Su Wan’er snapped out of her shock, stepped forward, and blocked Shen Mo.
“You… are the Sword Feather Spirit Kite?”
The silver-haired girl nodded with a kind of beginner’s awkwardness.
As she moved, her silver hair cascaded, ice crystals shimmering faintly.
The Spirit Beast Garden fell into silence.
Only the morning breeze passed through, carrying the uneasy cries of distant spirit beasts.
The silver-haired girl turned her gaze to Shen Mo and spoke her first words since breaking out of her shell— perhaps the first human words she had ever uttered: “Master?”
Shen Mo’s throat went dry. He didn’t know how to respond.
‘Master…?’
He was indeed her master, but that was for a spirit bird.
Now, facing such a living, breathing girl of stunning beauty and powerful aura, the word carried a completely different weight.
“You…” Shen Mo began with difficulty, his voice hoarse. “…you can speak? And transform?” He asked an obvious question, but everything before him was simply too far beyond his understanding.
The silver-haired girl nodded. Her movements still had an inhuman stiffness, but they were clear.
“Spirit Kite… Sword Feather…” she spoke again, her voice clear and cold, slow as if choosing words carefully.
“Bloodline… awakening, memory… inheritance, human form… more suitable.”
Her explanation was concise but carried immense information.
Bloodline awakening, inherited memories, actively choosing to take human form… This was no ordinary spirit beast’s coincidental transformation, but a growth path pre-programmed in its ancient bloodline!
The origins of this Sword Feather Spirit Kite were likely far more extraordinary than Su Wan’er had previously guessed.
Su Wan’er had now fully recovered from her initial shock.
“Now that you have transformed, you are no longer an ordinary spirit beast. Since you have inherited memories, you should know the rules of the cultivation world. Since you recognize Shen Mo as your master, you must follow the laws of Bright Moon Peak. What is your name?”
“Name…” she repeated slowly. “No need. Master will give me a name.”
She respectfully and directly returned the right of naming to Shen Mo.
Shen Mo felt pressured again.
‘Name her?’
“Since you carry Sword Intent, silver hair like snow…” Shen Mo pondered for a moment, then suggested tentatively, “How about… I call you Han Yi? Han for clarity of cold, Yi for purity of ripples. May your heart be transparent and untainted by external things.”
“Han… Yi…” she repeated softly. Her cool voice spoke those two characters, fitting them strangely well.
“Han Yi.”
She lifted her silver eyes to look at Shen Mo and nodded, accepting the name.
Then she added, “Sword Feather Spirit Kite, Han Yi. Master Shen Mo.”
Su Wan’er and the others were not yet in her primary cognitive sequence.
Su Wan’er observed all this and understood.
This transformed spirit kite was simple-minded, with unknown strength and enormous potential.
She needed proper guidance and placement, both as an asset and a potential risk to be guarded against.
“Han Yi.” Su Wan’er’s tone softened.
“Now that you have a name, you are officially a member of Bright Moon Peak. Although you are transformed from Shen Mo’s spirit beast, now that you have a human form, you must follow human etiquette.”
Shen Mo quickly took a spare moon-white simple robe from the storage rack nearby, stepped forward, and gently draped it over the girl’s shoulders.
The robe was too large for her, almost wrapping her entirely, leaving only her delicate face and falling silver hair exposed.
“Put this on first. Don’t catch a cold.”
He said softly, moving carefully to avoid touching her.
The girl obediently allowed him to dress her, even unconsciously rubbing her cheek against the soft fabric.
Her ice-blue eyes curved slightly, as if satisfied. She raised her small hands and clumsily gathered the too-long sleeves.
“A transformed spirit beast with such intelligence is truly rare.”
Su Wan’er suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and kept her tone as calm as possible, smiling slightly at Han Yi.
“I am Su Wan’er, the Peak Master of Bright Moon Peak, the master of this peak. Since you were hatched here, you are a member of Bright Moon Peak. Come with me first to familiarize yourself with the environment and rules of the peak.”
She looked at Shen Mo again, waiting for his signal.
Shen Mo quickly said, “I… I’ll follow the Peak Master’s arrangements.”
Only then did Han Yi move, still walking soundlessly.
……
Chaoyun Peak—
Deep in the hidden underground palace.
The air was cold and damp, thick with the lingering stench of decayed earth and a nauseatingly sweet metallic smell.
Phosphorus stones embedded in the walls emitted a faint green glow, casting the vast underground palace in a ghostly light.
The floor was etched with intricate and eerie blood-red array patterns, and at the center was a huge pool of churning black viscous liquid.
Yun Fuling, wrapped in a dark purple cloak, stood at the edge of the blood pool.
Her face looked particularly pale and sinister in the phosphorescent light.
Her red-nailed fingers trembled slightly as they brushed over the two “bodies” lying side by side on the ground before her.
They were two corpse puppets. Their bodies were mangled.
One was missing half an arm and an entire leg, exposing black-red withered muscles and stark white bones.
The wounds were surrounded by stubborn, corrosive energy carrying a fierce Sword Intent, preventing regeneration.
The other was worse—its chest was nearly pierced through, its head lolled to one side, held only by a few strands of flesh.
The ghost fire in its eye sockets was faint, ready to extinguish at any moment.
The originally powerful Yin Sha Qi on them had weakened to the extreme, like a candle flickering in the wind.
These two Nascent Soul corpse puppets were her trump cards— cultivated over nearly a century using countless rare materials, slaughtering over a hundred cultivators, and secret arts.
They were a crucial pillar for Chaoyun Peak to hold a place among the many subsidiary peaks of Yunyin Mountain and even secretly develop power.
Normally, they were hidden deep in the underground palace, nourished by the blood pool’s Yin Sha energy, rarely deployed.
For Shen Mo, and even more so to avenge Qin Shuying’s arm-breaking insult, and to probe Bright Moon Peak’s strength, she secretly dispatched three corpse puppets to ambush Shen Mo.
She intended to either kidnap him in the chaos or at least severely damage the combat power of Bright Moon Peak and Heavenly Sword Peak.
What was the result? That crazy woman Qin Shuying was absurdly strong!
The one that pursued was lost for unknown reasons.
The remaining two strongest ones ended up like this after being caught in her Sword Qi!
Trying to steal a chicken only to lose the bait—years of effort nearly destroyed in an instant!
“Useless! All useless!” Yun Fuling violently swung her sleeve.
The gust of wind swept several jade bottles containing unknown liquids off the nearby stone platform, smashing them to pieces.
The rancid liquid spilled across the floor.
Her chest heaved violently, flames of rage burning in her eyes.
The carefully planned attack—what made it even more frustrating was that she couldn’t make a fuss about it, couldn’t even investigate publicly.
Refining and controlling corpse puppets was a grave taboo of the sect.
If exposed, let alone her position as peak master, even her life would be in danger.
She had no choice but to swallow this bitter anger.
Her gaze was fixed on the two damaged corpse puppets, her heart aching as if bleeding.
Refining such high-level corpse puppets required rare materials, the process was dangerous, and the success rate extremely low.
Now… was she just supposed to let it go?
Yun Fuling’s heart bled with pain. Without decades of hard work, recovery was impossible.
Chaoyun Peak was already not among the top subsidiary peaks.
Now, having lost this support, its strength was even more diminished. Its future voice in the sect…
A venomous, icy glint flashed in Yun Fuling’s eyes.
‘No!’
‘She absolutely could not let it go like this!’