Wind roaring. Rain driving down. Cold to the bone.

The three-zhang striped tiger body leapt high and tore across the hillside, crashing through tree after tree, the ground shaking with every bound.

The moment the older tiger’s abdomen had been opened, the younger one had turned and run in the opposite direction without looking back.

It had never imagined it would become the striped king this way — becoming the father’s only remaining choice.

There was no joy in it. Only a cold that had reached the marrow.

Because there was still something behind it.

A vast demonic presence at its back — that qi level represented at least a thousand years more cultivation than its own.

“Senior!”

It ran and howled at the same time. “My father is the mountain lord of Xitai Mountain! My adoptive father is the White Deer Demon Lord! In their names — spare this junior’s life!”

In the middle of the howling, a dark blade arrived before the eye could track it, drove through the back leg, and nailed the demon to the rock face.

“AOOH—!“

The sharp cry of pain. The younger tiger’s eyes went red with fury. “My father is in Yongan City!!”

A slight figure stepped through the curtain of rain, unhurried.

Shen Yi grabbed the massive head, and began hitting it.

One fist after another. Demonic force expending without restraint. The tiger’s skull fracturing, vision going, no ability to fight back.

Bang. Bang.

Very quickly, the entire face was unrecognizable under the blood.

The demon hadn’t even noticed that the young man’s presence was fading rapidly.

Shen Yi couldn’t have said how many punches he’d thrown. Only when the tiger’s face was no longer distinguishable did the dark-red mist in his eyes begin to recede.

【Condensate Realm Tiger Demon slain — Total Lifespan: 3,820 years. Remaining: 1,912 years. Absorbed.】

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 4,378 years】

Another thread of Condensate Realm blood qi entered the bell.

He walked over and pulled out the blade, opened the abdomen, retrieved the inner core with practiced ease, removed the demon’s valuable parts, and tucked everything into the bell.

Then he lay down on the tiger demon’s carcass, somewhat drained.

Shen Yi breathed heavily, slowly extending his right hand. The sleeve fell back, showing wrists crisscrossed with vivid red lines.

This was the first time he’d used the Heavenly Demon external pill at full capacity.

The clear dark eyes, back to normal now, carried a thin edge of unease.

He didn’t know what a typical Condensate Realm inner core felt like — but this thing had nothing in common with one except appearance.

Earlier, merely opening a narrow path from the external pill had let him guide a thin trickle of demonic force into the blade for a single decisive strike against the Jingang School abbot.

But releasing the Solar-Fusion Furnace’s suppression entirely — the way he had tonight — the stored cultivation was entirely beyond his control. That first palm against the older tiger, which had looked unremarkable, had consumed roughly a fifth of the reserves in one motion and shattered every meridian in the demon’s body.

The cost to himself wasn’t ignorable either.

A proper inner core connected to the meridians would never discharge this much force at once.

“You really do need body refinement to run this thing.”

Shen Yi’s eye twitched once. He looked inward.

The Solar-Fusion Furnace settled the external pill back into place without effort.

It had been at roughly fifty percent capacity before the fight. Now only about thirty remained.

“…”

He exhaled, took the external pill out, and reached for the rough flood dragon core Aqian had given him. This time instead of swallowing, he brought the two together.

The Heavenly Demon external pill erupted immediately with domineering, consuming force — as if it intended to swallow the rough core whole.

The reserves refilled quickly, back to roughly fifty percent. The Furnace’s current ceiling.

Shen Yi pulled the rough core back in time, returned the external pill to the qi sea.

He examined the rough core.

Roughly as he’d estimated — one rough core could replenish about twenty-five percent. The qi inside was running thin now, and it needed to be consumed before the energy fully dissipated, or it would become useless.

He lay there a while longer.

The sudden viciousness in his mood dissipated gradually. When it was gone, he sat back up.

Whatever else — this was the greatest gain since arriving in this world.

He opened the panel, let his intent press inward.

A thousand years of demon lifespan condensed into a Demon Crystal.

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 3,378 years】

【Condensate Realm · Life-Death Zen Body (Volume One): Perfection】

He was less tense about this than last time. That was what four thousand years of demon lifespan felt like as a foundation.

No need to be ambitious. A complete Condensate Realm body-refinement method was the target. Nothing exotic. No more Heavenly Demon Yama external pill-style complications.

With that thought in mind, he fed the Demon Crystal in slowly.

【Year one — you consume the Demon Crystal, begin attempting to derive the second volume of the Life-Death Zen Body. The accumulated resentments of the various demons begin to stir.】

【Lifespan extended by twenty years.】

【Year three — the young fox demon is unhelpful on the subject of body refinement, commenting that this is what brainless warriors do with their time.】

【Year five — the ape demon’s consciousness stirs. It suggests you simply die for real, and see whether the life-essence is strong enough to pull you back. If successful, your martial comprehension would almost certainly deepen considerably.】

“…”

Shen Yi hadn’t been expecting much from the smaller demons.

The Demon Crystal could stir the resentment of dead demons, but it needed time. If he remembered correctly, the flood dragon had stirred around the thirtieth year last time.

【Year twenty-eight — the flood dragon and the tiger demon both recover some awareness. Both are creatures favored by heaven and earth — physically powerful from birth. The flood dragon begins examining the dark-pale light in your body.】

【Year forty-six — the flood dragon is unsettled by the life-death essence. The dark-pale light seems like chains binding it. You watch and feel something forming.】

【Year one hundred and twenty-seven — you begin attempting to use death-essence to subdue demonic force, and life-essence to absorb it and make it yours. The flood dragon describes its experience in detail, helping you refine the idea.】

【Year one hundred and ninety-three — with the flood dragon’s assistance, you work out the rough path. As a gesture of gratitude, you plan to name the technique the “Demon-Subduing Arhat Golden Body.” At this moment, the caiman suddenly reminds you — you also have its metamorphosis talent. Could that be incorporated?】

【Year two hundred and ninety-three — the caiman imitates its living form and demonstrates the entire process for you in full. You don’t quite follow. You ask it to do it again.】

“This is—”

Shen Yi had been watching calmly. Now he couldn’t quite contain himself.

He was one step from a complete body-refinement method. But looking at the panel notifications, he gripped his fist.

Same tier, and there were still grades within it.

A Jade Liquid Realm caiman — and it was trying to push the technique one level higher?

(End of Chapter)