"Mm."
The dignified elder nodded, his gaze fixed on Chen Changming's skeletal body. His eyes lit up as he smiled. "This man must be a mighty Fusion Realm Body Cultivator. Even though he was burned to death, his bones are still intact. They're excellent material for refining a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure. We mustn't miss this chance!"
Greed glinted in his eyes like a vulture that had spotted carrion.
"Indeed."
Steward Li smiled.
There was anticipation in his smile now, too. His earlier worries seemed to have been cast aside.
After several dozen more breaths, the two finally flew to the hilltop where Chen Changming lay.
Everything here was charred black. Even the rocks had melted, and the air smelled of burning.
The odor was sharp enough to choke them, laced with the faintest trace of blood.
A purple skeleton lay quietly on the ground. Its posture was strange, its arms slightly spread as though embracing something—or warding something off.
As the two hurried closer, they suddenly discovered a black heart wreathed in Demonic Qi inside the skeleton's chest. It was still beating.
The heart was pitch-black, its surface shrouded in dense black vapor, like a jewel wrapped in Demonic Qi.
Each time the black heart beat, it spurted purple blood.
The mysterious-looking blood flowed along the bones and spread through the entire body. Wherever it touched, flesh slowly began to grow.
The flesh sprouted from the bones like tender shoots in early spring, bit by bit, slow but relentless.
"Hall Master Song, this is a demonic cultivator!"
Steward Li cried out in shock, his face turning pale.
His voice cracked, carrying fear that seemed to sink into his very bones.
He had never imagined that the mysterious Purple Flame, powerful as it was, had failed to burn this demonic cultivator