

The moment he entered Azure Water Garden, a familiar slender figure came into view.

"Senior Sister, you’re back." Lin Zheyu stepped forward quickly and greeted her with a smile.

Guo Wenzi had gone out on a mission, and he had not seen her for several months.

"Yes. I heard you defeated Xiao Shi and advanced to the thirtieth rank on the Hidden Dragon List, so I came back especially to congratulate you," Guo Wenzi said with a smile.

Her smile was as bright and open as ever, without the slightest sign of anything unusual. Yet Lin Zheyu sensed something faintly amiss. Ever since he had spent several units of Origin Force to cultivate the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art, his perception had become extraordinarily sharp.

"Senior Sister, are you injured? It is not serious, is it?" Lin Zheyu asked with a slight frown, concern in his voice.

"Oh? You can even sense that?"

A trace of surprise flashed through Guo Wenzi's eyes. She pondered for a moment, as if thinking of something.

"You brat... Could it be that you possess astonishing natural talent in the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art? I just met with Senior Brother Chen Ding. Even he did not notice it, yet you actually did. Tsk, tsk..."

Guo Wenzi sized Lin Zheyu up as though looking at some kind of monster.

Chen Ding was stronger than her. At the beginning of this year, he had already advanced to the peak of the Force Transformation realm and had begun preparing to advance to Grandmaster realm. The main reason he did not notice was that he had not paid attention. If he had observed carefully, with his strength, he would still have been able to detect it. He simply was not that meticulous.

"I also feel that I have considerable natural talent in the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art. After cultivating this technique, my perception has improved extremely quickly," Lin Zheyu said with a smile.

"Impressive! It seems your future advancement to the Grandmaster realm will not be much of a problem," Guo Wenzi teased with a grin.

"Grandmaster realm? Does the strength of one's spirit and spiritual soul have something to do with advancing to the Grandmaster realm?" Lin Zheyu asked in surprise. Back when Elder Yang had introduced some knowledge and insights about the Grandmaster realm to him, he had not mentioned this matter.

"Of course it’s related. To advance to the Grandmaster realm and condense the Grandmaster's will, you must first break free from the influence of the true intent you previously condensed and rediscover your original heart. The stronger your spirit and spiritual soul, the weaker the influence of true intent on you. True intent is like dye. If you drip it into a small basin of clear water, it easily changes the color. If you drip it into a large bathtub, it has little effect on the water's color.

“The relationship between true intent and the strength of the spirit and spiritual soul is just like that between a drop of dye and clear water. Therefore, after advancing to the Force Transformation realm, soul secret arts are one of the techniques every martial artist must cultivate," Guo Wenzi explained.

She knew Elder Yang had not told Lin Zheyu because he did not want him to devote too much effort to soul secret arts after learning this. Some geniuses, out of excessive confidence, would try every possible method to increase their soul strength once they learned that stronger souls reduced the influence of true intent. After raising their soul strength, they would then condense even more different true intents.

One disciple whom Elder Yang had once greatly valued was exactly like that. In the end, he wasted his natural talent and stopped at the Grandmaster realm. However, Guo Wenzi had known Lin Zheyu for a long time and understood his temperament to some extent. In her view, this fellow was overly steady. He spent all day cultivating within the sect. Though clearly powerful, he did not roam about challenging experts on the Hidden Dragon List to improve his ranking. Lin Zheyu’s character was the cautious type. He would not make such unwise choices.

"So that is how it is!" Lin Zheyu revealed a look of sudden understanding.

No wonder when he cultivated the Blood Burning Saber Technique and condensed the Blood Burning true intent, it felt much easier than when he had first condensed the Dominance true intent and the Azure Tide true intent.

"You truly have good natural talent in the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art, but do not waste too much time on it at this stage. The cultivation of soul secret arts is mainly a matter of slow grinding effort. It is difficult to achieve significant results in a short time. Although a martial artist's lifespan is greatly extended after advancing to the Marrow Refining realm, their condition will begin to decline around the age of seventy. The best time to advance to the Force Transformation realm is before seventy. After seventy, the difficulty of condensing true strength, impacting the meridians, and opening acupoints will increase dramatically.

"Do not neglect the fundamentals and focus on trifles by spending too much effort on the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art, hoping to raise your spirit and spiritual soul in order to condense more true intents. That is neither realistic nor wise."

Although she felt that with Lin Zheyu’s cautious temperament he would not do such a thing, Guo Wenzi still gave him a few special reminders. After all, she was the one who had told him about this. If she inadvertently stirred up some misguided thoughts in him, she would be at fault.

"Do not worry, Senior Sister. I know what matters most. In daily life, simply maintaining the operation of the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art is enough. Even if I focus on cultivating this technique, the efficiency will not improve much. There is no need to spend too much time on it," Lin Zheyu said with a smile.

After learning that the influence of true intent on a martial artist was related to the strength of the spirit and spiritual soul, his mood improved greatly. The problem that had troubled him was finally resolved. With Origin Force at his disposal, he only needed to invest more Origin Force into the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art to greatly enhance his spirit and spiritual soul strength, thereby reducing the influence of true intent. When the time came, condensing other true intents would be much easier.

"What? You are saying that you can maintain the operation of the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art at all times in daily life? And you have already completely mastered this technique?" Guo Wenzi was stunned.

What kind of monstrous natural talent was this?

Being able to sense the existence of the spirit and spiritual soul at the Marrow Refining realm and begin cultivating the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art had already astonished her.

And now, he’s telling me that he had mastered it and could even split his focus to maintain its operation in daily life? It hasn’t even been a full year since he began cultivating the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art, has it? This was simply too abnormal!

"Yes, I have learned it. While cultivating the Azure Tide Boundless True Technique, I practiced it in my spare time and mastered it quickly. This technique is quite simple. Once you sense the existence of the spirit and spiritual soul, everything follows naturally. Maintaining the operation of the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art in daily life is not difficult either. In the past, when I was wandering outside, I maintained the Tortoise Breath True Technique and kept my altered appearance for months without any issue. These are all quite simple," Lin Zheyu said casually.

It truly was simple for him, as he had laid a deep foundation long ago. The Origin Force he had invested in the Tortoise Breath True Technique, and the time spent integrating blood qi burst techniques into the Golden Goose Technique had not been wasted. While enhancing his strength, it had also raised his control over essence, qi, and spirit to an astonishing degree. Without that earlier foundation, if Lin Zheyu had wanted to fully master the Sacred Evolution Spirit Nurturing Art and maintain its operation in daily life, he would likely have needed to spend at least dozens of units of Origin Force.

"Ahem... It is indeed quite simple..." Guo Wenzi said, somewhat at a loss for words, giving a light cough as she echoed him.

Yet inwardly, she was already overwhelmed with shock.

What a freak. How did someone this monstrous avoid being noticed by other sects and end up being picked up by Master instead?

She even felt that their sect was unworthy of a monstrous genius disciple like Lin Zheyu. After chatting for a while, Guo Wenzi made an excuse and left.

"By the way, Senior Brother Chen said he had something to discuss with you. He is probably waiting in your courtyard by now," Guo Wenzi said with a smile.

"Senior Brother is looking for me? Is he not supposed to be guarding Soaring Serpent Mountain, replacing Senior Sister Gu Ye? What does he need with me?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously.

Huang Baizhong had four disciples in total. The ones he had met were Chen Ding, Guo Wenzi, and Cui Haihong. There was also a senior brother named Jiang Jun whom he had never seen. Lin Zheyu heard that after Jiang Jun reached the peak of the Force Transformation realm, he went west to guard a demon cave, seeking an opportunity to break through to the Grandmaster realm. Among his fellow disciples, the one he was most familiar with was Guo Wenzi. Chen Ding and Cui Haihong were often away on missions, so they rarely met.

With lingering doubts, he returned to his courtyard. The moment he reached the entrance, Lin Zheyu's expression turned somewhat strange.

"The aura of Baleful Yin force... What exactly did Senior Brother Chen bring back? He did not bring back a demon puppet, did he?" Lin Zheyu muttered softly as he quickened his steps and entered the courtyard.

"Haha, you are finally back. Junior Brother, congratulations on reaching the thirtieth rank on the Hidden Dragon List. Among us fellow disciples, your ranking on the Hidden Dragon List is the highest," Chen Ding said with a smile as he stood up upon seeing Lin Zheyu return.

"It was nothing more than a casual effort. In a few days, I will go seize first place on the Hidden Dragon List and bring honor to you," Lin Zheyu said with a smile.