The Demon Cultivator

Shen Lin furrowed his brow, recalling the monsters he had only ever seen in movies in his previous life.

Just then, at the other man's roar, the remaining constables slowly climbed to their feet. Their movements were bizarre as they closed in on Shen Lin.

Even the demon tiger, which Shen Lin had confirmed he'd killed, staggered back to its feet.

At last, he realized what was wrong.

After he killed the demon tiger, the system hadn't told him how many years of demon lifespan he'd gained.

Looking at the five zombies surrounding him, Shen Lin shook his head and sighed.

Of course the system hadn't given him a notification.

These things had been dead for a long time.

"What a rotten stroke of luck!"

Shen Lin muttered a curse.

He'd come all this way to kill demons and monsters and gain their lifespan.

This pile of dead things was no use to him.

Though disappointed, he didn't turn and leave.

He was already here, after all...

If he let them escape, who knew how many ordinary people they would kill?

He flourished the longsword in his hand and charged forward.

Even if they were dead, surely they would lose the ability to move once their heads were cut off.

Qi and Blood Force surged through the eight meridians in his body, channeling tremendous strength into the sharp sword as he swung.

Whoosh!

A cold gleam flashed. A constable's head flew into the air, and the ruined body instantly lost the ability to move, slumping to the ground.

It worked!

But after killing the zombie with a single stroke, Shen Lin's expression changed slightly.

With his current strength and the sharp sword he'd gotten from Old Master Bai, cutting off a head was hardly any harder than slicing through vegetables.

But when the longsword had just cut into the other man's neck, it had met a strangely stubborn resistance.

It was as if he hadn't been cutting through flesh and blood.

Lowering his head, Shen Lin examined the cut on the corpse and furrowed his brow.

Beneath the skin and flesh was a thick layer of steel plate.

This zombie was man-made!

Perhaps the sword strike had intimidated them. The zombies now stood rooted in place, growling at Shen Lin, but made no move to swarm him.

As Shen Lin wondered where the zombies had come from, a cry of alarm rang out behind him.

"Master Shen! You're all right—hiss... what are these...?"

The hunter who'd caught up saw the scene before him and sucked in a sharp breath.

Even the tomb robber had followed them.

He trembled uncontrollably, looking terrified, and instinctively hid behind Shen Lin.

But even that didn't seem safe enough. He edged closer to Shen Lin, his lips quivering as he said, "Wasn't it a tiger just now? How did the constables... Maybe we should hurry and get out of here..."

Shen Lin didn't turn around, but felt the man inching closer. His eyes narrowed.

The next moment, a dull thud shattered the brief silence.

Thump!

The tomb robber, who had been creeping toward Shen Lin, felt his head jolt. He instinctively reached back to rub his skull.

He turned around in a daze and saw the hunter holding a broken axe handle, staring at him in confusion.

Only then did the broken axe spin down from the air, while a few strands of hair drifted slowly from the back of the tomb robber's head.

For some reason, the hunter had suddenly attacked, swinging his axe hard at the tomb robber.

But the fellow's head seemed to be made of iron. The blow sent sparks flying, and the axe in the hunter's hands snapped clean in two.

After meeting the tomb robber's eyes, the hunter quickly came to his senses and shouted, "Master Shen, watch out! There's something wrong with this fellow!!!"

"You're asking for death!!!"

The tomb robber flew into a rage.

A mere mortal had ruined my plans!!!

He reached out with one hand, the right one he'd kept hidden up his sleeve, and clawed viciously at the hunter.

It wasn't flesh and blood, but a black iron claw.

At that moment, his full aura burst forth, astonishingly powerful, on par with a martial artist in the Opening Meridians Realm.

But before his claw could reach the hunter, a tremendous force suddenly struck him.

Boom!

Shen Lin kicked him, sending him flying. He smashed through a tree as thick as a bowl and disappeared into the woods nearby.

Afterward, Shen Lin looked at the hunter helplessly. "That was unnecessary... When did you realize something was wrong with him?"

The hunter glanced uneasily at the figure Shen Lin had kicked several meters away.

He'd just put everything he had into an axe swing at the other man's skull, but it hadn't had any effect.

And Shen Lin had only needed one kick to unleash such devastating force...

"Master Shen, I could tell something was wrong the first time I saw him."

"Do you ever see a tomb robber working alone? There should always be someone keeping watch. Besides, his boots were far too clean."

Seeing his honest, unassuming expression, Shen Lin couldn't help but marvel. Hunters who spent their days roaming the mountains really did have a keen eye.

But now...

He looked at the several zombies that had inexplicably stopped moving, then waved at the hunter. "Stand back. You won't be able to help with what comes next."

"What comes next???"

The hunter looked confused.

Master Shen's kick had sent the man crashing through several trees. Could he still...

"Unforgivable!!!"

With a roar, the tomb robber charged out of the woods.

His clothes were covered in fallen leaves and splintered wood, and he looked even more ragged than before.

Yet from his full-throated voice and steady steps, it was clear that Shen Lin's kick had done him no harm at all.

The hunter silently retreated a short distance.

These two were even more monstrous than the wild beasts he'd seen in the mountains. Best not to provoke them.

Shen Lin watched the other man with a cheerful smile. "A tomb robber in the Opening Meridians Realm. I can't say I've met many of those."

From the first time he'd seen this fellow, Shen Lin had sensed something amiss inside him.

The aura he occasionally let slip was even stronger than that of Miss Zijing, the Flying Thief.

He had to have opened at least five meridians—he was a martial artist in the Opening Meridians Realm.

That was why Shen Lin had kept his guard up.

He'd planned to use the chance just now to turn the tables when the man tried to ambush him.

But the hunter's unnecessary move had disrupted his plan.

Now he'd have to deal with him the hard way.

Shen Lin slowly raised the longsword in his hand and pointed it at the man. "I'm curious, though. What kind of martial arts technique can do this? Controlling corpses seems more like something from the Demon Race."

"Lowly human techniques could never accomplish such a thing."

The tomb robber, who'd been furious a moment before, had now calmed down. His face was alight with fervor. "Only the Holy Race possesses such power."

Seeing his fanatical devotion, Shen Lin's thoughts stirred. He scoffed. "I see. You're a Demon Cultivator!"

There were always people among humankind who wanted to take shortcuts.

Rather than the human martial arts that required painstaking cultivation to gain formidable power, they yearned for the innate supernatural abilities of the Demon Race.

They despised their own origins, loathed their fellow humans, and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to serving demons and monsters in exchange for power.

Some of them even managed to obtain secret arts from the Demon Race.

These traitors, who cultivated the Demon Race's secret arts in human bodies and cast aside their own bloodlines, were collectively known as Demon Cultivators by the Great Wei Dynasty.

At that thought, Shen Lin's disappointment at finding no demons or monsters began to lift.

Even if he couldn't gain demon lifespan from him, the Demon Suppression Bureau offered a substantial bounty for Demon Cultivators.