Demon Slayer: Can I add points to my Breathing Technique?

On his way to the next recommended person, Xia Xi accepted three more demon-slaying missions intermittently.

Compared to the previous evil spirit with arms on its head, these three ghosts were indeed a bit more powerful.

Most of the attributes have reached 60 or above.

One of them even reached 87 for the first time, and also had a pretty good Blood Demon Art.

It can swallow a large amount of air and then continuously unleash invisible attacks like cannonballs.

High damage, short cooldown, and the projectile trajectory is invisible.

If a normal swordsman were to encounter such a opponent, let alone kill him, he would find it difficult to even get close to him.

After all, evil spirits have regenerative abilities that can regenerate severed limbs.

Swordsmen, on the other hand, are just ordinary humans, and it would take them at least a month or two to recover from a minor injury.

Moreover, this monster has high stats and a pretty good skill set.

Even Xia Xi had to go through a lot of trouble.

Of course, the benefits of eliminating them are also enormous.

In addition to significantly increasing his savings at the central bank, it also helped him successfully complete more than half of his Breath of Wind experience bar.

And a few days later, the raven brought more good news.

He got promoted.

At this moment, he is training with the cultivator of the Breath of Rock, frantically hammering iron.

A jet-black raven flew through the woods and landed precisely on the eaves of the house in the courtyard.

It's not the Xiaobai that Xia Xi is most familiar with.

Because its people speak very standardly, with clear and powerful pronunciation.

"Rank C member, Xia Xi of the Nine Chariots, listen to my command!"

"After verification by the members of the Hidden Team, it has been confirmed that you have eliminated 27 evil spirits in the past few months, including the evil spirit with the help of other team members who defeated the evil spirit with the Blood Demon Art in the final selection."

Five days ago, he single-handedly fought a Blood Demon who had killed several team members.

"Outstanding achievements and extraordinary contributions."

"Therefore, Lord Ubuyashiki Kagaya hereby issues this decree: the rank of the Nine Chariots Natsushi's squad members is exceptionally promoted, from [Gui] to [Geng]!"

"I hope you will continue to work diligently and achieve new successes!"

"The new rank certificates and uniforms will be delivered by the [Hidden] units. This order is hereby issued!"

After saying that, it nodded to Xia Xi in a rather humane way before flapping its wings and flying away into the sky.

Your faction level has increased?

He was promoted three levels in one go.

Xia Xi has also gained some understanding of the Demon Slayer Corps' rank promotion rules these days.

Under normal circumstances, ordinary team members are promoted step by step. Not only do they need to continuously accumulate merits, but they also need to have their strength recognized and verified by other high-level swordsmen.

To put it simply, it means killing a sufficient number of ghosts.

And it can only be done after cooperating with other swordsmen present and confirming that there is no exaggeration or boasting.

Moreover, they are basically promoted one level at a time.

Xia Xi's advancement this time was clearly not a normal process.

"It seems that our lord values ​​you more than I thought." The speaker was a composed and stern-faced man.

【Matsuyama Daimon (Energy Level: 137)】 Rock Breathing LV.5

Among all the cultivators, they are extremely rare users of Rock Breathing.

He is also a retired Class A swordsman with physical disabilities.

Tall and strong is the first impression one gets.

Even when he was wearing loose robes, his well-defined muscles were still visible.

And a prosthetic right leg made of hardwood and iron parts.

Compared to kind old men like Kazami Kazuyoshi and Urokodaki Sakonji, Matsuyama was much younger, around thirty or forty years old, in his prime.

However, he was unfortunately severely injured when he fought the lower moon of the Twelve Demon Moons.

Although he survived, his body, now amputated, could no longer support his fight on the front lines.

Therefore, he chose to become a nurturer.

They continued their battle against the evil spirits from another angle.

Xia Xi: "Of course, after all, as a violent organization that slays demons, the most basic judgment a leader needs to make is to promote the capable and demote the weak."

"This means the BOSS still appreciates my monster-clearing efficiency."

Matsuyama nodded.

His face remained largely expressionless, as calm as if Xia Xi had just said that the firewood had been chopped.

"Confidence is a good thing, so keep hitting, kid with the wind."

He pointed to the hammer in Xia Xi's hand and the anvil in front of him.

On top of it was a dark red iron ingot that was still hot.

The training methods at Matsuyama Gate are somewhat unique.

It was neither the traditional swordsmanship training like Kazami's, nor the training method taught by Urokodaki that one comprehends on their own.

Instead, Xia Xi was subjected to some seemingly tedious and highly repetitive grueling training.

On the first day of Xia Xi's training, he made Xia Xi brace his back against a house pillar and assume the most basic horse stance.

Then breathe in rhythm with your own breath.

This allows Xia Xi to feel the connection between his feet and the earth, and to have a dialogue with the land beneath his feet.

Allow your breath to flow through your lungs in a state of stillness; let your consciousness and strength sink into your waist, legs, and heels like tree roots.

Imagine yourself growing on the ground.

It's a very abstract teaching method, but it's also very simple.

And this horse stance lasts for eight hours.

After fast-forwarding through the training animation, Xia Xi felt stiff all over, with a sore back and aching muscles.

He didn't complain about Songshan's way of practicing.

Because at the same time he started practicing the horse stance, Matsuyama also started practicing the horse stance beside him.

The other party insists on doing everything personally.

"The wind will bypass it, and the water will seep in, but only repeated tempering will make the mountain rock hard."

"Once you understand this feeling, you will naturally learn the essence of Rock Breathing."

Whatever Songshan asked Xiaxi to do, he would do himself.

Given all this, what else can Xia Xi say?

He could only watch as his progress in practicing the [Breath of Rock] slowly increased with each day of stance training.

And after the other party imparted this idea.

Soon the second phase of cultivation began.

Songshan calls it "a dialogue with the mountains".

They took Xia Xi to the cliff behind the town.

He tapped the cliff with his wooden prosthetic arm and told Xia Xi to push it by any means necessary.

Let alone Xia Xi, whose attributes haven't even reached 100, even someone with attributes in the thousands wouldn't be able to move this cliff.

After all, if we can push it, it means we're not far from toppling the whole mountain.

Xia Xi tried it with a skeptical look on her face.

They used every skill imaginable, squeezing out every ounce of their physical strength and potential.

He suspected that the cliff might have some special properties.

Just like how the Nichirin Blade changes color, this mountain might automatically report some measurement result like "Combat Power 18000" or "Strike Power Level 3" based on his output.

However, the mountain was just an ordinary mountain.

Xia Xi was naturally unable to push it.

Then Matsuyama stood beside him and demonstrated for him.

Muscles bulged, and gravel flew up from underfoot, but the mountain didn't budge.

However, compared to when Xia Xi exerted force, the reaction force caused large marks to be constantly rubbed on the ground by her feet.

Matsuyama's feet seemed to be welded to the ground.

Despite exerting force against the mountain, it has achieved a delicate balance with the mountain.

What are you pushing?

"It's not about you wrestling with the mountains, it's about breathing, it's about becoming a part of the mountains."

Xia Xi tried to learn, maintaining the pushing posture, and mimicking Song Shan's increasingly long and deep breathing.

The progress bar has started moving again.

The essence of Rock Breathing, along with the constantly dripping sweat and Xia Xi's taut muscles, slowly but steadily flowed into the system panel.

After fast-forwarding through several days of rigorous training.

Click.

The ground beneath Xia Xi's feet was pressed down by the continuous downward and backward pressure from his hours of standing at full strength.

His feet crushed the part that was originally integrated with the mountain.