Chapter 51: The Method

The blood-soaked bodies of the two Nirvana demon cultivators shed their feathers on their own, gradually growing new ones that were even brighter in color than before. Fearing they might offend by being slow, they hurriedly searched through the remains left by the self-destruction, extracting something from the wreckage and, somewhat flustered, presented it to Hongyun.

Hongyun glanced at the palm-sized brocade pouch, weighed it in his hand, and made some calculations. His eyes narrowed slightly. He tossed aside the flying boat he had been toying with, stepping onto his own vessel.

"Clean up all traces here," he commanded.

With that, he urged his flying boat forward, departing the scene: the recent self-destruction of the blue python had left a heavy stench of blood lingering in the air.

The two demons, hearing this, breathed a sigh of relief; their lives, it seemed, had been spared. Hovering in midair, they meticulously erased all signs—the blood, the demon feathers, and the traces left by the fallen and self-destructed demon cultivator of the treasured body realm.

Still uneasy, one of them swept his robe, causing feathers from half his wing to fall, plowing through the mountain ridge and obliterating every trace.

Once all evidence was destroyed, the two demons exchanged a glance, hesitated briefly, and then chased after Hongyun’s distant flying boat. This one, though rarely displaying his abilities, had dealt with them so effortlessly, and had not explicitly spared them; it was better to follow.

Moreover, if there were no witnesses, it would be a normal case of highway robbery—but if at the behest of this figure, to them, it was a pledge of allegiance.

...

Let me see thoroughly what this thing contains...

Hongyun thought to himself as he opened the pouch handed over by the two demons. Breaking the restriction on it, he peered inside to find a small booklet.

The Method of Slave Bonding?

Using one’s own essence blood and divine sense as a guide, forging the Bright Heart Lock.

Dividing off a strand of soul, condensing it into a lock, using will as a key, entrusting it to the Heart Lock.

The lock binds the soul, thus controlling life and death; nine is the extreme, with the body as the tenth, nine slaves united in heart, one as ten, ten as a hundred...

Hongyun read through the method, clicking his tongue in wonder, never imagining that such a technique could emerge in the Treasure Bottle Realm.

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Forming nine demon servants of the same realm, their minds connected and perfectly coordinated—the effect was impressive.

However, its limit was Nirvana, for above Nirvana, the soul fundamentally changed and could not be controlled.

Yet this did not negate the value of the technique; should such a method truly appear, it would throw both demon and human realms into chaos.

No wonder, then, that if this were truly such a technique, why hadn’t the Blazing Fire Demon King claimed it for himself?

And why did the Azure Water Demon King only have a treasured-body demon deliver it, rather than come in person? Such carelessness seemed suspicious.

No—something was amiss!

Hongyun, as a Great Golden Immortal, though now but a strand of will incarnate, still possessed vision far beyond ordinary beings.

He thought back, his eyes flashing with insight, and silently murmured his understanding.

So that’s it: the slave bonding method in his hand was but a subchapter.

Should one truly cultivate it, one would be actively forging oneself into another’s servant, making oneself the wedding garment for another!

Such a magnanimous technique had more than a hint of the Heart Demon Path, though the methods were still crude and required further refinement.

With this in mind, Hongyun tucked the technique away and began to deduce its workings.

...

A demon servant, in the demon realm, was a demon cultivator of no status.

Bound by restrictions, they could only obey their master, serving at their command, rarely harboring disloyalty.

Such demon slaves were not uncommon, usually survivors of exterminated clans or those captured after losing their protector, gathered and used as cannon fodder in battles against humans.

Furthermore, among demons, there were also captured humans, known as "human slaves."

These were rare and treated as pets, seldom allowed to come to harm.

Among humans, there were also human slaves and demon servants, but their numbers were reversed; demon servants were sometimes displayed as prized possessions.

This method was clearly meant to be deliberately spread, with the rumor that anyone who could obtain and present it to a demon king would be rewarded with a Nirvana-clearing pill to break through a realm.

Once seen, such a technique was hard to resist; even if advancement stopped after one breakthrough, it still reached mid-Nirvana.

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When the demon king later took action to collect demon servants, it would be like cats fishing—many unruly demon cultivators could be subdued.

Hongyun’s mind raced with such thoughts, gradually gaining clarity.

Servant or slave, it all depended on realm.

These two crow demon cultivators, as Nirvana-level great demons, had neither backing nor prospects for further advancement, and were somewhat rebellious.

Unsurprisingly, they had been targeted by either the Blazing Fire or Azure Water Demon King.

Yet they could never have anticipated that Hongyun would appear and unravel the method.

Still, this technique was not without merit; at the very least, it had sparked some inspiration.

He began carefully deducing a suitable method of servitude and restraint for this world.

The myriad methods of the primordial wilderness were all-encompassing; even as a Great Golden Immortal, Hongyun only knew a fraction.

He did not know when he might depart; that girl, Chai Xiaoyue, had called him "Uncle Yun.” In the wilderness, few dared provoke such a figure.

But here in the Treasure Bottle Realm, his power was limited, and he knew not when he might leave.

As the child of fortune in this realm, she was always accompanied by calamity, just as in that initial tragedy.

He could not guarantee her absolute safety, but leaving some small measures was not a problem.

He had originally intended, upon reaching the Metamorphosis realm, to capture two demon kings as bodyguards for the girl, but unexpectedly, the pillow arrived when he needed it most.

Though this method did not fully meet his needs, it was workable.

Still, it required additional layers of security.

He pondered, stroking his chin: first, the method required a half-demon to cultivate, and needed a branded seed as a guide to activate it.

With that in mind, the method needed further revision.

...

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