Heavenly Pride Martial Arts Examination

The carriage boards creaked softly.

Sun Yu lifted the cloth curtain and ducked into the carriage.

A faint scent of blood still clung to him.

He walked straight to his original corner, leaned against the wooden wall, pulled down his bamboo hat, and closed his eyes.

A deathly silence filled the carriage.

Lin Feiyang, who had been so high and mighty moments ago, was now curled up in the innermost corner of his seat.

His face was pale as paper. Clutching his faintly aching chest, he stared fixedly at the hem of Sun Yu's clothes, scarcely daring to breathe.

The girl in green viciously twisted her handkerchief between both hands, her knuckles white as her body trembled uncontrollably.

The white-robed young master's folding fan had fallen by his feet, yet he did not dare bend down to retrieve it.

One slash.

Just one slash!

A bandit leader in the Viscera Refining Realm had not even been left a complete corpse—his head had gone flying!

With such terrifying strength, killing a few Bone Forging Realm scions like them would be easier than crushing ants.

The only sounds left in the carriage were their deliberately stifled breaths. They feared that if they breathed even a little too loudly, they might anger this monster wearing human skin.

Sun Yu folded his arms across his chest, utterly ignoring their terror.

After casually slaughtering that bald bandit, he had taken the opportunity to search the corpse and found a few taels of loose silver, along with a crumpled thin booklet.

It was a movement technique called Levitation on Grass.

Though its grade was not high, it was more than sufficient for him at present.

As for these aristocratic scions, he could not even be bothered to spare them another glance.

The weak feared might but possessed no virtue. Once frightened out of their wits, they naturally became obedient.

The Scaled Fur Rhinoceros once more set its thick, powerful hooves in motion.

The rest of the journey passed without incident. The driver cracked his whip so hard it thundered, forcibly increasing their speed by thirty percent.

Two hours later.

The rumble of the wheels gradually grew more chaotic.

"Whoa!"

The carriage came to a stop.

"The P-Prefecture City is here! Esteemed guests, please disembark!" The driver's voice carried a trace of reverence.

Lin Feiyang and the others felt as though they had been granted a pardon.

They could not even hold onto their luggage properly. Heads lowered and backs bent, they fled the carriage in a panic like stray dogs, slipping into the crowd and vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Sun Yu rose to his feet, picked up the cloth bundle beside him, and lifted the curtain to get down.

He raised his head.

A pitch-black city wall a hundred zhang tall stretched across the distance before him, its blue-black boulders fitted together without the slightest gap.

The city gate was ten zhang wide, with people flowing in and out like a colony of ants.

Several martial artists riding armored strange beasts whistled past, the surging vitality and blood emanating from them exceptionally dense.

Viscera Refining Realm.

In Nanqiao Town, Viscera Refining Realm martial artists were enough to dominate an area. Here, they were merely gate guards or passersby.

Sun Yu lowered his bamboo hat and merged into the crowd. He did not wish to draw too much attention.

After paying the entrance fee, he passed through the city gate.

The streets were broad, shops lined both sides, and dense hammering rang out from the weapon stores.

Sun Yu did not wander around aimlessly.

He knew exactly where he stood. At the early Viscera Refining Realm, coupled with the Supreme Dao Divine Ability, his combat strength far surpassed others of the same realm—but in this Prefecture City, a deep pool and dragon's lair, it was still far from enough.

His shortcomings were obvious: he lacked movement techniques and high-level cultivation arts.

Though his physical body possessed terrifying explosive power, if he encountered an expert with an exceptionally strange movement technique, he could easily be forced into a passive position where he could only take blows.

He needed a high-grade movement-type Martial Skill.

In a secluded alley in the west of the city, Sun Yu found an inconspicuous inn.

He paid for half a month's lodging.

A dozen greasy wooden tables stood in the main hall, where more than a dozen saber-carrying martial artists were drinking heavily.

Sun Yu found a corner and sat down.

"Waiter, bring me ten jin of Iron Armor Ox meat, seven-tenths cooked, and a jar of Burning Blade liquor."

"Right away! Please wait, honored guest!"

Before long, huge chunks of steaming exotic beast meat were brought to the table.

Sun Yu drew his hunting knife, sliced off a large piece of beef, and shoved it straight into his mouth, chewing heartily.

Iron Armor Ox meat was incredibly tough, but it contained an abundance of qi and blood. As he chewed, the juices slid down his throat into his stomach. His five viscera operated like a furnace, instantly transforming it into surging qi and blood that merged into his limbs and bones.

As Sun Yu ate, he pricked up his ears, catching the conversations of the nearby drinkers.

"Have you heard? For the Heavenly Pride Martial Arts Examination half a month from now, even people from the Heavenly Sword Sect and Blood Saber Gate will come to watch!" A bearded man took a huge swig of wine and shouted.

"What's so impressive about that? What really makes people green with envy is the grand prize the Prefecture City has put up for first place!" The Skinny Man opposite him lowered his voice, his eyes brimming with greed.

"An Innate Grade movement Martial Skill, Swimming Dragon Steps! Plus ten Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound Pills, supreme qi-and-blood medicines!"

"Hiss! An Innate Grade Martial Skill? The Prefecture City is really bleeding money this time!"

"Of course! They say it's to select promising candidates to send to the imperial capital. If they don't put up some real gold and silver, how will they lure out the monsters those great clans have kept hidden away?"

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Sun Yu's hand tightened slightly around the knife.

Innate Grade movement technique! Qi-and-blood medicine!

The two phrases struck his heart like heavy hammers.

These rewards were practically tailored for him.

His cultivation was currently stuck at the Viscera Refining Realm. If he wanted to break through quickly, he would need a massive amount of qi-and-blood medicine.

And an Innate Grade movement technique would allow him to bring his violent physical strength to its fullest potential.

"Heavenly Pride Martial Arts Examination..."

Sun Yu swallowed the beef in his mouth, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.

There were still half a month until the martial arts examination. That was enough time for him to raise his strength by another level.

After finishing the beef, Sun Yu carried a bucket of hot water back to his guest room.

He washed away the dust of the road.

The night deepened, and all was quiet.

The sound of the night watchman's clapper drifted faintly in through the window.

Clang, clang!

Midnight.

Sun Yu sat cross-legged on the bed. He took out the thin booklet he had searched from One-Eyed Dragon's body.

Levitation on Grass.

It was merely a lowly basic lightness skill, not even worth two taels of silver on the black market.

But in Sun Yu's eyes, as long as it was a Martial Skill that could appear on the system panel, there was no such thing as trash.

A faint silver gleam flickered across his retina. The panel emerged.

[Technique: Levitation on Grass (Not Initiated)]

Buzz!

The "+" sign shattered.

[Levitation on Grass (Initiated)]!

A great flood of images of circulating qi to lighten the body instantly poured into his mind. The muscles in his legs grew faintly sore.

Over the following days, Sun Yu did nothing but go downstairs to eat meat, otherwise remaining behind closed doors.

On the second day, at midnight, [Levitation on Grass (Proficient)].

On the third day, at midnight, [Levitation on Grass (Mastered)].

On the fourth day, at midnight, [Levitation on Grass (Minor Accomplishment)].

On the fifth day, at midnight, [Levitation on Grass (major accomplishment)].

Until midnight on the sixth day.

[Levitation on Grass (Perfected)]!

Boom!

Sun Yu felt the muscles in his calves and thighs suddenly contract violently.

His leg muscles, once as hard as raw iron, now possessed an astonishing degree of flexibility and explosive power.

Massive amounts of muscle memory completely fused into his instincts.

Sun Yu rose to his feet.

Without using any qi and blood, relying solely on muscular strength, he lightly tapped the wooden floor with the tip of his foot.

Whoosh!

His body instantly became a blurred afterimage, crossing the two-zhang span of the guest room in a single stride and landing steadily before the windowsill.

Throughout the entire process, he made not the slightest sound. Not even the wooden floorboards bore any trace of having been stepped on.

"So fast."

A sharp light burst from Sun Yu's eyes.

Though it was merely a lowly basic lightness skill, empowered by his [Cold Iron Demonic Body] and the terrifying explosive strength of a Viscera Refining Realm physique, its speed had been forcibly raised to an utterly frightening level.

Under heaven, no martial art could withstand speed alone.

With such speed, the killing power of his Pigua Saber Technique would multiply severalfold.

But Sun Yu was not satisfied.

"I can't stop adding points."

He looked at the entry on the panel as it dimmed once more.

The system's once-daily opportunity to add points would not accumulate if left unused by the next day.

The ideal situation was to keep adding points without interruption.

Basic lightness skills had their limits, after all. They could not match the violent qi and blood and Internal Breath raging within his body.

He needed to get his hands on something high-end so he could keep freeloading points.

"I heard the martial artists downstairs say there's an underground black market in the south of the Prefecture City. It's ten times larger than the Icefall Black Market. As long as you have silver, you can buy any cultivation method you want."

Sun Yu touched the thick stack of Gold Notes tucked into his robes.

More than two thousand taels.

More than enough to buy a decent Martial Skill.

Sun Yu pulled the bearskin coat draped over the folding screen and threw it over his shoulders.

He pushed open the door and melted into the pitch-black night of the Prefecture City.