Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Over the surging sea, a streak of blood-red light sped through the sky at astonishing speed. Within the escaping light, a white-bearded old man covered in blood and pale as death wore a look of both fury and shock.

The white-bearded elder, Zhang Lu, snarled through gritted teeth. "A demon cultivator! Damn it! Wu Di actually threw in his lot with a demon cultivator. He's courting death!"

He had thought he was merely dealing with an insignificant False Core realm rogue cultivator. Never had he imagined that such a figure was backed by someone of this caliber. That had to be a demon cultivator, at least at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm. Otherwise, there was no way his Azurewater Whale could have been crushed so effortlessly.

Zhang Lu's expression turned uglier by the moment, his heart boiling with rage. "A demon cultivator! A mid-stage Golden Core realm demon cultivator who can still remain rational! That old monster should be hiding away in secluded seclusion, yet he still dares to act so openly and without restraint!"

That Azurewater Whale had not come easily. He had spent enormous resources and effort to subdue the sea beast, only for it to die here so casually. Zhang Lu refused to accept it. His eyes reddened, his features twisted with resentment as countless thoughts raced through his mind, searching for a way to retaliate.

A powerhouse suspected to be at least in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm was a major figure even in the Chaotic Star Sea. Trying to scheme against such a person was little different from seeking death.

A ruthless glint flashed across Zhang Lu's eyes as he muttered, "A demon cultivator... Perhaps his identity is the key! A mid-stage Golden Core realm demon cultivator has almost certainly been deeply corrupted by the yao will and must constantly suppress it within his mind. I may not be able to deal with him myself, but there will definitely be others interested in hunting down that old monster!"

His thoughts churned rapidly as he began planning how to spread the news and lure other experts into hunting the old monster. Reality was not a storybook. Simply releasing a rumor did not mean anyone would believe it. The first reaction of most cultivators would be to question its authenticity and wonder whether some powerful figure was laying a trap. He would need to plan this carefully.

***

On the island, although it had just endured attacks from two powerful cultivators, the island-protecting formation had not suffered any major damage. Only minor areas had been affected, and Wu Di could repair them easily once he found the time. However, he did not attend to the formation immediately. Instead, he hurried straight to the hall where Lin Zheyu was cultivating.

"What is it?" A calm voice drifted from within the hall, causing Wu Di's bowed body to tremble slightly.

"Senior, I have an important matter to report!" Wu Di replied respectfully.

As soon as he finished speaking, the formation surrounding the hall parted. Wu Di saw the ordinary-looking figure seated cross-legged inside. It was difficult to imagine that such an unremarkable man possessed such terrifying power.

"Senior, the old man who escaped earlier is very likely a cultivator from the nearby Azurewater Palace. I'm worried that once he returns, the Azurewater Palace may seek revenge." Wu Di spoke cautiously before continuing, "Also, while the Chaotic Star Sea does not reject demon cultivators, their nature makes people wary. If one were to suddenly lose control, it could result in a horrific massacre. Because of that, they often attract the attention of cultivators who consider themselves righteous..."

As he reached the end, he swallowed nervously and hesitated to continue, afraid of offending the mysterious and powerful senior before him. Previously, Lin Zheyu had seemed like the sort of senior who stood apart from both good and evil in Wu Di's eyes. But after witnessing the demonic essence Lin Zheyu had revealed during the battle, that image had changed completely.

Moments earlier, Lin Zheyu had been using the demonic qi contained within a demonic spirit stone to study how demonic patterns might be integrated into the Minor Heaven-Deceiving Formation, replacing Immortal Dao runes as the foundation of the formation itself. As a result, when he made his move, he had casually drawn upon demonic qi energy as well.

Lin Zheyu had not made any effort to conceal it. He had long since considered the matter carefully and concluded that while traveling abroad, it was best not to use Xiao Yu's identity. The Martial Alliance's vast collection of books and its many martial-obsessed seniors were invaluable resources for exploring the frontiers of martial cultivation. He had no intention of losing his status as a member of the Martial Alliance under the name Xiao Yu. At the same time, he possessed no other secret art capable of concealing his aura or masking his soul aura.

The yao will contained within yao energy naturally carried a powerful disruptive effect, making it difficult for other experts to discern his true nature. That gave Lin Zheyu the idea of disguising himself as a demon cultivator to conceal his original identity and aura. With the Primordial Golden Body he cultivated, such a disguise posed no difficulty at all.

So-called demon cultivators were simply cultivators who practiced demon arts. Without exception, those who cultivated such arts would gradually be eroded by the yao will. They lost themselves, descended into madness, and became puppets driven by savage impulses of slaughter and destruction. Some eventually went even further, transforming themselves into terrifying yao.

As a result, demon cultivators had become synonymous with slaughter and evil, despised by nearly all other cultivators. Within the territory of Great Wei, merely revealing oneself as a demon cultivator was enough to attract experts from the Directorate of Celestial Observation or powerful sects seeking to eliminate them. The Chaotic Star Sea, however, was different. Chaos and disorder ruled these waters. As long as a demon cultivator did not actively stir up trouble, few would bother them.

"What is the strength of the strongest cultivator in Azurewater Palace?" Lin Zheyu asked calmly.

Wu Di hurriedly said, "It is said that Azurewater Palace is overseen by a Nascent Soul realm patriarch, though he hasn't appeared for over a century. There are even rumors that he has already passed away, but no cultivator has dared to verify the claim. Aside from that Nascent Soul realm patriarch, the strongest member of Azurewater Palace is its current Palace Master. He specializes in water-attributed spells and possesses late Golden Core realm strength..."

Holding nothing back, Wu Di poured out everything he knew. Azurewater Palace was certainly powerful, but apart from the Nascent Soul realm patriarch whose fate remained unknown, only the late Golden Core realm palace master truly stood out. Beyond those two, the strongest members were merely at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm. Given Lin Zheyu's strength, so long as the Nascent Soul realm patriarch did not personally appear, he could retreat at ease even if the palace master came after him.

"There is no need to worry. Just focus on your own duties," Lin Zheyu said calmly.

It had only been a False Core realm cultivator who suffered the loss. Lin Zheyu did not believe Azurewater Palace would dispatch its palace master over such a matter, let alone involve a Nascent Soul realm cultivator whose very survival remained uncertain. He felt no concern whatsoever. Looking at Wu Di with an expressionless face, he asked calmly, "Is there anything else?"

"N-No... that's all."

Under Lin Zheyu's calm gaze, an inexplicable sense of fear welled up inside Wu Di. It was the deeply ingrained image of demon cultivators that had taken root in the minds of cultivators everywhere, and it was now affecting him.

"If there's nothing else, continue searching for formations that can conceal aura and obscure heavenly calculations," Lin Zheyu said evenly.

With a casual wave of his hand, a mysterious energy wrapped around Wu Di. His vision blurred for an instant, and before he knew it, he had already been moved from inside the hall to the space outside.

Wu Di swallowed hard, his eyes filled with awe. "S-So powerful! What kind of spell is that? Is it the power of a formation? I can even sense traces of the Minor Heaven-Deceiving Formation within it. Could it be that the senior has integrated spatial laws into a formation? Incredible!"

He had spent more than a century studying the incomplete Heaven-Deceiving Formation before finally creating the Minor Heaven-Deceiving Formation. Yet the mysterious senior in the hall had only studied it for a few months and had already managed to incorporate the mysteries of space into it. Though the integration remained limited, it was still an astonishing achievement.

Inside the hall, Lin Zheyu watched the direction Wu Di had vanished in and nodded slightly, a satisfied expression on his face.

Lin Zheyu smiled faintly. "The displacement effect isn't bad. It's still far from true short-range teleportation or instantaneous movement, but it's already a decent result."

During this period, while studying the Minor Heaven-Deceiving Formation and converting it into demonic patterns, he would occasionally be struck by flashes of inspiration. Many of those insights revolved around spatial laws. Lin Zheyu's attainments in this field were already fairly solid, so he had experimented with incorporating a portion of those laws into the Minor Heaven-Deceiving Formation. Although he had yet to achieve a perfect integration, the results were promising.

Even so, by using the Minor Heaven-Deceiving Formation to leverage the power of spatial laws, he could already perform minor displacement techniques on other cultivators without difficulty. As his understanding of formations deepened and his insights into spatial laws grew more profound, achieving short-range teleportation through formations would be only a matter of time.

"My comprehension of spatial laws is still too shallow. True teleportation remains beyond me for now. Once I integrate the incomplete Heaven-Deceiving Formation into the fourth stage of the Primordial Golden Body, I can begin working on displacement formations and small teleportation formations into it as well. That way, by relying on the divine patterns engraved upon my body, I can effectively gain the ability to teleport," Lin Zheyu murmured softly to himself.

This was the next major goal Lin Zheyu had set for himself after integrating the incomplete Heaven-Deceiving Formation into the Primordial Golden Body. The path of forging his own martial cultivation road was fraught with danger at every turn. If he wished to go further, he first needed stronger means of survival.

His plan was to wait until the fourth stage of the Primordial Golden Body reached Perfection and granted him the ability to conceal his aura. After that, he would return to the space-time node and compete for opportunities involving rule fragments, devoting himself to furthering his understanding of spatial laws.

Hmm, I'd almost forgotten. I promised Tu Mingzhen that I'd accompany her to explore the Shamanic Clan inheritance ruins. The matter suddenly resurfaced in Lin Zheyu's mind.

Tu Mingzhen had obtained the location of the Shamanic Clan inheritance ruins from Tu Yuan. Meanwhile, Lin Zheyu possessed two dharma artifacts seized from Tu Yuan that would play a crucial role in passing the trials within the ruins. As a result, the two had readily reached an agreement and decided to explore the Shamanic Clan inheritance ruins together.

With that thought, Lin Zheyu took out the Spirit Resonance Sphere from his storage pouch and sent a message to Tu Mingzhen. Their agreement would have to be postponed for a while. The Shamanic Clan inheritance ruins were not going anywhere. Waiting another year or two would make little difference. After all, Tu Mingzhen had already waited this long. A little longer would hardly matter.

Opportunities involving rule fragments were different. Competition for such opportunities came with strict realm restrictions. Once a cultivator broke through the Shackles realm and reached the Golden Core realm, they could no longer participate. This remained true even for exceptionally powerful space-time nodes. Before they stabilized and after they became fully stable, such nodes could support the passage of Golden Core realm cultivators and even stronger experts.

Yet during the actual collision and fusion of two worlds, only cultivators below the Golden Core realm and yao below the six-pattern level could enter. The reason lay in the nature of cultivation itself.

Regardless of the path one followed, reaching a realm equivalent to the Golden Core realm meant coming into contact with the mysterious concept of destiny aura. During the fusion of worlds, the destiny aura integrated into a Golden Core realm would be affected by the apocalyptic aura permeating the process. Such cultivators could easily be swept into rule storms and chaotic Dao resonance, ultimately becoming fuel for the Wind of Annihilation.

Lin Zheyu wondered if only those who reached the Deity Transformation stage or higher had enough power to break this restriction. By that point, however, opportunities related to rule fragments might seem less appealing. After messaging Tu Mingzhen, he returned to studying formations.

The energy from the demonic spirit stone was quickly depleted. The divine patterns on Lin Zheyu's arms turned deep purple-black as yao energy flowed from his fingertips.

He then carefully formed a series of demonic patterns, creating a small Minor Heaven-Deceiving Formation in the air. Holding his breath, he focused his golden Heavenly Eye within his mind on the formation, comparing the energy flow in the miniature with that of the larger formation around the hall, correcting every discrepancy with precise adjustments.