Giant Spirit Trample

South of Prefecture City, underground black market.

The night was deep. Sun Yu pushed open the inn's wooden window and leaped down.

He wrapped himself tightly in a bulky bearskin coat, donned a bamboo hat, and threaded his way through the labyrinthine dark alleys.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, he stood before an exceptionally concealed underground entrance.

After paying ten taels of broken silver as an entry fee, he followed the slick stone steps down into the subterranean palace.

Its scale was more than ten times greater than that of the Icefall Black Market.

The air lacked the Icefall Black Market's pungent stench of blood. In its place lingered the fragrance of precious medicinal herbs and the scent of weapons being quenched.

The crowds flowed endlessly, every one of them a martial artist with a saber at the waist or a sword on their back.

There was no needless chatter here, only naked transactions.

Sun Yu ignored the miscellaneous goods around the outskirts and headed straight for the Martial Skill section of the inner market.

He stopped before a fairly large stall and picked up a thin booklet from it.

"Wind-Chasing Step, a Viscera Refining Realm movement technique. Eight thousand taels. No bargaining." The stall owner was a fat man who did not even lift his eyelids, continuously rolling two iron walnuts in his hand.

Sun Yu put down the booklet and moved to the next stall.

"Wild Goose Flight Art, twelve thousand taels."

"Ghost Shadow Mirage. Only top-grade Qi and Blood Pills accepted. No gold or silver."

Sun Yu asked at five stalls in succession.

They were all common Viscera Refining Realm goods, yet their prices were outrageously high.

He reached into his robes and touched the two thousand-odd taels he had looted.

This amount of money could buy an entire street in Nanqiao Town, yet in the underground black market of Prefecture City, it could not even buy half a Viscera Refining Realm movement technique.

The prices and resources of Prefecture City utterly crushed those of the towns below.

Sun Yu's expression did not change in the slightest.

He did not waste any more time at these overpriced stalls. Instead, he turned and headed directly toward the Dead Pawn Zone in the deepest part of the black market.

Dead Pawn Zone.

Everything here was an item of unknown origin, incomplete goods, or discarded Martial Skills that had trained their users to death.

The sellers guaranteed nothing; the buyers bore their own profits and losses.

Sun Yu stopped before a stall no one bothered to visit.

There were no neatly displayed Jade Slips or books on the stall. It was piled instead with rusted weapons, damaged armor, and a heap of rotten cloth.

Sun Yu's gaze pierced through the pile of junk and locked firmly onto a slab of pig iron buried at the very bottom.

He reached out, swept aside the rubbish above it, gripped the edge of the iron slab with all five fingers, and yanked upward.

It was exceedingly heavy.

It weighed more than three hundred jin.

An ordinary Viscera Refining Realm martial artist would need to exert some effort even to lift it steadily with one hand.

Sun Yu's expression remained unchanged as he set it down on the open ground before him.

The iron slab's surface was mottled with rust. Instead of ink, an incomparably fierce finger force had gouged a densely packed fragment of a Martial Skill directly into it.

Giant Spirit Trample (Incomplete).

Sun Yu narrowed his eyes and scanned the carved marks word by word.

This was no ordinary lightness technique or movement art, but an extremely radical unconventional Martial Skill!

It did not emphasize lifting qi to lighten the body, nor did it emphasize borrowing force to redirect force.

It concerned itself only with pure destruction and eruption!

The technique required one to use an incredibly violent method to frantically compress the qi and blood throughout one's body into the bones and tendons of both legs.

Then, like a giant spirit deity trampling the earth, release it in an instant!

Using the terrifying recoil of both legs crushing the ground, it forcibly launched the entire body forward like a heavy cannonball blasted from its barrel!

Its speed was incredibly fast, its explosive force incredibly fierce!

Moreover, in close-quarters combat, this movement technique could become an exceptionally lethal trampling killing move. One stomp could shatter the enemy's internal organs together with the ground beneath them.

But its flaw was just as fatal.

The final line on the iron slab was carved so deeply that it almost punched through the metal: The backlash of this art is exceedingly fierce. Those not born with divine strength and bones like divine iron must not cultivate it. Force it, and both legs will be severed.

The overwhelmingly tyrannical recoil was something the leg bones of ordinary Viscera Refining Realm martial artists simply could not withstand.

Even a single burst would leave both legs with comminuted fractures from the backlash.

That was why this iron slab had been tossed into the Dead Pawn Zone to gather dust.

No one would spend a fortune on an incomplete Martial Skill that would cripple them after practicing it once.

But as Sun Yu looked at the iron plate, his breathing grew slightly heavier.

Both legs shattered?

After reaching Great Perfection in the Cold Toad Breath Swallowing Technique, his bones had long since been tempered to dozens of times tougher than refined iron!

Combined with the blood-pumping power of his five organs, like furnaces, and his blade- and spear-proof skin and flesh—

This Giant Spirit Trample, with its fatal flaw, was practically a killing weapon tailored for his Extreme Devil Body!

"How much for this iron plate?"

Sun Yu grabbed the plate one-handed and slammed it down onto the stone table before the vendor with a boom.

Several cracks instantly split across the table's surface.

The stall owner was a One-eyed Old Man. He opened his eye and glanced at the iron plate.

"Giant Spirit Trample, an incomplete copy. It may cripple your legs if you practice it, but the method inside for compressing qi and blood to unleash force is the real deal—top-grade stuff."

The One-eyed Old Man held out five shriveled fingers. "Five thousand taels."

Expressionless, Sun Yu reached into his clothes, pulled out all his banknotes, and slapped them onto the stone table.

"Two thousand three hundred taels."

The One-eyed Old Man sneered. "If you're a poor bastard, don't come to the black market and make a fool of yourself. Don't get in the way of my business."

Sun Yu did not get angry.

He reached into his clothes again and took out a small wooden box wrapped layer upon layer in oilcloth.

He peeled back the oilcloth and lifted the lid.

Three shriveled, dark-red root strands lay quietly within.

They were scraps of root he had deliberately saved after gnawing through that half of the Blood Tai Sui.

The instant the box opened, an intensely rich, fishy-sweet scent of qi and blood burst forth, spreading around the stall.

The One-eyed Old Man's sneer froze on his face.

His only eye abruptly widened as he stared fixedly at the three root strands, his body involuntarily leaning forward.

"Blood Tai Sui roots?!" The old man sucked in a sharp breath, and his breathing instantly grew ragged.

In the prefectural city, this was a life-extending medicine that money could not buy!

"These banknotes, plus these three root strands." Sun Yu pushed the wooden box over, his tone calm. "Deal or no deal?"

"Deal! Deal!"

The old man snatched up the box and clutched it tightly to his chest as if afraid Sun Yu would change his mind. With his other hand, he swiftly swept the Gold Notes from the table into his sleeve.

Sun Yu lifted the three-hundred-pound iron plate with one hand, tucked it under his arm, and turned to leave.

"Hold it."

An exceedingly arrogant voice came from behind him.

Four burly guards carrying blades roughly shoved aside the surrounding crowd, forcing open a path.

A pale young man in a Purple Cloud Satin Robe strode up to the stall, fanning himself with a folding fan.

His greedy gaze fixed on the wooden box in the stall owner's arms before shifting to the iron plate beneath Sun Yu's arm.

"This young master has been looking for this Giant Spirit Trample for half a month, and some mud-legged bumpkin who crawled out of nowhere actually got to it first."

The brocade-robed young man snapped his folding fan shut, casually pulled a thick stack of Gold Notes from his clothes, and hurled them at Sun Yu's feet.

"Five thousand taels. Leave the iron plate and get lost."

His tone carried a lofty command, as though he were bestowing charity.

The surrounding crowd quickly scattered. Some recognized the young man and began whispering in low voices.

"That's Liu Suifeng, the young master of the East City Liu Family."

"This outsider is in trouble. The Liu Family is one of the tyrants of the prefectural city. Their family has an Ancestor at Half-step Innate."

Sun Yu did not even glance at the Gold Notes on the ground.

With the iron plate tucked under one arm, he continued forward.

"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

Liu Suifeng's face darkened, a flash of viciousness passing through his eyes. "Take him down! Break both his arms!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The four guards instantly drew the refined-steel longswords at their waists and closed in from different angles in a fan-shaped formation.

All of them were martial artists at Great Perfection in the Bone Forging Realm.

The lead guard's eyes were vicious. He stepped forward, and the long sword in his hand howled through the air as it slashed savagely toward Sun Yu's right arm—the one holding the iron plate!

This strike carried enormous force and held nothing back. It was clearly aimed at severing his arm outright.

Sun Yu stopped in his tracks.

He did not even draw his saber.

Facing the finely tempered steel blade chopping down at his head, Sun Yu casually raised his empty left hand.

His five fingers spread wide as he met the blade and suddenly clenched.

"Clang!"

An ear-piercing metallic explosion erupted through the depths of the black market.

That finely tempered steel long sword, capable of slicing through iron like mud, was clamped tightly in Sun Yu's bare hand!

The long sword shuddered violently, yet it could not press down another inch.

The guard's pupils contracted sharply, his face filled with horror.

He desperately drove the Internal Breath within him, trying to pull back his long sword, only to find that the blade seemed embedded in a mountain cast from refined iron, utterly immovable.

"Is that all the strength you have?"

Sun Yu lifted his eyelids.

The muscles in the five fingers of his left hand abruptly contracted!

Supreme Dao Divine Ability, Cold Iron Demonic Body—erupting in an instant!

"Kacha!!!"

An exceptionally crisp cracking sound rang throughout the entire Dead Pawn Zone.

The long sword forged from hundredfold-tempered steel was crushed alive into more than a dozen shards of iron between Sun Yu's fingers!

The shattered fragments flew in all directions, embedding themselves in the surrounding Stone Pillars.

The guard clutched the bare Sword Hilt, his entire body frozen in place as though struck by lightning, his mind completely blank.

Crushing a finely tempered steel sword with his bare hand!

What the hell kind of monster was this?!

Sun Yu did not throw a punch.

He merely turned his head slightly, his eyes hidden beneath the shadow of his conical hat coldly fixing on Liu Suifeng in the distance.

Just one glance.

A terrifying Sha Qi mixed with Extreme Cold Internal Breath and Extreme Yang Blood Qi descended upon Liu Suifeng like an ancient demonic bear breaking free of its shackles, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.

The arrogance on Liu Suifeng's face instantly froze, turning deathly pale.

He felt as if a bloodthirsty beast had clamped down on his throat. His breathing stopped completely, and his heart seemed to be viciously crushed by an icy hand.

"Thud."

Liu Suifeng's legs gave out, and he collapsed directly onto the ground. His folding fan fell aside as his whole body trembled like chaff in a sieve.

The remaining three guards gripped their swords and retreated again and again, not daring to step forward even once. Even the hands holding their swords shook violently.

Sun Yu withdrew his gaze.

Carrying that three-hundred-pound iron plate, he stepped over the iron shards scattered across the ground and walked out through the crowd, one step at a time.

Wherever he passed, every martial artist frantically retreated as if avoiding a plague god, forcibly making way for a broad passage.

Only after Sun Yu's back, wrapped in a bearskin coat, completely vanished at the black market's exit—

did the Dead Pawn Zone begin to breathe again.

Half an hour later.

Carrying the iron plate, Sun Yu silently climbed over the inn's wooden window and returned to his room.

He set the heavy iron plate on the floor, producing an exceedingly dull thud.

He lit the oil lamp.

The faint firelight illuminated the densely packed indentations on the iron plate.

Sun Yu took off his bearskin coat and sat cross-legged before the iron plate.

His eyes locked tightly onto the inscriptions on its surface, engraving into his mind, word by word and sentence by sentence, the immensely violent and twisted Blood Qi compression route of Giant Spirit Trample.

This was an extremely dangerous Meridians circulation route.

For anyone else, merely attempting to guide their Blood Qi along this path would cause their Meridians to rupture instantly.

But Sun Yu was not afraid in the slightest.

As long as he memorized it completely.

A ripple of silver light spread across his retina like water.

The panel slowly emerged.

[Martial Skill: Giant Spirit Trample (Not Initiated)]

It worked.

A cruel curve lifted at the corner of Sun Yu's mouth.

He raised his head and glanced at the deep night beyond the window.

The night watchman struck the bronze gong.

"Clang! Clang!"

It was midnight.

On the panel, a faintly glowing "+" lit up beside the [Giant Spirit Trample] entry right on schedule.

If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching for the author—it may simply have been renamed!