The sky had darkened completely.
The sun had sunk below the horizon, leaving only a streak of purple-red in the distance.
Jiang Yuechu looked down at the enormous corpse beneath her feet, her excitement growing.
This was the corpse of a Bone Resonance Great Demon!
Those two worthless Pig Demons from before had already benefited her immensely, simply through her own ability to digest them.
Now that she had the Blood-Eating Technique, what wonders would it bring?
Seeing that the Demon Suppression Bureau runners had all retreated some distance, she refrained from taking everything for herself.
After all, she was currently working under the Demon Suppression Bureau. It wouldn't do to leave them nothing at all.
After a moment's thought, she turned the Horizontal Blade in her hand and sliced through the monster's corpse, easily cutting its tough hide and flesh.
Enduring the stench, she removed a few organs and cut off several of its thickest demonic tendons, setting them together on a clean stone nearby.
Only after she had finished did she slowly close her eyes.
Blood-Eating Technique, activate!
The next moment,
countless wisps of blood-colored mist poured from the pores all over her body.
The mist gathered in midair, transforming into dozens of thick tentacles that wrapped around the enormous corpse in an instant, like hungry vipers.
"Hiss..."
At the sight, Jiang Yuechu drew in a sharp breath.
Wait... what?
Why did she feel more and more like a demon?
She grumbled silently, but her hands never stopped moving.
Before long, the enormous corpse of the Catfish Spirit shriveled at a visible speed.
Streams of extremely pure vital blood flowed along the blood-red tentacles and poured endlessly into her body.
The vital blood within her surged once more.
"Burp..."
Jiang Yuechu couldn't help letting out a belch.
A vast amount of pure vital blood, more than she had ever felt before—so much that it almost seemed ready to burst her apart—surged wildly through every limb and bone!
Suddenly, it was as if a barrier within her body stood firm against the torrent of vital blood.
Jiang Yuechu's heart tightened.
This was probably the chasm between the String-Hearing Realm and the Bone Resonance Realm!
Ordinary martial artists needed to temper their vital blood year after year to break through this realm, wearing away the barrier bit by bit, like water dripping through stone.
Those with great talent might manage it in three to five years. Those with poor talent might never succeed in their entire lives.
But Jiang Yuechu was different.
The vast quantity of pure demonic vital blood began transforming into her own.
She didn't need to wear away the barrier drop by drop.
She needed to... unleash a flood through a broken dam!
"Open up...!"
She roared in her heart and stopped suppressing the violent power within her.
Boom—
A soundless explosion erupted in her mind!
Pain!
Unimaginable pain!
Jiang Yuechu grunted and dropped to one knee. Sweat rolled down from her temple, and her pretty face turned deathly pale.
Yet her eyes showed not the slightest hint of suffering. If anything, they looked a little crazed.
Not enough!
Still not enough!
She could feel that the barrier had developed a hairline crack under the violent assault!
Again!
She gritted her teeth, marshaled all the vital blood within her body, and launched a second, third, and fourth assault.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each impact came with a pain that tore through her heart and lungs.
But the supposedly unbreakable barrier was now riddled with cracks, teetering on the brink of collapse after each successive blow!
At last.
After a number of impacts she had lost count of,
crack—
A crisp sound, like glass shattering, rang out within her body.
Hum—
In an instant, it was as if she had broken free of all restraints.
Under the tempering force, her bones began to emit a series of strange sounds.
Thump...
Like the deep, resonant toll of a temple bell.
Clang...
Like the clear ring of a sword being drawn.
Metal and stone clashed, their ringing clear and bright.
Her sinews and bones rang as one!
This was the Bone Resonance Realm!
[Host: Jiang Yuechu]
[Realm: Early Bone Resonance]
She had entered the Bone Resonance Realm!
Jiang Yuechu slowly rose to her feet and clenched her fists.
Her strength had multiplied several times over, and the total amount of vital blood in her body had increased enormously compared to before.
If before she had been a small pool, now she was a vast lake.
If she faced that Catfish Spirit again now, she was confident she could slay it with nothing but the Fierce Tiger Quickblade and her Bone Resonance cultivation—even without using Demonization!
She looked at what remained before her.
Aside from the demonic tendons and a few pieces of organs she had set aside, not a trace remained of the monster's corpse, which had once been as large as a hill.
"Good heavens..."
Jiang Yuechu couldn't help muttering.
The Blood-Eating Technique was truly overbearing.
It devoured flesh and blood, refined vital blood, and even completely dissolved the bones along with everything else.
A technique like this was practically the perfect skill for destroying corpses and covering up a murder.
She wondered... could this technique be used on people?
The instant the thought arose,
Jiang Yuechu shuddered and reflexively raised a hand, slapping herself hard across the face.
Jiang Yuechu, Jiang Yuechu, are you even human?
She took a deep breath and forcibly pushed those wild thoughts out of her mind.
She sat there for a while longer. Only after the vital blood surging within her had completely settled, well into the second half of the night, did she rise and call out toward the distance.
"That's enough."
Only then did Liu Chen and the others cautiously approach.
When they saw the empty mud pit before them, their faces filled with undisguised confusion.
"W-where's the monster's corpse?"
Zhao Hu's eyes widened. He rushed forward and stepped through the mud, but aside from a huge crater, there was nothing.
Liu Chen's gaze fell on the pile of bloody monster organs beside Jiang Yuechu's feet, then returned to her.
He asked no more questions.
Everyone had a side they didn't want others to know about.
Even a question asked out of curiosity might feel like an intrusion to the person being questioned.
"Put these things away."
He ordered one of the men beside him, then turned to face the others.
"Check for anything we might have missed. And... as for the brothers from the Yellow Battalion... find as many as you can."
"Chief!"
Zhao Hu couldn't help speaking up. "Then... what about Black Water Village...?"
Liu Chen shook his head. "The monster has been eliminated. This matter can be considered settled."
He paused, then continued, "As for the villagers of Black Water Village taking the law into their own hands, I'll report it truthfully. The county authorities can handle it."
"If the Demon Suppression Bureau has to deal with everything itself, what do we need the government for?"
A few days later.
By the time the group dragged their exhausted bodies back to Liangzhou Prefecture, it was already dusk.
Eight people, eight horses.
They had set out with a full contingent, and they returned with a full contingent as well.
For a mission to hunt a Bone Resonance Great Demon, it was nothing short of unbelievable.
The men were all silent.
Their gazes, intentionally or not, kept drifting toward the young woman at the back of the group.
That earth-shaking slash still echoed in everyone's minds.
Without her, whether any of them would still be alive was anyone's guess.
At the thought, the respect in their eyes as they looked at Jiang Yuechu grew all the deeper.
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