The long saber cleaved through the sky, slashing at the demon's head with the speed of lightning, too swift to cover one's ears.
"Splat!"
More than half of the pig head fell to the ground. Brain matter sprayed everywhere, and every flower and blade of grass it touched withered away.
All kinds of maggots writhed within the pig brain, desperately burrowing deeper into the marrow, but it was all in vain. Upon touching the air, they rapidly died and turned into shriveled insect husks.
Half the pig demon's face was laughing wildly, while the other half was frozen in terror. It had not even seen when Chu Jiang drew his blade. Everything had happened too fast for it to react.
Half laughter, half terror—perhaps only the pig demon itself understood the despair of that moment.
Chu Jiang breathed in the blood stench hanging in the air. This was his first time killing a demon, yet he felt no discomfort at all. Instead, he was somewhat excited.
At the very instant the demon died, a message suddenly appeared on the panel in his mind.
[Void Rank Pig Demon, cultivated for sixty years, remaining lifespan: seventy-one years, fully absorbed] [Demon Lifespan: seventy-one years] [Own Lifespan: ten years] [Demon Lifespan can accelerate martial arts progress, or be converted into one's own lifespan at a ratio of one-tenth] (Demons are divided into Void Rank, Nether Rank, Grievance Tier, Fiend Tier, and Underworld Tier)
Seeing some of his lifespan restored, Chu Jiang felt slightly relieved.
His breakthrough in realm had probably given him a little health back.
Otherwise, the feeling that he could die at any moment had made him extremely uncomfortable.
But he suppressed the urge to convert the Demon Lifespan into his own lifespan.
In this damned world, strength was the foremost consideration. He could convert it into his own lifespan once he had Demon Lifespan to spare.
The Sun Gathering Art had already improved greatly. It was time to improve his saber technique.
Otherwise, he would have a body full of combat power but be unable to unleash it fully.
If he could deduce the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique to perfection, or even the Transformation Realm, his combat strength would surely soar.
[You diligently cultivated the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique and broke through to the major achievement realm in the ninth year] [You continued cultivating day and night. In the twenty-first year, your Demon Suppressing Saber Technique came infinitely close to perfection, but every attempt fell just a tiny bit short] [In the twenty-third year, relentless day-and-night training failed to break the bottleneck of your Demon Suppressing Saber Technique. Instead, you fell into an obsession and could not extricate yourself] [In the twenty-seventh year, after deeply reflecting on your pain, you calmed your heart and no longer pursued the perfection of forms, instead seeking to comprehend something deeper] [In the thirty-third year, a flash of inspiration crossed your mind, allowing you to step directly into the realm of perfection as though enlightened to the Dao] [In the thirty-eighth year, you pondered bitterly, hoping to make that flash of inspiration reappear. A voice in your heart told you that if you could seize that flash and comprehend it fully, you would undergo a transformation] [In the forty-fifth year, the flash of inspiration you had pursued so bitterly never appeared. It was as though that moment of brilliance had been Heaven's favor, granted only once to each person] [In the fifty-seventh year, your Demon Suppressing Saber Technique took another half-step beyond perfection. That new realm was close enough to touch] [In the sixty-second year, your accumulated foundation burst forth, and the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique broke through into an entirely new domain] [Houtian martial arts: Demon Suppressing Saber Technique (Transformation Realm)] [Demon Lifespan: nine years] [Own Lifespan: ten years]
The saber in Chu Jiang's hand seemed as though it had accompanied him through decades of slaughter. Like a grandmaster of the saber path, every slash and every stance carried immense might.
"Feels great!"
Breaking through with the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique into the Transformation Realm had also increased his vitality and blood, though not nearly as noticeably as the Sun Gathering Art.
The two had different areas of focus.
Steadying his mind, Chu Jiang looked into the distance. His eyes could see farther, and his ears could hear farther.
The evolution of his physique left his entire body feeling incomparably refreshed.
Just then, a girl of about sixteen or seventeen suddenly ran madly toward Chu Jiang from nearby. Tears streamed down her face as she wailed in a heart-wrenching sob, "Lord Chu, the demon is about to eat my mother! Please, save my mother! Please? If you can save her, I'll give you anything you want!"
She wore ragged clothes, and her face was streaked with blood. Her expression carried a desperate scream, yet also a one-in-ten-thousand sliver of hope.
She had heard some rumors about Lord Chu and the demons as well. Whenever Lord Chu and a demon appeared together, it meant death and destruction.
Calling him an executioner would not have been excessive.
There was already no way out. Although she did not know why Lord Chu had fallen out with the demon—
This was their only chance to live, however slight it might be.
She only wanted to survive, to survive together with her mother.
Her father had died in the campaign to suppress demons. She could not lose her mother too.
Born in these troubled times, squeezed dry by the authorities and ravaged by demons, her life had already been bitter beyond measure.
For her, simply staying alive had never been easy.
Yet even that had become a luxury.
Watching the girl continuously kowtow, Chu Jiang helped her up.
"Take me there, quickly!"
Wasn't this like someone delivering a pillow just as he wanted to sleep?
Having just tasted the sweetness of slaying demons, he naturally would not let this chance slip by.
Hearing Chu Jiang's answer—
The girl cried. Tears of joy streamed down her face as all manner of emotions surfaced there.
They were complicated.
She kept thanking him. This time, she had come prepared to die. It had been a gamble from the beginning.
No matter what had happened between the demon and Lord Chu, she was now the only witness.
Either Lord Chu would silence her forever—
Or Lord Chu would show mercy and spare her, only for the demon to eat her.
As for asking Lord Chu to save her mother, the chance of success had been less than one in ten thousand.
It was even harder than making a bandit guilty of every imaginable crime suddenly become a good man.
The first two possibilities had clearly been more likely.
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But she had won her gamble.
For the sake of her mother, she had no room to choose otherwise.
In another courtyard of the village.
Half an incense stick earlier.
A sheep's head drifted lazily through the courtyard. Its head was pure white and flawless, its wool combed neat and tidy, flowing in the wind.
If not for the insubstantial lower half of its body, it looked like a clean and proper sheep on the surface, forming a sharp contrast with the pig demon's slovenliness and grease-smeared mouth.
The sheep demon's gaze gradually lowered. Rubbing its palms together, it let out a spine-chilling laugh. "Hehehe... Have you all hidden yourselves properly? Next, Big Brother Sheep is coming to catch you!" Its voice revealed uncontrollable excitement and anticipation.
As its words fell, the sheep demon moved its feet and slowly walked forward, every step carrying an eerie rhythm.
The people hiding in the dark—some in cellars, some in wells, some inside water jars—trembled in fear with every step the sheep demon took.
They were terrified of being the first one discovered.
The sheep demon differed from the pig demon. The pig demon only knew how to kill people brutally, tearing them into four pieces before eating them.
The sheep demon also ate people, but called it fairness. It gave people hope: anyone who survived its game would not be killed. Only those who failed would become its food.
The sheep demon enjoyed the process of its prey waiting to die. It thrilled the creature.
Having said that, the sheep demon slapped open the roof of a shed, revealing a gaunt middle-aged man inside. He was curled up, trembling all over.
The moment he saw the demon, he despaired.
"Lord Demon, spare my life! You are magnanimous and merciful! From now on, I'll burn incense and make offerings to you every single day!"
The gaunt middle-aged man begged without cease, pleading for the demon to spare him.
The sheep demon remained unmoved by the man's begging and instead revealed a dissatisfied look. "Blame yourself for not hiding well enough. Since you lost the game, you must accept punishment. Why are you crying and whining? Do you know you've made me unhappy?"
"Die!"
A vicious gleam flashed in the sheep demon's eyes. It extended its furry claw and, without the slightest hesitation, thrust it into the middle-aged man's chest cavity, forcibly tearing out his heart!
The still-beating heart was tightly gripped in the sheep demon's hand. Blood dripped from its fingertips, dyeing the ground beneath its feet red.
As for the pitiful middle-aged man, he stared wide-eyed in horror at his own chest before falling straight backward, never breathing again.
The sheep demon opened its bloody maw and swallowed the still-beating heart without hesitation.
As the heart was completely devoured, an expression of satisfaction and delight appeared on the sheep demon's face, as though it had received tremendous nourishment.
"Next, it's your turn!"
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