The golden rays of the morning sun pierced through the dense mists of Cang Wu Mountain. The cleansing light brought a fresh tide of air that swept across the entire easter Cang Wu forest.
Yet, for the mortal refugees of the Dong village, this calm dawn brought anything but peace.
Their life savior, the mysterious spirit master they had just discovered was named Wang Ke, had vanished into the night. Left with only his final instructions, the weary villagers gathered their meager belongings and began their tense march toward this location.
Among the marching crowd, Cui Cui was riding a donkey. Her delicate face was pale, clouded with grim depression.
She kept her head down, though a profound and earth shattering change had occurred within her mortal body just hours prior.
Last night, her soul had miraculously opened.
But what was even more surprising was that she had awakened her soul by sniffing and sucking Hua Ke’s body, essentially becoming a spirit master.
The reception from the villagers was a chaotic mix of awe and suspicion.
Fei Fei, the seasoned elder and her own father, walked beside her with a highly conflicted gaze, yet his posture remained fiercely supportive.
Qing Qing, her brother, pouted with obvious jealousy. However, it was the innocent envy of a sibling watching their sister receive a rare gift, entirely devoid of malicious intent.
Others in the village were far less virtuous. A group of youngsters, similar to her in age, trailed behind and whispered with venomous intent.
"Did you see what she was doing to that spirit master last night?" a young boy sneered. "She definitely seduced that spirit master to get his favour. That is the only way she got this."
"Absolutely shameless," a young girl spat, her eyes green with envy. "Using her feminine charms to take advantage of a noble spirit master when he was vulnerable. I’m sure he didn’t want whatever she did to him."
Before their bitter gossip could spread further, Qing Qing stopped in his tracks and whipped his head around. His eyes flared with such intense, protective anger that the youths instantly choked on their words.
They flinched under his murderous gaze, quickly snapping their mouths shut and shrinking back into the bustling crowd.
Cui Cui ignored the mundane drama.
As she walked, she closed her eyes, turning her concentration inward. She successfully entered her soul, finding a small expanse of incredibly runny water sloshing within her newly formed soul.
Swimming leisurely through this clear, liquid essence was a mysterious fish. She had no master to explain the profound mysteries of the Dao, so she simply observed the creature with silent reverence.
Hovering above this watery foundation were the bizarre spirit Hua Ke had gifted her.
She concentrated on the connection, recalling how she had effortlessly refined the rank 1 breast milk spirit. The process was completely smooth because the spirit possessed a tremendous compatibility with her feminine yin physique.
And this had brought a few changes to Cui Cui’s body that she would rather not speak of.
The refinement process is profound resonance, identical to what Hua Ke had experienced in the hidden cave with the heavenly milk basin.
Just as that basin had become the perfect catalyst for him to refine the Boner Spirit, Hua Ke’s lingering spirit essence had become the supreme catalyst for Cui Cui.
Overnight, she managed to refine that single spirit. The other two spirits, the ballsack spirit and the squirt spirit, floated quietly in her soul without being refined.
She lacked the cultivation realm to refine them just yet, but they did not rebel or attempt to flee. They remained docile, completely suppressed by the lingering will of Hua Ke that remained branded upon them.
For twelve grueling hours, the caravan pressed forward. Carefully avoiding all the danger zones exactly as instructed, they finally arrived at the Cang Wu East River.
This roaring water marked the natural boundary where the Cang Wu mountain range officially ended for Lin Clan. If they wished to continue further, they would have to cross the torrential river, but doing so would place them squarely in the territory of a foreign clan.
The surroundings appeared completely ordinary. Dozens of rocky outcroppings and barren caves dotted the landscape, but there was nothing of value in sight.
Suddenly, Cui Cui stopped walking. A weird, magnetic sensation tugged at her newly formed soul.
Without a word, she altered her path, walking as if in a trance toward a cluster of jagged boulders.
"Cui Cui!" Fei Fei shouted, his voice cracking with immense panic. "Come back here immediately! Be careful! We do not know what demonic beasts lurk in there!"
She ignored the worried shouts. She rounded the massive rocks, and what she revealed made everyone freeze. Even Fei Fei, who had survived almost sixty years in this cruel world, gasped at the unbelievable sight.
Emerging from the solid stone of the mountain, a steady trickle of liquid had pooled into a secluded pond in the middle of nowhere.
The liquid was a shocking, brilliant red. At first glance, a mortal might have mistaken it for a pool of fresh blood.
But instead of the metallic stench of gore, an intoxicatingly sweet aroma drifted through the air, smelling like nothing they had ever encountered in their mortal lives. This chapter was taken from novelping . com without permission.
Cui Cui stepped forward in a daze, wading into the crimson water. She quickly realized the pond was not deep at all; it was incredibly shallow. She approached the rocky wall where the red drops steadily wept from a narrow fissure.
"Father! Everyone!" Cui Cui muttered, her eyes wide with realization as she pointed at the solid stone. "I found it! I found the cave the young master was speaking about! Look, there is water coming from a crack right here!"
Many miles away, deep within the heart of the forest, the demonic path cultivator Ji Ma Ko snapped his eyes open. His aura flared with dark intent.
He did not need to use the eyes of his beasts to know their fate. The profound mental connection between a spirit master and his tamed creatures allowed him to feel their presence no matter how far away they roamed.
He had released one hundred of his wolves into the forest to scout, keeping the remainder by his side, ready to ambush the Dong mortals near the junction they were destined to pass on their way to the Lin Clan.
But a sudden wave of concern washed over him. He realized that dozens of his wolves had suddenly died last night. The mental links had snapped like fragile threads.
"Impossible," Ji Ma Ko hissed to himself, his voice echoing in the gloom.
He paced back and forth, his mind racing through endless possibilities.
There was absolutely no way those pathetic mortals could kill a single one of his wolves face to face, let alone slaughter an entire pack.
What exactly had happened in the dead of night? Was it a righteous spirit master from the Lin Clan patrolling the borders? Was there another demonic cultivator hunting in his territory that he had no idea of? Or did his pack encounter a terrifying group of high ranked spirit beasts?
Countless scenarios spun through his calculating mind. He paused, raising his right hand to inspect a slightly deformed, shining pearl.
His eyes burned with a greedy, desperate light as he felt the energy within it.
"Just a few more girls," Ji Ma Ko muttered, caressing the damaged treasure. "Just a few more and I will be able to repair the damages on my own soul. Once my foundation is fully restored, my cultivation will rise again and then... I will slaughter them all! I will slaughter all who wronged me!"
But before all that, he clenched his fist, glaring up through the dense forest canopy. "Why is this happening now? Is the heavenly Dao deliberately punishing me for walking the demonic path? No! This is something else."
He stopped pacing and considered his next move. Should he remain at the junction and wait patiently for the mortals to arrive? Or should he visit the last known location where his wolves had perished?
He pondered for only a second before coming to a firm decision.
He would visit the site of the slaughter. If there was an unknown threat lurking in this forest, he absolutely needed to be aware of it.
After all, this was his territory. He needed to uncover the truth, because to a cautious spirit master like him, the unknown was the most terrifying thing in the world.