Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

Chapter 97 Three Levels of Extraordinary Breathing Techniques

Xilun stepped into the house and closed the door behind him.

As he walked up to the large walnut desk, Ryan was still rubbing his throbbing temples with his right hand, muttering under his breath, "Damn it, these gang bastards are getting less and less respectful of the club's rules."

After finishing his rant, Ryan finally raised his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at Siren standing in front of the table.

He was clearly still caught up in his frustration, and as he was about to lower his head again to grade the report, he casually said, "Oh, it's Xilun. What's up? By the way, you'd better explain to me why you haven't checked in at the club for ten days in a row, do you even know that—"

At this point, Ryan's voice abruptly stopped.

He suddenly raised his head, his gaze like two sharp swords, fixed intently on Xilun.

As a seasoned and extremely experienced Extraordinary, Renn's intuition was incredibly sharp. He clearly sensed that the young man standing before him, though still wearing those tattered clothes, had undergone a complete transformation in the life force emanating from him!

That kind of calm, restrained yet oppressive feeling, like a volcano, is something no ordinary person can possess.

The next moment, without even bothering to push the chair away, Renn's massive body suddenly leaped out from behind the desk. He strode forward, his right hand like an iron clamp, bringing a gust of wind, and directly grabbed Xiren's shoulder.

With this squeeze, the profound power of a high-level extraordinary being within Raine surged forth like a burst dam, relentlessly probing into Xiren's body.

This is an extremely dangerous test.

If Siron had not been baptized, this force would have been enough to crush his collarbone instantly.

But just as Raine's strength invaded Siron's body...

"Buzz"

The Iron Wall Breathing Technique within Xilun's body, which had already reached the master level of perfection, was instantly triggered passively.

The immense bronze energy, like a dragon awakening, roared from the depths of his marrow and collided fiercely with Renn's probing energy!

Without making a sound, the expensive Persian carpet beneath their feet was instantly torn into countless tiny fibers by an invisible force.

Raine felt as if his hand was gripping an anvil that had never melted. Not only did it not penetrate even a fraction, but he was also shaken by an extremely domineering and prolonged recoil force, which made his tiger's mouth go numb slightly.

Renn suddenly withdrew his hand and took a step back.

He stared blankly at his palm for a moment, then suddenly tilted his head back and let out a deafening burst of wild laughter.

"Hahaha! Great! That's really great!"

Ryan's loud laughter nearly shattered the glass window; all his fatigue and irritability vanished in that instant.

He patted Siron's shoulder heavily, so hard that Siron couldn't help but turn his head slightly, and said excitedly, "You actually completed your baptism so quickly! This—this is simply a miracle I've never heard of in all my years of teaching!"

"A commoner with no family background, relying entirely on his own hard work and struggle, actually managed to cross this insurmountable barrier in just six months!" A hint of red even appeared in Renn's eyes. "This makes me so happy! So you disappeared these past few days to hide away and undergo baptism!"

Ryan enthusiastically pulled on Siren's arm and forced him to sit down on the soft leather sofa.

Then, this usually extremely serious and aloof mentor actually turned around and carefully took out an exquisite tin foil jar from the tightly locked mahogany cabinet behind him.

"This tea was painstakingly transported from the southern colonies. I usually can't even bear to smell it, but today you've been successfully baptized—this is a momentous occasion! I'll treat you to a bag of tea!"

With deft movements, Ryan poured boiling water into a white porcelain teacup. Instantly, a clear, sweet aroma of tea, carrying a unique, vibrant herbal scent, filled the office, even overpowering the original cigar smell.

This tea is extremely expensive on the black market, and can even be exchanged for gold.

Xilun took the teacup with both hands and took a small sip.

The scalding hot tea flowed down my throat, turning into a warm current that instantly soothed the lingering heat in my body after the bath.

It tastes really good and is very beneficial to the body after baptism.

Raine sat opposite Siren, hands on his knees, his gaze fixed intently on Siren's wrist. He asked urgently, "Tell me, how did you do it? How did you suddenly get baptized without any warning? Did you encounter any dangerous rejection reactions during the process?"

Xilun put down his teacup, his expression calm, and began to recount the reaction that had already been forming in his mind.

"Actually, there's nothing special about it; it just happened naturally."

Xilun's voice was calm and unhurried, "These past few days at home, I've felt that my Iron Wall Breathing Technique has made subtle progress, with my Qi and blood overflowing to the point that I can hardly control it. So I asked for leave from the docks and focused on my secluded cultivation."

"After days and nights of arduous training, I finally reached a new level, feeling every pore of my body brimming with power. Then—I suddenly had a premonition that the time had come."

Xilun's eyes deepened, as if recalling that painful night: "I lit the incense you taught me before and took the potion I bought. When the potion took effect, I felt a shackle tightly binding my potential within me."

"I mustered all my strength, focused all my power on one point, and slammed into it. After breaking free of those shackles, the immense pain subsided, and—that's how it was done."

Upon hearing this, Ryan stroked his beard repeatedly, his expression of admiration deepening.

"Good, very good! To break through the shackles without any external protection, relying solely on willpower and intuition, your willpower far surpasses that of ordinary people!" Renn chuckled.

He leaned back on the sofa, silently watching Xilun, his eyes becoming somewhat profound in the tea mist.

After a while, Ryan slowly spoke, his tone becoming more solemn than ever before.

"Siren, now that you've come this far, I'll be frank with you. Originally, I intended to take you on as my core apprentice."

Renn gave a wry smile and shook his head: "But now, I have to seriously consider it. The talent and resilience you've shown would be a waste to keep you under my tutelage."

Renn stared intently into Xiren's eyes and said, enunciating each word clearly, "With your talent, you absolutely deserve and should reach higher levels. Perhaps you could go directly to meet the club's true leader, the club president."

Xilun paused, his hand holding the teacup slightly.

He had been a member of the club for so long, but he had never seen the legendary, elusive president.

"The club president?"

Renn nodded, a flicker of barely concealed fervor and awe in his eyes: "Of course. However, he prefers to be called—"

He paused, then lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing some deity: "High Knight, Lord Lund."

"High-ranking Knight————"

Xilun chewed on the title repeatedly. In the world of extraordinary beings, those who could be given the title of "Knight" were all terrifyingly powerful individuals who had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, representing the recognition of the government and the nobility.

The word "advanced" further implies that the other party has most likely surpassed the first and second-tier baptized beings and entered the even more unbelievable third-tier realm.

Seeing Siren deep in thought, Mentor Renn picked up his teacup, took a sip, and sighed, "However, Lord Lund is currently negotiating with a noble family, dealing with some entanglements between important figures. He probably won't return to the club for another month. In the meantime, you need to wait patiently and not act rashly."

"One month?" Xilun pondered for a moment.

He knew all too well that in this perilous world, time was life.

After being baptized, his Iron Wall Breathing Technique, which he relied on for survival, had reached perfection and could not be improved further. Continuing to cultivate it would only result in stagnation and he would not be able to increase his strength by even a fraction.

"In that case," Siren raised his head, looking intently at Renn, "Instructor Renn, how can I obtain the next level of the breathing technique within this month? I can't just wait around and waste my time."

When Raine heard this question, he frowned slightly and put down his teacup.

He tapped the armrest of the leather sofa lightly with his fingers, making a dull "tap-tap" sound.

"This is indeed a bit troublesome," Renn said as he tapped, his eyes sharpening. "Before discussing techniques, I must ask you a question. How is your understanding of mysticism? Have you even scratched the surface?"

Xilun shook his head without hesitation.

This body was originally just a laborer who struggled in the slums and could barely read. How could he have come into contact with any profound mysticism?

The memories in his mind that did not belong to this world, apart from his introduction to classical literature and his knowledge of biology, chemistry and other physics from his previous life, were completely ignorant of the mysterious field of mysticism.

Moreover, who knows how different the biological structure and chemical reactions of this bizarre world filled with steam and magic potions are from those of my previous life? Using the science of my past life to analyze mythical creatures is tantamount to suicide.

"I haven't studied it," Xilen admitted frankly, "but I've looked into related textbooks or tutoring classes before—"

He paused, a hint of bitterness in his voice: "Even the most basic literacy class in the occult requires a tuition fee of at least 5 pounds to learn systematically. I think I'll pass."

Five pounds is enough for an average family in the downtown area to live comfortably for two years.

Upon hearing this, Renn was not surprised, as the weakness of commoner martial artists often lies in their lack of knowledge.

He sat up straight, crossed his hands on his knees, and explained to Xilun in an extremely serious, lecturing tone: "You have no background in mysticism, which makes things difficult. Here's how it is: once a mortal reaches the first level, their body has already undergone initial deification. If they want to continue accumulating power, they must learn a breathing technique that truly contains extraordinary characteristics."

"But in today's black market and major clubs, this extraordinary breathing technique for baptismal practitioners is mainly divided into three levels."

Ryan held up one finger.

"The first type is a breathing method that was developed and created by modern extraordinary individuals in the last one or two hundred years by combining the experience of their predecessors. This method has a relatively short history, and many of the pathways for the circulation of qi and blood are quite rudimentary, even with some side effects. However, it is sufficient for those who have no prior knowledge of the practice."

Then, Ryan raised his second finger, a hint of awe flashing in his eyes.

"The second type is the truly good stuff. These are methods passed down directly from the distant Quaternary period. They were recorded on stone tablets by the ancients using extremely obscure esoteric symbols. Legend has it that these methods were recorded by later generations when our ancestors secretly observed ancient mythical creatures absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, and were deduced through the lives of several generations to reach the highest level!"

"This breathing method retains the most primal ferocity and charm, but its biggest hurdle lies in the extremely high demand for interpreting occult symbols. Someone who doesn't understand occultism will only feel dizzy and disoriented when they look at those stone carvings, and may even fall into a state of mental breakdown and madness."

Finally, Ryan raised his third finger.

"As for the third type, it's a translation created by some seniors knowledgeable in mysticism who forcibly translated the breathing techniques on the second type of mysterious stone carvings into a language we can understand today. This translation is relatively simple, and one can practice it by simply copying it without needing a foundation in mysticism. But—"

Renn shook his head and said regretfully, "The power of laws contained in mythological language cannot be fully reproduced using mortal language. In the process of translation, it is inevitable that not all the essence can be reproduced, which results in a loss of the power of this translation."

Xilun sat on the sofa and quickly sorted out the advantages and disadvantages of the three techniques in his mind.

The first type is the worst, the second type is the strongest but has the highest entry barrier, and the third type is a compromise.

After listening, Siren looked at Renn and asked in a deep voice, "So, does the mentor have any recommendations?"

Renn looked at Siren, his eyes revealing a worldly-wise helplessness, and said, "That depends on your family's wealth."

"If you have the money, I recommend that you settle for the third translation. Although it is just a translation and its power is reduced, its intent and potential are still much better than those poorly made and self-created techniques by later generations."

"If you have both plenty of money and time, I strongly suggest you put aside all those other things and calm down to take a course to learn mysticism."

Once you have a solid foundation, then you can choose the second option! That is, pay the club directly to view the mysterious stone carvings in the underground secret room!

The extraordinary breathing technique recorded on that stone carving perfectly preserves the essence of ancient mythological creatures. The resulting energy is the purest and most potent, making it virtually invincible among those of the same level!

At this point, Renn paused, glancing at Xilen's faded cuffs.

"But if you lack both of these—neither the money to buy a translation nor the time to study mysticism—then the only option left is the first one, which is the most unfortunate one."

This kind of self-created cultivation method in modern times is not expensive, and you don't need to spend time learning mysticism, but it is the most common and has very low growth potential.

In practice, its effectiveness is about 10 percent less than that of the translation, and compared to the true teachings gained from directly observing the mysterious stone carvings, it is probably even 10 percent less, or more.

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