After some hesitation, Xiao Fan chose Earth Demon Old Ghost's corpse and the seventh-rank magic core he had treasured.
Xiao Fan had originally planned to use Yun Shan's corpse and leave Earth Demon Old Ghost's body for Xiao Yan. In the end, however, he considered that Yun Shan had been Yun Yun's revered mentor. Although the two had severed all ties, Xiao Fan knew Yun Yun was kindhearted and did not want to hurt her over this.
"Forget it. There'll be opportunities on the way to the Central Plains. I can find another body then."
Having made his choice, Xiao Fan put the remaining items into his storage ring. Surging heavenly flames roared out and enveloped Earth Demon Old Ghost's corpse, their temperature carefully controlled as he steadily refined the body.
To successfully refine a Heavenly Demon Puppet, the body, magic core, and soul had to be completely fused without the slightest flaw. Otherwise, the refinement would fail utterly.
The corpse chosen as the Heavenly Demon Puppet's body contained the resentment its owner had felt before death, which had formed corpse qi. Unless every trace of corpse qi and impurity was removed, the final fusion was certain to fail.
As the heavenly flames continued to roast the body, wisps of black qi were gradually drawn out of Earth Demon Old Ghost's corpse and burned into nothingness. This was the corpse qi mentioned earlier.
Xiao Fan carefully controlled the temperature of the heavenly flames, steadily extracting the corpse qi from Earth Demon Old Ghost's body. Under the flames' heat, the already withered corpse continued to shrink as its blood, moisture, and other fluids were thoroughly roasted out. This, too, was a step in refining a Heavenly Demon Puppet.
Looking at Earth Demon Old Ghost's already shriveled, charred arms, Xiao Fan's eyes