A Huge Windfall

"The lifespan of demons..."

Shen Lin stood rooted in place. After murmuring those words, he fell silent for a long while.

So...

This system could not only consume his own lifespan, but also let him slay demons and exterminate evil, plunder their lifespans, and use those in place of his own to make deductions...

With a bitter smile, Shen Lin shook his head, dispelling his useless regrets. He looked at the seventy-two years of demonic lifespan on the panel and felt a little wistful.

Even a minor demon that had yet to break through its meridians could live for a hundred and fifty years.

Yet even though he was clearly a level stronger than his opponent, his lifespan hadn't increased in the slightest.

The remaining lifespan field on the panel still read one year.

And there had been a very important piece of information in the system's prompt just now.

[You killed an awakened Mantis Demon, but have yet to reach Xiantian...]

Xiantian. That should be the next realm he needed to reach.

It seemed that Xiantian might be a watershed. If he could cultivate to that realm, perhaps his lifespan would increase.

At the thought, Shen Lin focused his mind and poured all the demonic lifespan he had just acquired into cultivating the Blood Battle Saber Technique.

There was no use hoarding it anyway. It was better to increase his strength as soon as possible.

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[In the twentieth year, you trained in the Blood Battle Saber Technique day after day, year after year, while slowly using your Qi and Blood Force to push against your second meridian. At last, you completely opened it, and the Qi and Blood Force within your body doubled out of nowhere. Your strength rose once more.]

[In the twenty-fifth year, you found that your cultivation had slowed considerably. It seemed that relying solely on the Qi and Blood Force within your body to open your meridians was not the optimal path to martial cultivation.

You gained a glimmer of insight. With the help of celestial treasures, medicinal herbs, and spiritual plants, your cultivation might progress much faster.

Unfortunately, there were no such treasures around you at the moment, so you could only slowly wear away at your meridians with the Qi and Blood Force in your body.]

[In the seventieth year, water drops wore through stone. Through your unremitting efforts, you finally opened your third meridian. Your entire body was reborn, and your strength was now beyond compare. A casual punch could shatter a boulder.]

[In the seventy-second year, your cultivation made no progress over the course of two years. No matter how you practiced the Blood Battle Saber Technique, you couldn't sense the existence of a fourth meridian.

You vaguely sensed the limitations of the Blood Battle Saber Technique and decided to improve it.]

Deduction complete!

Shen Lin slowly opened his eyes and drew a deep breath.

Seventy-two years of cultivation experience flowed through his mind. The long saber in his hand felt like an extension of his arm. He didn't even need to consciously wield it—his body could instinctively deliver the most powerful strike.

At the same time, he could feel the changes in his body.

The mighty Qi and Blood Force coursed through his three meridians. The strength it brought was so powerful that he felt he could tear the Mantis Demon to shreds with his bare hands, without even needing the Steel Saber.

What he found a little disappointing was that his remaining lifespan on the panel still read one year.

Seventy-two years of demonic lifespan hadn't even let him touch the threshold of Xiantian.

Thinking of the last line on the panel, Shen Lin's expression grew solemn.

It seemed that the Blood Battle Saber Technique could only take him as far as opening three meridians.

Judging by the system's final line, if he wanted to grow stronger, he would have to spend lifespan to make deductions and improve the Blood Battle Saber Technique.

But that would surely require an enormous amount of demonic lifespan.

Still, there was another way.

The Blood Battle Saber Technique was one of the most basic martial arts. It had originally been taught by the Great Wei Dynasty to the frontier troops to train their bodies.

He could simply switch to another cultivation technique. That should allow him to break through the limitations of the Blood Battle Saber Technique and open his fourth meridian, perhaps even the ones beyond it.

He just didn't know how many more meridians he would have to open to advance further.

Just opening the three meridians he'd reached so far had cost Shen Lin more than a hundred years of lifespan.

His future cultivation would surely consume countless years of demonic lifespan... Wait!

Shen Lin had been shaking his head helplessly, but now he suddenly froze, recalling the insight he'd gained during the deduction.

Even with the system's deductions, it had taken him more than a hundred years to open three meridians.

Even if other people had better aptitude than him, it probably wouldn't take them much less time.

After all, during the system's deductions, he'd been single-mindedly focused, devoting his entire attention to cultivation.

How many people in the real world had that kind of perseverance?

So there had to be some special tricks to martial cultivation.

Otherwise, how could the martial artists of legend, who could fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, split mountains with their fists and palms, reach such a realm before their lifespans ran out?

After pondering for a while, he suddenly recalled the old man who had taught them the Blood Battle Saber Technique at the County Office. Not long ago, the miser had abruptly changed his ways and treated the constables to a night of wine and women.

One of the more curious fellows had asked what the occasion was, and why the old miser had suddenly loosened his purse strings.

The answer was that the provincial office had given him a Meridian Unblocking Pill.

Shen Lin hadn't paid it any mind at the time. He'd been too busy enjoying himself with the young ladies.

Thinking about it now, that so-called Meridian Unblocking Pill might have been a cultivation resource.

And such cultivation resources were probably hard to come by and worth a fortune...

With that thought, he stopped standing there like a fool and began searching the room.

Whether it was a martial art more advanced than the Blood Battle Saber Technique or a cultivation resource like the Meridian Unblocking Pill, both were extremely valuable and would surely cost a great deal of money.

And now, he had an opportunity.

The Mantis Demon had killed quite a few people, so it had surely obtained plenty of spoils.

The constables of Qiulin County all knew how terrifying demons were, but that did nothing to dampen their desire to slay them.

That was because after killing a demon, they could take its corpse to the Demon Suppression Bureau at the provincial office and exchange it for all sorts of benefits.

The demons' personal belongings were another source of windfall.

Sometimes, they were worth no less than the rewards from the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Sure enough, after searching for a while, Shen Lin found a wooden chest under the bed.

When he opened it, the dazzling gleam nearly split his mouth from ear to ear.

Ten silver ingots lay neatly stacked inside.

Five hundred taels of silver!

Lin Youwei, the County Magistrate of Qiulin County and a Principal Seventh Rank official of the imperial court, earned only three or four hundred taels of silver in salary over an entire year.

In these times, five hundred taels of silver could even buy two houses in the county seat.

That wasn't all. In one corner beside the silver ingots lay seven or eight pieces of jewelry.

Jade bangles, gold and silver hairpins, pearl necklaces...

Shen Lin didn't know how much the items were worth, but they were probably worth at least as much as the silver ingots beside them.

"I've struck it rich..."

Shen Lin rubbed his hands together. Looking at the wooden chest, which would be difficult to carry, he decided to find a cloth sack and transfer the valuables.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he froze, as if something had just occurred to him. He turned to look at the burlap sack the Mantis Demon had carried in.

He got up and walked over to the sack. With a light flick of the Steel Saber in his hand, he opened it.

After pulling back the sack, Shen Lin's guess was confirmed.

"Kong Yu! Wake up!"

After he patted him a few times, Kong Yu's pale face furrowed slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Seven of them had come to investigate the case.

Their squad leader, Sun Zhi, had split off from them along the way, saying he'd found a new lead and they should search separately.

Of the rest, only Shen Lin and this fellow had survived.

The reason was simple.

He, Shen Lin, was a famously handsome young man across the surrounding villages, and Kong Yu wasn't bad either.

Thanks to his looks, Kong Yu had married into one of the wealthiest families in Qiulin County and landed a cushy constable's job.

The first thing Kong Yu did after waking was look for the Mantis Demon.

Only after seeing the scattered remains did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He looked at Shen Lin with a complicated expression. "Brother Shen, what a masterful move..."

He'd thought that once the monster finished tormenting Shen Lin to death, it would be his turn, and he'd felt utterly miserable.

But judging by the last conversation he'd heard before passing out—the flirtatious exchange between Shen Lin and the monster...

It was hard to say who had been tormenting whom.