41: Chapter 41 Cultivating the Purple Thorn Breathing Technique

After finishing dinner, the sky had completely darkened.

The moonlight cascading from the two bright moons was like quicksilver, shrouding the earth in a hazy veil; it was breathtakingly beautiful.

The backyard of the manor had simple structures where the Barbarians and Kobolds could reside. Since the weather was currently in mid-April and not cold, there was no need to worry.

After dining, Loren did not linger in the hall; he stood up and returned to his room on the third floor.

The maids had already prepared hot water for his bath.

Seeing the handsome and elegant Loren enter the room, both maids had a hint of joy in their eyes.

They tugged at their black and white maid dresses and curtsied slightly.

"Good evening, Master Loren. We have already prepared the hot water for you. Would you like to bathe now?"

The somewhat plumper maid on the left revealed a hint of anticipation in her eyes, "Serving you during your bath is our duty..."

Loren's mouth twitched upon hearing this.

"You two go out first; I will wash myself."

The two expectant maids were instantly crestfallen... feeling as though another excellent opportunity had slipped through their fingers.

After cleanly dismissing the two maids, Loren soaked alone in the large tub.

It wasn't that he was being pretentious; as a lord and a descendant of high nobility, having a few maids to serve him was simply the norm in this world.

It was just that while the maids in the manor were above average in appearance, they fell far short of his aesthetic standards, so he had no interest.

In the hot water, Loren felt the strength within his body gradually recovering, and he let out a slight sigh of relief.

Five days had passed since he took down Barbarian Chieftain Yas; the period of weakness after forcibly overdrawing his strength was certainly not easy to endure.

He opened his attribute panel.

His gaze turned to the Breathing Techniques at the very top.

Bauhinia Breathing Technique (S-Rank) Advantages: Focuses on the mind. After practicing, it will significantly strengthen the mind and increase mental resilience. When cultivated to the later stages, it can grant immunity to mental shocks from Spellcasters, and when used in conjunction with corresponding skills, it can erupt with powerful force.

Disadvantages: The Bauhinia Breathing Technique does not sufficiently train the body; after a full-power eruption, it is easy to cause significant damage to the body.

Demon Breathing Technique (S+ Rank) Advantages: The supreme cultivation technique of demons. It can significantly enhance physique and strengthen the body. When cultivated to the end, it allows for limb regeneration, greatly increases resistance to magic, and results in inexhaustible strength.

Disadvantages: After practicing, one will be unable to learn spells and will easily fall into a state of berserk rage and bloodlust, requiring extremely high mental control.

There were no special tricks to training Breathing Techniques; it required grinding work, accumulating bit by bit.

However, the training methods for the two Breathing Techniques were each different.

The Bauhinia Breathing Technique requires visualizing a powerful life form within the mental sea, then, while coordinating with a specific breathing frequency, mobilizing Bloodline Power to train mental strength, allowing mental strength to grow.

It focuses on the mind.

The Demon Breathing Technique, on the other hand, requires large-scale, high-intensity movements to hone the body, and also requires consuming large amounts of energy-rich food for replenishment.

It focuses on the physique.

Perhaps due to the power of the system, the two Breathing Techniques each excelled in an extreme but could fuse perfectly.

This had to be called a miracle.

The higher the level of the Breathing Technique, the more demanding the conditions for the learner.

The most typical example was that the Bauhinia Breathing Technique required the bloodline of the Bauhinia Family to be practiced.

This Breathing Technique was obtained by the first Grand Duke of the Bauhinia Family in a ruin of the gods. Later, through constant improvement, it became the exclusive property of the Bauhinia Family.

The Demon Breathing Technique was much the same; it was a breathing technique imprinted in the Demon Grand Duke Bloodline. Just like the bloodline spells obtained by Kobold Spellcasters, it was an inheritance.

Without the Demon Grand Duke Bloodline, it was impossible to learn; even if one obtained it, it would be like useless paper.

A more important point was that Loren had never heard of anyone being able to practice two high-level Breathing Techniques simultaneously.

The higher the level of the Breathing Technique, the greater the help to the person; the energy exhaled and inhaled, and the training efficiency, could not be compared to lower-level ones at all.

It was precisely because of this that Breathing Techniques would cause great changes to the body, remodeling human bloodlines, bones, flesh, and so on to better adapt to the Breathing Technique.

Practicing two Breathing Techniques simultaneously would not only waste a lot of energy but would also make the difficulty of one's cultivation even greater.

The higher the level, the easier it was for the Breathing Techniques to cause a backlash against each other.

For example, if the first Breathing Technique required a blood vessel to soften, while the second Breathing Technique required that same blood vessel to harden, such a direct contradiction was almost unavoidable, and at that point, a huge conflict would occur.

Perhaps someone might replace a low-level Breathing Technique with a high-level one, but no one would practice two Breathing Techniques at the same time.

However, under the power of the system, Loren not only did not feel the two Breathing Techniques repelling each other, but even when practicing the Bauhinia Breathing Technique, he could feel the Demon Breathing Technique following and rotating as well.

Although the efficiency was only one-third of the effect compared to specializing in one, this was still an incredible thing.

Practicing the Demon Breathing Technique had the same effect on the Bauhinia Breathing Technique.

That feeling of being like a fish in water, mutually reinforcing, made Loren feel exceptionally comfortable.

The weak state of his body from the battle with Barbarian Chieftain Yas five days ago had mostly recovered after these few days of frantically replenishing with meat and fish.

In another two days, he would be able to return to his prime. At that time, he might be able to attempt a breakthrough to the Silver Intermediate rank.

Although it was only a small breakthrough, the increase in combat power would be absolutely considerable.

With dual bloodline awakening, every step he grew, the power he gained would far exceed that of an ordinary awakened person.

If it were someone who hadn't awakened Bloodline Power, the gap between them would be even greater.

A Silver body, clashing head-on with Gold.

This was enough to explain everything.

Loren took a deep breath, withdrew his attention, and slowly closed his eyes in the hot water.

He began to practice the Bauhinia Breathing Technique.

Slowly, he began to breathe according to a specific frequency, and his Bloodline Power circulated within his body in a special way.

The previous body had been practicing the Bauhinia Breathing Technique for over ten years, so it had long since formed inherent muscle memory. After a few breaths, Loren entered the rhythm.

Haa~

Haa~

The breath from his mouth was exhaling and inhaling magic power. With his eyes closed, Loren could clearly sense the surrounding energy being rapidly devoured by his pores.

Because his body had been too weak in the previous few days, he hadn't been able to practice at high intensity. This was, in the true sense, his first immersive training session.

After the energy within his body rapidly filled up, a pattern of a Bauhinia flower slowly appeared within Loren's mental sea.

Visualization technique, training mental strength.

The Bauhinia Breathing Technique requires constantly using mental strength to construct a powerful life form one has seen before, serving the purpose of training mental strength.

According to family legends, if one visualizes a transcendent life form like a dragon, then after reaching a high level, there is a chance to truly obtain a portion of the dragon's characteristics, such as — Dragon Might.

However, this legend was limited to the records of the genealogy; currently, the only object of visualization for the descendants of the Bauhinia Family was the Bauhinia flower.

This was not only because the Bauhinia flower was the emblem of the Bauhinia Family, but more importantly, the Bauhinia flower was very compatible with the Bauhinia Breathing Technique.

It allowed the person visualizing to maintain a relatively fast cultivation speed.

Of course, another key point was — it was easy.

If one wanted to visualize other life forms, the first problem encountered was... having to replicate the other party's image in one's mind.

This was too difficult for beginners.

Take a dragon, for example; who wouldn't want to possess a portion of a dragon's characteristics?

But who could capture those transcendent life forms to observe?

Without sufficient observation, just imagining things out of thin air would not be effective.

And observing those low-level magical beasts had training effects that were far worse than constructing a Bauhinia flower.

After many attempts, the big figures of the Bauhinia Family discovered that visualizing the Bauhinia flower still had the highest cost-effectiveness.

So, as time went on, no one went to visualize anything else.

In Loren's mental sea, a Bauhinia flower constructed from mental strength bloomed brilliantly, but it collapsed after only a few breaths.

After the collapse, the mental strength reconstructed it again. After repeating this more than a dozen times, the sense of unfamiliarity Loren had toward the visualization technique and the construction method had vanished without a trace.

After continuing two or three hundred times, Loren was constructing it almost by instinct; he had reached a state of numbness...

After the Bauhinia flower he constructed once again collapsed, Loren suddenly thought of something, and his mind stirred.

Although visualizing the Bauhinia flower could maintain a relatively high cultivation speed, it could not satisfy him.

Since one could visualize other life forms, why not try visualizing a demon?

High-level demons were no worse than transcendent life forms like dragons.

The others in the Bauhinia Family couldn't visualize them because they couldn't find such powerful life forms.

But he was different.

After activating the Demon Grand Duke Bloodline, the image of the Demon Grand Duke had already permeated his bloodline; he could observe it however he wanted.

Moreover, he himself was a Demon Grand Duke; why couldn't he use himself as the object of visualization?

Would this have any miraculous effects?

Loren was suddenly interested.