Junior Brother Was Refined into Junior Sister by Master

Azure Sun Hall, Jade Brocade Peak, rear mountain.

A mechanical wooden crow silently landed before a cave abode on the rear mountain. It pecked several times at the ward over the entrance, and the ward's glow quietly faded. The wooden crow entered the cave abode, skillfully opening all manner of intricate mechanisms and wards as though it were the master of this place.

When it reached the deepest part of the cave abode, it saw a raised platform, upon which sat a young woman in meditation.

The woman appeared to be around sixteen. She wore a pale blue Daoist robe, while strands of silvery-white hair cascaded all around her like a waterfall.

Small and delicate, she sat with her eyes shut. Her features were exquisite, and her skin was as fair as congealed cream, yet it gleamed with the warm, lustrous sheen unique to porcelain glaze. Two fine blue streaks hung beneath her eyes like tear tracks.

Simply sitting there cross-legged, the woman was beautiful enough to steal one's soul. She did not seem like a living being. An icy chill radiated from her entire body, making the whole cave abode bitterly cold.

The wooden crow looked the woman over, then impatiently burrowed beneath her skirt and wriggled twice. When it crawled back out, its face was full of disappointment.

"So beautiful... It still hasn't taken shape; it's lacking a little heat. Ah well, I'll make do with it for now."

Having said that, the wooden crow lay down beside the woman. Its wooden wings moved up and down, as though forming hand seals.

Immediately afterward, an illusory human figure drifted out of the wooden crow. Just as it was about to descend onto the woman, a cold snort came from outside the cave.

"Martial Uncle, now! Make your move!"

The moment the words fell, a formation rose beneath the stone platform. One bright-yellow stone lock after another erupted from the ground, transforming into a stone prison that bound the woman within.

The woman abruptly opened her eyes. The chill around her body dispersed, and the spiritual power throughout her body became sluggish. Two people then rushed in from outside the cave: a youth and a white-haired old Daoist.

"You wicked disciple, what are you doing?!"

"Reporting to Master, this disciple believes your actions violate the sect rules. But you are still my master, and I truly cannot tell who is right and who is wrong. Thus, I informed Martial Uncle Hou Ze and left the matter for him to decide."

"Junior Sister Duan, stop this. You have strayed onto the wrong path. You wanted to fake your death to dodge your debts, then swindle death insurance, with your disciple named as the beneficiary. You thought this was a battle of wits and schemed every last angle for it, never realizing that you were courting your own destruction."

At those words, the white-haired woman's expression gradually darkened. She circulated all the spiritual power in her body, and dozens of ice spikes abruptly condensed and shot toward the stone prison. Yet its inner walls were incomparably sturdy. No matter how the ice spikes struck, it remained unmoved as a mountain.

"It's useless, Junior Sister. This body of yours has only reached the Spiritual Pivot realm, while my Jade Soul Dark-Yellow Prison is a fourth-rank puppet artifact. Even cultivators at the third layer of the Creation realm could never break through it."

The Puppet Master realm was merely the beginning of puppet-path cultivation, corresponding to first-rank puppet artifacts. Above the Puppet Master realm came, in order, the three great realms of Origin Opening, Spiritual Pivot, and Creation, corresponding to second through fourth-rank puppet artifacts. For a puppet body at the Spiritual Pivot realm to break a fourth-rank puppet artifact's stone cage was nothing but a fool's dream.

Duan Xuanyuan continued casting spells in an attempt to break the stone cage. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, her flat chest rising and falling.

"Yang Jue, you ungrateful wretch! I never treated you poorly as your master, yet you actually helped outsiders deal with me. Do you still have any regard for me as your master?"

"Treated me poorly? Hehehe... When you refined Junior Brother into a human puppet, did you ever once remember that you were our master?"

A somewhat androgynous voice unexpectedly emerged from Duan Xuanyuan's mouth as he slowly uttered two words.

"Senior Brother..."

Hou Ze and Yang Jue both thought that inexplicable call of "Senior Brother" was directed at themselves, and they froze at the same time—until Duan Xuanyuan spoke again.

"Senior Brother Yang, have you been well?"

Yang Jue's entire body shook.

"That voice is Junior Brother! You didn't die? No, that's not right. Who exactly are you? Are you that old monster, or are you my junior brother?"

"That's right, I didn't die..." Suddenly, Duan Xuanyuan's tone shifted. A cold smile curled across his lips, and even his voice changed. "As if I didn't die. You're right—your junior brother was refined into this body long ago. You and your junior brother really are a pair of ill-fated lovebirds. Keke keke."

Yang Jue was completely dumbfounded.

He scrutinized the woman before him. Her face bore a thirty-percent resemblance to the junior brother in his memories, leaving him panicked for a moment.

How was that possible? His junior brother was clearly a man. Though he was a little fussy in daily life, he was still a man! How could he have turned into this ghastly state?

In other words, his junior brother had been refined by his master into a junior sister, and then possessed?

At that moment, Elder Hou Ze beside him said blandly, "I never imagined that your Reverse Celestial Order Instrument could not only reverse cause and effect, but also invert yin and yang. With it, you refined that disciple into an Azure Attendant Female Puppet."

"Martial Uncle, are you saying that old monster used the Reverse Celestial Order Instrument to turn my junior brother into a woman?"

"Senior Brother is right, but I am not yet completely a woman. The final step in refining an Azure Attendant is this—"

Duan Xuanyuan clenched his hand.

The demonic pellet shattered!

Bang!

A blotch of crimson spread out from beneath her skirt. Immediately afterward, her aura surged once more, breaking in one stroke from the Spiritual Pivot realm into the Creation realm.

The pressure of the Creation realm instantly filled the entire cave abode. Yang Jue was scared out of his wits and hurriedly hid behind Martial Uncle Hou Ze.

Though Yang Jue was filled with fury, before the pressure of the Creation realm he was fierce only in appearance, weak at heart. He did not even dare breathe loudly, and could only growl in a low voice, "Martial Uncle, hurry—hurry and take her down."

Hou Ze raised a brow, glanced at Yang Jue, and spoke in an indifferent tone.

"Hm? What did you call me?"

"M-Martial Uncle."

"If we were outside, I wouldn't fault you for calling me Martial Uncle. But now that your master has strayed onto the wrong path and you have joined me, what should you call me?"

"Master!"

"Ha ha ha, you're teachable. Go on out first... Junior Sister Duan, your disciple isn't stupid after all."

With that, Elder Hou rolled up his sleeves, revealing the mechanical arm beneath. The aura of a peak Creation Realm cultivator burst forth as he shielded Yang Jue behind him. The next instant, the stone cage before them exploded apart.

Immediately afterward, the two elders clashed, fighting until the cave dwelling collapsed and shattered rocks rained down in torrents.

The longer they fought, the more alarmed Hou Ze became. This body of hers had only just broken through to the Creation Realm, while he was already at its peak and wielded a fourth-turn Yan artifact—yet he still could not do a thing to her.

"Junior Sister Duan, the Grand Elder will be here soon. If you hand over the Reverse Celestial Order Instrument and Azure Attendant's puppet blueprint, I can still plead for mercy on your behalf."

Duan Xuanyuan knew full well that he spoke the truth. Once the Grand Elder arrived, there was no way she could fight two opponents alone.

"In your dreams! I never planned to leave this place alive. Backup spiritual power core, activate!"

As she spoke, Duan Xuanyuan mobilized the spiritual power remaining within her. An ice lotus flew from her mouth—it was the spiritual power core of this puppet body.

Bang!

With a deafening boom, the ice lotus burst into bloom. Not only did Jade Brocade Peak crumble and collapse, turning into an ice mountain, but even the sixteen peaks of Azure Sun Hall trembled from the impact.

When the smoke and dust finally cleared, Hou Ze struggled up from the ground and spat out a mouthful of old blood. Looking at the devastated Jade Brocade Peak, his face turned livid.

At that moment, Yang Jue walked over from afar. Faced with such a scene, he was still shaken with lingering fear. After hesitating briefly, he cautiously asked, "Is that old hag really dead this time?"

"Probably... no, that's not right. I know her. My junior sister is crafty as they come. I'd wager she's faking her death again, hoping to trick some young lad into crafting the Azure Attendant Female Puppet so she can seize his body and be reborn. Search for her! Even if you have to turn Jade Brocade Peak upside down, find her for me!"