Demon Suppressing Saber Technique - Full Power!

[Current Realm: Minor Completion.]

An unprecedented sense of lightness and control spread from every inch of his limbs and bones.

Lu Chen even had the illusion that with just a single thought, he could instantly merge into the shadows beside him, turning into an unfathomable breeze.

This was the power of a Mystery Rank Movement Technique!

He did not rise immediately. Instead, he sank his mind once more into that vast ocean of lifespan.

[Demon Devil Remaining Lifespan: Eighty-Eight Years.]

Eighty-eight years!

A fortune enough to drive any cultivator mad, now lying quietly on his system panel, radiating an alluring glow.

"With my foundation secured and my movement technique complete... the next step is the art of killing."

Lu Chen's gaze fell upon the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique, a skill he had long since mastered.

This saber technique had once been the very foundation of his survival, but as the enemies he faced grew stronger, its flaw—a reliance on brute slashing with little variation—had become increasingly apparent.

"System, how much lifespan is needed to deduce the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique to the Perfection Realm?"

[Demon Suppressing Saber Technique has reached Grand Completion. Deduction to the Perfection Realm is estimated to require eighty years of Demon Devil Lifespan.]

Eighty years!

Even for a mere Yellow Rank Lower Technique, pushing it to Perfection demanded such a staggering amount of lifespan.

Lu Chen's eyelid twitched, but it was quickly replaced by a fiercer resolve.

"Deduce!"

[Command confirmed. Consuming eighty years of Demon Devil Lifespan. Beginning deduction of Demon Suppressing Saber Technique...]

The silver-white tome blazed with brilliant light!

This time, what flooded into Lu Chen's mind was no longer mere muscle memory or insights into swinging a blade.

It was an understanding of a far higher order!

[You expend thirteen years of lifespan, fighting and killing in an illusionary realm of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, countless souls falling beneath your blade. You perceive the nodes where Demonic Power flows; wherever your blade strikes, it inevitably targets the intersection of Demon Core and meridians. Your technique edges toward Perfection.]

[You expend twenty-two years of lifespan. Beyond Perfection, there are no fixed forms. The saber in your hand seems to gain a life of its own, no longer bound by shape or stance. Your saber technique steps into the Profound Insight Stage.]

[You expend thirty-five years of lifespan. In the endless cycles of deduction, you witness the birth and death of myriad saber shadows. You begin to touch upon the momentum and intent of the blade.]

[You expend the final ten years of lifespan. Ten thousand insights converge into a single slash. All the flashy techniques and grand intentions are drawn inward, simplified into one seemingly ordinary, unremarkable cutting motion.]

[Deduction successful!]

[Unique Trait Acquired—Sha Breaking: Your blade's edge will carry a shredding force specifically targeting the Killing Intent origin of demonic beings. Any demon's Protective Qi or Killing Intent barrier will be greatly weakened before this trait.]

When the text on the panel finally settled, Lu Chen's eyes snapped open.

He slowly raised his right hand, fingers pressed together like a blade, and casually swept it through the air before him.

No blade light. No sound of wind.

But right where his fingers had passed, the air twisted in an extremely faint, ripple-like distortion, then quickly smoothed over.

It seemed utterly ordinary, yet Lu Chen could clearly sense that in that instant, wherever his fingertips pointed, all the world's natural energy and Yin Baleful Qi were instantly "cleared" by an invisible force, forming a brief, absolute "vacuum" zone!

This was Sha Breaking!

"Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!"

Lu Chen praised three times in a row, his chest swelling with boundless pride.

Foundation, movement technique, killing move—all three were now complete!

At this moment, he finally possessed the true confidence to stand firm in this world of rampaging demons and treacherous human hearts.

He glanced at the panel, which now showed only eight years of Demon Devil Lifespan, and forcibly suppressed the urge to continue improving.

Leave a little leeway for future encounters.

Always keep some Demon Devil Lifespan in reserve; never drain it all.

If he ever ran into a demon he couldn't handle, perhaps burning lifespan could grant him a last-ditch means of survival.

Having done all this, Lu Chen slowly rose from the ground. He stretched his limbs, feeling a boundless surge of energy coursing through him, yet all that power was perfectly restrained within his body, not a shred leaking out.

He pushed open the ancestral hall's door, blackened by the flames of the night's blaze. The harsh sunlight made him squint instinctively.

The two Warriors were huddled in a corner, having not slept all night. When they saw Lu Chen emerge, they sprang up as if they'd seen a ghost, their faces etched with awe and terror.

"Let's go," Lu Chen said, his voice hoarse and weak, as if the fierce battle the night before had drained every ounce of his strength. "Time... to report back."

When this team of only three, dragging their exhausted bodies, once again appeared at the entrance of the Demon Suppression Division, the commotion it caused surpassed any before.

Everyone stared at the young man being supported, his face deathly pale, as if he might breathe his last at any moment, as though he were some kind of monster.

He survived?

From that hell on earth in Willow Creek Town, he came back alive?!

Foreman Wang was the first to rush out. When he saw Lu Chen's familiar face—the face he loathed to the bone—his entire body trembled uncontrollably.

Not from excitement, but from sheer, seething rage, and a trace of... fear he refused to admit even to himself.

His meticulously crafted, death-defying open scheme had failed again!

"F... Foreman Wang..." Lu Chen shook off the Warrior's support, staggered forward until he stood before Foreman Wang, forcing a smile uglier than tears onto his face, his voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Your subordinate... has not disgraced his mission..."

Before he could finish, his vision went black, and he toppled backward, stiff as a board.

"Brother Lu!"

"Lu Chen!"

Amid a chorus of startled cries, several figures rushed forward at once to catch him.

This time, no one dared mock his cowardice. No one dared whisper about his luck.

Only one thought remained in everyone's hearts.

This seemingly insignificant Corpse Handler was a true, unfathomable monster!

Lu Chen's collapse lasted a full three days and three nights.

During those three days, the entire Nanling Prefecture Demon Suppression Division was thrown into an uproar over the Willow Creek Town incident.

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 task was an utterly unknown Corpse Handler!

The rumor of an awakened bloodline spread like wings, racing through every corner of the Demon Suppression Division, providing the most reasonable and convincing explanation for Lu Chen's unbelievable feat.

In an instant, Lu Chen's name became the hottest topic in the Division.

Some envied him, some were jealous, but most held him in awe.

And the instigator of it all, Lu Chen himself, lay peacefully in the Division's finest healing chamber, enjoying unprecedented preferential treatment.

Every day, someone delivered the highest-grade healing pills and nourishing medicinal meals. Even Captain Li had personally visited him once, his words dripping with overtures of recruitment.