Chapter 532: I Took Off the Sect Master's Robe, and Can Still Be a Demon Hunter

【Slain Bai Yujing's Haoyue Shuanghu, total lifespan 386,000 years, remaining lifespan 233,000 years, absorption complete】

【Remaining demon lifespan: 570,000 years】

The lifespan remaining on the three old demons was nothing special, and the two tomb-guarding tiger demons hardly needed mentioning. Fortunately, that young tiger demon, though its temperament was somewhat disappointing, truly had remarkable talent.

Shen Yi did not linger, and swiftly left that dark-red waterscape with Yu Lan and You Chang.

He was not entirely sure whether that Dragon Consort was still watching him.

Even though You Chang was most likely a demon-suppressing stone on par with Wucheng, it would still be very difficult to sense the prying of a Dao Merging realm great demon.

"Hoo—"

Shen Yi felt the wind at his ears, lowered his gaze to the exquisite water lotus in his palm, and fell into thought.

By all rights, this much demon lifespan should have been enough for him to climb to the next boundary stele of the Nameless Mountain.

After all, that mountain belonged to someone else. Although at their last parting Yan Chongzhang seemed to be inviting him over to view the mountain, the other party was still only a Dao Child, not a true Sect Master. Who knew whether the Banshan Sect might suddenly change its mind.

The longer it was delayed, the more likely things would change.

But Shen Yi suddenly did not want to go over for the moment. The reason lay in this water lotus, and in the matter of guarding the tomb that the tiger demons had mentioned earlier.

He recalled that the Black-Backed Jiao guard had once mentioned this was a life-extending object, and the tiger demons wanted to bring it into the tomb… extending the life of a dead person?

Of the five tribulations of birth, age, sickness, death, and suffering, those who could pass the fourth tribulation were few indeed.

Shen Yi did not believe it was because those Dao Merging realm titans could not see the fourth city. Those who could become masters of a Xian Sect — which of them, when young, was not a dragon among men and phoenixes among women? They could hardly be that much worse than Su Hongxiu.

Since this Dao Child of the Heavenly Sword Sect could see the Kaihuang Great City, these Sect Masters certainly could see it as well. But according to the records in the pearl Qin Zongzhu had left in his mind, most Sect Masters ultimately stopped at the tribulation of sickness, and then calmly began waiting to inherit a Dao Merging treasure land.

To see through life and death — four words that sounded simple, but in reality how could it be that easy.

Even cultivators who sat in meditation to nurture their hearts could not manage it, let alone demons who only needed to eat and drink heartily and could grow stronger through their bloodlines alone.

At least since coming to Xihong, Shen Yi had slain so many great demons, yet so far not a single one had given him even the slightest hope of passing the death tribulation.

If nothing unexpected happened, it would probably be very hard to encounter one in the future either.

"This is an opportunity."

Shen Yi shook his head and carefully put away the water lotus.

If he delayed too long and let the so-called tomb discover something was amiss, then when he later wanted to sneak in, the difficulty would multiply.

After all, the Haoyue Shuanghu clan was a proper faction with great demons on par with the Dao Merging realm sitting in their midst — and more than one at that.

In the face of this matter, everything else could be set aside for now.

Thinking of this, Shen Yi no longer hesitated, and directly condensed out a grey-white suppressing stone statue.

As for the choice of demon soul, he did not stint on demon lifespan, and unusually chose one of the older tomb-guarding tiger demons.

This time, the demon origin alone consumed a full thirty-two!

The corpses of the six tiger demons all flowed into the suppressing stone.

In an instant, a Haoyue Shuanghu suppressing stone, slightly weaker than You Chang, opened its terrifying eyes.

"I pay my respects to my lord!"

This tomb-guarding Bai Hu was precisely the one that had previously died under the Wusheng Palm.

It nervously swept its gaze over the few people before it. Perhaps that python demon was the strongest in actual strength, but the master in the ink-black robe was absolutely the most dangerous among them.

"Where is the tomb, and who is buried within?" Shen Yi spoke concisely, looking over.

This was the first time the tomb-guarding Bai Hu had heard the other party speak — the goal was clear, not a single wasted word — and it could not help feeling somewhat complicated.

Although it spent most of its time guarding the tomb, it had after all been in Xihong for so many years and could be considered well-experienced, yet it had never seen a demon faction so ruthless in killing, as if utterly devoid of any superfluous emotion.

The tomb-guarding Bai Hu did not dare hesitate in the slightest, and said directly: "Reporting to my lord, the tomb is at the edge of Xihong, where the moonlight is richest. Within it is buried the clan leader's only daughter. When the Young Lady was still in her mother's womb, the Lady encountered a fierce battle and nearly perished together with her child. In the end, the Lady passed away, and the clan leader, with tremendous divine power, forcibly preserved a wisp of the Young Lady's remnant soul."

Speaking to this point, a trace of wariness flashed in the tomb-guarding Bai Hu's eyes: "And borrowed a life-extending lotus from the Eastern Long Gong. This preservation… has lasted a hundred thousand years."

"Didn't expect your clan leader to be quite the sentimental one." You Chang raised a brow. It was never the taciturn type to begin with — it had only been bullied plenty by Wu Jun in the Northern Hall, which was why it had been so well-behaved. Now that it finally had a chance to come out and stretch its legs for a while, how could it hold back its nature?

Among the Diming Youmang clan… no, it should be said that among most demon clans, such a scene of deep father-daughter affection was hard to come by.

After all, demons had far too long a lifespan. Apart from a few clans, most of them left offspring everywhere, so many that even they themselves could not keep track. Only those descendants with the rarest bloodlines and the highest talent were regarded as direct lineage.

The Dragon Palaces, for instance, were like this.

Nearly every Long Gong had a great many descendants, but in the end only a mere dozen or so could be called Dragon Grandsons.

Let alone paying such a great price for an unborn "dead infant."

"…"

Yu Lan noncommittally shifted her gaze away. Though she said nothing, she clearly did not agree with You Chang's words.

The tomb-guarding Bai Hu also gave an awkward smile.

"Is there a Dao Merging realm guardian?" Shen Yi's thoughts were rather similar to Yu Lan's. Rather than calling it deep father-daughter affection, he instead felt this was something that sounded somewhat unpleasant.

Only, right now he could not even attend to his own treasure land — where would he find the time to empathize with a demon's plight.

"That there isn't. If a senior on par with the Dao Merging realm were to enter the tomb, they would inevitably draw off a great deal of moonlight and affect the Young Lady's demon body… Those guarding the tomb are all old relics like us with no hope of breaking through."

The tomb-guarding Bai Hu was speaking when its tone suddenly shifted: "However, the Young Lady has a heavy treasure protecting her body, which cannot be broken through unless by a Dao Merging realm cultivator. Moreover, if us old relics join forces and borrow the aid of that great tomb's formation, even if a true Dao Merging realm cultivator came, we could hold them off for some time — enough to last until the clan leader and the other two seniors came to reinforce."

Yu Lan's heart suddenly skipped a beat after hearing this.

She was, among those present, the one who had followed her master the longest. Based on her understanding of her master…

"Lead the way."

Sure enough, the next moment Yu Lan heard that familiar voice.

A trace of helplessness could not help surfacing on her charming face.

She had thought that before fleeing the Heavenly Sword Sect, her attempt to borrow the South Long Gong's hand to slay Su Hongxiu was already mad enough, but compared to her master, it was simply a minor case compared to a major one.

Once the other party felt a sense of crisis — for instance, being stimulated by the Dragon Consort's strength — they truly would seize even the slightest chance to improve themselves.

Only, Yu Lan still did not quite understand. If that tomb's great formation truly possessed the ability to hold off the Dao Merging realm, then for cultivators below Dao Merging it would simply be overwhelming.

For just the few of them to rashly break in would be no different from seeking death.

"Master, how do you plan to respond?"

By contrast, the tomb-guarding Bai Hu, perhaps because of what had happened earlier, had developed a kind of inexplicable dread toward Shen Yi. Instead of trying to dissuade him, it obediently went ahead to lead the way.

Shen Yi had no intention of explaining. He stepped onto his sword and flew, then took out two beast-hide scrolls from his thumb ring.

These were the things left behind after the two tomb-guarding tiger demons had been absorbed by the Town Stone earlier. He had assumed they were some secret technique or cultivation method, and because he had been in a hurry to withdraw, he hadn't had time to examine them closely. Only after hearing the other's explanation did he realize they were actually partial remnant scrolls of a single formation diagram.

The formation diagrams held by the two demons were entirely different, and appeared to have no connection whatsoever.

From this detail alone, one could see just how cautious that Haoyue Shuanghu clan leader had been in this matter—so cautious that he had even guarded against moles within his own ranks.

However… this was actually a good thing for him.

Shen Yi's gaze slowly swept across the beast-hide scrolls, and soon, a new line of text appeared on the panel.

【Dao-Unity. Baoyue Soul-Suppressing Grand Formation (Remnant): Not Yet Initiated】

Every tomb-guarding tiger demon held a portion of this grand formation, which meant that to activate it, communication among them was unavoidable.

Tracking demons and hunting them down—doing a bit of ambush and kill work—was his old trade.

As for formations, he also knew a thing or two.

Thinking of this, Shen Yi closed his eyes, and the remaining demon lifespan was channeled straight into this formation.

……

West Nanhong, Baoyue Grand Tomb.

To find a vast, spiritually rich land in West Nanhong, where water regions occupied nearly eighty percent of the territory, then to build a grand tomb at the spot where lunar essence was most concentrated within these spiritual mountains and rivers, and furthermore to intimidate the demons and cultivators coveting this place—this required not only extremely formidable strength, but also an immense expenditure of effort.

Clearly, the Haoyue Shuanghu clan possessed exactly such conditions.

As a top-tier demon faction in West Nanhong, they had unstintingly dispatched the clan's powerful experts—a full eighteen tomb-guarding tiger demons, among whom even the weakest in cultivation was not something a Three-City realm cultivator could handle.

One had to understand that although demon races did not need to undergo Tribulation Crossing, growing to such a level required incomprehensibly long years, as well as a vast quantity of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

Even if the number of such powerful experts was somewhat greater than that of the Xian Sect, the gap would not be too large.

And the Seven Sons of South Nanhong had six Dao-Unity realm titans holding down the fort; the cultivators under them capable of opening Three Cities numbered, at the very most, around twenty—either Dao Sons or elders of Liu Xingshan's caliber.

The staggering price the tiger demon clan paid was exchanged for this place becoming a complete forbidden zone for living beings.

"……"

After the tiger demon Town Stone approached this grand tomb, it became much quieter.

It had planned to return silently and first scout out the specific situation.

However, the moment it stepped into the tomb's range, its figure paused slightly, and it cursed inwardly.

What rotten luck!

For a Dao-Unity realm titan, keeping a wisp of remnant soul in the world might not be much of a difficult matter. But if one stretched the time to a full hundred thousand years, it required not only precious soul-sustaining objects and the nourishment of heaven and earth's lunar essence, but most importantly, the concealment of heavenly secrets.

The Baoyue Soul-Suppressing Grand Formation bore this responsibility.

But as the price, these great demons who held the formation had endured torment day and night. On top of that, after that wisp of remnant soul had consumed so many Long Gong supreme treasures, it had already grown to an extremely terrifying degree, its resentment piercing the heavens. For them to maintain their sanity was already no small feat.

Therefore, these tomb-guarding tiger demons mostly did not wander about carelessly, only hoping to endure until the time came for the clan to send someone to take over.

"Just bored out of my mind, taking a casual stroll. Once you've retrieved the thing, send it over quickly."

Another tomb-guarding tiger demon happened to pass by. Its tangled fur looked as if it hadn't been groomed in centuries, and its turbid eyes appeared somewhat dull.

It gave a slight nod of its chin, which counted as a greeting, then turned to leave.

"Understood."

The tiger demon Town Stone replied with feigned composure, and likewise turned around.

Master's instruction was to first map out the current positions of these tomb-guarding great demons, to see if a suitable time and route could be found to sneak in and attempt to steal away the Young Lady.

Given the other's ruthless methods, if it couldn't even handle this little task properly, it would likely have no pleasant fate to look forward to.

Just as it took a step, it heard a slightly puzzled soft hum from behind.

"Hmm?"

That tomb-guarding tiger demon slowly turned its head back, its turbid eyes clearing slightly: "I remember… you didn't seem to go alone, did you? Where is it?"

"……"

The tiger demon Town Stone was silent for a moment, then said calmly: "That junior Antu Xiao offended someone at the Dragon Consort's birthday banquet. I was asked to go save his life—he should be back very soon."

The two demons' earlier unwillingness to listen to Antu Xiao's chatter wasn't because of any rule in the tomb; it was simply that they didn't want to bother. But using the errand of fetching medicine as cover to handle some private matters on the side was actually an unspoken understanding among the tomb-guarding great demons.

As long as the soul-sustaining objects didn't have any problems, no one would bother to make an issue of it.

After all, in this tomb… it was truly hard to endure.

However, this explanation failed to dispel the other tiger demon's suspicion. Its eyes flickered uncertainly, and unhurriedly it brought its head close, carefully sniffing twice.

The tiger demon Town Stone feigned composure and coldly met its gaze: "What do you mean?"

It didn't think there was anything wrong with its excuse.

"Nothing much."

Its companion suddenly smiled, raised its eyes to meet its gaze: "Don't you think that you being willing to take the trouble to explain this to me is, in itself, very strange?"

As a tomb guardian, tormented day in and day out, how could one possibly have such a mild temper?

It really did look as if it had been through some kind of blow.

"Give me the thing, I'll deliver it. As for you, just wait here until it comes back." The companion lightly rested its sharp claw on Town Stone's shoulder.

The tiger demon Town Stone slowly clenched its sharp claws. After obtaining this new body, it was confident it could slay the opponent within the time it took a stick of incense to burn, but it absolutely could not prevent the leakage of aura, nor the activation of the entire grand formation.

The first task Master had assigned had failed before it even got through the door.

What was worse, this companion had clearly grown suspicious. The moment it received the water lotus, the other would likely erupt in violence.

Just at this moment.

The tiger demon Town Stone felt the claw on its shoulder tighten slightly, and the other's expression instantly stiffened considerably.

The companion's tall figure slowly turned around, and saw that pale Bai Xi hand imprinted with a blood talisman. Behind the hand, the eyes of the black-robed youth were exceptionally calm.

As a cultivator, he dared to recklessly enter such a perilous forbidden ground, yet his breathing remained so steady.

He unleashed the No-Life Palm again, and the eyes of the Tiger Demon companion turned dull and vacant once more.

Behind Shen Yi, Yu Lan and You Chang stood silently. It was not that the two were unwilling to help, but when they entered this place, their master's only instruction to them was to completely suppress their aura to avoid drawing attention from others; they were to intervene only to block a fatal blow if the situation became hopeless.

After all, the moment they made a move, all the Tiger Demons within the entire Great Tomb would react instantly.

Shen Yi's complexion turned slightly paler.

The strength of these Great Demon Tomb Guardians was truly not weak; at the very least, they were not far inferior to the two Hall Lords, Ke Shisan and Wu Jun. Fighting two of them in continuous, life-and-death battles had already caused him considerable exhaustion.

Yet Shen Yi's gaze grew even more focused.

The instant the body of the Tomb Guardian Tiger Demon cracked and the panel notification surged forth, the entire corpse of the Tiger Demon had already been stored within the ring.

The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, as if practiced countless times.

Even the scent of blood had no time to spread before it vanished completely without a trace, as if it had never existed.

"..."

The Tiger Demon Stone Pillar looked at the empty space ahead and suddenly felt a chill run down its spine.

Instinctively, it wanted to beg for mercy.

But the young man's soft voice echoed in its mind beforehand: "Continue, do not be nervous."

This left the Tiger Demon momentarily stunned into vacancy.

Its master, known for ruthlessness and cruelty, not only did not punish it but actually spoke to steady its mind?

He did not give it much time to react.

Shen Yi vanished silently from his spot; when he reappeared, he had already reached a position within the tomb that allowed for immediate withdrawal yet was perfectly situated to observe more.

He leaned quietly against the tree trunk, took out a new beast-skin scroll, and began to read, neither arrogant nor impatient, displaying boundless patience.

The occasional glance he cast downward was like that of a seasoned hunter patrolling his hunting grounds.

Yu Lan and You Chang followed closely behind.

In the beautiful woman's gaze directed at Shen Yi, waves of emotion gradually arose.

In her impression, although her master was sufficiently fierce, decisive, and even mad, rarely did he consider anything; usually, a knee thrust replaced thought.

This was the first time she had seen the other side of the other party. Setting aside other matters, the mere fact that he chose this position in such haste and had already prepared a backup plan for after the Tiger Demon Stone Pillar was exposed was enough to demonstrate the other party's vast experience.

To call him meticulous down to the finest hair would not be an exaggeration.

"Hah."

The Tiger Demon Stone Pillar quickly adjusted its breathing and managed to regain a bit of its previous feeling.

It finally continued to step forward.

However, how could the great formation deliberately arranged by the Clan Leader have any obvious flaws?

As they delved deeper into the Treasure Moon Great Tomb, the defenses grew increasingly strict; encountering companions was extremely normal.

"Do not hide. Go find it."

Just as the Tiger Demon Stone Pillar instinctively turned around, the young man's voice rang out in its mind again.

It hurriedly continued forward, reaching out to grab another companion: "Wait, I have something to ask you."

"Hmm?" That Tiger Demon turned back in confusion: "You are not delivering medicine; why have you come to find me?"

The Tiger Demon Stone Pillar licked its lips: "Please look at something for me."

Saying this, it pointed behind the other party.

Facing such a crude tactic, the companion's eyelid twitched, instantly snapping into a state of total tension with every muscle coiled; his entire focus was placed on this strange Tiger Demon Stone Pillar, yet he still could not resist glancing backward with the corner of his eye.

An identical slender hand covered over.

With the support of three Dao Soldiers surpassing the Hongmeng Heavenly Soldiers, combined with several Spirit Arts perfected to completion, and the Divine Shen Yue Fa at the Dao-Integration level, the life path personally guarded by Shen Yi was sufficient to make this group of Tomb Guardian Tiger Demons feel despair.

Soon, another corpse fell into the ring.

After slaying three elders of the Great Demon generation in succession, Shen Yi merely lost a slight amount of color from his lips.

He once again merged into the most suitable hiding spot within the tomb.

Having gained experience twice, the Tiger Demon Stone Pillar had obviously adapted much; it finally understood why the beautiful woman and the Python Demon had been so silent when it was previously surrounded. There was no need for any communication at all; as long as it followed the master's instructions, things would proceed smoothly beyond expectation.

It seemed as if everything was within the other party's plan.

As proficiency increased, the same scenes began to occur in succession.

Until the sixth Tomb Guardian disappeared into the Treasure Moon Great Tomb, Shen Yi's body finally bore a few imperceptible wounds. Yet, just as he had absorbed the blood qi of the demons, he dealt with himself with the same decisiveness; still, no one could detect it.

After dealing with the eighth, several huge gashes suddenly appeared on Shen Yi's chest.

The Mystic Armor was shattered for the first time.

The Divine Phoenix Indestructible Sword Body rapidly repaired the injuries, but he frowned slightly, his fingertips carrying golden flames to wipe over the wounds, directly evaporating the bloodstains. From start to finish, not even his eyelid twitched.

In such a demon tomb, it was best not to make oneself look like someone bearing grave injuries.

"..."

Yu Lan watched silently and suddenly felt that perhaps she would not be needed; relying solely on the master himself, surviving that Sickness Tribulation should not be considered a difficult matter.

He was ruthless not only to enemies but equally ruthless to himself.

This was too terrifying. With the master's strength, he could at most face four Tomb Guardian Tiger Demons simultaneously before falling into a disadvantage, yet now he had decisively exchanged eight lives at the cost of severe injuries.

Whoever provoked such a person had truly met with terrible misfortune.

By this moment, the group had completely approached the heartland of the Treasure Moon Great Tomb.

The Tiger Demon Stone Pillar watched as the master took out another new beast-skin scroll. Amidst its excitement, it could not help but feel a mix of laughter and tears; these formations involved matters of the Dao-Integration realm, where could one discern anything in such a short time... let alone the fact that the other party was reading while fighting Great Demons.

"Continue."

Shen Yi put down the beast-skin scroll and glanced at his palm.

In such a weakened state, he might not be able to condense his aura entirely within the No-Life Palm.

Having thought this through, he glanced sideways: "You two may begin."

Begin?

Hearing these words, the White Tiger Guardian Stone suddenly felt a pang of panic in its heart: "Reporting to my Lord, even if it is only half of the great formation..."

The opponent might not yet fully understand the Treasure Moon Soul-Soothing Great Formation, nor this grand tomb constructed with the combined strength of the Haoyue Shuanghu clan.

Even with only eight great tomb-guarding demons remaining, as long as they exert their full power to activate the formation, at least based on our current strength, I fear not a single one of them will hope to leave this place alive.

Before its words had finished, Shen Yi suddenly took the previously mentioned tiger-demon corpses from his signet ring and transformed them all into a river of blood, pouring it into the Tiger-Demon Guardian Stone.

The bloodlines of eight entire kin were now thunderously merging into its body.

A thick, pungent scent of blood raged outward.

Feeling its strength surge wildly throughout its body, the Tiger-Demon Guardian Stone's face was yet devoid of all color, for it could not control the spread of the aura emanating from itself at all!

In an instant, the entire grand tomb seemed to awaken.

Figures one by one simultaneously opened their eyes.

As they revealed their ferocious expressions, within the dim tomb, from the rough stone cracks, that which looked like gray mist but was actually polluted moonlight rolled in from all directions toward the tomb's depths.

If the gray mist the Tiger-Demon Guardian Stone had summoned outside the Dragon Consort's birthday banquet was like a stream, then the gray mist within the tomb now was like Wang Yangdahai, thick and viscous as mud.

"Heh... heh..."

Experiencing a terrifying power within itself unlike anything before, the Tiger-Demon Guardian Stone should have been supremely arrogant; yet, upon seeing the suddenly surging gray mist, only fear remained in its eyes.

It could not help but roar: "Run!"

This was a terrifying thing that even cultivators at the Union with Dao realm dared not ignore!

However, its roar received no response.

Yu Lan glanced at it indifferently, and the flames of its entire body suddenly burst forth.

You Chang also rolled up his sleeves, revealing two slender snake-scaled arms.

"You..." The Tiger-Demon Guardian Stone stared blankly, then its pupils suddenly contracted. At the very moment the gray mist was about to approach, from the other side of the tomb, a gray mist wave even more fierce and terrifying than the one opposite surged like a giant dragon rolling, crashing forward with force!

Boom—

Shen Yi turned his gaze toward the deepest part of the graveyard and casually lowered the hand that had been forming finger seals.

He then stepped forward toward that place, leaving behind only a calm voice.

"Leave none alive."

"We humbly obey my Lord's command!" Yu Lan and You Chang bowed in unison, hands clasped.

The White Tiger Guardian Stone stood dazed in the middle; though it clearly possessed the strongest strength in the area, it felt utterly out of place.

Recalling that "Run!" from just now, it even felt an impulse to dig a hole and bury itself within it.

What exactly happened?

Did my Lord simply glance at those beast-skin scrolls and manage to contest control of the Treasure Moon Soul-Soothing Great Formation with the great tomb-guarding demons who had guarded this place for countless ages?!

(End of this chapter)