Bang. Bang. Bang.
Shen Yi’s frame looked slight against the tiger demon — and was steadily dominating it. The dark-pale light of the Life-Death Zen Body poured through his fingers with each strike.
Death-stillness passing into the body, eating at the meridians. Life-Death Zen Body and Meridian-Severing Dragon Capture combining in this moment — the effect was something that had never existed before.
Demons were naturally physical powerhouses. A Condensate Realm tiger demon was something that could already claim the title of demon lord.
But under those open palms, the tiger demon kept being driven backward, limbs going numb and prickling — clearly affected by some form of sealing technique.
Its expression shifted suddenly. Something was wrong.
Palm strength this overwhelming didn’t come from a Jade Liquid Realm practitioner. Even without the ambush, this would have been close to its own level.
Body refinement. Physical cultivation.
“RHH—!“
A low growl. The blade embedded in its back shuddered — the muscles were flexing. The tiger’s powerful haunches drove into the ground and it finally steadied itself. Gold light blazed across both arms, astral force condensed to near-physical density and erupted outward.
Both arms crossed in front of the head, stance locked, braced to take the next palm head-on.
And then the younger tiger demon came in from the side and kicked its older sibling in the lower back.
Even Shen Yi was mildly surprised at this.
He watched the enormous frame falling toward him — too large to dodge, nowhere to go — and simply withdrew the palm and put an elbow into its face instead.
At the same moment, the younger tiger vaulted upward, claws extending like drawn blades, and swept a series of three-zhang-wide gold astral cuts at both of them. The angle was precise and vicious — no breathing room for Shen Yi—
And the older sibling was included in the targeting.
Shen Yi saw it immediately, drove a knee savagely into the older tiger’s groin, and in the moment it folded with a cry of pain, grabbed the mountainous body and pulled it in front of him.
Thunk. Thunk.
The astral slashes tore through fur and flesh, leaving wounds deep enough to show bone.
When the force passed, the blood-soaked older tiger had barely registered what had happened.
Shen Yi flipped through the air, brought a leg down across the back of the neck, and the force of it drove the demon to all fours — barely — on the ground. He pulled Erhei from its back as he moved.
The blade came down through the spray.
The older tiger felt the force through the back of its neck and fought to raise its head, and found, with genuine shock, that its full strength wasn’t enough to stop the fall.
Crack. The dark blade came down across the face and buried deep in the skull.
The tiger demon’s head shook. Blade planted in its face, blood pouring — it forced both arms under itself anyway, pushing up, refusing to go flat.
“Not bad, boy. You’ve got something—”
Against Condensate Realm demons, even losing half the body didn’t prevent movement over a great distance. These injuries weren’t decisive.
Wind reached Shen Yi’s ear.
He set the engagement aside, stepped sideways past the incoming claws, and kicked the younger tiger demon away as it tried to capitalize on the distraction.
“Tch. Fair enough.” Two attempts without landing a real hit — the younger one bore it with somewhat poor grace, baring its teeth as it used the claws to stabilize its landing, rolling its neck casually.
Crack. Crack. Bones settling.
Then it shifted into full form — roughly three zhang in length, thick tail swinging and cracking several trees in half.
Taking down a body-refinement practitioner this tough was going to require the real shape.
At nearly the same moment, the older tiger’s frame bulged outward. Even prone, it stood higher than Shen Yi. It shook Erhei off its face.
Both tiger eyes slowly filled with a thin red.
“Body refinement this thorough — genuinely rare. Just wondering whether eating you will be worth the effort to chew.”
The two demons began to move — two fur-covered hills circling slowly, closing the distance, demon qi rising from them in heavy waves that quickly blanketed the entire hillside.
Sibling squabbling was one thing. When a real threat appeared, the situation changed.
The two demons had Shen Yi between them, pressing inward. Vertical pupils lit with something hungry. They were freshly broken-through demon lords — still young, not yet their father’s equal, but rulers of their territory nonetheless.
The qi they were releasing was the unrestrained expression of new demon kings.
Under that pressure, even the noise from Yongan City fell completely silent.
“…”
From the brief exchange, Shen Yi had his read.
On his own, full commitment — he could probably take one of them.
Both at once, coordinating against him — that was going to be a strain.
Trying to make a profit without cost — his current level wasn’t quite there.
He bent and picked up Erhei, turned the blade once in his hand.
To the two demons, the gesture looked faintly pathetic — a last futile motion.
But when the young man’s eyes came up—
A thread of familiar crimson made both tigers pause for a fraction of a second.
Between their two demon lord presences, a third qi was spreading.
Same ferocity. Colder. More dense. More settled.
The Solar-Fusion Furnace — opening fully for the second time since Qingfeng Mountain.
The Heavenly Demon Yama external pill shuddered. The concentrated blood-savage demon force poured outward like a dam breaking, flooding through the body.
Shen Yi felt that alien power surge into every limb again. He extended his left hand. Closed the fingers — easy, unhurried.
Dark-red mist rose at the edges of black pupils.
The loose dark robe shifted slightly, sleeves lifting. Fine blood-traces surfaced at the pale wrists — meridians and apertures filled to capacity with vast demonic force.
One moment: rich, mellow human medicine.
The next: something like a demon manifesting.
The younger tiger’s tail stopped swaying in sudden apprehension. The long powerful body went taut with genuine alarm, staring at the young man with confusion.
“Senior?”
“Are you completely stupid?!”
The circumstances were unclear, but the fight had already started. No reason to hesitate.
The older tiger lunged forward, enormous frame blotting out the sky above the slight figure below, body blazing with consolidated gold astral force, devastating claws coming down—
The astral force tore through everything in its path.
In the instant before reaching the black robe—
The vast tiger frame stopped. Suspended.
A hand had settled lightly on its abdomen.
The gold astral force — condensed to near-physical density — dissolved instantly under the savage demonic power. The meridians throughout the body broke apart with it.
Clean-knuckled fingers pushed through skin and flesh.
They found the inner core, tangled in blood and tissue, and began drawing it out.
“Ahh— AHH!!“
The sound that came out of the hillside was devastating.
Blood ran down the wrist and soaked into the sleeve. Shen Yi’s expression didn’t change. Only the eyes had gone somewhat savage.
Flood Dragon’s Power. Hundred-Tempered Caiman Body. Life-Death Zen Body.
Combined with three thousand years of the flood dragon lord’s cultivation behind the external pill — against a tiger demon barely stronger than the Deng ancestor, there wasn’t much resistance available.
In front of it. While it watched.
Shen Yi drew the rough inner core out with no particular effort and placed it in the silver bell.
Only then did the older tiger fall fully to the ground. Barely breathing, expression unhinged, crawling toward the young man.
“Give it back — give it back—”
Shen Yi looked sideways at it. Quietly: “Lie still. Don’t move.”
His breathing had gone warm. He pressed down the part of him that wanted to continue. He picked up the blade, moved through the motion with careful precision, and took the head.
A thread of the tiger demon’s heart-blood qi slipped into the bell at his hip.
【Condensate Realm Tiger Demon slain — Total Lifespan: 3,960 years. Remaining: 1,823 years. Absorbed.】
(End of Chapter)