Only then did An Youyu truly understand why he was still alive.
Several changes within the fish recipe had already been completed in sequence long after he lost consciousness.
White Eel's bone fin had pierced through his fish aperture, causing his original fish aperture to completely die; within the whirlpool tide, two opposing deep ocean currents repeatedly washed over the dead aperture—
This was 【Dead aperture as the nest, opposing currents as the catalyst】.
By a stroke of bizarre chance, these two conditions came together, and the Fish Roe Stone that had slept for many years finally hatched.
A Fish Roe Stone was itself a fish material.
After hatching, the accumulated Nirvana medicinal potency first condensed into a new aperture at the center of the dead aperture, then spread down from his severed neck to reshape his backbone, viscera, and limbs.
This was precisely 【Yin and Yang reversed, body restored from a severed head】.
But the reshaping did not end there.
The black and white aperture breath produced by the new aperture continued to flow throughout his entire body, passing through nerves and fascia, re-establishing the fish aspect for this newborn vessel.
This was the final 【Aperture breath penetrating the vessel, re-establishing the salamander aspect】.
Thus, before he had even been fished onto the fishing boat, he had already completed his First Transformation anew.
【Fish Aspect: Nirvana Body-Abandoning Salamander】
Nirvana Body-Abandoning Salamander
...
But this was far too coincidental.
Just as White Eel's bone fin pierced his fish aperture, the whirlpool tide struck the execution platform.
A moment earlier, and the fish aperture wouldn't have died; a moment later, his severed head might not have been swept into those opposing currents.
Yet one followed the other, seamlessly linked.
Was it an accident, or had someone calculated this exact moment?
If someone truly arranged this, the only person in a position to coordinate the move back then seemed to be White Eel.
Could White Eel have known this fish recipe all along, destroying his fish aperture not to harvest materials, but deliberately opening a path for him to exchange death for life?
An Youyu shook his head.
How could that be?
Forget it.
Whether it was luck or not, being alive was all that mattered.
...
Although a Fish Roe Stone could pass down a precious fish-transformation path, it suffered from a universally acknowledged shortcoming.
Regardless of tier, cultivators could only decipher a 【fish recipe】 from shedding recall, lacking the corresponding 【fish-swimming method】.
...
A 【fish recipe】 was used to open the fish aperture, nurture aperture breath, and complete fish-transformation.
The first fish-transformation was also called establishing the aspect.
Once a fish aspect was established, all subsequent fish-transformations could only continue morphing along that original form.
The 【fish-swimming method】 was used after the aspect was established.
It guided aperture breath along fixed pathways to circulate throughout the body, refining power bit by bit into fish organs and flesh, ultimately forming 【fish-swimming force】 that could actually be accumulated and wielded.
Fish-swimming force was the true source of a fish-transformed's combat power.
...
A complete fish register required both a 【fish recipe】 and a 【fish-swimming method】; neither could be dispensed with.
The 《Tide-Calming Salamander Register》 that An Youyu had learned in the past was the most widely circulated First-Transformation fish register in the Northern Jurisdiction's fish-transformation camp.
Back then, he had established his Body-Abandoning Salamander aspect according to the fish recipe in the register, nurturing 【Tide-Calming Breath】.
The fish-swimming method paired with it was the 【Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method】.
Practitioners mimicked young salamanders swimming in the Tide-Calming waves, using their spines to stretch in rhythm with the wave forces, controlling the surge and retreat of aperture breath through breathing, and using their blood vessels as tidal channels to guide Tide-Calming Breath throughout their bodies.
Every complete circulation of aperture breath refined a portion of itself into flesh, blood, and Conjoining Membranes, settling into the unique fish-swimming force of the Salamander Swim path—【Salamander Force】.
An Youyu had practiced the Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method for many years.
Even though he had changed vessels, those swimming postures and breath routes remained etched into his mind.
But now his fish aperture had been replaced, and what brewed inside was no longer the former 【Tide-Calming Breath】, but two unfamiliar wisps of aperture breath—one black, one white.
Since they originated from the Nirvana fish recipe, he simply called them: 【Nirvana Breath】.
The crux was that a single fish-swimming method usually only aligned with one specific aperture breath; the Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method only harmonized with 【Tide-Calming Breath】.
【Tide-Calming Breath】 was not rare in the Zijing Tide Court, and people had tried running it with other fish-swimming methods before.
But those arts were originally created for other aperture breaths; practicing them as-is without adjustments mostly caused aperture breath to surge in reverse.
Mild cases resulted in damaged aperture meridians, while severe cases destroyed the new aperture entirely; even a newly re-established fish aspect could be ruined beyond repair.
Yet his post-Nirvana fish aspect was still rooted in the 【Body-Abandoning Salamander】, and what he had practiced for many years happened to be the 《Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method》 of the Salamander Swim path.
Why not give it a try?
Besides, Body-Abandoning Salamanders were tough bastards—they didn't die easily!
...
An Youyu lay back down on the bed on his stomach.
The Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method was originally meant to be cultivated in water, but there was no tide here.
An Youyu could only visualize the surging currents of the Tide-Calming waves in his mind.
As the tide surged:
He inhaled, extending his hands and feet outward simultaneously.
As the wave retreated:
He exhaled a long breath, lowering his body back down section by section against the wooden bedboards, drawing his limbs back in.
The fish-transformation camp called this out-of-water breath circulation 【dry swimming】.
Dry swimming
Dry swimming suited beginners calibrating breath and posture, but when used to refine force, it was nowhere near as fast as drawing upon actual Tide-Calming currents.
As his body rose and fell in swimming postures, 【Nirvana Breath】 also began to circulate.
The white breath moved down through his blood vessels.
The black breath reversed along his fascia back to the new aperture.
One forward, one reverse—completing their first cycle inside his body.
At the intersection of black and white, a wisp of familiar force suddenly condensed.
That's it—this exact force!
This is Salamander Force!
It worked!
Now that the fish-swimming method was viable, it was time to test the regenerative ability of this new fish aspect.
...
Fish-transformation arts were ever-changing, but tracing them back to their origins, they all belonged under eight fundamental paths.
Cultivators collectively called them the 【Eight King Paths】, while sea folk jokingly dubbed them the "Eight Fresh Delicacies Crossing the Sea."
The 【Salamander Swim】 was one of these paths.
"Salamander" drew upon the regenerative capability of giant salamanders, newts, and similar amphibious creatures;
"Swim" signified that this vitality could roam through flesh and blood.
Though the name sounded weak and clammy, it trod a path rooted in stubborn vitality, surviving all the way up from the very bottom—a Sea King Path nearly impossible to kill completely.
Yet the greatest price of this Sea King Path also lay in its regeneration.
Every time the 【Conjoining Membrane】 spawned new flesh, it consumed Salamander Force.
The heavier the injury, the steeper the drop in strength.
In the past, every time An Youyu abandoned his body to regenerate, he had to spend a huge amount of time afterwards slowly refining back his lost Salamander Force bit by bit.
"Time to test its self-healing ability."
An Youyu picked up a tiny fish bone from the bottom of the bowl and sliced a shallow cut across his forearm.
Urging his aperture breath, a thin membrane gathered around the cut, rapidly connecting the wound before dispersing back into his flesh and blood once more.
As expected.
Once his salamander aspect was re-established, the 【Conjoining Membrane】 returned as well.
Only it was different from the past.
In the past, the 【Conjoining Membrane】 grew along nerves and fascia, spreading bit by bit wherever new flesh sprouted. Now, this membrane had dispersed throughout his entire body's flesh and blood.
Wherever Nirvana Breath reached, it could summon the membrane instantly.
Just as An Youyu prepared to resume cultivating, his gaze suddenly froze on his forearm.
The wound was gone.
Yet that wisp of Salamander Force he had just refined inside his body was still there.
And not a single bit had decreased.
"How is that possible?!"
The wound had completely healed, yet his Salamander Force hadn't diminished in the slightest.
If severed limbs, or even full body-abandoning regeneration, worked like this...
Wouldn't the hardest penalty to bypass in the past be completely gone?
...
An Youyu suppressed the surge of excitement in his heart.
A shallow cut didn't prove much yet.
Whether severe injuries like severed limbs or full body-abandonment similarly consumed no Salamander Force could only be verified once he restored his power to the proper level of a "First-Transformation Salamander Swim."
As for whether a First-Transformation cultivator's power truly reached the required standard, it depended on whether their fish-swimming force had 【Formed a Current】.
Before forming a current, fish-swimming force was merely fragmented clusters of force, like spray shattered by crashing waves, scattered across the flesh and blood of the entire body.
A fish-transformed at this stage was dubbed a 【Water Dud】.
The strength of a 【Water Dud】 was measured by the ocean water pressure they could withstand.
Withstanding the pressure of one meter of water was 【One Pressure】.
Withstanding the pressure at a depth of one hundred meters was 【One Hundred Pressure】.
The Salamander Swim path was never known for raw power to begin with.
An Youyu's former Body-Abandoning Salamander aspect had its current-forming threshold right at Three Hundred Pressure; once Salamander Force reached that metric, the fragmented force scattered throughout his body would gather together and condense into a true force current.
Only by condensing a force current did one shed the label of 【Water Dud】 and possess the strength truly fitting for a First-Transformation Salamander Swim.
First, cultivate back to Three Hundred Pressure and condense a force current.
...
An Youyu lay back down on the bed on his stomach once more.
His swimming postures repeated cycle after cycle.
After a few rounds...
An Youyu's movements suddenly ground to a halt.
One Hundred Pressure already.
One Hundred Pressure just like that?!
Back in the fish-transformation camp, it had taken him a full year to go from opening his aperture to reaching One Hundred Pressure.
And during that year, he could even draw upon real Tide-Calming waves while practicing.
But right now, there was no tide.
There was only dry swimming.
A few rounds.
In just a few cycles of circulation, he already had One Hundred Pressure Salamander Force back!!
Even though he had long mastered the 《Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method》 inside out, it was impossible for his cultivation speed to skyrocket to this degree!
Unless... this wasn't cultivating from scratch at all!
That was it!!
The Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method trod the very same old path he had practiced for years.
As Nirvana Breath circulated along this well-trodden route, what it repaired was not merely his physical body, but also the Salamander Force that had dissipated with his former shell!
No wonder going from aperture opening to One Hundred Pressure had taken a full year back then, yet required only a few cycles now.
Just as An Youyu arrived at this conclusion, Nirvana Breath swept away the final lingering wisp of black matter from deep within his organs.
With that, the Blackwater Sickness that had tormented him for a full month was finally completely cured.
...
Just as An Youyu prepared to continue "dry swimming," a violent spasm suddenly twisted his stomach.
An intense wave of hunger surged forth right behind it.
He had no choice but to stop his swimming posture.
【Nirvana Breath】 could save the time needed to re-refine Salamander Force, but it could not replace the nutrients required to restore physical strength.
The faster he wanted to recover, the more he had to eat.
Ning Cang and his wife had saved his life and fed him with their own rations for an entire month.
However much food he would need for cultivation going forward, he couldn't keep taking it from the mouths of the four Ning family members.
Now with One Hundred Pressure Salamander Force in his body and his Blackwater Sickness cured, diving down to a depth of one hundred meters alone was no problem for his present physical condition.
However much he wanted to eat—
He would go down into the sea and earn it himself.
...
Rate on N.U.
