Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 12 Powerful Skills

Li Xia hurriedly opened his personal panel, skipped the attributes, and went straight to the skills section.

【Sun Breathing (Incomplete Version)】(Beginner's Guide 0%): During the activation of the breath, strength will be increased by 50%, dexterity by 40%, and perception and reaction speed will be greatly improved.

[Skill Cost]: During the skill's duration, 1% of stamina is consumed per second.
[Skill Cooldown]: None

[Skill Description: Through a special breathing technique, the user accelerates blood circulation throughout the body, dilates blood vessels, and increases oxygen levels, unleashing power and speed far exceeding normal limits. However, the excessive oxygen leads to rapid oxidation, generating a large number of free radicals, which ultimately shortens lifespan.]

[Special Note: Stamina is a non-quantifiable attribute; it can be increased and its consumption reduced through various methods.]

Holy crap! Is this breathing technique? It's incredibly powerful, unexpectedly powerful.

This is equivalent to giving yourself a 100-second, flexible burst of power, but the attribute bonus doesn't seem very significant at the moment.

It's only a few points of improvement, but what if the strength increases to tens or hundreds of points later?
More importantly, this is a skill that has just been learned; according to the hall's assessment, it is merely a beginner's practice.

Will the bonus increase as I level up? Will the duration increase?
In particular, it is accompanied by breathing. If Li Xia is skilled, he can control his breathing at the moment of attack, and the 1% energy consumption can be almost completely ignored.

This skill, which consumes very little energy per use but yields huge benefits, is simply divine!

If the incomplete version is so useful, Li Xia wouldn't even dare to imagine how useful the complete version is!
Li Xia wanted to stand up and experiment with the breathing technique he had just learned, but he didn't expect that as soon as he stood up, he felt dizzy, as if he had drunk two catties of strong liquor.

A tearing, excruciating pain shot through my entire body, and my chest felt like it was on fire.

"Cough cough cough cough—" After a heart-wrenching cough, Li Xia took the bowl of water that Tanjuro handed her.

The cool spring water flowed down my throat, extinguishing a trace of the heat.

"Thank you." The dry, rough voice sounded like the noise of two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.

"Don't worry, this is normal. You need to rest now."

Tanjuro led Li Xia to a quiet room where Murata was sleeping soundly in a very unrestrained posture.

The excitement of learning the breathing technique slowly faded, followed by a deep sense of fatigue.

As soon as she touched the bedding, Li Xia let out a long yawn and fell into a deep sleep.

Nothing in the night

Perhaps because the Zaomen family hadn't been this lively in a long time, the children, looking forward to the excitement, got up early.

Her husband's improved health filled Kui Zhi with hope, and this gentle woman started brewing "Great Tonic Decoction" again before dawn.

So Li Xia and Tan Shiro each held a bowl of herbal soup to replenish their vital energy and sat side by side in the passageway of the wooden house, watching the rising sun bathe the entire mountain range in golden sunlight.

The two also discussed the physical toll of Sun Breathing.

"Because I discovered that Hinokami Kagura was overdrawing her body to gain immense power, I deliberately omitted a part when I taught it to Tanjiro, so that he only had to learn how to breathe."

Tanjuro lowered his head to look at the bowl in his hand, the clear medicinal soup reflecting on his withered face.

"Yes, Tanjiro is a very good kid."

If I'm not mistaken, breathing exercises can severely deplete the body due to excessive oxidation.

Simply put, human metabolism has its limits, meaning there is a limit to the number of times cells can divide. Humans need oxygen, but oxygen can also lead to oxidation and the production of free radicals. As cells divide less and less, people age more and more.

The amount of oxygen inhaled during a single, full-force breath using breathing techniques is terrifying, and the amount of oxidation produced far exceeds that of natural breathing.

It's likely that Yoriichi Tsugikuni's cells are all positively mutated cancer cells, the kind that proliferate indefinitely!
Naturally hanging on the wall!

This defect was not a problem for him at all. He just couldn't believe that such a huge hall couldn't possibly lack a way to prolong life or infinitely divide itself.

"Xia Jun, have you thought of a way to deal with that bear?"

Tanjuro drank the medicine in one gulp, and his dull red eyes showed a hint of life compared to yesterday.

"Don't push yourself too hard. Although I can't help you grasp the complete Kagura, but—" Men's friendships can be quite simple sometimes; a day is enough.

“I already have a plan—” Li Xia also drank the medicinal soup in one gulp. The pain from last night had already recovered a lot thanks to her 200% self-healing ability.

After so many trials, Li Xia gradually figured out the patterns in the trials.

The normal completion rating is obviously achieved by using the royal jelly from Yunqu Mountain mentioned in the 'Killer Bear' description as bait to ambush the enemy.

It sounds simple, but it's actually not that simple.

It's like digging a big pit, covering it with grass and honey, waiting for a stupid bear to fall in and then killing it without injury, or poisoning its food with sleeping pills or the like.

That's an insult to the intelligence of the killer bear.

Ground-sinking traps can be detected by smell; this isn't some fantastical plot, but a perfectly normal occurrence.

The original ground smell was continuous and uniform.

They dug a big pit, and suddenly the smell of deep soil filled the air. To the killer bear, it was like a light bulb in the dark—no wonder it couldn't work.

The same principle applies to food baits. Whether it's poison or anesthesia, to have an effect on a behemoth comparable to an elephant, the required dosage would be extremely large in this era when science was not yet advanced.

Either there's not a single drop of honey in it, or it's some kind of black technology like Blood Demon Magic.

Unfortunately, I can't do either of those things.

"Oh?" Tanjuro raised his head, a slight ripple appearing in his usually calm demeanor.
"Does this have anything to do with Murata taking Tanjiro to town so early in the morning?"

Li Xia nodded. He had brought a boat with him when he came, which Murata needed to dispose of, and that required Tanjiro's help.

As a local with excellent interpersonal relationships, having Tanjiro around makes everything much easier, whether it's taking action or purchasing 'sensitive' supplies.

Having learned that Li Xia was already prepared, Tanjuro stopped asking questions and began to teach Li Xia breathing techniques.

For example, how to maintain breathing, the connection between breaths—under such meticulous instruction, Li Xia felt as if the system was flooding the screen.

[You have received meticulous instruction from Tanjuro Kamado, increasing your proficiency in Sun Breathing (incomplete version) by 1%]

[You have received meticulous instruction from Tanjuro Kamado, increasing your proficiency in Sun Breathing (incomplete version) by 2%]

[You have received meticulous instruction from Tanjuro Kamado, and with a sudden flash of inspiration, your proficiency has increased by 5%]

As the sun began to set, Li Xia came to his senses and was astonished to find that in just one day, his Sun Breathing had actually reached the [Beginner (100%)] level.

【Sun Breathing (Incomplete Version)】(Beginner's Guide 100%): During the activation of the breath, strength will be increased by 70%, dexterity by 50%, and perception and reaction speed will be greatly improved.

[Skill Cost]: During the skill's duration, 1% of stamina is consumed per second.
[Skill Cooldown]: None

A realization dawned on Li Xia: he had probably done enough theoretical learning; what he lacked was that one crucial opportunity for a breakthrough.

And where does this opportunity come from? Naturally, it comes from a lot of practice or life-or-death battles.

Li Xia turned off the notification and was about to speak when she saw two people carrying things slowly approaching from the bottom of the hillside, the setting sun casting long shadows behind them.

Murata and Tanjiro have returned.

"Mr. Tanjuro," Li Xia stood up.

"Interested in trying out—a rifle?"

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

(End of this chapter)