Still Not Enough

Shen Che rolled his neck, producing a string of crisp bone cracks.

He crooked a finger at the Blood Scale Demonic Beast.

"You sure do talk a lot."

"You're courting death!"

The Blood Scale Demonic Beast's laughter came to an abrupt halt, replaced by towering fury.

A blood-colored afterimage exploded from where he stood.

In the next instant, he was already before Shen Che. His scaled right fist carried a foul wind as it smashed fiercely toward Shen Che's face!

This punch was enough to blast apart a city wall!

Shen Che neither dodged nor retreated.

The Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt were both driven to their limits.

The blood and qi within him surged and roared like mighty rivers. The muscles across his body bulged in an instant, and a dark golden sheen spread over his skin, making him look like a demon god cast from metal.

He raised his fist as well and met the attack head-on with an utterly ordinary punch.

Boom!!!

A deafening explosion rang out, as though two meteorite-iron masses flying at high speed had collided.

A terrifying shockwave burst outward from the two of them, flinging every stone and cloud of dust from the ground into the air.

Even the poisoned Li brothers lying in the distance were blown backward by the fierce wind.

Crack!

Web-like fissures crazily spread through the ground beneath their feet.

Shen Che's body swayed, and he staggered back three steps.

Each step left a footprint several inches deep in the hard ground.

"Hm?"

The Blood Scale Demonic Beast was somewhat surprised.

His punch contained the savage power of Demon Race bloodlines. Human Race martial artists of the same realm simply could not take it head-on.

Yet this human at the Body Tempering Realm had only been forced back three steps?

"You've got some brute strength."

The Blood Scale Demonic Beast let out a feral grin and attacked again.

"But strength alone isn't enough!"

Taking advantage of Shen Che's unsteady footing, he curled his five fingers into claws. Demonic qi gathered at his fingertips, glowing with an ominous red light.

"Blood Grasping Claw!"

With one swipe, five shrill tearing sounds ripped through the air as the claws shot straight for Shen Che's chest.

This was his famed killing move, capable of easily rending even ordinary steel.

Yet Shen Che still did not dodge.

He could not even be bothered to raise a hand to block.

Riiip—!

A crisp sound like cloth tearing rang out.

The black robe over Shen Che's chest was shredded to pieces by the claws, exposing the bronze-colored skin beneath.

Five clear white marks slowly emerged across his skin. Then, before the Blood Scale Demonic Beast's disbelieving eyes, they rapidly vanished.

It had not even broken the skin.

"H-How is that possible?!"

The Blood Scale Demonic Beast was completely dumbfounded.

His claw strike, capable of tearing gold and splitting iron, could not break through the defense of a Body Tempering Realm human?

What the hell kind of monster was this? Was he cheating?!

Shen Che lowered his head and glanced at the white marks on his chest, secretly letting out a breath of relief.

Good thing he had maxed out Iron Shirt too.

The Golden Bell Shield protected the inside, while Iron Shirt protected the outside. One hard, one soft; yin and yang complementing each other. The defense they formed was far more than simple addition.

With this level of defense, let alone someone at the eleventh meridian of the True Meridian Realm, even a martial artist at True Meridian Realm completion would struggle to injure him.

Shen Che did not wish to waste any more time.

His right hand gripped the hilt of the Black Tiger Saber at his waist.

The moment he grasped the hilt, his entire aura changed abruptly.

If he had previously been an unshakable boulder, then now he was an unrivaled fierce tiger awakening from slumber!

An invisible, razor-sharp aura spread from his body.

Saber Intent!

"Tiger Fiend!"

With a low shout, the saber left its sheath!

There was no dazzling saber light, nor any ornate maneuver.

There was only a jet-black killing intent that burst from the blade, gathering in midair into a savage roaring black demon tiger that pounced down upon the Blood Scale Demonic Beast!

This was the strongest killing move that could only be unleashed after cultivating the Black Tiger Saber Technique to the perfected sixth level and comprehending the rudiments of Saber Intent.

"Not good!"

The instant the black demon tiger appeared, every scale on the Blood Scale Demonic Beast's body stood on end. Terror from the depths of his soul made his spirit nearly leave his body.

He wanted to dodge.

But that sharp Saber Intent had already locked onto him completely. His body seemed frozen in place, unable to move.

He could only watch helplessly as the demon tiger condensed from killing intent passed through his body.

A soft sound rang out.

The terrified expression on the Blood Scale Demonic Beast's face froze.

He lowered his head to look at his chest, where a thin line of blood had appeared.

The bloodline rapidly widened.

The next second, his entire upper body smoothly separated from his lower body at the chest, the cross-section smooth as a mirror.

A mass of organs and blood spilled onto the ground with a splash.

[Absorption successful. Time Value obtained: 200.]

The system prompt sounded pleasing to the ear.

Silence.

The entire Wang Family Village once again fell into deathly stillness.

The Li brothers looked like two stone statues. One lay prone, while the other sat half-upright, their mouths hanging wide enough to swallow an entire fist.

Their minds had completely crashed.

What had just happened?

A General-level Demonic Beast at the eleventh meridian of the True Meridian Realm, nearly at completion... had been killed in one strike?

By a junior brother at the Body Tempering Realm?

Was this world becoming a little too insane?

Zhang Hao, who had been wailing on the ground, stopped screaming as well.

One slash...

That was a demonic beast capable of slaughtering even Cangyun City's elite Prefectural Guards!

Shen Che sheathed his saber, his movements as smooth as drifting clouds and flowing water.

He turned and walked toward Zhang Hao, who had collapsed limply on the ground.

"I remember you said you were going to flay me alive?"

Shen Che's voice was calm.

Yet to Zhang Hao's ears, that calm voice was more terrifying than the howls of evil ghosts beneath the Nine Netherworlds.

"No! That's not it! My lord! Spare me, my lord!"

Zhang Hao was scared out of his wits. Ignoring the agonizing pain of his severed arm, he knelt on the ground, kowtowing and crying out.

"They forced me! The demonic beasts forced me! If I didn't do as they said, they would massacre all of Qingxi County! I... I had no choice!"

"The antidote."

Shen Che could not be bothered to listen to his nonsense.

"Huh? Wh-what antidote?"

"The antidote for the poison in the Li brothers."

"Yes! Yes! It's on me!"

As though granted a pardon, Zhang Hao hurriedly pulled a small porcelain bottle from his robe and tremblingly offered it over with his uninjured hand.

Killing this man would be letting him off too easily.

He had colluded with demonic beasts and harmed his colleagues. Escorting him back to the Demon Suppression Division for internal judgment would not only maximize the credit, but also let him taste the Demon Suppression Division's brutal punishments.

Holding the antidote, Shen Che returned to the Li brothers and fed it to them separately.

The medicine worked quickly.

In less than a moment, Li Zimo and Li Zifeng felt the twisting pain in their stomachs fade, and strength returned to their limbs.

The two struggled to their feet and walked before Shen Che. Without a word, they gave him a deep ninety-degree bow.

"Junior Brother Shen, words cannot express our gratitude for your great kindness!"

Li Zimo's tone was filled with gratitude and guilt.

"Before this, I failed to recognize Mount Tai before my eyes and nearly harmed you, Junior Brother. Please punish me!"

Li Zifeng, a towering man like an iron pagoda, had also flushed red. In a muffled voice, he said, "I'm a rough man and don't know how to talk. From now on, if you have any orders at all, Junior Brother, then if I, Li Zifeng, so much as furrow my brow, I wasn't born of a mother!"

"It was nothing."

Shen Che waved his hand.

The three men tied up Zhang Hao like a dead dog, threw him onto a horse, and set off through the night for Cangyun City.

Two days later.

Demon Suppression Division, Cangyun City.

When Director Yan saw Shen Che and the other two escorting back Zhang Hao, the Qingxi County magistrate who had lost an arm, he was completely stunned.

After listening to Li Zimo's detailed account of the mission—especially Shen Che's feat of killing three General-level Demonic Beasts in succession while at the Body Tempering Realm—Director Yan's hand holding his teacup remained suspended in midair for a long while.

He stared at Shen Che as though looking at a monster.

The promotion mission had been completed perfectly.

Shen Che, Li Zimo, and Li Zifeng were all promoted to official Demon Queller Envoys.

After returning to his own small courtyard.

Shen Che closed the courtyard gate and immediately opened the system panel.

[Host: Shen Che]

[Time Value: 580]

[Techniques:]

[Black Tiger Saber Technique (Sixth Level) (Cannot be improved for now)]

[Golden Bell Shield (Thirteenth Level) +]

[Iron Shirt (Tenth Level) (Cannot be improved for now)]

Looking at the number in the Time Value field, Shen Che was in an excellent mood.

Without hesitation, he focused his thoughts on the plus sign after Golden Bell Shield.

"System, improve it for me!"

[Insufficient Time Value.]

The smile on Shen Che's face froze.