Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

In Great Wei, at the Eastern Sea. Ten thousand meters beneath the surface, an enormous trench emanating a terrifying aura spewed dense demonic qi like the gaping maw of an abyss. This was a forbidden region of the deep sea, a forbidden zone for all life. Not a single exotic beast in the deep dared approach it.

The Honggedis Trench was shrouded in endless darkness. Apart from a few unusual exotic beasts capable of producing their own light, not a single ray of illumination existed. Here, the passage of time was nearly imperceptible.

Outside the space-time node, the fighting between the yao and the deep-sea swordfish never ceased. The endless influx of yao cannon fodder nourished the deep-sea swordfish population and even continuously attracted powerful deep-sea exotic beasts from afar.

Meanwhile, yao continued pouring from the space-time node in a seemingly inexhaustible stream. As the yao died and were devoured by the deep-sea exotic beasts, more and more of the unique Dao resonances and laws belonging to the demon realm merged into this world.

As time passed, the space-time node imperceptibly grew more stable, allowing increasingly powerful yao to pass through. Amid the fighting between the yao and deep-sea exotic beasts, a powerful sea clan expert over two meters tall, with more than a dozen tentacles growing from his body, silently approached from afar. He inspected the space-time node and replenished the surveillance formation's energy. After confirming that the node posed no risk of spatial instability in the near future, his figure flickered and vanished once more.

Every six months or so, the sea clan expert responsible for this region would venture into the Honggedis Trench to inspect the space-time node. This was to prevent the demon realm from using it as a breach to invade this world without their knowledge.

***

Time passed, yet the fighting outside the space-time node in the deep sea never ceased. Within the space-time node, Lin Zheyu's cultivation likewise continued without end.

Powerful yao auras sped through the node's void one after another. They remained only briefly, and none noticed the aura concealed in the depths of the demonic lake.

Lin Zheyu's eyes were tightly closed as he immersed himself in cultivation. Waves of black smoke poured from his body while brilliant golden light erupted from him, making him resemble a miniature golden sun. He was exceptionally conspicuous within the pitch-black depths of the demonic lake.

Several breaths later, Lin Zheyu's eyes abruptly opened, and a trace of violent killing intent flashed through them. Cultivating so many demon arts had still affected him slightly, though it was not due to the yao will or the demonic qi. Instead, conflicts among the various techniques caused faint signs of cultivation deviation.

Lin Zheyu smiled faintly as he examined the data in his mind. "Another demon art has reached Perfection. Let's test its effects."

His body trembled slightly as immense blood qi circulated rapidly. Strands of golden blood qi flowed outward, enveloping an area with a radius of ten meters around him. He was inside the demonic lake, where violent, chaotic law energy prevented his blood qi from covering a much larger area. However, this was already enough.

"Demonic Flame Soul-Burning Crows!" Lin Zheyu shouted softly. Fire crows wreathed in golden flames suddenly condensed from the blood qi emanating from his body.

The fire crows cawed as they shot into the demonic lake's energy and exploded into bursts of golden flame. Their power was unremarkable, capable of injuring only cultivators at around the Foundation Establishment realm. What Lin Zheyu valued, however, was the ability contained within the Demonic Flame Soul-Burning Crows that resembled the short-range teleportation of the Nascent Soul realm!

A faint smile appeared on Lin Zheyu's lips. He was quite satisfied with the power it had just displayed. "I finally managed to replicate it, though it is far weaker than the original, and its movement speed is less than a third of the original version. Still, this is a good start."

His circumstances were somewhat unusual. When he cultivated demon arts, what he formed were divine patterns. Their power was far weaker than the originals, and numerous problems, flaws, and even side effects arose as a result. All of this was unavoidable.

However, the overall framework of the original demon arts remained intact, merely transformed into special techniques suited to divine patterns. Furthermore, the insights and cultivation experience Lin Zheyu gained while cultivating the demon arts were entirely genuine. By experiencing the process of transforming the unique demonic patterns formed through the demon arts into divine patterns, he gained an even deeper understanding of their fundamental nature. That was precisely why he chose to cultivate the demon arts and deepen his attainments in them before perfecting his divine patterns.

"Such a majestic and righteous technique no longer seems suited to the name Demonic Flame Soul-Burning Crows. After its transformation into a martial cultivation technique, this secret art is no longer powered by demonic qi containing yao will, but by martial blood qi. Blood qi has some special connection to the form of a dragon, so perhaps I can alter the fire crows and transform them into dragons..." Lin Zheyu murmured softly.

His figure flickered and vanished, leaving only the Primordial Chaos Pool floating silently within the demonic lake. Lin Zheyu reappeared in the void inside the Primordial Chaos Pool. Immense golden blood qi poured from his body, enveloping an area roughly five kilometers in radius.

With a thought from Lin Zheyu, the golden mist formed from his blood qi churned. Fire crows wreathed in golden flames condensed from within the mist one after another. Soon, however, their bodies twisted and lengthened as they transformed into dragons. The process was far easier than he had imagined. With scarcely any control from him, the fire crows transformed directly into long dragons wreathed in golden flames.

"Roar!"

Dragon roars rang out as hundreds upon thousands of flaming dragons swam through the golden blood qi mist, roaring fiercely.

Lin Zheyu exclaimed in surprise, "I merely changed their form, yet their power has doubled!"

He sensed that this secret art held immense potential for improvement. As long as he perfected the technique, continuously refining and optimizing it to remedy the problems caused by transforming a demon art into a martial cultivation technique, its power should return to the level of the original version and become one of his trump cards.

Every powerful primary cultivation technique has its own complementary secret arts and formidable offensive techniques. My Primordial Golden Body should have them as well. I can integrate this technique into the Primordial Golden Body and make it one of its complementary secret arts, Lin Zheyu thought.

Apart from the Demonic Flame Soul-Burning Crows—now renamed the Myriad Dragons Godslaying Art—he also aimed to incorporate techniques like the Heaven-Devouring Demon Arts, Ethereal Shadow Concealment Art, and Heaven-Shaking Earth-Rending Palm into the Primordial Golden Body as powerful offensive secret arts. Without these, his offensive options remained very limited, primarily showcasing only the Seven Absolute Sabers.

After finishing his test of the newly cultivated Myriad Dragons Godslaying Art, Lin Zheyu summoned a jade slip containing notes on the Yao Dao with a thought.

***

Time slowly passed. Within the demonic lake, Lin Zheyu abruptly opened his eyes. The immense blood qi and terrifying momentum qi surrounding him vanished in an instant, but the violence within his eyes persisted for a long while before he gradually suppressed it. The conflict among the techniques in his body grew increasingly severe. Fortunately, his soul was extraordinarily powerful. Otherwise, recklessly cultivating so many conflicting demon arts would have caused serious problems long ago.

Lin Zheyu exhaled deeply, and clarity returned to his eyes. He examined the data in his mind, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. After more than two months of frenzied cultivation, he had cultivated nearly every powerful demon art he had obtained from Cao Hongchang. One powerful demon art after another had been brought to Perfection, then forcibly transformed by Origin Force into martial cultivation techniques founded upon divine patterns.

The forced transformation greatly reduced the techniques' power and created numerous severe hidden flaws. Regardless, their overall frameworks had been preserved intact. Lin Zheyu's comprehension of the Yao Dao had also reached its peak. If he were to discuss the Dao with Cao Hongchang, the sect master of the Evilheart Sect, Cao Hongchang would undoubtedly be shocked beyond measure.

With a thought, Lin Zheyu's figure suddenly vanished as he entered the void within the Primordial Chaos Pool. He had already accomplished one of the cultivation objectives that had brought him here. His accumulation and comprehension of demon arts were now sufficient, so there was no need to continue cultivating the remaining techniques. Within the Primordial Chaos Pool, Lin Zheyu appeared from the darkness in the section of the void he had specially opened for cultivation.

[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]

[Name: Lin Zheyu]

[Origin Force: 1238]

[Skills: Martial Divine Pattern Secret Manual (Dormancy), Seven Absolute Sabers (Seventh Stage: 100%), Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art (First Stage: 0%), Primordial Chaos True Art (Sixth Stage: 100%), Earth Shrinking Technique (Third Stage: 100%), Primordial Golden Body (Fourth Stage: 100%), Heaven-Deceiving Art (First Stage: 100%), Heaven-Devouring Demon Arts (Eighth Stage: 100%), Myriad Dragons Godslaying Art (Fifth Stage: 100%), Evilheart Demon-Subduing Art (Ninth Stage: 100%), Heaven-Shaking Earth-Rending Palm (Third Stage: 100%), Ethereal Shadow Concealment Art (Seventh Stage: 100%)]