How to get Sound Breathing in Slayers 2

The price is ordinary. The trip is not. Tengai stands on top of a small island north of the shrine in Iceveil Valley, and the valley’s cold drains your health the whole way there. Even a level 128 player with a health bar just over 1,000 can reach him with almost nothing left and die seconds later.

A player standing near a trainer NPC with the screen edges washed red and the health bar almost empty — The screen edges are washed red and the health bar at bottom left is almost empty. On the right, a nameplate partly hidden by the NPC reads `Sound Trai…Tengai`. The minimap reads `Iceveil Valley`.

Level

The minimum, though a level 25 character may not survive the walk at all.

Demon Horns

No Beast Cores and no Wen. Have all ten on you: a second trip costs a second walk through the cold.

Skill tree, likely required

Wall Climb

The last minute of the route is a string of double-jump-then-climb moves up rock faces.

How to reach him alive

The cold damage starts when you enter the snow and does not stop; the edges of your screen turn red while it lasts. Treat the whole route as a race. These are the things that buy you time. The same cold applies on the way to the Wind trainer, whose platform is in this valley too.

Start from the shrine, not the bear area
Tengai is north of the Iceveil Valley shrine, and fast-travel shrines can be bought with Wen, the snow village’s included. Teleporting there cuts the walk to the last stretch. The map page shows where the shrines are.
Carry an Emberheart Lantern if you have one
Its ember holds off the valley’s freeze while it burns and must be relit at a campfire. It drops from the Yeti, and each sit at a campfire adds time, up to ten minutes.
Arrive with full stamina
Running and climbing both drain stamina, and running dry in the snow is easy. Top it up before you step into the cold, not halfway up a cliff.
More health means more seconds
The drain is a race between your health bar and the route. Even at level 128 you can arrive nearly dead, so a few extra levels before this trip are not wasted.

The inventory screen with the Emberheart Lantern selected and its description on the right — The inventory, with `Emberheart Lantern` (`Legendary`) selected. Its text reads `Its ember holds off Iceveil's freeze while it burns, then must be rekindled beside a campfire.` Stats: `+0.35 (Illumination)`, `+25 (Max Health)`, `+20 (Max Stamina)`.

The Emberheart Lantern, in short

Legendary, with small bonuses to health and stamina as well as light. To make the Yeti appear you need a Frozen Heart, found in chests. Keep it equipped for the snow bosses too.

The route there

Walking in from the starting village is the long way round. The part that matters is the final approach, from the ledge onwards.

Into the snow. The area label reads Iceveil Valley, and from here the health bar starts to fall.
A rock ledge above dark water. Jump down here.
Into the water, then out onto the rocks on the far side.
The climbing begins: double jump, then climb, several times over.
Tengai is on the top, and by now your health will be low.

A snowy path with the edges of the screen tinted red — Snow on the ground and the edges of the screen washed red.

A player on a snowy rock ledge above dark blue water at night — Snow falling at night over a rock ledge and dark water below. The area label reads `Iceveil Valley`; the minimap shows `Shrine` and `Iceveil Valley`.

Once you have paid

Paying starts Sound’s training quest; its steps are listed on the training quest page. The trainee hunts Muzan hands out to demons name Thunder, Wind, Water, Insect and Flame, with no Sound entry. If your training sends you back into the snow, the survival list above still applies. For an example of a full tracker, see Stone’s on the breathing styles page.

Tengai the boss, also in the cold

The trainer’s namesake is The Sound Hashira (Tengen in the anime). He stands right by the Iceveil shrine, where you can set your spawn, which helps if you plan to farm him. His drops and the fight in the snow are on the Tengai boss page.

Sound Katanas, 5%. They are the base item for a V2 weapon: the forge recipe for Reverb Cleavers asks for Sound Katanas 1/1 plus scraps, silk, ten Mythic Refinement Ore and 90,000 tower points.
Sound Slayer Uniform, 5%.
String Performance, 5% at launch, the move scroll. Its line reads Must be Slayer for a player who isn’t one, and the v.09 patch raised every boss skill drop by 5%.

String Performance still needs Sound learned first. For kill counts at 10%, use the calculator on the bosses page.

Tengai's health bar with the drop list printed under it — `The Sound Hashira` `Tengai`: the health bar, and under it every drop with its chance.

Changes since launch, and the tier lists

The first balance patches left Sound alone, and the V0.182 update made Roar (X) break guards again, so it remains a strong specialist (see the update log). It is one of only two styles that all three tier lists put in the same tier; the other is Serpent. The full comparison shows how the rest divide.

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The official Sound showcase

Ouw Productions, the developer, showed off Sound before release. Watch the moves before you commit to the trip.

What Tengai asks for