Chapter 28: 27 Breathing

27 Breathing

After Si Liyu left, Tang Zhao gradually recovered from the soreness, instead feeling his muscles and bones stretched, his body light as a swallow, as if he had broken free from shackles. Although this might be an illusion after carrying a load, and not because this Body Refining Chapter was some immortal technique that took effect immediately, he still felt cheerful—

Had he already started practicing martial arts?

Although it was hard work, wasn't practicing martial arts to strengthen the body and even transcend the mundane exactly what he had been looking forward to?

He flipped through the scroll of the Body Refining Chapter, feeling as if the pictures on it were lively, jumping musical notes. A rough count showed there were thirty-six movements in this set; practicing eight a day meant he could finish in five days.

Tang Zhao found it funny to think about—how could he possibly practice eight a day? The movements surely became harder toward the end; eventually, even one a day would be difficult. He might not even finish them all in a month.

It seemed a bit too tight; this should be the most basic technique. If he couldn't even finish this, what kind of progress could he make in a month?

Could he speed it up?

He suddenly thought: were the annotations of the Glasses useful for this kind of technique?

They shouldn't be, right? The text of an Inner Technique could help with understanding, but with these pictures and diagrams, wouldn't he be a fool if he couldn't understand them?

Although he thought this, he still pulled out the long-lost Glasses. One lens was shattered, but the other was still intact. By using the "one-eyed stare" method, he could still see.

"Body Refining (Outer Practice) - Mid-grade."

The grade was displayed on the Glasses, and Tang Zhao was quite satisfied; this grade was higher than the "Paulownia Attracts Phoenix Art."

It was just a joke.

Even the best-compiled kindergarten reader couldn't compare to a poor-quality college textbook.

His gaze focused on the two characters for "Body Refining," and sure enough, as his vision shifted, annotations appeared after "Body Refining."

"Body Refining, the foundation of outer practice. Use stretching movements paired with breathing methods to forge the foundation of muscles and bones..."

"Breathing method... wait... there's this stuff too?"

He remembered that he had just been posing earlier, and there was no breathing method involved?

Could it be that the Land Inspection Division refused to teach it?

Tang Zhao couldn't be sure. Logically speaking, he wasn't a member of the Land Inspection Division now, so keeping secrets was understandable. But without relying on the way of breathing, and relying on the body to force itself into such strange postures, wouldn't he practice something wrong?

Then, could the Glasses supplement it?

He moved his gaze down to the movements, and sure enough, a large amount of annotations appeared again.

The annotations mainly explained how the bones, muscles, blood, and so on in this movement were stressed, what kind of training was obtained, what details were worth noting, and what harm might be caused; it could be called exhaustive. A single movement had thousands of words of annotations. There were even separate diagrams for some of the later movements, which were anatomical charts showing the state of the body's parts from the skin and membranes to the internal organs during the movement, and there were even faint indications of blood flow and muscle tension and relaxation.

Honestly, the anatomical charts were a bit terrifying, but fortunately, they were concise enough that Tang Zhao could still look at them directly.

Through comparison, Tang Zhao confirmed that Si Liyu was a good teacher. When he taught Tang Zhao, although he didn't explain in detail, he had corrected all the movement details into place, and the final effect was almost identical to the optimal form marked in the annotations. This was enough; after all, the Body Refining Chapter was for beginners to practice, and being able to learn it step-by-step was already very good. Did he really expect to get to the bottom of it and master it completely?

Even Si Liyu himself had only learned it that way back then, and might not be able to explain the "why" now.

Tang Zhao only took a rough glance; knowing more was certainly a good thing, but this wasn't the most urgent matter. He was more interested in...

The breathing method—

There it was!

In the latter part of the annotations, there was indeed a breathing method, explaining how to coordinate breathing with the movements. Just looking at the text was actually very vague; terms like "three short and one long" or "two empty and one solid" were very abstract. Fortunately, there were diagrams below.

It was another anatomical chart, showing how the five internal organs in the abdomen rhythmically moved with the intake of air, with each inhalation and exhalation, each expansion and contraction, being very clear. Putting aside the disgust in his heart, learning it by following the diagrams wasn't difficult.

Tang Zhao began the movements following the breathing rhythm and found it much easier. Some movements he couldn't do or found very difficult were now possible following the rhythm, and some movements that were unstable and hard to maintain became increasingly stable, as if he had shed shackles, feeling exceptionally light and happy.

In this way, let alone ten breaths, even half an hour...

Thump—

Tang Zhao stumbled and fell to the ground.

It turned out that his attention was entirely on maintaining his breathing, entering a muddled state as if in meditation, and his physical strength was unknowingly exhausted, eventually causing him to collapse.

"That was close—one must know when to stop." Tang Zhao realized that correct breathing couldn't reduce consumption; it might even increase it. After all, this was the Body Refining Chapter; what was important wasn't how much physical strength was consumed, but how much training was obtained. Maintaining correct breathing and movements would surely yield twice the result with half the effort.

Taking advantage of his empty physical strength, Tang Zhao continued to flip through the annotations. There were eighteen movements in total, each with ample annotations. Flipping to the end, Tang Zhao saw that white mark of the water well again.

As long as he had a thought, he could summon another fairy from a washbasin, a teacup, or... and have his Body Refining Chapter replaced with something like a "Golden Body Chapter" or "Silver Body Chapter," and the quality would likely be even better.

But he decided against it.

Tang Zhao had a guess: every time he summoned the fairy, it caused damage to the Glasses. One lens had already shattered, and only one remained; throwing it again would probably shatter it completely.

On one side was a desperate gamble, and on the other was sustainable annotation; Tang Zhao chose the latter.

It wasn't that he couldn't choose the former, but it clearly wasn't worth it for the "Body Refining Chapter." If there were some martial arts classics or Mysterious Techniques in the future, he might choose to upgrade.

If only the lens could be repaired.

It should... be possible, right?

Tang Zhao was tempted to call the fairy out and ask her how to make the broken mirror whole again, but he was afraid of not getting an answer and wasting this opportunity for nothing.

He would keep the last chance in his hand for now. Even if he learned step-by-step, with the annotations to check for gaps, learning martial arts shouldn't be too difficult, right?

The next morning, Tang Zhao did indeed get up early and finished the first few movements of the body refining technique before dawn. He could do the eighth movement, but he didn't dare to try the ninth alone; he would rather play it safe for now.

After exercising, he felt refreshed, and Tang Zhao even ate two extra bowls of breakfast.

This breakfast was unusual; Yuan Qing came over to eat with the two of them.

Her attitude had undergone a subtle change; she was more polite to the two of them than before, especially to Tang Zhao, but her dissatisfaction with Xing Ji remained undiminished.

"You two need to change places in a while. That Officer Xing has treated this place as the Central Army headquarters, calling all his lackeys and henchmen over, crowding you out with no place to live. The Manor Master has ordered you to move to the Grape Courtyard. It's also very good there; it's where our manor cultivates younger Disciples, with all facilities complete, and there are children of the same age, making it convenient for sparring."

Tang Zhao could only follow the arrangements, then asked Yuan Qing if Wei Zhangle could stay to practice martial arts together. Yuan Qing wasn't troubled and said, "You want him to be your sparring boy?"

Just as Tang Zhao was about to explain, Wei Zhangle had already said, "Exactly, I hope to serve YoungMaster Tang."

Yuan Qing said, "You have quite the airs, finding someone to serve you at a time like this. Fine, then I will provide the resources for your boy's share first."

Tang Zhao hurriedly declined, "I'll provide it myself, I can set aside my own share..."

Yuan Qing said, "Don't be silly. Right now you don't even have enough, how could you have any to spare? I'll provide it first. If you get past this hurdle and have a bright future, you will naturally repay me. If something goes wrong, this kid has used our manor's resources, so he won't need to leave; he can stay as a manor servant, counting as an advance on his wages."

The two thanked her repeatedly, realizing that Yuan Qing was no ordinary maid and held a high position in the manor.

After breakfast, Yuan Qing gave Tang Zhao a token and a bottle of medicine. The token was to be worn at the waist, while the medicine was an antidote that could cure many spider poisons. She said these two items could "ward off evil," and then called a young maid to lead the two youths to the backyard.