Heavenly Fiend Art

Half an Incense Stick of Time later, Jiang Ping An raised his head, a trace of shock appearing on his face.

He had skimmed through the general contents of the technique and confirmed that it was the one the assassins had used before.

According to the book's introduction, the more people one killed after cultivating this technique, the stronger one's power would become, and the denser the Sha Qi around one's body would grow.

Once it reached a certain level, there would be no need to fight. Simply releasing the Sha Qi could kill people.

"Isn't this a demonic art?"

Cultivating this technique was not difficult. One only needed to keep killing.

Moreover, it stated that this was the first layer of the "Heavenly Fiend Art." The first layer alone could bring those people to such a level—just how powerful was the complete "Heavenly Fiend Art"?

After pondering for a long time, Jiang Ping An decided to cultivate it.

The reason was simple: when this Sha Qi was released, it could affect people's movements.

After so many battles, he understood that in combat, even making someone lose focus for a single instant could change the final outcome.

He would not slaughter innocents wantonly. So long as cultivating it could make his enemies freeze for even a tiny moment, that would be enough.

The first layer was not difficult to cultivate, even somewhat simpler than any technique he had cultivated before.

Inside Meng Kuo's room.

"What? You encountered people from the Heavenly Fiend Pavilion? Were you hurt?"

When Meng Kuo heard his daughter say that she had encountered assassins from the Heavenly Fiend Pavilion, his expression changed drastically. He hurriedly checked her body.

"I'm fine. It was... Jiang Ping An who saved me."

Meng Jing roughly recounted what had happened earlier.

After Meng Kuo heard it, he was utterly shocked.

"You ignored the effects of the Heavenly Fiend Art and killed four assassins stronger than you with a single slash?"

Had his daughter not said it herself, Meng Kuo would never have believed it was true.

He had already tried his best to overestimate Jiang Ping An's combat strength. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected the other party to still be hiding his abilities!

Meng Kuo had also been assassinated by people from the Heavenly Fiend Pavilion before, so he knew how terrifying the Heavenly Fiend Art was.

Even he, a general long seasoned on the battlefield, had been affected when facing the Heavenly Fiend Art.

If Old Li had not been beside him at the time, he truly would have been in grave danger.

Meng Kuo was filled with lingering fear. Fortunately, Jiang Ping An had been strong enough, so his daughter had not needed to act. Otherwise, he could not imagine the consequences of losing her.

Ye Lin, standing to one side, wore an even more complicated expression upon hearing this.

So Jiang Ping An had still held back when they sparred.

"That hateful Jiang Ping An, he's actually this strong." Meng Jing ground her teeth in hatred, her eyes filled with unwillingness and fighting spirit.

Meng Kuo took a deep breath, temporarily setting aside his other emotions, and looked gently at his daughter Meng Jing.

"Little Jing, Ping An has good talent. How about Father betroth you to him?"

"Betroth me to him?"

Meng Jing's little face suddenly stiffened. Jiang Ping An's calm, unruffled face involuntarily popped into her mind.

For some reason, her heartbeat suddenly quickened.

"No, I'm still young. I don't want to get married."

Meng Jing lowered her head, kicked at the ground with her little boots, and clutched the sword at her waist tightly with her small hand, somewhat embarrassed.

"Haha, then we'll discuss it when you're willing. But you must seize the chance. With his aptitude, many girls will like him."

Meng Kuo's gaze at his daughter was full of doting affection.

"Hmph, who he likes is his business. I'm going to practice my sword. I'm going to defeat that guy!"

Like a little deer, Meng Jing skipped out of the room.

Once Meng Jing had left, the smile vanished from Meng Kuo's face, and killing intent surged forth. "Xu Tao, just you wait!"

Xu Tao must have hired the assassins to murder his daughter.

He could not tolerate the other party trying to hurt his daughter. This winter, no matter what, he had to take Flat Water County!

Half a day later, at the Pingshui County General's residence.

Listening to his subordinate's report, Xu Tao abruptly rose to his feet.

"Impossible! How could that brat kill two Qi Refining Level 6 Cultivators and two Qi Refining Level 7 Cultivators in one go?"

Great Captain Ma Lin also found it unbelievable and replied, "That's what the Heavenly Fiend Pavilion said."

"They also said that the information you provided was wrong, causing them massive losses. So they deducted the deposit. If you want them to continue the assassination, you'll need to raise the bounty."

Xu Tao sat back down, his expression changing several times.

The Heavenly Fiend Pavilion had such a vast operation; they could not possibly be lying.

In other words, in just one month, that brat had grown even stronger.

Why wouldn't this damn commoner just die?

"General, should we add more money?" Ma Lin asked cautiously.

"Add my ass! Do you think we have money to burn?"

Xu Tao cursed furiously. Though unwilling, he had no more money to hire people from the Heavenly Fiend Pavilion for another assassination.

Winter would arrive soon. They would settle the score on the battlefield then.

Xu Tao took a deep breath and said, "The grain we've collected is far below expectations. How are we supposed to fight when winter comes? Keep increasing the grain collection."

"General, because of the grain collection, many farmers have rebelled," Ma Lin reminded him.

"Kill them outright! Damn it, a bunch of commoners dare resist? What gives them the right? Go suppress them yourself!"

Xu Tao was already in a rage. Hearing that more people had rebelled made him even angrier.

"Yes, General."

Ma Lin withdrew and led people off to collect grain.

In the eyes of people like them, those at the bottom were merely tools, unqualified to resist.

Inside Jiang Ping An's room, countless corpses appeared as phantoms. Their deaths had been miserable, making the room seem like hell itself and sending shivers down one's spine.

Jiang Ping An touched his right eye, his face filled with astonishment.

After obtaining the "Heavenly Fiend Art," he had planned to cultivate it a little, using it as a supporting technique at critical moments in the future.

After all, he was not bloodthirsty, nor did he intend to cultivate through killing.

Yet what happened was far beyond his expectations.

After this technique was unleashed, its power exceeded his imagination.

The room became gloomy and bizarre. The resentment of all kinds of horribly dead corpses gathered into a chilling cold that made one's body shiver.

Jiang Ping An could clearly sense that when he cast this technique, energy fluctuations arose from his right eye, and then these phenomena appeared.

Illusory corpses emerged all around him, and among them were many people he had never seen before.

He had not killed these people, so why had they appeared within the phenomena he released?

Could it be that the people killed by the original owner of this eye had been counted as his own?

Jiang Ping An stopped circulating the technique, and the Sha Qi around him vanished.

This technique did not seem to consume much spiritual energy, but after activating it, his head felt somewhat dizzy, as though it consumed mental strength.

Jiang Ping An wanted to test just how powerful this technique was, but Senior Li had not come, so he could only find someone else to try it on.

"I'll take a walk outside and see if I can find any other assassins."

Jiang Ping An hung two protective talismans at his waist in case something unexpected happened.

He had already figured out the grade of these protective talismans. Once fully charged with energy, they could withstand the full-force strike of a Qi Refining Level 9 Cultivator.

Just as Jiang Ping An stepped outside, several soldiers happened to return from outside.

"Damn it, we failed to catch it again. That beast runs so fast!"

"What kind of demonic beast is that? We've never seen one before, and it looks incredibly handsome!"

"Who knows? Call more people tomorrow. We have to catch it!"

The soldiers were covered in dust and exhaustion.

Jiang Ping An asked, "Still haven't caught that demonic beast?"

A few days ago, several horses in the eastern stables had been eaten by a demonic beast. A group of soldiers had chased it for several days, but apparently without results.

"No, we can't catch it at all. That beast is too fast. Even Captain Ye Lin couldn't catch up to it."

The soldiers gritted their teeth in frustration. Trying to catch that beast had exhausted them terribly.

Jiang Ping An was somewhat surprised. He had witnessed Ye Lin's speed; it definitely surpassed that of ordinary Qi Refining Level 6 Cultivators.

Yet even Ye Lin could not catch it.

Jiang Ping An thought for a moment. "Which direction did that demonic beast run?"

"West, toward the border. We were afraid of clashing with the soldiers from Flat Water County, so we didn't go over," a soldier replied.

Jiang Ping An nodded. "Then I'll go take a look."

"Young Master Jiang, don't go. You won't catch it."

"Yeah, that thing is extremely alert. The moment it spots a shadow, it runs."

"It's already getting dark today. Wait until tomorrow. We'll send two or three thousand people after it. Let's see if we still can't catch that beast!"

These soldiers had been toyed with badly over the past few days and knew how cunning the creature was. One person alone definitely could not catch it.

Jiang Ping An smiled. "I'm just going to take a look."

He actually wanted to test the Heavenly Fiend Art. If he could not encounter that demonic beast, he would find another one to test it on.

Seeing that he insisted on going, the other soldiers said nothing more. In any case, he definitely would not catch it.

They had been outside all day and still did not know that Jiang Ping An had become a Great Captain.