Red nodded. “I am serious.”

His confirmation, however, only seemed to anger Aurelia even more.

“Have you even been paying attention to what I’ve been telling you?! Is this your way of getting back at me?!”

The youth shook his head. “I would never use my own cultivation to get one over you.”

“Then why choose this? Of all the techniques I told you should focus on, you go ahead and pick the only type I told you not to! A supporting technique! Help me understand this!”

The woman’s tone surprised Red. Aurelia was the type of person to always be in varying degrees of anger, but he never saw her as frustrated as she seemed to be right now.

“I considered a lot of techniques,” he said. “And while they all seemed very powerful, learning them would be much harder than even the circulation technique. I need something that I can master as quickly as possible.”

His explanation didn’t seem to make Aurelia any happier. “So, you wanted to be swift, and that’s why you decided to pick a useless technique?”

“It’s not useless.” Red shook his head. “And that’s not the only reason I picked it.”

“Then pray tell, why did you pick it?”

“I feel like it’s very compatible with me.”

Aurelia’s eyebrows twitched. “It’s a lesser Spiritual Art, meant to be used in conjunction with other techniques! No matter how compatible it is with you, it’s useless on its own!”

“That may not be the case if I can cultivate it to a higher level.”

“So what? How long will that take? Weren’t you concerned about being quick?!”

Red hesitated. “… I have made my decision.”

Aurelia gnashed her teeth while glaring at him. “It’s your grave!”

Her figure dissipated into nothingness, returning to the core in his pouch.

The youth could feel her frustration and anger emanating from the crystal, but he didn’t have time to be concerned about that. He had his reasons for choosing this technique, some of which he didn’t feel like sharing with her.

His attention returned to the manual in his hands.

Gale Breath.

A simple Spiritual Art that, as Aurelia said, was used as a supporting technique whose primary function was to strengthen the power of other Wind Spiritual Arts. It consisted in refining a strong wind within one’s lungs that would be stored in there and could be blown out to assimilate with any wind spell structure and reinforce them. That was its only use, however, as this wind wouldn’t be strong enough on its own to be used offensively or defensively.

That is to say, it was a rather pointless technique on its own, and the only use one would find for it without any other Spiritual Art was to lift objects around and perhaps blow mortals off their feet. His master didn’t provide any particular commentary on it either, simply throwing it along a compendium of other ordinary Lesser Ring Realm Spiritual Arts.

It was no wonder that his choice angered that Aurelia. Red, however, made his decision after a lot of deliberation.

For one, as he told her earlier, the method was compatible with him, and in more ways than one. Its practice was a mixture of circulation within the Lungs Spiritual Vein and regulation of breath, the latter which Red had a lot of experience on, thanks to his meditation technique. Not only that, but the breath’s power was also connected to the user’s stamina and vitality, one of the things the youth always excelled in even before breaking through.

However, Aurelia knew all of those things about him, and she still claimed the Spiritual Art would be useless, so Red didn’t hold any false hopes regarding that. What caught his attention and helped him choose the technique was a small and seemingly inconsequential remark in the instructions.

‘As the Gale Breath is a technique that relies on one’s vitality primarily, it benefits much more from being fused with one’s blood than other Spiritual Arts.’

To fuse a Spiritual Art with one’s blood was to use one’s own vitality to strengthen the technique. Hector did this in his battle with the ghost in town, and while he used it on his sword, the principle remained the same. It was a borderline taboo practice, frowned by cultivators at large for its similarity to blood magic, yet still utilized by a lot of orthodox practitioners when push came to shove. This method, of course, came at a cost to the cultivator’s life force, but between that and death, the choice was easy for many of them.

When Red read this passage, a possibility came to his mind.

‘What if I fuse… My special blood into this?’

This was the one thing Aurelia didn’t know about him, at least not for certain. Since the crimson mist entered his body, his blood had changed a lot. At first, Red thought these strange abilities were all that being’s doing, but he managed to make use of them on his own in the past without its interference, such as when he manipulated strings of blood back in the trial, or when he powered the infernal runes. These moments were rare, and the youth struggled to replicate them, but it went to show that the changes were also innate to his body, and not just a consequence of the crimson mist’s interference.

That being the case, what would happen if he used his own vital blood in this technique?

Of course, some problems could present itself. Continuous use of one’s blood to strengthen Spiritual Arts would damage someone’s life force, but this was where the Gale Breath also excelled. For as weak as it was on its own, this Spiritual Art needed to be refined once and could be used many times with just a breath from the user’s part. How many? This depended on the cultivator’s realm and how much effort they put into refining.

What mattered, though, was that with this, Red might potentially be able to transform a weak supporting technique into a powerful all-purpose Spiritual Art that could be used with just a breath. He could potentially shape a shield, a blade, and speed his movements just as efficiently as the average Lesser Ring Realm spell and with minimal effort.

How strong would that be?

There was the possibility this would fail, of course, and the Gale Breath he refined would still be too weak to rely on, but Red thought this was a danger worth taking. The benefits outweighed the risks, and beyond that, he felt excited that his first focus as a cultivator would be about repurposing an entire Spiritual Art. How many people could claim to have a similar experience?

With all his considerations out of the way, Red focused on the specifics of the technique.

Unlike his circulation technique, he only needed to move Spiritual Energy through his Lung Veins for refining this breath, and the task would be much easier.

Of course, he said that, but it still took him three days to master the method on his own. Aurelia didn’t speak a word to him during this entire time, but Red could almost feel her derisive gaze watching his every move.

Once he felt confident with the path of the Spiritual Energy, he began the process of refining it. The clear cyan energy accumulated in his lungs' veins, and Red took in a deep breath. The reaction happened almost instantly, as the air and energy mixed inside his chest and a fantastical transformation took place.

Red expected to feel discomfort, but instead he felt as if he was breathing the freshest air he had ever breathed in his life. The wind moved inside his lungs, but caused no damage to the organs, instead reinforcing the natural process they served. He felt as if with this wind, he didn’t need to take a breath for an entire day.

It was a fantastical sensation, but Red knew the refinement process was far from over.

It took him another day for the youth to feel the wind reach its limits inside his lungs. If he tried to expand it any further, he felt as if his body would explode from the inside.

‘This quickly?’

It was hard to say if Red managed to refine the Gale Breath quicker than normal since the manual provided no reference for an average time, but considering how long most other things took in this realm, he was satisfied with a day. Once the wind reached its optimal state, he was eager to test its power.

The youth got up and approached a tree in the clearing. He closed his eyes and focused, before letting out the Gale Breath from his mouth.

A whistle sound left his lips, and a cyan-colored wind manifested in front of him. Red felt absolute control over this gale even as it exited his body, and he tried to shape it into a blade.

The wind followed his command seamlessly, shaping itself into a crescent blade that flew at high speed towards the tree. It clashed against the bark surface, throwing splinters everywhere, but once the wind dispersed, the results were more than disappointing.

The wind had indeed done some damage to the tree, but the cut wasn’t more than some thirty centimeters deep. This was something Red could achieve with a swing of his short sword, and while it could still be considered as damaging, it obviously paled in comparison to a true Spiritual Art.

Aurelia’s image manifest by the side of the tree. She looked at Red with a snicker.

“So, do the results satisfy you?”

Red didn’t respond, instead taking another deep breath. The dispersed streams of cyan wind returned to his mouth, entering his lungs once more. Only a small part of the Gale Breath had been expended on this attack, which left the youth satisfied.

‘Now, for the real test.’

Red sat down and closed his eyes.

Aurelia’s angered voice reached his ears. “What are you even doing now?”

The youth ignored her, entering into a meditative state. He was still a bit uncertain on how to go about this next part. He remembered that Hector had hit his own chest to draw blood before spitting it into the sword, and while Red thought that such a method would work, he would rather try to draw his blood in a more subdued and controlled way.

He had no idea about how to do that safely, though, so he decided to ask the one being that knew more than him about the subject.

He reached towards the crimson being.

“I need to draw vital blood in my lungs.”

The mist shook. “… Why?”

“For the technique.”

Red wasn’t sure why he was justifying himself when it came to his own blood, but he still did it, anyway.

The being shook again. It seemed unwilling, as if it was asking the youth what could be worth parting with their blood for.

This reaction surprised Red. He never heard such complaints of the being before, but then again, when he drew his own blood in the past, he didn’t really ask for its opinion.

“It’s to strengthen the technique. I need it to help me along on my journey. Besides, it’s just a bit of blood”

The being shook one more time. It was still reluctant, but this time it gave him its hesitant acceptance.

Satisfied, Red drew his awareness away and moved it to his lungs. In this state, he could see the organs clearly from the inside, and he could feel the mists tendrils extending towards it.

Then, like the most precise surgeon, the tendrils started to cut a few small, delicate veins in his inner lungs. Red barely felt a thing as this process happened.

A few seconds later, some blood spewed a fine mist through the pressure exerted by the being, mixing into the cyan wind. This time, Red did feel a change. It was like a small part of his strength was drained away from himself, negligible in the long run, but still a loss all the same.

He didn’t concern himself with the matter right now, though. There were ways to recover vital blood, and he couldn’t lose this opportunity.

Red was ready to supervise the fusion process of the blood with the Gale Breath, but to his surprise, he didn’t need to do anything. Like a sponge, the wind seemed to absorb the bloody mist on its own.

The breath in his lungs seemed to undergo a change, becoming scarlet from its former cyan color. Red wasn’t expecting this transformation, but soon it seemed like the wind had had enough, and it couldn’t absorb any more blood. The crimson mist didn’t need the youth’s prompting to close the veins in his lungs, and it returned to its resting place in a bad mood.

The youth ignored the being and focused on the breath. He didn’t expect this change of color to take place, and the manual spoke of no such thing. On the surface, though, the wind seemed to behave the same way, and Red couldn’t feel any innate changes to it.

‘I guess there’s only one way to test it.’

He opened his eyes and stood up again.

Aurelia squinted her eyes at him. “What are you planning?”

Red didn’t say anything. Instead, he blew out the breath in his lungs.

A stream of scarlet wind left his open mouth like a whistle. With it, the youth felt an iron taste in his tongue and the indistinguishable smell of blood reached his nostrils. Red fought through his surprise, and ordered the wind to form into a blade.

The same scene from earlier repeated itself. The wind transformed into a crescent blade shape, before shooting towards another tree close by at the youth’s command.

This time, though, the result was quite different.

The scarlet wind blade cut through the trunk like butter, hitting another tree behind it before dispersing. The results, to Red’s surprise, weren’t much weaker than when he used the Wind Blade Spiritual Art back then.

‘It’s a success’

He drew the dispersed streams of scarlet air back into his lungs, satisfied to discover the expenditure was indeed minimal. With this, Red had acquired a sustainability and versatility in combat that very few cultivators at his level could dream of having. It wasn’t an overwhelmingly powerful technique, but for his first Spiritual Art, the youth was more than satisfied.

He looked over at Aurelia, eager to see her reaction.

She was looking at him with a gaze of fear and surprise in equal measures.

“Blood magic!”

These words were a bucket of cold water thrown on Red’s head.