Why is it...

That throughout the thousands of years of human history, countless disciplines—born in completely different places, in vastly different eras—

All end up arriving at the same truth?

The Three Thousand Paths to the Dao...

All converge at the same destination.

Because in the end, everyone seeking power...

Is walking the same road.

The road toward the evolution of life.

— — —

"If the nervous system can control muscles and blood vessels...

Then what about pores?"

"Aren't they part of the body too? Shouldn't they be controllable as well?"

Tachibana Kyūjō murmured softly to himself, lost in thought as a wild yet strangely logical idea sparked in his mind.

The human body contains more than six billion muscle fibers... and an absolutely staggering two hundred fifty trillion blood vessels.

If all those vessels were laid end to end, the total length would stretch over 150,000 kilometers.

Most of them? Microscopic.

Capillaries—tiny vessels even smaller than pores, far beyond what the naked eye could see.

So if he could consciously influence the capillaries...

Then surely... controlling his pores should be possible too.

With this newfound conviction burning in his chest, Kyūjō sat down cross-legged in the courtyard under the ginkgo tree, and began focusing all his senses inward—into his own body.

He slowed his breathing.

No—he stilled it entirely.

Instead, he sharpened his awareness, trying to perceive the microscopic network that made up the outermost layer of his skin.

The pores.

Subtle.

Countless.

Almost like part of the air itself.

Kyūjō focused on one arm.

Slowly—clumsily—he attempted to open the pores there.

Then... to close them again.

It was anything but easy.

This was his first time trying to control something humans weren't even supposed to be aware of, let alone manipulate. His body resisted, uncertain. The movements were crude. Incomplete.

But Kyūjō didn't stop.

He'd walked through death. He'd seen what lay beyond despair. And with that experience came a mental strength that no ordinary man possessed.

Minute by minute...

Step by step...

The resistance gave way.

And then—

A chilling sensation crept through the surface of his arm.

His skin... was inhaling the world.

He did it.

For the first time in his life—

Kyūjō's body was breathing.

Without lungs.

Through his pores.

His eyes lit up.

The sensation was pure. Raw. Alive.

There was no sound. No rise or fall of his chest. And yet, oxygen was flowing into his body—subtle but undeniable—like he'd become one with the wind itself.

— — —

Kyūjō's breath hitched—not from exhaustion, but from realization.

His gaze darted down to his arm in disbelief.

I only activated Body Breathing in one arm...

But the effect... it's already reached eighty percent of my lung capacity at full health?!

His heart pounded.

If a single limb could achieve that...

What would happen if his entire body breathed like this?

Every pore—from head to toe—active at once...

One full-body cycle of breath...

Would completely surpass dozens of traditional lung breaths.

It was a terrifying thought.

Terrifyingly powerful.

He took another controlled breath—through the skin of his arm—and forced himself to calm down.

But the joy didn't last.

A problem hit him almost instantly.

He could no longer use traditional Breathing Techniques.

The ancient styles passed down from the age of Tsugikuni Yoriichi...

Water Breathing. Flame Breathing. Thunder Breathing...

All of them—

Built upon the rhythm of lungs.

And Kyūjō's lungs... no longer functioned.

He had stepped onto a path that no swordsman in this world had ever walked.

A breathing technique with no reliance on lungs.

Something that did not exist in this world—not in any scroll, not in any training hall, not even in the memory of the eldest Pillars.

He had left the old path behind.

But this power...

As overwhelming as it felt, it was also dangerous.

Because the body could still only store and use so much oxygen.

Without a proper Breathing Form to channel and circulate that energy—without a technique designed to harmonize with this new system—

It was just raw fuel.

Too much fuel.

Enough to become toxic.

If he wanted to truly transform this discovery into a sword that could strike down demons...

Then Kyūjō would need to do the impossible.

"I have to create it..."

"A new Breathing Style."

"A technique that belongs only to Body Breathing."

That night, unable to contain his excitement and curiosity any longer, Kyūjō made his way straight to Lady Tamayo's residence.

As soon as Tamayo and Yushirō welcomed him inside, Kyūjō explained everything without holding back.

His thoughts. His experiment. His results.

He laid it all out—openly, honestly.

For a while, silence filled the room.

The look they exchanged was a mix of doubt and awe.

Eventually, Tamayo spoke first.

"You're saying... you can breathe through your skin?"

Her voice was calm. But her eyes were sharp, analyzing every word he said.

Kyūjō nodded without hesitation.

"That's right. And if you don't believe me, you're welcome to test it. Block my mouth and nose—however you like."

"You'll see for yourself."

Tamayo didn't hesitate.

"Yushirō. Bring a bowl of water."

Her assistant vanished in an instant.

Tamayo turned her gaze back to Kyūjō.

"In that case, you don't mind submerging your face in water for a while?"

Kyūjō smiled faintly.

"No problem at all."

"But... I have one request too, Tamayo-san."

"While I'm doing that—please take a sample of my blood. I want to compare how this form of breathing affects my oxygen saturation levels compared to lung breathing."

Tamayo's lips curved slightly.

She had intended to do that from the beginning.

"Of course."

She had met countless strange beings in her centuries as a demon, but this young man... Kyūjō...

A man whose life she thought she could never save...

Had turned that fate upside down with his own hands.

He was walking a path no one had ever walked.

Even she didn't know what lay ahead.

But this—this was no longer just curiosity.

It was the unmistakable brilliance of someone whose talent surpassed the boundaries of the human species.

— — —

A few minutes later, Yushirō returned with a bowl of clean, cold water.

Kyūjō tied back his long hair, knelt beside the bowl, and without hesitation, dipped his entire face beneath the surface.

Seconds ticked by.

Forty... Fifty...

Already past the average human breath-holding limit.

Tamayo prepared a syringe, gently drew out Kyūjō's arm, and carefully located a vein on the back of his hand.

With precise hands, she inserted the needle and extracted a full vial of blood.

Once the sample was collected, she handed it off to Yushirō.

"Take it to the lab. I'll stay here and monitor his condition."

"Yes, Tamayo-sama."

Yushirō vanished again.

Time passed.

Five minutes.

Still underwater.

Still no sign of discomfort.

Eventually, Tamayo tapped Kyūjō lightly on the shoulder and placed a towel by his side.

Kyūjō slowly lifted his face out of the water.

No gasping. No pale skin. No strain in his eyes.

He looked...

Even calmer than before.

Tamayo simply watched.

This man—

Had not used his nose or mouth to breathe for five whole minutes.

And yet his body showed no sign of oxygen deprivation.

Handing him the towel, she asked him to sit.

And then the questions began.

Everything.

From what he felt during the process, to how he manipulated his pores, to whether he could feel air pressure through the skin.

Kyūjō answered it all.

They spoke for over an hour.

Eventually, Yushirō returned—with the blood analysis report in hand.

Tamayo accepted it, scanned through the data—

And finally, after a long silence...

She looked up and smiled.

"Congratulations, Kyūjō."

"Your oxygenation level... is identical to that of a healthy man."

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

📚 Want to read more chapters or get early access?

Join my Patreon here:

🔗 patreon.com/FaaanzKun

✅ Enjoy 45+ chapters ahead of WebNovel

✅ Get 2 new chapters every day exclusively on Patreon

Join now and dive deeper into the story—weeks ahead of public release!

Thank you for your amazing support 💖

— — —