Su Yu pushed open the heavy bronze doors.
The hinges screeched from lack of lubrication, shaking great clouds of dust loose from the doorframes.
Tang Shan stood beside the doors and tucked the bloodstained black-and-gold key back into his robe.
Inside the treasury, three rows of rosewood shelves stood in the shadows.
Su Yu stepped into the storeroom, his footsteps echoing through the empty interior as he trod across the blue bricks.
Neatly stacked official silver filled the first row of shelves, its surface gleaming a cold white.
A dozen or so jade bottles sat on the second row, their mouths sealed with wax, giving off a faint herbal fragrance.
Su Yu's gaze settled on the top of the third row.
A stack of yellowed silk lay there.
He reached out, his fingers touching the cool surface of the silk.
Su Yu unfolded the silk. Four large, boldly scrawled characters in black ink headed the text: Vajra Demonic Baleful Intent.
His fingertips brushed over the writing, its rough texture pressing against their pads.
This was a middle-grade Spirit Realm body refinement technique, the very technique Liu Tianjue had cultivated.
Su Yu stood where he was, his gaze sweeping over the words on the silk.
After obtaining a spirit refinement technique, he had now filled the gap in body refinement too. Only Qi refinement remained.
Su Yu folded the silk and tucked it into his robe.
Before leaving, he casually took a few bottles of pills from the shelves.
After leaving the Liu Family compound, Su Yu returned to his lodgings and took out the bottles of pills.
He pulled out a wooden stopper, and two dark red Body Tempering Pills fell into his palm. Without hesitation, Su Yu tossed them straight into his mouth.
Although he already possessed Spirit Realm combat strength, enough to dominate Nanhe County, Su Yu knew this was far from enough.
Nanhe County was merely a small city under Tiannan Commandery's jurisdiction. His goal was not simply to stay in Nanhe County and throw his weight around.
The pills dissolved as soon as they entered his throat, and a scorching sensation spread down his esophagus.
He planted his feet in the open space there and began circulating Suppressing Prisons and Subduing Demons.
Faint cracks sounded beneath his skin. Dark golden Spiritual Qi merged with the medicinal power and began washing through the meridians fatigued by successive battles.
Su Yu completed one full circulation.
His breathing was as steady as though he were asleep, but every exhalation formed visible white mist in the air.
[Vajra Demonic Baleful Intent (Spirit) Middle Grade: Not yet initiated]
A short while later, Su Yu stopped his movements and glanced at the information on the panel.
The system came with a recording function. Any cultivation technique or martial art he encountered would automatically be recorded.
"System, add points to Vajra Demonic Baleful Intent!"
The numbers on the panel flickered wildly.
650, 350, 150...
As his Slaughter Points rapidly drained away, Su Yu felt his bones tightening.
His muscle density was increasing at tremendous speed. His arms had grown a size thicker, and dark purple patterns were faintly visible beneath his skin.
This was the source of Liu Tianjue's bodily toughness.
But now, Su Yu not only had Demonic Baleful Intent protecting his body, but also Prison-Suppressing Spiritual Qi at his core.
Body refinement, Qi refinement, spirit refinement.
The three paths formally converged at this moment.
His presence surged across the space, compressing the surrounding air until it crackled incessantly.
[Derivation complete. Vajra Demonic Baleful Intent (Spirit) Middle Grade: Minor accomplishment]
Su Yu opened his eyes.
He looked at his hands. A thick layer of calluses had grown over his knuckles.
"Brother Su, Chief Lin is calling for you outside."
Just then, Tang Shan's voice came from outside the room.
Su Yu turned and tucked the remaining pills into his robe.
As he passed Tang Shan, he raised his hand and tossed him a bottle of Body Tempering Pills.
The drill grounds of the Nanhe County yamen.
Lin Xiao sat on a wooden chair with a missing leg, his left hand wrapped in thick bandages.
A long table stood before him, piled with account books and letters seized from the Liu Residence.
Lin Xiao slapped a sheet of white paper covered in names onto the table.
"Not a single member of the Liu Family involved in colluding with the Demon God Cult is to be spared."
"Yes!"
The surrounding guards answered in unison.
Although every one of them was wounded, their spirits were higher than ever before.
On the county town's streets, several messengers galloped on swift horses, waving proclamations bearing the Demon Suppression Bureau's vermilion seal.
[Liu Tianjue has been executed! The traitorous Liu Family's property is confiscated!]
Shop assistants on both sides of the street poked their heads out, looking at the head hanging above the city gate.
Someone spat.
Dead at last.
This malignant tumor of Nanhe County had finally been cut away.
Lin Xiao looked at the gathering townspeople and signaled to the deputy beside him with his eyes.
Read the Liu Family's crimes aloud.
Especially the matter of that dry well.
Everyone had to know what Great Philanthropist Liu, whom they relied upon in their daily lives, had been raising underground.
The deputy raised his voice, and it echoed over the square.
Ten li outside the city.
On a barren ridge overgrown with withered grass, two figures crouched behind a pile of rocks.
The figure on the left had a hunched back and an enormous black dog's nose, which was constantly sniffing the air.
"The smell of blood is strong."
The dog demon lowered its body, keeping its voice very quiet.
The figure on the right wore a loose hemp robe, beneath which protruded a pair of sharp claws covered in red fur.
It was an elite of the Blood Wolf Clan.
"That useless Liu Tianjue couldn't even last a single day."
The Blood Wolf bared its fangs. Saliva dripped from the corners of its mouth onto the dead leaves, which hissed as they corroded.
It extended its claws and gouged three deep grooves into the rock before it.
"The chief wants us to probe their strength."
"If reinforcements from the commandery city have reached Nanhe County, we withdraw to Cloud Wolf Mountain immediately."
The dog demon shook its head, the fur on its nose trembling in the wind.
Both had Spirit Realm First Level cultivation and usually ran rampant around Nanhe County without restraint.
"Come on. Let's go in and look."
The dog demon's form instantly blurred, turning into a gray shadow that slipped into the sewers.
The Blood Wolf pulled its hemp robe tighter.
The next instant, its body began to twist and shrink in a bizarre fashion.
A short while later, a somewhat stooped old farmer appeared beside the official road. It shouldered a load of firewood obtained from who knew where and started toward the city gate.
The guards at the gate were busy recording the Liu Family's assets. No one noticed the old man with the slightly stiff gait.
The Blood Wolf disguised as an old farmer kept its head lowered.
As it passed through the gate, its gaze lingered for an instant on the head impaled on a spear above.
Liu Tianjue's eyes, still open in death, stared straight at it.
The Blood Wolf snorted inwardly.
Trash!
It mingled with the stream of people entering the city and headed toward the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Returning from the drill grounds, Su Yu arrived back at the Demon Suppression Bureau. He had earned considerable merit by wiping out the Liu Family this time, so he planned to visit the Demon Suppression Pavilion to exchange it for a few martial arts and check whether the Spirit Realm section of Suppressing Prisons and Subduing Demons was available.
His spirit refinement had now reached Spirit Realm Second Level, and his body refinement technique, Vajra Demonic Baleful Intent, had reached minor accomplishment. He only needed to draw a wisp of Sha Qi into his body to break through to the Body Refinement Spirit Realm.
Thus, he could not let his Qi refinement fall too far behind either.