Iron Body Shirt

"Horizontal Training Martial Arts?"

The stall owner was a slovenly old Daoist. His robe was pitch-black and shiny with grease, its original color impossible to make out.

He held a wine gourd in one hand and gnawed on a chicken leg with the other. His face was flushed from drinking, and he could barely open his eyes. At the sound of Qin Ming's voice, the old Daoist lifted his eyelids slightly. When he saw Qin Ming's enormous frame, he immediately understood why he was asking about Horizontal Training Methods.

"Kid, you've already practiced a Horizontal Training Method, haven't you?"

The old Daoist clicked his tongue in wonder, tore a huge bite from the chicken leg, then took a large swig of wine.

"Don't you understand that your mouth can't chew more than it can hold? You want to learn another one? A mere Skin Refining Realm cultivator like you isn't afraid of choking himself to death?"

The old man spoke harshly, but Qin Ming paid him no mind. He had already found a Horizontal Training Martial Art.

"Iron Body Shirt."

"I'll take this one."

Qin Ming picked up Iron Body Shirt. It was the only Horizontal Training Martial Art at the stall.

"Kid, you've got an eye for picking them. Don't say I didn't warn you: if you really dare practice that thing, it'll be none of my business when people come hunting you down."

The old Daoist shook his head as he spoke.

"Besides, this copy isn't complete. I only have a small portion of the cultivation method. To tell you the truth, this Horizontal Training Martial Art was originally more than a Ninth-Rank Cultivation Method. It only fell to the Ninth Level because such a small portion remains."

"So, how much?"

Qin Ming raised an eyebrow. Wasn't all that chatter just an attempt to fleece him?

The old Daoist slowly raised one finger.

"One tael of silver?"

"Pfft!"

The old Daoist sprayed out all the wine in his mouth.

"What do you mean, one tael? I said ten thousand taels! Ten thousand!"

The old Daoist bristled and glared.

"Ten thousand taels? Why don't you just rob me?"

Qin Ming stood up and left without hesitation.

One step, two steps, three steps...

Qin Ming counted silently in his head. He guessed the old Daoist would call him back within ten steps.

He reached the ninth step.

"Wait!"

The old Daoist called out, looking utterly helpless.

"Fine, one thousand taels of silver. You can have it for that."

"You think an incomplete cultivation method is worth that much? A hundred taels at most!"

Qin Ming stopped.

In the end, after some haggling, Qin Ming bought the cultivation method for five hundred taels of silver.

"Old man, I have a few martial arts manuals here. Do you dare buy them?"

Qin Ming took out Tiger Stake Skill and Tiger Fist.

The old Daoist glanced at them and immediately recognized where they came from.

"Well now, kid, you even got your hands on the Savage Tiger Gang's stance art."

"The Savage Tiger Gang?"

"That's right. What, you didn't know? Then where did you get this Fierce Tiger Stance Art and Tiger Fist?"

The old Daoist looked puzzled.

Only then did Qin Ming recall Lu Liu telling him that Huo Zheng, the master of the Tiger Martial Arts Academy, seemed to have come from a gang in Qingyang County.

It seemed that gang was the Savage Tiger Gang.

In the end, Qin Ming sold off all the martial arts manuals he had no use for and exchanged them for silver.

But the prices were not high, especially for the hard-to-sell Fierce Tiger Stance Art and Tiger Fist.

Qin Ming took the Iron Body Shirt manual and read through it carefully.

The contents were simple: he had to strike his body repeatedly to form a thin layer and improve its physical defense. But the striking had to be accompanied by a special medicinal solution that would allow his body to recover quickly. Even so, making any progress was extremely difficult.

That was because Iron Body Shirt was not a simple ninth-rank Horizontal Training Method.

After leaving the stall, Qin Ming began sweeping through the market, thoroughly satisfied.

He quickly gathered all the herbs needed for Iron Body Shirt. All along the way, people kept looking at him.

At three meters tall, he was far too conspicuous. Qin Ming disliked it, but there was nothing he could do.

Besides that, Qin Ming bought quite a few aged medicinal herbs.

He had searched all around but found no spiritual herbs. There were plenty of aged herbs, though, such as Old Ginseng and Lingzhi.

Only then did Qin Ming realize how lucky he had been before, eating two spiritual herbs in succession.

But as a result, Qin Ming drew quite a bit of attention in the Black Market.

Some people watched Qin Ming in secret.

"This kid's a new face!"

"No kidding! The guy's three meters tall. If he'd been in the county before, someone would've spotted him long ago. He must've arrived in Qingyang County recently!"

"So what do you say? Do we make a move? This kid's only at the Skin Refining Realm. He's just a bit bigger than usual. He probably practices Horizontal Training Martial Arts, but that shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Wait a little longer. Other people are watching him too."

Quite a few people in the shadows had set their sights on Qin Ming.

They all had their faces covered and watched silently from the corners of the Black Market. Whenever they spotted someone showing off wealth, they quickly marked them. Once they had confirmed the person's strength and background, they would take them down as soon as they left the Black Market. Killing people and stealing their treasures had long been as commonplace as eating and drinking for them.

After making a circuit and finding nothing else that interested him, Qin Ming hoisted the tiger meat onto his shoulder and headed toward the courtyard.

"He's leaving!"

Several figures quietly followed him from the shadows.

Qin Ming paid them no mind. Carrying the tiger meat, he passed through a dark alley, where more than a dozen people blocked him from both ends.

"Third Brother, we spotted this fat sheep first. Scram!"

"Like hell you did! Is your name written on this fat sheep's face? Everyone who sees him gets a share! Now that I'm here, I'm not just eating the meat, I'm drinking the soup too!"

They were clearly two separate groups. They even began hurling insults at each other over Qin Ming, ready to fight at any moment.

At the sight, a cold smile curled Qin Ming's lips.

It seemed they didn't take him seriously at all. So be it. His Savage Bull Strength happened to need improvement.

Qin Ming put down the tiger meat and shook out his arms. He twisted his neck sharply, and his bones crackled like beans frying in a pan.

"Kill!"

Qin Ming wasted no words and charged straight through them with his body.

He took a running start and barreled straight into the Martial Artists in front of him.

Increasing Savage Bull Strength's points was easy. All he had to do was charge straight into them with brute force.

Points from anyone he killed with brute force would be added to Savage Bull Strength.

Pfft, pfft, pfft...

Under Qin Ming's frenzied assault, the dozen or so people looked as though a primordial beast had trampled straight over them. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, a sight too dreadful to behold.

The other group of Martial Artists behind him, who had been arguing red-faced and thick-necked, went pale with fright.

"Run!"

They fled toward the mouth of the alley without looking back.

But it was already too late.

Qin Ming used Wandering Dragon Step, and his speed increased sharply.

He caught up to them and swept through them with brute force once more, turning every last one into points on his panel.

After killing the two groups, Qin Ming did not hurry away. He knew there had to be more than just these people lying in wait for him.

Sure enough, before long, several more groups appeared. Every one of them became a ghost beneath Qin Ming's hands.

"About time I left."

Qin Ming searched every corpse. After confirming there was nothing left, he immediately used the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique and activated Cook Ding Dissects the Ox. In the blink of an eye, he had dissected a corpse.

After killing someone, he would casually dissect the corpse and separate the bones from the flesh. It had already become a habit.

I'll stew the tiger meat properly when I get back and make some broth to nourish Embroiderer.

Qin Ming thought this to himself as he carried his bundle out of the alley.

Half an hour later, someone passing by let out a scream.

The ground was packed with corpses!

And their bones and flesh had been completely separated!

"Pervert! An absolute pervert!"

Word soon spread, and everyone feared for their own safety. The common people thought some ghostly creature had entered the city. They were so frightened that they dared not go out at noon in broad daylight or at night, for fear of running into something unclean.

The gangs investigated as well. After all, many of the dead were members of their gangs.

No one knew who the killer was, because everyone who had seen him was dead.

Only the people in the Black Market had a vague idea, but they did not dare be certain.

"Two or three of the people killed were at the Mid-Stage Flesh-Refining Realm. Even if that kid practiced Horizontal Training Martial Arts, there's no way he could have faced two Flesh Refining Realm experts at once and killed them in a single blow!"

The old Daoist was startled. "Could I have misjudged him this time? Could that kid really be able to master Iron Body Shirt?"

Meanwhile, Qin Ming hurried home, laden with gains.

The people he had just killed had replenished a good deal of what he had spent. Silver alone amounted to more than three hundred taels, and there were also some trash martial arts manuals, Qi-Blood Powder, and the like.

Kill and burn, wear a belt of gold. The ancients truly did not deceive me.

Qin Ming sighed with feeling.

"Embroiderer, Senior Sister, I'm back! Look what good things I brought!"

Qin Ming laughed as he stepped through the door.

The next moment, the smile on his face suddenly froze.