Grass-Skimming Movement: Swallow Three Skims the Water

This man clearly had not expected Zhao Ya to be so ferocious.

He raised his hand and fired two hidden weapons first, causing himself to be struck by an arrow, before charging forward like a fierce tiger.

He could not help but regret it inwardly.

At the ghost market, he had seen Zhao Ya pull out the enormous sum of two hundred taels of silver to buy a great deal of the dried meat he had long coveted. In a moment of greed, he had secretly followed him.

But Zhao Ya had been extremely cautious, constantly changing routes, and he had nearly lost him several times.

Yet he had ultimately caught up, then struck from the shadows, intending to ambush Zhao Ya with lime powder.

To his surprise, his foolproof trick had failed. Not only that, he had been hit by a sleeve arrow.

His wound was already going numb. Knowing the arrowhead had surely been poisoned, he cursed his bad luck inwardly as he raised his weapon to block Zhao Ya's strike, intending to seize the chance to flee.

With a soft hiss, the short blade in his hand was cut in half as easily as paper.

At the same time, Zhao Ya's saber did not slow, chopping straight toward the man's face.

The man was scared out of his wits. He pushed off the ground with his toes and sprang backward, narrowly avoiding the blow.

But how could Zhao Ya let him go?

When the slash missed, Zhao Ya immediately lunged forward, turning the chop into a thrust. The saber point shot straight toward the man's chest.

The man's back was already against the wall. Seeing Zhao Ya's savage advance, he groaned inwardly.

With no other choice, he gave it everything he had. The muscles in his back rippled, and his entire body instantly flattened against the wall. Like a gecko, he rapidly climbed to the top, then fled into the distance.

This caught Zhao Ya greatly by surprise as well.

He had not expected the man who had ambushed him to know such a trick as climbing walls backward like a gecko.

But no matter what he knew, he had to die today.

Zhao Ya pushed off with his toes, leaped onto the wall, and gave chase.

Only after chasing him did Zhao Ya realize that this man's qinggong movement technique was exceptionally skilled. Even with a sleeve arrow stuck in him, Zhao Ya still could not catch up.

No wonder he had failed to notice the man tailing him earlier.

The two raced across walls and rooftops for more than three li.

The city wall lay just ahead. The man's vision began to darken, and his limbs were starting to disobey him.

He knew the poison on the sleeve arrow was taking effect.

The man behind him continued his relentless pursuit without the slightest intention of giving up, and a thread of despair rose in his heart.

Suddenly.

He stopped, turned to face the pursuing Zhao Ya, and, seeing him raise his saber to strike, immediately shouted, "W-wait! Don't attack yet!"

But Zhao Ya had no intention of listening to him.

The ambush just now had left Zhao Ya both shocked and furious.

Shocked because he had not noticed that someone had been following him in secret.

Furious because if his strength had not improved greatly recently, and his Grass-Skimming Movement had not become increasingly refined, he would have fallen for the man's scheme.

So, when the man stopped, Zhao Ya did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately unleashed the Gale Saber Technique, every strike aimed at the man's vital points.

The man fended left and right, barely managing to block a few moves.

His strength had already been inferior to Zhao Ya's; only his qinggong movement technique had been relatively impressive.

Now that the poison from the sleeve arrow was gradually taking effect, he was even less of a match for Zhao Ya.

"Sir, I didn't mean it just now! I only wanted to knock you out and take your dried meat. I'm willing to cut off one arm myself. Could you spare my life?" the man shouted desperately, trying to beg for mercy.

Zhao Ya gave a faint sneer and did not answer at all.

He said he had not meant it and had only wanted to knock Zhao Ya out. That sort of nonsense might fool a child, but how could Zhao Ya believe it?

In this world, people's hearts were as vicious as tigers and wolves. Some would draw blades against one another over a single steamed bun, let alone when he was carrying so much precious dried meat.

Pfft.

A flash of saber light cut across him. The man's left shoulder was struck, and the sharpness of the Meteoric Iron Saber split him diagonally in two before he could even react.

The corpse toppled to the ground.

Zhao Ya stood where he was, only walking over after confirming that the man was truly dead.

He used the tip of his saber to lift the mask. Beneath it was an utterly ordinary face, the sort that would draw no attention if tossed into a crowd.

His eyes were still frozen with the unwillingness and confusion from before his death, as though he could not believe he had died just like that.

Zhao Ya began the always-welcome task of looting the corpse.

He soon found a small bundle in the man's robes.

Zhao Ya put on his gloves and opened it. Aside from some loose silver, it contained a thin booklet and a waist token.

The booklet bore no title, but when Zhao Ya opened it, he was delighted to discover that it was actually a qinggong manual.

Thinking of the man's superb qinggong movement technique just now, Zhao Ya knew this was likely the method he had cultivated.

As for the waist token, it was extremely crude, made of wood and carved with several characters.

By moonlight, Zhao Ya saw three large characters in the center.

Swallow Sect.

There was also a line of smaller characters beside them.

Outer Sect Disciple Li Jiqing.

Swallow Sect.

It sounded like a martial arts sect.

Then this man must have been Li Jiqing.

Only this time, he would never have good fortune again.

Zhao Ya put away the token and manual, then picked up the corpse that had been split in two. Finding a gap in the city wall caused by years of disrepair, he tossed the body outside the city.

A moment later, a pack of wild dogs, drawn by the scent of blood, emerged from the darkness and began tearing at it frantically.

With fewer corpses left from last year's refugee disaster, these wild dogs had not been living well either.

So once they got this corpse, they went mad, even tearing each other apart.

Zhao Ya watched silently until the body had been completely torn apart and devoured by the wild dogs, then quietly left.

After all that trouble, it was already very late by the time Zhao Ya returned home.

He first took off his clothes and soaked them in clean water, lest Zui'er smell the blood again.

Then Zhao Ya took out a strip of dried green bamboo snake and eagerly put it into his mouth.

After a few chews, an indescribable fragrance spread through his mouth. Once it entered his stomach, the Food Essence talent activated, first grinding it down before absorbing the blood qi from the dried meat.

It took a full minute before Zhao Ya slowly exhaled, his face filled with joy and satisfaction.

When he had eaten dried earthworm meat before, it had basically been completely absorbed the instant it entered his stomach.

But this dried green bamboo snake took more than a minute to absorb completely, showing just how rich its blood qi was.

[Heart Unlock Progress: 9%]

Zhao Ya's progress had previously been 7%. A single strip of dried meat had increased his heart unlock progress by 2%.

Its effects were terrifyingly potent.

Zhao Ya knew he had struck it rich.

Though the dried green bamboo snake was expensive, it was worth every tael.

In high spirits and without the slightest desire to sleep, Zhao Ya simply took out the qinggong manual and began studying it.

After reading through it once, Zhao Ya fell into thought.

This manual was the Swallow Sect's qinggong movement technique, called Swallow Three Skims the Water, named for the nimble grace of a swallow skimming the water.

But its cultivation method was rather interesting.