Slaying the Crimson Serpent Demon!

After talking with Wang Chao until deep into the night, Wang Chao finally confirmed that there was nothing wrong with Chen Fan's body before getting up to go home.

He had joined the Brocade Guard at eighteen and had now served for twenty years. At his age, if he could not break through to the fourth stage of the Divine Treasury Realm within the next two or three years, it would be difficult for him to advance another step.

But he had come to terms with it. Now, he had a wife, children, and a warm bed; he ate the emperor's grain and earned a generous salary. Though slaying demons and eliminating monsters was dangerous, he had fortunately survived these years without mishap. As for promotion, he no longer cared.

After seeing Wang Chao off, Chen Fan briefly washed up, rinsing away the demon blood covering his body and washing his clothes as well. He busied himself until the middle of the night before finally closing his door and preparing to fall into a deep sleep.

The moment he lay down, he felt something cold and squirming against him. His hair stood on end, and he rolled off the bed almost instantly, snatching up the Hundred-Refined Embroidered Spring Blade from the table!

"Who is it?"

By the dim moonlight, he saw a huge crimson snake crawling out from his bed, its entire body covered in black spots.

The giant snake flicked its tongue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly upon Chen Fan.

The next moment, the giant snake transformed into a voluptuous woman with a curvaceous figure.

Crimson scales covered her body, as though she wore a layer of indestructible armor.

"This humble one is Crimson Serpent. Greetings, young sir."

The beautiful snake gazed at Chen Fan and spoke in an exceedingly seductive voice.

"You brazen demon, how dare you break into Brocade Guard grounds!"

"Watch me cut you down!"

Chen Fan shouted furiously, drew the Hundred-Refined Embroidered Spring Blade, and leaped forward, slashing directly at the Crimson Serpent Demon without the slightest hesitation—decisive and ruthless!

He mobilized his qi and blood. His tendons and bones thundered, his flesh swelled high, and as the Embroidered Spring Blade descended, it carried a biting gale and gave off a piercing roar!

"Damn it, why is he at the fourth stage of the Divine Treasury Realm?!"

"How is that possible?"

Crimson Serpent's expression changed drastically as she raised her right hand.

The scales on her right hand and arm grew more numerous and denser, eventually forming thick crimson armor that forcibly blocked Chen Fan's strike.

But Chen Fan twisted his blade and unleashed Blade Draw Slash, cutting along Crimson Serpent's arm before slashing toward her neck once more!

Splat!

Chen Fan's blade fell, severing the Crimson Serpent Demon's head in a single strike.

The Crimson Serpent Demon's eyes were wide open, unwilling to close even in death.

Even as she died, she did not understand how she had died.

Someone had clearly paid a hefty price for her to kill a Brocade Guard officer at the first stage of the Divine Treasury Realm who was already on the brink of death, while also using her seduction arts to interrogate him about a few matters.

Yet she had merely announced her name before he let out a vigorous roar and cleanly cut her down in two swift strokes.

Her strength was comparable to the second-stage Divine Treasury Realm, the Bone Vajra level. But because her transformation arts and seduction arts were exceptional, she had been sent to carry out this simple assassination.

Who could have imagined that the intelligence would be so wildly wrong? Her target was brimming with life and was even a ruthless expert at the fourth stage of the Divine Treasury Realm!

Slain the second-stage Divine Treasury Realm Crimson Serpent Demon. Stolen lifespan: sixty-six years!

Name: Chen Fan

Realm: Divine Treasury Realm (Fourth Stage: Blood Martial Saint)

Techniques: "Body Tempering Fist" (Mastery), "Blade Draw Slash" (Minor Accomplishment)

Current Remaining Lifespan: Fifty Years

Current Demonkin Lifespan: Sixty-Six Years

Chen Fan looked at the Attribute Panel. His Demonkin Lifespan had increased by another sixty-six years. Just as he had grown sleepy, someone had brought him a pillow.

He had been worrying about where to find demons to slay and steal Demonkin Lifespan from in order to deduce his martial arts, yet one had come to him now.

During the day, people still handled affairs or stood watch in the Brocade Guard Precinct. At night, those who patrolled went on patrol, and those who went home went home. There were hardly any people left.

It had to be said that the Crimson Serpent Demon had chosen her timing well.

The commotion from Chen Fan slaying the Crimson Serpent Demon had not been too great, but the two roars he had let out beforehand had directly jolted awake several Brocade Guard officers in the precinct.

"What happened?"

"Where's the demon?"

"..."

Chen Fan pushed open the door, threw the more than ten-meter-long giant python outside, and called out loudly:

"Brothers, this snake demon entered my room in the middle of the night to kill me, but I killed her instead."

"I startled everyone. Sorry for the trouble!"

Upon hearing this, everyone hurried toward Chen Fan's residence. At that moment, including Chen Fan, only seven Brocade Guard officers remained in the Centurion Office.

"Such a huge snake demon?"

"Isn't that Chen Fan? Didn't they say he was about to die?"

"At the Martial Arts Field during the day, he looked half-dead. Why does he look so much better now? Could it be a final flash before death?"

"The Brocade Guard Precinct was built near the outskirts of the county town, so it was not particularly safe to begin with. It is perfectly normal for a snake demon to follow the scent of humans inside at night."

"Didn't a Wolf Demon break into the Martial Arts Field two years ago and bite two Brocade Guard brothers to death?"

"The night is a paradise for demons, monsters, ghosts, and fiends. Looks like we should still go home at night. Staying in this Centurion Office is far too dangerous."

"We're too stifled. We're Brocade Guard—we monitor Aristocratic Clans and sects, slay demons and monsters—yet demons keep breaking into our very headquarters time and again."

"Ping An County is a remote border county, after all. It is only natural that there are more demons here and the Brocade Guard's power is weaker."

"If this were a prefectural city's Brocade Guard Thousand Household Office, or a provincial capital's Brocade Guard Myriad Household Garrison, demons and ghosts would have to walk around it."

"It's getting late. Since the snake demon has been killed, everyone should disperse. Go back and sleep early—we still have roll call tomorrow!"

"..."

After exchanging a few words with Chen Fan, these people returned to their residences to sleep.

"Was it really a coincidence?"

"Why do I feel that the Crimson Serpent Demon came specifically for me?"

"Forget it. Since I have Demonkin Lifespan now, deducing my martial arts and strengthening myself is the true path!"

"If I reach the peak Divine Treasury Realm, wouldn't I be able to swagger through Ping An County sideways?"

"And I encountered a snake demon just from sleeping. Who knows when I might run into some terrifying great demon and be swallowed whole in one bite."

"In a world where demons run rampant, only by constantly improving my strength can I survive!"

"Next, I should improve my martial techniques. My methods for facing enemies are still too limited, and not powerful enough."

Chen Fan thought for a moment. Then, with a thought, he summoned the Attribute Panel and began consuming Demonkin Lifespan to deduce his martial technique, "Blade Draw Slash."

You practiced "Blade Draw Slash" bitterly, drawing your blade ten thousand times a day. At last, in the fifth year, you cultivated "Blade Draw Slash" to Major Accomplishment!

You continued practicing "Blade Draw Slash," drawing your blade one hundred thousand times a day. In the tenth year, you cultivated "Blade Draw Slash" to Mastery. You felt that there was nothing in this world your blade could not cut through. If one slash was not enough, then use two!

"Blade Draw Slash" (Mastery)

After consuming ten years of Demonkin Lifespan, Chen Fan finally elevated the only martial technique in his possession, "Blade Draw Slash," to the Mastery level.

For a moment, countless insights flashed through his mind. He was like a swordsman who had practiced the blade for ten years—if he did not strike, so be it, but once he did, it was thunderous fury, a single blow to kill!

"If I faced that Crimson Serpent Demon again now, I would need only one strike to separate her head from her body and kill her instantly!"

Chen Fan's eyes gleamed as he spoke with complete confidence.

However, judging from his cultivation of "Body Tempering Fist" and "Blade Draw Slash," he truly was not some peerless genius. For "Blade Draw Slash," a blade art with only a single killing move, he had needed ten years to cultivate it to Mastery.

As for "Body Tempering Fist," he had needed a full twenty years to cultivate it to Mastery. It had truly been too arduous.

Even if his aptitude was not poor, he was merely of average talent—lacking when compared to those above, yet better than those below.

Without the Attribute Panel, he likely would never have broken through to the peak Divine Treasury Realm before his death.

This was also the true portrait of the vast majority of Brocade Guard officers stationed in county towns.