William Cooper looked at the corpse beside him: “Henry Cooper, general manager of Longquan Real Estate, appears to be a billionaire real estate tycoon, but in the martial arts world, he has another identity: the ninth-generation successor of Dragon Fist, and the most outstanding successor in recent years. His strength was no less than that of Old Master Harris in his youth.”

“Huh?”

James Bolton seemed to recall something: “Inspector Grant questioned the survivor Emily Parker. According to her, after committing the crime, the murderer left a message: ‘The ninth-generation successor of Dragon Fist is nothing special.’”

“Not just the ninth-generation successor of Dragon Fist.”

William Cooper took a deep breath: “Successor of Po Jun Fist, successor of Zhao Family Fist, master of Luohe Sect… all these renowned martial artists fell at his hands.”

His expression was grave: “What this person has committed is not simply the ‘3.11’ serial murder case. The prosecutor’s office has merged several similar cases; the murderer’s methods are exactly the same. In other words, he has killed no fewer than ten renowned martial artists in recent years.”

When this number was revealed, Emily Harris and James Bolton both felt a chill run down their spines.

No fewer than ten renowned martial artists!?

So many victims!?

Is this person insane!?

“What… what does he want!?”

James Bolton couldn’t help but ask.

“Without exception, everyone who died at his hands was among the strongest martial artists of this era. If I’m not mistaken…”

William Cooper said heavily, “He wants to become the number one in Tiannan!”

“Number one in Tiannan?”

A question mark appeared on James Bolton’s forehead.

In this day and age, still clinging to such old-fashioned ideas, wanting to be number one in Tiannan?

Well, the title of number one in Tiannan could earn him hundreds of thousands or even millions per match, but…

Proving himself as number one in Tiannan by killing people…

Even if he really achieves that, so what?

Can he withstand bullets, or block artillery shells?

Killing people at the risk of being hunted by the Security Bureau…

For what?

“Number one in Tiannan?”

The woman beside William Cooper said calmly, “If he wants to take the title of number one in Tiannan, he’ll have to see if my senior brother agrees.”

William Cooper waved his hand.

Judging by the destruction caused by the fight, Henry Cooper’s strength was even greater than rumors suggested—he had definitely reached the grandmaster level of internal cultivation.

If he were to apply for a professional title, he could probably reach level seven; with the right connections, even level eight wouldn’t be out of reach.

Even with such strength, he was killed by that fiend. Even as the national martial arts tournament champion…

He wasn’t confident of certain victory.

However, for martial artists, level is not the only measure of strength.

Mastery of force, physical condition, and mental willpower are all essential.

The final outcome can only be determined in battle.

Therefore, he would not underestimate himself.

“The authorities have defined this operation as the ‘Demon Execution’ operation, and have given the murderer the codename ‘Shadow Demon’, meaning he comes and goes without a trace, but…”

William Cooper said firmly, “I will catch him.”

His tone was righteous: “Not for anything else, but to uphold the dignity of the law and bring justice to the victims.”

Chapter 3 Grandmaster

Chihe Mansion.

Ethan was just about to turn on the TV…

“Another power outage.”

He commented.

The frequent blackouts were a bit abnormal.

Could it be related to demons?

The outages had been getting more frequent for a year or two.

So, demons didn’t exist since ancient times, but only emerged recently?

But then why had Henry Cooper been famous for ten years?

He didn’t understand.

However…

Overthinking was pointless.

A year ago, his predecessor had encountered a demon by chance, reported it, and was killed by a demon attack the very next day. That was how Ethan came to this world.

This showed just how deeply demons had infiltrated human society.

He just needed to do his own part.

The demon killed “him,” so he would kill demons.

“Countries are not the same. Dayu is not Daxia.”

Ethan sat down on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.

In his spiritual world.

A nearly four-meter-tall ancient tree, radiating a mysterious aura, was slowly growing.

This was the source of his transmigration.

The principle was unknown.

At present, three branches had grown from the trunk, representing three career paths.

[Martial Arts] [Demon Hunter] [Merchant]

Martial arts cultivation, slaying demons, profiting from trade—the tree could absorb nutrients, or rather experience points, from all of these, allowing the branches to grow.

But that wasn’t the key.

The key was that he could control the tree’s nutrients and inject them into whichever branch he wanted to focus on.

At this moment, Ethan’s mind was focused on the [Demon Hunter] branch.

[Slayed a tier-three superior Horned Demon. Tier-one Demon Hunter branch has gained nutrients for growth… However, since the trunk absorbed all the nutrients, growth has stopped.]

He glanced at the [Martial Arts] branch.

[Trunk nutrients injected, rapid growth in progress.]

Upon closer inspection, the [Martial Arts] branch contained even more detailed information.

Rank: Tier-three Grandmaster.

Dao Fruit: Formless, Perception.

As the martial arts branch grew rapidly, Ethan seemed to sense that this branch was piercing through the void, absorbing all information about “martial arts” from some mysterious, unknowable realm, which he then digested one by one.

In an instant, all knowledge about the grandmaster’s internal cultivation became clear in his mind.