The wind on the hill was calm.
Not warm. Not cold. Just… calm.
A perfect kind of nothing, brushing through the long grass like fingers through water.
The kind of breeze that made the world feel asleep, as if it had hit pause after the martial soul awakening ceremony.
I sat beneath the old spirit tree on the south ridge, back resting against the bark, arms draped loosely over my knees.
No one was around.
Finally.
My body still remembered the aftershock from earlier — when I first gained the Breathing Technique.
It had come with no fanfare.
No announcement.
Just a system ping.
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Breathing Technique – Lv.1]
Effect: Always active. Automatically absorbs ambient spirit energy and any medicinal energy encountered. Cannot be turned off.
A straightforward description.
A total lie.
It didn't mention the sensation.
The way it felt like I was being kissed by spirit energy. Or… swallowed by it.
That first experience had turned me into a vibrating wreck under this very tree.
I didn't even touch a pill — just standing in thin ambient spirit energy had nearly broken me.
It wasn't painful.
It was worse.
It was pleasurable.
Unreasonably, embarrassingly, shamelessly pleasurable.
And now, I had a choice.
In the pouch at my waist sat three pills — reward from the system's first gacha milestone.
Jade-Essence Spirit Cultivation Pills.
I had studied them earlier: mid-tier absorption enhancers, safe for low-level cultivators. Designed to gently raise soul power when digested normally.
But digestion wasn't required anymore.
Not with Breathing Technique.
Now, even a whiff could trigger total absorption.
Which… I hadn't tested.
Yet.
I reached into the pouch and carefully took out one pill.
It was smooth.
Slightly warm.
It pulsed faintly like a seed of light, its herbal aroma curling faintly in the air.
I held it up between my thumb and forefinger and whispered to myself:
"Please don't embarrass me."
And then, with all the dignity I could muster…
I sniffed it.
The pill disappeared.
There was no melting. No fading. Just gone — like it had been inhaled by reality itself.
My nostrils flared.
My eyes widened.
And then—
"HhhNNNNGHHH—!"
My back slammed against the tree.
My limbs flailed.
My teeth clenched hard enough to hurt.
The spirit energy hit me like a tidal wave of euphoric syrup.
It poured into every pore of my body — not warm, not hot, but orgasmic.
I sounded like I was being tickled by the heavens while falling off a cliff.
A squirrel fell out of a tree.
Two birds screamed.
And somewhere down the hill, a dog barked, paused, and barked again — almost as if confused.
I lay there twitching, my face flushed, drool starting to slide from the corner of my mouth like I had just learned what existence truly meant.
Jade-Essence Pill fully absorbed.
Soul Power: Rank 1 → Rank 2 (Initial stage)
Breathing Technique remains Lv.1 – auto-evolves with Soul Power rank(every 10 levels).
I curled up on my side.
"Why," I croaked, "do I sound like a banned cultivation manual?"
I coughed once, then laughed softly.
It hurt to laugh.
But I couldn't stop.
Eventually, I sat back up.
My limbs had stopped shaking.
My thoughts had stopped spinning.
My soul power had stabilized. The advancement was real.
Even now, I could feel the ambient spirit energy — weak though it was — slowly trickling into me, pulled passively into my core like I was inhaling it with every breath.
The Breathing Technique worked. Too well.
I took stock of the facts.
I had:
One Martial Soul: Sharingan, disguised as a visual-type.
One Passive Skill: Breathing Technique, permanently active.
Imagine Breaker, sealed in my right hand.
A gacha system that could pull from the entirety of fiction.
Two pills left in the pouch.
No one in the village had any idea.
To them, I was just another failed awakening kid. Another quiet orphan.
Perfect.
Below the hill, I saw people returning to their routines.
Children chasing each other through the fields.
Mothers hanging laundry.
A pair of old men arguing over whether rice fermented better near a grave or near a cow (the answer, apparently, was "chicken coop").
Li Nian passed near the well, surrounded by other girls now impressed by her spirit vine.
Huo Yuhao lingered on the path toward the old well with a bucket slung over each shoulder, silent and unbothered.
He stopped briefly.
Looked toward the hill.
Our eyes met — just for a second.
No smile.
No frown.
Just… acknowledgment.
He moved on.
I leaned back against the tree again and stared at the sky.
The Spirit Beast Forest was out there — just east of the village's outer edge, hidden beyond the old pines and hunter trails.
Its spirit energy would be far, far denser than anything here.
And my Breathing Technique, already hyperactive in this thin atmosphere?
Would go berserk in a place like that.
I wasn't ready.
If sniffing a single pill here made me sound like I'd been possessed by a very friendly ghost, what would happen in a spirit-rich zone?
...Or worse, around spirit rings?
I sighed and rubbed my temples.
No.
Not yet.
I'd take it slow.
Step by step.
Train quietly.
And when I could finally control myself — when I could breathe without sounding like a broken flute — I'd go.
I glanced at the last two pills in the pouch.
They glowed faintly, taunting me.
Tempting.
But I knew better now.
This was a drug.
Not in the addictive sense — but in the comedic consequence sense.
Any more, and I'd risk drawing attention.
Or worse, nicknames.
I had plans.
Low-profile cultivation.
Long-term growth.
No drama.
Definitely no public sniffing sessions.
The wind returned — soft, curious, tugging at my sleeve like a child seeking attention.
I closed my eyes and breathed in again.
This time, no tremors.
Just warmth.
My body had begun to settle.
The Breathing Technique, though still wild, was learning my rhythm.
Soon, I'd master it.
Or at least stop moaning every time I inhaled deeply.
Tomorrow, maybe I'd explore the hill paths.
The day after, maybe I'd peek toward the forest's edge.
And sometime after that...
I'd begin building my legend — not as a chosen one, but as a chaotic, quiet, walking paradox.
One who sniffs pills, wears panties as helmets, and accidentally moans his way to greatness.