Tiger Demon Bestows Divine Ability

Jiang Yuechu's consciousness sank into boundless darkness.

[Year One: You were born. You were a tiger cub of South Mountain, frail from birth and abandoned by your mother in a mountain ravine. Had a flash flood not swept you downstream, you would have become food for other wild beasts.]

[Year Two: You had learned to hunt skillfully and gradually managed to survive on South Mountain.]

[Year Five: You encountered a monster covered in long white fur. He sat beneath a waterfall, holding a scroll in his hands. You were hungry and wanted to eat him, but ended up getting beaten instead.]

[Year Six: You lay beside that monster and watched him read. He did not drive you away, and occasionally tossed you leftover peaches. You learned his name: Lord White Ape.]

[Year Seven: You followed the White Ape to learn how to read. Your claws were too large to hold a brush, and you often punctured bamboo slips. The White Ape was very patient. It said that all things could serve as brushes, and Heaven and Earth themselves were compositions.]

[Year Eight: You learned three hundred characters. The White Ape was delighted and told you stories. It said that when Heaven and Earth first opened, clear qi rose while turbid qi sank. Humans were the spirits of all things, while demons were the filth of Heaven and Earth.]

[Year Ten: You could already read on your own. Your favorite books were tales of wandering heroes, especially the blades described within them—one slash severing a river, one slash cleaving a mountain.]

[Year Fifteen: Lord White Ape began teaching you other things. He said, "Demons cannot know only slaughter, or how would they differ from beasts? What makes humans human is their knowledge of propriety and righteousness, their sense of honor and shame." You thought he was talking nonsense. Lord White Ape got so angry that he smacked your forehead with a scroll for three days.]

[Year Twenty: With one slash, you severed the flow of South Mountain Waterfall. Lord White Ape stood on the bank, clapping and laughing. You sheathed your blade and stood tall, watching the rushing waterfall split apart beneath your strike. For the first time, exhilaration bloomed in your heart.]

[Year Twenty-Five: You began to feel restless. Every day, you practiced the blade, read books, and listened to the old ape lecture about those principles. You felt this mountain was too small.]

[Year Thirty: Your blade arts reached Major Achievement. Lord White Ape asked you whether there was anything such a domineering blade could not cut. You shook your head confidently.]

[Year Thirty-Five: You met a young woman gathering herbs in the mountains. She did not flee at the sight of you and even shared half a flatbread with you. You found it strange and did not eat it.]

[Year Thirty-Nine: That young woman never came up the mountain again. You heard from the demons below that she had been married off to a wealthy man and beaten to death within half a year. You descended the mountain with your blade in hand.]

[Year Forty-Five: Lord White Ape was leaving. He sat beside you and rambled on about many things. You asked what he was going to do. He merely smiled without answering.]

[Year Fifty: You stood atop South Mountain and looked down upon the human world. The wind swept past, and you felt that it was time for you to descend the mountain as well.]

Her consciousness drew back together.

A speck of vermilion appeared out of thin air.

Like blood dripping into water, it burst outward from her tiger eyes!

[Consumed 102 years of Dao Cultivation. Tiger Mountain God progress has reached the Vermilion-Dyeing Realm.]

Vermilion entered the painting; flesh and blood were reborn.

Upon the painted scroll, the outline of that fierce tiger was rapidly filled in once more.

[Successfully dyed the Tiger Mountain God vermilion. Demon creature gift obtained.]

[Fierce Tiger Quickblade (Supreme)]

[Talent: Tiger Dharma Heaven-Bestowed (The Tiger Mountain God favored the blade. All the learning of his life lay within it. Blade-art cultivation speed and power are both enhanced.)]

[Divine Ability: Tiger Sha Blood Boil (One of the Tiger Mountain God's innate divine abilities. It can consume one's own vital blood to restore injuries in an instant.)]

The words slowly faded away.

Jiang Yuechu lowered her head and looked at the three claw wounds on her abdomen, deep enough to expose bone.

Flesh curled outward, blood pouring freely.

With a thought from her—

Tiger Sha Blood Boil.

A scorching sensation surged up from every limb and bone. Her blood and qi roiled as though they were about to boil and burn.

The wounds on her abdomen wriggled at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In only a few breaths, those gruesome wounds had dwindled to three faint red marks.

Jiang Yuechu tightened her grip on the blade.

An indescribable change welled up within her.

Those who knew, knew. There was no need to say more.

This sounded like a long tale, but in truth, it took only an instant.

In Chen Qingyuan and the others' eyes, this Demon Suppression Bureau officer had merely swayed after forcibly enduring a killing blow.

But the Green-Shirt Wolf Demon saw it clearly.

That claw strike just now had contained its full strength.

This woman had clearly suffered grave injuries!

But why...

Why had her injuries healed the moment she closed and opened her eyes?!

"You..."

"What exactly... are you? Human or demon?!"

The Green-Shirt Wolf Demon's face was full of terror. It was so frightened that it actually staggered back a step.

The others had yet to understand what the wolf demon meant.

Then they saw a pair of small hands push aside Chen Qingyuan, who stood at the front.

Chen Qingyuan turned around in shock. "My lord... you..."

This Demon Suppression Bureau officer had clearly been badly injured just moments ago.

But now...

Before anyone could react—

Jiang Yuechu raised her blade and charged like the wind toward the wolf demon, whose courage had already shattered!

At that moment, Fierce Tiger Quickblade erupted once more.

Before the blade arrived, the wind did.

A tiger's roar seemed to descend from the Nine Heavens, shaking the entire forest!

The Green-Shirt Wolf Demon was so frightened that its face turned green.

Its legs trembled.

Its tongue lolled out.

How was this possible?!

Why was this strike three parts fiercer than the last?!

If you had this kind of strength, I would've fucking run long ago!

You just had to put on an act, didn't you?!

What a vicious scheme!!!

Terror instantly overwhelmed the hatred in its heart.

Without a second thought, it turned and fled!

But it had barely twisted around.

When it felt a chill shoot from its tailbone straight to the crown of its head.

The fierce blade wind behind it had already pressed against the back of its skull.

"Spare..."

One word had barely squeezed from its throat.

Before it could speak, its world was split down the middle by a snow-bright white line.

The Green-Shirt Wolf Demon's body froze in place, still holding its forward-lunging posture. Then, cleanly divided in two, it toppled to either side.

Its organs spilled across the ground.

Steaming hot.

"..."

Jiang Yuechu slowly sheathed her blade, and the crease between her brows gradually relaxed.

Not bad.

With Supreme-level blade arts and Tiger Dharma Heaven-Bestowed, she could now kill demons of this sort with ease.

[Killed a String-Hearing Realm creature. Obtained 75 years of its Dao Cultivation.]

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

Jiang Yuechu ignored it. Her gaze shifted toward the far end of the village road.

The few lesser demons that had survived by luck were already scared out of their wits and were about to flee with their tails tucked between their legs.

"Oh... I was so busy killing your king that I nearly forgot about you."

"Awwooo—"

The demons scattered in all directions.

Yet one after another, they were caught by that figure.

Behind her.

Everyone was already dumbstruck.

This...

That pack of wolf demons, so ferocious just moments ago as they slaughtered the village—

Was simply gone?

Was it because this girl came from the Demon Suppression Bureau that she possessed such methods?

Or was it because she possessed such methods that she could join the Demon Suppression Bureau?

The sun rose higher.

The men of the Flying Eagle Sect took one mangled corpse after another down from the wooden racks and covered them with tattered cloth.

Others helped living people with hollow eyes out of the ancestral hall.

When they saw the demon corpses on the village road and the devastation strewn across the ground—

Some fell to their knees and kowtowed to the Flying Eagle Sect members.

Others clutched the remains of their relatives and cried until they fainted.

Jiang Yuechu folded her arms and leaned against an earthen wall at the village entrance, half of it collapsed.

Her mind sank into her thoughts.

A brand-new panel slowly unfolded.

[Host: Jiang Yuechu]

[Realm: Late String-Hearing Realm]

[Martial Arts: Fierce Tiger Quickblade (Supreme), Green Cliff Echoing Shadow (Perfected)]

[Dao Cultivation: 200 years]

[Recorded Demon Creatures: Tiger Mountain God (Vermilion-Dyeing Realm), Green-Faced Gentleman (Shadow Copy)]

[Talent Divine Abilities: Tiger Dharma Heaven-Bestowed, Tiger Sha Blood Boil]

Late String-Hearing Realm...

Jiang Yuechu frowned.

Earlier, when the Tiger Mountain God advanced from Shadow Copy to the Vermilion-Dyeing Realm, her cultivation had already entered the middle stage.

Now that she had recorded this wolf demon, her realm had risen yet again.

But how exactly was this realm calculated?

Was it because she recorded demon creatures, or because she obtained martial arts?

As for Shadow Copying a Green-Faced Wolf Demon, it had consumed only fifty years of Dao Cultivation—less than the Tiger Mountain God, which was within expectations.

Only...

The lesser demons she had casually slain, aside from turning into Dao Cultivation, had produced no other response at all.

Jiang Yuechu pondered this.

Perhaps such petty demons were beneath even her golden finger's notice.

As for Green Cliff Echoing Shadow, it was a fist art.

It was entirely different from the fierce, domineering, broad and sweeping style of Fierce Tiger Quickblade.

This fist art placed greater emphasis on footwork and changing moves.

Like a wolf moving across green cliffs, darting left and right, its tracks impossible to pin down.

The crying in the village gradually quieted, leaving only suppressed sobs.

Footsteps approached from afar and stopped before her.

Jiang Yuechu opened her eyes.

It was Chen Qingyuan.

He walked before Jiang Yuechu without speaking. He merely lifted his robe and prepared to kneel once more.

"Forget it."

Chen Qingyuan paused. In the end, he did not kneel, only bent at the waist and clasped his fists in a deep bow.

"My lord's life-saving grace shall never be forgotten by Chen Qingyuan and the people of Guangwu County."

Jiang Yuechu neither confirmed nor denied it.

Then—

She straightened up and dusted off her robes.

The matter was settled. It was time for her to continue on her way and find a solution to her identity problem.

Seeing that she seemed ready to leave, Chen Qingyuan grew anxious and hurriedly said, "My lord! Are you leaving already? Why not return to Guangwu County City first and rest awhile? Let us at least offer some small measure of hospitality..."

Jiang Yuechu hesitated.

Being able to go to the county city would naturally be a good thing.

Not only could she gather more information, she could also take some time to rest.

But her identity...

Seeing her hesitate, Chen Qingyuan continued, "Could it be that my lord is occupied with an important case and cannot make a public display? If so, we shall not ask another word. Rest assured, my lord—if even the county magistrate asks about today's events, we will only say that the Flying Eagle Sect was fortunate. We will not reveal a trace of my lord's whereabouts."

He paused, his gaze sweeping inconspicuously over her waist and abdomen.

"Besides... my lord has traveled through wind and dust. Your clothing... likely needs changing and washing as well. Though Guangwu County City is small, we can surely prepare one or two things for my lord."

Jiang Yuechu was slightly taken aback. Somewhat puzzled, she followed his gaze and looked down.

The black garment over her abdomen had long since been torn apart by the wolf's claws. Although Tiger Sha Blood Boil had healed her wounds, those tears remained.

When the morning wind blew, glimpses of snow-white skin could be seen.

She had not really noticed.

In her previous life, going shirtless while playing ball had been commonplace; she had never taken it to heart.

But now, she was a woman after all.

Walking the world like this was indeed improper.

Jiang Yuechu raised her head and glanced at the utterly sincere Chen Qingyuan.

So be it.

She now possessed two hundred years of Dao Cultivation, along with two martial arts techniques.

What could a mere county town possibly do to her?

In the end, she nodded.

"Lead the way."