Chapter 18: Seeing Through Illusion, Rewards Arrive!

Lin Yi glanced at the little Leaf beside him, then looked at the old foreman and the others, who were gritting their teeth and gripping their weapons, ready to fight the fierce tiger. He picked up his steel blade.

“Come, why should a man not bear his sword, reclaim the borderlands, rid the world of demons, and save the suffering masses—”

A cold metallic ring cut the air as the steel blade was unsheathed, its chilly gleam flashing in the dimness. Everyone, filled with righteous indignation, prepared to charge out.

Even little Leaf, stirred by her master’s fervor, was so impassioned she wanted to stand at the front.

But Lin Yi tugged at little Leaf’s sleeve, and the two of them quietly fell back.

The others had only just reached the cave entrance when, all of a sudden, a tiger’s roar thundered through the air, deafening and bone-shaking. At the same time, a nauseating stench of blood swept in on a violent gale, howling ceaselessly.

No one knew when the tiger had escaped the trap; it had been lurking right at the cave mouth.

Erwa and the others all bore wounds.

The old foreman and his companions had lost all color from their faces; panic-stricken, they tried to retreat back into the cave.

Meanwhile, Erwa and the others, enduring their pain, rushed over. The woman with blood on her face moved first.

A cruel smile twisted her lips as she raised her longsword, and with a sickening sound, she drove it into the old foreman’s back.

The old foreman died with his eyes wide open, unable to speak, “You…you…”

He hadn’t even finished the word before collapsing lifeless to the ground.

At that moment, chilling laughter echoed all around.

“Run! Run for your lives! They’re all ghosts… All dead, killed by that tiger!” Erwa shouted desperately.

Hardly had his words faded when those who had gone out to gather herbs appeared as well. Only now, some were missing half their heads, some had been gutted with their entrails spilling out, some had only shards of bone for legs. Yet, grinning and laughing, they shambled toward the cave.

“It’s over! They’ve all become tiger-ghosts! Run! Hurry!” someone cried.

“We’re finished! This time we’re all done for. Damn it, that tiger is too much…”

On and on, the shouts rang out as people tried to scramble back into the cave.

But the tiger, leaping nimbly, landed behind the fleeing crowd, cutting off their escape.

Before they could even scream, the tiger’s maw gaped wide, revealing rows of bloodstained fangs.

The reek of blood was overwhelming, enough to make one retch.

The roar of the beast was so fierce, it paralyzed the legs of all who heard it, leaving them trembling and rooted in place.

It was an aura of innate dominance, a presence that struck terror into the heart and sapped the body of strength. Many collapsed in a heap, their legs refusing to obey.

The tiger’s jaws clamped down.

Crack, crunch, splatter—the sounds of flesh and bone being chewed and swallowed.

The beast was over five meters long, its skull four or five times the size of a human’s. It was no longer a mere animal, but a monstrous demon.

Soon, the air was filled with nothing but screams of agony.

Erwa crept closer to Lin Yi’s side.

All around, the circle of tiger-ghosts drew tighter and tighter.

Erwa’s eyes turned blood-red.

In his hand, a scythe.

In a flash, it seemed he was about to reap a soul.

At that instant, Lin Yi turned.

As the ring closed in, Lin Yi fixed his gaze on Erwa.

“Erwa, die! Illusion—break for me!” Lin Yi shouted.

With a swift movement, he hacked at Erwa with his steel blade.

But the blade turned to black mist, vanishing into thin air.

It was useless.

So, it truly was an illusion!

Lin Yi cursed inwardly but quickly snatched the scythe from the bewildered Erwa’s grasp. The scythe worked—it could kill him. That meant it had to be real, even in this world of illusions.

In an instant, Lin Yi swung the scythe, severing Erwa’s head.

No blood flowed.

Erwa, now a tiger-ghost, was already dead.

Moments later, the scythe itself crumbled to black dust.

“Tiger demon, you and your minions dare try to ensnare me? I am not so easily fooled. Hear me—I came to Mount Erlong for you!”

His words had barely faded when the world shuddered, as if ripples were rolling through the air.

The illusion shattered.

With the death of the key tiger-ghost, the mirage dissolved on its own.

A surge of power burst from within Lin Yi, his sealed strength suddenly released.

Clearly, the Scripture of Demon-Slaying was satisfied.

The world around him shifted—no more snowy night, but broad daylight. The cave vanished, the scene changed again. He stood at the foot of the mountain, back in the scenic area as at the beginning.

Only now, the ground was littered with dozens of skeletons, some still clinging to scraps of flesh—the remains of those who had died here in recent days.

The tiger-ghosts and the monstrous tiger, however, remained.

Lin Yi roared, his fists radiating a fierce energy, pure and scorching, as if capable of burning away all evil.

The power of the Great Cavern Scripture—pure yang, utterly untainted.

With his strength restored and the illusion gone, it was simple enough.

He’d simply fight.

Fists flying, each punch carried the force of a gale. In the blink of an eye, he landed a blow on a tiger-ghost whose belly was split open.

With a thunderous bang, like a bursting balloon, the ghost exploded into pieces with a wail, vanishing instantly.

Then, the pages of the Scripture of Demon-Slaying began to turn, not stopping on a single page, but revealing a line of tiny script at the very end before fading away:

“Sealed and collected a century-old tiger-ghost. Reward: three years of cultivation.”

“Three years of cultivation: equivalent to three years’ normal progress in the host’s own technique; variable, not fixed.”

“Note: For hosts practicing the Great Cavern Scripture, energy is automatically converted accordingly.”

To think that slaying a single tiger-ghost could grant him three years’ worth of cultivation.

The most important thing was that it matched the progress of his own technique. And his was a top-tier Heavenly-level art—wasn’t that a bargain?

As Lin Yi mused, a warm, pleasant energy suffused his body.

It was as if a dazzling radiance burst from the Scripture of Demon-Slaying, a beam shooting straight into the crown of his head. A gentle heat seeped down from there, spreading to his three dantian.

Then, this energy flooded his whole body.

Previously, Lin Yi’s bones had felt chaotic, as if riddled with holes. Now, as the Great Cavern Scripture’s pathways began to circulate, he could sense his bones clicking and shifting, healing with every turn of energy.

With three years’ worth of cultivation added, what was once a feeble trickle in his meridians became a flowing stream.

The energy swirled ceaselessly, nourishing his bones until they felt as if bathed in celestial nectar, his body utterly relaxed.

A series of snaps echoed from within, his flesh and blood rejuvenated.

His three dantian—at the brow, the heart, and below the navel—began to slowly take shape.

All this from slaying a single tiger-ghost.

Lin Yi sensed that his strength, bolstered by those three years, already far surpassed the ordinary. By modern standards of energy classification, he’d been at the lower end of B-rank before; now, with this gain, he was solidly mid-B-rank.

What if he slew another tiger-ghost?

The thought brought a smile to his lips, and he attacked with renewed vigor.

His gaze fell upon the old foreman, now also a tiger-ghost, still bearing the metal sword in his body, rushing at Lin Yi.

Lin Yi kicked out, and with a thunderous bang, the old foreman’s body exploded.

Again, the Scripture of Demon-Slaying rewarded him:

“Sealed and collected a century-old tiger-ghost. Reward: three years of cultivation.”

“Three years of cultivation: equivalent to three years’ normal progress in the host’s own technique; variable, not fixed.”

“...Er...”

Lin Yi was momentarily stunned.

He realized that, although the old foreman had seemed only recently dead in the illusion, in truth, he’d been a ghost for quite some time.

Another three years’ worth of cultivation—Lin Yi’s spirits soared.

He was like a wolf among sheep; every tiger-ghost he saw was a source of experience, a wellspring of energy.

His eyes gleamed, so intense that even the tiger-demon faltered, and the tiger-ghosts themselves felt a chill of terror.

To others, these ghosts were horrors. But to Lin Yi, they were nothing but experience points, precious and even adorable.

With six years’ worth of cultivation added, Lin Yi had effectively practiced the Great Cavern Scripture for six years.

Already, the fractures and holes in his bones had begun to heal and fade.

With a few more punches and kicks, Lin Yi dispatched several more tiger-ghosts, including the recently turned disciple and the female disciple who had lost her metal sword.

He pummeled them all into oblivion.

The Scripture of Demon-Slaying continued to flash reward after reward before his eyes.