Chapter 10

That was a fragmented memory, deeply rooted in the depths of the sunset soul fire for countless ages.

After reviewing this memory, Zhu Jiu silently thought:

"Turns out the giant beast's remains were once one of the four great evil beasts of heaven and earth, the Qiongqi. The sunset gained many divine abilities because it absorbed the last bit of essence from the Qiongqi's remains."

He then thought:

"Qiongqi, in ancient times, was the king of evil beasts, also known as the disaster beast. No wonder this guy, Sunset, is so fearsome. It turns out it's an evolving Qiongqi."

Knowing that this place was the remains of the king of evil beasts, Zhu Jiu was unwilling to leave easily. With Sunset by his side, he was fearless and began to wander through the bone cave. Unfortunately, many of the bone passages were blocked by extremely hard bones, which neither Zhu Jiu nor Sunset could break. The places they could enter had already been thoroughly explored by Sunset, and they found nothing.

Zhu Jiu was somewhat disappointed and decided to return with Sunset. As they crossed the blood river again, the restless factor in Zhu Jiu's heart flared up, hoping something unusual would appear at the bottom of the river, giving him a good start after taming Sunset.

Unfortunately, the journey was uneventful, and they smoothly returned to the shore of the blood river. Zhu Jiu looked back at the surging blood river, thinking that the Qiongqi's remains must have some secrets, but he lacked the ability to delve deeper. He could only leave it for later.

The demon corpse has no emotions. Sunset did not feel sad about leaving its old nest. It followed Zhu Jiu without looking back, disappearing at the edge of the blood river.

This world has no noticeable changes in the sky, always dark and gray, unchanging.

Zhu Jiu's young body needed rest. With Sunset by his side, there was almost no danger in this area, which was mostly inhabited by red soul corpses. He found a relatively high and dry hill to rest on, watching the tireless and loyal Sunset, he closed his eyes contentedly.

In his deep sleep, he suddenly felt an abnormal fluctuation in the talisman in his mind. Zhu Jiu woke up abruptly and saw Sunset fighting a demon corpse at the foot of the hill.

This demon corpse, which appeared at some point, had withered skin like a mummy, with deep red soul fire flickering in its hollow eye sockets. It had somehow intruded into Sunset's territory, which other red soul corpses avoided.

This mummy demon corpse had a very unique fighting style, which Zhu Jiu had never seen before. Each time it opened its mouth, black mist would surge out, seemingly some kind of corpse poison or curse. When it landed on the ground, it would produce strong corrosiveness.

Unfortunately, these methods had no effect on Sunset. Sunset's body glowed with a bright green light, and the black mist could not even get close. Each time it approached Sunset's skeleton, it would slide off and dissipate, having no killing power against Sunset.

Thus, the battle ended with a single formal pounce from Sunset. As Sunset extended its head to absorb the other's soul fire, Zhu Jiu suddenly heard a faint, terrified scream from a hundred meters away, a human's cry.

Zhu Jiu quickly ran down the hill, with Sunset closely following.

The scream came from a ravine about a hundred meters away, with a large rock at the top, providing good cover.

When Zhu Jiu arrived, he saw a pale-faced youth squatting in the ravine, who seemed familiar, one of the youths who had taken the test with him.

Zhu Jiu immediately understood why the youth was there and sneered:

"Did you see me resting on the hilltop and, encouraged by the sect's task to kill, try to have your demon corpse attack me? Ha! Now your demon corpse is dead, how does the soul backlash feel?"

Seeing the youth's pale face and fear, seemingly deeply regretful, Zhu Jiu continued:

"Do you know why I dared to sleep in the highest place nearby?"

The youth's face turned even paler, his eyes full of pleading, and Zhu Jiu laughed lightly:

"Actually, I also wanted to try killing someone. But since no one provoked me, I didn't feel right about killing randomly, so I set a small trap to see who would dare to provoke me. Heh heh!"

Zhu Jiu's final laugh sounded like a demon to the youth, who finally begged:

"Please, don't kill me. I just wanted to survive. Keep me, and I can be your subordinate. You're new to the sect, and you'll need someone to run errands."

Zhu Jiu smiled coldly. Coming from the information explosion era, he understood human weaknesses well and thought:

"Before I was reborn, I always lamented being born in the wrong era, unable to act as I pleased. Now that I have this chance, I should act freely and fearlessly. Should I keep you around to hate me?"

A thought in his mind, and Sunset, standing beside him, suddenly pounced, swiping with its front claws, and the youth's head flew off, his eyes still wide with shock, as if he couldn't believe he was dead.

Zhu Jiu looked at the first human he had killed in his two lives, feeling no abnormality or discomfort, and muttered to himself:

"In my past life, I often played with animal corpses with my grandfather, and evil thoughts often crossed my mind, wanting to kill people, but I never tried. It turns out killing feels like this, nothing particularly strange. The test introduction says that human brain marrow can increase the intelligence of demon corpses, and the heart's blood can increase the toughness of their bodies. Should I let Sunset refine this guy's corpse?"

Before Zhu Jiu's thoughts were complete, Sunset had already pounced on the youth's corpse, the soul fire in its skull blazing, extending out to instantly engulf and refine the youth's head.

Soon, the beneficial parts of the corpse were refined, leaving only a withered, shriveled body.

Zhu Jiu smiled silently, and his consciousness suddenly received a warning from Sunset. He turned and shouted at a nearby raised area:

"If you don't come out, I'll consider it an attack and start fighting."

A voice came from the seemingly normal ground, hurriedly saying:

"Wait, wait, I have no ill intentions."

The gray-brown ground slowly moved, changing color, revealing a short, fat youth climbing out.

As soon as the short, fat youth appeared, he hurriedly approached Zhu Jiu and said flatteringly:

"I know you're Zhu Jiu, the top performer in the second round of the mind-sea induction test. I admire you. I didn't expect your demon corpse to be so powerful. What kind of beast is it?"

He even gave Zhu Jiu a thumbs-up and looked at Sunset with envy. This guy didn't know that Zhu Jiu was considering whether to kill him. If he knew, he might not have the courage to continue smiling.

Staring at the short, fat youth, Zhu Jiu finally decided to let him go and smiled:

"My demon corpse is an evolving disaster beast called Sunset. Your hiding ability is also good. Is it a special skill of the demon corpse you tamed?"

The short, fat youth immediately said in a friendly tone:

"Yes, I'm timid, so when I found this demon corpse with hiding ability, I did everything to tame it. Brother, don't laugh at me."

As he spoke, he took a gray, human-sized, dried tree bark-like object from his back and showed it to Zhu Jiu.

Zhu Jiu glanced at this unique plant demon corpse and noticed that the surface color of the dried tree bark-like corpse was constantly changing. He said indifferently:

"Very good ability."

After saying this, he turned and left. The short, fat youth hurriedly took two steps to follow, but Zhu Jiu said in advance:

"If you follow me, I'll kill you."

The short, fat youth stood dumbfounded, indeed not daring to follow. When Zhu Jiu gradually walked away, he muttered:

"What's so great, just finding a special demon corpse?"

He then looked at the remains of the youth refined by Sunset's soul fire and said softly:

"This cursed demon corpse was extremely powerful but was killed in one strike. How can Zhu Jiu's demon corpse be so strong? I wonder what kind of disaster beast it is. Truly impressive!"