Chang Ba watched Chen Chuan walk over from the beach. Under the rising sun, Chen Chuan cast a long shadow, looking completely relaxed and natural. Chang Ba couldn't help muttering, "He really pulled it off."
People really were different.
Could the gap truly be this enormous?
Once the car came to a steady stop, He Xiaoxing stepped out.
Seeing that Chen Chuan was maintaining his internal breathing without relying on his mouth or nose, and doing so in such a natural manner, He Xiaoxing knew he had achieved proficient mastery.
"That's enough," he said. "Today we begin the next stage of training. Pack your things; we're heading somewhere else."
Chen Chuan agreed. He returned to tidy up his belongings, grabbed his gear, and got into the vehicle. The engine hummed to life, and the car soon left the area behind.
Once in the car, even though there was no longer any need to expel foreign matter, he didn't switch back to external breathing.
Yesterday, after finding the right approach, he had discovered that this internal breathing technique was equally effective for guiding his mutated internal organs—and far more targeted.
If his previous breathing technique had used his original internal organs as the foundation to drive the other mutated tissues, then whenever he used internal breathing now, the dynamic reversed: the mutated internal organs took the lead.
This allowed him to understand and grasp the use of his mutated internal organs on a much deeper level. Moreover, doing so accelerated their growth.
It was still in the preliminary stages, of course, and routine breath-guiding was an entirely different matter from combat.
He still needed more time to master it.
Even setting everything else aside, learning just this made him feel that the trip had already been worthwhile.
The vehicle drove north for half an hour before arriving at an area with a bizarre topography. Across the ground lay pits and sinkholes of varying sizes—the smallest roughly one or two meters across, while the largest spanned ten to twenty meters.
These pits were filled with crimson fluid, apparently sharing the same source as Dan Lake's water. However, the liquid's surface bulged upward, resembling crimson eyes embedded in the earth from a distance.
Though not far from Dan Lake, the atmosphere here was completely different. If the former was magnificent, this place was eerie and grotesque.
Chang Ba evidently knew what was coming and was familiar with the terrain, so without waiting for instructions, he pulled over at a spot. All three men stepped out of the vehicle.
He Xiaoxing said, "Some of the pits here are natural formations, while others were excavated by human hands. Beneath them are underground shafts of varying depths. The shallower ones are only around a dozen meters deep, while the deeper ones reach several li down—and longer ones cannot be ruled out.
"What you need to do next is choose one of these shafts, descend into it, and use the unique nature of the fluid and the subterranean pressure to temper your endurance.
"Underwater, you can only employ the internal breathing technique. You will also need your other mutated tissues to resist the pressure and sustain yourself. This will train your mutated internal organs across the board, signaling your urgent need so they grow stronger and more active. Therefore, the longer you can hold out, the better."
As he spoke, he walked to the edge of one pit and tapped the ground with his foot. "Start with this one." Then he turned to Chang Ba. "Bring him the gear."
"Right away, Uncle He."
Chang Ba hurried back to the vehicle, retrieved an unopened diving suit, and set it on the ground. With a swaggering tone, he boasted, "This Swimming Carp diving suit uses technology from Center City. When you swim, you barely even feel it's there. It's remarkably breathable, and even if you scrape against hard, jagged edges at high speed, you won't get scratched. This is top-notch gear—I haven't even used it myself."
Naturally, he couldn't admit that when he had attempted this training in the past, he hadn't lasted long enough to warrant using it.
Chen Chuan walked over to the diving suit and said, "Thank you, Brother Chang."
Chang Ba chuckled. No matter how formidable Chen Chuan was, didn't he still have to call him 'brother'? Delighted, he trotted over. "Here, let me help you. Tear it open here, and over here you do this..."
Once Chen Chuan had changed into the diving suit, he moved his limbs to test it out. Sure enough, it was extraordinarily comfortable. It lacked the constricting tightness he had anticipated; instead, it felt light and breathable, like an extra layer of skin.
Anticipating that this would take a considerable amount of time, he drank several sips of water and ate a nutrient bar beforehand, then took his position beside the pit.
The opening was less than two meters in diameter, which was fairly cramped for him.
Squatting down, he reached in to test the water. He felt a viscous resistance; the water's buoyancy was exceptionally strong, almost as if pushing his palm upward. Furthermore, stone algae were present here as well, meaning that if he submerged himself, he would constantly have to fend off their parasitic invasion.
No small challenge.
He stood up, adjusted his state slightly, then stepped back a few paces. With a spring of his feet, he performed a graceful dive, slipping cleanly into the pit.
Once underwater, he stroked with his arms and legs against the buoyancy, steadily descending deeper. He judged the pit was not terribly deep—roughly twenty meters or so—yet he could feel an all-pervasive pressure pressing in on him from every side.
And this was only the beginning. Remembering He Xiaoxing's instruction to hold out as long as possible, he crossed his legs at the bottom and settled into his internal breathing.
Up on the surface, Chang Ba walked to the edge of the pit. The ripples stirred up when Chen Chuan dove in soon dissipated, and the surface regained its stillness.
Chang Ba recalled descending into a different pit in the past—one around ten meters deep. How long had he lasted back then? About twenty minutes? Probably...
He gave a dry cough. Still, that had only been a training trial for him. His mutated tissue wasn't oriented in this direction, so no amount of practice would have helped; lasting longer would only have proved his baseline physical constitution.
Yet he also knew that the true ordeal here wasn't the external pressure—it was one's own inner mind. That was the real torment.
At the bottom of the pit, Chen Chuan had only been sitting quietly for a short while, yet it felt as though a great deal of time had already passed.
The ubiquitous pressure was secondary. The crucial difficulty was that no sound reached him from above, and not a trace of light penetrated the murk. It was pitch-black, and within the cramped space, he felt trapped in a suffocating enclosure—extraordinarily oppressive.
The only thing he could do right now was concentrate on internal breathing.
He had no choice. Underwater was completely different from being on land; capturing oxygen here was exceedingly difficult. He had to devote his entire focus to the task, tapping into and coordinating every piece of mutated tissue that could assist him so that he could sustain himself for an extended period.
He Xiaoxing did not leave this time; he waited by the rim.
Chang Ba watched for a while, then hauled out a folding stool and a picture book, sitting to one side to read while waiting. But after thumbing through it a dozen times, he couldn't help glancing at the pit, murmuring to himself. It had been nearly two hours, and Chen Chuan still hadn't come out. Could something have gone wrong?
Yet he knew he was overthinking it. Even though He Xiaoxing was simply standing above, he likely had an absolute grasp of the surroundings and everything underwater. If anything had gone amiss, He Xiaoxing would have pulled Chen Chuan up long ago.
Seeing that Chen Chuan might not emerge anytime soon, Chang Ba went and fetched a barbecue grill. Taking skewers of mutton from the vehicle's mini-fridge, he began grilling on the spot.
Before long, an aroma drifted through the air as the mutton began to sizzle with rendered fat. He nimbly flipped the skewers while dusting them with seasonings.
Once they were ready, he handed a dozen skewers to He Xiaoxing first, then began happily digging in himself. Between bites, he muttered, "If you don't come up soon, I'm eating them all."
Yet the wait proved even longer than he anticipated. Not until four hours had passed did He Xiaoxing finally give him a nod. Chang Ba scrambled to his feet and slowly lowered a rope weighted at the end.
Underwater, Chen Chuan had remained motionless, minimizing every unneeded expenditure of energy and focusing solely on maintaining his vital signs and warding off the invasion of foreign matter.
Sensing something descending, he stirred as if waking from deep meditation. He caught hold of the rope and pulled himself smoothly toward the surface.
Emerging from the pit, the moment his feet touched solid ground, he felt as though he were seeing daylight again after ages in the dark.
At the same time, a wave of heaviness and weakness washed over him—the result of expending immense amounts of stamina. Yet once out of the water, the combined action of internal and external breathing flooded his bloodstream with oxygen, and his strength began to recover rapidly.
He walked over, retrieved his nutritional paste, and downed more than ten tubes in rapid succession before he finally felt steady again.
At present, only this sort of sustenance could replenish what he burned. Everyday meals were too low in nutrition and took too long to eat, serving little purpose beyond pleasing the palate.
Reflecting on this, fighters of the old era must have consumed an extraordinary volume of resources; without the backing of major factions, they likely could never have sustained their expenditures.
He Xiaoxing waited until he had recovered somewhat before asking, "Do you feel you reached your limit?"
Chen Chuan considered this and answered honestly, "Even if I didn't, I was close."
"If I used—"
He Xiaoxing said, "The purpose of training is not to squeeze out potential, but to foster growth. You can continue this training and adapt gradually, but you must have a clear understanding of your own limits.
"Once you know them, your mutated tissues will know them too. That way, stimulated by ample nutrients and medicine, they will continually adapt and raise their upper ceiling."
Chen Chuan pondered the words and couldn't help asking, "Teacher He, are you referring to the fighter's own willpower playing a role in that?"
He Xiaoxing said, "It is good that you recognized this on your own. A fighter's willpower is of utmost importance. An unwavering belief in oneself can unearth far greater latent power, and when expressed outward, it often produces miracles that seem impossible.
"Yet behind every phenomenon lies an inevitable cause. The reason one can unleash strength far beyond normal levels is simply that the potential of the mutated tissues is usually undeveloped, with the vast majority remaining dormant.
"Only when you employ specific methods and techniques to awaken them will they answer your command. Willpower is a vital part of that process; under normal circumstances, it is rarely enough to drive them, and in many cases it is only forced to emerge at the threshold between life and death.
"We, however, do not need to go to such extremes. By using external influences and stimuli, we gradually activate more mutated tissues within the body, consciously mobilizing them step-by-step until they are brought completely under our control."
Chen Chuan nodded in understanding. "Teacher He, how long do I need to hold out in this training for it to be considered acceptable?"
He Xiaoxing replied in a deep voice, "You have roughly met the requirements for the subsequent progression. From now on, find time to practice on your own. I will now arrange your next training."
Chapter 166