A person in Japan, a sword that soars to immortality.

Looking down from the sky, a light red band suddenly appears in the village of Shoyashiki, which is shrouded in thick fog and never sees sunlight. It then becomes brighter and brighter.

Swish!

The dark gray fog was cleaved from the inside out, and a scorching, golden-red arc-shaped slash emerged as if from a cocoon!

[General point +50]

[Conversion effect lifted]

In the open space in front of the torii gate, Taiichi knelt on one knee, gripping the hilt of his sword in reverse and inserting it into the ground, his skin a pale pinkish-white.

And after the burst of sweat, a large amount of sweat is released, which then turns into steam and slowly rises around the body.

"My first attempt at controlling my Qi outside my body went quite well!"

"It's just... the energy expenditure is a bit too high."

Looking at the snake demon a dozen meters away, whose upper body was female but whose body was snake from the navel down, and whose total length was nearly thirty meters, with blood gushing from its severed neck, Taiyi thought breathlessly.

The Wet Woman, also known as the Sea Princess, is said to be the vengeful spirit of a woman who drowned in the sea. She has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a snake. She is good at using her beauty to bewitch humans, and she does not fight alone, but is always by the side of the Ushi-oni.

Clearly, the wet woman before us, while closely resembling the legend, is actually a man-made creation.

The one who created her was Upper Moon Two—Weeping Gyuki!

Moo!

Like the howling of a water buffalo, the weeping bull demon, upon seeing Mieko's death, raised its massive bull head and roared to the sky, its voice filled with extreme rage.

"Humans! The wrath of the gods will burn you to ashes!"

With its eight pincers moving back and forth, the massive body, as tall as a five-story building, sped toward Taiyi's location at an incredible speed.

The weeping ox demon never expected that a human would instantly kill his subordinate right under his nose.

When did humans become so amazing?

In my memory, they were all creatures that would shatter into pieces with the slightest touch.

It is unforgivable that domesticated animals dare to rebel!

Following the sound, Taiyi looked ahead. Even though his state of mind had been elevated, his pupils still contracted, unable to contain the shock in his heart.

[Name: Weeping Ox Demon]

Age: 276

[Life span:? ? ? 】

[Essence: 6213.5]

Qi and Blood: 6177.2

[Soul: 84.2]

Damn, the numbers are indeed much higher than Doma's!

Just as the other party was about to rush over, a laugh suddenly rang out from the other side.

"Hahaha, this is hilarious! I can't let you hurt this child."

[Blood Demon Art·Mist Ice·Water Lily Bodhisattva]

boom!

A giant bodhisattva doll made of ice crystals, about the same size as the weeping bull demon, appeared and blocked his path.

"Tongmo!"

[Blood Demon Art - Ghostly Poison - Bone-Dissolving Swamp]

Each eye was the size of a millstone, and the eighteen eyes in total were emanating from the weeping ox demons as they unleashed their blood demon magic.

Instantly, a deep purple, bubbling, and boiling mud pool appeared at the feet of the Water Lily Bodhisattva, causing it to begin to dissolve.

"Oh dear, this is such a troublesome Blood Demon Art. Take a look at this move, Lord Weeping Ox Demon."

Blood Demon Art: Crystal Child

Dozens of tiny ice figures, identical to Douma, condensed from the air and unleashed various ice-type blood demon techniques on the weeping Gyu-ki.

The weeping ox demon swung its four front claws to block the attack, while simultaneously unleashing its Blood Demon Art and roaring at Doma:

"Doma, how dare you launch a positional bloodbath against me without my permission!"

"How do you know that lord didn't allow it? Maybe after I devour you, that lord will even praise me, you... thing that wants to rebel against the lord!"

what!

The vertical pupil contracted again, turning into a thin black line.

The weeping ox demon paused for a moment, but quickly regained his composure, then shook his head and grinned maliciously:

“He dared not gather us around him, for fear that one day, a demon surpassing him would appear.”

"And I, having devoured countless humans, have broken free of my shackles and am about to become the new Demon King!"

"To celebrate the birth of the king, let you be the first cornerstone beneath my throne of bones!"

Blood Demon Art: Eight Thunder Gods of Poison

The surface of the weeping ox-demon's body writhed, and eight smaller weeping ox-demon, similar in appearance to him and made of purple venom, appeared and began to fight against Doma's lord.

"So I want to devour you, with a blood demon technique similar to mine, so that I can possess deadly poison while still being able to control ice."

"If I were to become Upper Moon Two, perhaps that person would be even happier."

Standing on the shoulder of the Water Lily Bodhisattva, Douma covered half his face with his fan, staring at the Weeping Gyu-ki, thinking to himself.

"What's that kid named Taiichi doing? Hey? Why isn't he running away?"

Turning his gaze, he discovered that Taiichi had already rescued the Water Pillar, Tadatoshi Nijo, and had awakened him.

However, instead of running away, the group stayed in the open space and talked to each other.

"Lord Taiichi, I am truly sorry. I was ordered by Lord Keizai to teach you the Water Breathing technique before your battle with the Weeping Gyuki."

"Who would have thought that, fueled by jealousy, I would presumptuously attempt to slay the Weeping Ox Demon before you, and the result..."

Nijo Tadatoshi looked at Taichi and Aya and said with a wry smile.

Taiyi waved his hand, indicating that the other party didn't need to do that, and then went straight to the point:

"We'll talk about these things later. Brother Zhongjun, please tell me how to practice Water Breathing."

"Taiichi, you..." Nijo Tadatoshi frowned, glanced at the mountain-like weeping ghoul in the distance, then at the size of himself and the others, his mouth opened, he paused for a long time, and finally said:

"Alright, I heard that you also broke through at the last minute that time with Matsujuro. Since you have that confidence, I will now tell you the key."

"Water Breathing, First Form - Water Surface Slash, is a horizontal slash. The breathing rhythm during the swing is..."

"Water Breathing - Raging Waves - This is a multi-stage attack. The breathing rhythm during the first step is... and the breathing rhythm during the third attack is..."

Knowing the urgency of the situation, Tadatoshi Nijo, the Water Pillar, did not hold back and told Taichi all ten forms of Water Breathing in rapid succession.

As he listened to the other person's story, Taiyi gradually entered a mysterious state.

Like Flame Breathing, it involves using specific breathing techniques in conjunction with the execution of a move.

This method reminded Taiyi of the memory of the breath counting method in the Daoist canon he had read.

"Where the breath is, there the mind is; the breath is the outward manifestation of the mind. When the breath is regulated, the mind is calm; when the breath is harmonious, the mind is harmonious..."

The "heart" here does not refer to the physical heart, but rather to the soul or spiritual power.

At the same time, Taichi also recalled that when Tanjiro used the Hinokami Kagura, he was so tired that he couldn't breathe after using a few moves at the beginning.

However, as his spirit was elevated and he connected the thirteen forms, he was able to achieve endless vitality.

"In that case, I'll first upgrade Water Breathing to the advanced level. If I can further increase the conversion factor, I'll be able to defeat the Crying Gyuki!"

"System, add more!"

With Taiyi's order, the 60 universal points rapidly decreased.

As he expected, after adding 20 points, Yin Hu's Roar immediately upgraded from intermediate to advanced.

but......

Ding!

[System Update!]

[Acquired Breathing Technique: Roar of the Shadow Tiger - Advanced]

[Additional effect update: Rapid Rebirth]

[Conversion Effect Update: Energy and Spirit Conversion - Twenty-fold Conversion]

Just like when he fought against Gyutaro, although the transformation was twenty times, the thing he was most worried about happened.

The two breathing methods can only operate independently of each other!

"My essence points did increase by 50, but even if I convert them all, my health won't break 4000, I simply can't win..."

"Unless I can achieve the unity of dragon and tiger..."

boom!

With a loud bang, a massive cloud of smoke and dust rose, and countless shattered ice fragments exploded in all directions like cannonballs.

Those humans who didn't have time to run far instantly turned into clouds of blood mist.

"Oh no! Ah-Xia is hiding behind me!"

At the critical moment, Taiyi broke out of his meditative state, grabbed Axia behind him, and then, together with the water column, swung his sword to block the attack.

Douma, with half his body missing, quickly retreated from the smoke and dust. Upon seeing Taiichi, he chuckled and said:

"Oh dear, Taiichi, I'm leaving now. That angry weeping demon is not someone I can stop."

After saying that, he tapped his toes on the ground repeatedly, and in less than a second, his figure disappeared into the thick fog.

Taiyi and the others stood holding their swords, their scalps tingling as they watched a humanoid figure push aside the dust and emerge from within.

"This is......"

The arm holding the knife visibly trembled, almost slipping from Shuizhu's grasp.

A giant, nearly 3 meters tall, with eight insect pincers on his back, two horns protruding from his forehead, strange patterns on his face, bulging muscles all over his body, and holding a purple scythe, slowly walked towards them, surrounded by rings of purple poisonous gas.

"Humans, in my form of 'Heavenly Poison: Takemino', you will be... utterly crushed!"

A fierce wind swept through, and the weeping demon looked up to the sky and howled.