The Big Brother I Admire Most

After hearing the girl's words, the woman froze. She raised her hand to strike again, but that calloused hand hung in midair, unable to come down for a long while.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

At that moment, the girl began coughing violently. She covered her mouth with a hand, while the woman gently patted her back to help her catch her breath.

A thick stench of blood spread across her tongue. When she looked down again, her palm was covered in bright red blood.

"Mother, I'm going to die one way or another, but Big Brother is different. He'll definitely make something of himself. He'll definitely become a fitter."

"What's the use of becoming a fitter? Won't he just end up like your deadbeat father, so busy he wouldn't come home for days and nights, only to wind up bedridden and leave the three of us behind?"

"No, I think Brother can become a heaven-grade fitter. Father once said that once he became a heaven-grade fitter, he wouldn't have to sit on the assembly line all day."

"What ability does your brother have? That deadbeat father of yours tinkered away for half his life and only reached earth-grade."

"I believe Big Brother can do it. After all, Big Brother has always been the Big Brother I admire most."

The woman pulled the girl into her arms again. After an unknown amount of time, she suddenly said:

"Ling'er, Mother has found a place for you."

She paused, avoiding the girl's clear eyes. Her gaze fell upon her thin shoulders, as though she had made up her mind. Her voice softened until it was nearly pleading.

"That family is well-off. Once you go there, you can get proper treatment. You won't have to suffer with Mother anymore... and don't keep worrying about things at home..."

The girl seemed to have guessed something as well. She merely nodded lightly, her vision gradually blurring.

"Mother, after I'm gone, don't donate money to the Immortal Unification Sect anymore, all right?"

"I won't. Mother won't donate anymore. It's all Mother's fault. It's all Mother's fault..."

The scene whirled past in a blur, countless bizarre and fantastical sights flashing before her eyes. When her vision finally cleared again, "Lu Li" discovered that she had been tied to a cold bed.

A Wood Crow hovered over her chest, its eyes casting a crimson, vicious glare upon her.

"Name: Lu Ling. Age: fifteen. Physical aptitude: lower D-grade. Divine sense strength: upper D-grade. Spiritual roots: four-colored mixed spiritual roots... caw. Preliminary judgment: prioritize soul extraction."

Not far from the window, two female disciples were whispering to each other.

"What a hassle. This little sister is quite pretty, but she's only upper D-grade. What use is a soul at that level, Senior Sister?"

"That just shows you don't understand. Mortal souls may not compare to ours, but they're still decent spiritual materials. Lower D-grade souls can be used to refine Wood Crows, middle D-grade ones can be used to refine mortal-path puppet dolls, and upper D-grade ones can serve as artifact spirits to power first-turn, four-type spirit cores for refining first-turn puppet dolls."

"A soul like that won't last very long, will it?"

"Ah, they're consumables anyway. But it isn't absolute. These puppet dolls with artificial artifact spirits can cultivate and conduct deep deductions on their own. They may not be unable to advance in the future."

"There's such a thing? Then what happens if they advance?"

"At that point, we take out the artifact spirit and transplant it into a second-turn spirit core, using it to refine a second-turn puppet doll. Look, that third-turn puppet doll in your Martial Uncle's hands was refined step by step from an upper D-grade soul."

"That's amazing!"

"But don't get your hopes up too high. Most D-grade souls don't even last as long as a first-turn spirit core. Within half a year, they'll basically be ground away completely."

"Say, won't these puppet dolls betray us?"

"You fool. During the soul extraction and soul refinement process, of course we erase their memories from before they died. Though most of the time we can't erase them completely. Pfft, hahahahaha..."

For no apparent reason, the female disciple with the smoking pipe let out a soft laugh. Her junior sister looked utterly confused, mechanically scratching the back of her head.

"Senior Sister, what are you laughing at?"

"I remembered something amusing. These puppet dolls can cultivate like us, yet they don't know it themselves. They even think they're just like us, disciples of White Moon Palace. Last year, one puppet doll seemed to malfunction and ran all over the sect, shouting mad nonsense like, 'Fake, it's all fake!' and 'I can't tell! I really can't tell!'"

"Hahaha, that's fun. That really is fun."

Her junior sister laughed too. The two female disciples laughed until they rocked back and forth, their entire bodies creaking as if they might fall apart at any moment. Only after quite some time did they finally recover.

"By the way, if the artifact spirit is transplanted into a second-turn spirit core, what do they do with the original first-turn spirit core?"

"They can sell it outside the sect as secondhand goods."

"But I remember the academy elder saying that secondhand spirit cores have shorter lifespans, and they retain the obsessions the artifact spirits held in life. If cultivators install puppet artifacts refined from secondhand spirit cores on themselves, they'll be affected by those obsessions and may easily suffer qi deviation in future cultivation."

"That's right. It's not you suffering qi deviation, so what are you afraid of?... Enough. I'm only telling you this. Don't let those lowly commoners find out."

"Don't worry. There are only the two of us here. Those lowly commoners would never dream that after selling their sons and daughters, they've sent them here to us in the end."

"We handle the soul extraction, while inner sect disciples must perform the soul refinement. Split open her crown first. I'll put her soul in here afterward."

As she spoke, the senior sister shook the little wooden jar in her hand.

"Okay."

The junior sister picked up an axe and smashed it down viciously toward Lu Ling's head. The pain of her skull being torn apart jolted Lu Li awake from the nightmare.

"Ah!"

The dream shattered. Lu Li cried out and sprang upright on the boat, his forehead slamming into the roof of the cabin.

Lu Li stared fixedly at the cabin roof. He knew it had been a dream, yet he had never experienced one so real.

So it was a dream. Hahaha, just as I thought. How could I possibly turn into a girl? Utterly ridiculous.

Of course. Dreams were always the opposite of reality.

Lu Li pondered for a long time, sorting through the details of the dream. Gradually, he understood everything. It seemed to have been from his sister's perspective, yet he had no memory of it. He had never known that Lu Ling had been foolish enough to seek death for insurance money, just so she could pay for his schooling.

All he knew was that, for a time, his mother had been deceived by the Immortal Unification Sect. Their people had told her that as long as she donated money, they could treat her daughter's illness. She had nearly squandered the entire family fortune. Then one day, when he returned home, Lu Ling, who used to lean against the head of the kang bed, was gone. His mother, her face dark and gloomy, was washing clothes and bedding. She tossed him two words: "Sold her."

He touched the wound on his chest. During the time he had been asleep, the Qi-Combining Cauldron had continued operating without pause. Elder Duan had said before that there was a gold spirit core within the Qi-Combining Cauldron.

A gold spirit core...

A terrifying suspicion rose in Lu Li's heart.

No, no. It had only been a dream. Perhaps he had merely thought of his family and ended up having a nightmare.

Lu Li was somewhat uncertain.

"Elder Duan, Elder Duan, are you there?"

The next moment, Elder Duan's unhurried voice sounded in Lu Li's mind:

"My child, what is the matter? Why are you in such a panic? Tell this old woman."

"Where exactly did this Qi-Combining Cauldron of yours come from?"

"I don't know that. If you truly manage to refine the Qi-Combining Cauldron, then this Qi-Combining Cauldron was refined by you."

"What are you talking about?"

"It means exactly what it says. If you succeed, then it was refined by your future self. You merely obtained it ahead of time. If you fail, hehehe..."

"What happens if I fail?"

"Didn't I already tell you? If you fail, the collateral will be confiscated along with everything else, and you will suffer a backlash and die."