“…”
Lin Baixi thought about it. Compared to the brutality that followed, the Solar-Splitting Bow’s arrow really was just a warning.
No one present had expected things to go this smoothly.
Even the Inner Division Commanders responsible for sealing and watching the mountain hadn’t had time to process that they should be receiving a Demon Suppression General — and the General was already on the road back.
“I feel like you’re almost at Martial Elder Sister Jiang’s level—”
Walking along, Lin Baixi murmured it with a slightly drifting expression, still not quite out of what she’d just watched.
Whether it was the fist that tore through a treasured implement, or the dense-solid crimson sword intent, or that fluid uncanny movement — every method was far beyond Qingzhou’s top-tier martial arts, and he had all of them. It was hard to wrap her mind around.
They’d come from the same world. The gap between people could be genuinely terrifying.
Shen Yi considered for a moment and shook his head. “Not there yet.”
Thinking back to the jade dragon formed from ten thousand Mysterious Ice Seven-Kill sword intents — even with the sixth transformation and the White Deer confined — he still didn’t think he’d have good odds.
To actually stand against Jiang Qiulan in a fight, his physical frame needed at least one more tier before he could absorb that sword intent without it being immediately decisive.
Demonic techniques were demonic techniques. The effect was powerful, but the cost in lifespan was extraordinary — clearly not something designed for human practitioners.
Three thousand years would give a Condensate Realm practitioner several lifetimes over. But it wasn’t enough for a single minor breakthrough in the Immortal-Demon Nine Transformations.
The technique’s greatest advantage was its ceiling.
Absolute dominance within tier — cutting through peers like livestock.
In pure cost-effectiveness — it was embarrassingly poor. That was the technique’s own limitation, nothing to do with his talent. Even the Qingzhou General or Jiang Qiulan cultivating it would probably exhaust their lifespan before managing Novice.
For Shen Yi specifically — still quite satisfying, all things considered.
After all, his speed at learning human martial arts wasn’t going to win any prizes either.
And there was another important factor — the lifespan being spent wasn’t his.
Talent. Two plain words. A cold, brutal chasm. As cultivation advanced, that chasm would widen, until eventually the far shore was too distant to even imagine reaching.
Some people never broke the Threshold Realm in their entire lives. Jade Liquid Realm made you a local power. Condensate Realm, against the tens of millions of people in Qingzhou as a base, numbered less than a hundred.
Core-nurturing required the court’s assistance — the faith-and-prayer path to Martial Immortal.
Even then, only a dozen or so existed.
The only person in all of Qingzhou who might break through without the faith-and-prayer path was Jiang Qiulan.
Shen Yi didn’t feel much of anything in particular about this.
His understanding of himself had been clear from the beginning. An entirely ordinary person who had stumbled onto a method for compensating for aptitude through demon lifespan.
The only thing that could stand against talent was time.
Kill enough demons, and there was no threshold that couldn’t be crossed.
“Ah—”
Lin Baixi noticed Shen Yi had fallen into thought, and it seemed he was genuinely treating Jiang Qiulan as a benchmark to measure against.
She’d just said it casually, as the first example that came to mind—
She hesitated for a moment. “After you get back, you’ll be going to the capital. Did you want to stop at home first?”
“Sure.” He nodded. He needed a quiet place to take stock of the haul anyway.
Liu Yuchuan and Hezhen followed quickly behind, the fox carcass still in their arms, finally understanding why the old general had chosen this young man to take Linjiang Prefecture.
Complete conviction. Not a remaining trace of dissatisfaction.
Back in Baiyun County — the home Lin Baixi had mentioned was a small, tucked-away room.
They stepped inside.
Lin Baixi walked to the table and looked at the thin layer of dust across the surface. This was the table where she’d copied out the full Four Harmonies True Astral Force by hand. And it was from that point that Shen Yi had first shown that impossible aptitude for martial arts.
She was half-expecting some trace of memory from him.
Instead he sat on the edge of the bed, took out the silver pouch, and began sorting through the haul.
Treasured medicines and rare minerals spread out across the bed.
The jade sword and the Soul-Suppressing Bell were apparently everything the fox demon had been carrying. Slightly disappointing — but understandable. In a life-or-death situation, nothing would have stayed hidden.
He shook the pouch and looked puzzled. “Why wouldn’t they bring their martial technique books when they left home?”
“…”
Lin Baixi gave up on the nostalgia and answered with patient resignation. “Probably to prevent exactly this kind of situation.”
Shen Yi put the medicines and minerals back into the pouch. This storage pouch had considerably more space than the silver bell — it was a genuine treasure in its own right.
More than the physical items, what he valued most was the fox demon itself.
A well-traveled major demon with a real lineage. Layer upon layer of methods, each one more confusing than the last.
Take Qingqiu’s external pill technique.
Those twelve pills had a jade quality — clearly refined treasured implements. That was fundamentally different from the Heavenly Demon external pill, which formed inside the body from jade liquid condensation.
Beyond the materials, the usage was different. The Heavenly Demon external pill served as an inner core substitute — housed in the qi sea, the demonic cultivation permeating the body and limbs. Not connected to the meridians and major apertures, but still channeled through the physical frame.
The Qingqiu external pills were offered into the air. Nothing to do with the body. Pure storage for cultivation, with the demonic force used only to drive a treasured implement like the Soul-Suppressing Bell.
In extremis, they could even self-detonate to force an enemy back.
It was increasingly clear that the young fox had once heard of external pill cultivation, had no real understanding of it, and had improvised the Heavenly Demon Yama external pill technique by fumbling around with the flood dragon’s demonic force.
No wonder there had been so many complications.
The two methods had essentially nothing to do with each other.
With the Qingqiu fox’s resentment now in the Demon Crystal, at least the next derivation attempt wouldn’t go as sideways.
He turned the silver pouch over in his hand — covering the motion of opening the panel.
His gaze passed across the Twin-Harmony True Intent.
The fox’s sword-riding technique had been genuinely interesting. Might it help him refine the Baiyu Monastery’s signature intent a little further?
He settled his mind, spent a thousand years to condense a Demon Crystal, and began feeding demon lifespan into the Twin-Harmony True Intent.
【Year one — you swallow the Demon Crystal, begin attempting to derive the Twin-Harmony True Intent.】
【Lifespan extended by twenty years.】
As the demon lifespan fell, countless resentments stirred awake. Even the White Deer joined the discussion.
The notifications filled with one strange and specific suggestion after another.
【Year 137 — the Twin-Harmony sword intent you’ve condensed hovers in the air, the yin-yang fish turning slowly. You stare at the sword in concentrated thought. Around you, demons argue in an endless stream. The Qingqiu fox demon looks at the group, as though remembering something, and moves beside you to offer one small suggestion.】
In water, a flood dragon. In mountains, a tiger. Both carry yin-yang attributes, and they also match the deep meaning of Dragon-Tiger Unified Origin—why not—
【Year 162 — with the Qingqiu fox’s help, you successfully seal the mountain lord and the flood dragon into the yin-yang fish. You and the Qingqiu fox crouch beside the sword with considerable interest, observing what develops inside.】
(End of Chapter)