Chapter 2

After rushing to his room ash went to the chair by the window and sat down with the book in his lap. Nearing the end of his patience, he quickly removed the cloth from around the book.

It was an old worn down book, probably passed down through many hands before reaching his own. It was discolored from age and had a few loose pages in it. The cover of the book depicted a painting of a man sitting cross-legged with his hands on his lap and wind painted coming out of his mouth. There was no title and nothing on the back. The only thing on the outside of the book was the painting of the man.

Opening the book, it didn't contain a table of contents. It opened straight to the first page. In the center of the page in large words read "Ten breathes to draw in essence, 100 breathes to refine the essence, 110 breathes to circulate the essence, and one breath to expel impurities.

The way the breathing technique works is by using a special method to breathe in essence and refine the impurities out of it and then use the refined essence to expel the impurities out of your body. Everyone is born with no impurities in their bodies but from the first time they breathe the air outside of the womb and eat or drink, impurities start to build up into their bodies getting rid of their natural Xiantian physique.

"This is just like the stories on Earth!" Having been an orphan most of his life, he had little to do except read. Occasionally he read stories about mystical immortals that trained in unparalleled techniques and grand martial artists that could turn mountains to dust with fist strikes. To the him of the past, these were just fantasy stories to read occasionally and he never expected to be reincarnated into a world where these weren't just stories.

"I don't know if there are real immortals in this world or not , but I'll at least become a strong martial artist that can protect my family." he thought. Turning to the next page he found a description of the first 10 breathes. Reading aloud, he said, "For 10 breathes you must focus you mind on your lungs. Imagine the essence in the air being drawn in with every breath you take. Imagine the essence slowly filling your lungs and then breathe out while imagining the essence staying in your lungs. Repeat 10 times. For those with talent you could feel the essence in a day. For those without… it could be indefinite." "So this will give me a little indication of my talent even before the test in a month." He turned to the second page. "For the next 100 breathes, you must focus on concentrating the essence in your lungs and refining it. For every breath, imagine the air coming into your lungs wrapping around the essence and compressing it. At the end of 100 breathes the essence will be refined from being barely noticeable to a thin mist in your lungs." "This part seems difficult…" He turned the page again. "For the next 110 breathes you must imagine taking the air into your lungs and while breathing out, push the essence from your lungs to around your body and naturally it will seep into your body and start to refine it and remove impurities." He turned to the last page. It only had a few words on it but they were in big and bold letters. "One breath to draw all impurities together and one exhale to have the impurities exit your pores!"

"This is so magical! Just by breathing you can make your body more powerful!" Getting up from his chair he walked over to his bed and sat down like the man painted on the book. "First the 10 breathes…" After adjusting his mind to focus on his task he closed his eyes and took his first breath. He imagined the essence coming into his lungs but nothing happened. He took a second breath and again nothing happened. He continued until the tenth breath where once again nothing happened.

Disappointed, he said "I guess my talent isn't terrifying like some of the main characters in books. I can only hope that I can succeed within a day." Adjusting his mind again he attempted to once again breathe in the essence. It was about five in the evening when he started and it had been about six hours and he still hadn't managed to breathe in any essence. "Yaawwwnnnnn." "I'll try once more before going to bed." One breathe, two breathes… five breathes, nine breathes and still no essence. Not losing concentration he focused even harder on this last breath. And it wasn't for naught. The first bit of air into his lungs was different. It wasn't visible to the naked eye but after breathing it in he could tell. "Essence! I finally managed to attract essence!" He could feel it in his lungs like an ethereal mist that he just knew existed. "Wait. Doesn't this mean that I'm a genius?! It only took six hours for me to absorb essence for the first time." Being excited, he quickly adjusted his mind again and began the next step of refinement. He imagined the essence being wrapped around and compressed. After all 100 breathes, the bit of essence he absorbed turned into an even smaller amount of mist that was the size of a grain of sand. Following the next step he took 110 breathes and pushed the essence from his lungs to around his body. Bit by bit the essence got smaller until their was none left. It didn't even make it to an eighth of his body.

Following the final step of one breath, he exhaled and when he did, a few tiny beads of dark colored sweat appeared around where the mist disappeared. "Guess I'll need a bath before bed, Haha!" Joyously he went to take a bath and then after, he went straight to bed.