Tigers were creatures of utmost yang and unyielding strength.
Even without becoming spirits, they were still the kings of all beasts.
They were born with an overwhelming ferocity, and ordinary evil entities simply dared not approach them.
As for ordinary wild beasts and birds, creatures such as deer, sheep, rabbits, and squirrels—even if they had already become spirits and demons, they might not dare approach a fierce tiger that had yet to become a spirit.
That was Tiger's Might!
Earlier, Lin Yan had even considered using its blood fat to make lamp oil, so he could ward off evil and protect his home.
But now, this tiger—which had already become a spirit and was naturally a sacred object for warding off evil—had actually been possessed by evil?
What kind of evil entity could corrode a tiger king that had already become a spirit?
"..."
Lin Yan tightened his grip on his saber and stared at the grotesque "evil thing" before him, retreating constantly.
He had just cut off the tiger's head with all his strength.
At this moment, whether it was his muscles, flesh, bones, internal organs, marrow, or blood, his entire body was exhausted and weak.
Facing an evil entity like this, he had no chance of victory!
But just then, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of something.
Between the edge and blade of the saber in his hand, a ghostly light was reflected.
In an instant, a chill swept over him!
Right behind him!
Lin Yan immediately turned and slashed!
The slash actually stopped!
At the same time, an intense shock surged through Lin Yan's heart, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
Behind him was the tiger's head, separated from its body!
His saber had sunk into the tiger's jaws, clamped tightly between its fangs!
When had the Demon Tiger's head come behind him?
The thought had only just arisen in Lin Yan's mind when, through the Demon Tiger's eyes locked with his, he saw the scene behind himself!
The headless tiger corpse had transformed into a grotesquely twisted monster.
Black branches flowed with black blood.
Its writhing muscles began to turn inside out, gradually becoming pitch-black.
In the blink of an eye, it had reached his back.
A chill swept over him from behind.
The terror of death enveloped his entire body!
There was no time to dodge!
Abandon the saber!
Lin Yan made his decision at once!
He mobilized all the Killing Intent in his body and exerted every ounce of his strength!
He threw a punch!
Demon Suppression!
In an instant, it was as if a Sea of Corpses and Blood had surged over his body, unleashing boundless ferocity!
He was already exhausted, and this hasty counterattack was not particularly powerful. At most, it could split stone monuments and shatter boulders.
But the Killing Intent carried by this punch was vicious to the extreme.
Boom!
Myriad streams of black mist scattered!
The grotesque monster was actually blown apart by his punch!
More precisely, it had been dispersed by the Killing Intent, enhanced a hundredfold by his Demon Quelling Divine Ability!
Shattered sinews and bones, broken branches, all scattered!
"So simple?"
Lin Yan froze for a moment. Then he turned his head and saw that the tiger's head... had also begun to crack apart.
Its fur scattered, its bones shattered, its eyes withered, and its brains spilled out.
The night wind swept past, and chill seeped into his body.
Lin Yan shuddered. Then he suddenly looked down, his pupils contracting.
The right hand that had just shattered the grotesque monster was covered in black veins. They spread like countless branches, crossing his wrist and reaching his elbow, still creeping upward!
And in the palm of his hand, a White Egg had appeared!
Seventeen veins marked this White Egg.
Nine were scarlet red, and eight were ink-black.
As it devoured his arm, an eighteenth vein gradually emerged... its color ink-black!
Suddenly, a flash of saber light streaked through the air!
Lin Yan picked up his saber and severed his right arm!
Blood sprayed, and the severed arm fell to the ground.
Lin Yan held his saber and retreated, immediately circulating his cultivation art to seal the vital essence and blood within his body. He stared fixedly at the White Egg, which had already formed an eighteenth vein!
"What exactly is this thing?"
His expression shifted unpredictably, and his heart was filled with shock.
Before he could even develop the urge to investigate, the corner of his eye caught sight of a figure in red.
Lin Yan's heart sank to the bottom.
In this endless darkness, the cold wind howled past, chilling him to the core.
Even after reaching the Essence Refining Realm, could he actually still be unable to protect himself amid the endless strangeness of this night?
He tightened his grip on his saber, summoned the last of his strength, and drew a deep breath.
He cleaved his saber down!
He did not expect this slash to cut down the red-clad evil entity!
But he refused to reach the moment of death without even having the courage to swing his saber!
The saber descended, and the red clothing abruptly scattered, transforming into boundless red mist that spread through the air.
Then... not far away, the red mist gathered together.
That red garment was a wedding dress!
The one wearing it was an illusory young woman.
She floated in the air, her eyes dim and deep as she quietly stared at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan was already completely spent and could barely hold his saber, his breathing ragged.
Yet the Red-Clad Woman did not float over. She merely continued watching Lin Yan.
Those originally cold and icy eyes gradually gained a strange, complicated meaning.
"..."
Lin Yan felt that the scene before him had grown somewhat blurry.
The night wind continued to blow.
The chill kept invading him.
But the Red-Clad Woman still did not move.
Lin Yan felt the scene before his eyes flickering constantly, while waves of dizziness kept washing over him.
They remained locked in this standoff for an unknown length of time.
In his daze, Lin Yan seemed to have an illusion.
He did not know from which moment after the standoff began, but the gaze of the Red-Clad Woman seemed to have become shy and coy.
Tender as water, bewitchingly graceful.
Damn it! He was hallucinating!
Without realizing it, had he become so weak that even an evil entity or demon ghost like this looked delicate and charming to him?
Lin Yan was horrified. Then he saw the red-clad figure draw near.
His heart hardened, and he suddenly bit through the tip of his tongue!
In the Essence Refining Realm, one's qi and blood fused together, making the entire body as one!
The blood from the tip of the tongue was a method of gathering the body's entire yang and vigorous blood after reaching the Essence Refining Realm, then using it to deal with evil entities!
It was also the only means most Essence Refining Realm cultivators had to deal with evil entities themselves!
He spat out a mouthful of blood!
The red wedding dress abruptly shattered, transforming into a vast expanse of red mist.
But the red mist did not dissipate. Instead, it drifted away.
"This mouthful of blood from the tip of my tongue isn't enough to drive away the evil entity..."
Lin Yan first froze, then slowly raised his saber.
A trace of dawn was reflected on the blade.
Day had broken.
The evil entities retreated.
The world had returned to the human realm, the world belonging to the living.
Lin Yan took a deep breath, planted his saber in the ground, and slowly walked toward his severed arm.
That strange egg, white at its base and marked with nine red and nine black veins, was still held in his palm.
With a grave expression, he kicked his severed arm over.
He made the strange egg face east.
A short while later, the rising sun appeared.
The first ray of sunlight shone upon the strange egg.
Purple Energy Came from the East, and all evil vanished.
But Lin Yan's gaze gradually grew strange.
"It wasn't erased by the sunlight?"
"And with my Demon Quelling Divine Ability, I can cause the Fierce and Malevolent Energy throughout my body to manifest a hundredfold, frightening demons and evil entities away..."
"Just now, it entered my body without fear of the Demon Quelling Divine Ability!"
"And now, it isn't afraid of the morning sun in broad daylight either. Could it be..."
A complex feeling beyond words rose in Lin Yan's heart. He thought, Could it not be an evil entity?
But when he recalled how grotesque and bizarre the Demon Tiger had become, this thing looked like the evilest of all evil entities—bizarre to the extreme.
As the sunlight washed over him, Lin Yan recovered a third of his strength. He used his saber to push the "strange egg" aside.
He stared fixedly at the strange egg, then picked up his severed arm, his expression solemn.
He took half a step back, tore off half his sleeve, and then pressed the wound of the severed arm forcefully against his shoulder.
The Essence Refining Realm!
The entire body as one!
His flesh, skin, vital essence, blood, sinews, bones, internal organs, and marrow all possessed vigorous life force!
Before the severed arm completely lost its vitality, he could still use his own life force to reconnect it.
This was the marvel of the Essence Refining Realm!
Before you continue