After more than an hour, Fu Young finally walked in while carrying the sleeping An Ho in his arms.

Seeing the sleeping child, Xiao Shou’s original plan to loudly interrogate him and pressure him into telling the truth immediately collapsed. Instead, he lowered his voice and asked softly, "The child is asleep?"

"Mm. He is probably relieved after seeing his mother safely pass the tribulation."

Fu Young inwardly felt satisfied.

As expected, putting the child to sleep before coming back to face his master was the right move.

He knew An Yu would likely slip up in front of Xiao Shou.

Fortunately, his master had a gentle personality and a soft heart, making him easy to handle.

A trace of tenderness flashed in his eyes, though he did not notice it himself.

He then took out a storage bag and asked, "I will take him to the stone chamber to rest first. These are the demonic beast corpses I collected just now. Master, how should we deal with them?"

"Give them to me."

Xiao Shou took the storage bag.

Ever since discovering that even soil could be fused and upgraded, he had been wondering what other substances would become after fusion.

As for living creatures, due to the laws of life and his own morals, he did not dare experiment on them.

However, he had long wanted to test it on demonic beast flesh and blood, but he had never had the chance due to focusing on cultivation.

This time was the perfect opportunity to try.

Unable to suppress his eagerness to experiment, Xiao Shou decided to put his questions aside for now.

After all, Fu Young was here and could be questioned at any time. Thinking this, he quickly said, "I will go rest first. When Little An falls asleep tonight, come find me. I have something to ask you."

"Oh."

Not being questioned right away was perfect.

It gave him time to organize his thoughts and words so he would not slip up in front of his master.

Fu Young felt delighted inside, but on the surface he simply responded obediently.

Still, why wait until night? With his master’s personality, he should have been eager to ask immediately.

He’s so obedient... he definitely guilty.

Xiao Shou secretly laughed to himself, then turned around with a serious expression and returned to his room.

Once inside the stone chamber, he casually set up restrictions and tried to prepare himself mentally.

He recalled the original owner’s memories of hunting demonic beasts and dissecting their bodies.

After a long while, he finally gathered the courage to released the corpse from the storage bag and begin processing them.

Since it was his first time dealing with such bloody things, he could barely endure it after skinning them and cutting open their abdomens.

In the end, he simply focused on stripping the hides.

The demonic beasts varied in size and type, none were the same.

So he decided to group them by rank.

He selected ten Tier 1 demonic beasts, piled them together, and activated his fusion ability.

In an instant, the pile began to shrink.

It became smaller and smaller until it condensed into something the size of a palm. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

When the light faded, what remained was a pale red crystalline substance.

When Xiao Shou touched it, it felt soft, almost like jelly.

At the same time, information about the fused item appeared in his mind.

...

[ Demonic Beast Essence ]

Grade: Tier 1

Description: Formed from all beneficial substances within demonic beasts. Increases vitality by 100 and strengthens physique by 100.

Usage method: oral consumption.

...

This was practically like items in modern games that increased vitality and physical attributes.

The increase in vitality represented growth in flesh and spiritual energy, while physique referred to strength, muscle, and bone development.

In the cultivation world, it likely had a similar meaning.

Such a substance would be extremely valuable, whether in a game or in reality.

Xiao Shou was overjoyed.

Forgetting all discomfort, he immediately got to work.

He continuously skinned the beasts and fused them in batches of ten.

After several hours, he finally processed all the corpses.

In total, he obtained seventeen Tier 1 demonic beast essences and two Tier 2 demonic beast essences.

There were still four Tier 1 demonic beasts and one Tier 2 demonic beast left, but it’s not enough to form another batch.

Xiao Shou simply mixed the remaining five beasts together, added four Silver Milk Fish and a portion of spirit spring milk, and fused them.

To his surprise, it produced a Tier 3 demonic beast essence.

In the end, he obtained seventeen Tier 1 demonic beast essences that each increased vitality and physique by one hundred, two Tier 2 demonic beast essences that increased them by one thousand, and one Tier 3 demonic beast essence that increased them by ten thousand.

The demonic beasts drawn in today totaled one hundred seventy four Tier 1 demonic beast and twenty one Tier 2 demonic beasts.

It was shocking when counted.

Just the spiritual energy gathered from a Foundation Establishment breakthrough could attract so many beasts.

Across the vast region from Azure Origin City to the central sect territories, how many demonic beasts must there be?

No wonder a large scale beast tide erupted every few hundred years.

Thinking of that countless number, Xiao Shou’s eyes lit up.

That was an endless supply of demonic beast essence.

After indulging in the thought for a moment, he returned to reality, where the room was filled with the smell of blood.

When he looked at the piles of beast hides, he sighed helplessly and stomped his foot.

He casually selected ten Tier 1 hides to fuse.

He originally thought they would upgrade into higher tier hides, but instead, the result was a small transparent gelatinous substance the size of a finger joint.

Curious, Xiao Shou touched it and received its information.

...

[ Demonic Beast Gel ]

Grade: Tier 1

Description: Formed from all beneficial gelatinous substances within Tier 1 demonic beast hides. Can improve appearance, nourish hair, and increase physical strength by one hundred.

Usage method: Oral consumption.

...