A few days had quietly slipped past since the fateful night in the Patriarch's courtyard.
The early morning mist still clung heavily to the dense pine forests of the Xiao Clan's back mountains. At the edge of the secluded hot spring, the air was thick with sulfur and the rhythmic, musical sound of water flowing over smooth river stones.
Yoriichi sat cross-legged on a large, flat rock right at the bank of the spring. His training robes were perfectly still, his hands resting lightly on his knees. His crimson eyes were open, but they were not looking at the trees or the sky. He was gazing deeply into the flowing water, watching how the hot spring bubbled up from the earth and carved its narrow path toward the wider river in the distance.
'What are you?' Yoriichi asked internally, his mind sinking into a state of profound, absolute focus. 'Why do you flow around the stones instead of breaking them? Why are you yielding, yet capable of carving canyons out of solid rock?'
He was actively employing his Transparent World vision, not to look at a living creature, but to observe the microscopic flow of ambient Water Dou Qi dancing across the surface of the spring.
The ancient, black parchment he had taken from the Dou Ji Pavilion—Battle Through the Heavens—rested safely in his inner pocket. Over the past few days, he had painstakingly deciphered the initial headlines of this god-tier scroll.
The text was a labyrinth of extreme elemental theory. It broke down how each specific attribute functioned within a cultivator's body, the exact meridians they favored, and the inherent nature of their energy.
Many of the concepts flew completely over his head, written in a cosmic dialect meant likely for a Dou Sheng. Yet, through patient, relentless consistency, Yoriichi had grasped the fundamental rule of the scroll.
To synthesize all elements simultaneously and forge this new type of Qi, he could not simply smash them together at once. That was a guaranteed death sentence. He had to understand them individually, deeply, and flawlessly. One by one.
He had started with the Water element.
The scroll dictated that to comprehend Water, one must train near its source, absorbing the ambient, fluid energy of the environment and mapping its path through the kidney and leg meridians.
Yoriichi was currently testing this theory. He drew tiny, microscopic threads of ambient Water Dou Qi from the mist, trying to carefully guiding them into his Dantian. His incredibly dense cyclone acted like a perfect, neutral crucible, accepting the water energy without violently boiling it away.
He was deep in this delicate state of elemental assimilation when a sudden, violent THUD shattered his concentration.
It was followed immediately by the ragged, desperate sound of someone gasping for air, like a drowning victim finally breaking the surface.
Yoriichi didn't even flinch. He knew exactly whose drama this was.
He slowly opened his left eye, turning his head slightly to look behind him.
Lying flat on her back in the dirt, completely covered in mud, sweat, and bruised pride, was Xiao Yu. Her long, beautiful legs were sprawled haphazardly, and her usually pristine training clothes were clinging to her heavily heaving chest. Her blue whip lay abandoned a few feet away.
"Hmm," Yoriichi murmured, his voice cutting through her gasps with calm, analytical precision. "You maintained the continuous patterned breathing for fifteen minutes, but your exhalation interval dropped to only forty seconds. That is merely a five-second progression from yesterday."
Xiao Yu groaned, throwing an arm over her eyes to block the morning sun.
"Sister, you need to put more effort into the fundamentals," Yoriichi instructed, his tone completely devoid of sympathy. "Now, regulate your heart rate. Start holding your breath for three minutes, completely relaxed. Do not let your chest heave."
Beneath her arm, Xiao Yu grumbled a string of highly unladylike curses. She thought back to a few days ago, when her brother had promised to teach her a profound, powerful new technique that would elevate her Water attribute whip style. She had been ecstatic.
But instead of flashy Dou Skills and elegant forms, this brother of hers was subjecting her to absolute torture! For the past few days, she had been forced to sprint up the mountain trails carrying heavy logs, punch solid oak trees until her knuckles bled, and worst of all, practice this infuriating, suffocating breathing method.
'Is he trying to suffocate me to death for some childhood revenge?!' Xiao Yu thought miserably, forcing her lungs to hold the air as instructed, her face turning slightly red from the strain.
She had tried to ask him when she could actually start using her whip, but he always shut her down, claiming her internal "engine" was too weak to handle the true forms of Water. She had seriously considered abandoning this hellish training regime a dozen times.
But the reality of her own body betrayed her complaints.
When she woke up each morning, despite the deep muscle soreness, she felt a terrifying surge of vitality. The grueling physical exercises and the bizarre breathing patterns were forcefully expanding her meridians.
Her Dou Qi felt noticeably denser, her reactions sharper, and her stamina was literally doubling. She sighed internally, accepting the bitter truth: these simple, brutal, and highly complicated training methods were actually working miracles.
'This must be the secret behind his sudden, monstrous strength,' she reasoned, gritting her teeth and holding her breath for the final ten seconds.
The morning dragged on, the sun climbing higher into the sky, burning away the mist and casting a sweltering heat over the clearing.
By noon, Yoriichi finally opened both of his eyes. He exhaled a long, deep breath, a faint, visible stream of white air escaping his lips and rustling the grass ten feet away. He had mapped the primary water pathways into his foundation.
He turned around and stood up.
A few yards away, Xiao Yu was currently in a deep horse stance, her arms trembling violently as she held a heavy brick on both of her arms, above her elbows.
Sweat was pouring down her neck, soaking through her tight training shirt, highlighting the athletic, toned curves of her torso. Her face was flushed crimson with exertion, but she refused to drop the bricks until he gave the order.
Yoriichi nodded appreciatively. Her willpower was commendable.
He raised his hand, signaling her to stop.