Chapter 14

Sleepless all night.

Shen Yi tossed and turned, barely enduring until dawn.

Even knowing Lin Baiwei's major meridians had been sealed by the fox demon, let alone his current cultivation, even the former body's drunken wastrel could easily slay her.

Besides, he had his saber pressed beneath his arm, ready to draw at any moment.

But he still wasn't used to having a living person behind him.

Second, Shen Yi truly didn't believe Lin Baiwei's fabricated martial arts, but he was certain she possessed at least a few legitimate skills.

The woman refused to tell the truth.

Shen Yi closed his eyes, feigning sleep, yet wrestled internally—could he extract anything by force or food?

In the former body's mindset, helping the magistrate conceal the demonic disturbances, merely fooling the Zhen Mo Si, letting the fox demon fully assume Lin family's only daughter's identity—then this woman could be dealt with however she pleased.

But Shen Yi could not.

He intended to join the Zhen Mo Si; if the fox demon's deception were exposed, he'd be stuck in mud up to his pants—no matter how hard he tried, he could never wash it clean.

A young hero, unjustly burdened with such a massive black mark—too unfair!

Shen Yi weighed it all, and the only solution now was to cut down Lin Baiwei, bury her somewhere, and if the Zhen Mo Si discovered anything, deny everything—claim even he had been deceived by the fox demon's illusions.

After all, no witnesses left, and he could squeeze out some martial arts in the process.

"…."

Fingertips brushed the scabbard, gently gripping it.

Shen Yi slowly sat up from bed, bloodshot eyes from the sleepless night, rising with a grim demeanor.

Hearing the noise, Lin Baiwei, leaning against the bedpost, blinked drowsily, wiping her mouth: "Is it morning?"

Shen Yi glanced at her, then walked straight out of the room.

Sensing the suppressed killing intent in his casual gaze, Lin Baiwei instantly woke up more fully, stammering: "Hey, I don't snore… why so grumpy in the morning?"

About a cup of tea later.

Shen Yi, chewing a fried pancake, stood at the door and tossed in a grease-paper bundle without expression.

Lin Baiwei tore it open—it held several steaming hot huoshao.

She involuntarily swallowed, eyes gleaming, her neat white teeth biting in at once, chewing as she said: "How… no meat…"

Shen Yi pulled out a clean outer robe, glared at her: "Meat-filled ones are called jiaomo. No money—make do."

Though in both lives combined, he had never killed a person.

But Shen Yi was not afraid to act—he'd slain demons and monsters, what more a frail mortal?

He simply found such forced killing absurd, making himself look like an idiot.

Besides, solutions weren't limited to one.

As long as he could slay the Lin family's fox demon before the Zhen Mo Si arrived, everything would be resolved.

As for the woman before him, better to ignore her entirely.

Shen Yi changed clothes and turned to leave the room.

Once his footsteps faded, Lin Baiwei stopped chewing, gazing thoughtfully toward the door—her expression clearly eased.

She well understood how terrifying a cultivator's longing for transcendence becomes at Shen Yi's realm.

But even with a blade at her throat, Lin Baiwei would never reveal a single word.

It was a rigid rule set from above.

Violate it, and the other would die—she herself would suffer no better fate.

"Even this she can endure—her stamina's nearly matching mine."

Lin Baiwei sniffed the aroma of the huoshao, licked her lips, and bit in again.

…

East Street, Bai Yun County.

Shen Yi slowed his steps and summoned his interface.

【Current Martial Arts】

Tougu Qinna Hand (Mastery)

Fu Yao Dao Fa (Perfected): Initial Realm. Fu Yao Zhengyang Dao

Paiyun Changquan (Perfected): Fist and Palm Proficiency

Ling She Ba Bu (Perfected)

Feng Lei Bao Juan, Upper Volume (Perfected)

【Current Remaining Lifespan: Twenty-One Years】

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: Two Hundred Twenty-Two Years】

…

He found an empty alley and sat down.

Shen Yi skillfully channeled the demon lifespan into the Feng Lei Bao Juan.

For already-perfected martial arts, further investment might yield nothing.

Merely unlocking the Initial Realm's Fu Yao Zhengyang Dao had consumed twenty-seven years of lifespan.

But what Shen Yi wanted now… was an entire Initial Realm cultivation manual!

For that, he didn't care how much he spent.

【Year One, you gaze at the Feng Lei Bao Juan, long memorized, and begin recalling your life…】

【Year Five, your sword and fist techniques have reached peak mastery; your body has been utterly refined by celestial essence—yet all past experience now proves useless.】

【Year Twenty, you enter seclusion, meditating on heaven and earth, capturing the elusive qi that haunts your soul.】

【Year thirty-seven, the Wind and Thunder Treasure Scroll is a method of refining medicine, tempering oneself with essence. You think the things within medicine and the things within heaven and earth seem no different; you seem to have grasped something.】

……

Year after year of prompts floated before his eyes.

Shen Yi could not personally feel the pain of time slipping away while gaining absolutely nothing.

The moment he put himself in that position, he could not help a chill running down his spine.

【Year sixty, you are already as familiar with the qi of heaven and earth as old friends of many years, but you have never been able to merge them with your body. You look toward the blade at your side.】

【Year eighty-two, you have used the Demon-Subduing True Yang Blade countless times. With every strike, a measure of your flesh and blood essence is consumed. The body previously tempered by essence, under years of self-expenditure, gradually begins to wither.】

【Year ninety, you have successfully turned yourself back into an ordinary person, but you still have not put down the blade.】

【Year one hundred and five, your flesh and blood are exhausted; there is nothing left for you to convert. You swing that familiar True Yang Blade, collapse to the ground, and your trembling hands make you unable to believe this is your own body. You close your eyes.】

【Year one hundred and six, until that wisp of coolness seeps into your skin, your tense face finally gains a trace of a smile. You know you guessed right.】

【Year one hundred and twenty, your line of thinking was correct. Since you could not think it through yourself, you let your body reach the brink of death and used instinct to draw upon the gifts of heaven and earth. Over these years, you have kept repeating this act, growing ever more familiar with the way qi enters the body.】

【Year one hundred and forty-six, you have finally perfected the entire process and recorded it in a book, naming it the "True Explanation of Wind and Thunder Demon-Subduing."】

【Remaining Demon-Tribe Lifespan: seventy-six years】

……

Shen Yi clenched his teeth as a sudden wave of weakness swept over his entire body.

He reached out to brace himself; his qi was disordered and feeble.

But the information that appeared in his mind made Shen Yi completely indifferent to the changes in his body; instead, a thick excitement gathered between his brows.

Just three ape-demon lives, and he could exchange them for a method of transcendence — and he hadn't even used them all up. What a steal!

The "True Explanation of Wind and Thunder Demon-Subduing," obtained at the cost of over a hundred years, was actually not at all obscure.

The human body has three hundred and sixty-two acupoints.

Only twelve great acupoints are suited to drawing in the qi of heaven and earth and storing it.

And in the martial-arts deduction, what he had done was use the most笨 method to find these twelve acupoints and master the way of tempering heaven-and-earth qi through them.

(End of this chapter)