Wild Dogs

Taking a deep breath, Yang Fan clenched his fist slightly.

"Those old bastards are really damned, all they do is plot against me all day long."

Yang Fan looked around, then clenched his fist slightly and lowered his voice.

"By the way, if I were to run away now, do you think there's any chance I could succeed?"

He had already obtained the Blood Spirit Technique, and after trying it several times, there were no problems.

Thinking of this, Yang Fan was already preparing to escape.

However, Zhou Peng sighed.

"I suggest you don't do that yet."

"Why?" Yang Fan asked him directly.

"I want to leave here right now."

Zhou Peng shook his head.

"Although I don't know why you want to leave, I have to remind you that these blood-path sects usually have various methods to control their disciples."

"Either it's a cultivation technique, or they've tampered with your body."

"I can't get a clear picture of your physical condition, but I have a feeling that your cheap master probably won't let you leave so easily."

"Furthermore, there are various restrictions on this mountain. If you trigger one, you won't even know how you died."

Yang Fan clenched his fists in frustration.

He thought that once he got his hands on the Blood Spirit Technique, he could find a way to escape.

But I never expected to have to stay in this godforsaken place any longer.

Seeing that Yang Fan was getting agitated, Zhou Peng patiently spoke to him.

"Master, don't worry. Although the Blood Path Sect has many methods, with patience, we will eventually find an opportunity."

"Keep that other bug with you at all times. I think it's probably a way to pinpoint your location."

"If this bug is not right, it may come after you at any time."

"Let's wait until we have a foolproof plan before we take action."

"Also, if you have time, Master, you'd better take me for a walk around the neighborhood."

"While I wouldn't dare say I'm an expert in formations, I do have some knowledge of them."

"By taking a walk around, we can figure out what's going on with the Blood Fiend Sect's protective formation."

"It will be much easier for us to go down the mountain then."

Upon hearing this, Yang Fan nodded.

However, the best course of action is to find a reasonable excuse to go down the mountain.

Yang Fan took a deep breath. He thought, "Going to the market or trading something would be fine too."

After thinking for a moment, Yang Fan nodded slightly, temporarily suppressing the restlessness in his heart.

Everything in excess is bad. Since it's not a good time to take action now, let's wait patiently for the time being.

With that in mind, Yang Fan waited patiently.

In the days that followed, Yang Fan made his way to the Skinning Cave while patiently leading the Human King Banner around the nearby array formations.

The formation wasn't too complicated. After a few days of studying it, Zhou Peng had a pretty good understanding of it.

At the same time, a new batch of blood servants were also sent up the mountain.

These blood servants looked almost exactly like Yang Fan back then, and they were all terrified.

Following Xue Ming's orders, Yang Fan also went to select a few blood servants.

Seeing the pitiful state of these blood servants, Yang Fan randomly picked two and brought them over.

These blood servants were taken directly to the summit of Corpse Puppet Peak by Xue Ming to help him refine corpse puppets.

Previously, Xue Ming had told him that he would teach him how to create corpse puppets.

But so far, Xue Ming has not asked him to go up the mountain to refine corpse puppets.

This made Yang Fan mutter to himself.

Is Blood Demon really planning to exploit me to death?

Yang Fan pondered to himself.

However, as he skinned more and more people, his skinning skills have indeed improved significantly in the past few days.

At first, he could barely skin twenty-one or twenty-two people, but later he was able to skin nearly thirty people in one go.

He gave all the extra human skin to Xue Ming.

As for the items found on these corpses, he handed most of them over to Xue Ming.

Only a few extremely rare items would be kept by him.

As things progressed, Yang Fan became increasingly interested in refining corpse puppets.

If he could create a corpse puppet, his chances of escaping would be even greater.

However, the opportunity came soon.

Early that morning, just as Yang Fan had finished getting ready and was about to head to the Skinning Cave to skin people, Xue Ming called out to him.

"Kid, you don't need to go to the Skinning Cave today. Come with me to Corpse Puppet Peak."

"I need to craft a corpse puppet. Come and assist me, and you can also learn how to craft one."

Upon seeing this, Yang Fan was overjoyed and immediately nodded repeatedly.

This is a good start, as long as he can follow Xue Ming up the mountain to learn how to refine corpse puppets.

Then he will have the opportunity to come into contact with that corpse-refining furnace again.

When the time comes, he can find a suitable corpse and create a corpse puppet for himself.

"Yes, Master."

Yang Fan hurriedly helped Xue Ming pack his things, then followed behind him, heading towards the top of Corpse Puppet Peak.

Along the way, disciples of Corpse Puppet Peak came and went. Upon seeing Xue Ming, they respectfully lowered their heads and stepped aside.

However, their trembling hands revealed that they were still terrified upon seeing Xue Ming.

Yang Fan merely glanced at the disciples of Corpse Puppet Peak before obediently following behind Xue Ming and heading up the mountain.

After a while, the two reached the top of the mountain.

Xue Ming led him directly to the main hall where the corpse was being refined.

At this moment, several disciples were inside crafting corpse puppets.

Upon seeing Xue Ming enter, the disciples hurriedly stepped aside.

"Greetings, Elder Xue Ming."

Xue Ming waved his hand.

"Everyone, step back. I'm going to use this place for corpse refining today."

Upon hearing this, the disciples hurriedly offered explanations.

"Elder, we've already put the corpse in, and it's halfway through the refining process. If we take the corpse out now, all our efforts will be wasted, and all the materials will be ruined."

Before he could finish speaking, Xue Ming glared at them, then walked to the corpse refining furnace and gently patted it, knocking out several corpses inside.

These corpses clearly contained a significant amount of precious metals.

However, now that it has been removed, it is clearly useless.

Xue Ming smiled slightly.

"Very good. Leave these corpses and what's inside them for me. I need them to make corpse puppets."

Upon hearing this, the disciples wanted to say something, but Xue Ming glared at them fiercely, and they hurriedly left in fright.

Seeing this, Yang Fan lowered his head slightly.

Clearly, this isn't the first or second time Xue Ming has done something like this.

After examining the corpses, Xue Ming was quite satisfied.

Although the quality of these corpses was not very good, the materials inside them were still usable.

Xue Ming muttered to himself, then saw Yang Fan.

"Boy, it's been a while since you became my disciple, but you still haven't learned how to refine corpses. Let me teach you how to refine corpse puppets."

"Come here and take a good look."

Yang Fan dared not delay and hurriedly went to Xue Ming's side.

Immediately afterwards, Xue Ming flicked his finger and took out a corpse from his storage bag.

After examining the corpse, he pointed at it and said to Yang Fan.

"See this corpse? We need to select a suitable corpse first to create a puppet."

"The original owner of this corpse was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and more importantly, he was a body cultivator."

"His physique is far superior to that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Then, he gently tapped the corpse, which produced a dull sound.

Yang Fan was startled; he hadn't expected the man's corpse to be so hard.

"See this? This is how you select the best corpses. You have to choose the strong ones."

He then gently squeezed the corpse before throwing it directly into the corpse-refining furnace.

"Then it's time to add all sorts of ingredients."

He then waved his hand and took out all the materials from the unfinished corpses.

Then, it was carefully thrown into the corpse-refining furnace.

"There are three schools of thought in our corpse refining: one adds Geng metal, one adds mithril, and the other adds various medicinal herbs."

"However, I prefer to join the Mithril faction."

"Our school of corpse refining adheres to a principle: it's not just about refining the corpse, but also the bones."

"Add mithril, and the mithril will be directly absorbed by the bones, making them incredibly hard from then on."

As more and more mithril was added, the body indeed began to absorb it.

Soon, a faint silver light emanated from the corpse.

Yang Fan's eyes widened in surprise.

Immediately afterwards, Xue Ming pulled out a bunch of new materials from his storage bag.

"The bones have been refined, and the next step is to refine the body, which will make the physique even stronger."

"You should take a good look at the ingredients I added here."

"This is Seven Star Grass, this is Night Orchid Jade, and this is Eight Thousand Flowers."

Xue Ming introduced the medicinal herbs, and Yang Fan nodded as if he understood but not quite.

Immediately afterwards, Xue Ming threw all the medicinal herbs in.

After these medicinal herbs were added, the corpse emitted an unpleasant odor.

"Alright, these are some impurities that have been extracted from the corpse puppet. After it's finished being refined, this corpse will become incredibly powerful."

As these medicinal herbs were absorbed by the corpse, Xue Ming added several more rare ingredients.

He added the ingredients while explaining to Yang Fan.

Before long, the corpse puppet's physical body also became incredibly powerful.

Xue Ming looked at Yang Fan.

"Do you think this corpse puppet is almost finished being crafted?"

Yang Fan nodded repeatedly and respectfully cupped his hands towards Xue Ming.

"Congratulations, Master, on successfully creating the Corpse Puppet."

Seeing this, Xue Ming waved his hand.

"This is nothing. Although the corpse puppet has been completed, it is still a long way from being able to control it perfectly."

"The next step is to draw out the evil energy, which means introducing the evil energy into the corpse puppet's body."

"Add a little more yin energy, and at the same time adjust the yin energy and evil energy."

"In this way, the corpse puppet has something similar to intelligence, but this thing is still different from intelligence."

Immediately afterwards, Xue Ming waved his hand and grabbed several handfuls around him.

A cloud of malevolent energy surged from underground.

Yang Fan was startled.

The black, malevolent energy immediately surged into the corpse puppet.

These malevolent energies were completely absorbed by the corpse puppet.

As the malevolent energy entered the body, strange patterns began to emerge from the corpse.

Immediately afterwards, Xue Ming flicked his fingertip.

"The debuff has been completely dispelled. Now you can drip your mark into the inscription."

"In this situation, we usually use blood to pledge allegiance."

Then Xue Ming looked at Yang Fan.

"Alright, kid, drip your essence into it."

Yang Fan was startled.

"Master, wasn't this corpse puppet made for you? Why do I have to drip my essence blood into it?"

"How can that be? Wouldn't that make me steal your corpse puppet, Master?"

Upon hearing this, Xue Ming burst into laughter.

"Don't worry, this corpse puppet is still mine. I'm keeping it to protect you."

"You are my good apprentice, so I'm going to find you a personal bodyguard. You can rest assured."

Upon hearing this, Yang Fan clenched his fists, feeling extremely flustered.

If I were to hand over my essence and blood, that would be a real problem.

Just as Yang Fan was about to resist, he saw Xue Ming's ambiguous smile.

Yang Fan felt a chill run down his spine.

The other party is a Core Formation cultivator; if I resist, wouldn't that be courting death?

After thinking about it, Yang Fan could only nod reluctantly.

He then squeezed out a drop of blood essence and flicked it shakily toward the corpse puppet.

Yang Fan deliberately bounced to the side, trying to pretend he had missed.

Unexpectedly, the drop of blood was immediately absorbed by the corpse as soon as it flew out.

With this drop of essence blood, the entire corpse immediately turned a tinge of blood.

The puppet, which was originally pitch black, turned blood red in a short while.

"Very good, now it's just the final step."

Xue Ming stared at the corpse puppet in front of him with a smile, then flicked his finger and threw out his essence blood.

A moment later, the blood essence enveloped the corpse puppet.

The corpse puppet suddenly opened its eyes, and then, under Xue Ming's control, it walked out.

After the blood essence had finished dripping, Xue Ming looked at the corpse puppet in front of him with great satisfaction.

After the corpse puppet emerged from the corpse refining furnace, it immediately knelt down on one knee in front of Xue Ming.

"Alright, my disciple, this is a gift for you."

"I suppose you've already learned how to create corpse puppets?"

Xue Ming looked at Yang Fan with a smile.

Yang Fan lowered his head and nodded.

"Yes, disciple has learned how to craft corpse puppets."

"That's good. Take this corpse puppet with you."

"This corpse puppet will protect you from now on. Make it stay with you and never leave your side."

After saying that, Xue Ming waved his hand.

The corpse puppet immediately obeyed the order and walked to Yang Fan without moving.

Seeing this, Yang Fan nodded slightly.

"Thank you, Master. I will definitely cultivate diligently and live up to your expectations."

"That's good, that's good."

After Xue Ming finished speaking, he waved his hand.

"Alright, you can leave now."

Yang Fan wiped away his sweat.

He bowed to Xue Ming, then hurriedly began his descent from the mountain.

The corpse puppet obediently followed behind Yang Fan.

Watching Yang Fan's departing figure, Xue Ming scratched his head slightly, a strange smile appearing on his lips.

After Yang Fan descended the mountain, he saw that Xue Ming had not followed, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Then, he immediately strode forward, trying to shake off the puppet behind him.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he quickened his pace, the puppet immediately caught up.

Seeing this, Yang Fan slowed down again, and the puppet's speed decreased once more.

After several attempts, Yang Fan finally confirmed that the puppet was moving at his speed.

If he walks fast, the puppet walks fast; if he walks slowly, the puppet walks slowly.

The puppet is mimicking his movements!