Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing-Chapter 88: Marbled Toad (I)

"So then, what is my martial conviction?" muttered Lin Zheyu under his breath.

For now, he had no answer to that question. He had not even given serious thought to what he truly wanted. When he first arrived in this world, he had only one thought: to live, and to live well.

Now, after several months, staying alive was no longer a problem. He was even living a life far happier and more comfortable than most ordinary people.

In his previous life[1], earning money, buying a house, getting married, and having children had been the course of his life. It was neither ideal nor meaningful, but merely something he did because everyone else did it too.

But in this life, he no longer lacked money; he did not need to buy a house, and no one urged him into blind dates anymore. Freed from those worldly constraints, his life now lacked a predetermined path.

"What is my obsession, my pursuit, and what is it that I hold fast to?" asked Lin Zheyu to himself, quietly.

In both his past and present lives, his existence had felt muddled and aimless. Living was simply living. He had never pondered life's pursuit, nor considered the meaning of existence. There had even been a time when he believed that life had no meaning at all, and that the meaning of living was simply to live. Perhaps ignorance was bliss. After all, how many people in this world truly understood why they lived?

Lin Zheyu sat on the ground with his back against a wooden post, frowning in deep thought. After a long while, he let out a self-deprecating laugh and cursed, "To hell with meaning. Why must one obsess over some damned purpose in life? I'm no philosopher. I'll live however I damn well please."

Lin Zheyu shook his head, driving away the distracting thoughts swirling in his mind. He had just fallen into a momentary daze, almost as if possessed. Laughter and anger were all part of life, and the blooming and withering of flowers embodied the nature of existence. Without a fixed path or worldly constraints, he could live however he wished and truly as himself.

It had been some time since he came to this world. Every day, he practiced martial arts, and in his free time, he joked and chatted with Jia Yanyong and the others. Occasionally, he visited the Hundred Flowers Pavilion to listen to music and watch the dancers, living quite a pleasant life.

When it came to pursuits and passions, martial cultivation had become Lin Zheyu's only true pursuit. Having lived life a second time and gained such a powerful aid as Origin Force, he would not be satisfied unless he walked the Martial Dao to its peak and witnessed the view from the summit.

From now on, I should set aside time each day to go to Beast Roar Mountain and spar with those fierce beasts! thought Lin Zheyu to himself.

His experience was far too limited, and he had not been through enough battles. He did not even have a vague concept of martial conviction, let alone the ability to condense it. Lin Zheyu had to admit that the only reason he had been able to condense the fist momentum of the Barbaric Ox Fist before was simply because he was a genius.

Failing to understand what martial conviction was did not really matter. When things could not be figured out through thought, one simply had to act. Sometimes, understanding came in the doing.

Just as Chen Mu had said, one should comprehend fist momentum in a clash between life and death, test one's martial cultivation amid blood-soaked battles, and fight a path forward. When he truly grasped it and formed his martial conviction, that might be the moment when momentum transformed into intent.

***

The next morning, at the Xing Family's martial training ground. A servant hurried in and reported, "Young master, that Lin Zheyu has left the city again."

"Hm?" Xing Jing'an stopped his training and furrowed his brows.

Out of the city again?

"Is he alone again?" asked Xing Jing'an.

"Yes, he's by himself," replied the servant with a nod.

"Pay it no mind," said Xing Jing'an after a moment's thought.

He suspected that this might once again be bait, and chasing after him could mean falling into another trap. Because they had lost two peak Organ Forging Realm warriors and ten elite soldiers last time, the family elder had restricted how many people they could deploy. Even if he wanted to pursue, his hands were tied.

After a moment of silence, Xing Jing'an stopped the servant and gave the order, "Wait. Go inform my father and let him decide for himself."

"Yes, young master."

Xing Jing'an frowned as he watched the servant's departing figure, then drew a deep breath and resumed his training. He could only curse his own lack of strength. If he possessed the power of the Blood Qi Realm, he would have no reason to fear any scheme or trap.

***

Beast Roar Mountain was crawling with ferocious beasts. The peaks connected into a vast mountain range that stretched endlessly into the distance. Early in the morning, Lin Zheyu had left the city and made his way straight there.

The mountains were still shrouded in mist that had yet to disperse. Lin Zheyu took a pill from his pouch. It was a Miasma-Repelling Pill he had prepared following a formula from the Toxicology Codex. It would shield him from the poisonous miasma in the forest.

Rustle, rustle.

The forest rustled all around him. Most of the beasts in the outer area were not particularly strong. Along the way, the strongest one he had encountered was only at the Organ Forging Realm.

This time, he was here to seek out beasts that had just entered the Blood Qi Realm. Despite his current level of strength, he had never fought a battle against an opponent of equal power, relying instead on sheer dominance to crush his foes. He wanted to see if battling a beast on equal footing would help him improve his fist momentum.

He followed the forest path deeper into Beast Roar Mountain. The deeper one went, the more powerful the beasts became. Hunters and bandits alike never dared to venture too far in.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Lin Zheyu moved swiftly, covering nearly 15 kilometers in less than half an hour. Here, there were almost no traces of human presence.

Hiss.

A massive python, more than 10 meters long with a green body patterned in black and yellow, suddenly burst from the dense forest. Its bloody maw gaped wide as it lunged toward Lin Zheyu to tear him apart.

Lin Zheyu's blood qi surged and poured into his arms. Muscles bulged beneath his skin as an invisible fist momentum coiled around them.

Bang!

A dull thud rang out as his fist smashed into the python's snout, sending it crashing to the ground with a thunderous bang. Using the Golden Goose Technique, Lin Zheyu moved in a blur, and in the blink of an eye, he was beside the giant python.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His massive fists rained down like a storm. The python hissed in pain and thrashed its tail wildly, trying to coil around Lin Zheyu, but it could not even touch the hem of his robe.

With the Golden Goose Technique cultivated to the fifth stage, his speed and movement techniques were incomparably swift, far beyond what the python could match. If not for his intent to temper his fist momentum, Lin Zheyu could have ended the fight in just a few blows by using the Golden Goose Technique offensively.

Hiss.

In no time, Lin Zheyu's fists had crushed the python's head, yet its tail still lashed about madly in every direction.

It seems to have some effect, thought Lin Zheyu.

He could feel his fist momentum growing ever so slightly denser. The change was minuscule, but it was real.

This python's strength is at the peak of the Organ Forging Realm. With its massive body and brute force, even ordinary peak Organ Forging Realm martial artists would have no choice but to flee. But it is still too weak. If I could find a beast at the Blood Qi Realm, that would be far more helpful, thought Lin Zheyu to himself as he watched the python's corpse still twitching its tail.

There was no denying the tenacity of such beasts. Even with its skull smashed to pulp, the python's body retained some vitality. Lin Zheyu had no intention of venturing deeper into the mountain. The beasts in this area were almost all at the peak of the Organ Forging Realm. If he searched carefully, he might even come across a beast that had stepped into the Blood Qi Realm.

Ignoring the still-twitching tail on the ground, Lin Zheyu began searching the area for stronger beasts. Beasts were highly alert by nature, and their instinct was always to seek fortune and avoid danger.

The stronger ones could even sense blood qi fluctuations from afar, and if they sensed a powerful presence, they would steer clear long before he approached. However, Lin Zheyu was skilled in the Tortoise Breath Grand Method, and when fully activated, he appeared no different from an ordinary human. Any beast that encountered him would see him as prey and attempt to hunt him.

1. Referring to before he was transported to this world. ☜