Ye Youwei transferred schools.

However, with everyone preoccupied with monthly exams, almost no one discussed it. Even Old Li didn’t think much of it; after all, life is full of meetings and partings.

"Winter break will last a month and a half. Don’t just spend your time celebrating the New Year and visiting relatives, students. Remember to balance it with your Cultivation!"

After they received their assignments, winter break officially began.

Back at home.

After a glance at the boisterous class group chat and the glass bottle on his desk, Chen Che turned and stepped into Yunzhou.

"What heavy snow!"

The moment he pushed the door open, wind and snow surged inside. Though day and night were reversed between the two worlds, their climates were the same. In a blizzard this fierce, no one would venture out lightly. He looked up to see heaven and earth blurred into a single, hazy expanse.

Treading through the snow, he arrived at his Cave Mansion.

"CHIRP! CHIRP!"

The Little Chick chirped its usual greeting, then lowered its head again, one claw pinning a snow rabbit as it devoured its meal.

"Mm."

Chen Che nodded.

Suddenly, he froze in place.

He immediately conducted a careful search of the Cave Mansion, then inspected the Array Disc. His expression grew increasingly odd.

"CHIRP!"

Picking up the struggling Little Chick, Chen Che tossed it out of the Cave Mansion. Just as it was about to drop into the pool below, it flapped its wings furiously and skimmed above the water’s surface. After a few twists and turns, it somehow ignored the Cave Mansion’s Array and flew right back in.

’This little thing can already ignore the Array and go hunting on its own!’

Demon Beasts also had the ability to learn. The intelligence of some High-tier Demon Beasts was on par with that of a Cultivator.

However, their Innate bodies limited them.

Before the Calamity of Heaven’s Fall, there was a Beast Tamer who raised a White Ape. This White Ape possessed Golden Core Cultivation, its speech and behavior were indistinguishable from a Cultivator’s, and it was even skilled at drawing Talismans.

Today, that White Ape serves as a guest professor at the Beiluo Shimen Daoist School.

The students call him "Ape Master."

’Perhaps it learned how to get through the Array from watching me come and go...’

Chen Che sized it up, his mind churning with possibilities.

It still looked like a fledgling, but its wings and claws were strong, its body brimming with a sense of power. The seven- or eight-pound snow rabbit had been devoured in a matter of moments.

Then, it looked up at him with pleading eyes, beak wide open, squawking to be fed.

"Alright, alright, I get it."

Chen Che nodded, refined a few batches of Pills, and poured them directly into the bird’s basin. As he watched the Little Chick lower its head and begin pecking away, he casually pulled a book titled *Beast Taming Guide from Beginner to Expert* from the shelf and began to flip through it.

’I wonder if I can form a contract...’

Chen Che mused.

Back when the Little Chick had first hatched, he had bought a whole set of books about Beast Tamers online.

Of course.

Different Demon Beasts required different methods.

The simplest method, naturally, was the Beast Taming Token. Because Low-tier Demon Beasts had low intelligence and couldn’t understand complex commands, communication had to be done through a Beast Taming Token.

However.

For High-tier Demon Beasts, a Beast Taming Token was actually a hindrance.

’It really has developed its own Divine Sense!’

Chen Che was overjoyed. With his Divine Sense, he could clearly perceive a vibrant, formless energy emanating from the Little Chick.

This was precisely the sensation of a Cultivator’s Divine Sense at its birth, before one could fully grasp it. To awaken Divine Sense just one month after hatching was proof that it was a High-tier Demon Beast.

Immediately, Chen Che used his Divine Sense to formulate a Master-Servant Contract and sent it into the Little Chick’s own fledgling Divine Sense. The chick showed no resistance whatsoever, even seeming to accept it gladly.

The moment the contract was formed, Chen Che immediately felt a new connection appear within his sea of consciousness.

"It worked!"

Chen Che nodded in satisfaction. He picked up the Little Chick then and there and strode out of the Cave Mansion.

"Fly!"

He tossed it into the air, and the Little Chick rapidly beat its wings, soaring toward the sky.

"SCREEE!"

A sharp eagle’s cry pierced the wind and snow.

Through their shared vision, Chen Che could clearly see through the Little Chick’s eyes. He saw the vast landscape of mountains and fields blanketed by the blizzard, and far in the distance, Jinyun Valley.

...

In the dead of winter, it wasn’t just ordinary people who stayed indoors; the same was true for most Cultivators.

After all, lower-level Loose Cultivators were not yet able to withstand extreme cold and heat.

In Jinyun Valley, however, it remained like spring all year round. It was like a scenic paradise in Jiangnan; everywhere one looked, a hundred flowers were in bloom. Clear springs trickled through the valley, their waters gurgling gently.

"The Pill Formula is ninety percent complete. Only one final ingredient remains..."

Inside the grand hall, Tributor Li respectfully held a set of Bamboo Slips over his head.

The once-portly Tributor Li had wasted away to skin and bones. He looked like a walking skeleton, so frail it seemed a gust of wind could topple him. He panted for breath with every word he spoke.

"It’s just... this final ingredient. I simply cannot determine its origin."

"How much longer will it take?"

Ye Jingzhou’s voice was devoid of emotion.

"Perhaps three months. Perhaps three years, perhaps thirty... or perhaps..."

By the end, Tributor Li’s voice had dwindled, becoming as faint as the buzz of a mosquito, until even he himself could barely hear it.

Silence.

There was not the slightest sound in the grand hall.

It was as if the hall had been cut off from the rest of the world.

After a moment, Ye Jingzhou’s voice drifted down from above.

"You are dismissed."

"Yes!"

Tributor Li cupped his fists in salute and withdrew from the grand hall.

Just before he exited, he glanced back up out of habit. The grand hall he had just been in was now pitch-black; he couldn’t even make out Ye Jingzhou’s silhouette.

And yet, the man’s pensive voice seemed to drift slowly through the air, resonating with deafening power.

"There’s still one thing missing... What is it?"

...

As Tributor Li walked out of the grand hall, he ran into Lu Yi.

Although Lu Yi knew the man had been in seclusion to complete a Pill Formula, he couldn’t help but be startled by his appearance. "Tributor Li," he blurted out, "what Pill Formula are you working on?"

Tributor Li expressionlessly opened his mouth.

Lu Yi was stunned.

He saw a complex Magic Array carved onto the man’s tongue.

A Silence Technique!

Once this Array was inscribed, its target could not speak of the related subject. They couldn’t even write about it or hint at it.

Lu Yi instantly understood.

’That wasn’t a question he should have asked.’

...

...

’The Little Chick is a Golden Core Realm Demon Beast at a minimum! It might even be of a higher tier!’

Chen Che’s spirits soared.

The natural awakening of Divine Sense was the defining characteristic of a Golden Core Demon Beast.

If he was willing to invest the resources to raise it, once it reached maturity, he would have the equivalent of a Golden Core Cultivator on his side.

However.

For now, the Little Chick was still relatively weak.

"Hm."

Lost in thought, Chen Che stepped into the Market. He suddenly frowned, his guard rising, as he heard the faint sound of crying carried on the wind.

’Did something happen in the Market?’

However.

What puzzled him more was that the crying seemed to be coming from the direction of his Pill Shop.

’What on earth happened?’

Chen Che wondered as he strode forward. When he arrived in front of his Pill Shop, he couldn’t help but frown.