Over ten bottles of Red Gold Pills were laid before him in a row on the floor. It was quite a splurge.
Xu Xiaoshou was ready, and yet he still hesitated nonetheless.
Through the use of [Breathing Technique], he'd been able to shorten the refining time from about a month to four to six hours.
But at that time his [Breathing Technique] had been at level six.
After many trials and errors, he had basically figured out that every single [Passive Skill] would be fundamentally transformed after breaking into [Innate Level].
He wondered if that would enable his [Breathing Technique] to break through [Innate Level] and become something he could manipulate.
For instance, he would like to be able to control the amount of scorching heat he took in with each breath.
Because if that were the case, it would apparently enable him to drastically reduce the pain and risk involved.
But what if the thing took a different turn, and instead of enabling him to control amounts, it enabled him to derive pleasure from it?
He shuddered at the thought, finding it terrifying.
He turned to look at the red interface. There were three technique bars with a total of six [Passive Skills] between them, and five were already at the [Innate Level].
The only one left at the [Acquired Level] looked out of place.
He was somewhat OCD, so this bothered him somewhat.
"Whatever. You can't stop eating because you might choke. I still need it so it can level itself up on its own in the future."
Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth and exchanged his Passive Points for five [Skill Points], then immediately dumped them all into [Breathing Technique].
[Breathing Technique (Acquired, level 7)]
[Breathing Technique (Acquired, level 8)]
[Breathing Technique (Acquired, level 9)]
[Breathing Technique (Acquired, level 10)]
[Breathing Technique (Innate, level 1)]
The Information Bar quickly refreshed, and several messages went by. Xu Xiaoshou felt somewhat better, but the change wasn't that noticeable.
He shuddered when the last message appeared.
He felt himself become a spirit-gathering array. Spiritual energy was absorbed, and the surface of his body became misty.
Pores all over his skin opened the very next instant, with every inch of his skin absorbing the spiritual mist around him.
The more drastic change took place in his nose. He caused two mini tornados to form just from taking a whiff.
That bit of spiritual energy that he absorbed in that one instant was able to compensate for a night's sleep altogether.
Xu Xiaoshou felt rather nauseous. His hands, which were splayed on his knees, clenched and his face twisted, as if he were trying to hold something in.
Hmm!
His body shuddered slightly.
Huff!
Xu Xiaoshou clenched his teeth.
Hah… Huuuhhh!
He struggled to the best of his ability, deeming it imperative that he hold it in.
He then leapt and threw a punch.
The resulting force of the spiritual energy immediately blew the door to his room open.
After exhaling hard, the pores all over his body closed, and he felt as if he'd just weathered a storm that could've killed him.
"Not bad. It's alright. Problem's manageable. Could continue training further in the future."
The rush that he felt was well over several times what he'd felt before. However, after practicing it a few times, he managed to develop a measure of resistance to it, making the situation manageable.
He then took out a Spirit Crystal.
He then hesitated and put the thing away, taking out a Spiritual Cultivation Pill instead.
"Let's get this over with. The harder I go, the sooner this could end."
He reached his hand out as far as it would go and pushed his head back as far as he could. Then, he took a light whiff.
Voooom!
The pill immediately disappeared.
He was surprised.
He was hardly able to keep himself steady, as he was feeling dizzy, and thought that he'd taken it too far.
But he had no time to dwell on it. That terrifying spiritual energy went all the way into his energy reserve through his nose, and the rush spread all over his body.
Ohhh.
He was only able to keep a stoic face for a second before feeling like he'd melted into a puddle. His legs clamped inside, his wrists turned outside, and he slumped to the ground like mush.
Hmmmmm…
He spasmed, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Xu Xiaoshou wiggled and flapped about on the ground like a dying fish, yet as soon as his body touched the ground, he became a lot more sensitive.
"Hickkk!" he thought.
"He-help me!"
…
After a while.
He finally returned to normal and looked at the bottle of pills on the ground, still reeling from the shock and terror.
He tested sniffing the pills and found that the rush had increased by three to four times from what it'd been back then. He stopped testing it further and thought that it would be more or less the same with the Red Gold Pills.
He came to realize something after all of this.
Grade 10 pills, like the Spiritual Cultivation Pill and Red Gold Pill, would bring him a higher rush, as the level of his [Breathing Technique] had increased, yet there was still a limit to it.
A pill could only hold so much spiritual energy in it. Being at level eight at the moment, he was no longer at a stage where sucking in a pill or two would bring about a breakthrough.
Yeah, that would require over a dozen instead.
However, that was beside the point. His progress at making breakthroughs was already deemed high enough, and he had no need to rush.
More importantly, he was already able to see the limits of pills at such grades.
Even if the pills were stronger, he still wouldn't be able to get more than five times out of them.
Xu Xiaoshou found this range tolerable.
But then again, he hadn't been able to stop himself from talking to ease the rush.
He deemed that it would serve as an important piece of information that could serve as a reference for when he went about absorbing other pills in the future.
Other than that, he'd also discovered that [Breathing Technique] at [Innate Levels] brought about a fundamental change: it enabled him to breathe not only through his nose but through his pores.
At the moment, every single pore on his body was breathing the spiritual energy around him.
That was something terrifying in itself, as his training rate would spike by more than ten times.
His speculation that he would be able to control the amount of whatever he could take in had been realized to a certain extent.
He could manipulate the pores all over his body by opening and closing them at will.
When he went all out with his training, he would even be able to form spiritual mist around his body. If he were to only breathe through his nose, his training rate would increase to a max of two to three times the usual.
"Very well."
He looked at the six [Innate Level Passive Skills] in his mind and smiled with satisfaction.
If he were to treat them like [Spiritual Techniques], it would make him a formidable fighter capable of six [Innate Level Spiritual Techniques], and his growth from then on out would be practically limitless.
"Everything is set. Just one more thing.
"I have to get rid of this thing next."
He saw the [Infernal Fire Seed] in his reserve. He'd had enough of its presence, as it prevented him from even sleeping in his own bed.
"I don't give a d*mn that you're a fire seed," he thought. "H*ll, you could be a fire walnut for all I care. One way or another, I'm gonna bust you open!"
He took a Red Gold Pill and held his breath.
The next second, veins popped out of his forehead, and his neck got all tense.
As the pain built up, a faint red mist sprayed from the surface of his body. It was an air of bloodiness, but more importantly, it carried a charred smell with it.
That was his new way of using [Breathing Technique]—letting his body release all that gas in him.
A spark of joy flashed in his eye. By letting his body spread the work out instead of letting his nose do it all, his pain was drastically reduced.
It got to the point that he didn't even need the Red Gold Pills. All that pain spread thin was easily repaired by [Eternal Vitality] right away.
Xu Xiaoshou clenched his teeth and said, "Get back here!"
He sucked in with all his might, taking in all that red mist that had just spread out. It was all suppressed by his new [Breathing Technique], and all of it went straight to his energy reserve.
"Boy, that's some efficiency indeed."
"The rate is more than double!"
He remembered that when he'd taken the energy in again before, the scorching energy had burned his meridians for one microcosmic orbit. But at the moment, this process had surprisingly and completely been omitted.
"That's [Innate Level Breathing Technique] for you. Perks far outweigh its shortcomings."