Chapter 2538 — A Startling Choice

If anything happened to Yu Ning, the entire Yu family could all die and it still would not be enough to make up for it. That was also why the Hidden Yu family wanted Wei Zhao dead the moment they feared something might develop between Yu Ning and him.

So, to punish Zhao Qibing, Yu Xiaochen picked out two of the five metal-attribute martial techniques he had originally prepared—one the hardest and one the simplest—deliberately making things difficult for Zhao Qibing and leaving him no middle option.

"I see..." Zhao Qibing, suspecting nothing, nodded and took the two martial techniques.

"Of these two techniques, one is very hard to cultivate but very powerful, and the other is easy to cultivate but not especially powerful. The choice is yours," Yu Xiaochen explained.

"All right. Thank you, Uncle." Zhao Qibing first picked up the simple one and began flipping through it. The technique was called *Iron Fist*—as the name suggested, it could make one's fists as hard as iron. But in truth, to an ordinary person iron was already formidable; to a cultivator, however, iron's hardness truly fell short.

Zhao Qibing skimmed a few pages. The technique was indeed easy to cultivate and easy to unleash, but when he saw its power, his face fell. What kind of martial technique was this? The power it unleashed amounted to only two-thirds that of an ordinary technique?

In other words, this technique was far weaker than an ordinary one? Old Bi's Overlord Fist was already a bit weaker than ordinary techniques, but not as weak as this Iron Fist. This was utterly pathetic. No matter how slow Zhao Qibing was, there was no way he would choose this one.

"Uncle, this technique won't do. It's even weaker than our family's Overlord Fist. It's really..." Zhao Qibing said with a bitter smile.

"Oh, that's true enough. But the other technique is powerful—very powerful—though you'll have to pay a certain price for it..." Yu Xiaochen said, pointing to the other book.

"Huh? Is that so..." Zhao Qibing opened the other martial technique and began reading. This one was called *Thousand Legs*. Just the name was immensely domineering, like an extraordinary technique, far more imposing than that Iron Fist!

Reading on to the description of Thousand Legs, Zhao Qibing's heart surged. Extraordinary—truly extraordinary! This Thousand Legs was simply heaven-defying! The first stance alone was equivalent to twice that of an ordinary technique, and as the level rose, each stance was equivalent to one more stance of a normal technique. That is, the first stance equaled two stances, the second equaled three, the third equaled four, and so on.

In this respect, it shared a curious kinship with Wei Zhao's Frenzied Flame Fist—both were among the very finest of martial techniques! Of course, Zhao Qibing's was a little more remarkable than Wei Zhao's in that an ordinary person could achieve this effect simply by cultivating it, whereas Wei Zhao's required mastery to reach the same level—and Qing Bo had clearly never reached it.

Moreover, the more Zhao Qibing read, the more excited he became. This technique was truly remarkable. The second stance being equivalent to the third was one thing, but the crucial point was that the second stance could unleash two techniques at once. That was precisely why it was called Thousand Legs: the first stance could launch one leg, the second two legs, the third three legs, and so on. From this angle, it also resembled Wei Zhao's Forest Phantom Thousand Transformations.

"Uncle, this technique is amazing! It's exactly what I need!" Zhao Qibing said, unable to put the book down.

"Amazing it is, but Qibing, you'd better finish reading the cultivation instructions before you decide whether to practice it." Yu Xiaochen smiled slyly, though on the surface he looked deeply concerned.

"Oh? Is it hard to cultivate, then?" Zhao Qibing had long since steeled himself. "It's fine, Uncle. As long as this technique is truly powerful, no matter how hard it is, I can succeed!"

"Haha, good! I knew you had spirit, Qibing. That's exactly why I brought this technique out for you!" Yu Xiaochen laughed and patted Zhao Qibing on the shoulder.

Zhao Qibing felt rather pleased with himself and continued reading the cultivation method for Thousand Legs, but he had barely read a few lines when his expression changed! The prerequisite for cultivating Thousand Legs was written like this:

"To practice Thousand Legs, one must first break one's legs. Break them nine times to unleash the first stance."

"What? I have to break my legs?" Zhao Qibing stared in astonishment at the cultivation requirements. What kind of martial technique was this? Why would it require breaking one's legs?

"Exactly, which is why I said it's very difficult!" Yu Xiaochen said with earnest gravity. "Only by enduring the bitterest hardship can one rise above others. If you think these conditions are too harsh, Qibing, then you can give up. After all, this is a path that ordinary people cannot endure. You must break your legs nine times to unleash the first stance, and the second and third stances are the same. The more times your legs are broken, the harder they become. At first you can break them yourself, but later on you can only seek out someone stronger to break them for you. So this technique is powerful, yes, but cultivating it is a thousand hardships and ten thousand bitter toils!"

"I see..." Zhao Qibing hesitated for a moment, then thought of something and felt a surge of joy! His legs had already been broken many times—not quite nine, but a few more and he could cultivate it smoothly! At that thought, Zhao Qibing gritted his teeth and said, "Uncle, I'll cultivate this technique. I'm someone who can endure hardship!"

"Oh?" Zhao Qibing's answer stunned Yu Xiaochen! He had assumed that when Zhao Qibing saw such a difficult cultivation method, he would surely shrink back—and then the Hidden Yu family would have an explanation: it wasn't that they hadn't helped, it was simply that Zhao Qibing was too cowardly to cultivate it!

Not only would it strike a blow at Zhao Qibing, it would also give Old Master Zhao cause to reconsider whether to keep backing Zhao Qibing's rise, and it would leave an opportunity for the son of his sister Yu Xiaojin! In Yu Xiaochen's view, Zhao Qibing could not choose the simplest technique, and given his pampered upbringing, he would naturally never break his own legs to cultivate the hard one. But to his surprise, Zhao Qibing had actually chosen this technique, which left him utterly astonished.