Huang Rong from The Return of the Condor Heroes: Guo'er, calm down.

"That damned woman..."

Yang Guo cursed Xiaolongnu's ancestors for eighteen generations in his heart.

"Granny Sun only wanted to find a tattered mat to wrap me up, but you, instead of digging a pit, just executed me on the spot, even sealing the coffin lid tightly!"

He angrily tried to turn over, but his elbow hit the stone wall, causing him to gasp in pain.

Although the stone coffin was large, it was intended for the dead. The suffocating and oppressive feeling that trapped a living person inside was enough to drive them mad.

Within moments, he found himself unable to breathe.

There was very little air left in the coffin.

Yang Guo gasped for breath, but what he inhaled was his own exhaled, scalding hot air.

That feeling was like having someone strangle you.

My lungs felt like they were on fire, and I was seeing stars.

"No... I can't die here..."

"I still want to master unparalleled martial arts... I still want to... I still want to go back and find Sister Rong'er..."

Driven by an intense will to survive, he reached out and grabbed wildly, his fingernails scratching the inner wall of the stone coffin, the sound making one's teeth ache.

However, this stone coffin was made by Wang Chongyang for himself. The stone is harder than refined steel. Not to mention flesh and nails, even an iron hammer might not be able to damage it in the slightest.

My consciousness gradually faded.

Just as Yang Guo thought he was about to die, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him, revealing the densely packed small characters on the inside of the stone coffin lid.

"Breath-holding...the method of tortoise breathing..."

He vaguely remembered that the opening of the "Nine Yin Manual" that he had hastily copied earlier contained a section on breathing techniques, including the method of storing and controlling one's breath, called the "Fetal Breathing Technique".

"Sink your Qi to the Dantian, focus your mind on the Lingtai (spirit platform)... close all orifices, and embryonic breathing will naturally arise..."

We can't worry about that now! Whether it's true or not, we have to get through this first!

Yang Guo forced himself to stay awake and lay down in the correct position, trying to regulate his breathing according to the incantation.

It's easier said than done.

When a person is on the verge of death, their instinct is to gasp for air in order to survive. To go against this instinct and forcibly hold one's breath is far more painful than being slowly sliced ​​to death.

On my first attempt, I held my breath for only two breaths before my chest felt like it was about to explode.

"Cough...cough cough!"

Yang Guo suddenly broke free of his composure and began to cough violently.

Yang Guo suddenly broke free of his guard and coughed violently, consuming even more of the already scarce air.

My head was buzzing, and all my limbs felt numb and tingly.

"Again!"

He became furious, and with a burst of strength in his right hand, he pinched the "Quchi" acupoint on his left arm hard. The intense pain brought him back to his senses.

"Suction...sink...lock!"

He clenched his teeth, held his breath in his lungs, and then, as instructed in the scriptures, guided the breath with his mind to slowly descend.

This kind of feeling is truly unbearable; one cannot live and cannot die.

My lungs felt like they were being roasted over a raging fire, and every breath felt incredibly long.

Ten breaths.

Twenty breaths.

"puff--"

In the end, all their efforts were in vain.

Yang Guo opened his mouth in despair, but could only swallow a mouthful of murky liquid.

But he did not give up.

He has a ruthless streak in his bones. The more desperate the situation, the more his unruly and fierce courage is brought out.

the third time.

the fourth time.

……

After trying countless times, Yang Guo felt as if half of his body had already stepped into the gates of hell.

Just as he was making his final attempt, almost giving up and resigning himself to fate, a strange sensation suddenly arose within him.

The breath that had been stuck in his chest suddenly sank down along his meridians and merged into his limbs and bones.

In an instant, it seemed as if all the pores on my body closed.

The body no longer seeks air from the outside, but instead forms a mysterious micro-circulation within itself.

The pain of suffocation was miraculously lessened.

"Did it work?"

Yang Guo was overjoyed, but dared not be careless in the slightest. He guarded his mind and carefully maintained this state of "fetal breathing".

Ten breaths.

One hundred breaths.

……

This time, he held on for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before slowly exhaling a breath of stale air.

Although I still felt suffocated, the crisis of being able to die at any moment was at least temporarily relieved.

Yang Guo collapsed at the bottom of the coffin, utterly exhausted, his entire body soaked in cold sweat.

"That was close..."

He reached up and touched the side of his neck; his pulse was still there.

As long as he learns this method of fetal breathing, even if Xiaolongnu welds the stone coffin shut with molten iron, he can still linger inside for three to five days.

But a new problem has arisen.

What about three to five days later?

Man is made of iron, and food is made of steel. If you don't suffocate, you'll starve or die of thirst.

There wasn't a drop of water in the stone coffin.

"We must get out."

Yang Guo gathered his strength in his arms and pushed upwards with a sudden force.

The stone slabs overhead remained completely still.

Just now, Xiaolongnu's seemingly casual push closed the stone lid weighing several hundred pounds. Her skill was something I could hardly match, even if I used all my strength.

"I must practice, I must become stronger!"

Yang Guo sat up cross-legged, his eyes shining brightly in the darkness.

The only hope right now is that "Nine Yin Manual"!

One of the chapters, "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian," is the general outline of the entire scripture, which describes the supreme method of cleansing the marrow and transforming the body.

This was nothing short of a gift from heaven to him.

Ninety-nine percent of the "Nine-Turn Life-Extending Pill's" medicinal power remained trapped within his body. This was because his body was like a funnel, with meridians as thin as sheep intestines and a dantian as small as a cup, simply unable to withstand the immense medicinal power of such a spiritual pill.

And this "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" is precisely meant to transform this funnel into a precious cauldron and widen the narrow path into a mighty river!

Once mastered, the accumulated medicinal power within the body will transform into internal strength, causing a surge in power. Pushing open a mere coffin lid will then be nothing to worry about.

"practice!"

Yang Guo closed his eyes, and the incantation of several hundred words floated into his mind.

"People only know that sitting in meditation and ceasing thoughts is the way to cultivate virtue, but they don't realize that those who reach the highest level cultivate both meditation and wisdom, integrating theory and practice..."

This scripture is ten times more profound than the Fetal Breathing Technique, and the pain of practicing it is a hundred times more intense.

It is not a health preservation technique, but a forging method of destruction and reconstruction!

How is it forged?

It is to break your bones and muscles, crush them inch by inch, and then reshape them with true energy!

Following the mental cultivation method, Yang Guo struck a strange pose.

He held his head with his left hand and pulled his feet with his right, twisting his body into an angle that would be extremely difficult for an ordinary person to achieve.

As soon as the technique was activated, the dormant medicinal power within the body was immediately awakened.

The previous medicinal power was like a flood, but now, under the guidance of the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" (a manual on strengthening tendons and bones), this medicinal power has transformed into thousands of small hammers!

The sound of something being knocked against his bones was deafening.

pain!

Ten thousand ants devour my bones, and raging flames consume my body!

This kind of pain is ten times more intense than the previous qi deviation! It's as if someone is using a steel file to flatten your bones inch by inch, and then using an iron hook to pick out and stretch your meridians one by one!

"Well……"

Yang Guo bit his lip tightly, afraid to breathe.

Once you exhale, you have to inhale, but there isn't much air to begin with.

The only option is to endure!

Sweat poured out like a torrent, quickly forming a puddle beneath him.

"Click—"

A crisp popping sound came from his spine.

Yang Guo felt as if his entire dragon bone had been forcibly broken, and the excruciating pain nearly made him faint.

But instead of stopping, he was suddenly invigorated.

The scriptures say that this is a sign of "bone transformation," and the cracking of the joints is clear proof that the practice is effective!

As the exercise was repeated, the excruciating pain gradually transformed into a pleasurable sensation of tingling, numbness, and swelling.

The internal heat transformed into warm currents, nourishing the muscles and bones that had been "beaten" along the way.

Yang Guo felt his meridians gradually widening and becoming more resilient.

The large mass of medicinal power that had been stagnant in the dantian was dissolving at an astonishing speed, transforming into incomparably pure internal energy that flowed through the limbs and bones.

This feeling of becoming stronger is so captivating.

I don't know how much time passed.

Yang Guo was completely immersed in the pleasure of this cultivation.

He forgot the time, forgot his hunger, and even forgot that he was lying in a coffin.

Once, twice, three times...

Each time he completes a full cycle of Qigong, a layer of sticky, foul-smelling black sludge will be expelled from his body.

This is the turbid qi of the five grains, impurities in the body.

If there were light at this moment, one could see that Yang Guo's skin was becoming increasingly fair and radiant, faintly revealing the luster of jade.

His muscles didn't bulk up, but his lines became firm and smooth, with every inch containing amazing explosive power.

……

Outside the ancient tomb.

Yin Zhiping was emaciated, with bloodshot eyes, and was close to madness.

It's the fifth day.

Yang Guo has been in the tomb for five full days.

We didn't even see a ghost.

"It's over...it's definitely over..."

Yin Zhiping slumped in the thatched shed, clutching the roast chicken that had long since hardened, his eyes glazed over.

"Guo'er...you suffered this because of your master..."

Yin Zhiping's tears streamed down his face.

He regretted it.

I should have known better than to be so eager for quick success and send such a good disciple to his death.

Now look what happened; he didn't get any beauty, and he even lost a life.

If the sect leader finds out, I'll lose my life.