Li Qiuyun was angrily twisting Chen Ye’s arm.
But the blood evil curse seal on her shoulder brought a piercing pain, causing her to groan and nearly lose her balance.
"Qiuyun, are you okay?" Seeing this, Chen Ye ignored his own exhaustion and rushed forward to support her.
"I... I’m fine..."
Li Qiuyun gritted her teeth, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
"It’s just that this blood evil curse is quite domineering, a demonic technique from the Emotion Crossing Sect... I’ll be fine after a few days of rest."
"Nonsense!"
Chen Ye interrupted her sternly.
"This curse is insidious; if not cleared promptly, it could harm your cultivation foundation! Sit down, let me take a look!"
His tone left no room for argument, as he helped Li Qiuyun sit on a relatively clean stone nearby.
"Uncle Chen, this..."
Li Qiuyun hesitated, the injury on her shoulder meant she had to...
Chen Ye saw her embarrassment but the situation was urgent, leaving little choice: "Qiuyun, loosen some of the clothing on your shoulder, I need to see the full view of the curse seal."
Li Qiuyun’s cheeks flushed bright red.
Never in her life had she exposed her shoulders in front of anyone, especially a man?
Even for healing, the shyness of a young girl made her heart pound like a scared deer.
She instinctively lowered her eyelashes, which fluttered slightly. Her voice was as soft as a whisper: "Uncle Chen... this... this isn’t convenient..."
The girl’s shy demeanor made Chen Ye slightly stunned.
Her skin was already fair, now with flushed cheeks, making her look even more radiant and charming, reducing her usual bravado and adding a touch of femininity.
Chen Ye also felt slightly uncomfortable, but he understood the urgency of the situation:
"Qiuyun, it’s just a shoulder, there is no shame in treating sickness."
Hearing this, Li Qiuyun bit her lip lightly and hesitated briefly before nodding slightly, her voice still as soft as a whisper: "Then... then I’ll trouble Uncle Chen."
With that, she slowly turned her back to Chen Ye, her slender fingers trembling slightly as she undid the button on her taoist robe.
She then gently lowered the collar of her inner garment, revealing her smooth, round, snowy shoulder along with the hideous dark red curse seal.
The curse seal was especially glaring against the fair skin, like a branding mark, with the surrounding skin already blackened and ulcerated.
Seeing the curse seal, Chen Ye didn’t let his mind wander, instead, he took out a jade saber from his storage bag, which he had previously used for treating spirit plants.
"Jade saber?"
Seeing the familiar jade saber, the girl couldn’t help but feel strange.
Isn’t that for treating spirit plants?
Could it really treat people?
Or is Uncle Chen just trying to take a peek?
Unaware of the girl’s complicated thoughts, Chen Ye appropriately made light jokes to ease her tension: "In my eyes, Qiuyun is no different from a spirit plant, even if the clothes were fully off, it’s nothing but a flower or grass."
"Uncle Chen!"
Hearing this, Li Qiuyun felt somewhat displeased.
She was confident in her appearance, often called one of the four fairies among the Outer Sect Twenty-four Peaks.
How could she be mere plants in Uncle Chen’s eyes?
She couldn’t resist gauging Chen Ye’s expression.
But to Li Qiuyun’s disappointment, the man’s gaze showed no abnormality, calm as usual.
Simply focused on the treatment with the jade saber.
Chen Ye held his breath, concentrating, the jade saber moving like a butterfly.
The Disease Removal Saber Technique at the Limit-Breaking Realm had long exceeded the mere treatment of spirit plants, naturally counteracting such evil demonic techniques.
Not long after, Li Qiuyun clearly felt the pain on her shoulder rapidly diminishing.
"This..."
Li Qiuyun was stunned, it actually worked!
She found it hard to believe, looking at Chen Ye’s focused profile, and the jade saber in his hand emitting a green glow.
This usually unreliable Uncle Chen at this moment gave her a strong sense of reassurance.
"Alright, you rest first. I’ll go open the treasure chest... ahem, count the spoils."
Chen Ye satisfactorily glanced at the girl’s smooth, restored shoulder.
Then quickly hurried to the official road, moving the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect disciple’s corpse to prevent others from snatching it.
Next was heading for the stout woman’s corpse.
"Chen... Uncle Chen?"
The girl had her shoulder half-exposed, seeing Chen Ye leave without staying, without giving her another glance, her expression was somewhat resentful.
Uncle Chen was more enthusiastic about the corpses than her!
The more she pondered, the more ashamed she felt, earlier assuming Uncle Chen had deliberately wanted a peek...
Meanwhile, Chen Ye,
had lined up two Tribulation Cultivators side by side, rubbing his hands expectantly.
After defeating enemies, the most exciting moment was undoubtedly opening the treasure chest!
He started rummaging from the stout woman.
The most eye-catching artifact was the whip, a Tier One Upper Grade magical artifact.
On the market, the price should be around sixty spirit stones.
And inside the storage bag, there were over thirty spirit stones, several bottles of unknown pills, and a booklet.
The booklet recorded the Blood Evil Curse, a Tier One Upper Grade magic.
The Blood Evil Curse is a demonic technique, difficult to sell within the Yan Kingdom.
But most loose cultivators lack powerful magic; they wouldn’t differentiate between righteous and evil paths, secretly practicing as a lifeline.
Therefore, finding the black market still offers the chance to sell.
Chen Ye nodded in satisfaction and proceeded to ransack the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect disciple.
The Ten Thousand Puppet Sect disciple was evidently more affluent than the stout woman.
Just the magical artifacts included a Tier One Upper Grade long saber and a Tier One Upper Grade small shield.
And the small shield was an exceptionally rare protective magical artifact!
This small shield left a strong impression on Chen Ye, barely withstanding nearly twenty strands of Geng Metal Qi!
The small shield differed from the Heart-Protecting Jade,
The Heart-Protecting Jade excelled in extreme single-instance protection, able to withstand three powerful spells from late-stage Qi cultivators without draining the wearer’s spiritual power or needing deliberate activation.
Whereas the small shield excelled in continuously resisting attacks, providing cultivators more sustained protection.
However, its defense capacity itself was relatively weaker, requiring cultivators to precisely control it with their Divine Sense.
For example, the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect disciple, during confrontations with Chen Ye, appeared flustered when facing numerous Geng Metal Qi and was eventually wounded by a few strands.
"This is a windfall..."
Chen Ye bent down, unbuckling the storage bag from the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect disciple’s waist.
He was already quite content, yet surprises awaited him.
Inside the storage bag, there was a jade scroll!
"Puppet Refining Technique? Is it the Dharma method for refining puppets from the Ten Thousand Puppets Sect?"
Chen Ye examined the jade scroll and attempted to touch it with a wisp of divine sense, only to find the interior completely empty.
"So it is... To prevent the accidental leakage of cultivation techniques, such jade scrolls are single-use items."
This was within Chen Ye’s expectations; he was not disappointed.
Though the jade scroll lacked the divine sense portion of the cultivation technique, the Puppet Refining Technique, like the Cyan Wave Sword Control Technique, still had the basic introductory content inscribed on it.
Chen Ye glanced at it briefly.
Additionally, a Dharma method named the Hundred Refining Technique was specifically inscribed.
This technique is generally used for refining materials and is often applied in artifact refining.
Considering it was inscribed into the jade scroll, it’s likely a hand technique that must be cultivated alongside the Puppet Refining Technique.
Furthermore, it contains the first half of the Puppet Refining Technique.
It is divided into two basic types of puppets: Zombie Puppet and Soldier Puppet.
The Zombie Puppet is refined from the corpse of a living being and tends to retain a few characteristics from its previous life, possessing a slight degree of intelligence.
The Soldier Puppet is refined using various metals and spiritual materials and excels in sturdiness and stability, is easy to control, and possesses diverse abilities depending on the refining materials used.
"Rather than a cultivation technique... it’s more of a blueprint, isn’t it?" Chen Ye pondered.
Nonetheless, this Puppet Refining Technique seemed quite suitable for his cultivation.
Because the main factors determining a puppet’s combat prowess are the cultivator’s divine sense and the material strength.
If Chen Ye cultivates the Hundred Refining Technique, he can extrapolate it to an advanced realm, thereby maximizing the strength of the raw materials.
Aside from the jade scroll, the storage bag of the Ten Thousand Puppets Sect disciple was practically empty, with only a few spirit stones and pills.
The reason being, puppet refining is essentially a spirit stone-consuming endeavor, heavily money-consuming.
The soldier puppet Chen Ye destroyed probably cost nearly two hundred spirit stones, which represented most of the Ten Thousand Puppets Sect disciple’s assets.
Thinking about this, Chen Ye felt a pang of heartache.
Fortunately, the damaged Soldier Puppet had already been stored in his storage bag and should still be worth some spirit stones.
...
After some simple repairs to the carriage, the two set off again.
"Uncle Chen, why did you keep their corpses?"
Li Qiuyun sat cross-legged, meditating to restore spiritual power, while expressing some puzzlement at Chen Ye’s actions,
"Why not just burn their corpses directly? Keeping them in the storage bag would dirty the bag, wouldn’t it?"
Chen Ye kept their corpses, naturally intending to refine them into Zombie Puppets.
The initial condition for refining Zombie Puppets requires the corpses to have had late-stage Qi cultivation strength when alive.
Only then can their strength support the Zombie Puppet, and there may be just a trace of spirituality to maintain its movements.
Chen Ye thought for a moment and explained truthfully, "I plan to refine these two into puppets. I obtained the method for refining Zombie Puppets from the Ten Thousand Puppets Sect disciple’s storage bag."
"Zombie Puppets?? Uncle Chen, although puppet cultivation belongs to the righteous path, using cultivators for refining Zombie Puppets is against heaven’s harmony!"
Li Qiuyun pondered for a while; being a disciple of the Lingyin Sect, she had been broadly educated since childhood.
She immediately shook her head and said:
"Moreover, even if refining Zombie Puppets, it’s usually done with body cultivators. The average magic cultivators, upon dying, have their dantian and spirit sea shattered, which means if they are refined into Zombie Puppets, their combat power retains hardly ten percent."
Chen Ye understood, but he had other intentions:
"If I refine them into Zombie Puppets, I can invoke their corpses’ remaining divine sense to inquire, perhaps gaining some clues. These two appeared strange; I suspect they were instructed by someone and aren’t ordinary Tribulation Cultivators."
"I see..."
Li Qiuyun suddenly understood, although the cultivation realm has techniques for divine search, she had just broken through to late-stage Qi cultivation and had not yet learned them.
As for Uncle Chen, it goes without saying that having been a medicinal farmer in Yunxi District, he never had the opportunity to practice soul searching techniques.
Considering this, Li Qiuyun suddenly felt a shock.
Yes...
Uncle Chen, who was previously at the fifth layer of Qi cultivation in Yunxi District, is now suddenly at late-stage Qi cultivation within just three months!
Or had Uncle Chen been hiding his strength all along?
Hmm, it should be this possibility.
Uncle Chen, truly cautious...
Thinking back to how she had confidently talked about protecting Uncle Chen earlier, Li Qiuyun’s face quietly blushed again.
"By the way, Qiuyun, since you killed that female cultivator, her belongings should go to you. After all, I only used a few strands of Geng Metal Qi to assist. Furthermore, that female cultivator possessed a demonic technique called Blood Evil Curse; being a Lingyin Sect disciple, it’s not suitable for you to take it, so I will keep it."
Just as Li Qiuyun was pondering, Chen Ye suddenly tossed her a storage bag.
In the storage bag, there was a tier one upper-grade long whip and over thirty spirit stones.
Adding the storage bag’s value, it amounted to over a hundred spirit stones!
"Uncle Chen, had it not been for you, I would have died on the spot, how can I accept..."
Upon realizing what was inside, Li Qiuyun couldn’t help but tremble, her eyes almost dazed.
She had never handled this many spirit stones!
These were the belongings of a late-stage Qi cultivator!
Li Qiuyun secretly clenched her teeth, forcing her gaze elsewhere with immense determination to push the storage bag back to Chen Ye.
Chen Ye chuckled:
"If it were a normal loose cultivator, they’d likely fight to the death over these spirit stones, yet Qiuyun, you’re so generous..."
Next moment.
Li Qiuyun’s gaze trembled; Chen Ye directly grasped her soft hand and forcefully placed the storage bag in it: "I’ve already taken the storage bag from the Ten Thousand Puppets Sect disciple. Hers naturally should go to you."
"Uncle Chen..."
The spirited young woman felt the warmth from his hand on her arm and lightly bit her red lips, but before she could savor it, the man had already withdrawn his hand.
Leaving her alone, holding the storage bag.
Her mind was a swirl of thoughts.
Rather than calling her generous, it’s more like Uncle Chen is generous.
For her, it’s merely refusing something that isn’t hers.
But for Uncle Chen, it’s about giving her what belongs to him.
Why would Uncle Chen be willing to give her such a large sum of spirit stones?
Could it be... that she has already become one of his own in Uncle Chen’s heart?
Chen Ye, however, didn’t think much of it.
He couldn’t just monopolize all the spoils, could he?
Besides, the burly woman was originally killed by Qiuyun.
"With two days left until Moon Rhinoceros District, during this time, I can thoroughly cultivate the Puppet Refining Technique..."
Besides ordinary clues, Chen Ye had another goal, which was to use these two Tribulation Cultivators for practice to hone his proficiency.
It’s essential to know that finding late-stage Qi living beings is quite difficult...