75: I think you won't live long.

The Great Yan Nation, despite its name, was actually just a small country.

It didn't even have any Mortal Shedding experts in the open.

Jiang Lan lowered his head, lost in thought.

It would likely be difficult to find a suitable Cultivation Technique for Breakthrough in Great Yan.

Currently, he had two paths before him.

The first was to go to other countries, or join other major powers, to obtain a Cultivation Technique that would allow him to achieve Mortal Shedding.

If he chose this, he would probably have to leave Great Yan directly.

The second was to infuse his lifespan, forcibly combine the two Cultivation Techniques he had learned, and see if a turning point would emerge after the Fusion was complete.

The first option wouldn't consume his lifespan, but he might not necessarily obtain a suitable Cultivation Technique.

As for the second option, he knew without a doubt that it would consume a significant amount of lifespan, possibly hundreds or even two to three thousand years.

Jiang Lan's eyelids drooped slightly as he pondered for a long time.

“Fuse the Cultivation Techniques. Fill it up.”

Ultimately, he still chose to use the System, to see what would happen first. If it truly didn't work out, then he would choose the first path.

After all, in Great Yan, he had a position in the Demon Suppression Division, and would certainly come into contact with more demons than in other places.

If he went to an unfamiliar territory, things might be different.

On the other side, as Jiang Lan's words fell, lines of text reappeared on the System light screen.

【Year 1: You begin to delve into research...】

【Year 36: You vaguely grasp a clue and gradually begin to experiment.】

【Year 50: You overturn your previous thoughts; the former method did not work.】

【Year 96: You vaguely find the correct Dao and begin to experiment again.】

【Year 382: You successfully fused a small part of the two Cultivation Techniques, but there is still a long way to go.】

【Year 713: Your Cultivation Technique Fusion progress reaches halfway, but time is insufficient to continue...】

When the text stopped, Jiang Lan grinned.

Seven hundred years, halfway.

It wasn't too bad; it was acceptable.

If he was lucky, and encountered another demon of comparable strength, he could gain over a thousand more years of lifespan.

By this point, Jiang Lan had figured out the System's workings. The lifespan he gained from slaying demons was not related to the opponent's remaining lifespan, but rather to the difference in strength between them.

The smaller the strength gap, the more lifespan he could gain.

Jiang Lan even speculated that if the opponent's Realm was far higher than his, the lifespan he could obtain would also increase exponentially.

Moreover, this number was not fixed; it seemed to have a minimum value based on the opponent's strength.

Just like the few forest imps he killed on the road before, those of no rank only increased his lifespan by a few days, while a Skin Refinement First Realm demon granted him one year.

A Skin Refinement Second Realm demon granted him two years.

But whether they were unranked, or Skin Refinement First or Second Realm, they were all the same to Jiang Lan.

A wave of his hand and they were gone.

Jiang Lan got up from his bed.

The lifespan he gained from slaying the Jiao Demon had been used up again.

Now, it was time to find demons.

Pushing open the door, the sunlight was dazzling.

Judging by the sun, it was just noon.

The air after the rain carried a delicate fragrance, much more pleasant than the stench of blood.

With his strength increased again, Jiang Lan felt much more relaxed.

He walked to the roadside, ordered a bowl of plain noodles, finished it quickly, and then began walking towards Bao Ping Temple.

He had told Qiu Rang and Chen Heguang earlier that once any trace of a demon was discovered, they were to inform him immediately.

Since no one had contacted him, it meant no demons had been found yet.

However, that was to be expected. While demons appeared in Yan Country's capital city quite often, it wasn't frequent.

One incident every ten days or half a month was considered good.

And it had only been one day since he was transferred to a Demon Suppression Envoy.

Since the Division hadn't found any demons, Jiang Lan could only search for them himself.

After Qiu Rang told him about the Bao Jing monk that day, Jiang Lan became somewhat suspicious of Bao Ping Temple.

However, Jiang Lan didn't hold much hope that there were still demons within Bao Ping Temple.

The demonic calamity at Bao Ping Temple had occurred more than two years ago, and the temple had long since been renovated.

Nevertheless, since he had nothing else to do, Jiang Lan decided to go and take a look.

If he could find clues about demons, that would be ideal.

But if there were no clues, then he would just consider it a leisurely stroll.

Walking towards the west of the city, it wasn't long before he saw a few elderly individuals sitting on small stools.

A common sight was the banners behind these people, mostly inscribed with phrases like 'Iron-mouthed Prognosticator,' 'Cloth-robed Divine Seer,' and 'Eight Characters Fortune-telling.'

Jiang Lan chuckled.

If he remembered correctly, in his previous life, there were many such fortune-telling stalls outside temples.

He hadn't expected it to be the same in this Great Yan.

However, he didn't pay much attention. Nine and a half out of ten people who set up stalls to tell fortunes outside temples were frauds.

Continuing to walk forward, just as he was about to reach the entrance of Bao Ping Temple, a voice suddenly rang out beside Jiang Lan.

“Young friend, stop.”

Jiang Lan paused and turned his head to look in the direction of the voice.

It was an old man sitting on a stool, with long, snow-white hair tied behind his head, giving him a somewhat youthful appearance despite his age.

The only flaw was that the old man's open eyes contained only whites, no pupils.

The banner behind him only had three characters written on it.

‘Yao Banxian’

“Old sir, do you need me?”

Yao Banxian stared with his all-white eyes, his head constantly bobbing up and down as he directed it towards Jiang Lan, as if he was sizing him up.

After a while, Yao Banxian spoke.

“Young friend, I observe dark clouds gathering over your head; you have the appearance of someone whose life will not last long.”

Jiang Lan was stunned, then smiled.

“Old sir, never mind how long my life is, but how can you, a blind man, see dark clouds gathering over my head?”

Yao Banxian first pointed to his own eyes, then, as if he could truly see, he reached out and pointed to Jiang Lan's eyes.

“Using these, one only sees superficial appearances.”

Yao Banxian then pointed to the position of his left chest.

“Using this, one can see the true things.”

Jiang Lan raised an eyebrow.

He didn't feel particularly amazed, but rather stared at the old man's eyes.

Did Great Yan already have contact lenses? And pure white ones at that.

Yao Banxian seemed to sense Jiang Lan's scrutinizing gaze and said,

“Young friend, there’s no need to look. This old man’s eyes went blind long ago.”

At this point, Jiang Lan was genuinely a bit interested.

“Old sir, since you say my life will not last long, then how long exactly is ‘not long’?”

Yao Banxian again swayed his head up and down, sizing up Jiang Lan.

“You will surely die within a year.”

Jiang Lan raised an eyebrow again.

After infusing the Cultivation Technique, he indeed only had one year of lifespan left.

He just didn't know if this Yao Banxian was just spouting nonsense, or if he had truly perceived something.

“Then, old sir, do you have a method to break this fate?”