"This..."
Situ Mu hadn’t expected his grand-disciple to say such a thing. After a moment of thought, he said, "You’re right. If he wants to continue on the path of Martial Arts, he’ll still face countless difficulties."
’The main problem is that he started his training too late!’
’The sects of Shandong Dao place great importance on age and Realm.’
’What’s more of a shame is that while the lad has developed Sword Intent, he lacks a Sword Heart. Without a Sword Heart, he can’t develop Sword Dao Will. I don’t know how he managed to develop Sword Intent so quickly, but as his Realm increases, that little bit of Spiritual talent he has for the Sword Dao won’t amount to much.’
"Your grandmaster is not a petty man. The Cultivation Technique I gave him is the most suitable one for him right now. It will serve him well until he reaches the True Gang Realm. If word of this technique’s effects were to get out, the sects in Shandong Dao would be in an uproar."
’For the sects in Shandong Dao, it’s not a lack of resources for Low Tier Martial Artists that holds them back. The real bottleneck is the limit on how much Medicinal Power a Martial Artist’s body can absorb and undergo Refinement on. If they mastered this technique, they could drastically increase the number of their genius disciples.’
’No Sect has many top-tier Powerhouses, but every single one of those Powerhouses rises from a vast foundation of talented Low Tier Martial Artists.’
’The lad hides his sword in a saber scabbard, claiming it’s cheaper, but how could a simple trick like that fool me? He’s clearly trying to hide his true abilities.’
’Considering the lad’s cunning nature, I doubt he’ll expose this Cultivation Technique easily.’
’If he does expose it and gets himself killed by the Shandong Dao sects for the technique, then that’s just his fate.’
’He had the gall to shamelessly beg for an opportunity. Now that I’ve given him one, it’s up to him to prove he’s capable of handling it.’
After watching the old man and the young girl’s figures disappear around a bend in the mountain pass, Lin Yan finally looked away and unrolled the leather scroll in his hands.
A short while later, Lin Yan finally understood why Senior Situ had said that mastering it would depend on his own destiny.
The scroll was made from the soft hide of some unknown animal. Drawn on it was a monstrous beast, shaped like an ox but with a human face and a cavernous, blood-red mouth.
Below the beast was a series of small illustrations. It took Lin Yan a long time to realize they depicted the circulation routes for his Breathing.
The path started at the mouth, passed through the throat and chest, then sank into the Dantian before spreading through the meridians to his limbs and entire body. However, unlike a typical Breathing exercise, the final destination wasn’t the Dantian—it was the skin.
The breath made a full circuit through the body, reached the skin’s surface, and finally returned to the chest, forming a complete cycle.
From top to bottom, there wasn’t a single word, not even a name for the Cultivation Technique.
’I can only take this one step at a time.’
Lin Yan shook his head with a sigh. He spent a quarter of an hour memorizing the circulation routes and details from the illustrations, then closed his eyes and began to guide his breath according to the depicted path.
His breath entered his mouth, passed through his throat and chest, and sank into his Dantian. So far, it was no different from a normal Breathing exercise. But once it reached his Dantian, his Qi Blood suddenly fell into disarray.
’It’s too difficult without a Heart Method to guide the Breathing.’
But Lin Yan wasn’t discouraged. He tried over and over. Whenever the circulation went awry and his Qi Blood grew chaotic, he would stop, wait for it to stabilize, and then begin again.
Once, twice, three times...
Ten times, twenty times, thirty times... a hundred times.
A cool current flowed down from the space between his eyebrows, instantly spreading through his entire body.
Lin Yan froze. He quickly turned his focus inward, using Introspection to look inside his mind. On the Martial Arts Tree, a new, tender sprout was quietly growing.
’The Martial Arts Tree is kicking in its safety net.’
At that moment, his body once again entered a kind of vacant state. Guided by the cool current, the Breathing exercise began to circulate on its own, moving from his chest to his Dantian, then to the surface of his skin...
Every detail, every step, became perfectly clear.
The instant the circulation reached his skin, Lin Yan’s body began to inflate like a balloon. When the breath returned to his Dantian, his body slowly shrank back to its normal size.
After several cycles, the cool current dissipated. Lin Yan immediately took back control, guiding his Qi Blood according to the flow he had just observed.
His body continued the cycle of inflating and deflating, over and over.
’This can’t be the Toad Skill, can it?’ he couldn’t help but mutter.
Half an hour later, Lin Yan stopped, a sense of lightness washing over him.
’That senior was right. I really do have too much Qi Blood built up inside me. It wasn’t generated by my own body; it’s from all the bear and tiger meat I ate that I couldn’t fully digest. It’s been accumulating inside me, causing a blockage of sorts.’
’My body was accumulating all this unrefined Qi Blood, but because my strength was constantly increasing, I never noticed it. I’m afraid that by the time I would have, it would have been because my body was already in serious trouble.’
’It’s like an illness—a minor ailment might not have symptoms, but by the time you notice something is wrong, it’s already become severe.’
Lin Yan looked in the direction where Situ Mu had disappeared, a renewed sense of gratitude in his eyes.
’I won’t consume this Purple Lingzhi just yet. I’ll wait until all the stagnant Qi Blood in my body has been digested. As for this nameless Cultivation Technique... I’ll call it the Swallowing Technique.’
Swallowing Technique: From the words "swallow" and "digest."

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