Bewitching Butterfly

When Lin Feng found Gao Hai, the latter was refining a Demon Spirit, and his body was undergoing a transformation.

Lin Feng stood guard beside him, preventing anyone from accidentally interfering.

Gao Hai's entire body trembled. His chubby face had flushed crimson, veins bulging across it as painful roars escaped his mouth. The fat all over his body quivered slightly, rippling like waves.

He saw Lin Feng, yet the pain was so intense that he could not utter a single word.

Lin Feng's heart trembled faintly. That look was so familiar.

"Ah..."

With his final roar, Gao Hai, who had once been plump and rather comical-looking, now had round, enlarged eyes and a swollen nose. Two curved, pointed ox horns sprouted from either side of his broad forehead. The pitch-black horns were like two sharp blades. His limbs became thick and sturdy, while his skin turned dark red and gleamed with oil. Possessed by the Demon Spirit, his excessively fat body had become somewhat more robust, though there was still no visible outline of muscle.

"Brother Feng, I refined the Mighty Demonic Ox! I finally succeeded!"

Gao Hai shouted excitedly. With the Demon Spirit possessing him, his voice had become slightly rougher.

For Gao Hai, simply becoming a Demon Spirit Master was already no easy feat. Even though the Mighty Demonic Ox was not high-grade, a second-grade Demon Spirit was considered a low-grade Demon Spirit and could not grant elemental damage.

"Yeah, you're finally a Demon Spirit Master!" Lin Feng said with a smile and a nod.

Before the Great Cataclysm, getting into a prestigious university and finding a good job after graduation had been every student's dream. But now, becoming a Demon Spirit Master was every young person's dream.

It was not just Gao Hai. Lin Feng was no exception.

Since childhood, they had fantasized about growing up quickly, participating in Awakening Day at sixteen, refining their own Demon Spirits, becoming true powerhouses, and changing their families' living conditions.

The two had discussed more than once what Demon Spirits they wanted to refine, which ones were the strongest, coolest, and most imposing, and which abilities suited them best.

Lin Feng clearly remembered that Gao Hai had wanted to refine a ninth-grade Mammoth Ironhide Elephant.

Gao Hai was fat, which destined him to possess great strength but slow attack speed. The Mammoth Ironhide Elephant was a metal-element Demon Spirit, famous for high defense, high attack, and low speed. For Gao Hai, it was a very suitable Demon Spirit.

As for Lin Feng, the Demon Spirit he had wanted to fuse with back then was a ninth-grade Azure Stinger Dragon.

Compared to strength, his speed and agility were more outstanding. His future path was that of a gale swordsman.

The Azure Stinger Dragon belonged to the sub-dragon Demon Spirit lineage and carried dragon blood in its veins. Not only could it fly, it could also control lightning. It was a rare lightning-element Demon Spirit.

When they had discussed it back then, both of them had wanted to refine ninth-grade Demon Spirits.

As for Earth Ranking Demon Spirits, of course they wanted those too. But they could only dream about them. River City had a hundred thousand people participating in Awakening Day every year, yet it might not even produce a single Earth Ranking Demon Spirit. It was simply unrealistic.

In truth, even ninth-grade Demon Spirits were unrealistic. Only one-in-ten-thousand geniuses could refine those. They would have been satisfied if they could refine seventh-grade, or even fifth-grade, Demon Spirits.

"Brother Feng, what about you? What Demon Spirit did you refine?"

After his excitement faded, Gao Hai saw that Lin Feng had not transformed and quickly asked.

"None. I couldn't find a suitable one."

Lin Feng shook his head. The situation was rather complicated now.

If he had refined Nightmare, saying so directly would actually have been simpler, because in everyone else's eyes, it was merely a fifth-grade Shadow Demon Spirit.

But that Nightmare had only been sealed by him, not refined. A secret technique like the Evil Sealing Seal was extraordinarily rare; there were probably only a handful of people in the entire country who had even heard of it.

Lin Feng could not explain where the secret technique had come from. Besides, using such a technique to seal a fifth-grade Demon Spirit seemed like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut—completely unreasonable.

Even though he trusted Gao Hai deeply, Nightmare was far too precious. Lin Feng understood better than anyone the truth that a man becomes guilty simply by possessing jade.

If Gao Hai carelessly let it slip, it might bring a calamity that would wipe them out.

Logically speaking, once a Demon Spirit had been refined, it belonged to the refiner and could not be taken away by others.

But the Nightmare inside Lin Feng's body had merely been sealed with a special secret technique. It had not been refined.

Furthermore, Lin Feng knew that the Soul Devourer Beast, ranked third in the Demon Beast Compendium's Exotic Treasures and Beasts edition, possessed the innate ability to absorb and fuse with other Demon Spirits. Some rare and precious secret techniques could achieve similar effects as well.

Although such secret techniques had extremely demanding requirements and limited effects, making it impossible to perfectly replicate a Demon Spirit's abilities, even one-tenth of Nightmare's innate ability would be enough to drive people mad and make them risk everything.

If it were exposed, he would gain enormous attention and resources, but he would also inevitably draw covetous eyes. The current Lin Feng had no ability to protect himself at all.

Therefore, this secret could only be buried deep in his heart.

Besides, he had left himself some room. He had only said that he could not find a suitable Demon Spirit, not that he was unable to refine one.

"How could that be..."

Gao Hai said in disbelief, his round eyes widening like bronze bells. Lin Feng was at Body Cultivation Seventh Stage, stronger than Gao Hai at Body Cultivation Stage Six.

Having been Lin Feng's little brother since childhood, Gao Hai had always believed that Lin Feng would definitely refine a Demon Spirit of a higher grade than his.

But Gao Hai quickly consoled him. "It's alright. With your talent, perhaps the school will prepare an even better Demon Spirit for you."

Just as Gao Hai was consoling Lin Feng, a discordant voice rang out. "There were tens of thousands of Demon Spirits here today, of every attribute, from first-grade to ninth-grade, even Earth Ranking Demon Spirits. Yet he failed to refine even one. His Soul Sea must be pathetically weak."

"With such aptitude, he still wants the school to prepare a Demon Spirit for him? He really dares to say it."

Quite a few people revealed mocking expressions.

Those who dared say such things were all youths possessed by Demon Spirits who had become Demon Spirit Masters.

Lin Feng had previously been at Body Cultivation Seventh Stage, while nearly all of them were at Body Cultivation Stage Six. They had already been weaker than him, and Lin Feng's ruthless methods had made many wary of him. Now that they saw he could not refine a Demon Spirit, coupled with Yage's earlier provocation, they immediately began mocking him.

In their eyes, now that they had refined Demon Spirits and become Demon Spirit Masters, they no longer needed to fear Lin Feng.

"You people..."

Mocked by the crowd, Gao Hai was filled with righteous indignation and wanted to speak up for Lin Feng, but he did not know how to refute them.

Their words were unpleasant, but they were not without reason.

Although Jiangxin Middle School was a key middle school, the Demon Spirits stored by the school were not even one-thousandth of those available during this Awakening Day. If one failed to awaken successfully today, becoming a Demon Spirit Master was almost impossible.

Of course, if Lin Feng's martial talent were exceptional, then for the sake of the college entrance examination admission rate, the school would attempt to cultivate him. But they knew Lin Feng's strength best: Body Cultivation Seventh Stage.

Jiangxin Middle School had more than ninety thousand third-year students, and over five hundred had reached Body Cultivation Seventh Stage.

Such cultivation talent could be considered outstanding, but there was still some distance from being a genius. Unless one was a Body Cultivation Ninth Stage genius, the school would not pay any attention at all.

Yet Lin Feng remained calm, a trace of mockery at the corner of his mouth.

If these people knew there was a Nightmare inside him, would they still dare say such things?

They would probably be driven mad with jealousy.

"Look, someone refined the Bewitching Butterfly!" Suddenly, an uproar arose from the crowd.

Hearing this, Lin Feng and Gao Hai also looked toward the light screen.

On the light screen, a girl in a blue-and-white school uniform had her eyes tightly shut. Her long lashes trembled faintly, her fists clenched tightly, and her body twitched slightly. Her expression looked pained. As time passed, her body was transforming. A multicolored radiance surged forth, and a pair of colorful wings emerged from her back. Those wings were exceptionally gorgeous, glimmering with captivating halos beneath the sunlight. With a gentle flap, they lifted the girl into the air.

The girl's pure yet charming little face became somewhat more slender. A pair of drooping, multicolored antennae appeared between her brows. Her originally fair skin took on a faint pink hue, while three purplish-red patterns slowly crept over her neck and half her face like a bewitching violet, making her appear even more alluring. When her eyes opened, the pair of pink pupils radiated an indescribable aura of seduction.

"Is that Yage? Blue-and-white uniforms—only our school uses such tacky colors."

"No way, she fused with a flying Demon Spirit."

"It's more than a flying Demon Spirit. I told you to read more books. That's an eighth-grade Bewitching Butterfly. Its combat power may not be strong, but as a rare Mental-type Demon Spirit, its special functions make it even more precious than some ninth-grade Demon Spirits."

"More precious than ninth-grade Demon Spirits? Yage is about to soar into the heavens. With this talent, the school will definitely focus on nurturing her. Getting into one of the nine elite academies in the future should be no problem."

"More than just the nine elite academies. If she works hard enough, perhaps even one of the three Hero Academies won't be out of reach."

"Isn't she Lin Feng's girlfriend? What Demon Spirit did Lin Feng refine?"

"Lin Feng's talent is too poor. He failed to refine one, and it looks like he was even injured."

The youths made no effort to hide their discussion, showing no concern that Lin Feng was right beside them. But what surprised everyone was that Lin Feng looked at Yage with a calm expression, as though he had not heard their discussion at all.

"Brother Feng, did you see Yage? She actually fused with an eighth-grade Bewitching Butterfly. That's incredible!"

Gao Hai waved his hands and shouted excitedly.

The three of them had grown up together as neighbors and classmates. Seeing Yage emerge from her cocoon and become a butterfly, he naturally felt happy for her.

"It seems some changes occurred. An eighth-grade Bewitching Butterfly is indeed a pretty good Demon Spirit."

Lin Feng was somewhat surprised as well. Mental-type Demon Spirits were not cabbages growing by the roadside. They were exceedingly rare, even rarer than lightning-element Demon Spirits.

Bewitching Butterfly: Beast-type, butterfly clan, Mental-type Demon Spirit. Its growth process had four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and butterfly. During the larval stage, it was very weak and mostly survived by releasing mental fluctuations to control other low-grade Demon Beasts. After becoming a butterfly, it possessed the strength of an eighth-grade Demon Beast and a pair of rainbow wings. With a flap of its wings, it could release hallucinogenic pollen. Its club-shaped antennae could unleash mental attacks, causing dizziness or even death.

This was the Bewitching Butterfly's entry in the Demon Beast Compendium.

Not only was the Bewitching Butterfly rare, it was also beautiful in appearance. After fusing with a person, it exuded boundless charm.

Among the top ten Demon Spirits women most wanted to refine, the Bewitching Butterfly ranked third, behind only the Nine-tailed Flame Fox and Medusa Demon Spirits.

It was one of the first-choice Demon Spirits dreamed of by countless girls.

In his previous life, Lin Feng had joined a squad while hunting outside. There had been a female Demon Spirit Master in that squad, and her natal Demon Spirit had been a Mental-type Demon Spirit.

When hunting Demon Beasts in the other world, Lin Feng had deeply experienced its power.

Mental-type Demon Spirits might not have strong combat power, but they were excellent aids for support and assassination. Their bizarre mental attacks were impossible to guard against.

Many Demon Beasts possessed powerful bodies and terrifying combat strength, yet feared mental attacks.

When a squad hunted Demon Beasts, warriors or Demon Spirit Masters with powerful attacks were responsible for the main assault, while mages handled long-range restraint and damage output. The task of a Mental-type Demon Spirit Master was to launch a surprise mental attack at the most crucial moment...

It was not only when hunting Demon Beasts. The same applied to combat between people. Just imagine being suddenly struck by a mental attack at a critical moment, your mind going completely blank...

The thought alone sent chills down one's spine.

A squad with such a Mental-type Demon Spirit Master practically treated them as its treasure, someone everyone protected and sought to please.

With such a control-type Demon Spirit Master present, a squad's overall gains increased by at least thirty percent.

A squad had twelve people, and one person could increase everyone's gains by thirty percent. This showed just how useful a Mental-type Demon Spirit Master was.

Beyond that, Mental-type Demon Spirits were also the first-choice Demon Spirits for the legendary profession of Demon Tamer.

Although in the early stages of cultivation everyone mainly focused on cultivating their bodies as martial artists, in the later stages, especially after being possessed by Demon Spirits, different professions emerged as people developed in different directions by relying on Demon Beasts' innate abilities.

Professions could be divided into: warriors, knights, archers, assassins, hunters, mages...

Mages could further be divided by attribute into: water mages, fire mages, lightning mages, and so on.

Beyond these were several special professions. To become one required not only hard work, but even more importantly, talent.

Because they were rare and powerful, they were known as legendary professions.

Legendary professions included: Demon Tamers, healers, summoners, spirit mediums, curse masters, and so on...

To become a Demon Tamer, in addition to mental power, the key was refining a Mental-type Demon Spirit. The eighth-grade Bewitching Butterfly was one of the first-choice Demon Spirits for becoming a Demon Tamer.

"Interesting."

In his memories, Yage should have fused with a seventh-grade Ice Egret this time. It seemed his rebirth had altered the original course of events.

Lin Feng looked around. Nearly five thousand Jiangxin Middle School students aged sixteen and above, at Body Cultivation Fifth Stage or higher, had come this time. Yet fewer than five hundred could transform with Demon Spirits. Almost all had low- or mid-grade Demon Spirits. There were not many seventh-grade ones, only five in total, while there were merely two eighth-grade ones, one of whom was Yage.

There were not even any ninth-grade ones.

Yage floated in the air like a butterfly fairy. She had become the center of attention for tens of thousands. At first, she was clearly unaccustomed to it and seemed a little flustered. Her colorful wings flapped lightly as she flew somewhat unsteadily, swaying this way and that. But before long, Yage was roughly able to control her wings and float through the air.

"This little girl is so beautiful!"

"I'm so jealous of her. An eighth-grade Bewitching Butterfly, beautiful and powerful—how enviable!"

"She would definitely look even prettier in a dress..."

Amid the envious voices and discussion, Yage carefully controlled her wings and flew toward Jiangxin Middle School's area. When she spotted Lin Feng among the crowd, she flapped her wings and came before him. Looking down at him, she asked, "Lin Feng, what Demon Spirit did you refine?"

Perhaps because she was possessed by the Demon Spirit, a trace of coldness and pride had entered Yage's originally gentle voice.

Lin Feng raised his head slightly and looked at the transformed girl, his gaze calm.

In his previous life, the girl had refined a seventh-grade Demon Spirit, and their relationship had lasted three months.

This time, she had refined an eighth-grade Demon Spirit, and a rare Mental-type Demon Spirit at that. How long would it last now?

"Yage, your Soul Power is actually so high that you could fuse with an eighth-grade Demon Spirit. From now on, we..."

Having grown up together since childhood, Gao Hai clearly sensed that the atmosphere had become awkward, even somewhat oppressive, and spoke up to ease it.

But neither Lin Feng nor Yage smiled. Their expressions were calm and cold, making the atmosphere grow ever more solemn.

Lin Feng remained calm and indifferent, saying not a single extra word. This caused Yage's expression to change slightly. She wanted to continue asking, but she could not see even a trace of envy or inferiority in those dark pupils. They were as calm as a pool of autumn water.

Has he changed?

Yage murmured to herself. She even found herself unable to meet Lin Feng's gaze. In the end, she gently descended and landed beside him, but she was no longer as intimate as before.