CH 10

Chapter 10: 1 Year Period Ending Soon.

Liu Chang's death made Shen Changqing realize that the mortality rate in the Demon Suppression Division was not a joke.

The smell of blood that was out of his reach before, was now lingering on his very body.

In the Demon Suppression Division, Slayers will die. Even someone like Liu Chang was no exception.

Although the Qi Circulation Realm was not weak, in the face of life and death, it does not have any power to change anything.

At this time, the pressure on Shen Changqing greatly increased.

After coming back from the Demon Suppression Prison, he did not go to the Library and directly returned to his residence, beginning a new round of Secluded Cultivation.

In the past ten months, the number of times Shen Changqing entered the Library was no less than fifty to sixty times.

The information that should be read, as well as the Martial Arts that should be learned, have already been memorized.

The rest of the books had no research value. Unless… He can enter the second floor of the Library.

But the second floor of the Library was only for Official Slayers. Apprentice Slayers can only enter the first floor.

The four Martial Arts that he had Cultivated, namely the [Thirteen Cross Practice], [Pure Yang Kung Fu], [Seven Killings Blade Technique] and [Iron Sand Palm], were already enough.

After all, a person's energy was limited.

Cultivating several Martial Arts at the same time would take up all of his time.

Fortunately, his [Thirteen Cross Practice] had broken through to the unprecedented Level 15. There was no way to improve it with hard work and can only be only through Killing Value.

Hence, Shen Changqing will only need to Cultivate three Martial Arts.

Among them, he made the [Pure Yang Kung Fu] the main priority.

Cultivating without practicing Qi was empty Cultivation.

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

As long as True Qi was strong enough, one can even kill with just his bare hands.

On the other end, the [Seven Killings Blade Technique] and [Iron Sand Palm] both act as support Martial Arts.

"Within two months, my [Pure Yang Kung Fu] must break through to Level 7 and it would be best to break through to Level 8. Level 2 of the [Seven Killings Blade Technique] is almost reaching its limit and it is difficult to improve without real combat. As for the [Iron Sand Palm], there is still some room for improvement."

Shen Changqing made a plan for his future Cultivation.

Right now, he must achieve a breakthrough in the [Pure Yang Kung Fu] and then maybe also with the [Iron Sand Palm] afterwards. 

The [Seven Killing Blade Technique] was a Martial Art based on actual combat. It was divided into 7 levels and each level would be an increase in power.

But with no actual combat and only hard work, although Shen Changqing managed to achieve Level 2, it was not easy. 

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

After finalizing his decisions, he stayed in his courtyard and did not take a step outside unless necessary.

During the month, Jiang Fu also came by a few times.

The purpose was only to issue missions, and the two did not converse much.

Shen Changqing was not familiar with Jiang Fu. Plus he was not the warm-hearted kind of person, so he would not take the initiative to engage in a conversation.

That newly promoted Steward of the Yellow Court seemed to share the same sentiment as him.

Basically, both of them were not fond of chatter.

It was only after more missions were issued later, that the two got acquainted.

Taking advantage of the familiarity, Shen Changqing asked about the cause of Liu Chang's death, and then got the answer from Jiang Fu's mouth.

Not only that, he even got some other information.

"Fury Level monster!"

Shen Changqing murmured softly.

The one who killed Liu Chang was a Fury Level monster. Fury Level was above the Grudge Level monster and was more powerful.

382nd Year of the Great Qin, February.

Monsters grouped together in the chaos, forming a great disaster that caused the lives of many to be lost.

In order to stabilize the situation, the Demon Suppression Division dispatched many Slayer to various places to quell the calamity. Many monsters were suppressed and the disaster was not able to continue spreading, wreaking even more havoc.

Although the disaster was controlled, the Demon Suppression Division also paid a great price.

Many Slayers died in the hands of monsters and Liu Chang was one of them.

For this reason, there was a big vacancy in the Demon Suppression Division, and suitable people had to be recruited from all over the place to start filling it again.

When Shen Changqing thought of the large number of unfamiliar faces in the Yellow Court recently, he more or less understood.

"If this was the case with the Demon Suppression Division in the Capital, then I'm afraid that the other Demon Suppression Divisions in other places had it worse!" Shen Changqing sighed.

The Great Qin Demon Suppression Division.

It was the collective name of all the Demon Suppression Divisions.

Though in fact, in addition to the Capital's Demon Suppression Division, anywhere in Great Qin, as long as it was an important city, there would be a Demon Suppression Division to protect the peace.

Due to the vastness of Great Qin, if there was only one Demon Suppression Division in the Capital, then there was no way to deal with the crisis in the other places.

With the speed the demons and monsters bring destruction, even being late a day or two will cause unmeasurable damage.

For this reason, Great Qin had Demon Suppression Divisions all over the world.

But although there were Demon Suppression Divisions everywhere, the one in the Capital was the main one.

From Jiang Fu's words, Shen Changqing understood the seriousness of the situation. Disasters cause many Slayers to die.

Although he was only an Apprentice Slayer and this seemed to have no effect on him.

In reality, there was no way back out when he entered here.

An Apprentice Slayer can only go forward.

After all, there was no egg that forever remains in the nest.

If the problem with the monsters and demons reached an overwhelming point, Shen Changqing felt that he would not have the ability to survive.

"Alas..."

With a sigh, Shen Changqing sank into his mind and began a new round of Cultivation.

His [Pure Yang Kung Fu] had already broken through to Level 7.

In other words, Shen Changqing's realm was officially promoted from the Middle Stage to Late Stage Qi Circulation Realm.

One shouldn't underestimate this small leap. 

After the breakthrough, Shen Changqing found that the Pure Yang True Qi of Level 7 was much more potent than that of Level 6.

Not only that, even in terms of quality, there was a big change.

In the past, he used the Pure Yang True Qi on a wooden stake and it could only leave a scorched black handprint. But now, the Pure Yang True Qi can almost burn through the stake.

If he were hitting a body, his Pure Yang True Qi would've smashed the person. Shen Changqing believed that unless the opponent's [Thirteen Cross Practice] was complete, he'd be crippled, if not dead.

As someone who has been in the Demon Suppression Division for almost a year, Shen Changqing was considered to be experienced.

There were many who Cultivate the [Thirteen Cross Practice], but those that reached completion/perfection were few.　　

The reason was that the time it takes to perfect an External Martial Art, was not something that can be done in just one year.

Many Apprentice Slayers were only using the [Thirteen Cross Practice] to build their foundation. When they were almost there, they could just switch techniques to break through to the Qi Circulation Realm.

Not to mention Apprentice Slayers, even among Official Slayers, Shen Changqing estimated that there were not many that would perfect the [Thirteen Cross Practice].

A foundational External Martial Art was not worth spending a lot of effort to Cultivate.

After all, only those that had perfected the [Thirteen Cross Practice] would be able to see how much benefit it can bring.

However, with the time they have in not Cultivating External Martial Arts, they also used it on Internal Martial Arts, which also brings in considerable gains.

The gains and losses were completely different from person to person.

Right now, despite already breaking through the Level 7 of the [Pure Yang Kung Fu], Shen Changqing can still continue upwards.

Although Level 9 was not likely because of the short time that's left, achieving Level 8 was a certainty.

Soon, a night passed.

The sun rose in the East, dispelling all of the darkness.

Shen Changqing purposely came to the courtyard, looked at the direction of the rising sun, and started a new round of Cultivation according to the route of the operation of the Pure Yang Power.

"Hoo! Haaa!"

Shen Changqing's chest rose and fell in a regular manner.

Suddenly, a faint Purple Qi surged in the air.

Shen Changqing opened his mouth and directly swallowed the Purple Qi.

The Purple Qi immediately entered his belly, which caused the Pure Yang True Qi in his body to vibrate!

The [Pure Yang Kung Fu] was suddenly agitated, as if it had taken some strong stimulus.

[Rumble~]!!!

True Qi flowed through Shen Changqing's meridians, and the sound of a flowing river vaguely sounded which rushed towards a certain location.

First push!

Second push!

Each push caused Shen Changqing's face to slightly distort, as if he was suffering great pain. It was so painful that his body was trembling.

As time passed, his forehead was drenched in sweat.

Half an hour passed and Shen Changqing's body shook violently. Something seemed to have shattered a slight ringing noise.

The noise became louder and louder, just like the turbulent river water.

"Hooo!"

Shen Changqing opened his tightly closed eyes.

A breakthrough!

He had finally broken through the Level 8 of the [Pure Yang Kung Fu], which had plagued him for a long time.　　

Having reached this realm, he was close to reaching the limit of the Qi Circulation Realm.

The successful breakthrough made Shen Changqing's mind, which had been tense for a long time, much more relaxed.

"Level 8 in the [Pure Yang Kung Fu], Late Stage of the Qi Circulation Realm, plus Level 15 in the [Thirteen Cross Practice]... My strength should be considered at the top of the Qi Circulation Realm. The only thing missing is practical combat experience!"

The most obvious benefit of the completion of External Martial Arts was that one's defenses would be increased greatly. One's physique will skyrocket in all aspects.

Not to mention that his [Thirteen Cross Practice] had already surpassed the limit, which was Level 13 and had broken through to Level 15.

Combined with the Level 8 of the [Pure Yang Kung Fu].

Shen Changqing estimated that he had a high probability of being able to kill a Cultivator at the Qi Circulation Realm without much trouble.

But an estimation was just an estimation.

Without actually testing it, one cannot be 100% sure.

Suppressing the joy brought about by his breakthrough, Shen Changqing looked at his panel.

Level 15 [Thirteen Cross Practice]!

Level 8 [Pure Yang Kung Fu]!

Level 2 [Seven Killings Blade Technique]!

Level 2 [Iron Sand Palm]!

The [Iron Sand Palm] had five levels, which was slightly lower than the seven levels of the [Seven Killings Blade Technique]. But the power of a Martial Art was not solely determined by the number of levels.

If one were to reach the perfection of the [Iron Sand Palm] at Level 5, it would not necessarily be weaker than the perfection of the [Seven Killings Blade Technique] at Level 7.

In under a year, Shen Changqing went from not having mastered a single Martial Art to now having mastered four Martial Arts! With his strength, he could defeat almost anyone, if not all, in the Qi Circulation Realm Cultivator. 　　

Shen Changqing was also satisfied with his progress.

"The Apprentice Slayer only has a one-year buffer. If I remember correctly, I've been in the Demon Suppression Division for more than eleven months now, the next mission should be the time I become an Official Slayer."

Thinking about it, his heart burned.