"Jin’er! Did you hear it! Did you hear it!"
Lin Qiongyu could no longer suppress the joy in her heart. She hugged her sister tightly, her voice trembling slightly with excitement, "Chen... Master, he wants to take you as his disciple! Our good days... are coming!"
She spoke incoherently, expressing her joy and her hopes for the future.
Yet, she did not notice that the small body in her embrace was uncontrollably trembling slightly.
Lin Jin said nothing.
She merely looked silently at the bright and clear moon outside the window.
She knew her sister was right.
That man really was treating her leg.
That man indeed gave their family a way to survive.
He was even willing to take her, a "useless person," as a disciple.
All of this seemed like a dream, too beautiful to be real...
However...
Thinking of that man, thinking of his deep eyes.
Thinking of his forceful touches.
Thinking of her sister, for her sake, being so humble and submissive before him.
An inexplicable unease spread in her heart, like a cold, damp tide.
...
"Ha???"
The two little girls pressed their heads together, concentrating intently on the sounds coming from behind the Jade Pendant.
The more they listened, the more their mouths gaped open.
So that’s how it is!
Master really has gotten involved with another girl!
He even intends to take her as a disciple!
No wonder Master has been so cold to them these few days.
It turns out it’s because he found a new, more obedient disciple!
"Stinky Master! Bad Master!"
"We... we wash his feet and massage his back every day, yet he acts so indifferent! It turns out... it turns out he got tired of us long ago and found some wild girl outside!"
Qing Jun was so angry, she kept rolling around on the bed.
Zhiwei’s pretty little face was also filled with anger.
She wasn’t angry at Master, but at that little girl named Lin Jin.
How dare she try to steal their Master!
"Qing Jun! We mustn’t give up, we can’t just hand Master over!"
The elder girl looked calm.
She had already considered, in her heart,
what to do if a bad woman tried to destroy Master’s path.
Therefore,
now that it had actually happened, she wasn’t surprised at all.
There’s nothing she could do,
it wasn’t her fault that Master was so outstanding, with such an unsteady path...
Even though Master was merely taking on a disciple.
But Master was only one, originally half of his attention was hers, now it’s a third!
Completely unacceptable!
...
The night grew increasingly deeper.
Chen Ye arrived at a hidden cave in the back mountain of the Inner Valley, where he had already set up a simple Blinding Technique.
The body of the Iron-Horned Demon Bull was too large, not suitable for refining in the Quiet Chamber.
Besides, the refining process was too bloody, and Chen Ye didn’t want to dirty the small courtyard, so he finally chose to refine it in the mountain cave.
He retrieved the massive body of the Iron-Horned Demon Bull and a pile of yin-attributed materials purchased from the Peach Mountain District.
In an instant, the entire cave was filled with a thick, bloody smell.
Chen Ye sat cross-legged, letting the Dharma Method of Puppet Refining Technique slowly flow through his mind, recalling the steps for refining a Corpse Puppet.
This method was against the natural order, with a refining process both complicated and dangerous, any slight mishap might lead to a backlash from the Corpse Qi.
Chen Ye took a deep breath, formed a spell with his fingers, and a cluster of ghostly blue flame ignited at his fingertips, starting to handle the demon beast’s body according to the Puppet Refining Technique.
The spiritual flame seemed alive as it licked at the massive demon beast corpse.
It wasn’t roasting meat, but rather refining the yin-attributed materials like somber wood powder, Profound Iron liquid, and corpse soul grass juice from the Market, fusing them perfectly with the beast’s flesh, fur, and bones.
This process resembled a special marination.
Chen Ye’s expression was focused as he used his Divine Sense to cautiously control the liquid refined from dozens of yin-attributed materials, integrating it inch by inch into the Iron-Horned Demon Bull’s massive body.
This operation was both mentally draining and time-consuming,
especially since Qingzhi had shattered the Iron-Horned Demon Bull’s head earlier, forcing Chen Ye to spend considerable effort reconstructing it.
An entire night passed.
Only then did he completely refine the materials into the corpse.
Chen Ye’s face was somewhat pale from the enormous consumption of Spiritual Power.
But his eyes were becoming increasingly bright.
The most crucial step had arrived!
He placed the Demon Core, extracted from within the Iron-Horned Demon Bull, into the beast’s chest cavity.
Then, he bit his fingertip, squeezed out blood containing his Divine Soul’s imprint, and dripped it onto the Demon Core!
"With my blood, command all spirits! Rise!"
At the moment his blood fused with the Demon Core!
"Roar—!"
A beastly roar suddenly exploded in his sea of consciousness!
It was the lingering soul of the Iron-Horned Demon Bull, trying to retaliate and reclaim control of its body!
"Courting death!"
Chen Ye’s eyes flashed coldly, and in his sea of consciousness, the bright star of Saturn suddenly shone brilliantly!
A vast Power of Divine Sense, hundreds of times stronger than the beast soul, descended upon it!
"Moo..."
The remnant soul of the Iron-Horned Demon Bull didn’t even have a chance to struggle before it was forcibly refined.
And at the moment its soul was refined,
the once lifeless eyes of the Iron-Horned Demon Bull abruptly lit up with a pair of ghostly blue light points.
"Crunch... Crunch..."
Accompanied by the sound of bone friction.