Chapter 9: Death By Hanging
Kage wouldn’t lie—he felt truly at peace after his mother’s words. Still, his heart remained prickly because he’d omitted a massive part of his plan from her, despite her reassurances.
[Weaver of Sorrow weeps on your behalf]
[Heretic Inquisitor is asking about your mother’s cup size]
Kage froze instantly, his expression twisting into pure malice.
[The Wolf of the North weeps a sliver of tears, says you don’t deserve a loving mother like her]
Kage clenched his fist, a vein bulging along his forehead as he grinned with closed eyes.
"It wouldn’t happen to be that a bunch of old perverts are obsessing over my mother, would it?"
"Huh?"
Taro whipped around, eyeing him strangely.
"Young master, what are you muttering about?"
Kage’s lips curved upward.
"Don’t worry about it."
They continued walking silently through the passageway. After several steps, Taro spoke hesitantly.
"So... you’re really going?"
Kage glanced at him. The boy’s head hung low as they walked, and since Kage stood slightly taller, he couldn’t clearly see Taro’s face. But the tremor in Taro’s voice revealed his devastation at the sudden news.
Of course anyone would be devastated—this was basically Kage signing his death warrant! He knew his mother was terrified and heartbroken too, but he’d witnessed her strength throughout his childhood. She was probably wrestling every motherly instinct to support him.
Because she understood, to some extent, what it meant to be born of the Ironstorm bloodline—illegitimate or not.
But he didn’t expect Taro to grasp that. The boy was barely fourteen.
Kage scoffed.
"Don’t worry... I won’t die."
The boy’s head snapped up, eyes wide with bewilderment.
"You won’t? Why? Why won’t you?"
Kage’s expression turned to stone. He stopped dead in his tracks, his lips trembling.
"Wh—What d–do you mean, why?"
Taro shrugged, explaining delicately.
"I mean, the forest is a pool of death. If you willingly dive into it, I figured we’d all be sad for a while, and then Lady Renka might consider adopting me, you know... At least I wouldn’t have to get bullied anymore or make you pancakes that you waste every time."
Kage felt his soul abandon his body—his expression of shock was to die for.
Taro gently gripped his shoulders, locking eyes with him, pale green irises sparking with determination.
"Young master, don’t try too hard, okay? You certainly don’t deserve such a difficult life."
With a cadaverous face, Kage raised his hand and delivered a sharp chop to the base of Taro’s neck, knocking him unconscious and watching him crumple to the ground.
He yanked his leg away from where Taro had collapsed and stalked off, burning with indignation.
"Look at this vile, thieving rat! Wants to steal my mother? Not on my watch, you blond-haired abomination. May the heavens curse you where you lie!"
***
A couple of minutes later, Kage stood in the center of the room. He stacked stools atop each other to reach the chandelier, then delicately loosened the wooden lantern itself, leaving only the rope.
Kage stepped down and tore a thin strip from his curtain, climbing back up to tie it to the rope supporting the chandelier. When finished, he finally looked up and smiled.
A perfect noose dangled from the ceiling.
[Heretic Inquisitor of Eternal Truth observes curiously, asks what you are doing]
[The Wolf of the North scoffs dismissively at you]
’Yeah, it’s exactly what you think. I’m going to awaken my dantian in two minutes.’
[Heretic Inquisitor of Eternal Truth frowns at your claim]
[The Wolf of the North laughs uproariously]
[The Witch of Mirrors looks at you with downturned lips, says she can never take you seriously]
[Weaver of Sorrow feels sorrowful about your delusion. Wishes she could help end them faster]
[The Oathbreaker clears his throat and looks away indifferently]
The Sovereign Gods were certainly thrown off by such a brazen statement. Prodigies among prodigies took twelve hours to awaken their dantian—what did he mean he’d accomplish it in two minutes?
It felt like he was mocking the world itself, and the Sovereign Gods found it quite amusing. In this case, Kage was the joke. He’d only end up making a fool of himself.
But Kage maintained his smile, gazing at the rope with pure delight.
Then he sighed, breathing softly through his mouth as he climbed the stacked stools.
He slipped his head into the makeshift noose, holding his breath. When his head settled and the rope encircled his neck, he kicked the stools away and began suffocating under the crushing strain.
[Heretic Inquisitor of Eternal Truth frowns intensely upon you]
[The Wolf of the North widens their eyes, staring at you in shock]
[The Oathbreaker frowns darkly]
[The Witch of Mirrors frowns darkly, clicks her tongue in irritation]
[The Oracle of Ashes stares with a blank but slightly pallid expression]
Messages continued flooding in as Kage choked under the strain of his improvised gallows, but he wasn’t thrashing or kicking wildly.
In fact, he remained calm. His head reddened and his vision dimmed, but his breathing pattern was what mattered. Kage had exactly two minutes before death to master a similitude of the Breath of Frost.
Naturally, he needed an intensely frigid region to achieve the real thing. But Kage understood the conditions required, the mechanics behind the technique—who was to say he couldn’t improvise?
Yes, he’d use suffocation as a substitute for the brutal constriction of snow against the lungs, making breathing agonizing and thus enabling the Breath of Frost. Or the Breath of Death to better put.
Breath of Frost was a breathing style Ice nomads used to survive blizzards, boosting their cold resistance. They subjected their lungs to immense pressure from freezing weather and breathed in a precise pattern for extended periods—inhaling more than they exhaled, exhaling twice within a heartbeat while drawing a long inhale for two heartbeats.
Kage believed this principle could be adapted through different methods. He figured the core principle lay in the strain inflicted upon the lungs.
So if he could subject his lungs to even more brutal strain while using the same breathing method to absorb qi into his dantian...
Then he’d reap dual benefits. First, he’d drastically boost his suffocation endurance.
The second benefit was that he’d force-absorb an explosive amount of qi, because his entire body and organs had entered a temporary state of hyper-survival mode. That critical point where adrenaline skyrockets simply to stay alive at any cost.
Now that power and force surging through his body would grant him explosive breathing capacity to absorb a devastating amount of qi in thirty seconds—equivalent to what any prodigy would absorb through conventional methods.
[[Warning! Life signs collapsing]
The silver lining, of course... if this gamble failed, he really could die this time around.
But this was no gamble for Kage. He’d be very stupid to gamble with his life.
[The Wolf of the North is showing slight signs of panic]
[Tears are streaming down the Weaver of Sorrow’s face]
[Heretic Inquisitor...]
[Critical Alert: Death imminent in 12 seconds]
At this point, Kage couldn’t focus on anything happening with the Sovereigns anymore. His mind went blank. However, he could sense it working—qi flooded his body like a raging torrent.
The only snag was his body deteriorating rapidly. He grew extremely weak, but Kage had to breathe—had to maintain that precise pattern—so his exhausted frame did little to slow him down.
The ultimate goal was timing.
As Kage’s eyes dimmed, they suddenly snapped wide open. He threw his hands upward, raising his legs and lifting his own weight to gasp desperately for air in that crucial moment.
As he gasped, a tsunami of qi surged into his lungs at once. In that instant, Kage felt it. His breathing transcended mere breathing—he could feel each breath plunge deep into his abdomen and settle around his diaphragm. Then his entire body erupted with explosive strength for one blazing second. He seized the curtain strip and savagely ripped it from the noose, crashing heavily to the ground and coughing violently.
In that moment, a deluge of new messages bombarded Kage.
[Congratulations, you have pioneered a new Breathing style]
[You have created the Breath of Death!]
[You have awakened your first dantian]
[Congratulations, you have entered the First Stage of the Earth Realm, lower level]
[Congratulations, your General Endurance has increased]
[Your Suffocation Endurance has increased]
[Your lungs endurance to cold has slightly increased]
[Your endurance to heat has slightly increased