Chapter 10: The One-Year Term is Nearing Its End

Liu Chang’s death.

It made Shen Changqing fully understand that the mortality rate in the Demon Suppression Division was no joke.

The scent of blood, which had previously felt somewhat distant, now lingered around him, refusing to dissipate.

In the Demon Suppression Division.

Other Demon Slayers would die, and Liu Chang would die too.

Although the Pulse-Clearing Realm was not weak, in the face of life and death, it had no power to change anything.

For a time.

Shen Changqing’s pressure increased significantly.

After returning from the Demon Suppression Prison, he simply stopped going to the library and went straight back to his living quarters to begin a new round of intensive cultivation.

Ten months.

Shen Changqing had entered the library no fewer than fifty or sixty times.

The materials he needed to read and the martial arts he needed to learn had all been memorized until he knew them by heart.

As for the rest.

They had no research value.

Unless he could enter the second floor of the library.

However, only official Demon Slayers were qualified to enter the second floor; non-official Demon Slayers could only wander around the first floor.

Possessing four martial arts—the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training, the Pure Yang Skill, the Seven Kill Saber Technique, and the Iron Sand Palm—was, in Shen Changqing’s view, already enough.

After all, a person’s energy was limited.

Being able to focus on cultivating several martial arts at once already occupied all of his time.

It was just that the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training had already broken through to an unprecedented fifteenth level, and there was no way to rely on self-cultivation to progress further; he could only rely on Killing Value to break through.

In this way.

Shen Changqing only needed to cultivate three martial arts.

Among them.

He prioritized the Pure Yang Skill.

"If you practice martial arts without practicing Qi, you will end up with nothing in your old age."

True Qi was the foundation of one's realm and the source of a Demon Slayer's strength.

If one's True Qi was strong enough, even with bare hands, one could beat others to death.

Conversely.

The Seven Kill Saber Technique and the Iron Sand Palm were both auxiliary means in disguise.

"Within two months, the Pure Yang Skill must break through to the seventh level, preferably the eighth. The Seven Kill Saber Technique is about at its limit at the second level; improving further without actual combat is difficult. As for the Iron Sand Palm, there is still some room for improvement."

Shen Changqing made a plan for his future cultivation.

For now, he would focus on breaking through the Pure Yang Skill first, and then he could also make a breakthrough with the Iron Sand Palm.

The Seven Kill Saber Technique.

It was a martial art focused on actual combat, divided into seven levels, with each subsequent level adding a great deal of power.

But without actual combat as a foundation, relying solely on hard work, reaching the second level was already not easy.

As for the Iron Sand Palm, Shen Changqing had the confidence to improve it.

After making his decision.

He stayed in his small courtyard and, unless necessary, did not take a single step out.

During the first month.

Jiang Zuo had come a few times.

The purpose was only to issue missions, and the two did not engage in much conversation.

Shen Changqing was not familiar with Jiang Zuo, and since he was not the type of person to be overly enthusiastic, he did not take the initiative to chat with the other party.

The new manager of the Yellow Division's Demon Slayer Academy seemed to be the same.

Therefore.

Neither of them wasted words.

It was only after the number of missions issued increased that the two became more familiar with each other.

Taking advantage of this familiarity.

Shen Changqing specifically asked about the cause of Liu Chang’s death and received an answer from Jiang Zuo.

Not only that.

From Jiang Zuo, he also obtained other information.

"Sha-level monster!"

Shen Changqing whispered softly.

What killed Liu Chang was a Sha-level monster, and a Sha-level monster was one that surpassed the Yuan-level monster, a much more powerful existence.

In the 382nd year of the Great Qin, February.

Monsters wreaked havoc on the world, forming a massive natural disaster that plunged the people into misery.

To stabilize the situation.

The Demon Suppression Division dispatched many Demon Slayers to various places to quell the disasters. For a time, many monsters were suppressed, preventing the disaster from spreading.

Although the disaster was largely quelled, the Demon Suppression Division also paid a heavy price.

Many Demon Slayers died at the hands of monsters, and Liu Chang was one of them.

For this reason.

The Demon Suppression Division had many vacancies and had to recruit suitable people from all over to start filling them again.

Shen Changqing thought of the large number of unfamiliar faces in the Yellow Division's Demon Slayer Academy recently, and he understood.

"If the Demon Suppression Division in the capital is like this, then the Demon Suppression Divisions in other places must have suffered even more losses!" Shen Changqing sighed.

The Great Qin Demon Suppression Division.

It was the collective name for all Demon Suppression Divisions.

In fact.

Apart from the Demon Suppression Division in the capital, as long as it was an important prefecture city in Great Qin, a Demon Suppression Division would be established to protect the peace of the region.

Because the map of Great Qin was vast.

If the Demon Suppression Division only existed in the capital, then when disasters occurred in various places, there would be no way to deal with them immediately.

Given the killing speed of demons and monsters.

If they were even a day or two late, the damage caused would be immeasurable.

For this reason.

Demon Suppression Divisions were set up all over Great Qin.

It was just that the Demon Suppression Divisions in various places were all led by the Demon Suppression Division in the capital.

From Jiang Zuo, Shen Changqing understood the severity of the situation in Great Qin; a single monster disaster had caused the deaths of many Demon Slayers.

Although he was currently only a probationary Demon Slayer, it seemed to have no impact on him.

In reality.

If it really reached the point of having no way out.

Even a probationary Demon Slayer would have to step up.

Under a collapsed nest, there are no intact eggs.

If the monsters really reached an uncontrollable level, Shen Changqing felt that he would not have any way to survive either.

"Sigh—"

With a sigh, Shen Changqing calmed his mind and began a new round of cultivation.

His Pure Yang Skill had already broken through to the seventh level.

In other words.

Shen Changqing’s realm had officially crossed from the middle stage of the Pulse-Clearing Realm to the late stage.

Don't look at it as just a small level jump.

But when breaking through, Shen Changqing discovered that the seventh-level Pure Yang True Qi was much more vigorous than the sixth level.

Not only that.

Even in terms of quality, there was a big change.

In the past, when he hit a wooden stake with Pure Yang True Qi, he could only leave a charred handprint, but now, hitting a wooden stake with Pure Yang True Qi could almost burn through it.

If it were a flesh-and-blood body.

With one strike of Pure Yang True Qi, Shen Changqing believed that unless the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training was perfected, one would either be dead or crippled.

As someone who had been in the Demon Suppression Division for almost a year.

He had also figured out many things.

Take the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training, for example; many people practiced it, but not a single one would truly cultivate this martial art to perfection.

Because the time required to perfect external martial arts was simply not something that could be done in a year.

Many probationary Demon Slayers used the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training to build a foundation, and when the time was right, they would directly switch techniques to break through the Pulse-Clearing Realm.

If one could not reach perfection, one would never be able to understand how many benefits the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training could bring once perfected.

However.

If one used the time wasted on external martial arts to cultivate internal martial arts, one could also have significant gains.

The gains and losses were entirely up to the individual.

Now that the Pure Yang Skill had broken through to the seventh level, what Shen Changqing had to do was continue to break through.

There was not much time left.

There was no hope for the ninth level.

But he had some confidence in breaking through to the eighth level.

Soon.

A night passed.

The morning sun rose, dispelling all the darkness.

Shen Changqing specifically walked into the courtyard, looked at the direction where the sun was rising, and began a new round of cultivation according to the circulation route of the Pure Yang Skill.

"Hoo! Ha!"

His chest rose and fell rhythmically.

Suddenly.

A faint purple light surged on the horizon.

Shen Changqing opened his mouth and swallowed the purple energy directly.

The purple energy entered his abdomen!

It immediately caused the Pure Yang True Qi to vibrate.

The original circulation of the Pure Yang Skill seemed to have been stimulated by something intense, and it suddenly intensified significantly.

Rumble!!

True Qi flowed through the meridians, and faintly, the sound of rushing river water echoed, then rushed toward a certain position.

Once!

Twice!

Each impact made Shen Changqing’s face slightly contort, as if he were enduring great pain, to the point that his body was trembling slightly.

As time passed.

His forehead was already sweating.

Half an hour later, Shen Changqing’s body suddenly shook, as if something had shattered, making a slight sound.

Immediately after.

The sound grew louder and louder, like a rushing river.

"Hoo!"

Shen Changqing opened his tightly closed eyes.

He had broken through!

The eighth level of the Pure Yang Skill, which had troubled him for a long time, had finally been broken through.

At this realm.

He was only one step away from reaching the limit of the Pulse-Clearing Realm.

The successful breakthrough made Shen Changqing’s long-suppressed mind feel much more relaxed.

"Pure Yang Skill eighth level, late Pulse-Clearing Realm, plus the fifteenth level of the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training, my comprehensive strength can be considered the top of the Pulse-Clearing Realm. The only thing lacking is actual combat experience!"

The most obvious benefit of perfecting external martial arts was a massive increase in defense, and his physical fitness in all aspects also rose linearly.

Not to mention.

The Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training had already surpassed the limit of the thirteenth level and broken through to the fifteenth level.

Combined with the eighth-level Pure Yang Skill.

Shen Changqing estimated that he had a high probability of being able to beat martial artists in the Pulse-Clearing Realm.

But an estimate was just an estimate.

Without actual operation, he could not be one hundred percent sure.

Suppressing the joy of the breakthrough, Shen Changqing looked at his panel.

Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training, fifteenth level!

Pure Yang Skill, eighth level!

Seven Kill Saber Technique, second level!

Iron Sand Palm, second level!

Among them, the Iron Sand Palm had a total of five levels, slightly lower than the seven levels of the Seven Kill Saber Technique, but the power of a martial art was not determined by the number of levels.

If one were to truly perfect the Iron Sand Palm to the fifth level, it might not be weaker than the Seven Kill Saber Technique perfected at the seventh level.

In about a year.

From not mastering a single martial art to now having mastered four, his strength was enough to sweep through the Pulse-Clearing Realm—a statement that was not an exaggeration.

Shen Changqing was very satisfied with this.

"Probationary Demon Slayers only have a one-year buffer. If I remember correctly, it has been more than eleven months since I entered the Demon Suppression Division. When the next mission arrives, I should become an official Demon Slayer—"

Thinking of this.

His heart was also a little hot.

(End of chapter)