Chapter Eleven: This Is Breathing

At first, Li Xia harbored a small, somewhat naïve hope. He wished that learning skills would be like a game, where you simply add a point and instantly master them. Once learned, you could immediately use them. After all, that’s how it worked in the novels he had read.

But the Hall of Honor clearly wanted him to experience the full learning process. Or perhaps Li Xia simply hadn’t yet understood how to truly learn a skill.

“The key to the Dance of the Fire God lies in the breath. If you master the breathing correctly, you will neither tire nor feel cold,” said Tan Jirou, seated cross-legged on the wooden porch, speaking to Li Xia not far away.

Moonlight bathed the clearing before the cabin, as if dusted with frost. The night sky was serene, not a cloud in sight.

“Tanjiro—”

“Hi!” Tanjiro didn’t understand why his father had woken him in the middle of the night, but helping his father and Sherlock-san was enough to fill this innocent boy with joy.

“Show me the complete Dance of the Fire God. Pay attention to your breathing while you perform, alright?”

“Okay!”

Tanjiro picked up a wooden stick as if it were the seven swords, stepped into the clearing, adopted a stance, took a deep breath, and began to dance.

“The Dance of the Fire God has thirteen forms. Each pose corresponds to a specific breathing method. If you can perform the entire sequence from start to finish, then you have mastered it.”

Li Xia listened intently to Tanjiro’s explanation, fully focused, trying to memorize every movement.

When Tanjiro began breaking down the motions and asked Li Xia to follow, he suddenly realized something crucial.

The Dance of the Fire God originates from the Sun Breathing technique and its accompanying thirteen sword forms. In other words, it consists of two parts: the breathing method and the sword techniques.

The problem was that the sword techniques were developed specifically to counter demons, designed as special attacks against them.

But Li Xia’s world was different. Predictably, he would face all manner of enemies in the future, demons being only a very small part of them.

The breathing method, however, was different. It was a way to harness breathing to enhance one’s body, with no real limitations.

Moreover, it could be adapted and evolved to suit one’s own needs with the most fitting techniques.

Having understood this, Li Xia quickly stopped the demonstration. Amid the puzzled looks of the Tanjiro father and son, he shared his thoughts.

“You mean... your hometown’s monsters aren’t just demons? There are other species too? Even animals?”

Tanjiro was already looking at Li Xia with eyes full of sympathy, while Tan Jirou was somewhat surprised.

It was terrifying. Tanjiro had only just learned that demons existed and already felt a chill. But Sherlock-san’s hometown had not only demons but other monsters as well!

It was truly... unbearable!

Young Tanjiro’s imagination ran wild with a tragic scene: a distant foreign land plagued by monsters, Sherlock-san bearing the hopes of his people, coming over mountains and rivers to find his ‘old friend’—Tan Jirou—to seek a way to defeat the monsters.

“Father! You must help Sherlock-san!” Tanjiro suddenly clenched his fist and shouted. Under the moonlight, his dark red eyes seemed to burn with fiery passion.

Tan Jirou slowly turned his head to look at his son.

“?”

After a moment of thought, Tan Jirou agreed with Li Xia’s reasoning.

Just like himself, he had reached a level beyond being bound by sword forms. Even if given an axe, Tan Jirou was confident he could easily sever the head of a man-eating bear.

The cost would be death afterward, of course.

“In that case, let’s start with the breathing technique—”

Tan Jirou beckoned Li Xia over, and they sat facing each other.

“Before learning the breathing method, you must first change your way of breathing.”

Following Tan Jirou’s guidance, Li Xia made every effort to completely relax.

He slowly inhaled through his nose, expanding his abdomen until he felt the breath fill his entire belly, then exhaled slowly through his mouth, letting his lower abdomen flatten.

After repeating this ten times, Li Xia’s restless mind seemed to gradually be expelled with each breath.

“Take a deep breath, fill your lungs completely, use all your strength, and imagine you are about to dive underwater, where every breath is precious!”

Tan Jirou’s voice remained calm: “Now hold your breath. During this, relax your body as much as possible. Don’t tense up.”

Time passed little by little, the moon rising from the horizon to the sky’s zenith.

Finally, the breathing lesson reached its last stage.

Li Xia’s face reddened, his heart pounding wildly, his lungs feeling as if they might burst, and his entire body trembled.

This was the result of holding his breath for so long. He longed for air as desperately as a drowning man.

But Tan Jirou’s fingers gripped his nose and mouth like iron tongs, firmly blocking his attempts to breathe. No matter how much Li Xia struggled, it was useless.

A red haze began to cloud his vision; his sight blurred, and strange ringing filled his ears.

Am I... going to suffocate?

At that moment, the fingers holding his nose and mouth loosened slightly. Like grasping at a lifeline, Li Xia desperately exhaled.

But it was only a momentary release. Every time Li Xia felt he was about to die, the grip loosened just briefly.

Because of the force, the escaping air made tiny hissing sounds.

When he finally expelled all the air from his lungs, his craving for fresh oxygen peaked instantly.

Yet the hands still held tight. Li Xia struggled fiercely, desperate to breathe.

Then, those hands... released him.

Tanjiro was leaning against the doorway, yawning, wiping away tears from the corners of his eyes caused by drowsiness.

“Hiss—!” The sound of a long, deep inhalation, like a whale taking in water, broke the silence of the night, banishing sleep.

Startled, Tanjiro turned his head to see Li Xia’s face contorted in agony. His eyes were faintly glazed white, veins bulging on his forehead.

Breathing with all his might, as if each breath were his last.

At this moment, Li Xia was completely unconscious of anything else; his survival instinct made him focus solely on breathing.

Finally, after an unknown span of time, his body felt as if it was burning up, aching all over, as if falling apart.

A glowing notification stubbornly appeared before his eyes.

[Notification: You have successfully acquired the skill ‘Sun Breathing’ (Incomplete Version).]

Li Xia suddenly lifted his head, hardly believing it. Tanjiro beside him gaped in shock.

Tan Jirou’s gaunt face bore a faint smile.

He nodded gently at Li Xia and whispered:

“Congratulations, my friend.”

“You truly are a genius.”

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Damn, it’s going to fail again.