Chapter 146 Where the Dream Begins
If Bai Xuanling had not been present, Chu Xingchen would have had to give his rebellious disciple a good lesson for daring to say such a thing.
He would have personally fed her a few improved Ten-Complete Great Pills.
But after the Tribulation Crossing expert had pronounced his death sentence, Chu Xchen was also somewhat lacking in confidence.
He would regain his confidence after he crossed his own tribulation.
Chu Xingchen, displeased, casually tossed out a bottle of cheaply refined healing pills and said flatly:
"Deduct it from your monthly stipend!"
Li Yingling caught the tossed pill bottle and looked at it with confusion:
"Master, our sect doesn't have a monthly stipend. You were the one who said that, Master. I don't print spirit stones..."
Chu Xingchen looked at this rebellious disciple and said:
"Then you owe me."
"Oh... Then when you have a monthly stipend, Master, just deduct it from there."
Li Yingling took out several pills from the bottle, directly used her spiritual power to pry open the little demons' mouths, and stuffed three into each of them.
Chu Xingchen found this scene somewhat familiar. When Li Xingtian stuffed Li Zi with pills, it seemed he did it like this too.
But Li Zi had eaten two whole bottles.
This demon was only getting three pills.
Chen Baiqing walked to Chu Xingchen's side with slight vigilance, tilting his little head, his eyes curiously sizing up the three little demons brought back by his senior sister.
A weasel, an ox, and a... snake?
It was just that the scales on the snake's face seemed to have been cleanly plucked, its face covered in bloodstains.
Yuzhou City occupied an extremely important waterway position, and the Xuanwu Kingdom's control over this area was extremely tight. The director of the Demon Suppression Division had Golden Core cultivation.
Naturally, it was rare to see demons causing trouble.
This was the first time she had seen a demon. She had only heard about them before; when the villagers told stories, they were described as incredibly sinister.
Things like captivating one's soul in a single breath, flying through the air and tunneling through the ground, and effortlessly taking lives.
But looking at them now, they seemed to be just so-so.
Chen Baiqing watched as the three little demons, who had been unconscious, suddenly began to convulse all over as the pills entered their stomachs.
Senior sister's gaze was cold as she held her sword, staring at the three demons before her.
The first to open its eyes was the weasel.
It suddenly opened its eyes, only to feel its body being torn apart, and a strange energy rapidly circulated around it.
As the energy moved, it felt as if its own soul was about to be split and expelled.
The weasel suppressed the pain, its gaze glanced at the ox, and at the pitiful snake demon whose scales had been cleanly peeled off.
With just a brief glance, it knew this was human territory.
Erzhu, stinky lizard... and that mouse and the two little runts, all dead.
Its voice was forced from its throat: "Human! I will kill..."
Before the words were finished, a pressure that made its soul tremble endlessly arrived.
Instinct made it quickly prostrate on the ground and shut its mouth.
This feeling of trembling, like that of a natural enemy, made it impossible to harbor any thought of resistance.
The weasel's horizontal eyes glanced toward the direction of the pressure, only to see a young man looking at it calmly.
Those eyes were calm, but their meaning was clear—insulting people comes with punishment.
The weasel felt as if its body was being torn apart, as if its soul was leaving its body, and it was pinned down by Chu Xingchen's pressure, unable to move. It let out a hoarse, mournful cry:
"You... just kill me."
Chu Xingchen looked at this weasel with interest.
[Target: Weasel Demon]
[Cultivation Equivalent: Qi Refining Level 7]
[Blue Attribute: Intelligent]
[Blue Attribute: Resolute]
[White Attribute: Slightly Emotionally Intelligent]
[Black Attribute: Brutal]
[Black Attribute: Bloodthirsty]
[Does not meet conditions for accepting as a disciple]
Chu Xingchen extended his hand and cast a body-binding spell, directly immobilizing the weasel spirit in place, preventing it from speaking.
It was not very meaningful to bring back this kind of demon for his disciple to interrogate.
However, considering his disciple did not have an attribute system, this was normal.
In any case, if they were to interrogate, they could not start with this weasel spirit.
Chu Xingchen's gaze fell upon the convulsing wild ox spirit on the floor.
[Target: Wild Ox Demon]
[Cultivation Equivalent: Qi Refining Level 5]
[Blue Attribute: Thick-Skinned and Durable]
[White Attribute: Simple-Natured]
[Black Attribute: Dull]
[Black Attribute: Acts on Impulse]
[Does not meet conditions for accepting as a disciple]
Hmm... this one was quite suitable.
As for the snake demon next to it, which had its scales peeled off, its attributes were basically the same as the weasel spirit's.
Chu Xingchen looked at Li Yingling and said: "You want to interrogate?"
To be on the safe side, Chu Xingchen had given each of them an additional universal communication talisman to mitigate risks.
He naturally understood why Li Yingling had brought back these three demons.
Li Yingling coughed lightly and said: "I've already interrogated them. They won't talk. Will you, Master?"
"Mediocre."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Master!"
Chu Xingchen nodded lightly. Coincidentally, he also needed to study Chen Baiqing's methods.
This moment was, therefore, an opportunity.
Cui Hao also looked over with curiosity.
In the time since joining the sect, he had never seen his master use any techniques.
During the trip to Central State, it seemed to have been a farce caused by his not-so-bright second senior brother.
He only knew that his master was quite approachable and easy to talk to.
Not long after the weasel woke up, the snake with almost no scales also awoke.
This snake was even more miserable. Its eyes had just opened, and before it could speak, it was immobilized on the spot by Chu Xingchen.
Only two cold snake eyes continuously rotated, while sinister red threads appeared, illustrating the power of the pill's side effects.
The wild ox spirit had the lowest cultivation. It was struggling slightly to open its eyes and vaguely saw a human cultivator.
But then its vision blurred.
When it blinked again, it found itself lying in a camp.
It looked around in astonishment but found nothing abnormal. The weasel, whose intelligence was somewhat annoying to demons, was meditating with its eyes closed nearby.
The wild boar spirit, which had previously had its head cut off by a human cultivator's sword, was now snoring, leaning against a wooden plank as it slept.
The wild ox spirit felt its mind was in a daze. It quickly touched its body and found it was not injured.
But its body felt extremely uncomfortable!
A strange, painful sensation spread throughout its body.
Had it... just been dreaming?
What a realistic dream.
"Erniu, what's wrong with you? Why do you look off?"
Just as the wild ox spirit was marveling at how real the dream was, it heard the weasel's voice.
The wild ox spirit quickly shook its head and said: "It's nothing... I had a dream."
"It's fine if you're fine. In a while, we have to patrol the eastern plains." As the weasel spoke, it seemed to notice the wild ox spirit's abnormality and asked with a frown,
"Why do you look like you've been tortured? How about you rest tonight?"
The wild ox spirit took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the extremely painful feeling in its body and said:
"It's fine. I have to go."
The weasel said no more, nodded lightly, then stood up and shouted: "Stop sleeping! Let's go!"
----------
The wild ox spirit frowned, forcing itself to follow the patrol. This strange feeling was something it was experiencing for the first time.
It felt as if its entire body was being torn apart, and every part of its body seemed to be rejecting it.
Could it have eaten something it shouldn't have?
Just as the wild ox spirit was puzzled, a familiar phrase suddenly came from the weasel's mouth.
"What's the point of searching this damn plain..."
The wild ox spirit suddenly froze, its expression horrified as it looked toward the nearby patch of grass.
That place... was where the dream began
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