[Current Realm: Minor Achievement.]
An unprecedented lightness and sense of control spread through every inch of his body.
Lu Chen even had the illusion that with a single thought, he could instantly merge with the shadows beside him and become a breeze impossible to catch.
This was the power of a Mystery Rank Movement Technique!
He didn't get up right away. Instead, he once again sank his mind into that vast ocean of lifespan.
[Remaining Demon Devil Lifespan: 88 years.]
Eighty-eight years!
A fortune enough to drive any cultivator mad now lay quietly on his System Panel, shining with an enticing glow.
"My foundations are secure, and my movement technique is mastered... Next comes the art of killing."
Lu Chen's gaze fell on the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique, which he had long since brought to Great Achievement.
This saber technique had once been the bedrock of his survival. But as the enemies he faced grew stronger, its shortcomings had gradually become apparent: it focused solely on hacking and lacked variation.
"System, how many years of lifespan will it take to advance the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique to Perfection?"
[The Demon Suppressing Saber Technique has reached Great Achievement. Advancing it to Perfection is estimated to consume 80 years of Demon Devil Lifespan.]
Eighty years!
For a mere Yellow Rank Lower Technique, advancing it to Perfection required so much lifespan.
Lu Chen's eyelid twitched, but the reaction was immediately overcome by even greater resolve.
"Advance it!"
[Instruction confirmed. Consuming 80 years of Demon Devil Lifespan. Beginning advancement of the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique...]
Brilliant light flooded the silver-white book!
This time, what poured into Lu Chen's mind was no longer mere muscle memory and insights into wielding a saber.
It was a higher level of understanding!
[You spend 13 years of lifespan fighting in an illusion of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, leaving countless souls dead beneath your blade. You discern the points where Demonic Power flows. Your blade always strikes where the Demon Core and meridians converge, and your saber technique approaches Perfection.] [You spend 22 years of lifespan. Beyond Perfection, there are no fixed forms. The saber in your hand seems to come alive, no longer bound by forms or techniques. Your saber art enters the Profound Insight Stage.] [You spend 35 years of lifespan. Through endless cycles of advancement, you witness countless saber shadows appearing and vanishing. You begin to touch the force and intent of the saber.] [You spend your final 10 years of lifespan. Countless insights return to a single strike. Every dazzling technique and vast artistic conception is drawn inward, simplified until all that remains is a seemingly ordinary slash.] [Advancement successful!] [You have grasped a unique trait—Sha Breaking: Your blade will carry a trace of destructive power specifically attuned to the source of demons' baleful intent. Any demon's Protective Qi or baleful-intent barrier will be greatly weakened before this trait.]
When the words on the panel finally settled, Lu Chen abruptly opened his eyes.
He slowly raised his right hand, held his fingers together like a blade, and casually slashed at the air before him.
There was no flash of saber light, no rush of wind.
Yet where his fingers passed, the air twisted ever so faintly, like rippling water, then quickly smoothed out.
It looked utterly ordinary, but Lu Chen could clearly feel that, in that instant, all the worldly energy and baleful yin energy where his fingers pointed had been swept away by an invisible force, creating a brief, absolute vacuum!
This was Sha Breaking!
"Good! Good! Good!"
Lu Chen cried out three times, his heart swelling with boundless pride.
Foundations, movement technique, killing blow—he had all three!
Only now did he truly have what it took to survive in this world, where demons ran rampant and human hearts were as treacherous as ghosts!
He glanced at the panel, which showed only eight years of Demon Devil Lifespan, and forcibly suppressed the urge to keep advancing.
Leave a little breathing room in everything, and there'll be room to meet again later.
He absolutely couldn't squander all his Demon Devil Lifespan every time.
If he ran into another demon he couldn't handle, spending his lifespan might be the one thing that could save his life.
Only after finishing all this did Lu Chen slowly rise from the ground. He stretched his limbs and felt as if he had energy to spare, yet every ounce of strength was perfectly contained within him, without the slightest leak.
He pushed open the ancestral hall's door, blackened by the smoke of the flames. The glaring sunlight made him squint instinctively.
The two strongmen were huddled in a corner. Having gone without sleep all night, they sprang up from the ground as soon as they saw Lu Chen, staring at him as if he were a ghost. Their faces were full of awe and fear.
"Let's go." Lu Chen's voice was hoarse and weak, as though last night's battle had drained him of all his strength. "It's... time to report back."
When the surviving trio appeared at the Demon Suppression Division's entrance again, dragging their exhausted bodies, the commotion they caused surpassed anything that had come before.
Everyone stared at the young man being supported, his face deathly pale, as if he might drop dead at any moment, as though he were some kind of monster.
He survived?
He had made it back alive from that hell on earth in Willow Creek Town?!
Foreman Wang was the first to rush out. When he saw Lu Chen's familiar face—the very one he hated with all his heart—his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Not with excitement, but with utter fury and a trace of fear he wouldn't even admit to himself...
His carefully planned scheme, one that should have left no chance of survival, had failed again!
"Foreman... Foreman Wang..." Lu Chen broke free of the strongmen supporting him and staggered over to him. He forced a smile more painful than tears, his voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Your subordinate... has fulfilled his duty..."
Before he could finish, his vision went dark, and he toppled straight backward.
"Brother Lu!"
"Lu Chen!"
Amid a chorus of cries, several figures rushed forward at once to catch him.
This time, no one dared mock his cowardice, and no one dared gossip about his luck.
Everyone had just one thought in their hearts.
This seemingly inconspicuous corpse collector was a true, unfathomable monster!
Lu Chen remained unconscious for three whole days and nights.
During those three days, the entire Demon Suppression Division of Nanling Prefecture was thrown into an uproar over what had happened in Willow Creek Town.
A Ranked Demon, the Vengeful Mother in the Well, had been slain! Three hundred Water Sha had been burned to ashes!
And the one who had accomplished this nearly impossible mission was an unknown corpse collector!
The claim that Lu Chen had awakened his bloodline spread through every corner of the Demon Suppression Division like it had grown wings, providing the most reasonable and convincing explanation for his unbelievable feats.
For a time, Lu Chen's name became the hottest topic in the division.
Some were envious, some jealous, but most were in awe.
As for Lu Chen, the one who had set all this in motion, he lay peacefully in the division's finest recovery chamber, enjoying treatment he had never received before.
Every day, someone brought him the finest healing pills and restorative meals. Even Captain Li came to visit him in person, his words full of attempts to win Lu Chen over.