Mouth-Sealing Qi-Solidifying Method

The evening breeze slipped through the half-open window into the meditation room, stirring up the thick stench of blood.

Jiang Yuechu slowly slid the Horizontal Blade at her waist back into its sheath.

Just then.

[Unrecorded demon detected. Spend Dao Cultivation to record it?]

Jiang Yuechu's brows lifted.

Another new demon she could record?

She didn't hesitate for a moment. Her thoughts stirred.

"Yes."

The next moment, the Dao Cultivation she had just gained began draining away at a frightening speed.

In the blink of an eye, two hundred years of Dao Cultivation had vanished without a trace.

[Successfully copied Black Mountain Bear Lord. Obtained demon's gift.]

[Mouth-Sealing Qi-Solidifying Method (Perfect).]

[Mouth-Sealing Qi-Solidifying Method: This is Black Mountain Bear Lord's exclusive Hardened Body Technique. To practice it, one must draw a deep breath and hold it between the chest and abdomen, then gather strength and exert force to break through enemies and shatter defenses.]

It was a Hardened Body Technique!

Jiang Yuechu's heart stirred.

She was no longer the clueless novice who knew nothing about this world. She naturally understood how precious a Hardened Body Technique was.

Hardened Body Techniques tempered the flesh, making it as hard as iron and impervious to blades and spears.

These techniques were immensely powerful. Once mastered, one could stand almost undefeated against anyone at the same realm.

But they were far more difficult to cultivate than ordinary martial arts.

Few ordinary martial artists would choose to practice a Hardened Body Technique.

There was no other reason: it was too painful and too slow.

Not only did one have to endure inhuman agony, pounding the body day after day, but one also needed vast quantities of rare medicinal ingredients to aid the process. Without them, it was all too easy to suffer hidden injuries.

"Gulp."

Chen Tong swallowed with difficulty, breaking the silence in the meditation room.

He looked at the bear corpse, butchered beyond recognition, then at Jiang Yuechu, standing in a pool of blood with a calm expression.

A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.

He had seen plenty of ruthless people, but Jiang Yuechu was a first.

Jiang Yuechu surveyed the scene, but ultimately suppressed her urge to test the technique on the spot.

"Clean this up."

The men seemed to have been granted a pardon. Fighting back their nausea, they gathered the pieces of the Bear Demon into one place.

Jiang Yuechu stepped forward herself and lifted the enormous bear's head, its eyes still wide open in death. Blood dripped from the severed neck onto the ground.

After a brief moment's thought, she turned and handed the bear's head to Bujie, standing nearby.

"Take it. We'll need it to report back."

Bujie instantly understood what Jiang Yuechu meant.

The bear's head was proof of their accomplishment.

As for the rest, it naturally belonged to their newly appointed Team Leader.

He asked no questions. He reached out and took the heavy head, then tore a damaged piece of kasaya from the pile of rotten flesh on the ground. With a few quick wraps, he bundled it up and slung it over his shoulder.

"Team Leader, there's still this one..."

A man stepped forward and pointed to the woman on the bed, who had long since stopped breathing.

Another man went over and held a hand beneath her nose. Then he shook his head dejectedly.

"She's gone."

Silence fell over the meditation room once more.

So what if they had slain the demon?

The Demon Suppression Bureau could slay demons and vanquish evil, but it could never save everyone.

Liu Ke stood in the corner, looking at the woman's ravaged body, his heart a jumble of emotions.

He suddenly understood why Jiang Yuechu had been so cold when she faced the people kneeling and weeping outside the county town.

The Demon Suppression Bureau could only kill demons.

As for saving people...

Many times, they simply couldn't get there in time. And even when they did, they couldn't save them.

Perhaps that coldness was just her way of sparing people false hope.

Jiang Yuechu, however, wasn't given to such sentimentality.

She glanced at the sky and frowned. "It's getting late. Head down the mountain and wait at the county office."

Chen Tong froze. "Team Leader, you're not coming with us?"

"I still have some things to take care of."

Jiang Yuechu shook her head. "The demonic aura here hasn't dispersed. I'll search the area again to make sure no other demons are hiding nearby."

The excuse was perfectly reasonable, and no one thought much of it.

"Yes!"

The group didn't dare say more. They carried the woman's body and the bear's head and filed out one after another.

Before long, Jiang Yuechu was alone in the blood-soaked meditation room.

She closed the door behind her, shutting out everything beyond it.

Looking at the mountain of flesh on the ground, a spark of excitement flashed in her eyes.

Blood-Eating Technique, activate!

The next moment, countless wisps of bloody mist gushed from her pores, transforming into dozens of hideous tentacles that instantly wrapped around the pile of flesh.

Wave after wave of incomparably pure qi and blood flowed through the bloody tentacles and into her body.

The vast lake of qi and blood within her surged into towering waves!

The effect was countless times stronger than that of the demon-beast flesh Wei He had given her before!

A long while later.

"Hah..."

Jiang Yuechu let out a long breath of stale air, feeling indescribably refreshed from head to toe.

She opened the panel.

[Host: Jiang Yuechu]

[Realm: Mid Bone Resonance Realm]

[Dao Cultivation: 185 years]

[...]

Mid Bone Resonance Realm!

Jiang Yuechu clenched her fist, feeling the strength within her—several times greater than before—and couldn't help but reflect.

That Bear Demon hadn't been exaggerating before it died.

It had spent a hundred years stuck in the String-Hearing Realm, and its foundation really had been honed to perfection.

Not only had it given her more Dao Cultivation than the Bone Resonance Realm Pig Demon she'd encountered before, the quality of its flesh had been absurdly high.

She could even feel that she was only one step away from the Late Bone Resonance Realm.

"If all the demons in this world cultivated as diligently as it did, then I'd have a lot to look forward to."

Chen Tong and the others hadn't returned to the county office. They waited outside the ruined temple.

When they saw her return alone, they all breathed a sigh of relief and hurried over to greet her.

"Team Leader!"

"Let's go back."

Jiang Yuechu swung into the saddle, her tone flat.

"Yes!"

Leading their horses, the group returned to Hechuan County's office.

Magistrate Qian had already prepared food and wine. As soon as he saw them return, he hurried over with an obsequious smile.

But when his gaze fell on the bear's head still dripping blood over Bujie's shoulder, his eyelids couldn't help twitching.

Good heavens...

They really killed it!

Jiang Yuechu had no interest in dealing with him. She told everyone to get some rest, then found herself a clean guest room, shut the door, and didn't come out again.

The next day.

As soon as the sky brightened, they set out for Liangzhou Prefecture.

As for the rest of the aftermath, the county office would naturally handle it.

Compared with the commotion on the way there, the mood on the return journey was strangely quiet.

Ten Crimson-Eyed Stallions moved at an unhurried pace along the official road. Other than the clop of hooves, there wasn't a sound.

Everyone's eyes kept drifting, intentionally or otherwise, toward the figure at the head of the group.

She had killed the monks of Jeweled Temple and brutally slaughtered a Great Demon on the verge of the Bone Resonance Realm.

The ruthlessness of their newly appointed Team Leader's methods had long since surpassed anything they could have imagined.

Jiang Yuechu rode in silence, calculating in her mind.

She still had 185 years of Dao Cultivation.

It seemed like plenty, but in truth, it wasn't nearly enough.

As for techniques, she still needed to improve the Tiger Roar Demon Suppression Blade.

As for the demon scrolls, aside from Tiger Mountain God, the Wolf Demon, Pig Demon, and Bear Demon were all clamoring to be fed.

"Ugh, I still have too little Dao Cultivation..."

Just as she was lamenting this, two fast riders caught up from behind and pulled alongside her.

They were the two men who had taken care of the Jeweled Temple monks' corpses.

The two exchanged a glance. One gritted his teeth, pulled several crumpled banknotes from his clothes, and held them out with both hands.

"Team... Team Leader, these... these were found on those two bald donkeys."

Jiang Yuechu was a little surprised.

She'd forgotten about that.

She took them. They felt quite substantial in her hand.

When she unfolded them, she saw that they were all high-denomination banknotes, redeemable at any of the major banks in Great Tang.

A quick count showed that they totaled a full three thousand taels.

She glanced back at the others, who looked tired but were trying to appear composed.

It was true that they hadn't helped much in the fight against the demon; they'd spent the whole time watching from the sidelines.

Still, they might not have earned merit, but they'd put in the effort.

Besides, they were all her subordinates now, and she would need them to work for her in the future. There was no need to be so stingy.

She picked out two five-hundred-tael notes and tossed them back.

"Take these and split them among the brothers."

Everyone froze.

The man who had handed her the money fumbled to catch the notes, his face full of disbelief.

By the rules, when a team came into unexpected money, the leader took the lion's share and tossed a little scrap to the men. That was already considered generous.

But who would ever... be so lavish?

A thousand taels, handed out to reward the men?!

Even if the nine of them split it, each would get over a hundred taels.

And it wasn't as if they'd helped much.

"Team Leader, this... this is too much..."

"Amitabha!"

Bujie had somehow joined them. He snatched the banknotes and cheerfully stuffed them into his robe.

"If the captain gave it to you, then take it! Why are you all hemming and hawing? Are you looking down on our Team Leader Jiang, or what?"

The others came to their senses and began thanking her.

They could hardly hide their delight, and their goodwill toward Jiang Yuechu grew considerably.

Bujie suggested, "It's awkward to split this money among just the nine of us. How about this? A hundred taels each, and when we get back to Liangzhou Prefecture, we brothers can head to the Drunken Flower Pavilion for some wine and women. We'll each pick one and have ourselves a good time!"

The moment Chen Tong heard "Drunken Flower Pavilion," his eyes lit up. He let out a snicker.

"Damn, my mouth's been so bored these past few days, I'm about to grow feathers! I heard the Drunken Flower Pavilion just got a few foreign girls. Red-haired, green-eyed, and their tits are bigger than their heads."

A knowing chorus of laughter rose from the group.

Even the men who'd been rather reserved earlier now wore the lecherous grins of men who understood.

Only Liu Ke still wore his usual cold expression.

He simply watched the group of laughing, rough men, a complicated look flashing through his eyes.

He shook his head and said quietly, "That's not my thing. I don't need it."

"It's fine!"

Bujie slung an arm around his shoulders and waggled his brows. "Young Master Liu is a refined man. You don't like vulgar women. I get it. I'll take two when the time comes!"

"..."

Liu Ke's face darkened, but he couldn't do anything about the shameless monk. He turned his head away and ignored him.

Bujie didn't mind. He turned to Jiang Yuechu. "Team Leader Jiang, what do you say... want to join us? Besides the girls, the Drunken Flower Pavilion's pretty boys are a real treat too. I hear every last one of them is rosy-lipped and pearly-toothed, with delicate skin and a soft body. I guarantee they'll make you feel wonderful..."

"Get lost."

"Coming right up!"