I became the Lord of the Eternal World in Tokyo.

Pain, burning heat, and a long, dark night.

More than an hour later, Uesugi Tetsuya, whose skin temperature was so high that the surrounding air seemed to distort slightly, slowly opened his eyes without sweating a single drop.

"it is finally over."

He whispered softly.

Like thousands of fine needles, the powerful energy carefully emerged from the tough membrane... no, now it should be said that it gleamed with a metallic luster, as hard as iron and copper.

Indeed, Uesugi Tetsu seized this unexpected opportunity almost perfectly.

As a result, they reaped a rich reward!

[Due to your significantly improved understanding of breathing techniques and the arduous tempering of internal energy, your proficiency in the Corona Breathing Technique has increased by 339!]

[You have completed the Flesh Palace Training - Bronze Skin Stage!]

【Your skin strength increases slightly! 】

[Your physique +2! ]

"Copper sheet, huh?"

Uesugi Tetsu opened his still burning hot fingers, gazing at the starlight at his fingertips, feeling his whole body gradually being "wrapped" into a more rounded power.

He casually reached out and easily crushed a rounded corner of the wooden platform without using any special energy.

Uesugi Tetsu rubbed his fingertips together, watching the tiny wood shavings fall through his fingers, and couldn't help but grin.

"The effect is... really good."

If the tanned skin stage can prevent ordinary slashes, then the copper skin stage allows a cultivator's skin strength to rival, or even surpass, those of ordinary swords and blades.

Its skin alone can be as hard as metal!

Not to mention, if you infuse it with your inner energy—it wouldn't be impossible for you to shatter those high-quality weapons and armor with your bare hands!

"Also, after I repaired my copper skin, my physical attribute also reached 48 points."

Uesugi Tetsu glanced casually at the attribute panel and nodded in satisfaction.

This was even without him wearing the Prajna mask.

If he wears the mask, his physical attributes can even soar to 68 points, almost on par with his 78 points of spiritual attributes in his four-tailed fox form.

Uesugi Tetsu looked at the Corona Breathing Technique, which was about to complete the entire tempering stage, and revealed a joyful smile like that of a harvest.

【Coronal Breathing (Skin Hardening 200/360)】

[Effects: Like a tough membrane, like refined copper, like a powerful qi barrier.]

【——Tough skin, copper skin, tempered skin!】

He was only 160 points away from entering the Bone Forging stage, catching up with or even surpassing Lili Zi!

"Not bad, really good."

Uesugi Tetsu was about to get up and flip through the nine books on breathing techniques to see if there was anything he had missed.

The next prompt that popped up in front of him made him pause involuntarily.

[Because you have learned numerous breathing techniques! Your Corona Breathing technique has manifested one of the four ultimate forms, "Palace of Flesh," after "Flesh Refinement"!]

Palace of meat?

Isn't this just a nickname for the "proficient" level of breathing techniques?

And what are the four ultimate forms...?

Uesugi Tetsu continued looking down in silence.

【Palace of Flesh (0/4500)】

[Palace of Flesh: The ultimate form of meat refinement. Absolutely perfect muscle control and overwhelming physical strength. Upon completion, the body will be as magnificent and beautiful as a palace.]

[Note: Cultivation is temporarily impossible before completing the "Skin Tempering," "Bone Forging," and "Flesh Refining" stages.]

After reading it, Uesugi Tetsu narrowed his eyes and fell silent.

How powerful would the "ultimate form," which requires a full 4500 points of proficiency to complete, be?

Moreover, this Palace of Flesh is only a quarter of the ultimate form.

In other words, there are three incredibly powerful ultimate forms corresponding to the three stages of skin tempering, bone forging, and tendon casting, but I haven't unlocked them yet.

In other words, these nine breathing techniques, like the current Corona Breathing Technique, are incomplete.

They merely helped fill in some of the gaps.

Being able to unlock "Palace of Flesh," one of the four ultimate forms, is already considered an effect of combining all nine.

It seems that nine breathing techniques are not enough.

And it's not high-end enough.

"The art of breathing techniques is indeed as vast as the ocean..."

Uesugi Tetsu sighed inwardly, but didn't worry too much about the fact that the Corona Breathing Technique was still incomplete.

After all, just the four stages of skin, bone, flesh, and tendons, plus the ultimate form of flesh refinement, the Palace of Flesh, would have been enough to keep me training for who knows how long.

Once he's maxed out those tens of thousands of proficiency points, this incomplete problem should be easily solved.

Just as Uesugi Tetsu was thinking this, the final prompt appeared, albeit shakily.

[Because you have learned many breathing techniques, your Coronavirus Breathing technique has completed an important "stage classification"! Please check it!]

"Stage classification..."

Uesugi Tetsu glanced at it briefly and quickly understood what it meant.

Simply put, the three levels of Corona Breathing Technique—"Beginner," "Beginner," and "Proficient"—correspond to the stages of the breathing technique, specifically the Sea of ​​Qi.

Mastery, which is his current level, corresponds to the Breathing Technique stage - Palace of Flesh.

After mastering it—the expert level corresponds to the breathing technique stage.

—"The Five Internal Organs Immortals"!

Originally, it was nothing more than a matter of simply mapping proficiency levels to the stages of breathing techniques practiced by the general public.

But the key point is...

Uesugi Tetsuya stared silently at the two red and one yellow completion indicators.

[Sea of ​​Qi (60% incomplete)]

【Palace of Flesh (10% Incomplete)】

【Five Internal Organs Immortal (50% Incomplete)】

Incomplete, incomplete, completely incomplete!

Uesugi Tetsuya could understand the incompleteness of his later, more profound understandings.

However, the Qi circulation he cultivated from scratch was incomplete, and the incompleteness reached 60%.

He has been cultivating day and night for so long and has yet to discover... something's not right.

Uesugi Tetsu stared at the three characters "Sea of ​​Qi," and after thinking it over, realized that he had never heard of these three characters before.

The cultivation of internal energy and qi ends with "the qi circulates endlessly throughout the body," and the issue of the sea of ​​qi is never mentioned.

Emotionally, the breathing technique I've practiced from beginning to end has been severely flawed.

Therefore, this should not be an isolated case, but rather an extremely common phenomenon.

Because Okabe Motonobu also didn't express any doubt about the circulation of his internal energy, and the former Yin-Yang Grand Master Kondo Tomoya also practiced this Corona Breathing Technique...

Uesugi Tetsu murmured, "So, the only completely complete breathing technique... is the 'Four Extremes Breathing Technique' held by the four great families?"

In this way, many things can be explained.

For example, why are the young talents from the four major families much stronger than the geniuses from small places and small dojos?

Because they practice the complete breathing method, while you practice an incomplete one!

Even if everyone has the same talent, the latter will definitely be inferior.

"The four major families..."

At that moment, Matsudaira Motoyasu's voice came from outside the quiet room, neither too loud nor too soft.

"Lord Che, the appointed time has arrived. Please take your time to prepare before coming out..."

Uesugi Tetsu immediately turned his head, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

Yes, the patriarch of the Tokugawa family is standing right outside. Could there be an easier opportunity to come into contact with the Four Extremes Breathing Method?

Of course, we must also consider that the Four-Pole Breathing Method is not currently in the possession of Matsudaira Motoyasu.

With this in mind, Uesugi Tetsu calmed himself down, pushed open the door, and went out.

Outside the door, Matsudaira Motoyasu, who had just called out and thought Uesugi Tetsuya would deliberately delay for a while before coming out, froze for a moment, his face showing astonishment.

Uesugi Tetsu shook his head with feigned regret: "It's a pity that there was only one hour. I haven't had time to read most of the content yet."

Matsudaira Motoyasu respectfully said, "Lord Che is already very impressive. As an Onmyoji who can summon powerful shikigami, he is still willing to watch and understand the breathing techniques that only samurai practice."

He had barely finished speaking when Hanzo's extremely faint voice rang in his ears.

"—Lord Yuan Kang, in the hour that he entered the meditation room, Che's breathing technique has broken through."

Onmyoji Che actually knows breathing techniques!?

Matsudaira Motoyasu's pupils contracted sharply, but he maintained his smile and walked ahead, leading Uesugi Tetsu toward the previous room.

In his ear, Hanzo continued to whisper, "Moreover, Che has at least completed the Qi circulation. In terms of breathing techniques, he is better than me and at the same level as Lord Okabe."

Qi circulation!?

Isn't this the goal I'm determined to achieve before I turn twenty?

Matsudaira Motoyasu, who had just reached the "Qi Circulation to the Four Extremes" stage, stiffened slightly and paused in his steps, almost falling flat on his face.

Fortunately, Uesugi Tetsu, who was following behind, grabbed his collar and said with concern, "Matsudaira-sama, please be careful when you walk."

"Ah...thank you."

Matsudaira Motoyasu forced a smile and walked on absentmindedly.

—Why did Onmyoji Che conceal the fact that he knows the Breathing Technique?

In reality, Uesugi Tetsuya simply didn't bother to announce to the world, "How do you know I've reached the Qi Circulation stage in my breathing technique, since no one has asked me why I'm saying this," because he was content with the idea that "no one asked me why I'm saying this."

Having experienced countless hardships and upheavals since childhood, Matsudaira Motoyasu, who was only twelve or thirteen years old but already had a meticulous mind, immediately realized what was going on and made up his mind.

We must befriend this Onmyoji Che!

We absolutely must befriend them!

Originally, being able to wield heavenly lightning and summon shikigami was already astonishing enough, not to mention that Che was also among the top in the breathing technique!

This means that he is not only powerful, but also has almost no weaknesses!

If such a person were to become one's enemy, it would likely be Hanzo...

Matsudaira Motoyasu shuddered and dared not think any further.

The boy's mind raced, and during this short journey, he had already considered how he should and how he should face Uesugi Tetsuya in the future.

But now his attitude is no different from usual.

Building closer relationships requires a gradual approach.

Matsudaira Motoyasu understood this better than anyone.

Moreover, since Onmyoji Tetsu spends all his time with the head of the Imagawa clan, it's not easy for him to get to the bottom of things...

Since that's the case, why not get to know Che's little follower first?

—Bai Shi hung far behind the two of them, cautiously peeking out from behind the thick pillar with his spiky braid and eyes.

He watched silently as Uesugi Tetsu and Matsudaira Motoyasu disappeared from sight.

Finally, he took out a small dried fish from his pocket and took two big bites.

……