"Junior Brother, you done yet?"
They had divided the beast into two halves for processing: one for Langtian, and one for Yue Ling.
Naturally, Yue Ling moved much faster and more efficiently. After all, she’d been doing this kind of work for over a decade. Her hands were steady and practiced, her movements swift and precise.
Before Langtian could even finish one-fifth of his portion, she was already wrapping up her half.
Processing a demonic beast wasn’t easy. It was a meticulous task: draining the blood before it could taint the meat, carefully skinning the thick hide, separating muscles and tendons from bone, and extracting organs with precision to preserve their alchemical properties. Even the bones had to be cleaned and sorted.
Once she was done, Yue Ling strolled over to check on her junior brother.
"Wow," she said with a light laugh, "you’re actually doing really well for your first time!"
"Hehe," Langtian grinned sheepishly, showing his teeth. "But I’m still way slower than you..."
"Don’t worry," Yue Ling smiled warmly. "You’ll be as good as me in no time."
Without hesitation, she knelt down beside him and started helping. She even gave quiet instructions as they worked, guiding his hands, correcting his grip, showing him which tendons to cut and where to press.
Eventually, the final strip of meat was packed away, and the last of the bones were sorted into piles.
"Phew!" Langtian exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. "Wow, that was fast!"
He looked at what they had accomplished, a swell of pride rising in his chest. A colossal monster, the size of a small house, had been reduced to neatly sorted parts and clean bones in less than one shichen (about two hours).
It almost didn’t feel real.
"Alright!" Yue Ling beamed, stretching her arms. "With that, we’re done for the day!"
But before they could leave, there was still one last thing to do.
"Come here, Langtian. Let’s wash our hands."
Langtian quickly skittered over to her side.
Yue Ling pulled a flask of clean water from her storage pouch and poured it over their hands. The cool liquid splashed over their skin as they scrubbed away the worst of the blood and grime. The thick, sticky residue clung stubbornly to their fingers and wrists, dark smears trailing down their arms, but with some effort and a clean cloth, they managed to wipe most of it off.
Langtian looked down at his hands. They were no longer dripping red, but faint stains still lingered in the creases of his knuckles.
However, Yue Ling was a mess. Her entire body had been soaked in blood and gore from earlier, and a fair amount had splattered onto Langtian as well.
"There’s a small pond near our home with a really nice waterfall," Yue Ling said, brushing a streak of blood off her cheek. "We can take a quick dip there to clean up before the meal."
"Wait, there is?" Langtian blinked, surprised.
"Yup!" Yue Ling smiled proudly, her eyes gleaming despite the mess.
After that, she pulled out another spare storage pouch from her robes.
Storage pouch, or Heaven and Earth Pouch (Qiankun Bag), is a spatial-type magical artifact capable of storing items, spirit stones, pills, magical weapons, and, if of high enough grade, even living beings or spirit beasts.
Inside the pouch is a separate space, vastly larger than its outward appearance suggests. It is typically forged using spatial formation arrays, combined with special materials such as beast hide, celestial silk, or spatial essence crystals. No cultivator would go far without one.
Thus, with a practiced flick of her wrist, Yue Ling activated the array woven into her storage pouch. In an instant, the entire pile of harvested demonic beast materials, all the meat meat, hide, bones, and organs, was pulled inside, vanishing with a soft whoosh of spiritual energy.
Even the blood had been carefully funneled into thick glass flasks. Not a single drop was wasted.
"You’re hungry, right?" Yue Ling asked, her voice light and playful, her eyes gleaming with mischievous intent.
Langtian swallowed hard.
Yes, he was hungry. Starving, even. His stomach growled with frustration at his senior sister’s question.
But he also knew exactly what this meant: he was about to eat his first meal made from demonic beast meat.
"W-Will it taste horrible?" he asked nervously. Because so far, the smell alone was already strong enough to make his stomach twist a little.
"Hmm... flavor and texture-wise, it’s definitely different from normal meat," Yue Ling said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "But hey, you won’t know until you try it! Still, the most important part isn’t the taste, but it’s how to handle the demonic energy that comes with it. It’s hard to explain with words, so I’ll guide you through it myself."
"Yes, Senior Sister."
Langtian took a deep breath and nodded, steeling himself.