The tiger is the embodiment of supreme yang and rigidity.
Even without attaining spiritual enlightenment, it remains the king of all beasts.
Its inherent ferocity is vast and mighty, and common evil spirits dare not approach.
Ordinary wild beasts and birds, such as deer, sheep, rabbits, and monkeys, even if they have become spirits and evildoers, may not dare to come near a tiger that has not yet been enlightened.
This is the tiger's might!
Lin Yan even had the idea to use its blood and fat to make candles for exorcising evil and protecting his home.
But now, this tiger, which had become a spirit and was naturally an Exorcism Holy Object, had been bewitched by evil?
What kind of evil spirit could erode such an enlightened King of Tigers?
"..."
Lin Yan gripped his long knife, staring intently at the unrecognizable "evil entity" ahead while continually retreating.
He had previously beheaded the tiger with all his strength.
At this moment, whether it was his muscles, bones, organs, or marrow, his entire body was in a state of exhaustion and weakness.
Facing such an evil spirit, he had no chance of victory!
But at that moment, he caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye.
A faint light reflected between the edges of the long knife in his hand.
In an instant, a chill rushed towards him!
It was right behind him!
Lin Yan immediately turned around and swung his knife!
But this stroke stopped abruptly!
At that moment, his heart was struck with an intense shudder, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Behind him was the tiger's head that had lost its body!
His knife was now caught between the tiger's jaws, tightly gripped by its teeth!
When had the head of this demon tiger arrived behind him?
No sooner had this thought risen in Lin Yan's mind than he saw the scene behind him reflected in the eyes of the demon tiger he was facing!
The headless tiger corpse had turned into a grotesque and twisted creature.
Black branches oozed black blood.
The twisting muscles began to evert, gradually turning pitch-black.
In the blink of an eye, it had reached behind him.
A chill assaulted him from behind.
The sensation of impending death enveloped his entire body!
It was too late to dodge!
Drop the knife!
Lin Yan made a split-second decision!
He mobilized all the Evil Qi in his body and struck with all his might!
Demon Suppression!
In that instant, his body seemed to be surrounded by mountains of corpses and seas of blood, unleashing boundless ferocity!
Although he was exhausted and the counterattack was hasty, the punch was not overly powerful, at most enough to split stones and crack steles.
But the Evil Qi carried by this punch was extremely vicious.
With a bang!
Myriads of black mists scattered!
The grotesque monster was actually blown apart by his punch!
To be precise, it was dispersed by the Evil Qi, which was amplified a thousandfold by his Demon Suppression Divine Power!
Fragments of muscle and scattered branches!
"That was easy?"
Lin Yan was momentarily taken aback, then turned his head to find that the tiger's head... was also crumbling.
Skin and fur scattered, bones shattered, eyes withered, and brain matter spilled out.
The night wind blew, bringing with it a penetrating cold.
Lin Yan shivered and suddenly looked down, his pupils dilating.
He saw black lines emerging on the hand that had just shattered the grotesque monster, spreading like countless branches, passing the wrist and reaching the elbow, still creeping upward!
And in the palm of his hand, a white egg had appeared!
On this white egg, there were seventeen lines.
Nine were crimson, eight were pitch-black.
As it devoured his arm, an eighteenth line gradually emerged... in darkest black!
Suddenly, there was a flash of the blade!
Lin Yan picked up the long knife and severed his right arm!
Blood sprayed, and the severed limb fell to the ground.
Lin Yan retreated with his knife, immediately circulated his Cultivation Technique to lock in his body's Qi-Blood, and stared intently at the white egg that had just formed the eighteenth line!
"What in the world is this thing?"
His face shifted colors, and his heart was filled with astonishment.
Before he could contemplate any further, a flash of red caught the corner of his eye.
Lin Yan's heart sank to the depths.
This endless night, the cold wind howled past, chilling one's heart to the extreme.
Even as a warrior of the Refining Essence Realm, couldn't he protect himself in the endless eeriness of this night?
He clenched his long knife, summoning his last bit of energy, and took a deep breath.
He swung his knife with all his might!
He didn't expect the knife to cut through the red-dressed evil spirit!
But he didn't want to face death without even the courage to swing his blade!
The long knife fell, the red dress scattered suddenly, transforming into an infinite red mist that spread out.
Then… not far away, the red mist gathered again.
This red dress was a bridal gown!
The one wearing the bridal gown was a ghostly girl.
She floated in the air, her eyes deep and hollow, quietly staring at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan was already exhausted, barely able to hold the knife, gasping for breath.
Yet, the red-dressed female ghost didn't approach, just continued to gaze at Lin Yan.
The originally chilling and icy eyes gradually took on a strange and complex expression.
"..."
Lin Yan only felt the scene before his eyes grow somewhat blurry.
The night wind continued to blow.
The chill kept invading.
But the red-dressed female ghost remained motionless.
Lin Yan felt the scene before him flicker, a feeling of dizziness constantly assailing him.
So they were at an impasse, he knew not how long it lasted.
In a haze, Lin Yan seemed to have an illusion.
At some point after the standoff began, the eyes of the red-dressed spirit seemed to comprise a mix of shyness and timidity.
Tender as water, charming and alluring.
Damn! He was hallucinating!
Had he unwittingly become so weak that even such an evil specter seemed to have clear brows and beautiful eyes?
Lin Yan was alarmed and then saw the red dress drawing nearer.
He steeled his heart and suddenly bit his tongue!
Refining Essence Realm, Qi-Blood coalesced, his whole body as one!
The blood from his bitten tongue was meant to gather all the yang Qi-Blood of his body to confront evil spirits after advancing to the Refining Essence Realm!
It was also the only means most Refining Essence Realm practitioners had to counteract evil spirits!
He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood!
The red bridal gown suddenly shattered, turning into a vast expanse of red mist.
But the red mist did not dissipate, instead, it drifted far away.
"This drop of blood from the tip of the tongue is not enough to disperse the evil spirit..."
Lin Yan was startled for a moment, then slowly raised his knife.
The knife reflected a hint of dawn's early light.
Day had broken.
The evil retreated.
The world returned to the mortal realm, belonging to the living.
Lin Yan took a deep breath, planted the long knife in the ground, and slowly walked towards his severed arm.
That artifact, white in background with nine red and nine black patterns, was still clutched in his palm.
His expression was solemn as he kicked his severed arm over in a different direction.
Making the artifact face east.
A moment later, the sun began to rise.
The first ray of sunlight shone upon the artifact.
The purple aura came from the east, and all evil vanished.
But Lin Yan's eyes gradually took on a peculiar look.
"It wasn't destroyed by the sunlight?"
"And before, it entered my body, fearless against the Demon Suppression Divine Power..."
"Now, it's not afraid of the daylight, could it be..."
A complex feeling rose in Lin Yan's heart, thinking, "Is it not an evil spirit?"
But recalling how that tiger had become so grotesquely bizarre, it seemed to be the epitome of evil spirits, twisted to the extreme.
As the sunlight bathed him, Lin Yan also recovered a third of his strength and used the knife to move the "artifact" aside.
He stared intently at the artifact, then picked up his severed arm, his face grave.
Taking a step back, he tore off half his sleeve, and then pressed the wound of the severed arm forcefully against the shoulder where it had been detached.
Refining Essence Realm!
His whole body as one!
Skin, flesh, essence blood, tendons, and marrows, already possessed strong life force!
Before the life force and vitality of the severed arm were completely lost, it could be reattached using his own vitality.
This was the mystery of the Refining Essence Realm!