Blade-Slaying the Bear Demon

The meditation chamber was a complete mess.

Chen Tong and the others lay sprawled across the floor, blood trickling from the corners of their mouths, their eyes full of horror.

Liu Ke in particular.

He struggled to prop up half his body. Blood and qi churned in his chest; sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

How could this be...

He was a Half-Step Bone-Chiming Realm martial artist!

Among the younger generation of the entire Longyou Circuit, he could be considered fairly gifted. How had he been defeated so easily?!

He stared fixedly at the black bear. Though the demon aura around it was immense, that presence had never truly entered the Bone-Resonance Realm.

At most... at most, it was like him—a Half-Step Bone-Chiming Realm!

Though demons and fiends were naturally stronger than human martial artists at the same realm.

The gap should not have been this vast!

What was more, they had the advantage in numbers!

Leaving aside the others, even that fat monk was a genuine Half-Step Bone-Chiming Realm cultivator. Chen Tong might have been slightly weaker, but he was still an expert of the Late String-Hearing Realm!

Yet such a lineup had been crushed by a single move!

"What? You still aren't leaving? Must I personally invite you out?"

The black bear waited for a while, but the figure at the door remained where she was. It grew somewhat impatient.

However.

The figure standing at the doorway seemed not to have heard.

The loose strands of hair over the girl's forehead hid the expression in her eyes.

Her hand rested on the hilt at her waist, trembling faintly.

As a transmigrator, she had seen dead people and had killed people with her own hands.

She had also witnessed, in Upper Pan Village, the horrors wrought by demons and fiends running rampant.

But no matter what...

No matter what, she still could not calmly accept such a sight.

She truly wanted to vomit.

Not because of the bloody scene, but because of the revulsion rising from the depths of her soul.

But she had to keep it under control.

Only by staying calm could she chop this beast into minced meat, one slash at a time.

After a long while.

She finally let out a long breath, as though releasing something.

Her slightly trembling hand became completely steady at that moment.

She slowly walked forward.

Seeing that she did not retreat but instead stepped toward it, the black bear's eyes flared with savage light.

Boom—

An even more violent demon aura erupted once more from the black bear's body!

"You fool who doesn't know life from death!"

"Since attaining Dao Cultivation, I have lingered in the String Hearing Realm for centuries, all to temper my foundation until it was flawless and immaculate!"

"Now, I am only one step away from entering Bone-Chiming!"

In other words.

Below Bone-Chiming, it was invincible!

As its words fell.

Its enormous body suddenly sank, and it charged straight at Jiang Yuechu!

But Jiang Yuechu had already drawn her blade.

Hummm—

The blade gave a soft cry.

Her Bone-Chiming Realm cultivation erupted in full, without the slightest reservation!

Dong... clang...

Clear, ringing sounds came from within her body, like metal and stone striking together, like temple bells tolling.

Sinews and bones rang in unison!

Bone-Chiming Realm!

At that instant, not only did the ferocious grin on the black bear demon's face freeze.

Even Chen Tong, Liu Ke, and the others, who were lying on the ground struggling to rise, wore expressions of utter shock.

Qi and blood flowed freely; all the bones in the body chimed.

This was a genuine Bone-Chiming Realm!

But...

But Captain Jiang looked no more than seventeen or eighteen!

A seventeen- or eighteen-year-old Bone-Chiming Realm?!

What the hell... was this some kind of joke?!

Alarm bells blared in the black bear demon's heart, but the arrow was already on the string; it had no choice but to loose it!

It roared. Demon aura surged over its claws as it viciously clawed down toward Jiang Yuechu's head!

At that very moment.

Tiger-Roaring Demon-Suppressing Blade!

As she slashed, the blade's momentum was fierce and domineering. The phantom tiger behind her was several times more solid than before!

Even more terrifying, as the blade tore through the air, a tiger's roar shook the soul!

"Roar—"

The sound waves rolled forth, crashing directly into the spirit!

Damn it!

The black bear roared inwardly. Shaken by that tiger roar, even the demon aura within its body stalled, and its movements slowed by half a beat!

It no longer dared to underestimate her in the slightest. The scattered demon aura suddenly drew back in, and it crossed its claws tightly before its chest!

Clang—

Blade and claws collided head-on!

Sparks flew in every direction!

The black bear felt an unimaginable force surge through its claws. Its entire body slid backward uncontrollably for several yards, its feet plowing two trenches through the ground.

Before it could steady itself.

That slender figure had already followed like a shadow, closing in!

The second slash.

Came crashing down!

Splurt—

Blood flashed.

The black bear's thick right paw, along with half its arm, was severed cleanly!

Foul-smelling demon blood spurted out like a fountain.

"Aaarghhh—"

Clutching its severed arm, it stared at that figure in disbelief. Its massive body crashed to its knees.

The complacency and arrogance in its eyes were, at that moment, utterly replaced by fear.

"Spare... spare me!!!"

It screamed in terror. "My lord, spare my life! My lord, spare my life!!!"

Faced with the bear demon's frantic pleas, her expression did not change in the slightest.

She merely walked forward, one step at a time, slowly, until she reached the black bear kneeling and begging before her.

Then she raised her blade.

"No... no!"

Sensing that icy killing intent, the black bear was scared out of its wits and scrambled backward.

Splurt!

Another flash of blood.

The black bear's remaining left arm also flew into the sky.

"Aaarghhh—"

Under the searing pain, the black bear's enormous body rolled wildly across the ground, foul blood staining the floor black.

Jiang Yuechu turned a deaf ear. The saber in her hand slashed down again.

In no more than the blink of an eye, the once-unrivaled black bear demon had become nothing more than a lump of flesh writhing in a pool of blood.

Blood gushed madly from the stumps of its limbs, and the intense agony nearly drowned its consciousness entirely.

But what filled it with the greatest despair was this.

The girl's movements did not pause in the slightest.

She crouched down. With the saber in her hand, as effortlessly as a master butcher dismembering an ox, she sliced strips of flesh from its body, unhurriedly and one piece at a time.

The black bear's screams had become hoarse.

"Kill... kill me..."

"If you've got the guts, kill me!"

Drops of blood splashed onto the girl's fair face.

She raised her eyes, smiling softly, her voice gentle. "I thought you demons would like this."

If they did not like it, why did these demons torture humans like this?

Chen Tong and the others swallowed hard, staring blankly at the scene before them, their mouths dry.

He had never seen anyone like this girl, someone who could still wear a smile while doing something like this.

How calm she was, and how... natural it all seemed.

"Amitabha..."

"To kill is to protect life; to sever karma is not to sever people..."

Bujie muttered softly, slowly closing his eyes as though unwilling to look any longer.

In the pool of blood, the black bear's screams had become as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

In those eyes that should have been fierce and savage, only endless pleading remained.

The smile on Jiang Yuechu's face slowly faded.

She rose to her feet, looking down at the mangled flesh beneath her. At last, she brought her blade down upon its face.

Splurt.

The blade flashed and vanished.

[You have slain a String Hearing Realm lifeform and obtained three hundred and sixty years of its Dao Cultivation.]