"Brian, they all said you'd gone mad, but I never believed them. Now even I believe it. You really-have-gone-mad!" Seeing Han Shuo's infatuated expression and hearing his boast about winning Fanny over, Jack twisted his chubby neck, shaking his head with a sigh.
"Hey, those are the pastries Bark brought to please Lisa! Haha, we're really in luck. I've never tasted the wonderful food nobles eat!" Seeing that Bark had hurried off without taking the pastries, Han Shuo immediately dashed over. Without another word, he picked up the two exquisite pastry boxes and began wolfing down their contents without a second thought.
As he ate, he kept praising them. "Tsk, tsk, they really are delicious. That fight certainly wasn't for nothing. Here, I just borrowed half a piece of bread from you, and now I'm paying you back with a whole box of fine pastries. You've come out way ahead!"
"But these belong to Bark!" "I beat him up, so now they belong to me!"
Jack: "..."
At that moment, Han Shuo himself found it a little strange. He felt that since coming to the Qio Continent, his appetite had kept growing because he practiced the Demonic Cultivation Art, and his personality seemed to have grown a little bolder. Things he had never dared do before were now things he not only dared to do-he was also developing more and more desires.
"Brian, Jack, you should be cleaning the laboratory by now! You haven't even finished wiping down the statues. If you get us punished, you two little brats are finished!"
Just as Han Shuo and Jack finished the exquisite pastries and were endlessly praising their wonderful taste, two older errand workers suddenly approached from behind. Both held brooms and shouted at Han Shuo and Jack, urging them to hurry to the laboratory and clean it.
These two errand workers were in their twenties and both stood over 1.7 meters tall. Their names were Borg and Keri. Over the years, they had often bullied Brian and Jack on the strength of being a little stronger, and had forced the two to do work that should have been theirs. The laboratory cleaning, for instance, was supposed to be their job at this time.
"Not going!" Han Shuo paid them no attention. He had long wanted to stop putting up with this. Now that his body felt sturdier, and he had just fought Bark without coming off worse, his confidence immediately soared. I've just eaten, and my stomach's a little bloated. If they don't know what's good for them, another fight will help me digest.
"Ha, not going? Brian, have you really gone mad? You even dare disobey your lord Borg now? Want me to beat some sense into you?" Clenching his right fist, Borg stared at Han Shuo with a sneer.
"Ah, my head hurts!" Han Shuo clutched his head and crouched on the ground, trembling and swaying with an agonized expression. Jack had been about to obediently go clean the laboratory, but when he saw Han Shuo pull the same trick again, a thought struck him. He stood still, watching Han Shuo expectantly.
"I don't care whether you're really mad or faking it. If you won't obey, I'll beat you until you do!" Keri had an even nastier temper. He strode over in three big steps, raised his right foot, and kicked at Han Shuo's crouching body.
Just then, Han Shuo shouted "Wah!" and suddenly stood up. Keri's right foot came flying in and struck him squarely in the chest. Han Shuo cried out in pain, seized Keri's right foot with both hands, and heaved it upward. Keri yelled as he toppled sideways, crashing into another statue and baring his teeth in pain.
When Borg saw Keri charge at Han Shuo, he smiled, thinking Han Shuo was asking for death. Who would have thought that although Han Shuo took a kick, Keri seemed to have suffered more?
"Well, Brian, you actually dare fight back! Borg, let's get him together and teach this brat a proper lesson today!" Keri got up with a cry of pain and charged at Han Shuo again, calling for Borg to join him.
I even dared beat up Bark, never mind you two idiots. Han Shuo still clutched his head and cried out in pain, but a cold smile curled his lips.
When Keri and Borg came at him together, Han Shuo flailed his arms and legs while crying out in pain. Though punches and kicks landed all over him in a flurry, Keri and Borg did not have it easy either, taking blows from Han Shuo's wild attacks.
Han Shuo was used to being beaten, and his Demonic Essence was reshaping his body through the circulation method of "Solid Body." He could now easily withstand Keri and Borg's punches. His stamina had improved as well, and as his fists flew wildly, patches of bruised blue and red appeared on their faces. They looked far more battered than Han Shuo.
The three errand workers fought at the crossroads without any technique. As the fight dragged on, Keri and Borg hurt more and more, and their strength dwindled. Han Shuo felt only slight pain and actually felt quite comfortable, as though he had inexhaustible strength. The longer he fought, the more satisfying it became. By the end, Han Shuo was chasing Keri and Borg around beating them, until the two fled in panic.
"Ha, that fight felt great! Jack, we don't have to do Keri and Borg's work anymore. If they dare bully you again, tell me. I'll beat the hell out of them!"
The chubby Jack gazed at Han Shuo in admiration. Grabbing him, he laughed heartily. "Brian, you're amazing now! You drove off both Keri and Borg all by yourself. How did you do it?"
Pointing at his chest, Han Shuo said smugly, "Because I have a brave heart!"
Over the next few days, Han Shuo's head did not hurt again. For some unknown reason, Bark did not immediately seek revenge either. Han Shuo and Jack stopped doing Keri and Borg's work. Since the two had failed to beat Han Shuo even together last time, they had nothing to say now and obediently did the work that had been theirs all along.
With Little Skeleton helping take out the rubbish in the mornings, and no need to do Keri and Borg's work, Han Shuo suddenly had a much easier time. During this period, he stopped asking Jack to help "borrow" other magic books and diligently studied Necromancy Basics, intending to establish a solid foundation first.
Through his recent study of Necromancy Basics, Han Shuo realized that his Mental Power was extremely weak. Every day, as soon as he returned to the little wooden hut, he concentrated his Mental Power and began meditating. Little Skeleton was the weakest of the Dark Creatures in the Otherworld, with intelligence so low that he could only act on his summoner's orders. Under Han Shuo's instructions, Little Skeleton stayed in the hut throughout the day and only went out late at night to dispose of the rubbish bags as ordered.
That evening, after returning to the hut, Han Shuo was about to meditate as usual when he suddenly remembered the mysterious accounts of refining Demonic Treasures among the memories that old lunatic Chu Canglan had left in his mind. He thought that although the Demonic Cultivation Art he practiced and the Necromancy he was now learning did not belong to two worlds, both followed an evil path and even seemed to share certain similarities. He wondered whether they could be used together.
But when Han Shuo frowned and began earnestly searching his memories, he discovered that although Chu Canglan had left many memories behind, the vast majority felt hazy when he tried to recall them. It was like looking at something through a blurry sheet of thin paper; he could not see everything clearly.
After a long time spent trying to remember, he suddenly recalled a method for refining Demonic Treasures. Han Shuo considered how little time he had spent learning Necromancy, and how he had only managed to summon one weak skeleton so far. Since that was the case, he decided to practice on Little Skeleton first.
The first thing needed to refine a Demonic Treasure was materials. Since he was only experimenting for fun anyway, Han Shuo used Little Skeleton as the main material. Useless blood from low-level magical beasts, bone powder, lizard tails, and other discarded things in the Supply Storeroom became the supplementary materials.
Some special Demonic Treasures required extremely particular and complicated materials, and he did not even know whether they existed in this world. Han Shuo did not care and haphazardly cobbled together his own refining materials. Acting on his idea immediately, he got up and returned to the laboratory, where he found an unused small bucket and some leftover Necromancy materials the students had not used up, whose names he did not know.
Taking advantage of the quiet late hour, Han Shuo sneaked back to the little wooden hut. Carefully closing the door, he set down the bucket and first put Little Skeleton inside. Then he tossed in the assorted low-level magical beast blood, bone powder, lizard tails, and other materials, before fetching a bucket of water and pouring it in. The various things mingled in the wooden bucket, looking multicolored and very ugly. Only Little Skeleton's skull remained above the surface, and he had no idea what was happening.
Closing his eyes, Han Shuo thought for a while, slowly reviewing Chu Canglan's knowledge of refining Demonic Treasures. Besides the various materials, refining a Demonic Treasure required setting up a special array and adding Demonic Essence, the most basic power of a demonic cultivator, then refining it by a special method for several days or months. Some particularly powerful Demonic Treasures even took years to refine.
Of course, none of that was within Han Shuo's capabilities at present. He found the simplest refining method, then retrieved seven discarded, stark-white bone spikes from the Supply Storeroom, belonging to some unknown magical beast. He inserted them into the wooden bucket in the arrangement of the "Yin Demon Essence-Congealing Array."
The "Yin Demon Essence-Congealing Array" was a demonic cultivation array in Chu Canglan's memories. The proper method was to first refine seven life-bound "yin demons," form an array with them, and pour the refiner's Demonic Essence into it. Following the array, the seven "yin demons" would firmly concentrate the refiner's Demonic Essence within the Magic Array, slowly dissolving the Demonic Treasure's refining materials bit by bit and then infusing them into the main material. After six times six—thirty-six days of refining with Demonic Essence, the Demonic Treasure would be complete.
Refining a "yin demon" first required a "yin spirit." Only when someone who had died with a grievance was buried in a place of absolute yin, and their soul refused to leave, was there a chance of their becoming a "yin spirit." Refining a "yin spirit" into a "yin demon" required certain special methods as well, which Han Shuo naturally could not manage at present.
He simply stuck the seven bone spikes into the wooden bucket as substitutes for the "yin demons." Then he crouched inside the bucket, tried circulating his Demonic Essence to his right middle finger, and thrust it into the center of the seven upright bone spikes. Although the seven spikes were substitutes, their arrangement was correct, and they actually managed to absorb a little Demonic Essence.
An unknown amount of time passed like this before seven tiny whirlpools suddenly appeared in the water, centered on the seven bone spikes.
The moment Han Shuo saw the seven whirlpools appear, he relaxed, knowing that his haphazard fiddling had actually worked. Although he had no idea what Little Skeleton would ultimately become, Han Shuo was now at ease. After meditating for a while, he slowly drifted into sleep.
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