I defeated the saint with a parry.

A desolate path, a dilapidated temple, old trees and crows at dusk, the setting sun and the darkness of night.

???

"Oh no, I've time-traveled!"

This was the scene that Xu Ling saw when he opened his eyes. As night fell completely and the stars and moon adorned the scene, he confirmed that he had traveled through time.

"How did you come back to life?"

The old man carrying Xu Ling had just put him down when he was startled by Xu Ling's wide eyes. He remembered that the boy was barely breathing and on the verge of death. But now, he looked full of energy and vitality, showing no signs of dying, and even his injuries had completely healed.

That's really strange.

"I'm not dead, so how could I be alive?"

Xu Ling retorted irritably, "Where did you bring me? Where am I? We don't seem to be on the original route."

He clearly remembered that the old servant in front of him and the young master Li west not far away were his targets for escort.

The group's route was entirely planned by him, the demon slayer; the dilapidated temple before them was not on his planned route. Someone took it upon themselves to change the route.

Right now is the period of demonic calamity that occurs every month; wandering around recklessly is no different from courting death.

He encountered a terrible teammate as soon as he transmigrated, which gave him a headache.

Li Xi also noticed Xu Ling's 'resurrection' and quickly came over. The young master's pale face was full of surprise, but when he heard Xu Ling's question, he still said somewhat awkwardly, "I asked Old Li to find a place to take care of your funeral first. After all, you died saving us and perished with the demon. It would be a shame to leave your body to rot in the wilderness..."

No, he's not really dead, he can't say that. Li west forced a smile and explained the truth about taking the wrong turn: "We got lost, it was getting dark, and this was the only place we could stay, so we had no choice but to come here."

A spoiled brat who can't even recognize the roads!

Xu Ling remembered that the original owner only accepted the job because of the high price offered, and he could choose to endure it for the sake of the money.

But he couldn't help but glance at the old servant again, his meaning clear: if his young master didn't know the way, how could the old man not?

"Where's the map I gave you?"

As a demon slayer, one is constantly on the move, and getting lost is a major taboo; a map is an essential tool.

The old man shook his head: "Well, back then you perished together with the demon, and the map was destroyed by the aftershocks."

well.

Xu Ling immediately lost his reason to continue asking questions and instead began to examine the temple. He had already noticed some things while on the old man's back.

The temple, from its main gate to its courtyard, was badly damaged but not dirty; it had simply been neglected for years.

In the backyard, besides the master and his apprentices, there was already a caravan of about ten people and two carts of goods stationed there.

Xu Ling immediately noticed one of the men's waist tags. Like him, the man wore a demon slayer's waist tag, but it had a silver edge, making him a level higher than Xu Ling, who was a bronze-level demon slayer.

They were both wandering knights recruited by the Demon Suppression Division. Although they had no official positions, they were still colleagues. The two looked at each other and nodded to each other across the distance as a greeting.

"As night falls, everyone should get some rest. This place is in a remote location, so it's best not to go out unless it's absolutely necessary."

The abbot, Xumi, with disheveled hair and wearing a tattered monk's robe, didn't look like a wise man; he looked more like a crazy old man who had wandered off somewhere.

Li west looked conflicted and asked, "Host, are there any extra guest rooms?"

Xu Ling inwardly rolled his eyes to the heavens. How did he end up with such a troublesome person? This undoubtedly proved the saying: "Money is hard to earn, and shit is hard to swallow." It's the same in any dynasty, even in a fantasy world.

The abbot merely glanced at Li west: "Layman, you jest. The temple has been abandoned for many years, and recently only my master and I have been managing it. This is the only usable room."

Under these circumstances, Li west had no choice but to give up.

More than ten people, including the master and his apprentices, were crammed into one room, and even sitting on the floor was somewhat crowded.

Xu Ling sat next to Li west, and together with the old servant of the Li family, they stayed in a corner of the room, where the lamp oil and candlelight made them drowsy.

He faintly smelled the scent of rouge, which was coming from Li west. Recalling the young master's behavior on the road, it was very similar to the style of the "rabbit god" recorded in some historical books... He couldn't help but feel sorry for the original owner, because the face they shared was simply irresistible to both men and women.

Even a martial artist at the ninth level of the Body Tempering Realm would have a headache facing such a task, even someone at the Meridian Opening Realm would find it difficult.

correct.

Xu Ling opened his eyes and looked towards the caravan. The silver-ranked demon slayer was at the Opening Meridian Realm, one realm higher than him. If it were a gold-ranked demon slayer, that would be at the Condensation Realm. These three realms combined correspond to the third stage of Foundation Establishment for mortals, and in the realm of demon slayers, they correspond to the gold, silver, and bronze levels.

Ordinary people like them can only work as demon slayers in the Demon Suppression Division in order to have enough resources to step into the extraordinary realm and enter those legendary realms.

"You noticed that too?"

Xu Ling heard the secret telepathic message; it was the work of that silver-ranked demon slayer. The two were looking at each other across the distance: "My name is Zhong Song."

"After 9 PM, the temple became somewhat eerie. I suspect that a demon has infiltrated it, and you've noticed it too, haven't you?"

"I saw you open your eyes at the same time as me, and we both realized something was wrong almost simultaneously. I didn't expect there to be such a master as you among the bronze-level demon slayers."

Xu Ling didn't respond to a single word, but the other party bombarded him with more than ten sentences.

However, Zhong Song was right. Xu Ling did notice something was wrong. The wind was unusually noisy tonight, and the usual chirping of insects and birds had disappeared.

Xu Ling replied telepathically, "Senior Zhong, just call me Xu Ling. Would you like to go out and take a look?"

Before Zhong Song could speak, a scream came from inside the house. It was a woman from the merchant guild.

"There's...a monster!"

The woman, dressed in brocade, appeared to be the leader's wife. She was pointing to the openwork window and said, "The hairy, fanged monster is right there."

Everyone was startled by the scream and looked in that direction, only to see a small hole.

There were no ghosts at all; instead, the noisy wind outside sounded more like ghostly wails at midnight.

Li west couldn't help but tug at Xu Ling's sleeve: "Brother Xu, is there really a ghost?"

"Of course not."

Xu Ling smiled at him, assuming he was just a young boy, and offered a few words of comfort. However, his body betrayed him, and he moved away from Li Xi. Finally, realizing it wasn't right, Xu Ling stood up, exchanged a glance with Zhong Song, and the two stood at the doorway.

Xu Ling said proactively, "This temple is not on my planned safe route. I investigated beforehand and the incident rate in this area is extremely high. That strange shadow just now was most likely not an illusion."

"It's definitely not." Zhong Song's expression wasn't good. "I just saw it clearly, it was a human-faced tiger."

After he finished speaking, he pointed to the doorway. Through the broken window, one could clearly see footprints outside, and a few wisps of hair were scattered nearby.

At this time of year, these animals are molting, and even the slightest movement can send fur flying everywhere.

The color and length of the fur match the information about the human-faced tiger recorded in the Demon Slayer's internal records.

"Long hair and sharp teeth resembling a human face, fierce and cunning with the body of a tiger; those who crawl like beasts are cubs, merely at the Opening Meridian Realm; if they can walk like humans, they have reached adulthood and are capable of breaking through to the Concentration Realm."

and many more!

Looking at the footprints in the yard outside, each group has only two parallel footprints, indicating that this human-faced tiger is already walking upright and is no longer a cub.