Only Shen Yi remained in the room.
Shen Yi lay on the bed and called up the panel.
When it came to martial cultivation, he was still a complete novice. He'd also learned a great deal from the woman, like the Qi Gathering Pill, the Liquid Condensation Pill, and the Jade Liquid Realm.
His thoughts couldn't help but wander.
After a while, Shen Yi took out the ball of flesh, wanting to test his theory.
It was slightly smaller than an egg.
He closed his eyes and placed it in his mouth. A fishy, bitter taste spread from his tongue, but the breath of heaven and earth within it drew him in like honey.
Then Shen Yi began pouring his lifespan into the Wind and Thunder Demon-Subduing True Interpretation.
[Remaining demon lifespan: 672 years] [Year 1: You spent seven months removing the dross from the Beast Essence and extracting only its essence, while also absorbing the breath of heaven and earth. Your cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.] [You successfully filled your sixth aperture, and the Wind and Thunder Demon-Subduing True Interpretation reached Minor Accomplishment. Yet the essence within the Beast Essence continued to pour into you without end, and you filled your seventh major aperture.] [You comprehended Blood Baleful Intent (Incomplete) from the Beast Essence.] [Remaining demon lifespan: 671 years]
The lifespan infusion had barely begun when delight and astonishment welled up in Shen Yi's eyes.
His theory had been right.
As long as a precious medicine was inside his body, it could affect the process of deducing martial arts.
But he hadn't expected the effect to be so terrifying.
How long had it taken him to fill two apertures before? A full twenty years.
One Beast Essence swallowed down was worth twenty years of hard cultivation.
It also cleared up a question that had been troubling Shen Yi. Ordinary people lived at most a hundred years, and even if they perfected their Mortal Body and entered the Initial Realm, they gained only forty years of life in total.
Yet demons and monsters could live for hundreds of years. The Yellow Weasel, whose realm was even lower than his, had more than five hundred and seventy years left to live.
With that kind of advantage, demons and monsters could simply outlast the human masters of the world.
It seemed the essence of martial cultivation was taking what you needed. If you foolishly spent every day begging things from heaven and earth, you'd probably still be in the early stage of the Initial Realm by the time your hair turned white.
"What is this Blood Baleful Intent?"
Shen Yi looked at the panel. A line of text had appeared beneath his current martial art.
[Blood Baleful Intent (Incomplete): By consuming demon and monster Beast Essence, you have been tainted by its corruption. You have comprehended it and made it your own. The breath of heaven and earth within your body now has a corrosive effect.]
After reading the description, Shen Yi suddenly thought of the Yellow Weasel's demonic art.
Come to think of it, if his realm hadn't been far higher than hers, then once the energy in his body ran dry, he'd probably have ended up like that pile of bones, melting into a pool of pus.
"At least it gives me another way to attack."
Shen Yi composed himself and continued pouring in demon lifespan.
[Year 27: You filled your eighth major aperture. Because the energy within your body was too abundant and had taken on your own essence, it clashed with the pure breath of heaven and earth, slowing your cultivation.] [Year 49: All nine of your apertures were full. The Wind and Thunder Demon-Subduing True Interpretation reached Great Accomplishment.]
Perhaps because he had so much to spare, Shen Yi didn't feel any pain at the thought of spending it. He planned to fill it all in one go.
[Year 72: You finally filled your tenth aperture. In your eyes, the world around you gradually became clearer.] [Year 104: When water is full, it overflows. Your body had reached its limit and could no longer contain the slightest extra breath. All twelve apertures were full, and the Wind and Thunder Demon-Subduing True Interpretation reached Perfection.] [Remaining demon lifespan: 568 years]
If practicing a cultivation method was a sure thing, something that would eventually reach perfection no matter what, then deducing a new one was no different from drawing a lottery.
Shen Yi hesitated, saving three hundred years for another purpose and pouring all the rest into it.
Then came a string of identical notifications that left his mind reeling.
[Year 1: Even though your realm was perfected, you believed that if you did not advance, you would fall behind. You continued to temper yourself diligently every day, ceaselessly taking from heaven and earth...] [Year 10: You continued taking...] [Year 20: You were still taking...]
One line of notifications after another flashed by, only to be pushed aside by the next.
The same thing repeated countless times.
A trace of sweat seeped from Shen Yi's palm. Just as he was about to give up, a line of text that was clearly different from the others finally flashed before his eyes.
[Year 130: Perhaps your diligence had been rewarded by heaven. A wisp of energy suddenly condensed in your first major aperture, turning into a drop of Jade Dew.] [Year 150: A second drop of Jade Dew appeared.] [Year 268: Nearly half the energy in your first major aperture had transformed into Jade Dew.] [Remaining demon lifespan: 300 years]
Shen Yi's expression grew complicated. Only then did he manage to grasp what had happened.
Energy condensed into liquid. Connecting it to the Jade Liquid Realm Lin Baiwei had mentioned, it wasn't hard to guess that this was the transformation of the next realm.
Perhaps once all the energy in his twelve major apertures had turned into Jade Liquid, he would officially enter the next realm.
The problem was that he hadn't found the knack for it!
In the deduction, all he'd done was use the clumsiest method without end, brute-forcing the transformation of the energy in his body by piling on time.
How much demon lifespan would it take to fill a single major aperture?
It wasn't merely twice the effort for half the result. It was sheer waste.
Shen Yi closed his eyes and sensed the changes within his body. The Jade Liquid seemed more substantial than ordinary energy, but otherwise he couldn't detect any other use for it.
He sighed and turned his attention to the remaining martial arts.
The last three hundred years were meant for them.
Blade techniques, fist techniques, and lightness skills.
Shen Yi recalled his earlier fight with the Yellow Weasel. What he lacked most right now was clearly a way to attack.
He chose the Demon-Subduing Blade Technique.
[Year 1: Even though this blade technique was already far too crude for your current realm, you picked it up again all the same. Just as you had when you first stepped into the martial path, you began practicing it properly, one move at a time.]
Perhaps because he'd lost so much earlier, this was the turning point when things finally went his way.
Before long, Shen Yi's furrowed brows relaxed.
[Year 46: You swung your final slash and felt a deep sense of ease throughout your body. The crude moves blended together in your mind, gradually becoming something entirely new.] [Year 50: You had comprehended a complete set of blade techniques, but inexplicably felt that something was missing. You stared at the mist curling around your fingertips, lost in thought.] [Year 55: You comprehended the Initial Realm Blood Baleful Blade Technique.] [Remaining demon lifespan: 245 years] [Initial Realm Blood Baleful Blade Technique (Beginner)]
With countless years of lifespan poured into it, the blade technique's level began to soar, climbing from Beginner to Perfection.
By the time the rooster crowed,
the Constabulary Office in Baiyun County was packed with constables.
Chen Ji stood in the middle, with thirteen dog-demon heads beside him.
An old man with completely white hair and beard sat in the seat of honor, wearing a blue round-collared robe. His eyes were closed, and his bony hands gripped the armrests tightly. The veins on the backs of his hands bulged like twisted snakes.
"Liu the Clerk, dealing with demons is part of our duties too..." Song Changfeng explained softly.
At that, the old man slowly opened his eyes. His gaze swept over the demon heads on the ground, then quickly moved away, as if he couldn't bear to look at them any longer.
He waved a hand. "This old man doesn't have that ability. You're the ones with the ability. Lord Shen is the one with the ability... Since that's the case, then let him handle all the demon affairs too."
As he spoke, Liu the Clerk abruptly rose to his feet and furiously kicked over the table in front of him.
"Let him handle everything by himself!"
Before you continue