As the Sect Master of the Dan Xin Sect led Xiao Fei far away from the main peak, he revealed his fangs.
The kindly Sect Master from before was gone, replaced by a face contorted and rotten beneath a specially made mask.
"Heh heh heh… Nephew Xiao! Didn't expect this, did you! I told you, you couldn't escape my grasp!"
Xiao Fei realized he had just escaped one den of wolves only to fall into the mouth of a tiger.
With no one around except his second sister, not even a ghost in sight, he could shout until his throat was raw, and no one would come to his rescue.
"Sect Master, we have no enmity. Why must you harm me? Why not release this disciple? From now on, I will follow your every command. Even if it means betraying my sect and abandoning my ancestors, I would not hesitate."
With his life now in the hands of another, Xiao Fei could only try to placate him and pledge his loyalty. Perhaps, if the other party was in a good mood, they might decide to wait until he fattened up before killing him.
"Nephew, you need not worry. I am about to bestow upon you a great fortune."
As the Sect Master spoke, he patted Xiao Fei on the back, instantly sealing his entire cultivation. He then reached into Xiao Fei's sleeve, retrieved a few pills, and brought them to his nose to sniff.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the poison of the Black Leaf Datura!"
"This substance is indeed terrifying to cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage, but it is utterly useless against Golden Core powerhouses."
The Sect Master tilted his head back and swallowed the pills, savoring them as he ate.
After consuming the pills, the Sect Master once again searched Xiao Fei's body. He took his storage bag and all the miscellaneous items in his pockets, confiscating them. Even the Soul Nurturing Pearl hanging around his neck was taken, and a spell was cast upon it, sealing it as well.
With his and his second sister's lives completely under the control of another, Xiao Fei's mind raced with countless thoughts, yet he could not devise any plan to escape.
Although True Person Guangling had given him a Thousand Mile Teleportation Talisman, which could instantly transport him a hundred miles away, and his important belongings were stored in his spatial dimension, thus not being confiscated, the use of the talisman had limitations.
His entire cultivation was sealed, and he couldn't even muster the power to activate the talisman. Furthermore, this was a third-tier talisman, and activating it required time, time the Sect Master would not grant him.
For now, he could only take things one step at a time, hoping for a turning point. Moreover, falling into the hands of a Golden Core stage demonic cultivator, perhaps a swift death would be a blessing. To live would be worse than death.
Soon, the Sect Master led Xiao Fei into a hidden cave. This cave was protected by an concealment formation, and the interior was spacious and extensive.
Xiao Fei, now immobilized, was dragged along the ground by the Sect Master, who held one of his arms like a dead pig. He could only glimpse many stone chambers along the way, some of which emitted roars that sounded inhuman and chilling.
When they reached a large hall, he saw many zombies standing there. Some of them wore the robes of Dan Xin Sect's Foundation Establishment disciples, while others wore the attire of various other sects and families. It seemed that the Foundation Establishment cultivators who had gone missing in the Cui Hua Mountain Range recently had likely been captured and turned into zombies.
As the two entered, the zombies let out roars and lunged forward. The Sect Master took out a bell and shook it gently, causing the zombies to quiet down immediately.
"These are all failed products. However, your physique is special, and you possess high body refinement cultivation. You have a good chance of becoming the first successful creation in my hands."
The Sect Master was in good spirits. For years, he had tirelessly pursued research and innovation alone, his loneliness understood by no one. Now, he was quite willing to share his grand vision with Xiao Fei.
"I humbly believe that all cultivators who refine zombies have fallen into a misconception. Why must one only use corpses to refine zombies?"
As the Sect Master spoke, a look of madness appeared on his twisted, ferocious face.
"Moreover, there are many requirements for corpses that can be used to refine high-level zombies, making them difficult and time-consuming to find."
"I believe this is a foolish endeavor, focusing on the secondary and neglecting the primary."
"Theoretically, using living people to refine zombies would yield a higher success rate, and the materials would be more readily available."
"Once my experiments are successful, I will become the foremost figure in the world of corpse manipulation."
"I intend to refine all cultivators into zombies, turning the cultivation world into my zombie kingdom."
The Sect Master's twisted face showed his excitement as he spoke, his tone growing passionate and high-pitched. He was different from ordinary demonic cultivators; he was a demonic cultivator with ideals and aspirations, detached from base desires.
Xiao Fei finally understood that there were indeed lunatics in the cultivation world, and judging by the Sect Master's demeanor, he was quite severely ill. It seemed, however, that the cultivation world lacked doctors and elixirs for such ailments.
"Refining zombies from living people has many advantages."
"Because living people possess vitality and smooth blood circulation, various medicinal ingredients for refining zombies are more easily absorbed by the body, making the tempering process less time-consuming, labor-saving, and material-efficient, achieving twice the results with half the effort."
The Sect Master felt quite pleased as he spoke. Whether the living people were willing to be refined into zombies was not a consideration for a demonic cultivator.
As they spoke, Xiao Fei was dragged into the last stone chamber. This chamber contained a large pool filled with black, foul-smelling liquid. Several human bodies were submerged in the liquid, their chests and abdomens still rising and falling slightly, clearly still alive.
The Sect Master tossed Xiao Fei into the pool like a dead pig. Due to his successful body refinement, Xiao Fei's body was as heavy as iron, and he sank directly to the bottom.
Upon entering the pool, he immediately felt a surge of violent spiritual energy from the black liquid seeping into his body through his pores. His entire skin felt as if it were being pricked by needles, causing immense discomfort.
But this was only the beginning. After breaking through his skin, this violent spiritual energy rampaged through his muscles, blood vessels, and meridians, tearing him apart from the inside out and then forcefully kneading him. This was clearly not a prescription for living people; such ferocious medicinal properties were unbearable for anyone alive.
However, as a qualified demonic cultivator, how could the Sect Master consider the pain or damage inflicted upon a person? Just as Xiao Fei felt the pain becoming unbearable, the Sect Master took out another medicine bottle and added a bottle of black liquid to the pool. The moment this liquid was added, the black water in the pool began to boil and churn violently. Simultaneously, the pain Xiao Fei endured at the bottom of the pool increased tenfold. The agony made his very soul tremble. He regretted not committing suicide the moment he encountered the demonic cultivator.
Unable to bear it any longer, Xiao Fei's consciousness entered his spatial dimension. The dimension isolated his physical senses, and he immediately felt a sense of relief throughout his body.