19: Kill the mountain king with a sword and increase your lifespan by 200 years

"Qi Gathering what?"

"Qi Gathering."

"What Qi?"

Jiang Lan: "..."

At this moment, he wasn't in the mood for jokes and stood up from the ground.

"Boom––"

Inside Jiang Lan's body, True Qi surged like a raging tide, flowing through his thirty-six major acupoints, roaring loudly.

However, only he himself could hear this sound.

Jiang Lan let out a soft breath.

One hundred and eighty years, just to go from Bone Refinement Eighth Stage to Qi Gathering Third Stage.

It was fortunate that he had the System; otherwise, with his meager talent, he probably wouldn't have been able to enter the Qi Gathering Realm even if he Cultivated until the day he died of old age.

"Little Lan, don't joke with Uncle Chou, are you really at Qi Gathering?"

Jiang Lan didn't explain, and with a wave of his palm, he struck a withered tree not far in front of him.

"Whoosh––"

A visible wave of Qi appeared, striking directly at the withered tree, which was as thick as a strong man's thigh.

"Boom!"

With an explosive sound, the withered tree immediately broke into two, toppling crookedly onto the ground.

Qiu Rang's eyes widened, his chest heaving up and down.

It was true.

Qi Gathering!

Except for those who had Cultivated certain special martial arts, this method of attacking with True Qi could only be self-realized by those in the Qi Gathering Realm.

Moreover, the power of Jiang Lan's palm strike was much more forceful than Monk Bao Jing's 'Great Compassion Hand'.

Even the surrounding Demon Slayer Guards finally showed a hint of shock in their eyes.

Withdrawing his palm, Jiang Lan pressed his hand to the long saber at his waist.

"Let me go kill that beast first."

After a brief moment of shock, Qiu Rang's mood also calmed down considerably.

It wasn't that he wasn't surprised anymore, but that he knew now wasn't the time for surprise.

Hearing Jiang Lan's words, Qiu Rang said:

"I'll go with you."

"No need." Jiang Lan shook his head slightly, "I can handle it myself. Just wait for me here, sir."

Qiu Rang opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more, but the words caught in his throat and he swallowed them back down.

Jiang Lan had a point in not letting them go.

If they went together, it would be fine if the tiger demon was weaker.

But if it truly was at Bone Refinement Ninth Stage, not only would they be unable to help, they would also drag Jiang Lan down.

"Take care."

Watching Jiang Lan's figure gradually disappear, Qiu Rang's expression became strange, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was off.

Wasn't he the one who came to slay the demon?

Wasn't the current plot development a bit unusual?

But it was fine, no matter what, as long as the tiger demon was killed...

On the other side, Jiang Lan had already followed the sound and arrived outside a huge cave.

He looked up.

Inside the cave, it was pitch black, and a nauseating stench of blood emanated from it.

Jiang Lan frowned slightly.

He hadn't smelled such a strong scent of blood even when he witnessed the old man's sacrifice in Xiaobei Village that day.

How many lives must it take to accumulate such a smell?

As Jiang Lan stood still, a pair of crimson beast eyes, as large as light bulbs, lit up inside the cave.

Immediately after, a figure slowly walked out of the cave.

Jiang Lan focused his gaze.

This tiger demon was not the striped fierce tiger he had expected.

Judging by its physique, it was similar to the Black Wolf Demon Jiang Lan had encountered in Yan Capital City before.

However, this tiger demon was over a zhang tall, with bulging muscles; its arms alone looked several times thicker than Jiang Lan's waist.

A head with yellow and white stripes, its two fangs exposed as it breathed, with dark red bloodstains at the roots of its teeth.

The tiger demon lowered its head to look at Jiang Lan, panting twice before opening its blood-filled mouth and saying:

"Brat, you've got guts to come bother your Tiger Grandpa. Get out of here now, and Tiger Grandpa will spare your life!"

Jiang Lan remained silent, simply drawing the long saber from his waist.

"Clang––"

He really had no interest in wasting words on someone who was about to die.

The tiger demon took two steps forward, meeting Jiang Lan.

After staring at Jiang Lan for a while, a human-like expression of fury suddenly appeared on the tiger demon's head.

"Good boy, was my third brother killed by you?"

"That dog?"

"Roar––"

The blood in the tiger demon's eyes grew thicker, its aura surged, and even the muscles on its body bulged high, as if it was about to charge at Jiang Lan.

In the next instant, the tiger demon's figure suddenly lunged forward.

However, he wasn't heading towards Jiang Lan, but instead, his body traced a strange arc in mid-air, landing on all fours, and quickly fled into the distance.

As a beast, although Jiang Lan and Qiu Rang's conversation just now wasn't loud, he had heard it clearly.

He, a Bone Refinement Ninth Stage, even if he had consumed a blood pill and was about to Breakthrough, was definitely no match for Jiang Lan, who had already Breakthrough to the Qi Gathering Realm.

He had originally intended to rely on his ferocious appearance to scare the human, but he hadn't expected him to be completely unafraid.

If it were normal, he would have directly eaten humans alive when he encountered them; why would he say such a foolish thing as sparing someone's life?

Jiang Lan was somewhat confused by the tiger demon's sudden action.

Judging by its appearance just now, he had thought the beast was coming for him.

It ran away?

But it was only for an instant, then Jiang Lan stepped on the Wild Goose Step, catching up from behind.

The tiger demon's face showed panic.

"Hero, spare..."

"Pfft!"

Jiang Lan raised his hand, and the long saber, imbued with True Qi, instantly flew out, piercing directly into the tiger demon's back.

The tiger demon was already running on all fours, and the long saber, carrying True Qi, was extremely sharp.

Therefore, after the long saber pierced into the tiger demon's back, it broke through its belly and was firmly nailed to the ground.

The tiger demon's forward momentum could not be stopped, and under the effect of inertia, the entire latter half of its body was directly split in two.

A large amount of fresh blood splattered.

Steaming internal organs spilled onto the ground.

Yet, the tiger demon, relying on its vigorous life force, did not completely die at once. Instead, it struggled to turn around, its tiger eyes staring fixedly at Jiang Lan, as if to imprint him in its mind, to return as a vengeful spirit.

Blood foam welled up at the corner of the tiger demon's mouth, but it smiled somewhat eerily.

"The green lamp burns brightly, resolving difficulties and overcoming calamities!"

"Boy, you wait... Tiger Grandpa will come back for you..."

With that, the tiger demon's body crashed to the ground.

Jiang Lan's gaze was cold, unmoved.

Killed one Bone Refinement Ninth Stage Peak tiger demon, gained two hundred years of life.

Remaining lifespan: two hundred and seven years.

Jiang Lan first pulled the long saber from the ground, then walked to the tiger demon's corpse, half-crouched, and said softly:

"I'll wait for you to turn into a vengeful spirit and come back for me."

With those words, Jiang Lan swung his saber.

"Pfft!"

The tiger demon's head was separated from its body.

After cleaning the long saber on the tiger demon's corpse, Jiang Lan picked up the massive tiger head and walked away without looking back.

One minute later.

"Bang––"

Jiang Lan threw the head on the ground.

"Killed it, let's go."

Qiu Rang first stared at the tiger demon's head in astonishment, then he looked Jiang Lan up and down with strange eyes.

Jiang Lan looked up and said, "What's wrong?"

Qiu Rang was silent for a long time.

"You... are you human or a demon?"

Jiang Lan grinned.

"I am human now, and I will be human in the future."