—

　　The first day they stayed here, Ah Bai and Hu Po were forced to clean up a bear demon’s cave.

　　They didn’t know if it was because this bear demon had a strong body odour, or if it was an inevitable result of his bad hygiene habits, but when they had to tidy up its cave that day, Ah Bai and Hu Po were fumigated so badly by the smell that they couldn’t eat anything the next day and they had to keep washing themselves up in the lake too — they kept feeling like their whole body was emitting the horrible stench of that bear demon!

　　Now, that bear demon was making them tidy up its nest again. The tiger cubs wholeheartedly refused to in their hearts.

　　Hu Po suppressed his anger. He really wanted to say something to reject that bear demon, but in this demonic beast institute, that bear demon had the highest level here — it was already at its infant stage’s nine stars, and it was only half a step away from its Gathering Spirit stage.

　　The bear demon roared, “Are you guys mute?!”

　　Ah Bai immediately cowered, “I got it.”

　　The bear demon left, satisfied.

　　The snake demon sneered, “Little rascals, work hard, it’s dinner time~.”

　　After the snake demon left, Hu Po pulled a long face and didn’t say anything as he bit one of the many scattered pigeon’s feathers and walked inside the cave to continue laying out a nest.

　　Outside, the demonic beasts were eating.

　　“There are actually demonic delight fruits today!”

　　“It’s really delicious! We only get to eat this kind of fine delicacy once every ten to fifteen days.”

　　“Maybe something good happened today to Ah Qing ba.”

　　While the demonic beasts were intoxicated with their demonic delight fruits, they discussed outside affairs.

　　Not all of the demonic beasts had been sent here by their masters. Some of them were wounded by human cultivators and had nowhere else to go.

　　Those that were picked up by Golden Eyed Leopard and Qing Yuege either had some physical defects, or they had been abandoned by their masters.

　　A wolf demon saw Hu Po and Ah Bai’s lustrous fur, jealousy visibly pooling in the bottom of its dark green eyes.

　　It took out two demonic delight fruits from the basket and threw it straight at Hu Po.

　　“Tiger cub, this is a reward from Grandpa Wolf.” The wolf demon held its head high and narrowed its eyes as it stared at Hu Po.

　　Hu Po was smashed by the demonic delight fruit. He endured it and gritted his teeth and turned his head. He didn’t look at the demonic delight fruit that had been stained with mud.

　　The other demonic beasts were eating their own dinner while they spectated the show from the side. Some demonic beasts even added fuel to the fire by making a ruckus, “That Hu Po is a spiritual beast you know, he definitely wouldn’t think much of this kind of food.”

　　“Yeah, it’s a spiritual beast with a noble bloodline, you know? But, this is my first time seeing a spiritual beast serving others.”

　　A magpie demon landed on a tree and chirped, but its tone was definitely a mocking one.

　　“These two cubs are actually spiritual beasts?” The wolf demon narrowed its eyes, “I thought these were two wild beasts of the lowest level.”

　　Hu Po was so angry his whole body began trembling. Ever since he was born, he had never suffered such humiliation and ridicule. He felt like there was a fire burning within his heart, and in his chest, something hot was about to burst out.

　　“Aowu!” Hu Po roared angrily and jumped up from the ground, pouncing towards the wolf demon.

　　The wolf demon leapt up as well and smacked Hu Po down to the ground with just one palm.

　　Hu Po smashed into the ground. A carp stood straight up and glared at the wolf demon who landed gently on the ground with vigilant eyes.

　　The wolf demon said in scorn, “You dare look for trouble with your kind of level? Get your ass back into your mother’s belly to rebuild yourself ba.”

　　Hu Po rushed forward once again, but he was yet again smacked onto the ground.

　　After being smacked for more than ten times in succession, the snake demon couldn’t bear to look any further and finally said, “One Eye, why make life difficult for such a small rascal? If you break him, then who will tidy our nests for us in the future?”

　　The wolf demon was now satisfied, so it swayed its tail and left with a content heart.

　　Ah Bai approached Hu Po, who was trying very hard to crawl back up from the ground, and licked him. His heart ached as he whispered in comfort, “Hu Po, be a good boy, don’t get angry. When we become amazing, we’ll beat each and every one of those demonic beasts up. Henhen said before that ‘for a nobleman to take revenge, even ten years would not be considered too long’.”

　　Hu Po hadn’t replied to him when the snake demon standing not too far away began laughing, “Don’t you think you’re being too full of yourselves? With the level that you guys are at now, there probably wouldn’t be much improvement in the next 8 to 10 years.”

　　“But, after 8 or 10 years, they’ll definitely live a better life than they do now.” The monkey demon hung from a tree with its tail and laughed, “After all, after laying nests for about ten or so years, they’ll get quite skilled at it ma.”

　　Hahaha!

　　Quack quack quack!

　　Squeak squeak squeak!

　　All kinds of demonic beasts burst out into laughter. Hu Po’s face was tainted with shame. He really wished that he could dig a hole and bury his head into it right now.

　　He had already felt the gap between him and that wolf demon, but, he can’t advance to that level at all.

　　Ah Bai looked helpless as well. He was neither angry nor humiliated. He knew that the angrier he and Hu Po seemed, the more joy and content those demonic beasts would feel.

　　The moon hung high up in the sky and the demonic beasts all went back to their nests to rest.

　　Ah Bai walked over to Hu Po’s side to settle down.

　　In front of Hu Po was the steep face of a cliff. He stared into the abyss expressionlessly.

　　They haven’t filled their stomachs in several days. Today, they finally got some demonic delight fruits, yet that wolf demon had smashed it onto his body in such a provocative and humiliating way.

　　During this period, they would have to tidy up those demonic beasts’ nests the moment they opened their eyes every morning, all the way until the moon comes out at night.

　　Hu Po looked at the moon. After awhile passed, he asked, “Ah Bai, are we really spiritual beasts?”

　　Ah Bai nodded, “Of course.”

　　Hu Po turned around and looked at him, “Then why don’t I feel the inheritance of a spiritual beast’s bloodline?”

　　Ah Bai thought about it for a bit, “I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we’ve never seen our parents before.”

　　Hu Po looked down at the bottomless abyss, “Golden Eyed Leopard said that if we want to awaken our bloodline, we’ll need to push ourselves into desperate straits. Hey, if I jump down from here, would I awaken my bloodline?”

　　He might…but it would be useless even if he did awaken it. Ah Bai said, “This is such a high cliff, you’ll fall to your death before anything else happens.”

　　Hu Po, “……”

　　Hu Po withdrew his gaze, turned around, and walked back.

　　Ah Bai asked, “Where are you going?”

　　“To cultivate.” Hu Po responded.

　　Ah Bai wagged his tail as he followed Hu Po. Both tiger cubs walked over to a rock on high ground that was closest to the moon and sat atop it. They closed their eyes, then began to use a cultivation method unique to demonic beasts to absorb the spiritual Qi between the heavens and the earth.

　　In a place like Mass Graves Ridge, corpses fresh out of the oven would appear there every day that would be thrown around casually.

　　The moon was shrouded in dark clouds above. Two figures — one tall and the other short — walked over to Mass Graves Ridge hand in hand.

　　Lin Xuanzhi scanned their surroundings, “Have you mastered the method of absorbing corpse Qi?”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded, “I’ve practiced it lots of times, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

　　Thus, Lin Xuanzhi said, “I’ll set up a protective array for you from a side, get it done as soon as possible.”

　　After he retreated to one side, Lin Xuanzhi jumped onto a tall tree and found a good position that was convenient for monitoring their surroundings at all times. Since there was no time to lose, Yan Tianhen walked over to a cultivator’s corpse, settled himself down, then began his first absorption of corpse Qi for his cultivation.

　　It may be called corpse Qi, but in actuality, after cultivators die, the corpse Qi within their corpses is an amalgamation of all the cultivation and Qi they had accumulated while they were alive.

　　But during the time of death of a cultivator, a vast majority of their cultivation and Qi would have dissipated, and only a little residue would remain. One of the most important reasons an Imperial Corpse user is known as a demonic cultivator is because in the process of controlling a corpse, Imperial Corpse users would constantly absorb the Qi and cultivation in other corpses. This kind of behaviour of improving their cultivation through seizing other people’s cultivation instead of relying on themselves has always been regarded as disgraceful, so it was classified as an act of demonic cultivation.

　　Yan Tianhen absorbed all those corpse Qi into his own Dantian Qi sea. After he finished absorbing one, he would move onto another and only stopped after he had absorbed the corpse Qi in ten cultivator corpses.

　　Lin Xuanzhi jumped down and walked over to Yan Tianhen’s side. When he saw his pale complexion and bright red lips, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, “Will there be any negative side effects from absorbing this kind of corpse Qi?”

　　Yan Tianhen shook his head, “There won’t be any effect if I just absorb a small amount of it. At most, my complexion would look a bit uglier, but if I absorb a large amount of it, my lifespan would be reduced.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s face immediately darkened, “When I asked you about it before, that’s not how you answered me.”

　　Yan Tianhen felt a cold chill run down his spine. He immediately smiled and blinked, “I didn’t deceive Dage. It’s just that, absorbing all this corpse Qi is nothing much. Moreover, once I’ve refined that corpse such that it comes back to life, he will be able to come absorb corpse Qi by himself and won’t need to do so through me anymore. At most, I just need to provide him with a few drops of blood at intervals to promote his absorption.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at him calmly, “I’ll believe you for now.”

　　After they returned to their yard, Yan Tianhen went straight into his room.

　　As soon as he entered and went around the screen, Yan Tianhen looked at Chigu, who was lying flat on his back on the bed stark naked.

　　Yan Tianhen was about to walk over when he was dragged back by Lin Xuanzhi, who had followed along.

　　“Isn’t Lin Yan a bit too careless with how he deals with matters?” Lin Xuanzhi frowned as he made Yan Tianhen turn around such that his back was facing that nude male, “Wait here for awhile. Don’t look at what you’re not supposed to.”

　　Yan Tianhen’s mind was enshrouded in fog, “What am I not supposed to look at?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said with a profound tone, “You can’t just look at other people’s body so carelessly, or else you’ll get an eyelid inflammation.”

　　Yan Tianhen, “…….”

　　But, he isn’t that five or six year old kid who knows nothing ah.

　　After he made a brief visual assessment, Lin Xuanzhi estimated that the corpse’s stature should be similar to his, so he took a set of his own clothes and went back to Yan Tianhen’s room. Then he walked straight up to that corpse to put the clothes on him.

　　“It’s okay now, come over ba.”

　　When Yan Tianhen heard that, he turned around and saw Lin Xuanzhi tighten the waistband around that corpse.

　　He instantly felt a little sour, “Dage has never even dressed me before, yet you actually gave your own clothes to that corpse.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi tied a knot on the clothes belt and smiled, “He’s just a corpse, why would Ah Hen eat that kind of vinegar?”

　　Yan Tianhen was stunned and immediately blushed, “I’m not eating any vinegar, I’m not envious of him at all.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen with a profound look in his eyes, “I see. Does Ah Hen also want Gege to dress you as well?”

　　Yan Tianhen said angrily, “Only kids let other people dress them.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded, “Therefore, adults undress people.”

　　Yan Tianhen blinked and asked, “Dage, what do you mean by that?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi pressed against his forehead. How could he accidentally crack such a colourful joke around a child like Yan Tianhen, who had an incredibly pure heart as well.

　　He was being really inappropriate.

　　“It’s nothing much.” Lin Xuanzhi got up and gave up his seat for Yan Tianhen, “Transfer the corpse Qi to him quickly ba. If the corpse Qi stays in your body for too long, it won’t be good for your health.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded, “It might take awhile, should Dage go take a short rest first?”