Old Mo was reprimanded by his uncle.
He only then realized:
"Ah? There's no soul?"
Uncle-Master didn't answer, appearing somewhat exasperated.
I nodded.
Old Mo then awkwardly chuckled and jumped off the Nine-Life Corpse Cat's back.
Uncle-Master said with disappointment:
"When we get back, you will transcribe the shop's scriptures ten times."
"Ah? Why?"
Old Mo's face turned green.
Uncle-Master's shop didn't have many scriptures, but there were still seven or eight of them.
I thought Uncle-Master did this to make Old Mo read more Taoist texts, so he wouldn't be ignorant of such basic knowledge.
So that next time, he wouldn't try to guard the soul of a corpse demon.
Uncle-Master ignored him. I patted his shoulder in comfort.
At this moment, Uncle-Master brought his hands together in a seal.
He spoke the word "Release."
In an instant, Uncle-Master's robust, bear-like physique seemed to collapse.
His qi and blood no longer surged, and his Taoist energy was contained.
Uncle-Master once again returned to being the thin old man with a toothbrush mustache.
This time, Uncle-Master was different from usual; after performing the spirit summoning technique, he didn't gasp for air.
Instead, he took a deep breath, appearing very calm.
Only his face was very red, extremely red...
"Tang Ge, why are you here?"
Yun Xia Gu asked joyfully.
Uncle-Master smiled:
"I vaguely heard your phone call.
After you left, I tried to circulate my qi to clear my head.
Then I followed.
When I arrived, I saw this thing."
He said, pointing at the corpse of the Nine-Life Corpse Cat.
During the day, I had told Uncle-Master the location.
It wasn't surprising that he found this place.
After speaking, Yun Xia Gu happily introduced:
"Tang Ge, let me introduce you, this is my eldest senior brother, Yun Qing."
Uncle-Master nodded:
"Tang Lin, Hu Xiao. Fellow Daoist Yun Qing, please offer guidance in the future."
True Man Yun Qing cupped his fists:
"Brother Hu Xiao, your Taoist methods are truly extraordinary.
No wonder you have been so dominant in the Black Demon Palace, annihilating eight hundred evil spirits."
Uncle-Master chuckled a few times:
"It's just a small matter, a small matter.
Fellow Daoist Yun Qing, you all rest for a while. I need to attend to nature's call..."
When nature calls, everyone understands.
Then, Uncle-Master lifted his feet and started to walk to the side.
But I felt something was amiss with Uncle-Master.
I felt like he had been holding his breath when he spoke tonight.
It was strange.
But I didn't press further.
Next, our group rested on the spot.
After the commotion tonight, everyone was quite tired.
However, Xiao Mei, at this moment, approached the corpse cat and revealed her sharp claws.
With a few swipes, she tore into the corpse cat's chest.
While everyone was puzzled, Xiao Mei beckoned.
A bead emitting a green light flew out from the Nine-Life Corpse Cat's body.
Everyone squinted to look.
This was the Nine-Life Corpse Cat's inner core, its most refined energy.
But this energy contained corpse qi.
It was useless to ordinary people, except for demonic cultivators who practiced the way of corpses.
However, as a demon herself, Xiao Mei could devour the corpse cores of demonic beasts to refine them and enhance her cultivation.
We were used to this.
Demon cultivators were always like this.
After collecting the Nine-Life Corpse Cat's inner core,
She then reached out to pull out the corpse cat's fangs.
This made us puzzled:
"Xiao Mei, why are you pulling out its teeth?"
After pulling out the fangs, Xiao Mei turned to me and said:
"Qin Ze, I want to take this tooth back to Immortal Fox Mountain to report this matter to my grandmother."
Immortal Fox Mountain was the dwelling place of the fox clan and Grandmother Fox.
The Nine-Life Corpse Cat had a deep enmity with the fox clan.
Now that it was dead here, it was understandable for Xiao Mei to take the fangs as a report.
I nodded:
"Alright, be careful on your journey!"
Xiao Mei nodded, glanced at Old Mo and the others.
With a final turn, she transformed into a white fox and quickly ran out of the valley.
As soon as Xiao Mei left, True Man Yun Qing spoke:
"This spirit fox is of a rare Nine-Tailed White Fox bloodline, about to cultivate its third tail.
If it can devour that corpse core, it should succeed.
In the future, the fox clan will have another powerful immortal."
I already knew this.
There wasn't much discussion.
Then, True Man Yun Qing conjured a yellow talisman with the character "Fire."
Using the talisman, he ignited the massive corpse of the giant corpse cat.
Looking at the true form of the corpse cat, which had cultivated for over seven hundred years, I felt no emotion.
All I felt was a yearning for more power.
Old Mo, on the other hand, grumbled to me:
"Why is Master taking so long to relieve himself?"
I looked in the direction Uncle-Master had left. He still hadn't returned.
So I said to Old Mo:
"Let's go check on him! And perhaps relieve ourselves too?"
"Sure!"
Saying that, we both headed towards Uncle-Master.
The others sat and rested, or chatted.
We entered the nearby bamboo forest.
As soon as we arrived, we heard heavy gasping sounds.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Old Mo and I sensed something was wrong and quickly called out:
"Master!"
"Uncle-Master!"
As we called out, we found Uncle-Master.
He was sitting under a few bamboo trees not far away, panting heavily, looking extremely exhausted.
"Uncle-Master, wh-what's wrong?"
Uncle-Master had been fine just moments ago, appearing calm and collected. Why was he gasping like this now?
"Master, Master, don't scare me. Were you, were you ambushed by a demon?"
Old Mo also said fearfully.
But while gasping, Uncle-Master shook his head:
"It's, it's nothing, I, I just need to rest, rest for a bit..."
At this point, we realized this was a side effect of Uncle-Master's "spirit summoning technique."
I had wondered earlier why Uncle-Master had been speaking with bated breath, acting strangely.
Now it seemed he had been pretending, likely not wanting True Man Yun Qing to see his weakened state.
Old Mo and I waited for him for over five minutes before Uncle-Master felt a bit better.
My guess was also confirmed.
Then, Uncle-Master spoke:
"I, I don't know that Yun Qing well, I can't, can't let him see me in a weakened state."
We both nodded.
After all, during our time in the Black Demon Palace, Uncle-Master had taken all the attention upon himself to protect me.
He had disguised himself as very strong.
The reason was that he hoped I could grow safely, without envy from others.
But while disguising his weakness was possible, Uncle-Master's earlier increase in cultivation was real.
His combat power just now was so strong, so fierce.
This couldn't be fake, could it?
I asked with confusion:
"Uncle-Master, you were so powerful just now.
Your cultivation has clearly improved a lot.
How did you achieve that?
Did you break through again?"