The tiger was king of all beasts!
An adult tiger's physical structure—its skin, flesh, tendons, and bones, its organs, vital energy, and blood—was all honed to the utmost extreme!
Such a ferocious beast was born a hunter. Once fully grown, it was practically equivalent to a martial artist of Inner Strength First Rank—the limit of the Human Body, the pinnacle of Martial Arts!
In his previous life, in Water Margin, Wu Song had been a God or Devil descended into the mortal world. He was burly and born with divine strength, but after beating a tiger to death, he had been able to boast about it for the rest of his life.
Later generations often discussed this tale. Basically, everyone believed that no matter how powerful a person was, no matter how formidable a martial artist was, they could never beat an adult tiger to death.
But the tiger before him had already become a spirit!
A Demon Tiger!
It was no longer something human strength could contend with!
Even a martial artist like Lin Yan, who had reached Inner Strength First Rank and could be called the limit of the Human Body's strength, was likewise no match for it.
"Then I'll just have to break through to the Essence Refining Realm."
Lin Yan drew a deep breath and swung his long blade.
Just now, after killing thirty-three Wraiths, he had obtained thirty-three strands of Killing Intent!
He added two strands of Killing Intent to his cultivation.
Name: Lin Yan. Cultivation: Essence Refining Realm (1/3650)+ Divine Ability 1: Devour Baleful Intent! Divine Ability 2: Demon Suppression! Techniques: Thunder Blade, First Stage (87/100)+ Paper Cut into Horse (12/100)+ Disguise Technique (67/100)+ Breath Concealment Technique (21/100)+ Killing Intent: 31 strands.
In an instant!
It was as though a spring had welled up within him, flowing through his entire body.
At that moment, Lin Yan's eyes grew even brighter.
In a daze, candlelight was reflected in his pupils, as though divine radiance were bursting forth.
He felt his physique gradually becoming denser and more solid.
From the skin outside to the flesh, tendons, and bones within, along with his five viscera and six bowels, everything was connected inside and out.
He felt his strength growing at an astonishingly obvious rate. Even the blade in his hand seemed to become much lighter in an instant.
The eleven ranks of martial artists.
Skin, flesh, tendons, bones.
Refining the blood, washing the marrow.
The heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.
When the five viscera had been cultivated until they were fully connected, that was Inner Strength perfected—a martial artist of First Rank!
And today, his inner and outer selves had fused into one. His entire body was as one; his body was like iron, tempered a hundred times into steel!
At that moment, his vital force surged endlessly, like a spring gushing forth!
"Now I've become a spirit too!"
Lin Yan gripped his blade, assumed a stance, and said in a deep voice, "Old demon! Come at me!"
In an instant, a tiger's roar thundered through the mountains and forests!
A gale suddenly rose, sending sand flying and stones rolling!
After breaking through to the Essence Refining Realm, his eyes had become torches, allowing him to see the night as clearly as day.
But at this moment, dust flew everywhere, blurring his vision.
He could not see what lay ahead, but a fierce gale came rushing toward him, ferocious beyond compare.
Lin Yan's gaze sharpened. Holding his blade, he leaped up and cleaved downward.
Boom!
A heavy impact traveled through the blade!
He focused his vital force into his eyes and discovered that what he had shattered was a huge rock hurtling toward him.
He had fallen for it!
The Demon Tiger had become a spirit—it was cunning and treacherous!
Alarm bells rang in Lin Yan's heart. The instant he landed, he rolled along the ground and shifted to the left.
Bang! A muffled impact rang out!
When he looked up, he saw a tiger pouncing down where he had landed!
The ground collapsed in an instant!
The surrounding earth split apart at once, the cracks spreading outward!
This showed just how tremendous the Demon Tiger's strength was when it threw itself forward with all its might!
"Though the tiger is old, it must have been a spirit for a long time."
Thoughts raced through Lin Yan's mind as he mused, I've only just entered the Essence Refining Realm, and my cultivation is far inferior to its own. But it's old and nearing the end of its life, so it's no longer agile.
His current situation.
He was weaker than the tiger.
But he was more agile than the old demon.
The more troublesome matter was that this old tiger was no longer an ordinary beast. It was crafty and sly, constantly shifting between feints and real attacks.
With only one exchange, he had nearly fallen for its trick!
His heart turned cold. Holding his blade, he retreated.
Sure enough, the tiger roared, shaking the heart and soul, sending sand flying and stones rolling!
In the blink of an eye, a vast swath of sand had been kicked up, covering the place where he had stood moments ago!
If he had not retreated ahead of time, he would have been buried alive!
Yet beyond the sand, the Demon Tiger did not pounce over to kill him.
Once the smoke and dust had scattered, the night remained.
The Demon Tiger had vanished without a trace.
But the chill in Lin Yan's heart did not fade in the slightest.
The night was silent, and the night breeze brushed lightly past.
A faint breeze swept toward his face.
"Something's wrong!"
Lin Yan was fully alert. Acting on instinct, he was about to brace himself and slash forward.
But he had rich experience in killing enemies. Restraining his instinct to counterattack, he immediately threw himself forward.
A gale suddenly rose behind him. Without him realizing it, the Demon Tiger had already circled behind him and concealed itself in the brush.
Although the Demon Tiger was huge, hunters were most skilled at concealment. They crawled forward, waiting for the right moment to strike!
But Lin Yan still evaded this pounce.
The Demon Tiger was still in midair, not yet having landed.
But Lin Yan had already turned around and moved behind it at astonishing speed.
Before he had time to draw his blade, he saw the Demon Tiger press its forelegs against the ground and raise its rear half.
It hoisted up the back half of its body and kicked backward with both legs!
Lin Yan hurriedly stopped himself and avoided the sweeping kick.
But then he saw the Demon Tiger's tail rise like an iron rod and sweep horizontally toward him, tearing through the air.
Lin Yan was struck and swept savagely across the waist, his body severed in two!
Yet before joy could rise in the Demon Tiger's eyes, it saw the two halves of the human body turn into papers filling the sky, drifting down like snowflakes!
Paper Cut into Horse! An illusion!
Suddenly, a peal of thunder rang out!
"Old demon, take my blade!"
Lin Yan rose ferociously from where he had been lying prone in the dust.
Nine Heavens Thunder Blade, First Blade!
In the cold night, the blade's radiance shone clear, like a flash of lightning streaking across the sky!
The tough muscles and bones were as fragile as rotten wood beneath the blade's edge!
Bang!
The enormous tiger's head was cleaved down into the dust.
"..."
Lin Yan had put everything he had into that single blade. He panted unevenly, barely able to remain standing.
Knowing that the gap in cultivation was enormous, he had just added all thirty-one remaining strands of Killing Intent to his cultivation, yet he still could not reverse the situation.
Thus, he had added eighteen strands of Killing Intent to his mastery of "Paper Cut into Horse," reaching the "proficient" level and using it to bewilder the tiger.
And fearing that his blade technique would not be powerful enough, he had added the final thirteen strands of Killing Intent entirely to his mastery of the blade technique.
More importantly, the Demon Tiger was old and nearing the end of its life. After that pounce, that sweep, and that feint, it had already exhausted its strength.
Its old strength had faded, while its new strength had yet to arise. In that moment of weakness, he had found an opening.
Finally, with the enhancement of the Demon Suppression Divine Ability, he had managed to kill it with one blade, slaying the Demon Tiger here!
He looked at the Demon Tiger, its head separated from its body, and drew a deep breath. It isn't only you old demon who knows how to use tricks!
He slowly closed his eyes and took a look.
By slaying the Demon Tiger here, he had obtained fifty-three strands of Killing Intent.
Adding in the Wraiths from earlier, he now had as many as eighty-six strands of Killing Intent.
If the tiger had not been old and decrepit, the amount would certainly have been even greater.
One had to understand that a martial artist who had cultivated the four realms of skin, flesh, tendons, and bones already counted as an expert, yet killing one only yielded three strands of Killing Intent.
The gains from slaying a demon were greater than he had expected.
Thinking this, he mused, "Besides, a tiger that has become a spirit is treasure from head to toe... Its skin, flesh, tendons, and bones are all tremendously useful. Its tiger blood, in particular, can be made into candles, becoming an ultimate treasure for Evil Warding. Placed in the wilderness, they're far more effective than the candles and incense in the Willow Venerable Temple—who knows how many times more effective."
He had originally been a butcher. At that moment, he planned to recover a little strength before butchering the Demon Tiger and cutting apart its skin, flesh, tendons, and bones.
"Hmm?"
But at that very moment, he suddenly felt a sense of unease.
His heart turned cold. He abruptly flipped backward and leaped away.
After somersaulting three times, he was already eighteen paces away. Looking ahead, uncontrollable terror rose in his eyes.
He saw the headless remains of the Demon Tiger sway unsteadily and climb up from the ground.
Blood gushed from the neck of the headless tiger's body like a spring.
But at that moment, the gushing blood gradually turned black.
Black patterns spread across the tiger's body, extending into strand after strand of branches that waved in the air.
In the blink of an eye, the Demon Tiger was covered from head to toe in black branches, which tore open its flesh.
Its tiger bones were visible to the naked eye.
Black blood flowed freely.
Beneath the split tiger hide, its muscles and flesh still twitched and writhed, as though countless worms were struggling within.
The scene before him was grim and terrifying. One glance was enough to make his scalp prickle.
Had this Demon Tiger already been possessed by evil while it was still alive?
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