Chapter 123: Villagers Surround the House

Twenty minutes later, Yu Yan had methodically dismantled the two spirit beast carcasses, maintaining an average speed of ten minutes per beast.

The meat, blood, bones, and fur were all categorized and lined up neatly along the edge of the reservoir. The spirit beast blood was stored in large vats; Yu Yan had instructed the twins to rummage through the house for the old water storage containers used during their childhood.

The two spirit beasts she had dismantled were Grade 5 High-Tier Whirlwind Leopards. Since they were of the same species, mixing their blood was of no consequence. Two vats—one large and one small—were just enough to hold all the blood from the Whirlwind Leopards.

Yu Yan looked at her handiwork with a hint of dissatisfaction. "Hmph, there are still a few scraps of meat left on these bones. It seems my technique for dismantling dungeon monster corpses has regressed."

It was hardly surprising, though. Ever since she was reborn and gained her spatial storage, Yu Yan had stopped dismantling dungeon monster corpses properly, opting instead to move the entire carcasses into her space. If there was no room left, she would simply dump the lower-tier or useless ones into her Spirit Plant World to be absorbed. She only bothered to lower herself to slice off a piece of meat or draw a bowl of blood when she specifically needed a certain part. After more than a month without practice, it was only natural for her skills to grow rusty.

However, Yu Lei and the other two were watching in stunned silence. This was surely faster than a butcher slaughtering a pig.

Yu Lei had watched the pork butchers in the village work; even after years of practice, it took them over ten minutes to dress a single pig. Now, he watched his eldest sister dismantle a Grade 5 High-Tier Whirlwind Leopard—a creature he had never even seen before—with clean, surgical precision in just ten minutes. The bones were separated from the meat, and everything was perfectly sorted.

He glanced down at the Pegasus carcass he was working on, which was now a mangled, bloody mess. He had been at it for twenty minutes and had only managed to get a rough start.

Yu Lei: "..."

Fortunately, he quickly reconciled with the reality: his eldest sister was not a normal human, so why was he foolish enough to compare himself to her? He kept his mouth shut and quickened his pace.

Lou Yuhui and the other man were in the same boat. Shocked as they were, they quickly regained their composure and continued their work. From this day forward, no matter what inconceivable feats Yu Yan accomplished, they would only have one reaction:

"Who did this?"
"Oh, it's Master Yan. Never mind, then."

Master Yan was not human; she was a god. And since she was a god, it was only natural for her to be capable of anything. As for how the title "Master Yan" had spread—

It probably started when Lou Yuhui accidentally let the name slip in front of Yu Wei and the others. It quickly became the generally accepted term of respect for her. However, because Yu Yan was used to keeping a low profile, everyone knew she disliked being addressed that way. So, to her face, they usually just called her "Sister Yan."

...

Having finished her two Whirlwind Leopards, Yu Yan saw that Lou Yuhui and the others had barely made a dent in their own tasks. Since she had told them to handle those carcasses, she naturally wouldn't intervene. After all, her subordinates needed to practice their skills! Yu Yan would absolutely never admit that she simply didn't want to be their free labor.

She pondered for a moment. Even if she didn't put in the effort, the Spirit Plant Mark would help her progress as a Spirit Pulse Enhancer. Her Grade 4 peak-tier Wind ability, however, could only be improved by refining spirit items of the same attribute. Deciding to make use of the time, she pulled out a piece of Grade 7 Qu-Ru meat and began to eat and refine it slowly.

By the time the trio finished processing the six spirit beast carcasses, Yu Yan had finished her piece of Qu-Ru meat. Regrettably, her Grade 4 peak-tier Wind ability was still a tiny fraction away from breaking through to Grade 5. It was no empty saying that the higher the level, the harder it was to improve, whether for abilities or for one's rank as an enhancer.

Yu Yan was not disappointed. She stood up and stored all the spirit beast materials into her Phantom Lotus space. Under the envious gazes of Lou Yuhui and the others, she led them back home.

Just as they reached the pond near their house, she found it surrounded by a crowd of villagers. They were packed several layers deep, and Chen Biqin’s voice could be heard from within, anxiously trying to explain something. Unfortunately, no one was listening, and the villagers continued to clamor.

Yu Yan listened for a moment; it was nothing more than the usual bickering about wanting a larger share of the spirit beast meat. She frowned slightly. What were Yu Rui and the others doing? And Yu Wan—wasn't her temper notoriously difficult? Why hadn't she thrown these people out when they surrounded their home?

She had taken an opportunity earlier to send Little Blue into the Spirit Plant World. Her excuse to Yu Wei and the others was that Little Blue was too large to fit through the door and kept blocking the path, so she had sent it to the back mountains to roam freely.

Fenghe Village was surrounded by mountains on all sides, and many dungeons had naturally emerged there. However, with Little Blue’s strength at the Grade 7 peak, it could safely roam the mountains surrounding the village, provided it avoided the two terrifying S-class and double S-class dungeons near the village entrance. Since no one suspected anything, it wasn't convenient to summon it now to scare the villagers.

But that didn't matter.

"Duoduo!"

At Yu Yan’s shout, Yun Duoduo’s nimble figure darted out from the crowd and ran quickly to her side. The little girl’s fair, rosy face still held traces of anger. "Mom, these people are so annoying!"

"Grandma had just finished making wheat cakes. They were piping hot, and I hadn't even had a chance to eat yet when they showed up. They even brought Grandpa along, saying they had agreed that the village chief would take charge of distributing the lion's share of Grandpa's spirit beast meat."

"Grandma explained that you had already taken the carcasses away to process them, but they wouldn't leave. They said that if that was the case, they would just wait at our house for you to return."

"With so many people crowding around, how am I supposed to eat my wheat cakes? And the wontons... Grandma doesn't even have the heart to wrap them anymore."

*I suspect what you really want to eat are the meat wontons,* Yu Yan thought with an amused smile, pinching her daughter’s soft, puffy cheek.

Her little glutton loved the meat wontons Chen Biqin made. Chen Biqin liked to mince the meat filling by hand, giving it a firm, bouncy texture that Yun Duoduo could devour two bowls of in one sitting.

"If you hate them so much, why didn't you throw them out?"

With Yun Duoduo’s current Grade 4 entry-tier strength, dealing with these unranked villagers would be effortless. Besides, she still had Gold Spirit wrapped around her wrist!

Don't let Gold Spirit's increasingly inconspicuous appearance fool you—it looked like nothing more than a harmless little accessory on her wrist. Yet, back in the S-class dungeon "Firefly Soul-Devouring Sea," it had drained the blood of four entire Whirlwind Leopards.

That was right; of the seven Whirlwind Leopards Yu Yan had encountered, she had only kept two alive to bring back. The other four had been killed by Gold Spirit.

She still remembered the promise she made to Yun Duoduo when they entered the "Firefly Soul-Devouring Sea": she would find an opportunity for Gold Spirit to advance its rank.

She had just never found the right time. The Soul-Eating Grass Sea had been too treacherous and unpredictable, and later, she hadn't had a moment alone after meeting up with the twins. The encounter with the Whirlwind Leopards was the perfect opportunity—their strength was just a cut above Gold Spirit’s, but not so overwhelming that Gold Spirit would be instantly crushed.

With all the conditions met, Yu Yan had naturally unleashed Gold Spirit...