"After joining the Brocade Guard for just one year, he had relied on a commonplace copy of 'Body Tempering Fist' to leap across the five gates and reach the peak Divine Treasury Realm. Just how terrifying was that martial talent?"
Lu Xuening could not help but sigh in admiration.
From childhood, she had tempered her sinews and bones in medicinal baths. Once her body had matured, she began practicing martial arts at thirteen. In five years, she had crossed the five gates and reached the peak Divine Treasury Realm.
That speed alone was considered outstanding, but compared to Chen Fan, she was utterly ashamed of her own inferiority!
Knocked to the ground by Chen Fan once again, White Ape endured the searing pain in his body and swiftly climbed to his feet. Then he leaped up, scrambled along the pillars of the hall to the crossbeam, and drew out a pitch-black staff roughly fifteen feet long!
"Even with the Ruyi Jingu Bang in your hands, you still can't become the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!"
Chen Fan grinned at White Ape, who stood hunched over on the crossbeam with the Black Gold Cudgel in hand.
"I admit I underestimated you, but today, you're dead for certain!"
Gripping the Black Gold Cudgel, White Ape sprang into the air and came crashing down, swinging the cudgel straight at Chen Fan!
"Blade Draw Slash!"
Chen Fan drew the Hundred-Refined Embroidered Spring Blade at his waist and unleashed a Blade Draw Slash at the Great Perfection level. With one slash, a streak of cold light burst into existence.
The blade wind howled fiercely, sonic booms rang without end, and terrifying force carried a perfectly unified blade technique straight toward White Ape.
This slash represented Chen Fan's greatest combat power at this very moment. It was as though, after drawing his blade thousands upon thousands of times, he had gathered the Blade Intent of every one of those draws into this single strike!
Clang!
The Hundred-Refined Embroidered Spring Blade collided with the Black Gold Cudgel in White Ape's hand, producing a thunderous metallic roar. Then, with a deafening crack, Chen Fan cleaved the cudgel apart with one slash, his Blade Intent undiminished as it sped toward White Ape's neck!
Splurt!
With a single swing, Chen Fan left a bloody line across White Ape's neck. White Ape's movements came to an abrupt halt, and his massive body seemed to lose all control as it naturally fell from midair. His ten-foot-tall body separated from his head, demon blood gushing from the severed neck and quickly staining a vast stretch of the ground red!
Slain: White Ape Great Demon, fifth gate of the Divine Treasury Realm. Stolen Demonkin Lifespan: ninety-nine years!
"Was the blade technique you used just now really Blade Draw Slash?"
Lu Xuening asked uncertainly.
Though she had never practiced Blade Draw Slash herself, plenty of people did. Even if she had never eaten pork, she had at least seen pigs run.
Chen Fan's slash had clearly carried no weak Blade Intent. To cultivate Blade Draw Slash to the point of producing Blade Intent was simply a fantasy from the heavens!
"Blade Draw Slash at the Great Perfection level!"
Chen Fan corrected Lu Xuening's wording.
"So it was Blade Draw Slash at the Great Perfection level. I really had never seen that before."
Lu Xuening nodded somewhat blankly. After all, no one would be bored enough to cultivate a commonplace Blade Draw Slash to the Great Perfection level.
Today had truly broadened her horizons!
"Do you know anything about the other demons in Ping An County?"
Chen Fan asked.
By now, he had gained a general understanding of his own strength.
As long as they were not great demons of the Divine Aperture Realm, he should be able to kill them. Even great demons at the peak Divine Treasury Realm would be no exception.
Although White Ape had only just stepped into the fifth gate of the Divine Treasury Realm, the Marrow Asura level, and had yet to complete the tempering of all the marrow in his body, Chen Fan had not needed to expend much effort to kill him.
Two punches had hammered him senseless, followed by a single slash that killed him.
Thus, Chen Fan felt that facing a great demon at the peak Divine Treasury Realm should not pose much of a problem. After all, he too was now at the peak Divine Treasury Realm, and he had cultivated all five gates of that realm to their limits. His body was therefore enough to rival a great demon's!
Although Lu Xuening was also a martial artist at the peak Divine Treasury Realm, she was still somewhat inferior to him. From this, he inferred that even Cao De, the Hundred-Household Officer of their Brocade Guard Precinct, might not necessarily be his match!
"Not for the moment."
"The demons that infiltrated Ping An County were all very cautious, and someone was helping cover for them, so it was difficult to discover their tracks."
"This ape demon acted far too ostentatiously and went too far, which was why I managed to follow the vine and trace the melon to him."
Lu Xuening answered upon hearing this.
"A Wangchun Pavilion this large can't possibly have housed only White Ape. Perhaps other demons served under him. Let's search the place and see whether there are any more demons."
Hearing that Lu Xuening did not know the whereabouts of the other demons, Chen Fan lost some of his interest.
He then thought of thoroughly investigating Wangchun Pavilion.
"That makes sense."
Lu Xuening nodded as well.
The two made a round of inspection through Wangchun Pavilion.
Chen Fan found a rat demon and a boar demon, and killed them both cleanly and decisively.
Slain: Black Boar Demon, second gate of the Divine Treasury Realm. Stolen Demonkin Lifespan: thirty-three years! Slain: Rat Demon, first gate of the Divine Treasury Realm. Stolen Demonkin Lifespan: forty-five years!
Meanwhile, Lu Xuening found a fox demon who had become the courtesan queen.
She also found a dog demon guarding the dungeon cages in Wangchun Pavilion's rear courtyard.
Within the dungeon cages of Wangchun Pavilion's rear courtyard were respectable young women who had just been abducted there, as well as women sold into the place by their parents.
As for the women sold to Wangchun Pavilion by their parents, in truth, most of those parents had not genuinely wanted to sell them.
Rather, Wangchun Pavilion had set them up to incur astronomical debts, driving them into a corner with no way out until they could only sell their sons and daughters.
Chen Fan looked at the fox demon and dog demon Lu Xuening had killed and felt a little regretful.
If those two demons had been slain by him, that would have been another two hauls of Demonkin Lifespan.
Still, this trip to Wangchun Pavilion had yielded quite a harvest. They had rescued many innocent people.
They had also killed three demons and obtained a total of one hundred and seventy-seven years of Demonkin Lifespan.
Lu Xuening and Chen Fan directly tossed the corpses of the slain demons into the main hall.
The guests of Wangchun Pavilion were dispersed by them, and before long, people from both the county yamen and the Brocade Guard arrived.
This time, Chief Squad Leader Li Mo of the Brocade Guard led the group.
He had brought several trusted Squad Leaders and Brocade Guard members under his command.
The yamen personnel, meanwhile, had been summoned by Lu Xuening in her capacity as a constable chief.
Slaying demons and ghosts was the duty of the Brocade Guard. Wangchun Pavilion not only harbored demons and ghosts, but also human accomplices who forced decent women into prostitution and harmed the common people.
Thus, it was only natural for the yamen to intervene as well.
In fact, Brocade Guard members and local yamen often handled cases jointly. After all, the departments with jurisdiction over a demon case usually included both of them, and the interests involved encompassed both demons and victims.
"Your subordinate, Chen Fan, greets Chief Squad Leader Li!"
When Chen Fan saw Li Mo arrive, he stepped forward, cupped his hands, and bowed.
"You're from Ninth Squad?"
Li Mo glanced at Chen Fan, then nodded.
The Brocade Guard Precinct had two Chief Squad Leaders in total. Although they could mobilize any squad, there were always those closer and those more distant.
For example, Chen Fan's immediate superior, Wang Chao, was closer to Huang Chengyue.
As a result, Li Mo rarely called upon members of Ninth Squad to assist with his affairs.
Thus, he only had a vague impression of Chen Fan, a member of Ninth Squad. After all, Chen Fan was not a longtime Brocade Guard member; he had only joined the Brocade Guard last year.
"Yes."
Chen Fan replied.
"Return to your squad first."
Li Mo nodded upon hearing that.
He did not care why Chen Fan had appeared at Wangchun Pavilion.
But since Chen Fan had taken the initiative to step forward, Li Mo could not very well slight him.
As for Chen Fan killing the White Ape Great Demon, Lu Xuening had already helped him keep it secret at Chen Fan's request.
Someone was targeting him from the shadows. He had previously believed it was Huang Chengyue.
But Lu Xuening had vouched for Huang Chengyue, and Chen Fan had secretly followed Huang Chengyue for several days without discovering any sign that he was colluding with demons.
So Chen Fan felt that he had suspected the wrong person.
Before you continue