61: It's you again, you damn thief!

Was it still a dream?

Jiang Lan only glanced at the azure full moon before immediately averting his gaze.

He dared not stare at it again.

The lesson from earlier was still fresh in his mind.

Everything in the dream reeked of malevolence; if he wasn't careful and saw the Green Lantern Goddess again, he would likely be in grave danger.

Although he couldn't confirm it, Jiang Lan had a premonition that the woman he had just seen sitting on the lotus platform was most likely the Green Lantern Goddess.

After all, besides the Green Lantern Goddess, Jiang Lan truly couldn't imagine who else could be so powerful that a mere glance could freeze his Soul.

He didn't continue to ponder; for him now, the most urgent matter was to quickly escape this dream.

In a flash of thought, Jiang Lan gripped the saber he had placed at the corner of his bed, stood up, and pushed open the door to step outside.

“Whoosh—”

A breeze blew past.

This time, the wind was not cold.

Jiang Lan looked up at the sky again.

Above, a full moon still hung high, but this time, the moon had returned to its original color, emitting a faint glow in the night.

Had he woken up?

Jiang Lan hesitated, unsure if he had truly woken up or was still trapped in the dream.

Without hesitation, he pinched his thigh.

It hurt.

But even with that, Jiang Lan still couldn't be sure.

He carried his saber out to the courtyard, walked along the street for a moment, and then stopped in front of a charred tree stump that was only about two feet tall.

“Clang!”

Drawing his long saber and holding it with both hands, Jiang Lan slowly infused his True Qi into the blade.

The long saber quickly turned red, shimmering with a golden-red light.

Jiang Lan's arm swung down fiercely from above.

“Boom!!”

The two-foot-long tree stump exploded with a loud bang.

Splinters flew everywhere.

After the wood chips fell to the ground, the stump had completely vanished, and even the hard stone ground had a half-foot-deep indentation.

Smoke was still faintly rising from the indentation.

After doing all this, Jiang Lan turned and returned to his small courtyard.

As soon as he entered the house, an angry curse reached Jiang Lan's ears.

“It's you again, you damned thief! Why do you always have to pick on this old locust tree by my door?”

Hmm, he really was awake.

Leaning the long saber, still in its sheath, against the corner of the wall, Jiang Lan sat at the table, deep in thought.

Why had he had that dream just now?

Was it because he had killed too many Green Lantern Sect followers? Had he attracted the attention of the Green Lantern Goddess?

As soon as this thought appeared, Jiang Lan immediately dismissed it.

If the woman in blue sitting on the lotus platform in his dream was truly the Green Lantern Goddess, then her power was definitely beyond Jiang Lan's ability to resist.

If she could kill him with a single glance, how could she possibly care about the lives of a few followers?

Shaking his head, Jiang Lan continued to ponder.

But after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.

Jiang Lan simply decided not to dwell on it anymore.

What is meant to be, will be.

All he could do now was seize the time to improve his own strength.

Only by increasing his strength could he deal with various unknown risks.

He had truly experienced the feeling of being on the brink of death just now.

Jiang Lan didn't want to experience that feeling a second time.

Previously, although he was eager to improve his strength, he wasn't that anxious.

But after experiencing the dream just now, Jiang Lan's mindset changed.

He had to do everything possible to make his strength improve faster, and even faster.

Jiang Lan didn't expect to confront the Green Lantern Goddess head-on; at the very least, he didn't want to be unable to withstand even a single glance from her.

Thinking of this, his gaze drifted slightly, and a virtual screen appeared...

[Name: Jiang Lan]

[Cultivation: Qi Gathering Seventh Level]

[Cultivation Technique: Three Yuan True Nurturing Skill]

[Martial Skills: Blazing Sun Demon Suppression Blade (Minor Accomplishment), Flood Dragon Swim (Beginner), Hidden God Art (Minor Accomplishment), Shadow Blade Art (Return to Simplicity).]

[Remaining Lifespan: One year]

[Can infuse Lifespan into Cultivation Techniques and skills to increase strength.]

[Can increase Lifespan by suppressing or slaying demons.]

...Staring at the screen, Jiang Lan was slightly lost in thought, pondering how he could quickly raise his Realm.

In fact, raising his Realm was not difficult; as long as he had enough Lifespan, a Breakthrough was just a matter of words for him.

But now, each Breakthrough required several hundred years of Lifespan.

Previously, when he Broke through from Qi Gathering Sixth Level to Qi Gathering Seventh Level, it directly consumed over three hundred years of Jiang Lan's Lifespan.

Going forward, the Lifespan consumed would only increase, not decrease.

And at present, even if all the Green Lantern Sect followers and demons in Yan Capital City were found, it would probably not be enough to gather the Lifespan needed for him to advance to the Mortal Shedding Realm.

After all, Jiang Lan had already summarized his experience: the smaller the power gap between him and a demon, the more Lifespan he could gain.

And now, his Realm was already Qi Gathering Seventh Level.

Qi Gathering Seventh Level was almost equivalent to the head of the Demon Suppression Division, and could definitely be considered among the top combat powers of the Great Yan Empire.

As for the scattered Green Lantern Sect followers and demons in Yan Capital City, those with Qi Gathering Realm strength were already considered very powerful.

In fact, most were only at the Skin Refinement Realm or Bone Forging Realm.

Jiang Lan estimated that if he were to kill a Skin Refinement Realm demon now, gaining one or two years of Lifespan would already be a remarkable feat.

Therefore, relying on hunting a large number of demons in Yan Capital City might not be feasible anymore.

Jiang Lan's plan was to start with Cultivation Techniques.

When infusing Lifespan to raise his Realm, the System almost constantly reminded him that his current Three Yuan True Nurturing Skill was holding him back.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, even with the worst talent, it would certainly not take several hundred years of arduous Cultivation for a small Realm.

If that were the case, Breaking through a major Realm would require at least three to five thousand years of Lifespan, wouldn't it?

But a normal Spirit Gathering Realm Martial Artist doesn't have that much Lifespan in total.

Five hundred years would be extraordinary.

Jiang Lan made a decision.

When day breaks, he would go to the Demon Suppression Division; the head would probably be looking for him.

His killing of that Altar Lord was a meritorious deed significant enough to alarm the head.

Since there was merit, there would certainly be rewards.

Although the Demon Suppression Division only had the Three Yuan True Nurturing Skill as a Cultivation Technique, the head, being a high-ranking official of the Great Yan Empire, would likely not find it too difficult to acquire other Cultivation Techniques.

After resolving the Cultivation Technique issue, he would then go and slay more demons to see how the new Cultivation Technique's Cultivation speed was.

In any case, for Jiang Lan, Cultivating any Cultivation Technique was just a matter of speaking.

With that thought, Jiang Lan looked at the wooden bed beside him but chose not to lie down.

Having just woken up, he wasn't very sleepy yet.

Yawning, Jiang Lan looked out the window.

He didn't know how much time had passed until a sliver of dawn appeared on the horizon.

Jiang Lan stood up from the wooden chair, pushed open the door, and walked towards the Demon Suppression Division.