The World is a Cow

Mo Ci stopped speaking, not because he was too angry at his disciple to continue, but because he truly lacked the strength.

Being a wandering ghost whose lifespan was already at its end, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, while somewhat useful, could barely keep his soul from dissipating; it could hardly support him in moving about freely, and he had to rest for a long time after saying just a few words.

Forget it, he could no longer teach this disciple; he would just wait until he woke up to see what realm the boy could reach.

Chen Ye strode out of the dilapidated temple, watching as the thin youth seemed to have wind beneath his feet, running with more agility than a young deer in the woods.

He circulated the spiritual energy within his body, chanting incantations under his breath. Focusing his magic at his fingertips, he traced a spirit talisman onto his eyes and let out a low shout: "Spirit Eye, open!"

In an instant, he closed his eyes and opened them again; his pupils had transformed into a brilliant golden hue, and everything before him had taken on a different appearance.

The mountain rocks and soil appeared in varying shades of earthy yellow, while the tree branches and leaves were covered in a faint cyan... all things in the world were dyed in colors according to the Five Elements.

This was a basic spell essential for any cultivator in the Qiling Realm. With this pair of Spirit Eyes, one could observe all things and discern the flow of spiritual energy; all methods of qi-gazing and investigation were rooted in this.

But Chen Ye was not looking for any heavenly treasures; he was searching for his prey. The spiritual energy within wild beasts flowed in various ways, appearing mixed and highly unstable under the Spirit Eye, making them quite conspicuous. One didn't need to be trained in hunting to easily find the tracks of wild beasts.

Before long, Chen Ye found a pack of wolves in the forest, five in total, all of them in their prime.

Chen Ye slowed his pace, holding his breath and calming his pulse as he slowly approached. When he was about four or five zhang away, the most alert wolf pricked up its ears, raised its head, and looked toward him.

"So sharp?"

Chen Ye muttered softly, forced to stop in his tracks. A cultivator in the Qiling Realm was, after all, still made of flesh and blood; if he were bitten by these wolves, he would end up covered in blood.

Now was the time for his deceased master to provide some residual value.

Chen Ye opened his storage bag and released a pitch-black corpse.

The corpse moved sluggishly, controlled entirely by the sound of the bell in Chen Ye's hand.

It would hop forward once with every shake, and if shaken three times in succession, it would pounce on the nearest source of living blood to claw and bite.

Chen Ye shook the bell with a rhythmic ding-ding-dang-dang, driving the corpse toward the wolves. The wolves instantly grew alert, letting out low growls and baring their snow-white fangs as they formed a semicircle, watching this uninvited guest with vigilance.

A larger wolf, its eyes flashing with a fierce light, was the first to launch an attack.

It pushed off with its hind legs, its body pouncing toward the corpse like an arrow released from a bow. Its sharp claws left several cold streaks in the air, slashing fiercely at the corpse's chest.

The corpse reacted slowly and failed to dodge in time, suffering several deep gashes as its black flesh peeled back to reveal the decaying bones beneath.

Seeing this, the other wolves also swarmed in, some biting at the corpse's arms while others tore at its legs.

Although the corpse felt no pain, it appeared somewhat battered under the siege of the pack. Its beggar's rags were instantly reduced to strips of cloth, and more and more of its pitch-black flesh was torn away, with fragments constantly drifting to the ground.

But Chen Ye didn't care in the least. Fully embodying the nature of a Demonic Sect disciple, he ignored the damage to his master's physical body and kept shaking the bell, forcing the corpse to grapple with the wolves.

Under Chen Ye's control, the corpse swung its arms violently, knocking a nearby wolf to the ground before opening its mouth wide to bite fiercely into the neck of another.

The wolf couldn't dodge in time, and blood sprayed from its neck; it struggled a few times before going still.

The wolf pack was cunning and knew when to retreat. Seeing the corpse's power, the remaining three let out a few whimpers and fled. But under the gaze of Chen Ye's Spirit Eye, he saw that the three wolves were only pretending to run; in reality, they were circling back under the cover of the woods, intending to launch a sneak attack from the rear.

Chen Ye couldn't help but sigh: "Pu Songling did not deceive me; wolves are indeed cunning—they know how to deceive and how to launch sneak attacks."

However, for a corpse, there was no such thing as a vital point, so what use was a sneak attack?

Even as the three wolves bit down frantically, the old, withered corpse only lost a few more scraps of flesh, suffering no real harm.

In the end, the corpse had sustained many more wounds, but four of the five wolves had been killed. The last wolf only chose to flee after confirming that the situation was hopeless, which could be considered quite loyal.

Chen Ye threw two of the wolves to the corpse to let it consume their blood, which served to replenish some of its consumption.

Ordinary corpses relied entirely on fresh blood to function; since they lacked souls anyway, it made little difference whether it was human or animal blood.

He bled and skinned the remaining wolves, tidying them up carefully before examining the collected wolf blood. To practice the Blood Refining Method, the key was to extract and refine blood containing spiritual energy, integrating it into oneself to facilitate the formation of the dantian's sea of qi.

The part of the human body with the most abundant spiritual energy was the heart-blood, and it seemed the wolves were no exception.

The blood squeezed from the wolf hearts shimmered with star-like spiritual light under Chen Ye's Spirit Eye. Although it contained spiritual energy, the amount was pitifully small.

But that didn't matter; Chen Ye only wanted to investigate why animal blood would drive a person mad, while human blood would not.

No, perhaps that statement wasn't precise enough.

Books recorded that using human blood to practice would be affected by resentment, leading to extreme emotions like irritability, rage, or overwhelming sorrow, requiring one to meditate and refine it using calming techniques.

If the resentment in human blood could be dispelled, what about animal blood?

Regarding the use of animal blood for cultivation, the books contained only a single line: "It damages the soul; using it causes one to degenerate into a beast."

Such a record was far too brief—so brief that it felt as if it were intentionally concealed, or perhaps the author was simply too lazy to elaborate.

Chen Ye was naturally inclined to get to the bottom of things; if he weren't, he never would have been able to figure out his improved version of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner. He had many hypotheses regarding this issue of resentment. Now that he had the wolf blood, it was the perfect time to verify them.

Once everything was packed away, Chen Ye returned to the dilapidated temple to refine the spirit-infused blood according to the teachings in the book. A cultivator in the Qiling Realm could only see spiritual energy but struggled to control it at will, so Chen Ye's refining process looked more like he was setting up a pot to cook a meal.

He fiddled with various bottles and jars, sweating profusely, and it took him a long time to produce half a gourd of blood pills. They couldn't be consumed just yet, however; they needed to be cured for three days.

Although spiritual energy had all sorts of miraculous uses, integrating it into the body was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Ordinary people inhaled spiritual energy with every breath, but less than one ten-thousandth remained in the body, and most of it was breathed back out. Only after years of accumulation would a small amount of spiritual energy remain in the heart-blood; this was "digested" spiritual energy, which was much easier to absorb.

The blood pills sealed the spiritual energy to prevent it from dissipating, while medicinal herbs were used to draw the energy into the pill.

Once cured and consumed, a cultivator could rapidly absorb this pre-digested spiritual energy, saving more than half the effort. Even though Chen Ye had spent several days of busy work to get this half-gourd of blood pills, their efficacy was comparable to half a year of meditation.

When Chen Ye was reading books in the past, he often thought that this world was like a cow, where all things in heaven and earth were like the first three stomachs, and cultivators were the fourth, specializing in eating what others had already digested... and savoring it with great relish at that.

But that is simply how cultivation works; if one wishes to rely on nothing external, they will most likely end up as a pile of dry bones. Even a Demon Lord must consume pills and refine magical treasures; there is no such thing as achieving enlightenment overnight and ascending to immortality.

Now that he had the Beast Blood Pill, the next step was to find a "guinea pig."

He first needed to identify the crux of what made the Beast Blood Pill drive people mad before he could consider how to resolve it.

While he was deep in thought, footsteps echoed outside the dilapidated temple. Chen Ye looked up to see a couple carrying a swaddled infant climbing the steps. Upon reaching the temple entrance and seeing Chen Ye alongside the skinned and bled wolf carcass, the man was startled, nearly turning around to flee.

Seeing him hesitate, the woman gritted her teeth and said to Chen Ye, "Kind sir, our family of three is just passing through. Seeing smoke rising from here, we were wondering if you could spare some meat broth or porridge. This child has been hungry for three days; we beg for your mercy."

Chen Ye smiled faintly, "Meeting is fate; please, make yourselves at home."