Essence Blood Body-Covering Technique and Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique

"Take a look at these three movement techniques!"

The stall owner shoved the defensive technique booklets aside, his fingertips tapping heavily on the three remaining yellowed pamphlets, his tone brimming with an almost overflowing eagerness.

He grabbed the thickest one first, its cover marked with faint, dark red patterns that looked like dried blood: "The first one is called the Blood-Step Soul-Burning Method, and it is extremely sinister and overbearing!"

"Using your own blood-qi as a catalyst, you can ignite your power in a single thought, causing your feet to erupt with speed and explosive force far beyond your peers. Even a Second Blood Martial Artist could be shaken off by you temporarily!"

When speaking of the cost, the stall owner's voice dropped suddenly: "But this technique burns your life! Every time you use it, it burns your blood-qi frantically and consumes your lifespan! Those who practice it for long will eventually have their blood-qi burned dry; they end up with wrinkled faces and gray hair while still young—premature aging is the mildest outcome. At worst, your blood-qi will sever your meridians during practice, and you will drop dead on the spot!"

After finishing, the stall owner tossed the booklet aside and picked up the second one.

The cover of this booklet depicted several distorted afterimages, with fine bone patterns etched along their edges.

"This Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique is more than twice as fast as the previous one! To practice it, you must forcibly shatter the shackles of your bones and fascia, using the humming vibration of your joints as a rhythm to propel your body. Not only can you move at high speeds for long periods and traverse mountains as if walking on flat ground, but your stamina will also far exceed that of martial artists at the same level!"

The stall owner extended his tongue to lick his yellowed teeth, his eyes glinting with ruthlessness: "As for the cost? Naturally, you pay with your bones!"

"During the cultivation process, your bones will constantly develop fine cracks, and you must rely on special Bone-Mending Medicine to keep them together. Once you stop the medicine or interrupt your practice, those cracks will instantly worsen, spreading from your fingertips all the way to your spine, eventually leading to a comminuted collapse of your entire skeletal structure. You would die a more miserable death than anyone else!"

Finally, the stall owner picked up the thinnest booklet, its cover bare save for a single, pitch-black character: "Shadow."

"This Shadow-Erosion Evasion Scripture is the most devious and insidious! By walking and exerting force in postures that defy human instinct, you forcibly distort your body structure and movement rhythm, allowing your path of motion to perfectly align with the shifting light and shadow."

"Once you have mastered it, you can move at high speeds in silence through shadows, dark corners, and backlit areas, using the blind spots in vision to disappear completely from your opponent's perception."

"This is not true invisibility, but rather the ultimate application of visual misdirection and movement deception. For sneak attacks and escapes, it is practically unsolvable!"

"But this technique will slowly erode your joints and nerves."

At this point, the stall owner's tone shifted, becoming chilling: "When practiced to a deep level, your sense of space will become increasingly chaotic, and your judgment of distance and direction will suffer fatal deviations."

"In the end, you will contract a strange illness called 'Shadow-Position Illusion.' Even though your body is still in place, you will misjudge your own location, either slamming headfirst into a wall or exposing a fatal opening by stepping into thin air during a fight, dying without even knowing why!"

With all six techniques introduced, the stall owner crossed his arms triumphantly, his eyes behind the mask staring fixedly at Chen Jing, his tone laced with temptation: "Young hero, how about it? Every one of these is the real deal, right? Take your pick of defense or movement! Since you're a regular customer, I'll give them to you for ten taels of silver each—no cheating, no nonsense!"

Hearing this, Chen Jing's gaze fell upon the six booklets on the table and remained there for a long time.

It had to be said that the effects of these evil techniques were tempting enough; whether for defense or movement, they could precisely patch his current shortcomings.

However, the corresponding costs were each more ruthless than the last. For any ordinary martial artist, the trade-off between saving one's life and shortening it would require careful consideration.

Chen Jing gently rubbed his chin with his fingertips, calculating rapidly in his mind.

With the Exemption Bead in his possession, these seemingly fatal costs were not even worth mentioning to him.

What Chen Jing truly cared about was not how harsh the costs were, but whether the effects of these techniques could keep up with his current strength.

Chen Jing had discovered something while practicing his punches this evening.

The boost provided by the Five Harms Technique to his own power had become negligible, or one could even say it had completely failed.

Simply put, when Chen Jing was not yet a martial artist, a normal punch could only condense three parts of blood-qi, but after running the Five Harms Technique, his blood-qi could directly double to six parts—the amplification effect was terrifying.

However, after breaking through to the First Blood realm, Chen Jing could condense five parts of blood-qi with a simple punch without using the Five Harms Technique, and it only increased to six parts after running the technique; the boost had shrunk to a mere ten percent.

Now that Chen Jing had broken through to the Second Blood realm, his physical instinct alone allowed him to condense nine parts of blood-qi with a punch, and running the Five Harms Technique resulted in no fluctuation in his blood-qi at all.

In short, this evil technique that had once allowed Chen Jing to rise quickly was no longer keeping up with his current level.

It was precisely for this reason that Chen Jing's purpose in venturing to the Ghost Market tonight was clear: first, to find a defensive technique and a movement technique that matched his Second Blood strength to improve his survival and mobility.

Second, he had to find a technique that could continue to accelerate the condensation of blood-qi to assist his breakthrough and prevent his cultivation from stagnating.

After some weighing, Chen Jing's gaze finally locked onto the two books that best fit his needs: the Essence Blood Body-Covering Technique and the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique.

The former could condense blood into a shield to withstand a full-force blow from a Second Blood Martial Artist, while the latter could use bone-humming vibrations to increase speed, serving as a sharp tool for both pursuit and escape, perfectly filling his current gaps.

Thinking of this, Chen Jing did not hesitate. He took five taels of silver from his money pouch, placed them on the wooden board of the stall, pushed them forward with his fingertips, and said calmly to the stall owner: "Five taels of silver. I'll take the Essence Blood Body-Covering Technique and the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique."

In Chen Jing's view, the practical value of these two evil techniques far exceeded that of the Five Harms Technique he had bought before, so the stall owner's asking price of ten taels per book was not entirely unreasonable.

However, the memory of being ripped off last time was still fresh in his mind, so this time he simply slashed the price by three-quarters.

Chen Jing was certain that the cost of these evil technique booklets was extremely low and that the stall owner would definitely not lose money.

"No problem!"

Upon hearing this, the stall owner was not the least bit angry; instead, his eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth under the skull mask stretched wide, revealing a hint of greed he could not hide.

Then, as if afraid Chen Jing would go back on his word, he grabbed the five taels of silver on the table, his fingertips rubbing over the silver ingots rapidly to confirm they were genuine.

He turned around and pulled four booklets from the wooden box under the stall, shoving them all into Chen Jing's hands at once.

Watching the stall owner's lack of hesitation, the corners of Chen Jing's eyes twitched slightly.

He had previously thought his bargaining was ruthless, but seeing the stall owner's reaction, it was clear he had still made a tidy profit.

It seemed that next time he bargained, he would have to be even more ruthless.

Picking up the booklets, Chen Jing flipped through them casually to confirm that the two in his hands were indeed the first parts of the Essence Blood Body-Covering Technique and the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique he wanted, while the other two were the second parts of those same techniques.

Chen Jing tucked the booklets into his chest, suddenly remembered something, and asked: "By the way, the speed at which the Five Harms Technique stimulates blood-qi is still too slow. Do you have any faster movement-based evil techniques here?"

"An evil technique faster than the Five Harms Technique? I really don't have anything like that here."

Hearing this, the stall owner's face immediately took on a strange expression.

After all, the Five Harms Technique was already fast enough, yet Chen Jing actually wanted to be even faster.

That kind of evil technique was invariably a terrifying cultivation method where one would finish practicing in the morning only to drop dead by nightfall.

Naturally, the stall owner did not have evil techniques of that caliber.

The stall owner pocketed the silver, thought for a moment, and then lowered his voice, adding as if revealing a secret: "However, seeing as you are a regular customer, young hero, I will point you toward a bright path."

"Do you see that small building ahead? It only receives martial artists at the First Blood level or above. The quality of the techniques inside is a hundred times better than what is on my little stall!"

Chen Jing looked in the direction the stall owner pointed, his gaze narrowing slightly.

That small building was brightly lit, with two martial artists possessing refined auras guarding the entrance—it was precisely the same place Zhuang Tao had entered last time!

"Thanks."

Chen Jing responded indifferently, took the booklets, and turned to leave.

Chen Jing did not intend to go to that building right now; after all, it was unclear how deep the waters ran there. It would not be too late to make plans after returning and asking about Zhuang Tao's situation.

Exiting the Ghost Market, the night grew heavier, and moonlight spilled onto the road like water.

Chen Jing used the clear radiance to hurry along, returning home before long.

The courtyard was quiet, and Chen Sanwu was already fast asleep.

Chen Jing walked into his room on tiptoe. Without lighting a lamp, he relied only on the moonlight filtering through the window to spread the four small booklets on the table, his gaze falling once again upon the Essence Blood Body-Covering Technique and the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique.

After pondering for a while, Chen Jing ultimately decided to practice the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique first.

While defensive techniques were certainly important and could allow him to withstand a few more blows in combat, movement techniques were the foundation of survival.

If he encountered a strong enemy he could not defeat in the future, having mastered a movement technique would allow him to escape early; after all, as long as the green hills remain, one need not worry about firewood.

But if he only practiced defense, he would at most last a little longer when outmatched, yet he would still struggle to escape death in the end.

Having made up his mind, Chen Jing no longer hesitated. He lit a candle, opened the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique booklet, and began to study it carefully, word by word.

The candlelight flickered, illuminating the dense handwriting on the pages.

In less than an hour, Chen Jing had thoroughly grasped the cultivation method of the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique.

The booklet clearly stated that practicing this technique required the use of a specially made Bone-Mending Medicine to sustain one's life, but that was aimed at ordinary martial artists.

After all, when practicing the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique, the bones would develop cracks, necessitating a reliance on medicine to suppress the backlash.

However, Chen Jing had the Exemption Bead in his possession. As long as he accumulated enough energy, he could directly exempt himself from the cost of bone fractures caused by the technique, rendering any Bone-Mending Medicine unnecessary.

As time passed, Chen Jing had completely branded the incantations, energy circulation methods, and footwork secrets of the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique into his mind.

At this moment, Chen Jing reached up to touch his forehead, clearly sensing that the energy in the Exemption Bead within his mind had accumulated more than halfway. With the daily consumption of Green-skinned Horned Pig meat to nourish his essence and blood, he would be able to fully charge the Exemption Bead within ten days.

Once the energy was full, Chen Jing would immediately set about practicing the Bone-Humming Swift-Travel Technique!

As for the technique to accelerate the condensation of essence and blood, he would consider that only after he had finished questioning Zhuang Tao.