He's Eight Years Old!

"Junior brother, is the monster d-dead?" Wen Cai asked fearfully, looking at the pile of black ash in the middle of the room.

It was hard to tell whether he was afraid of the monster or Lin Yu.

"Dead," Lin Yu said after sensing the surroundings. Not a trace of demonic Qi or ghost Qi remained.

"Hm, what's that over there?" Lin Yu suddenly saw something glimmering in the pile of black ash.

"B-be careful. What if the corpse comes back to life?" Wen Cai timidly hid behind them, not daring to step forward.

"Oh, come on, what a coward." Qiu Sheng gave Wen Cai a look of contempt, then stepped in front of Lin Yu and slowly approached.

Since their junior brother was so formidable and had said there was no danger, what was there to fear?

"Huh? They look like two glass marbles. Useless." Qiu Sheng swept the ash aside, revealing two crystal-clear beads.

[Ding~ Two refined demon cores detected. They can be exchanged for 100 points. Exchange?]

"What marbles? These are those two monsters' inner cores," Lin Yu said, taking them and inspecting them with the system.

Those two monsters had met a miserable end. They had failed to get their revenge and had instead been refined into demon cores by lightning punishment.

"What use are these things? They look just like candy beans," Wen Cai said, looking at the demon cores in Lin Yu's hand.

"You don't want them, right? If you don't, I'll keep them myself." Lin Yu looked at the two who couldn't recognize a treasure, then tucked the inner cores away with his little hand.

"Hey, let me have another look, Xiao Yu," Qiu Sheng hurriedly protested.

Seeing Lin Yu's expression, as though he had just picked up a bargain, he guessed the two beads were treasures and wanted them again.

"No, they're mine. You didn't lift a finger anyway. I'll tell Master later that you tried to go to the House of Courtesans, and when that didn't work out, you went looking for a female ghost instead." Lin Yu hurriedly covered his chest as he threatened them.

"All right, all right, I don't want them. I'm begging you, junior brother. Whatever you do, don't tell Master when we get back, or he'll flay a layer of skin off me again." Qiu Sheng hurriedly crouched down and looked pleadingly at Lin Yu.

"That's right, that's right. Xiao Yu, whatever you do, don't tell Master," Wen Cai chimed in.

"That's more like it. Let's go back, or if Master asks later, I won't lie." Lin Yu clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"All right, all right. You must be tired after doing so much. Come on, Xiao Yu, I'll carry you." Qiu Sheng hurried over and crouched down in front of Lin Yu.

"Why did you only just get back?"

At the mortuary, Uncle Nine held a cup of tea and sipped it leisurely.

"Emm, Master, we stopped to play for a while on the way. Oh, right?" Qiu Sheng scratched his head and winked at Wen Cai.

"Mm, yes, that's right." Wen Cai nodded repeatedly.

Uncle Nine thought, Those two won't tell the truth. I could sense that heavy Yin Qi from far away.

"All you know how to do is play. Go eat lunch. None of you have eaten yet, have you?" Uncle Nine pointed to the pile of food on the dining table, planning to question them after they ate.

He had read the feng shui for a boss, who had treated him to the food. When Uncle Nine left, he had specially packed a portion to bring back, thinking of his disciples.

"Mm, okay. Master, you're so good to us!" Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng answered in unison when they saw all the delicious food.

"Xiao Yu, you go too," Uncle Nine said with relief, looking at Lin Yu, who had lagged behind.

"All right, Master. Have some tea." Lin Yu first poured Uncle Nine a cup of tea, then went to eat.

Soon, after lunch, Uncle Nine called the three of them together.

"Speak. What exactly happened this morning?" Uncle Nine looked at the three, his voice commanding respect even without anger.

Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai looked at each other, neither able to say a word.

"Master, senior brothers, mmph..." Lin Yu had just started to speak when Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng covered his mouth.

"Master, we were wrong!" Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai said in unison. They exchanged a glance and decided there was no escaping it, so they knelt and admitted their fault, hoping to be beaten a little less.

Lin Yu stared dumbfounded at how practiced the two were. It seemed this scene had played out many times before. Should he kneel too? But he hadn't done anything wrong.

While Lin Yu was debating whether to kneel, Uncle Nine frowned and asked, "What did you do wrong?"

"We shouldn't have been fooling around." The two still didn't dare mention what had happened that morning.

"Xiao Yu, tell me what those two did this morning." Seeing that he couldn't get an answer out of them, Uncle Nine turned to Lin Yu.

Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng immediately looked at Lin Yu pleadingly.

Lin Yu gave them a look that said he couldn't help them. Clearly, Master had already noticed something, or he wouldn't be digging for the root of the matter.

He then recounted what had happened that morning. As for how he had slain the monsters, Lin Yu didn't hide much, but he didn't say much either, essentially glossing over it.

The more Lin Yu said, the darker Uncle Nine's face grew, and the lower Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng bowed their heads.

"Master, that's everything."

"Is what Xiao Yu said true?" Uncle Nine looked sternly at the two kneeling in the middle of the room.

Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng lowered their heads in fright, not daring to speak.

"Xiao Yu, bring me the rattan cane by the door," Uncle Nine said in a low voice, his face dark.

"No, Master! You'll kill us!" Qiu Sheng hurriedly pleaded in fright.

Wen Cai was already trembling all over, too frightened to speak.

"No? Do you know how dangerous it was this morning? You've followed me for so many years, and you can't even recognize the most basic ghosts and monsters?" The more Uncle Nine spoke, the angrier he became. Thinking of how his hard-won genius disciple had nearly been ruined by them, he wanted to beat them both to death.

"Master, calm down. What's done is done, and besides, aren't we all right?" Lin Yu hurriedly tugged at the corner of Uncle Nine's robe to console him.

Uncle Nine sighed and sat back down in his chair. Clearly, the two were safe for the time being.

"Starting tomorrow, I'll supervise your training. I won't let you off until you've made progress," Uncle Nine ordered, his face dark.

"Ah, but what about my aunt..." Qiu Sheng said, troubled.

"I'll speak to your aunt. Starting today, you'll live at the mortuary. You can go back when you've trained well enough."

"Yes, Master." Seeing that there was no escape, Qiu Sheng resigned himself to it.

"Kneel before the founding master. You're not allowed to get up before dark."

"Xiao Yu, let me see those two demon cores of yours." After scolding the two, Uncle Nine held out his hand to Lin Yu.

"Oh." Lin Yu reluctantly took them from his robes. They were worth 100 points, after all.

Uncle Nine took them and carefully sensed them. After confirming there was no danger, he returned them to Lin Yu. They were his disciple's spoils of war, after all.

"When you use demon cores to cultivate, you must watch out for the Yin Qi and demonic Qi inside them. But it's rare for these two to contain nothing but pure spiritual power. You can absorb it directly," Uncle Nine instructed.

Lin Yu thought, Of course. I used a Five Thunder Talisman to refine them.

"Xiao Yu, remember this: some monsters that have cultivated evil arts may tamper with their inner cores before they die. Those who don't know better fall into their trap. You must be careful in the future." Even when Uncle Nine was angry, he would first make sure his disciple was safe.

Even his order for the two to kneel before the founding master was meant to use the founding master's Dharma image to eradicate the Yin Qi in their bodies.

"Xiao Yu, tell me, what stage are you at now?" Uncle Nine asked curiously.

He had just sensed a considerable amount of spiritual power in the two demon cores. The monsters must have had substantial cultivation when they were alive.

At the very least, they would have been equivalent to the Late Daoist Novice Stage. Since Xiao Yu could kill them, that meant he had corresponding cultivation. But how old was he? Eight!

It hadn't even been a month since he had begun his training.

What had Uncle Nine been doing at eight? How old had he been when he broke through to the Dao Child Realm? Then he looked at Lin Yu. Just thinking about it made him tremble all over with excitement.